Obed Hussey

Obed Hussey was an American inventor who lived from 1792 to 1860. His most notable invention was a reaping machine patented in 1833, which competed with a similar machine patented in 1834 by Cyrus McCormick. Hussey was the first person in the United States to make, patent and sell such a machine, and it had been worked in at least eight states before McCormick's machine left the valley of Virginia. His cutting mechanism, a reciprocating knife combined with slotted guard fingers, became after further modification the standard design for harvesting machinery, even though McCormick's reapers later beat his in the marketplace. He also invented a steam plow, a machine for grinding hooks and eyes, a mill for corn and cobs, a husking machine, a sugar cane crusher, a machine for making artificial ice and a candle-making machine, although he devoted the prime of his life to perfecting the reaper.