Cyrus Mccormick

Cyrus McCormick, the “Father of Modern Agriculture,” invented the mechanical reaper which revolutionized American farming and economy. The reaper was time-saving invention which allowed farmers to more than double their crop size. McCormick’s reaper made harvesting wheat easier and quicker than ever before. Cyrus McCormick’s mechanical reaper won him many awards and prizes.

Cyrus McCormick was born on February 15, 1809 in Rockbridge County, Virginia. In his early years, Cyrus attended a grammar school and helped his father in managing a 532 acre grain and livestock farm. His father, Robert McCormick was always attempting to invent some sort of reaping machine and patented other useful farming tools. With influence from his father, Cyrus invented the mechanical reaper at age 22 in July of 1831 using his father’s unfinished model of a reaper. The mechanical reaper was a tool on wheels pulled by a horse. As it moved through wheat, blades moved back and forth separating the grain from the wheat stalks.

Before Cyrus invented his reaper, farmers could only harvest one to three acres a day using a scythe. A scythe is a tool use for harvesting grain, which has a long, bended handle and a single-edged blade. Cyrus tried to sell his reaper, claiming that his reaper increased the potential of farms at least tenfold, but farmers were surprisingly uninterested. For nine years, McCormick’s mechanical reaper sales were close to zero. Cyrus spent the next ten years perfecting his revolutionary reaper. He heard that a man named Obed Hussey also had developed a working reaper, so McCormick quickly filed for a patent and received it on June 21, 1834.

In 1841, the mechanical reaper began to attract attention because of its money-back guarantee of harvesting fifteen acres a day. In 1843, a rival reaper manufacturer challenged Cyrus to see whose reaper performed more efficiently. But on the day of the contest, it rained and all the wheat was damp. The rival’s reaper jammed in the wet wheat, but Cyrus had perfected his machine so that it could cut through wet wheat. Cyrus won the contest and was said to have the best rumor design. He sold twenty-nine reapers that year and sales continued to increase. Cyrus opened a factory in Chicago in 1847 to meet the demand of reapers, and in 1851, McCormick’s mechanical reaper became known internationally. At the London Crystal Palace Exposition, he won the Gold Medal in 1851. Cyrus was selected into the French Academy of Sciences for “having done more for agriculture than any other living man.” When McCormick returned to America, he had to defend his patent in court against other rivals. Also, the Chicago Fire of 1871 burned down his factory. Cyrus McCormick achieved his life-long dream of becoming a millionaire, and died at the age of 75 in 1884. His company was passed down to his sons and later, in 1902, was officially called the International Harvester Company. At the time of his death, enough grain was shipped from Chicago to bake 10 billion loaves of bread a year because of McCormick’s reaper.

In conclusion, the mechanical reaper revolutionized agriculture into a large-scale, highly productive, commercial enterprise. Three hours of work with a scythe was reduced to ten minutes with McCormick’s mechanical reaper. Cyrus McCormick also diversified American industry by influencing workers to participate in non-agricultural work and drastically reduce the number of farmers in America.

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Works Cited

Hutchinson, William T. Cyrus Hall McCormick. New York: Da Capo Press, 1968. Print.

O’Donnell, Edward T. “Cyrus McCormick Invents the Reaper.” Welcome to Edward T. O’Donnell’s Site. Edward O’Donnell, 2002. Web. 22 Sept. 2010. <http://www.edwardtodonnell.com/hibchroncyrusmccormick.html>.

“Mccormick, Cyrus Hall.” Gale Encyclopedia of U.S. Economic History. 2000. Encyclopedia.com. 22 Sep. 2010 <http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G2-3406400558.html>.

“Mechanical Reaper.” MIT. Mar. 2000. Web. 22 Sept. 2010. <http://web.mit.edu/invent/iow/mccormick.html>.

Stevens, Patsy. “Cyrus McCormick.” Garden of Praise. Patsy Stevens, 2001. Web. 22 Sept. 2010. <http://gardenofpraise.com/ibdcyrus.htm>.