USA > Virginia > Rockbridge County > Rockbridge County > A history of Rockbridge County, Virginia > Part 37
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A small group of neighbors witnessed the first trial of the machine on the McCormick Homestead, and several of these testified later as to the success of the
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A HISTORY OF ROCKBRIDGE COUNTY, VIRGINL
experiment. Among them was Dr. N. M. Hitt, who made th following sworn statement January 1, 1848:
During the harvest of eighteen hundred and thirty-one, whilst boazuig at the house of Mr. Jno. Steele, about one mile from the farm of Mr. Robt. McCornek, decd., father of Cyrus H., I had notice that a machine had been constructed by the lacr to cut wheat (or other small grain) and that a trial of it could be seen on said farm o Wiat day. I, accord- ingly, as well as Mr. and Mrs. Steele, went to Mr. McCormicks and di n that day witness probably one of the first experiments made of the operation of th Virginia Reaper." This experiment was made in cutting a piece of wheat, without the '." Otherwise, the principles of the Machine, though imperfect, were, I believe, the same a : fterwards patented -that is, the cutting was done by a straight blade with a sickle ece which received a vibratory motion from a crank, the grain being supported at the ege of the blade by stationary pieces or points of wood projecting before it. On one sio f the Machine the gearing was attached by cog wheels which operated the crank, drive y one main wheel running upon the ground and supporting one side of the Machine-th . rank being attached to the blade by a connecting piece.
From the frame work that supported the wheels, a pair of shafts vre extended forward to which a horse was attached that pulled it-and the side of the Mchine extending into the grain was supported by a small wheel.
The cutting was fully established, as I thought, by this experimer. This Machine was further improved and a reel attached to it, and as I believe, thoth not present, was exhibited the same season in cutting oats in a field of Mr. Jno. Steel
This Machine had (of course) a platform behind the sickle for reciving and holding the cut grain until a sufficient quantity was collected for a sheaf-more c :. The "stationary pieces" before mentioned are not by me distinctly recollected.
Such are the essential facts in regard to the invention t the McCormick reaper. Makers of rival machines claimed later that MeCrmick was not an original inventor, that the various features of his machine ha been devised and employed by earlier inventors, and that he merely combine em in successful operation. The fact that there is a certain amount of truth 1 hese claims does not detract from McCormick's reputation nor from the cred ue him as an in- ventor of the first order. None of the earlier machines world successfully, and none of McCormick's rivals ever undertook to copy them. t was his machine that they borrowed from, and his patent that they fought i he courts and on the floor of Congress. One who has made a careful study t earlier machines and compared their several parts with that of McCormick as summarized his conclusions as follows :
In all the art prior to the McCormick machine there is not een a prototype which could have developed into his machine by any improvement short o o olutely rejecting its fundamental plan of construction and starting on one of which it ave no sugge tion. It was a radical and most essential departure from all prior devices tiount the machine on the master-wheel from which the power was derived and on which te machinery was sus- tained, while a cutting blade and grain platform were carried betzen that wheel and a free grain wheel whose movement was independent of but parallel i he inaster-wheel; to
C. H. Mc Cormick
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support a serrated cutting blade in the front edge of a platform between these two wheels and rciprocate it between stationary forward projecting fingers by means of a crank con- nection with the master-wheel; to combine with the blade and teeth between which it reciprocated a reel which swept over the blade, bending the grain across it and between its fingers, thence over the platform, and deposited the grain thereon, and the divider cooperating with this reel and with the reciprocating cutting knife to isolate the cut from the standing grain and guide the former to the cutting knife; and to provide a reaper with a blade having a serrated or sickle edge reciprocating between teeth in the front edge of a grain-carrying platform. No machine having these constituents preceded it, and no machine lacking them has survived. They are fundamental in the reaper of today, and have been in every suc- cessful reaper. It may be said that reciprocating blades were not, in themselves, new ; front or side draft was not new; platforms were not new; reels were not new; driving wheels were not new ; teeth were not new --- and all this may be conceded without diminish- ing in the slightest degree the originality or the magnitude of the invention. All new ma- chines are made up of elements which, individually considered, are old. Invention consists in conceiving of some new method of organizing elements so as to bring them into success- ful cooperation and work out a useful result which has not been accomplished by their cooperation before. None of these elements had ever been so constructed and combined as accomplish the result which they accomplished in this machine, nor had any combination of elements been before contrived which operated together in the same manner or so as to secure the same advantage.
It was a new machine in the broadest sense. As first constructed, it required many im- provements and refinements in order to make it a commercial success, but its plan was such as to qualify it for such improvements and refinements and to demonstrate that it was worthy of them and that ultimate success was to be achieved by adhering to that plan and from that starting point, rather than along other paths. It went steadily on, unchanged in general character, but taking upon itself such subsequent improvements or adjuncts as the further experiments of its inventor indicated to be desirable in order to deal with the various conditions encountered in the field. Under the guidance of its author it matured into a world-conquering machine, vindicated its right to a permanent possession of the fields and the market, and has compelled those who were most eager to disparage it to pay it the significant tribute of adhering with remarkable exactitude to the plan of construction which it inaugurated.
In an article on reaping machines in Johnson's Universal Encyclopedia, prepared by the head of the Agricultural Department of Cornell University, the following concise statement in regard to the McCormick reaper occurs : "In 1831 the machine of Cyrtis H. McCormick was invented and successfully operated. This machine for the first time was an organized instrument, containing practical devices that have been incorporated in every successful reaper made since. As built and tested in the fall of 1831 it contained the reciprocating knife moving through fixed fingers to sever the grain, the platform which received the grain. the reel to hold the grain for the knife, and to incline it upon the platform, and the divider projecting ahead of the knife to separate the grain to be cut from that left standing. The horses traveled ahead of the machine. and beside the standing grain. It was mounted upon two wheels, and the motion to move the operating parts was derived from the outer wheel."
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It was nearly three years after the tests on the McCormick homestead and the Steele farm before Cyrus McCormick applied for a patent, which was granted June 21, 1834 A few months earlier Obed Hussey, of Baltimore, took out a patent for a reaping machine which embodied several of the most important features of McCormick's machine. The knife, fingers, and general arrangement of the cutting apparatus were similar. The system of granting patents at that time was very lax. The Patent Act of 1793 then in force merely provided. "That every inventor, before he can receive a patent, shall swear or affirm, that he does verily believe that he is the true inventor or discoverer of the art. machine, or improvement for which he solicits a patent." The act further provided that if upon a judicial investigation "it shall appear that the patentee was not the true inventor or discoverer, judgment shall be rendered by such court for the repeal of such patent." The act of 1836 was the first of the patent acts to require a preliminary examination of the Patent Office records for the purpose of determin- ing whether the claims of an applicant for a patent conflicted with the claims of earlier patentees. The fact that a patent was granted to Hussey before Mc- Cormick secured his patent does not imply priority of invention on the part of Hussey. It did, however, lead to long and bitter litigation, which we shall refer to again.
As soon as McCormick learned of Hussey's machine he denounced it as an infringment of his rights in the following vigorous letter :
To the Editor of the Mechanics' Magazine :
Dear Sir .- Having seen in the April number of your Magazine a cut and description of the rearing machine said to have been invented by Obed Husey, of Olio, last summer. 1 would aik a favor of you to inform Mr. Hussey, and the public, through your columns, tha! the principle, namely, cutting grain by means of a toothed instrument, receiving the rotary motion from a crank, with the iron teeth projecting above the edge of the cutter, for the purpose of preventing the grain from partaking of il motion, is a part of the principle of n'y machine, and was invented by me, and operated on wheat and oats in July, 1831. This can le alte ted to the entire satisfaction of the public and Mr Hussey, as it was witnessed by mats ferions. Consequently, I would warn all persons against the use of the aforesand frit ciale al 1 re rard and treat the use of it, in any way, as an infringment of my rights.
Since ile frit ex erident was m de of the performance of my machine. I have, for the nulu Ihr'ere : 01 the file at ] my li. been laboring to bring it to as much perfection as te por le alnsite f of before ferie it to the guille I now expect to be able in a very rt te lo pier Sich an account of us singles, uh, and durability as will give reifer. 1. if not universal, fatsfachen
THEreliw rel. a lei Nve con tietes a very important. in fact, indispensable, part of ex ne 1 sc, włoch Hat the eff ci in all cafe , whether the grain be langled or leaning. n Ir Ilw naturel fest ved precy to the ground, to bring it back to the cutter and deliver it on the apron when cut
Very respectfully yours, etc.,
CYRUS H1. MCCORMICK.
1
Blacksmith Shop. Walnut Grove Farm In this building. Cyrus Hall M. Cormu k built the first practically successful reapin, machine in 1831
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At twenty-two Cyrus McCormick had forged the instrument which was to revolutionize the agricultural industry of the world, but the battle was yet to be fought. The revolution was to be accomplished only by a life-long struggle against prejudice, against mechanical difficulties, against adverse decisions of the patent office, and against rival manufacturers who unscrupulously embodied his ideas in their machines. But McCormick combined with his inventive genius what is very rare in his class-indomitable energy. Had he lacked this, or had he invented his reaper later in life, it is probable that he would have died poor and unknown and that some one else would have gathered the rewards of his genius. Most men encountering the difficulties and discouragements that beset him would have given up the fight, but he was a man of undaunted courage, of untiring energy, and of unswerving purpose.
Having invented what he believed to be a successful reaper, Cyrus's next task was to convince the farmers that it was a practical device and to persuade them to buy it. As a means to this end the field test was introduced. After the trial on the Steele farm the next public exhibition, the date of which is uncertain, was given near Lexington, and this time the whole countryside turned out to witness it. The machine was first taken to the farm of John Ruff, but as the wheat to be cut was on a hill-side, the machine did poor work and scattered the grain. Ruff, who is described as a plain-spoken, hot-headed man, interrupted the performance by declaring in a loud voice that he did not want his wheat cut and threshed at the same time, and "with considerable indignation, ordered the machine out of his field." Fortunately for young McCormick there were some men of greater vision present. Colonel William Taylor, who represented the dis- trict in Congress, promptly stepped forward and, according to the statement of J. W. Houghawout, many years afterwards mayor of Lexington, "offered to give Mr. McCormick all the opportunity he needed to continue his operations on his land. The machine was then taken into Colonel Taylor's field, only a little ways off, and here it worked much better, and part of the time did good work. I well remember how closely Mr. McCormick walked with the machine, watching it and doing whatever was necessary when anything went wrong. He was calm and quiet, indeed, said little, while most everyone had something to say, such as, 'Oh, it will do, perhaps,' 'It will have to work better than that,' 'It is a humbug,' 'Give me the old cradle yet, boys.' But as I said, Mr. McCormick him- self had not much to say at the trial. There was no brag about him. He was a plain and unassuming young man. At the close of the trial he was complimented by the leading and influential men for what his machine had done."
This and other tests finally convinced the editor of the local newspaper that the invention was of sufficient importance to be heralded in his columns. The first newspaper mention of the MeCormick reaper was the following editorial
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which appeared September 14. 1833, in The Union, a weekly paper published at Lexington :
We have omitted until now to furnish our agricultural friends with an account of a machine for cutting grain, invented by one of our ingenious and respectable county inen. Mr Cyrus H. McCormick, and which we witnessed operating in a field of grain during the last harvest in the neighbourhood of this place. A large crowd of citizens were present at the trial of it, and although the machine (it being the first ) was not as perfectly male a. the plan is susceptible of, yet we believe it gave general satisfaction. We have been fur nished with some certificates from several of our intelligent farmers, which we have ap- pended to the following description of the invention.
This editorial was followed by a detailed description of the machine, which proves conclusively that it embraced all of the basic principles of the later models. There were added to the description testimonials from Archibald Walker. James McDowell, afterwards governor of Virginia, who stated that he was so satisfied with the reaper that he had bought one, and John Weir, who said that he had seen it in operation for two seasons and that it would cut "about twelve acres per day, by being well attended."
The next year The Union published another editorial on the reaper in the issue of August 9, 1834 :
We have frequently heard of the grain cutting machine of Mr. Cyrus McCormick. highly spoken of, but we never had the pleasure gratification of an ocular demonstration of its utility *. We publish in today's paper two certificates from gentlemen of the highest re spectability, to which we call the attention of our agricultural readers. It is presumable from the general character of the machine, that it will ere long supersede in a great meas- ure, the use of the cradle and the sickle ; for it appears to cut both faster and with less expense to the employer.
The certificates referred to were as follows :
The undersigned having witnessed the operation of a "Horse Cradle" or machine. in vented by Mr Cyrus McCormick, a young man of Rockbridge county, for cutting grain lv the application of horse power, cheerfully gave an assurance of their belief in its usefulness and value. The machine was tried, when they saw it, in the neighbourhood of Lexington. upon a field of oats, and although the field was hilly, quite rough with cle Is, and the grain in places thin and light, yet the cutting was rapid and extremely clear and scarcely a stalk of grain being left, and little, if any, being lost by shattering from the working of the machine S me small quantity of gram was uncut where sudden turns of direction at sharp angles had to be made, but it was altogether inconsiderable Upon trial made for that purpose. they ascertained that this machine, drawn by two horses, with a boy to drive and a man in collect the grain into sheaves for binding, cut, when moved at its ordinary speed, about the third of an acre in ten minutes, and cut it, as they think, much cleaner than it could have been done by hand The forming of the sheaf, however, which has to be done by other han le, was more difficult and less perfect, than might be desired. The cutting itself is done by a steel blade having the edge of a sickle, fastened to the end of a double crank and mio 1 ingemou ly contrived to work horizontally.
·The editor.hip of the paper had changed hands sipre the notice of September 14, 18.3.3.
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The experiment made in the presence of the undersigned, was not long enough to enable them to judge whether this machine, which can be used only where the ground is without stumps, is or is not liable from its structure, to occasional or to much disorder. They witnessed its operations for an hour or two with much satisfaction, and cannot but regard it as an invention of a most singular and ingenious kind, and one which is entitled to public favor, as promising to introduce much additional expedition and economy into one of the most expensive and critical operations of agriculture. As a first thought the machine is ad- mirable, reflecting great credit on the mechanicle capacity of its youthful inventor, and when improved in detail as experience shall suggest, will, as they confidently expect, be an acquisi- tion of value and importance to the general husbandry.
WM. C. PRESTON, of S. C. J. MCDOWELL, JUN.
The undersigned have seen in operation a reaping machine invented by Mr. Cyrus H. McCormick, of Rockbridge County, Virginia. It was drawn by two horses driven by a boy ; cuts six feet wide, smooth and clean, and is attended by a man who with a rake delivers the grain in bunches ready for tying up. We were satisfied that the grain was cut cleaner and saved with less waste than in the ordinary way. From an estimate in cutting a piece of oats, we believe that it will cut an acre in half an hour over smooth ground. We consider it a valuable acquisition to the agricultural community, and recommend it to the patronage of the public.
SAM'L MCD. REID, HUGH BARCLAY, JOHN JORDAN, P. P. BURTON, J. ALEXANDER, W. H. CARRUTHERS, WM. TAYLOR, J. W. DOUGLAS, (except as 10 the "estimate," which he did not make.)
The signers of the first certificate given above were both men of national prominence. James McDowell was later a member of Congress and governer of Virginia, and William C. Preston was a United States Senator from South Caro- lina. The signers of the second certificate were the most prominent men in the community. Samuel McDowell Reid was clerk of the county court and prob- ably the most popular and influential citizen of his day. William Taylor was a member of Congress, and John Alexander was a brother of the celebrated Dr. Archibald Alexander, of Princeton.
Cyrus secured his patent, as already stated, June 21, 1834, but there was as yet no demand for reapers, and it was five years before he began to mantifacture them for sale. Meanwhile his father gave him a farm of 300 acres on South River near Midvale Station, where with two of the family servants he made his residence. His attention was soon diverted from farming to the deposits of iron ore in the neighboring mountains, and he and his father formed a partnership with John S. Black for the purpose of erecting a smelting furnace for the manu- facture of pig iron. Having acquired some mineral lands, they erected a fur-
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nace four miles north of Vesuvius and named the plant "The Cotopaxi Iron Works," after the great volcano in South America. The price of pig iron was then about $50 00 a ton, and so eager was Cyrus to get the enterprise started that le helped in laying the stone to build the stack. The furnace had been in operation about four years when the company failed. The financial panic which began in the great commercial centers in 1837 was not immediately felt in this remote section, but the price of iron finally fell. The furnace had been built and the preparatory work begun while the country was in a state of prosperity and prices high. The company had scarcely begun turning out its full output of pig iron when the price fell fifty per cem. and the supply of ore from the mines on which they relied began to fail. Debts began to accumulate, and under these conditions the enterprise collapsed in 1839. Black had previously transferred his property to a relative for the benefit of his personal creditors, so that the entire indebtedness of the company fell on the McCormicks. Cyrus relinquished his farm on South River to pay his debts, and his father had a hard struggle for several years to save the old homestead, "Walnut Grove." Every cent of the indebtedness was finally paid. Later in life Cyrus said with reference to this failure: "All this I have since felt to be one of the best lessons of my business caperience. If I had succeeded in the iron enterprise, I would perhaps never have had sufficient determination and perseverance in the pursuit of my reaper enterprise to have brought it to the present stage of success."
Meanwhile Cyrus was still working on the reaper and endeavoring to im- prove its several parts so as to be able to turn out a perfect machine. Im- pruved castings were made under his personal supervision in the foundry at Cotopaxi. When the iron business failed father and son began the building of reapers at the old forge at "Walnut Grove," and in order to promote the sale hell trials were again given, the first near Staunton, as appears from the follow- ing advertisement in the Spectator of July 18, 1839:
At the request of Mr. Joseph Smith and others the Subscriber will exhibut his patent reading machine cutting oats on the Scott Farm of Mr Smith on the Lexington Road three miles south of Staunton, on Tuesday the 23rd instant, at which time ( ay 10 er 11 o'clock ) ard : c. Per ent to whom it may be convenient and who may be de irous of seeing the nadine operate, can have an opportunity to do so. The Subscriber in consequence of other cte et cits and a failure in the crop ot gram has done nothing with the machine for several veatt, until recently, wiec which he has made some important improveincite upon 11 Hc bài cụ with 11 during the pre cit harvest about 75 acres of wheat and rye and t1 rkeitej fermare now usexceptumal. It will cut one and a Half or two acres an hour with two bries and two han! Icaavine the gram in sheaves ready for tying and will cut and save the grain much cleaner than the ordinary mode of crawling, whether it be tangle or tragt The mallue is not complicated of hable to get out of order, but is entirely Mirabile ar l will cost about $50.
C. 11. MCCORMICK.
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A week later The Spectator published the following editorial account of the field test, which shows that the machine worked much more smoothly than at the earlier tests in the neighborhood of Lexington. General Kenton Harper, editor of the paper, was one of those who witnessed the test. He wrote:
We have just returned from the exhibition of Mr. McCormick's Reaping Machine and to say we were pleased with its operation would but poorly express the gratification we experienced. It is certainly an admirable invention. It moves through the grain with speed at a brisk walk, cutting a swath of about six feet without leaving a head. The machine is fixed on truck wheels with a knife in front to which the grain is brought in by arms fixed on a light wheel above and thrown on an apron behind from which it is raked off by a person who walks along the side. The machine is quite simple and cheap, costing not more than $50. A large number of gentlemen (farmers and others) were present, and as far as we heard, all were delighted with its operation.
The exhibition on the Smith farm was witnessed not only by the farmers of the community, but by many of the most prominent professional and business men of Staunton. In The Spectator of August 1 there was published a long account of the test, which begins: "The undersigned having witnessed the opera- tion of Mr. Cyrus H. McCormick's improved patent Reaping Machine, in cutting oats, on the farm of Mr. Joseph Smith, take pleasure in bearing testimony to its admirable and satisfactory performance, and in recommending it to the at- tention of all large farmers." This statement was signed by twelve of the most widely known citizens of Augusta County-Abraham Smith, George Eskridge, Joseph Bell, Joseph Smith, Wm. W. Donaghe, Silas H. Smith, Nicholas C. Kinney, Edward Valentine, Kenton Harper, James Points, Benjamin Crawford, and Solomon D. Coiner. This testimonial was published by Cyrus H. McCormick as an advertisement in the Richmond Enquirer of December 12, 14, and 17, 1839, and January 25 and 28, 1840.
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