Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1956-03-04
Early Reaper
Opens Eete at
College Park
BY SMITH HEMPsToNE

JOlAls CClCuA otlol Va SOA4VCAAAAAoA
and sesQuicentennial anniversa-
ries.
It means that the College Of
Agriculture is 100 years old. the
Medical School, $50.
There are some lob exhibits
at the schools Activities Build
ing, among them three hoary ag-
ricultural machines.
The Agricultural Engineering
Department is exhibiting one Of
the first Andrus-Deere steel
plows &c. 1922. a reproduction
Of the original Mccormick reap
er &c. 1880. and a grounding
thresher nobody seems to want
to take the blame for inventing
it, which dates back to 1910.
The three machines seem
crude and cumbersome to Goth
century eyes, yet they were revo-
lutionary in their day, and
changed the course of history.
Pillow Patented in 1897
Take the Andrus-Deere pillow.
The first patent for a pillow
was taken out in 1897.
But the. things wouldn't cut
and turn the soil clearly. They
got clogged with earth, broke
against roots and stones.
Thomas Jefferson, who had
gotten out Of the presidenting
business, even tinkered with the
problem for a while.
His moldboard, which cut re-
sistance to a minimum, was
good enough to win him the gold
medal of the Royal Agricultural
Society Of Paris, but DR.. Ray
Carpenter, head of agricultural
Engineering at Maryland, says
, he doubts if Jefferson's pillow,
mostly of wood, helped Andrus
; and Deere much in the develop
ment of their pillow.
In 1887, Leonard Andrus and
, John Deere met in Grand De-
tour, Ill. The Great Plains were
open and aching for wheat but
the wooden plows of the home
, steaders couldn't break the vir-
! gin sod.
Both men were Verm on
, Yankees. Rather than get in
, volved in a price war, they Joined
, forces. The moldboard of theil
!, first Grand Detour steel pillow
was made from a broken circular
saw
The Mccormick reaper i;
another story.
To our knowledge, the Daugh-
tiers of the Confederacy have
never suggested hanging Vir-
GINA born Cyrus Mccormick ir
efigy.
Yet he probably had as much
,, to do with the victory of the
North as many a Union general
In 1900. Woodworking farmer
could cut half an acre of wheat
a day with hand sickle. Tht
development of the cradle about
1880 tipped this to two acre.
) a day.
Built Plant in Chicago
BY 1910. McCormick's reaper
could handle six acres a day with
no strain. When the war started
McCormick's reapers made thou
sands of farm boys available fol-
army service-and still increased
farm production.
| In 1847, Mccormick, then SO
: moved to Chicago and built a
, factory. His competitor. Obed
! Hussey, set up shop in Baltimore
He went out of business in 1850
McCormick's reaper contained
: the straight reciprocating knife
! guards. reel. divider. platform
( main-drive wheel and other fea-
lures which have marked every
satisfactory reaper since, accord
ing to DR.. Carpenter.
AS said before, nobody seems
to want to take the blame
for inventing the grounding
thrasher.
Some say it was a Scot by the
name of Andrew Meikle.
In 1874 he came up with a
drum threshing machine which
was the forerunner of today's
, combine which both reaps and
threshes.
Replaced the Flail
: Before 1910 American farmers
had to thresh their grain by
whacking it on the floor of the
barn with a wooden fail.
After the thresher idea caught
on, it was pretty much just a
question of hooking up sufficient
power. horses. then steam and
gasoline, to get things humming.
The theme of the display is
lone Hundred Years of Progress
in Flowing. Harvesting and
IThreshing" and, in addition to
the three timers, there are
scores of more efficient but less
romantic modern machines, an
early milking machine, and a
dress manikin Of 1900 vintage.
The exhibit will be open 2-9
pm. with 8 am. opening on
March 6. 1t closes March 6. Ad-
mission is free.
The sum of the exhibits tells
the story Of the transition from
perseverance to parity.
300 View Exhibits
An initial audience of more
than 300 persons inspected the
exhibits yesterday.
The crowd walked through a