McCormick reaper

The McCormick reaper was a famous agricultural implement that sharply improved farm productivity in the 19th century. The reaper cut grain like wheat much faster than was possible with hand tools. It was made by the McCormick Harvesting Machine Company in Chicago. Cyrus Hall McCormick (1809 – 1884) was the American inventor and businessman who founded the company. It became part of the International Harvester Company in 1902.
Cyrus McCormick and his company insisted he be credited as the single inventor of the mechanical reaper. He was, however, one of several blacksmiths who produced working models in the 1830s. His efforts built on more than two decades of tinkering by his father Robert McCormick Jr., with the aid of Jo Anderson, an enslaved African-American man held by the family. Cyrus successfully developed a modern company, with manufacturing, international marketing, and a sales force to sell his reapers and other farm tools.
The McCormick Reaper was designed by Robert McCormick in Walnut Grove, Virginia. However, Robert became frustrated when he was unable to perfect his idea. His son Cyrus worked to complete the project. The son obtained the patent for "The McCormick Reaper" in 1834.
The McCormick reaper of 1834 had several key elements:
Many 19th century inventors claimed innovation in mechanical reapers. The various designs competed with each other, and were the subject of multiple lawsuits. McCormick's chief rival was Obed Hussey who patented a reaper in 1833, the Hussey Reaper. Made in Baltimore, Maryland, Hussey's design was a major improvement in reaping efficiency. The new reaper only required two horses working in a non-strenuous manner, a man to work the machine, and another man to drive. In addition, the Hussey Reaper left an even and clean surface after its use.
Cyrus McCormick claimed that his reaper was actually invented in 1831, giving him the best claim to the general design of a working reaper. Over the next few decades the Hussey and McCormick reapers competed with each other in the marketplace, despite being quite similar. By the 1850s, the original patents of both Hussey and McCormick had expired and many other manufacturers put similar machines on the market.
In 1861, the United States Patent and Trademark Office issued a ruling on the invention of the polarizing reaper design. It was determined that the profits made from reapers were in large part due to Obed Hussey. It was ruled that the heirs of Obed Hussey would be monetarily compensated for his hard work and innovation by those who had made money from the reaper. It was also ruled that McCormick's reaper patent would be renewed for another seven years.
Although the McCormick reaper was a revolutionary innovation for the harvesting of crops, it did not experience mainstream success and acceptance until at least 20 years after it was patented. This was because the McCormick reaper lacked a quality unique to Obed Hussey's reaper. Hussey's reaper used a sawlike cutter bar that cut stalks far more effectively than McCormick's. Only once Cyrus McCormick was able to acquire the rights to Hussey's cutter-bar mechanism (around 1850) did a truly revolutionary machine emerge. Other factors in the gradual uptake of mechanized reaping included natural cultural conservatism among farmers (proven tradition versus new and unknown machinery); the poor state of many new farm fields, which were often littered with rocks, stumps, and areas of uneven soil, making the lifespan and operability of a reaping machine questionable; and some amount of fearful Luddism among farmers that the machine would take away jobs, most especially among hired manual labourers.
Another strong competitor in the industry was the Manny Reaper by John Henry Manny and the companies that succeeded him. Even though McCormick has sometimes been simplistically credited as the [sole] "inventor" of the mechanical reaper, a more accurate statement is that he independently reinvented aspects of it, created a crucial original integration of enough aspects to make a successful whole, and benefited from the influence of more than two decades of work by his father, as well as the aid of Jo Anderson, a slave held by his family.
The McCormick's had a small blacksmith shop in Virginia that produced only a few machines. Cyrus McCormick contracted with other small shops to build and sell machines. Finally he moved his operation to Chicago in 1847, and did all his own manufacturing. Chicago was much closer to the wheat market, especially after the national railway system became centered there.
Cyrus travelled widely across the U.S., Canada and Europe to publicize the reaper with advertising and demonstrations, and set up local offices to handle sales and repair work. He launched or defended multiple lawsuits in federal courts regarding patent law. He did very well in the Midwest and Far West; competition was stiff in the East. There were few sales in the South, which after the Civik War was impoverished, and had too much surplus labor. Europe was highly impressed and gave the reaper many technology awards, but farms were small and had little need for a reaper. His younger brothers took charge in Chicago: Leander J. McCormick (1819–1900), a blacksmith, supervised manufacturing, and William Sanderson McCormick (1815–1865) handled bookkeeping and payroll.
Regarding the labor needed to produce one bushel of wheat, the U.S. Department of Agriculture found a 95% decline in the time needed, thanks to mechanization:
In 1868 demand for harvesting equipment was enormous, and McCormick sold 8,000 reapers. A new model, the "Advance" replaced the original "Reliable." The Chicago factory employed 800 men, with little union activity except for the moulders. Disaster hit in October 1871 as the Great Chicago Fire destroyed the factory, as well as 2,000 completed machines. The company lost $1.4 million, with insurance covering a fourth of the loss. The records were all saved, and some of the machinery. After the losses Cyrus McCormick was still worth $5 or $6 million and he determined to rebuild bigger and better than before. A new larger factory was opened on the south side of Chicago in January 1873 at a cost of $2 million. Its 700 workers built 15,000 reapers a year that sold for $150, with a profit margin of about $50.
The three McCormick brothers feuded endlessly. William died young and in 1880 Cyrus finally bought Leander out. He put his son Cyrus McCormick Jr. (1859–1936) in charge as they made the key decision to automate the factories with new machinery. Instead of highly-paid blacksmiths building one reaper at a time, the factory now used semi-skilled laborers to help the new machines turn out identical parts and make low-cost mass production possible. Indeed about nine of ten factory workers were common laborers paid $1.50 per day. In 1882 the factory produced 46,000 reapers.
The nationwide economic depression of 1893–1896 depressed sales, although lawsuits remained a major burden. The leading reaper companies started informal talks when theyrealized that the lawsuits hurt every player. The solution was for the major companies to combine, and thereby end he ruinous lawsuits and the expensive competition. They approached Wall Street where the big names--Morgan and Rockefeller--were indeed interested. The result was the formation of International Harvester in 1902, coordinated by George Walbridge Perkins of J.P. Morgan & Co.. It bought out the five largest reaper companies in 1902 for $150 million: McCormick Harvesting Machine Company and Deering Harvester Company, as well as three smaller manufacturers: Milwaukee; Plano; and Warder, Bushnell, and Glessner (makers of Champion brand). The result was the fourth largest corporation in the United States.
After a few more years of squabbling the young International Harvester became a near monopoly in reapers, and a major factor in many other farm implements. In 1908 it made 700,000 harvesters worldwide, for $73 million. In addition to 25,000 IH employees there were 42,000 working in its local agencies all over the U.S. and parts of Europe.