A reaper is a farm implement that cuts and gathers crops at harvest, typically cereal grains such as wheat. Gallic reapers, the first documented reaping machines, were used in Roman Gaul in what is now France. In the United States, Obed Hussey patented a mechanical reaper in 1833 in Ohio, and Cyrus McCormick patented his own design in 1834 in Virginia; McCormick's version became the more commercially successful of the two after he acquired Hussey's more effective cutting-bar mechanism around 1850, and mechanical reapers went on to transform 19th-century agriculture by sharply increasing harvesting efficiency and reducing the labor needed to bring in a grain crop.
Facts
Patent or First-Use DateObed Hussey patented a competing reaper design in Ohio in 1833, a year earlier than McCormick; this fact records McCormick's 1834 patent, the design this entity's description centers as most influential on modern farming. Exact day and month are not given in this article. SignificanceThe Hussey and McCormick reaper designs, patented a year apart in the 1830s, went on to compete directly in the market for decades despite being quite similar, and mechanical reapers transformed nineteenth-century agriculture by sharply increasing harvesting efficiency. 1 Connections
In Field
Source Reaper (Wikipedia)Wikipedia contributors
Held Differently
Cyrus McCormick, Engineers Why this is disputed. Patented his mechanical reaper design in 1834 in Virginia, a year after Obed Hussey's rival 1833 patent; McCormick's version became the more commercially successful.
Sources
1. Reaper (Wikipedia)
Wikipedia contributors, Wikimedia Foundation19th century reapers section, McCormick Reaper paragraph
the McCormick Reaper was patented by his son Cyrus McCormick in 1834 as a horse-drawn farm implement to cut small grain crops.
19th century reapers section
Over the next few decades the Hussey and McCormick reapers would compete with each other in the marketplace, despite being quite similar.
In Field: Mechanical Engineering, Categories
Agricultural machinery
View the Source Reader Challenges (0)
No disputes yet. Spotted an error or a better source? Open the first one.
Sign in to dispute this or suggest a correction.