THE LIBRARY

THE UNIVERSITY OF
BRITISH COLUMBIA

Gift of
H. R. MacMillan

AMERICAN

Agricultural Implements

A Review of Invention and Development

IN THE

AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENT INDUSTRY OF THE UNITED STATES

IN TWO PARTS

PART ONE: General History of Invention and Improvement
PART TWO: Pioneer Manufacturing Centers

R. L. ARDREY

CHICAC.O: ITULISHED BY THE AUTHOR

COI'VKIGHTED 1M94, KY R. L. ARDREY.

•:. INTRODUCTORY. •:.

THE vear of the World's Columbian Exposition is a most advantageous time
for issuing, in book form, a review of the development of the agri-
cultural implement industry in America. To our improved methods in
agriculture, more than to any other factor, excepting railroads, \se owe
the marvellous development of our resources during the past century,
and a full share of the credit should be given to the inventors, beginning
with Whitney just loo years ago, who gave their lives, often in martyrdom,
to the development of inventions, whose object was to make labor more
effective in man's struggle with Mother Earth.

If we had none of our modern implements of planting, cultivation, har-
vesting and separation, Europe would look in vain to our shores for bread
and clothing for her congested population, and the millions of our own
cities would be to-day an ignorant peasantry.

Empires in the past arose and fell and their places were utterly forgotten,
save to the scribe or philosopher, for the masses — men, women and chil-
dren— were so enslaved to the soil that they were helpless, after their mas-
ters had slain each other in war or gone the way of dissipation. But in
this nineteenth century man has been shaking off the shackles of manual
toil, and has secured advantages of education and intercourse with his
fellowmen that lay a firm foundation for the future and insure against a
relapse, in America, at least, into another slough of ignorance and helpless-
ness. It is fitting that, in our celebration of the achievement of Columbus
in the discovery of America, we should also remember the inventors who
by power of mind over matter have freed their fellowmen. To these, whom
the historian of the future will call truly great, this brief review of their
work is dedicated.

The author acknowledges with gratitude the kindness of C. W. Marsh,
editor of the Farm Iniplenient N'ews, in authorizing the revision and use of
his able historical articles published a few years ago. Mr. Marsh is well
qualified to speak with authority in matters pertaining to the agricultural
implement industry, as he was the inventor of the harvester, a machine
which represents to-day more capital invested in its manufacture and use
than any other .single machine in the world, excepting the steam engine; and
since retiring from its manufacture has been actively engaged for nearly
ten years in editorial work that has kept him closely informed regarding
the progress of everj' branch of the industry. It is to be regretted that Mr.
Marsh could not have taken up this work, but editorial duties have pressed
him too closely, and it has devolved upon the writer, who has undertaken
it in the hope that four years' connection with Mr. Mar.sh's paper, nearly
three years of that time as editorial assistant, has in some measure fitted
him for the task.

Digitized by the Internet Archive
* in 2010 with funding from
University of British Columbia Library

http://www.archive.org/details/americanagricuOOardr

PART I

CHAPTER I.

The Development of the American Plow.

THE first agricultural implement used by prehistoric man, as shown by
remains found in peat bogs of England, France and other countries,
was a hooked stick, or sometimes a stag's horn, adapted to the work of
digging and stirring the soil in planting seed. This rude tool — it can
scarcely be called an invention — developed in course of time into something
more like a plow, the forked stick with a long branch to which animals
were attached, and perhaps an artificial brace added to strengthen the other
branch used as the share or "bottom." This stj-le has been found illus-
trated on an ancient monument in Asia Minor. Its antiquity is demonstrated
by the fact that the plow, as represented on Egyptian monuments more than
3000 years B. C, shows a slight improvement over it. The Romans are also
known to have used wooden plows of a very primitive type, Ti\'ith an im-
provement in the days of the Tarquins of a handle, which allowed the plow-
man to more easily hold the point in the ground. Chinese historians say
that the Emperor Shen Neng, who ascended the throne of China 2737 B.C.,
"first fashioned timber into plows and taught the people the art of hus-
bandry."

The records of the past fail to show us when and where metal points or
shares were first used. Several prophetic allusions are made in the Old
Testament to the time when warriors would "beat their swords into plow
shares," and it is known that ancient Egyptians and Assyrians had plows
that were pointed or edged with copper and iron, but the time when metal
was first used cannot be even guessed.

In a later period, probably in the time of Cincinnatus and Cato, the
Romans used a plow that was quite different from the older patterns com-
mon in various countries. J. Stanton Gould, in his report to the New York
Agricultural Society in 1856, says that this plow "will be found to exactly
agree with the description of the implement given by Virgil in the Georgics.
The sole of the plow has two rectangular pieces of wood fixed to it on each
side, forming an acute angle with it, in which the teeth {dentalia) are in-
serted. This exactly answers the description of Virgil : 'Duplici aptantiir
dentalia dorso" (the teeth are fitted to the double back). These project

5

6 AMERICAN AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS.

obliquely upward, and perform the office of a mouldboard. The share was
of metal."

The plows of ancient times seem, however, to have been built only for
the purpo.se of breaking and stirring the soil, the bottom having been invari-
ably a simple wedge, with no power to turn a furrow. It is true that plows may
have been made with one side straight like a modern landside, and with the
other side extending out to push the loosened soil over and thus leave some-
thing like a furrow, but "no one had as yet grasped the idea of combining
two wedges in the same implement, nor had they any idea of the curves bv
which this could be effected." The practical combination of share and
mouldboard remained to be discovered.

Gould refers to a wheeled plow used in France for centuries, no one
knows just how long, which seems to be the first feeble attempt to realize
the idea of a mouldboard. Its model has been handed down unchanged for
centuries. It had the principle of the twisted wedge, ' ' raising up the earth
first and then twisting it to the right. It is furnished with two wheels to
keep it steady in the furrow, and a coulter of the modern form. It is a rude
affair when compared with our modem implements, but it shows real
genius in its author. ' '

It is well to note here that this is not the first use of either the wheel or
coulter on a plow. Plows having the beams supported by two wheels, some
of them approaching in form the two-wheeled sulky so popular a few years
ago, were made by the Greeks 2000 years ago. The coulter was certainly
known in the time of William the Conqueror, in the eleventh century, in
England, if not earlier, for we read that at that time plows with their beams
supported on wheels were very common, one of them being described as
follows: "It was drawn by four oxen and fastened to them by ropes made
of twisted willows, and sometimes by the skins of whales. It consists of a
simple wooden wedge, covered with straps of iron, one side being placed
parallel to the line of the plow's direction, the other sweeping over to the
left hand, cleaning it from its own path and leaving an unobstructed furrow
for the next slice. .\ coulter, not unlike those now in use, is inserted in
the beam, and a wheel is placed in front to regulate the depth."

Thus far, however, it would seem that no real inventor had appeared to
contribute to the development of the plow\ and even as late as fifty years
ago in this country- the usual method of plow-making was for the farmer to
purchase the wood part of his plow from a ' 'plow-wright (or often from the
jack-of-all-trades wagon maker) and have it "ironed" by the local black-
smith, although sometimes the wagon maker bought the irons and
"stocked" them.

The first English patent granted on a plow was to Joseph Foljambe, of
York.shire, in 1720, he having invented a number of improvements on a crude
style of plow, which had been brought from Holland. The bottom of
Foljambe 's plow was of wood, with a sheet-iron covering on the wearing
parts and a point of iron plate. The coulter was, of cour.se, made of iron.'
The point was conical in form and the furrow was raised by it and then
turned over by the mouldboard. The handles and beam were better pro-
portioned than any that had been in use previously, and the first clevis

AMERICAN AGRICULTIKAI, IMPLEMENTS.

JAMES SMALL'S EAST LOTHIAN PLOW,

FRAME OF THE EAST LOTHtAN PLOW

S AMERICAN AGRICUI.TURAl, IMPI^EMENTS.

thai is known to have been used on a plow was fitted to the beam. But
this plow, although it was superior to anything then known, did not come
into general use until James Small established his factory at Black Alder
Mount, Scotland, in 1763, and began to manufacture and sell plows on
what was then a large scale. In time he made manj' improvements,
and the plow finally assumed the style of the East Lothian, which gave
general form and feature to all the common British plows since. The
beam and handles were of wrought iron, the body frame and mould-
board were cast, and the share was of wrought iron. Robert Ransome,
of Ipswich, England, obtained a patent in 1785 for making the share
of cast-iron, and in 1S()3 for case-hardening or chilling the share,
and Thomas Brown, of Alnwick, England, was engaged at the open-
ing of this century in building plows of improved form and construction
still more approaching the modern implement. The seed sown by Ransome
in 1785 took root, and produced a manufacturing establishment, which to
this day is one of the largest in England, having followed the industry
through all the changes of a century. Howard, beginning about 1840, estab-
lished a factory which has also continued to the present day, having con-
tributed, from time to time, improvements and changes in patterns as de-
manded by the progress of invention or the change in "fashion."

In America, progress in the development of the plow was slow during
colonial times, owing to the narrow policy of England in discouraging or
prohibiting altogether the establishment of factories. The manner of mak-
ing a plow a centurj' ago was remarkably crude, judged by modern stan-
dards. In the language of Gould: " A winding tree was cut down, and a
mouldboard hewed from it, with the grain of the timber running as nearly
along its shape as it could well be obtained. On to thi-s mouldboard, to pre-
vents its wearing out too rapidly, were nailed the blade of an old hoe, or
thin straps of iron or wornout horseshoes. The landside was of wood, its
base and sides shod with thin plates of iron. The share was of iron, with a
hardened steel point. The coulter was tolerably well made of iron, steel
edged, and locked into the share nearly as it does in the improved lock
coulter of the present day (1856). The beam was usually a straight stick;
the handles, like the mouldboard, split from the crooked trunk of a tree, or
as often cut from its branches, the crooked roots of the white ash being the
favorite timber for plow handles in the northern states. The beam was set
at any pitch fancy might dictate, with the handles fastened on almost at
right angles with it, thus leaving the plowman little control over his imple-
ment, which did its work in a ver^' slow and most imperfect manner." It
must be remembered, however, that in colonial times the land under culti-
vation was very largely "new ground," or land recently cleared of timber,
with a porous soil which was easily penetrated and stirred up. It had
neither the stickiness nor tendency to bake of clay land which has long
been under cultivation, nor the impenetrable network of leathery grass roots
which made the breaking of virgin prairie soil so difficult. And besides,
farming was conducted on a far smaller scale then, for the cities being small
and few in number, the market for farm products was limited, and the aver-
age farmer contented himself with growing enough for his family, with a

AMERICAN' AGRICrLTURAI, IMPI.KMKNTS. 9

small surplus for purchasing the very few articles of commerce indulged in
at that early day.

Thomas Jefferson, the renowned statesman, was the first to bring theo-
retical knowledge to the design and the construction of the mouldboard.
Writing in 1788, he referred to the curves which should characterize a
mouldboard, and said: "The offices of the mouldboard are to receive the sod
after the share has cut under it, to raise it gradually and to recover it. The
fore end cf it should, therefore, be horizontal, to enter the sod, and the hind
end perpendicular, to throw it over; the intermediate surface changing grad-
ually from the horizontal to perpendicular. It should be as wide as the far-
row, and of a length suited to the construction of the plow." While Jeffer-
son succeeded very well in using the experimental plows which he made, the
time was not yet ripe for the general adoption of his ideas, and his work
was lost for a generation, until it was taken up and improved upon by Wood
and later inventors.

The first letters patent granted in America, on a plow, was in 1797, to
Chas. Newbold, a farmer of Burlington, N. J. His specification was as fol-
lows: "The subscriber, Chas. Newbold, of Burlington county. New Jersey,
has invented an improvement in the art of plow making, as follows, viz. :
The plow to be (excepting the handles and beam) of solid cast iron, con-
sisting of a bar, sheath and mouldplate. The sheath serves a double pur-
pose of coulter and sheath, and the mouldplate serves for share and mould-
board, that is, to cut and turn the furrow. The forms to be varied, retain-
ing the same general principles, to meet the various uses, as well as inclina-
tions of those who use them." Although Newbold's plow worked well, far
better than those in general use at that time, the farmers rejected it, on the
plea that the cast iron "poisoned the land," and stimulated the growth of
weeds, end after spending ^30,000 in trying to get it introduced, the inventor
gave up the task in despair. During the twenty years following Newbold's
invention, a number of patents on plows were issued, but nothing valuable
was contributed to the art of plow building, and the rude "bull" plow with
its wooden mouldboard still ruled the realm.

Jethro Wood's invention, patented September i, 1819, ushered in a new
era in the history of the plow, the era of manufacturing, as distinguished
from the era of building in small quantities by blacksmiths or "plow
Wrights. " In Wood's plow, cast iron was substituted for the wooden mould-
board, landside and standard, and a cast iron point or share for the old
wrought, steel tipped share. But the most important part of Wood's
'\\w(inWon \va.sth.e intejchangeability 0/ parts. This it was that established
the era of manufacturing, by making it possible for the farmer to replace a
wornout or broken casting with a new one from the factory. Wood also
sought to form his mouldboard on scientific principles, so that the pressure of
the turning furrow would be evenly distributed on its surface, and thus
avoid wearing it in spots. After many ups and downs. Wood succeeded in
reducing every point of his invention to practice, and its merits soon won
for it wide recognition, followed by a general demand from the farmers for
the new plow; and then began the struggle which finally drove the noble
inventor to his grave. A demand once created for the invention, others be-

am);kican acricuIvTurai, imi'mcmivnts.

CORSICAN PLOW.

NORTH RUSSIAN PLOW "KOSOCLIA'

SICILIAN PLOW.

PLCW FKOM SOrTH RUSSIA.

PLOW OF CENTRAL RUSSIA-

PLOW FROM CREMONA, ITALY.

PLOW, DRAWN BY OXEN, FROM SARDINIA. ITALI.-VN PLOW FROM LOMB.^RDY PLAINS.

FUE.NCH PLOW.

I.MPROVED FLEMISH PLOW

AMERICAN AGRICrLTURAI, IMPLEMENTS. 11

gan to manufacture it — in wanton disregard of the inventor's rights, ac-
quired by his work of a lifetime, and the expenditure of a fortune in his
experiments — and in his efforts to enforce his rights in the courts his little
remaining property was spent, and his children, after his death in 1834,
were equally unsuccessful in securing reparation, although congress had, in
1833, extended the life of his patent fourteen years. In the words of Wm.
H. Seward, secretary of state under Lincoln: "No citizen of the United
States has conferred greater economical benefits on his country than Jethro
Wood — none of her benefactors have been more inadequately rewarded."

Manufacturers throughout the country having copied Wood's invention
with alacrity, it was not long until cast iron plows were in general use, and
for a generation or longer but little was done to improve his model, further
than to make changes in detail, adapting it to the needs of different parts of
the country.

Joel Nourse was one of the noted plowmen of the generation succeeding
Wood. He first started at Shrewsbury, Mass., but afterwards remo\ed to
Worcester, and in 1842, perfected the famous Eagle series, plows with a
longer mouldboard than Wood's, and with a greater turn, breaking the fur-
row more thoroughly. The sales in the forties of Nourse's firm, (Ruggles,
Nourse, Mason & Co.), were said to have reached 25,000 and 30,000 plows
per year.

THE INVENTION OF THE CHILLED PLOW.
There remains to be noticed an important step in the perfection of the
plows in use throughout the eastern states. Efforts to harden the wearing
parts,, and thus make them more durable, began almost with the first use of
cast plows, but the chilling process was so little understood, that for more
than half a century no one could master it. Credit for making the chilled
plow a practical success is due to James Oliver, who began experiments soon
after establishing his plow shop or factory at South Bend, Ind. , in 1853.

It is a fact worthy of note, that when cast or "grey iron" plows first came
into use, made after the patterns of Wood, Nourse and others, no complaints
were heard in regard to scouring. But as the country grew older, and the soil,
by repeated working, became dense and sticky, it was found that cast ii-on
scoured with difficulty, or not at all. Hence the great demand that was
heard among the next generation for a new kind of plow that would respond
to the changed requirements. This demand was filled by the invention of
the chilled plow, as was also the demand for a mouldboard that would with-
stand more efficiently the wearing of gravelly or sandy soil.

It was this general and unremitting demand that led Mr. Oliver to
persevere in his efforts to produce a perfect chilled plow, in the face of as
great obstacles as ever embarrassed an inventor. For years it seemed as
though the problem would not be solved, so long did it require to produce
a chilled mouldboard that would meet the varying requirements of the
farmers, but success dawned at last, and with it a new epoch in agri-
culture.

Thomas Jefferson had formulated the design of an ideal mouldboard,
and Jethro Wood had done much to realize this ideal, but of the cast
plows in use when Mr. Oliver began his experiments, there were few that had

AMERICAN AGRICULTURAL, IMPI^RMHXTS.

WOODEN Mori,DBOARD DUTCH PLOW FROM WOODEN MOUT DBOARD PLOW FROM rF.XNSYL-

ALBANY tnlNTV. N. Y., 100 YEARS OLD. VANIA, 100 YEARS OLD.

WOODEN UrorTLDBOARD HORIZONTAL SHARE
I'LOW, OF A CENTURY AGO

JETHRO WOOD'S PLOW, PATENTED SEPT. 1, 1819.

CHAS. NEWBOLD'S PLOW, PATENTED 1797.
FIRST .AMERICAN CASTIRON PLOW.

ZADOK HARRIS' PLOW, 1819.

SIR JO=,UL A OIBB:, STLEL PLOW, 1838. NOUKSE'S EAGLE PLOW, BUILT IN THE "FORTIES'

OLIVERS CHILLED EDGE SHARE, PATENTED
JULY 29, 1879.

OLIVER'S PATENT NOV. 18,1873.

AMERICAN AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS. 13

mouldboards even approximating the best form by which lightness of draft,
even distribution of the pressure of the soil over the wearing surface, and a
properly laid furrow might be secured.

Two fundamental defects had hitherto stood in the way of a successful
chilled mouldboard. One was the frequency of soft spots or blow holes in
the casting, making it short lived, and the other was the extreme brittleness
of chilled metal, and the risk of breakage in a mouldboard of convenient
weight and thickness. A remedy for the first was finally discovered in using
hot water under certain conditions in the chills, and a way was soon after-
wards found for removing the brittleness. By a peculiar annealing process
it was made possible to toughen the metal without softening it, and so to
give it the strength that would enable it to endure the hard usage of general
purpose work on a million farms. With this discovery the last barrier in
the way of a successful chilled plow was removed.

In their general construction the cast and chilled plows of the east have
been so different that it will be proper to follow them a little farther before
taking up steel plows. The two classes may thus be kept distinct. Ap-
parentlv the first patent covering a practical device for adjusting the hea.ui
laterally in a plow was issued to E. Ball, of Canton, Ohio, more famous as
a reaper inventor, the patent bearing date of March 23, 1852. It showed a
standard with a double head, with the beam held to it by two bolts in such
a way that it could be adjusted both laterally and vertically. The beam
was cut off at the rear of the standard.

R. A. Graham's patent, Oct. 4, 1S53, showed a lug on the landside
handle to which the heel of the beam was attached, a peculiarly arranged
set screw giving the beam a lateral adjustment. This patent also claimed
a screw-bolt in the bottom of the handles, arranged as an adjustable brace
for the mouldboard. Still another method of shifting a beam lateral!}- was
shown in the patent of A. W. Stoker, Sept. 11, 186tj, in which the handle
brace was a rod extending through the heel of the beam, a portion of
the rod being threaded to permit of holding the beam in position with nuts.

The slotted handle brace now in general use on plows that are
adapted to either two or three horses, was patented by James Oliver, Feb.
21, 1871. In this patent Mr. Oliver covered also a share with a fin cast upon
it extending upward from the landside edge of the point so as to cut the
soil or sod. June 18, 1872, the same inventor patented his peculiar standard
by which the beam is brought more directly over the line of draft, the shin
extending to the side past the landside edge of the beam. This patent also
covered the peculiar Oliver wheel for a wood beam plow, one arm of the
standard being slotted to permit a vertical adjustment, and the other arm
flattened on its end and fitted under the beam, where it is held by a hook in
a way to permit alignment of the wheel when the beam is shifted. In his
patent of Nov. 18, 1873, Mr. Oliver shows a share with a coulter or shin cast
as a part of it, to be seated against the front edge of the mouldboard, and
also the sloping landside, a feature that has ever since distinguished his
plows in the trade. A later patent, issued July 29, 1879. and several suc-
ceeding it, covered for Mr. Oliver the process of chilling the nose and cut-
ting edge of a share.

14 AMERICAN AGRICULTURAI^ IMPLEMENTS.

The Patent Office records show many efforts to produce a cast share with
a slip or reversible nose, the names of M. M. Bowers and James Oliver ap-
pearing oftener than others, and their inventions having a more practical
appearance. Mr. Bowers' first patent appears in 1875, and his last in 1880.
An important patent was also issued to Mr. Oliver May 8, 1877, for a jointer
or coulter holder. It covered a holder rigidly secured to the standard of
the plow, and having a slotted plate fitting the under .side of the beam, to
which it was held, as well as a slotted arm extending downward, to which
the jointer or hanging coulter blade is attached.

.STEEL WALKING PLOWS.

When hardy emigrants from the Old World landed upon our eastern
shores to establish settlements, they found that in the land of their dreams,
' 'flowing with milk and honey, ' ' the advantages of free farms were largely off-
set by the disadvantages of pioneer life, of clearing away the forest, and pre-
paring the soil for the growth of their crops. They had new proof of the fact
that the treasures of the .soil can onh' be unlocked by patient and persistent
application. The experience of settlers east of the Alleghenies had its coun-
terpart in the pioneer work of those who settled in the vast prairie region of
the Mississippi valley, extending a thousand miles westward from Ohio.
Where the ax and the "grub hoe " had been needed to subdue the eastern
land, the prairie breaking plow, with a share as sharp as the woodman's
ax, was required to penetrate the turf of a thousand years' growth and un-
cover the inexhaustible soil that lay shielded beneath the hard, matted
roots of the prairie grasses and weeds. Never in histor}' had such a prob-
lem confronted the land-seeking emigrant; but, with ready ingenuity, he
forged with blacksmith's tools a new kind of plow to meet the new require-
ments. The old principles of a beam, handles, a mouldboard, standard and
share were all right, but the mouldboard must be made with a long, easy
curve, and the share with an edge of the finest steel. In late years, prob-
ably early in the "forties," a few curving rods were attached to the share
in place of a mouldboard. The plow was made of exceptional strength,
for it was the rule to use three to six yokes of oxen in breaking.

With the problem of breaking overcome, it might have been expected
that the soil would become tractable and obedient to the touch of its mas-
ter, but yet another obstacle was to be surmounted. The old wooden plows,
and those of cast iron that were coming in from the east, or of "boiler
plate" that were made by local blacksmiths, would not scour in the light
vegetable mould after it had been stirred up by cultivation during several
sea.sons. Various remedies were tried, but without avail, until it was dis-
covered that a high grade of steel would clean itself and do satisfactory
work. Who it was that made this discovery it would be difficult to deter-
mine, but the first steel plow of which there is any record was made in 1833
in Chicago in the woods near where the Illinois Central station at Twelfth
street now stands.

The maker of this plow was John Lane, whose son, the inventor of soft
center plow steel, was a witness of the incident, and yet lives in Chicago to
tell the interesting story. A rude forge of logs had been built by Mr. Lane,
who was a blacksmith, and to a tree that stood by it a bellows was hung.

AMERICAN ACRICUI^TrRAI. IMPLHMEXTS.

15

NATIVE PLOW, J'HIIJPriX]-; ISLANDS.

PERSIAN PLOW.

A:."OrUEK STYLE, I'H 11, 1 1'l'INH ISLANDS.

MEXIC.A.N PLOW.

HEBREW PLOW, BIBLE TIMES.

JAVANESE PLOW

JAPANESE PLOW.

JAPANESE HAND PLOW.

MEXICAN PLOW.

16 AMERICAN AGKICUI.TUR.\L IMPLEMENTS.

An old saw, probably a worn out "crosscut," had been cut and deprived of
its teeth, and three lengths of it were used to make a niouldboard of the
requisite width, another piece forming the share and an "anchor wing" of
iron, the three-cornered shin piece shown in illustration.

For several years it was impossible to obtain anything Vjut saws from
which to make a plow, and old ones were gathered up and used until the
supply was exhausted, and new ones had to be purchased. In 1830 or 1837
plow makers like I^ane were able to obtain from Pittsburg saw blanks or
plates, seven or eight inches wide, in which the teeth had not been cut, two
widths being sufficient for a mouldboard. Two or three years later, as nearly
as the younger Lane can remember, a special width of steel coula be had
from. Pittsburgh, rolled twelve inches wide, and this gave quite a boom to
the infant industry

It was a plow with a mouldboard made of old saws that John Deere,
then a blacksmith, built in 1837, after he had come west and settled in Grand
Detour, 111. The success of the first two which he made led him to build a
considerable number, for which he found a ready sale. This again inspired
him to higher eflForts, and he ordered from abroad the steel which could not
be obtained in this country in the quantitj' or quality he desired, and went
still further in his improvements. "The first slab of plow steel ever rolled
in the United States was rolled by Wni. Woods at the steel works of Jones
& Quigg and shipped to John Deere in IMoline, 111.," says James M. Swank,
in his "History of Iron and Steel In All Ages." Mr. Deere removed to
Moline from Grand Detour in 1847 and founded the business which is now
carried on, perpetuating his name. His partner at Grand Detour, Major
Andrus, continued at that place until later years.

Wm. Parlin, another pioneer in the days when the Illinois prairies were
settled and broken, worked in much the same way, beginning in 1842, and
laid the foundation for what is claimed to be the oldest permanent steel plow-
factory in the west. Many other names could be mentioned of men, who,
with the black.smith's hammer and sledge, brought forth in limited num-
bers what was then the most important of all agricultural implements.

But few patents have been issued affecting the form or general appear-
ance of the steel plow, which has always been made on simpler lines than
the chilled plow.

The manufacture of steel for plows used on the prairies of the west was
revolutionized in 1868, by the invention of "soft center" .steel for mould-
boards, shares and landsides. For a time during the infant years of the
industry plows were made from a high grade of saw steel, but before long
cheaper material was substituted, with the result that plows made of it
would not scour in all kinds of soil. Case-hardened German steel was then
tried, but it was not generally satisfactory, chiefly because of the difficulty
in tempering it imiformly. In 1862 an invention was patented that in some
measure paved the way for the introduction of "soft center" steel, but it
did not come into general favor, although it is still used successfully by two
well-known plow manufacturers. It w-as covered by the patent of Wm.
Morri.son, and consisted in the use of a cast steel plate for the face of a
mouldboard, share or landside, welded upon and strengthened by a backing

AMERICAN AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS.

17

ANOTHER STYLE PRAIEIE BREAKIXG PLOW.

PRAIRIE BREAKING PLOW OF 50 YEARS AGO.

THE FIRST STEEL PLOW, 1833

JOHN LANE'S PATENT, 1868, "SOFT CEN-
TER" STEEL.

,^r >

GILPIN MOORE, JUNE 29, 1875.

GILPIN MOORE'S PATENT, JTNE 29. 1875.

W. L. CASADAY'S PATENT, MAY 3, 1876. W. L. CASADAY'S PATENT, SEPT. 6, 1881.

18 AMERICAN AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS.

plate of soft iron. The great defect in it, wliich prevented its general in-
troduction, was its tendency to warp in tempering, which could only be
overcome by a tedious and unsatisfactory method of holding it in clamps.
The iron and steel would not expand and contract together.

John Lane, above referred to, some time prior to applying for his pat-
ent, wliich was i.ssued Sept. IT), 1868, conceived the idea of making a plate
of three layers, two outer plates of steel, with a central one of soft iron or
steel. When made in this way a mouldboard or other shape would not
warp enough to injure the scouring or turning qualities of the plow, as the
one layer of steel balanced the other in heating and tempering, and the soft
plate in the middle made the combination stronger than any form of .steel
that had ever been used.

The importance of this invention can hardly be estimated. On many
kinds of prairie soil plowing was done with great difficulty, and in some
sections it could not be done at all with the old style plows, except under
favorable conditions. The new kind of steel was like oil upon troubled
waters, and proved itself worth millions annually to the farmers of the west.
Its inventor was content with a royalty of about 3 cents on a plow, yet this
amounted to a sum that would have made Jethro Wood one of the wealthiest
men of his day.

It was of the .steel plows that turn the prairies of the west that Mr.
Marsh wrote in his beautiful "plow sentiment" in 1885 as follows: "The
young farmer, if possessed of any spirit, as he guides a well set, keen cut-
ting American plow through the ground behind a spanking team, his well
made implement answering promptly to his touch, shaving the roots, and
covering all with the ru.shing furrow as it ripples from the polished mould-
board, feels an exhilarating interest in his work, akin to that of the sailor
who plows the waves with a light, trim vessel under a spanking breeze.
There is the same sort of mastery over the elements and a like freedom of
action in governing them. In my observation of foreign farming it seemed
to me that the marked superiority of American farmers, in spirit and intelli-
gence, was largely due to the finish and capacity of the agricultural imple-
ments in use in this country.

"American inventors and manufacturers have done much bj- providing
such .superior tools, to edvicate and elevate our operating classes; while on
the other hand, such intelligence demands from manufacturers a continu-
ance of their best efforts, and the combined result is manifest in the fact
that as a working people we are infinitely in advance of all others. We
labor with zest and a masterful spirit because our tools are in accord and
give us perfect command over the work in hand. What a contrast between
our plows and the thing so called in Russia, for instance, and what a con-
trast al-so between the respective operators. Like plow, like man. On the
one side are brightness, keenness and adaptability; on the other coarseness,
clumsiness and stolidity.

"Americans whittle because they carry finely finished and keen cutting
knives, and it is a plea.sure to use them. The same pleasure exists in the
use of our machinery, generally. Not so on the other side; their imple-
ments excite no impulse to operate them nor pleasure in their operation.

AMERICAN AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS. 19

If j-our knife was but a piece of hoop iron edged, you would have no im-
pulse to whittle. A European peasant's plow beside one of ours affords a
like comparison. It does seem as if the general diffusion of intelligence
throughout the world, by paper, steam and electricity, would ere long
awaken the foreign tiller of the soil, and penetrate even his stolid soul with
an ambition for better things than what have come down to him scarce!}-
improved for a thousand years and he ought to begin the new life with an
American plow."

SULKY AND GANG PLOWS.

Although sulky riding plows are now eminently practical implements
and are in general use throughout the west, a brief period of thirty years
would cover their development. Twenty years of this time were taken up
by the invention and manufacture of various styles of the old two-wheel
sulky, the three-wheel plows, now so popular, having been made practical
for general introduction within the past ten years.

So many patents were granted during the reign of the old sulky that
they present the aspect of a pathless wilderness, one that the author has no
intention of exploring. It may be in order, however, to notice brief! v a few of
the pioneer patents on wheel plows or those on sulkies svhich became popular.
The first patent that appears in this class was granted to H. Brown, March
9, 1844, and covers an arrangement of plow bases in a gang. The next,
issued to E. Goldthwait, Nov. 26, 1851, shows a plow with two wheels sup-
porting the forward end of the beam, the plow being constructed substan-
tially like a wood beam walking plow. A patent was issued to C. R.
Brinckerhoff, Oct. 11, 1853, on a plow which was almost the same in general
form, though differing in details of construction and adjustment. Several
patents were granted on gangs prior to that of M. Turle}-, Dec. 9, 1856,
which shows a sulky with one base. During the years following patents
v\-ere issued at frequent intervals to inventors in various parts of the country,
covering the arrangement and adjustment of sulk}- and gang plows.

One of the first sulky plows to be made practical for introduction into
general use was the Davenport, based on patents issued to F. S. Davenport,
Feb. 9, 1864, for a gang plow. Robert Newton, of Jerseyville, 111., in 1864
converted one of Davenport's gangs into a three-horse plow, with one six-
teen-inch base, a three-horse evener and rolling coulter, and used it success-
fully, making many improvements which were found necessar}', such as
to change the position of the tongue, putting it between the land horses.
Mr. Newton met with many discouragements, but persevered and was able
to sell twenty-six sulky plows in 1865 in the state of Illinois. From this
small beginning he saw the trade grow until in one year 36,000 plows of
this type were sold by one house, he having captured in the meantime ninety-
one out of 107 field- trial awards. By 1868 there were several practical
sulkies in the field, and an important trial was held at Des Moines in that
year. Many other tnals were held in the years following, and at St. Louis
in 1873, there were sixteen sulky plows entered in competition, more than
had ever before been brought together.

January 19, 1875, a patent was granted to Gilpin Moore, on a sulky that
became widely known as manufactured at INIoline by Deere & Company,

20 AMERICAN AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS.

May 2, 1876, a patent was granted to W. L. Casaday, reissued Nov. 13,
1S77, on the famous Casaday sulky, made by the Oliver Chilled Plow
Works, which was the first to do away with the landside and use a wheel
set at an angle against the furrow to support the plow. Other important
patents were granted to Casaday in the years following on adjustments for
this plow. In 1884 the first of the three-wheel plows was introduced in the
trade by the Moline Plow Company, based on patents that had been issued
to G. W. Hunt. The ultimate success of this type of plow inspired invent-
ors everywhere to activity in the new field, and many improvements and
variations have been recorded in the Patent Office in the intervening years.
To enter into a description of all of them would be impossible, and it is too
early in their development for the evolution of the trade to show what
principles are destined to triumph and become the standard.

For the past forty years inventors have worked on the problem of steam
plowing. The favorite plan in England has been to draw a gang of plows
back and forth across the field by a cable driven by an engine at one side, or
often by two engines, one on each side of the plot. Many of these outfits
went into use, and at least one or two were imported into this country and
used for a time. The plan proved a clumsj^ one, however, and has been
almost entirely abandoned abroad.

In this country the popular plan has been to draw a gang of plows
behind a traction engine. In some cases a modified form of threshing
engine has been used, of sixteen or twenty-horse power or larger. Excel-
lent results have been obtained, and mauj' outfits of this type are now in
use.

During the past ten years the needs of wheat ranches in California and
elsewhere have developed a special form of engine for plowing, harvesting
and similar work. As built by Jacob Price at the J. I. Case Works in Ra-
cine, and by the Benicia Agricultural Works, Daniel Best and others in Cali-
fornia, this engine has assumed a tricycle form, the weight of the boiler
and engine resting on two very high, wide tread wheels, with a third wheel
in front of castor type for easy steering. A high pressure, force draft boiler
is used, and small, high-speed engines, developing forty to eighty-horse
power, according to the size of the outfit. Such engines are in general use
on large farms in the west, drawing twelve, fifteen and sometimes eighteea
twelve-inch plows, and turning over twenty-five to fifty acres per day.

A

CHAPTER II.

Harrows.

I,THOUGH the harrow is of far less antiquity than the plow, it is a more

used by man was undonbtedl}^ nothing more than the branch of a tree, and
it is equally probable that the next stage of development was a crude wooden
frame with wooden teeth, or possibly a forked timber with a piece extend-
ing across the rear from one prong to the other. A peculiar form of A
frame harrow, shown in our illustration, was used by the ancient Romans,
who also had a kind of smoothing harrow. Pliny says: "After seed is put
in the ground harrows with long teeth are drawn over it."

In the Bible it is said of King David, about 1033 B. C, in describing his
treatment of the men of Rabbah, that "he cut them with saws and toothed
harrows of iron and with axes." Other references are made in the Bible to
harrows as a means of torture, but no mention is found of their use in agri-
culture. We may infer, however, that they were generally used for that
purpose, and that their adaptability as a means of torture in those days of
cruelty and bloodthirstiness was only incidental.

The Japanese have used from time immemorial disk harrows, like that
shown in our illustration, which, it will be obser\'ed, has smoothing Ijlades
or teeth running behind the disks. A roller with teeth is also of unknown
antiquity in Japan, and both it and the disk harrow are in common use
to-day in that country.

Harrows may be properly divided into three general classes; spike tooth,
disk and spring tooth. The first two, as we have just seen, are of remote
antiquity, the spike tooth being probably the older, as wooden teeth w'ould
be naturally used before disks were invented. The spring tooth is an inven-
tion of the past generation. The spike tooth harrow of the early settlers in
the west was so simple in construction that the frame was usually home-
made or made to order at the village wagon-maker's, the teeth being forged
of iron by the village blacksmith. Aside from changes in frame and manner
of hitching, the only improvement of which this harrow was susceptible was
giving the point of the teeth a backward pitch to thus make them more
effective in smoothing the surface and crushing clods. With the cheapen-
ing of iron and steel, however, came the practicability of making the frame
of iron and the teeth of steel. Then a lever to change in an instant the
pitch of the teeth was invented by an Iowa man early in the "seventies" and
the spike tooth harrow as made by plow manufacturers and others and
largely sold throughout the west, wa.; perfected.

The first patent in the United States for a revolving disk for pulverizing
the soil was granted Aug. 7, 1847, to G. Page, and showed a single disk used

?i

22 AMERICAN AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS.

as a side part of a peculiar form of plow. For the arrangement of disks in
a gang, a patent was issued June 27, 1854, to H. ]M. Johnson, this invention
seeming to lay the foundation for the modern disk harrow, although in a
previous patent in 184(1, disks were shown as an attachment to a seeder,
following behind to pulverize the ground and cover the seed, with a
rake attachment bringing up the rear. S. G. Randall patented in 1859 a
combination of a broadcast seeder and two gangs of disks set at an angle.
With this invention as a basis on which to build, our inventors and manu-
facturers went on from step to step, making improvements and changes, all
of which have resulted in the various forms of disk harrows now on the
market. The manufacture of such harrows began in the "seventies" in New
York, and about 1880 prominent manufacturers in the west became interested
in the trade, which has developed largely in their hands.

The spring tooth, as generally used in harrows of this class, was in-
vented by David L. Garver, of Hart, Mich., and patented in 1869. For
eight years the inventor made unsuccessful efforts to introduce his harrow,
only making a few. At this time D. C. Reed, of Kalamazoo, became in-
terested in the harrow, and endeavored to establish the manufacture of
it. Finding Garver's invention incomplete, he improved it by the ad-
dition of an adjustable clip for holding the teeth in any position desired,
which he patented in 1877. This improvement made the new implement a
successful one, and the demand for it became general among the farmers,
especially in the eastern and central states. Many inventors sought fame
in the new field, and patents on new de^'ices and variations of old ones
multiplied, all being subordinate during its life to the Garver patent on the
spring tooth. D. C. & H. C. Reed & Co., of Kalamazoo, were the first to
begin manufacturing in the west, followed a year later by Chase, Taylor &
Co., and by others. In the east G. B. Olin & Co. at Canandaigua, N. Y.,
acquired an interest in the Garver patent and were pioneers in manufactur-
ing. As new manufacturers came into the field patent litigation increased,
and by the fall of 1890 matters had fallen into so much of a tangle that it
was deemed best by leading houses to consolidate their interests in patents,
which numbered several hundred, into a corporation to be known as the
National Harrow Co. This was accomplished, and the company was made
trustee or owner of all the patents, the different manufacturers, originally
fourteen or fifteen in number, taking licenses to manufacture. In time
others were taken into the fold, and at present the licensees number about
twenty-five. Within the past year a consolidation of manufacturing inter-
ests has been effected, several large houses turning over their business to a
new company, known as the Standard Harrow Co.

Of late years several new types of harrows have been brought before
the trade, notably an invention of La Dow, a spading harrow, manufact-
ured at Brockport, N. Y., by D. S. Morgan & Co., the old reaper house, and
the Clark "cutaway" harrow, made at Higganum, Conn.

AMERICAN AGRICULTURAL IXPLEMENTS.

23

PRIMITIVE BRUSH HARROW

FIRST IMPROVEMENT, CROSS EAR HARROW.

ROMAN SPIKE TOOTH HARROW

JAPANESE DISK HARROW.

JAPANESE TOOTHED ROLLER.

GARVER SPRING TOOTH HARB'^W, 16

CHAPTER III.

Grain Drills.

UNDOUBTEDI/Y the first method of puttinj^seed in the ground by prim-
itive man was to make holes with his stag's horn or crooked stick and
drop in the seed, covering it afterwards. Broadcast seeding probably origi-
nated in the valley of the Nile, where, after the water had subsided, a farmer
could sow his seed and drive sheep over the ground or go over it with a
brush harrow or plow. The first trace of a seeding machine that is found
in history is an Assyrian drill used many centuries before Christ, a repro-
duction of it being found on the Aberdeen "black stone," of the time of
Bsarhaddon, 080 B.C. "It was a rude implement, having a mouldboard
made from a round stick of toughened wood, with a tongue and handles
attached. In the rear of the plow point was attached a bowl-shaped hopper,
supported upon a hollow standard, through which seed passed to the furrow,
and was covered by the turned furrow falling back upon it." The Chinese
have a kind of wheelbarrow seeder with hollow teeth which draws furrows
and drops the seed, and it is claimed that this implement has been used
for ages.

It is said that in Italy about the year IGOO A. D., a seeder running on two
wheels and supporting a seed-box on its axle, was used. It was "mounted
on two wheels, the axle passing through the seed-box, on the bottom of
which was a series of holes opening into an equal number of metal tubes or
funnels, through which the seed was conducted to the ground. The fronts
of the tubes, at their lower ends, were shaped somewhat like plowshares,
and were designed to make small furrows into which the seed dropped."

Several efforts were made during the sixteenth century by English in-
ventors to perfect a seeding machine, and their machines may have worked
well in the hands of the inventors, but were soon lost sight of and forgot-
ten. One machine by an unknown inventor on the continent was manu-
factured and patented about 1664, and in 1669 John Evelyn presented
one to the Philosophical Society of London, and it is even claimed an agent
was appointed in London for its sale. The machine was attached to the
"stilts" of a plow, behind, and consisted of a seed-box having a cj-linder fur-
nished with wheels to distribute the seed, which was dropped regularly in
the furrow.

The greatest contribution to the early development of grain drills was
made by Jethro Tull in the eighteenth century. In 1731, in a work which
he published, entitled, "Horse-hoeing Husbandry," he argued that grain
and seed should not be sown broadcast, but should be planted in rows or
drills so as to admit of hoeing by horse power with proper implements. His
first drill was constructed so as to sow wheat or turnips, three rows at a time.

;i4

AMERICAN AGRICULTURAL, IMPLEMENTS.

25

ENGLISH WHEELBARROW SEEDER. 1S20.

4

T:

FOSTER, JESSUP & BROWN'S FORCE FEED,
NOV. 4. 1851.

COOKE S GRAIN DRILL. EARLY ENGLISH
INVENTION.

C. P. BROWN'S P.A.TENT, OCT. 9, 1£6C'.
FORCE FEED.

PATRIC Ji; BICKFORD, NOV. 26, 1867. FORCE FEED

J. P. FULGHUM OCT ."50, 1577. FORCE FEED.

26 AMERICAN AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS.

"It consisted of two seed-boxes with a coulter attached to each, and following
each other; behind them followed a harrow to cover in the seed. His object
in having two separate deposits of seed, and at different depths, was that
they might not sprout at the same time, and so perhaps escape the ravages
of the fly." Mr. Tull spent his lifetime and a fortune in developing this
and other implements in the line of drills, horse-hoe.s, and cultivators, and
died poor. His son died in prison for debt

In Croker's "Dictionary of Arts and Sciences," published in London,
in 1765, is the following description: ^' Drill or Drill Box," a name given
to an instrument for sowing land in the new method of horse-hoeing hus-
bandr}- (introduced by Tull). It plants the corn [grain] in rows, makes
the channels, sows the seeds in them, and covers them with earth when
sown; and all this at the same time, and with great expedition. The prin-
cipal parts are the seed-box, the hopper, the plow and its harrow, of all
which the seed-box is the chief. It measures, or rather numbers out the
seed which it receives from the hopper, and is for this purpose an artificial
hand; but it delivers out the seed much more equally than can be done by
a natural hand."

Under the heading ''Sowing'' the author argues for the "drill way" in
preference to the "common way" of spreading by hand, because of the reg-
ularity of distributing the seed and depth of planting, as well as the saving
of seed by the use of the machine.

In Dodsley's Annual Register for 1764, a seed-plow is mentioned as
having been made to go to York. It was mounted on two wheels, to be
drawn by one or tw^o horses. It made several furrows at once and would
.sow any kind of seed and cover at the same time, "all with great expedition
and exactness. " This was practically the crude predecessor of the modern
grain drill. From this time on many inventions were patented, some of
them simple and practical, others too complicated for .successful use.

A clergyman named Cooke made many improvements in this line, some
of which became a part of all British grain drills constructed since. His
drill and horse-hoe described in Loudon's Encyclopedia in 1831, was a con-
vertible machine, that is, the seed apparatus was made so it could be de-
tached, thus making a cultivator of the implement. One of these seeders
is described as follows: "The seed-box is of a peculiar shape, the hinder
part extending lower than the fore part. It is divided by partitions and
supported by adjustable bearings so as to preserve a regular delivery of the
seed, while the machine is passing over uneven ground. The feeding cyl-
inder is made to revolve by a toothed wheel w-hicli is fixed on each end of
the main axle, and gears with other toothed wheels on each end of the C3I-
inder. The surface of the cylinder is furnished with a series of cups which
revolve with it and are of various sizes according to the different seeds in-
tended to be sown. These deposit the seed regularly in funnels, the lower
ends of which lead immediately behind the coulters, which are connected
by a beam .so as to be kept in an even line, and are capable of being held
out of working, when desired, bj' a hook and line in the center. The seed,
as it is deposited, is covered bj- a harrow fixed on behind. The carriage
wheels are larger than usual, by which means the machine is more easily

AMERICAN AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS. 27

drawn over uneven ground, and the labor of working is reduced. On this
machine the grain spouts consisted of a number of tapering pipes or funnels
fitted into one another so as to form flexible tubes."

From this it will be seen that early in the century the English had
traveled far on the road towards the manufacture of grain drills, such as are
now used. The Norfolk drill is favorably mentioned by Loudon. It
sowed "a breadth of nine feet at once," and was quite generally used on
light soils and on thin ground.

In the hand-drill barrow, described by Loudon, may be seen the prede-
cessor of the one-horse drill, which is still used for covering beans and
other seeds in the east and south and in other parts of the country, as well
as for drilling corn. It is a suggestion also of the lister, a modern American
implement. A wheelbarrow seeder, such as is used for sowing grass seed,
w^as introduced in England about 1820, and it is stated that in certain parts
of England and southern Scotland, a one-horse seeder on the same principle
was in use for grain seeding, the .seed-box being large and mounted above
two low wheels.

The first patent on a seeding machine in America was granted in 1799,
and up to 1836, when the Patent Office records were burned, patents had
been granted to about thirty inventors in this line. It does not seem, how-
ever, that anything valuaVjle had been contributed to the art beyond what
we have noticed on behalf of the English inventors. The most important
inventions that were left to be discovered were in the feed and in adjusting
devices that to day distinguish American drills.

The manufacture of grain drills began in this country about 1840. A
few drills had been brought over from England and introduced here, and
efforts had been made to establish the manufacture of the machines, but
nothing permanent resulted. The first important patent of which we have
any record, was granted in 1835, and re-issued in 1838. It was on a ma-
chine designed to sow lime and plaster, and as re-issued showed that the
invention was intended to sow grain, also. In 1837 another patent was
granted, covering the application of centrifugal force, to sow lime, plaster
and small grain. In 1838 a patent was issued for a grain drill in which a
spring arm attached to a horizontal shaft revolved within the hopper and
agitated the grain over the mouths of the tubes through which it was dis-
tributed. August 25, 1840, J. Gibbons, of Adrian, Mich., patented a grain
drill with cavities to deliver seed, and a device for regulating its volume;
and in 1841 he also patented a distributing cylinder, having several rows of
cavities around its peripherj-, in combination with a hopper. These four
patents were the only ones issued in six years, two of them, it will be
noticed, being on broadcast seeding devices, and two on drills.

Among the earl}' inventors who made substantial improvements in the
invention of drills, were M. & S. Pennock, of East Marlboro, Pa., who made
considerable progress in the development of "cylinder drills. " Their first
patent, dated March 12, 1841, and re-issued Oct. 30, 1849, covered the simul-
taneous throwing into and out of operation by a lever of each seeding
c\dinder, and its corresponding tube and drill, and made so as to use any
number of hoes desired. It covered also an arrangement of spur wheels for

28 AMERICAN AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS.

connecting the seed cylinders and hoppers to the shaft, so that they could
be thrown into and out of gear when the drill was in motion. Many other
patents were issued to this firm, most of them covering improvements in
cylinder drills, in which a series of cylinders operated over a series of hoes
or tubes. In the years following 1850, patents were issued on grain drills at
frequent intervals, and it is unnecessary for us to follow them in detail.

By this time three different classes of drills were in the field, distin-
guished by their feeding devices. The first, of cylinder drills as built by
the Pennocks and others; the second, as slide drills, in which the distribu-
tion was effected or governed by means of a slide; the third class, the force
feed drills, which were then coming into use. Man}- of the slide drills used
had a slide moved by a cam or crank motion to distribute the grain, and
also a slide in the bottom of the grain-box to increase and decrease the
quantity, by enlarging or decreasing the size of the opening for the passage
of the grain. Others of this class used the slide in the bottom to govern the
quantity fed and had a metal agitator or a rotary feed in the box to assist in
the passage of the grain, and still others used two continuous flexible rollers
to distribute the grain, which regulated the quantity' by increasing or de-
creasing the distance between the rollers.

The first patent on a force feed for a grain drill was issued Nov. 4, 1851,
to N. Foster, G. Jessup, H. L. and C. P. Brown, this invention introducing
the name "force feed." The claim was as follows: " In combination with
the seed-box A' and cap «, arranging the rotary disk /, vertically and
providing it with the projections/, and the stationary vertical disk b, pro-
vided with an opening h, for receiving the grain, and the flanchesr^,
between which the said projections rotate, and by which the grain is carried
from the seed-box to the cap, and thence to the seeding tube; the whole
being arranged in the manner and for the purpose specially set forth
and described. " These parties had been associated in the manufacture of
grain drills at Palmyra, N. Y., since 1849. In 1854 the Browns removed
to Shortsville, and established a factory under the firm name of H. L. & C.
P. Brown, the firm incorporating in later years as the Empire Drill Co. In
1866 C. P. Brown patented a modification of the original Foster, Jessup &
Brown feed, which has since been used in the Empire drill, and is known
technically as the "single distributor."

About this time C. E. Patric, who had been in the employ of the
Browns, removed to Macedon, N. Y., and he and Lyman Bickford took out
several patents in 1867, covering the "double distributor." The distinguish-
ing feature of this invention was a seed-wheel or disk with carrying flanges
on each side, one chamber feeding coarse, bulky seeds, like oats, and the
other being smaller, to sow wheat, rye, etc. The invention was adopted by
Bickford & HuflFman, of Macedon, and in 1867 Mr. Patric went to Spring-
field, O., and licensed Ferrell, Ludlow & Rodgers, later Thomas, Ludlow
& Rodgers, incorporated in 1883 as the Superior Drill Co.

October 6, 1868, C. O. Gardiner, of Springfield, O., assignor to Thomas
& Mast, secured a patent on a force feed that, with later improvements from
the same inventor, became known as the Buckeye. Oct. 30, 1877, J. P.
Fulghum patented a force feed principle that has been adopted by a num-

AMERICAN AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS. 29'

ber of prominent western manufacturers. Many other feeding devices have
since been invented and introduced, but those we have noticed laid the
foundation.

Patents were granted at an early day on " adjustable rank " drills, or
those having devices for shifting the hoes from a straight rank to a staggered
position. One of the most important was that of Charles F. Davis, Feb. 18,
181)8.

About twent3--live years ago inventors turned their attention to shoe
drills, a class that has become popular in the western trade. Cooke's early
English drill shows a hoe that is in some measure suggestive of the shoe,
but it is not likely that inventors had their inspiration from this source.
Brown, of corn planter fame, had introduced the principle of a shoe so
.shaped as to cut through or rise over obstructions; and it was but a step to
adapt this invention to the grain drill. Springs for holding the shoes into
the ground were attached, as well as chains or wheels for covering the seed,
and other devices, but it is not necessary to trace their development in
detail.

The broadcast seeder, with a slide distributor, and later a force feed,
preceded the drill in general use in the west and is still extensively manu-
factured, several makers exhibiting samples at the Columbian Exposition.
In recent years they have been largely replaced in popular favor by disk
seeders convertible into disk harrows.

Fertilizer distributors are quite generally used on drills in the east, but
the western farmers have only in a few localities begun the use of com-
mercial fertilizers. Grass seeding attachments are in general use.

CHAPTER IV.

Corn-Planters and Check-Rowers.

THE practical development of the two-horse corn-planters now in general
use throughout the west and southwest dates from 1S')3. Although
there was a patent granted in 1799 to Eliakim Spooner for a seeding ma-
chine, followed by about thirty other patents in the class of " seeders and
planters," issued prior to 183G (the year in which the patent records were
destroyed), and the man who conceived the idea of the corn-planter was
probably among this number, a review of the art will show that noth-
ing available for introduction into general use had been invented prior to
the year mentioned.

D. S. Rockwell's patent, March 1:*, 1839, shows a planter with four
wheels of equal size and two seed-boxes and was intended to plant two
rows. Furrows were opened for each row by a peculiarly shaped shovel,
behind which the seed was dropped between two diagonally set blades,
the combination of shovel and blades being faintly suggestive of the modern
shoe. The rear wheel, set behind the blades, covered the corn ana packed
the earth as in the modern planter. The seed was dropped from the hopper
by a device " consisting of the slides placed above and below the partition,
and operated upon by means of a toothed segment and pinion, arranged sub-
stantially as set forth, and set in motion by one of the bearing w'heels."

The next patent, to G. Mottmiller, of Columbus, O., Sept. 1, 1843,
covered a frame jointed to the axle, but had other features not consistent
with a practical planter. E. Wood's invention, patented Jan. 10, 1845, was
intended for drilling two rows of potatoes, but had many features of a suc-
cessful corn-planter. Edward Wicks, of Bart Township, Pa., patented
March 26, 1850, a planting cylinder containing cells or cavities that could
be enlarged or diminished as might be required. D. B. Rhodes, of Concord,
N. Y., patented in December, 1850, a double-row planter in which the hopper
had two sliding bottoms arranged to measure and drop the seed. In C.
Van Every's planter, one wheel, about four feet in height, had an intermit-
tent gear with cogs at three points on its periphery to operate the dropping
device, so as to plant three hills with each revolution of the wheel, which
was about four feet high. It will be observed that all the inventions men-
tioned thus far had automatic dropping devices, but in the next patent, to
M. Corey, of Jerseyville, 111., Oct. 28, 1851, there was a claim covering
an indicator to point out "the place where corn has been planted," sug-
gestive of operating the dropper by hand. The next and last patent previous
to the appearance of a generally successful planter, was granted to H. Ver-
million, of Rising Sun, Ind., Nov. 2, 1852, and covered a peculiar distribut-
ing device.

30

AMERICAN AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS. 31

The aim of these early inventors was evidently to produce an auto-
matic planter, and nothing practical came of their efforts because the
real need of the western farmer was a planter that would place the
hills in check, so the corn could be plowed both ways. A device for
dropping the corn by hand or in some way under the direct control
of the operator must be combined with means for opening the furrow
and covering the corn. This was done by Geo. W. Brown, of Tylers-
ville (later of Galesburg), 111., whose first patent was issued Aug. 2, 1853, but
afterward re-issued Feb. 16, 1858, and again re-issued Sept. 11, 1860. It is
said that Mr. Brown used his planter successfully as early as Ma}-, 1851. In
his first patent in 1853 he claimed: "The oscillating horizontal wheels or
distributors, in the bottom of the hopper, having slots and holes of various
sizes, in combination with stationary caps and pins, for the discharge of
different kinds and quantities of seeds. Also, the arrangement of covering
rollers, mounted as described, and performing the purposes of covering the
seed, elevating the cutters in turning around, and in adjusting them to
different depths." As re-issued in 1858 the patent had only one claim: "A
shoe for opening a furrow, which has a convex edge in front and a seed-
tube in its rear end, so that it may cut through any grass, open out a furrow
and hold it open until the seeds are deposited in it, substantially as herein
set forth."

In the re-issue of Sept. 11, i860, all the new features in Mr. Brown's
planter were covered in five divisions cr claims. Briefly stated, the first
division covered the frame, supported in front on not less than two runners
or shoes with upward inclining edges, and the rear part supported on not
less than two wheels, the latter being arranged to follow the former. The
second division covered the shoe or runner, edged and cur\-ed upward in
front so as to climb, cut or break through obstacles, and widening toward
its rear end so as to open a furrow for the seed; and also made long enough
to furnish support to the frameworK. The third division covered the hinged
joint between tongue and rear of the machine, so that one part of the frame
might be raised, lowered, adjusted or supported on the other part. The
fourth division claimed the operation by hand of the dropping mechanism,
by an attendant riding on the machine, in position to see the marks for the
corn and to operate in conformity therewith; also the lever and its arrange-
ment by which the driver could raise the framework and seeding devices
carried thereon, to aid the machine in passing over obstacles and in turning
around. The fifth division claimed in combination with runners and cover-
ing wheels, a pair of auxiliary wheels and an axle for the double purpose of
taking the weight off the runners and covering wheels, and for affording
means for converting the machine from a planter operated by hand to an
automatic seed-sower; and also hanging the axle of auxiliary wheels in ad-
justable arms or levers so that more or less of the weight of the machine
might be placed upon said auxiliary wheels.

Other patents were granted about this time. One to L. Caswell, of
Harrison, Me., Aug. 1, 1853, covered an adjustable axle; another to E. Mar-
shall, of Clinton, N.J., April 11, 1854, was on automatic dropping devices;
and .still another to M. Ward, of Owego, N. Y., March 27, 1S.55, covered
a slotted adjustable share and short compressing blocks on the periphery

32 AMERICAN AGRICULTURAL IMl'LKMENTS.

of the wheel, to press the earth over the seed and at the same time mark
the hill. Geo. W. Brown's second patent was issued May 8, 1855, and
claimed: "In combination with the hoppers and their semi-rotating plates,
the runners F, with their valves e, and their adjustment by means of levers
and cams, and the driver's weight, for the purpose of carrying and dropping
seeds by each vibration of the lever D, and to regulate the depth of planting
as described."

This second patent of Mr. Brown's was re-issued Nov. 10, 1857, and
again Dec. 11, 1860. As re-issued it covered: Placing seats of driver and
dropper so that one balanced the other; making driver's seat adjustable so
he could put more or less of his weight on the .seeding apparatus and thus
regulate the depth; hanging the seeding apparatus on hinged joints so it could
be raised out of the ground and carried on the wheels and tongue; a stop
for preventing rear part of frame from descending too low when the for-
ward part was raised and carried; and finally, an improvement in drop-
ping device, by which, with one lever, the seed passages could be opened
and closed at regular inten/als to pass measured quantities.

The first patent on a marker was granted to E. McCormick, Oct. 16,
1855, for a device projecting from the end of the axle. F. Goodwin, of
Astoria, N. Y., March 3, 1857, showed in his patent the first marker that
could be changed from one side to the other, but did not make any claim
on it, and Kuschke and Merkel, of St. Louis, in their patent of May liH,
1857, made no claim for their marljers, one on each side of the ^jlanter, ar-
ranged so as to be folded over the planter when not in use. The marker as
used to-day was shown in the invention of jarvis Case, of La Fayette, Ind.,
whose patent, under date of Dec. 1, 1857, showed a marker having a double-
edged shoe, and hinged so that it could be turned over to mark on either
side, or be raised clear of the ground in turning.

Many other inventors contributed their ideas and work to the evolu-
tion of the modern planter, which represents the simplest and best devices
of all combined into one, though of course there are points of difference in
nearly all the planters of standard makers. J. \V. Vandiver in 1863 patented
adjustable covering shares, a feature of the old Vandiver planter made at
Quincy, since improved by J. C. Barlow, his associate and the head of the
Barlow Corn Planter Co. Gait & Tracy, of Sterling, 111., were large manu-
facturers of planters of the "open heel " drop pattern in the early daj-s, be-
ginning in 1867, and they contributed many improvements. An early patent
of Geo. W. Brown shows the principle of the rotary drop, in which the
dropping plate is rotated by intermittent steps, moving forward with either
a right or left motion of the dropping lever. The Deere & Mansur Co., of
Moline, 111., are accredited with pioneer work in adapting this rotary drop
to a check-rower. The ^Moline Plow Co. introduced a few years ago the
principle of gearing the dropping mechanism to the wheel of the planter so
as to drop one kernel at a time into the valve. The advantage of this de-
vice, which has been generally adopted by manufacturers, is that the corn
can, if desired, be planted in hills with a checkrow attachment, or the
check- rower can be taken off and the corn drilled in. The Fuller & John-
son Mfg. Co. of Madison, Wis., have introduced what they term a "force

AMERICAN" AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS.

33

D. S. ROCKWELL'S PATENT, 1839.

GEO. W. DROWNS I:K-i I'LAMi-K i >53.

M. ROBBINS. I'AlKNT. ISbT.

G. D. HAWORTH'S PATENT, 1870.

34 AMERICAN AGRICUI/rfRAL IMPIJiMEXTS.

feed," a peculiar form of secoudary drop, operating in the valve of the
planter. The H. P. Deuscher Co., of Hamilton, O., have as a feature of
their planter a telescoping axle, by which the wheels can be moved away
from the rows when it is not best to pack the soil on the corn.

Within the last year or two steel has been generally adopted in the con-
struction of planters, the Farmers Friend Mfg Co., of Dayton, O., leading
in the change. Many other improvements and adaptations might be noticed,
but enough has been said to point out the landmark patents and improve-
ments.

The lister is a modified form of corn-planter that is used extensively in
the southwest where the soil is dry and other conditions are favorable to
this method of planting. The distinguishing feature of a lister is a small
double mouldboard plow adapted to opening a furrow (generally with a
subsoiler running. behind to make a seed-bed), in combination with a cover-
ing wheel, a seed-box and mechanism actuated by the covering wheel for
dropping the corn. Sometimes a lister is mounted on two wheels like an
old-fashioned sulky plow, and still other forms and adaptations have been
used.

The advantage of planting in this manner is that the seed is covered in
the bottom of a furrow, and is better prepared to withstand the dry weather
common in the southwest, and besides, planting can be done without first
plowing and harrowing the land. In drj- seasons a lister could be used to
advantage in Illinois and other central states, but generally there is too
much moisture in the ground.

The introduction of the lister dates back about fifteen years. Several
patents were granted to IMi.ssouri and Kansas farmers, and the implements
were at first made in small numbers by local blacksmiths. The Parlin &
Orendorfif Company of Canton, 111., were the first of the old line plow" man-
ufacturers to make the new implement in quantities for the trade, the late
Wm. Parlin having given considerable attention to its development.
THE CHECK-ROWER.

The first invention of a planter to drop in check automatical!}', is
accredited to M. Robbius, of Cincinnati, Ohio, whose patent of Feb. 10,
1857, covered a reversible hopper, an arm with vibrating claw or tappet con-
nected with the seeding mechanism, in combination with a jointed rod or
chain provided with buttons. This patent was re-issued Feb. t>, 1S.J8, with
three claims, the first covering the dropping of seed from a plow or drill by
means of an anchored chain or its equivalent, the second claim covering the
chain or cord, and the third claiming an arm with a vibrating claw or tap-
pet, or equivalent devices, operating the seed discharging mechanism.
Mr. Robbins' invention was practically a one hor.se drill, with the chain or
rod attached as patented, and it did not become known as a "check- rower."
This name was given to later inventions of the Haworths and others, who
had in view a separate attachment to be put on any planter. A few planters
Robbins made worked well, but they were not practical and he died poor.

The next patent following that of Robbins was issued to John Thomp-
son and John Ramsay, of Aledo, 111., vSept. 29, 1804, and covered "the em-
ployment or use of a wire or cord, provided with knots at a suitable distance

AMERICAN AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS. 3-")

apart, and applied to the machine substantially as shown in connection with
anchors." This was re-issued as assigned to G. D , J. W., L. L. and M.
Haworth, Dec. 21, 1875, and again Oct. 31, 1876. The last re-issue covered
the knotted cord for actuating seeding devices; guides or pulleys arranged to
transfer said cord from one side of the machine to the other in its passage
over the same; the combination with the rock shaft operated upon the cord,
of forked arms or levers placed one at each end of said rock shaft and
adapted to be operated upon alternately by the cord; and finally, the arrange-
ment of seeding devices in connection with the cord, whereby the latter
could impart positive movement in one direction to seeding devices. April
24, 1S()6, \V. W. Hubbard, of Edinburg, Ind., obtained a patent for various
improvements, which also was re-issued to the Haworths, March 27, 1877.
This coA-ered horizontal traversing bars for automaticalh- moving check-row
cords at the end of the field, and a movable arm for supporting on machine
when turning. G. D. Haworth took out a patent on check-rower devices
Feb. 22, 1870, and several others were issued later to the Haworths in the
sams line.

A patent was issued to Alden Barnes, of Bloomington, 111., Nov. 5, 1872,
and was re-issued in two divisions P^eb. 20, 1877, covering several devices,
the most important being a check-row chain made with knots formed bj-
coiling a piece of wire around the main wire. It was assigned to the Cham-
bers, Bering, Ouinlan Company, of Decatur.

Improvements now became necessary in the dropping mechanism. The
slide drop had become too slow for use on the check-rower, and a rotary
drop was therefore devised and adopted. With this invention the develop-
ment of the more important features of the check-rower was completed,
although many changes and improvements have been made from time to
time by leading manufacturers in the details of its construction.

CHAPTER V.

Corn Cultivators.

As in the case of the two-row corn-planter, the development of the "strad-
dle-row" sulkj' cultivator has been since iSoO. In fact, it would seem
that the development of these two implements has been on parallel lines, so
inseparably connected have the}' been with the history- of modern corn-
growing methods in the Mississippi valley and elsewhere. The corn-planter
came first in the conception of inventors, and its use by the farmers no
doubt created the demand for a cultivator that would be more efficient and
rapid in its operation than the old t^'pe of horse hoes that had come down,
with little improvement, from the hands of Jethro Tull. Altogether, the
two implements have made it possible for one man to grow forty acres of
corn in connection with other farm work on a like scale, a result that no
doubt seems impossible to the farmers of the eastern part of our own coun-
try; but that is almost the average of those making a specialty of corn-grow-
ing in the west. It is not the author's intention to treat in this chapter of
horse hoes, called cultivators in the east. It is true they were the predeces-
sors of the modern sulky cultivators, but there seems to have been an inter-
mediate stage in the development of the corn cultivator. For man}' years
prior to the invention of Esterlj-, to be noticed further along, wheel cultivat-
ors had been used to prepare fallow ground for seeding without the use of
the plow. These old implements had two wheels carrying a frame with a
vertical adjustment, to which the shovels were hung, as well as a seat for
the driver and numerous other devices for convenience in operating them or
for making their work more effective.

It would be a natural evolution for inventors to next think of dispens-
ing with the shovels in the middle and hanging the others on two separate
gangs, which could be attached to the axle or frame and drawn by hinged
or swivel couplings. This, in fact, was the next step that was taken. The
first patent on a sulky cultivator having a combination of these principles
was granted to George Esterly, of Wisconsin, the famous inventor and
manufacturer of grain headers. It was dated April 22, 1856. Aug. 2*3 of
the same year, H. D. Ganse, of New Jersey, patented a cultivator having
means for controlling the gangs by the feet. Jan. 13, 1857, J Shaw, of
Georgia, patented a cultivator in which the hoes or shovels had a swivel ad-
justment to throw the dirt to and from the plants. N. Whitehall, of In-
diana, patented April 27, 1857, a cultivator in which the axle was arched
over the row (Esterly's patent and others showing only a straight axle),
and which also had an evener suspended upon three points. A drag fender
or shield, attached to the gangs on each side, was covered in the patent of
N. Eraser and A. J. McClellan, Aug. 10, 1858.

AMERICAN AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS.

W. p. BROWN'S COUP-UN-G, 18.9. GILPIN MOORF.'S SPRING AND COUPLING, 1879.

38 AMERICAN AGRICUI/rCRAI, IMPLEMENTS.

James Dundas, of Illinois, later of Nebraska, secured Feb. 8, lHo9, a
patent, re-issued Oct. 1(1, 18GG, in which there were six conilnnation claims
on the use of two wheels on a cultivator arranged with two gangs w-ith a
space between them, a seat for the driver, and means for moving the gangs
laterally and raising the plows relatively to the treads of the wheels.

B. Tin\iham, assignor to Hapgood & Co., an old Chicago firm of plow
makers, obtained a patent Dec. 11, ISfJO, that was re-issued Jan. 10, 1871. It
claimed a beam hinged or pivoted to an axle by a joint, whereby the beams
with their shovels had both a vertical and lateral swing in an upright po.si-
tion. It al.so claimed a rearward extension of the arched axle of the plow,
with supports on it for holding up the gangs when not in operation. The
name of L- B. Waterman, of Chicago, first appears in a patent issued to
him May 13, 18(52, covering an adjustable seat, a feature of the Waterman
cultivator, built for many years b}' Furst & Bradley.

J. A. Thorp and John Cox, of Michigan, patented Jan. 27, 1803, the
use of a yielding connection or wooden peg in the shank of the gang, so
that the shovel might yield when it came against an obstruction that would
otherwise break it.

The patent i.ssued to P. Coonrod, of Illinois, Dec. 24, 1867, shows a
coupling with a sleeve fitted on the axle, as illustrated, this laying the foun-
dation for the Brown and later patents using a sleeve or box. July 9, 1872,
a patent was issued to W. P. Browu, of Zanesville, Ohio, on a spring, the
claim being worded as follows: "Spring arms and chains for suspending the
weight of the .shovel beams, substantially as and for the purpose described."
]\Iay 1'), 1877, an important patent was issued to the same inventor on a
coupling and spring, and Jan. 3, 1879, still another patent covering details
of what is known as the Brown coupling, more generally used by manufact-
urers than any other.

July 22, 1879, a patent was issued to G. Moorp, of Moline, 111., covering'
the use of a spring and coupling, as shown in illustration. Dec. 16,1879,
E. A. Wright, of Iowa, patented a peculiar .spring, the principle of it being
to exert a lifting strain on the gang after it has been raised above its
operating position, and to bear down on it, rather than lift it, while it is in
the ground. Byron C. Bradley, of Chicago, April 27, 1880, .shows the use
of a "C" .spring and chain, the spring being mounted directly on the coup-
ling, and, therefore, independent of the upper part of the frame. This
patent also .shows a draft spring. E A. Wright, of lov/a, was granted a
second patent June 7, 1881, covering more fully the principle of his double-
acting spring. Since that time many other patents have been issued on
changes of form, and on the adaptation of springs and couplings.

For many years following the introduction of cultivators, the popular
style was the "long swing," in which the coupling was located forward of
the axle, and thus permitted the use of longer beams, and gave the gangs a
long, easy swing. Cultivators with the coupling at the axle, however,
were in the field early, and soon grew in favor on account of their conven-
ience and compactness.

Many adaptations of the .standard t}-pe of cultivator have been made by
inventors, for corn cultivation and other uses. Disks in place of shovels

AMERICAN AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENT^; 39

have been introduced by a number of manufacturers, and meet with favor.
Spring teetli, an adaptation of the old Garver harrow tooth, have also come
into favor, the late Horatio Gale, of Albion, ^lich. (founder of the Gale
Manufj^cturing Company) having given considerable attention to their de-
velopment. D. S. Morgan & Co., of Brockport, N. Y , make a "spading"
cultivator, and the Cutaway Harrow Co., of Higganum, Conn., have intro-
duced their "cutaway" disks in this field.

AVithin the past few years many styles of "tongueless" walking cultiva-
tors have been put on the market by manufacturers, and have met with a
favorable reception. They have the advantages of general convenience,
light draft, flexibility in the frame so that the gangs can be held more
steadily and nearer to the corn when it is small, and less room is required
for turning at the side of the field. For these and other reasons, they are
preferred by farmers who are not averse to walking.

Manufacturing in this line is now largely in the hands of the steel plow
manufacturers, each of whom has patents covering distinctive devices in
couplings, springs and other parts.

[Chapters VI. VII. VIII, and IX on Reapers, Harvesters, Automatic Binders and
Mowers, are substantially the historical articles compiled by C. W. Marsh and published
in the Farin Implemeut A'ezfS, beginning in January, 1856. Nearly all the chapters of this
book are written from data compiled by Mr. Marsh, but those specially referred to are
practically his writing.]

CHAPTER VI.

The Reaper.

THE harvesting of grain when ripe and ready to gather has been, until
within a few j-ears, the most burdensome and exacting operation on the
farm. It may not be delayed like other work, for if not promptly done the
farmer might lose all the fruits of his previous labors, and unless properly
and carefully performed his losses maj' still be severe.

Harvest was a season of toil and anxiety, and its close among most
nations was celebrated by general rejoicings. Games and rustic fetes marked
the final ingathering of the sheaves. The husbandmen ceased their labors
and threw off their cares in rounds of uproarious jollification. In the old
simple daj-s of England the "Harvest Home," or close of the season, was
such a scene as Horace's friends might have expected to see at his Sabine
farm, or Theocritus might have described in his Idyls; and possibly such
scenes were presented in those ancient times. The last sheaves were brought
home in what was called the hock-cart, surmounted by a sheaf formed and
dressed to represent a female figure — presumably the goddess Ceres — or by
pretty girls of the reaping band fantasticall}' attired and crowned with
flowers. A pipe and tabor led the procession, while the reapers danced
around shouting:

"Harvest-home, harvest-home.

We have plowed, we have sowed.

We have reaped, we have mowed,

We have brought home every load,

Hip, hip. hip, han'est home," etc.

Those merry days have long since passed. Our age is hard and practi-
cal. Everything now is done for gain, and this disposition has chilled
the simple, joyous cu.stoms of our fathers; besides, modern invention
has rendered harvesting as ordinary a process as any other on the farm,
and has deprived it of many of the features which in old times made it im-
portant and interesting.

The farmer, who, driving from a comfortable seat, rolls off ten or fifteen
acres of well bound sheaves per day from his machine, has btit little con-
ception of the amount of painful study and expensive experiments, of the
many inventions it has required to bring from the ancient sickle to the
machine with which he so easily gathers his grain, such perfection as it has
attained.

For such development the world is indebted, first, to inventors purely;

second, to men who arranged and combined crude inventions or devices

into practical machines; and, third, to foresighted business men, who, rec-

ognizixig the value of improved machines, put them upon the market as

trade ventures. Some who have been prominent in this line have com-

40

AMERICAN AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS. 41

bined these attributes in a greater or less degree, but this general classifica-
tion can be maintained. Either class, and especially the third, has been
inclined to assume :nore than its share of credit, and profit also, but historj-
should, though it seldom does, right such matters so far as it can, and give
credit only where it properly belongs.

There is no record of any machine constructed to reap grain otherwise
than by hand until about the close of the last century. There was unques-
tionably a stripping harvester used by the Gauls early in the Christian era,
but as it was not properly a reaper, it will be noticed further along under
harvesters.

"In the summer of 1870," says IMr. Marsh, "I spent several pleasant
days at an agricultural college in Ungarisch Altenburg. a little town situ-
ated upon an arm of the Danube, which puts out from the main river not
far below Vienna, and returns to it at Raab. While there I was shown a
model of a primitive reaper in the college museum, built somewhat after the
styleof the Kerr machine made in 1811. It had a revolving perpendicular
drum, carrying a projecting circular knife at its base, and a rim at the top
notched so as to catch and carry the heads of the cut grain, and, in connec-
tion with the knife, operating on the butts as the drum revolved, to de-
liver in a swath outside of the line of the cut. This drum with its knife
and notched rim was revolved, as I remember, by a crossed belt on a system
of pulleys from the axle, between the two wheels, which supported the
drum, suspended before them to a pulley on an upright spindle through
the center of the drum. It had shafts reaching back for the animal which
pushed it forward, and it was altogether a simple contrivance which might
work fairly well. The professors told me that this model was a reconstruc-
tion from an engraving on a stone found in this vicinity (the country here is
level, exceedingly fertile, and was colonized by fugitive Cathagenians dur-
ing the third Punic war, about 150 B. C), and that this stone had been veri-
fied by similar lines of figures found engraved among the ruins of Car-
thage. It may be further said that the Cathagenians were an exceedingly
enterprising, ingenious and practical people, noted for trade'and manufact-
ures. It was of them the old Romans said that their onh' aim in life was
'to buy cheap and sell dear. ' They were infinitely more advanced than the
Gauis, who used the stripping harvester or header not so very long after,
and they might have produced either. ' '

The publication just one hundred years ago by the Society of Arts,
Manufactures and Commerce, in Great Britain, of Pliny's description of the
stripping harvester used in Gaul, brought out two years after an answering
machine from Mr. Pitt and one or two others of the same class. The first
patent granted for a reaping machine was obtained in England by Joseph
Boyce, July 4, 1799, which is only remarkable because of being the first. In
the following years several patents were granted, but it is impossible to
notice within the scope of this book any other than those which first show
some feature that has remained as a necessary part of a practical reaping
machine to this day; and as this movement began in England, we will con-
tinue with British inventors for a time. Gladstone, in 1806, produced a
reaper mounted on two wheels, M-hich was drawn from the front, with side

42 AMlvRICAN ACRICLLTIRAI, IMI'MvMKNTS.

cutting apparatus, and a seguiL-ntal bar having fixed guard teeth therein
for gathering and holding the grain while being cut. In 1807 Mr. Pluck-
netthada machine, which, as described, was drawn from the front and side,
and a driver's seat is shown thereon. The machine, which he patented in
180"), a crude thing, had gatherers, or outside and inside dividers. Both
Gladstone and Plucknett used revolving cutters. Salmon's reaper in 1S()7
had a divider or "projecting bar which separates the standing corn [grain]
from tliat to be cut," supported by a grain wheel, the latter arranged to
raise and lower the cut of the machine. It had vibrating knives cutting
over stationary edged guards, like shears, and it had also an upright,
pendulous, vibrating self- rake, worked by a crank, which swept across the
cutting apparatus at regular intervals, depositing the grain in gavels or
bunches at the side.

In 1811 two reapers upon like novel principles were invented, one by
Smith and the other by Kerr, the cutting being accomplished by a circular
knife projecting from the base of a drum and .evolving therewith. An
illu.stration of the Kerr machine is shown.

In 1814 a theatrical genius by the name of Dobbs invented a reaper,
which he advertised by introducing it upon the stage, the latter being
planted with wheat and cut by the machine during the course of a play
adapted to it.

Mr. vScott, in LSI-"), produced a peculiar reaper with a circular cutting
movement, the cutters having serrated edges, the only lasting feature Ijeing
his grain divider and inside gatherer, which he described as follows: "There
was fixed on the long right hand prong P, Fig. 3, a sheet of thin plate iron
kneed to the same acute angle with the prong, and of the same height with
the drum, for the purpose of dividing the standing corn from that to be cut,
and there was also an inclined piece of sheet iron, etc., so placed on the left
hand side."

Mann's machine, in 1820, carried the cut grain off into a swath with
revolving rakes. It had a regular tilting lever by which " the director of
the machine has it in his power to raise or depress the forepart and cutter
at pleasure. " It was raised and lowered on the carrying wheels, and "for
this purpose the axles of both wheels of the carriage are supported in sliding
bars with guide rods, N. N.

And now we come to the most original, the cleanest, simplest and
greatest single invention ever made in harvesting machiner}', that of Henry
Ogle, a schoolmaster of Rennington, assisted by Thomas and Joseph Brown,
founders, at Alnwick, England, in 1822. This schoolmaster possessed in-
ventive genius of a high order, and a modesty equal to his ability. He
says, in a description of his invention and their efforts: "I made a small
model, but not being a workman myself, and being on very friendly terms
with one Thomas Brown, a founder, and his son. Joseph Brown, I presented
it to them." After describing their first efforts, he says: "They chen m.ide
the teeth [guards] shorter and tried it again, in a field of wheat. It then
cut to great perfection, but .still not laying the corn [grain] into sheaves,
the farmer did not think that it lessened the expense much." Mr. Brown
took it home again, and added the part for collecting the corn into a sheaf,

AMERICAN' AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS.

43

THE OGLE REAPER, 1822

hussey's reaper, 1833.

BELLS REAPER, 1826.

MCCORMICK'S REAPER, AS BriLT AT BROCK-
PORT, N. Y., 184»i

AMBLER'S SICKLE BAR, 1834.

THE NEW YORKER SELF RAKE.

THE ]OiiS P. MA-N.VV KEAPrR.

44 AMERICAN AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS

G, G (the platform I, when he tried it again at Ahiwick in a fiehl of barley,
which it cut and laid out into sheaves remarkably well Messrs. Brown
then advertised at the beginning of 1823 that they would furnish machines
of this sort complete for sheaving corn, "but farmers hesitated at the ex-
pense, and some working people at last threatened to kill Mr. Brown if he
persevered any further, and it has never been tried more." It was esti-
mated from the cutting it did to have an average capacity of fourteen acres
per day. By reference to the illustration of this machine it will be seen
that it had all the elements of the modern hand-raking reaper and dropper.
It was drawn from the front and side. It was supported on two driving
wheels. It had the ordinary reel. It had the projecting bar with the
guard-teeth, a reciprocating knife or sickle, cutting over s.iid guard teeth,
and a grain platform attached to and behind the bar. Hinged, it was used
as a dropper; rigid, the grain was put off in gavels to the side. In the
words of Mr. Ogle, this frame or platform, G, G, when hinged, "is lifted
till as much corn is collected as will be a sheaf, and let fall by a lever, H, H,
over a fulcrum upon the iraxae B, B, etc., when the corn slides off, when
it is a little raised again. It was found, however, to answer better when it
was put oflf by a man and a fork toward the horse, as it is easier bound and
leaves the stubble clear for the horse to go upon."

From the position of the lever it is certain that a seat was provided for
its operator. As the grain ' 'was put off by a man and a fork towards the
horse" — not raked — the forker probabl}^ stood on the machine; and, un-
questionably, as the machine was made for use in the field, it had a grain
wheel or shoe, divider and inside gatherer, as these had been previously in-
vented, described and publicl}^ used; and also other necessary parts to make
it fully operative, for Mr. Ogle says, in closing his description: "I have
only given a part of the framing [construction], as most mechanics take
their own way of fixing the main principle."

The next and last British reaper which we need notice was invented by
Rev. Patrick Bell, of Carmyllie, Scotland, in 1<S2(). The illustration shows
its construction so clearl}' that a general description is unnecessary. It had
a shear-cutting apparatus, the lower cutters being fixed, the upper shearing
across them, with an advancing movement also. The grain was delivered
again.st the cutters b)' an adjustable reel, and was carried to the side by a
revolving canvas or endless apron, as shown.

This machine worked well, and quite a number of them were built for
the market. One at least was shipped to America in 1884 to John B. Yates,
of Chittenango, Madi.son county, N. Y., who used it successfully.

Here we may leave British inventors, conceding to them that the hand-
rake reaper, self-raker and dropper were invented by them. But they were
inventors simply, while progress and practical development were due to
American invention and enterprise— to the men who arranged and combined
old devices into practical machines, inventing improvements and perfecting
details, and also to men of business foresight, who put such improved ma-
chines upon the market. Unquestionably some devices were doubly in-
vented, i.e , on both sides of the water, as there was so little communication
between the two countries in the early part of the century.

AMERICAN AGRICULTURAL IMPLHMEXTS. 45

American invention in this line, so far as there is any record, began
vrith the patent issued to Richard French and T. J. Hawkins, of New Jersey,
May 17, 1803. No reliable description of this machine seems to be extant.
Five patents of no general importance were issued between that time and
Feb. 13, 1822, when Jeremiah Bailey, of Pennsylvania, took out one for cut-
ting grass or grain. This machine was supported on two wheels, one only
being the driver; the horse walked to the side and front and the circular
scythe frame projected into the grain. It was the first to indicate the prin-
ciple contained in a flexible bar, as "with the inequalities of the ground the
scythe frame, shaft and trundlehead rise and fall." E. Cope and J. Hooper,
Jr., of Pennsylvania, obtained a patent May 18, 1825, for a machine which
was considered simply as an improvement on the Bailey, having the same
general principles but being less complicated in construction. It is claimed
that this machine worked well.

The next invention showing marked progress was that ofWni. Manning,
of New Jersey, patented May 3, 1831. His reaper had two grcund wheels
fixed to the same axle, from which a frame extended having a bar attach-
ment provided with guard-teeth, over which a sickle with spear-shaped sec-
tions reciprocated. This was substantially the scalloped sickle. Three
inventions, of no importance, except Schnebly's, 1833, which had an inter-
mittent endless apron gaveler, are mentioned between the date of Manning's
patent and that of Obed Hussey, Dec. 31, 1833.

Hussej-'s machine w'as principal!}' remarkable for its compact form, its
hinged frame, and for the novel construction of its guard-teeth, which were
made double or slotted, so that the scalloped or zigzag knife might vibrate
through the openings, the space between each guard, from center to center,
being as wide as the distance between each point on the knife or sickle.
This was a marked improvement, and the machine was really the first one
made sufficiently practical to find a regular market and to come into general
use Its manufacture began in 1834; it was introduced into different states
immediately following; it was built in substantially the same form (though
guards were improved in 1847) continuously up to about thetimeof Hussey's
death, and its chief feature has been incorporated in all harvesting machines
made since.

To Bernard Jackson, of Ohio, was granted a patent, June 14, 1834, for a
four-wheeled reaper having ' 'discharging arms, which are to deposit the grain
as it is cut behind the left side of the machine."

The next patent was granted to Cyrus H. McCormick, of Virginia, June
21, 1834. After describing his machine, he says: "And I particularly claim
the cutting by the means of a vibrating blade, operated by a crank, having
the edge either smooth or with teeth, either with stationary wires or pieces
above and below, and projecting before it, for the purpose of staying or sup-
porting the grain whilst cutting; or the using a double crank, and another
blade or vibrating bar, as before described, having projections before the
blade or cutter on the upper side, both working in contrary directions,
thereb}' lessening the friction and liability to wear by dividing the motion
necessary to one between the two. ' '

McCormick built only a few experimental reapers such as he described

46 AISIKRICAX AGRICIXTI-RAI, IMPLKMKNTS.

in this patent. Tliey were not sufficiently practical for the market. Rutin
1S4.") he went to Brockport, N. Y., and arranged with .Seymour «S: Morgan
to make his machine as improved. One hundred werebuiit for the harvest
of 1846, which were fairly successful. Not long after he went to Chicago
and began his eminently successful career as the manufacturer of his reaper,
which soon became well known throughout the west.

December 23, 1834, Enoch Ambler, of New York, obtained a patent
about which but little can be learned. It is understood, however, that he
used the first wrought-iron finger-bar with steel guards and steel shoes.
The illu-^tration shows what is said to be his old bar. Abraham Rundell, of
New York, April 22. 1835, patented a machine with double-acting scissors
cutters, and also with a raking and discharging device. A number of i)at-
ents containing nothing particularly new were granted during the balance
of this year, and until June 28, 183G, when H. Moore and J. Hascall, of Mich-
igan, obtained one on some valuable features; Vjut as this machine was a
harvester it wall be described farther along. Again we pass over several pat-
ents obtained for various devices until we come to that of Jonathan Reed,
of New York, March 12, 1842. He claimed vibrating knives with .serrated
edges in combination with serrated guards; also a peculiar self-rake, the
teeth of which projected through slots in the platform. Passing along
again over useless inventions, or those relating to harvesters, we stop at the
name of \Vm. F. Ketchum, of New York, but his patent of Nov. IS, 1844,
was of little consequence.

January 31, 1845, C. H. McCormick obtained a patent covering "the
curved or angled downward for the purpose described) bearer for supporting
the blade," the reversed angle of the teeth of the blade, the construction of
the guards so as to form angular spaces in front of the blade, the combina-
tion of bow and dividing iron for supporting the grain, and the position of
the reel-post on his machine.

\Vm. F. Ketchum, ]\Iarch 7, 1846, obtained a patent on a machine hav-
ing the driving wheels under the grain platform; and Clinton Foster pat-
ented, April 18, a self-rake which swept across the platform as controlled
by the operator. This was quite an advance in the direction of a practical
self-raking reaper Alexander Wilson, of New York, Sept. 3, got a patent
on several devices, the one noticeable being upon the construction by which
cutters may follow the undulations of the ground independent of and not
affected by the up and down movement of the horse." Nov. 20, Andrew J.
Cook, of Indiana, obtained a patent on a revolving reel rake, the first of its
class.

Wni. F. Ketchum came to the front again July 10, 1847, with an
ingenious and simple machine, which made quite a sensation at the time.
There was an endless chain of cutters on a bar projecting from the center
of the drive-wheel which did not prove practical, but his bar was made to
sweep the ground only the length of the cutting part, then angled up to the
drive-wheel frame. As this is the common way of making and attaching
finger-bars, the invention was valuable.

Obed Hussey, Aug. 7, 1847, obtained his important patent for fastening
the upper piece of the guard to the lower piece at the point, leaving the

AMERICAN AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS. 47

back end unconnected, so as to prevent choking, as all guards are now
made.

C. H. INIcCormick, Oct. :*3. obtained another patent on his machine for
"placing the gearing and crank forward of the drive-wheel for protection
from the dirt, etc., and thus carrying the driving-wheel further back than
heretofore, and sufficiently so to balance the rear part of the frame and the
raker thereon, when this position of the parts is combined with the sickle
back of the axis of motion of the driving-wheel by means of the vibrating
power. " He also claimed the combination of reel with raker's seat, arranged
and located as described, so as to enable the raker to rake and deliver the
grain on the ground to the side of the machine, etc.

Continuing the record, Nov. 14, 1848, F. S. Pease, of New York, ob-
tained a patent on a combination of levers with rake for operating the
latter. On Nov. 21, .same year, Goble and Stuart patented a rotary rake
which was to pass horizontally across platform, and was "given an unequal
motion for the purpose of raking the cut grain in an effectual manner,"
and Daniel Gushing, of Aurora, 111., same date, on revolving rakes.

January 16, 1849, Oliver Barr, of Aurora, 111., patented a revolving rake
and an inclined platform with a sort of trap door for grain to fall through
— a kind of dropper. Jas. L. and H. K. Fountain, of Rockford, 111., Mav
lo, were allowed a claim for "giving to a vibrating blade a compound
transverse and horizontal cut by combining it with stationary teeth or a
reel." The old "Fountain," as after improved, was a popular machine in
its da^-. A.J. Purviance, of Ohio, Ma}' 22, obtained a patent for construct-
ing the platform separate from the other framework, so as to convert the
machine easily into a mower or reaper as required. This was an important
feature and marked the beginning of practical combined machines. On
June 12 a very important patent was granted to Nelson Piatt, of Ottawa,
111., which was assigned to Seymour & ^Morgan. This was the first of the
sweep-rake system which afterward became so popular. The rake swept
the grain off in gavels at right angles to the path of the machine. J. J. and
H. F. Mann, of Indiana, June 19, patented a self-rake consisting of endless
bauds, which delivered the grain into a receiver, whence it was discharged
by an attendant upon the ground in gavels. The Manns were ingenious
and worthy inventors, but unfortunate as manufacturers. A few other pat-
ents were granted during the j^ear, but not of any particular consequence.

"Whoever has followed the narrative thus far, or will take the trouble
to trace the matter out for himself in the patent records, cannot fail to .see
that a practical reaper was produced by degrees; that one invented a
machine having, perhaps, but a single u.seful feature; his machine died,
but this feature lived. Another did likewise, and still another brought out
what rr.ay have given much promise, but, containing nothing necessary to
conceptions following, dropped out of the way. And so as the years rolled
along the useful features became massed, until practical machines con-
tained them all. He will find that the successful reaper was invented not
by one man, but by many.

The twig planted by British inventors, nourished and intelligently cul-
tivated by practical American genius, had in 1850 become a well-rooted.

48 AMERICAN AGRICIJI.TURAL, IMPLliMliNTS.

vigorous sapling; thereafter it grew rapidly, putting forth limbs and
branches in various directions. As soon as it had been demonstrated that
grain could be successfully harvested b)' machinery, inventors directed
their attention to its delivery, to provide mechanical methods for getting it
off the reaper and in the best possible shape for binding, and so the various
self-rakes and droppers were invented. The idea was not new, for it will
be remembered that some of the earliest and crudest reapers had self-raking
devices attached, but nothing came of them, naturally enough, as such
attachments could not be of an}- value so long as the foundations upon
which they must rest were not fixed. The reapers which nmst bear them
had not been established

Heretofore so few patents, comparatively, had been granted that it has
been possible, even in this brief review, to mention all which were of any
special importance, or were steps in development; but from 1850 onward
they increased so -apidly and became so complicated and intermixed that
it will be impossible to notice any more than such as seem to have been
the beginning of certain sj-stems or classes of reaping machines. Even
this is a difficult undertaking, to determine the bearings of patents upon
machines, for the former are usually but skeletons, and one may easily fail
to see the completed form which they were intended to bear.

The year 18.")0 was not prolific in new features for reapers. J. L. Harde-
man obtained a patent, Aug. 20, for a platform guiding-board, in connection
with an automatic discharging mechanism. It was aften\'ard assigned and
re-issued to Wm. N. Whitely, of Springfield, Ohio, and was merged in the
Champion system. E. Danford, of Geneva, 111., Sept. 17, patented improve-
ments on a double sickle. He made a fair machine out of this old idea. As
a mower it was one of the best in its time.

In 1851, Palmer & Williams obtained a patent, Jul}* 1, for their sweep-
rake and quadrant platform. Assigned to Seymour & Morgan, of Brock-
port, N. Y., it entered into their system of self rakes. July 8, Wm. H.
Seymour patented improvements on a self-rake. These were the foundation
patents of the celebrated self- raker known as the " New Yorker," as manu-
factured by Seymour & Morgan. John H. Manny, of Waddam's Grove,
111., Sept. 23, obtained a patent for hanging the cutter-bar to the side of a
triangular frame, so that neither end could sag; also for forker's stand back
ofoutereudof platform. This was an important invention, and laid the
foundations of the immense reaper business of Rockford, 111., where Manny
came in 1853, and subsequently went into partnership with Wait and Sylves-
ter Talcott. Later, Ralph Emerson and Jesse Blinn entered the firm, which
was known as Manny & Co., and after Manny's death as Talcott, Emerson
& Co. Manny was a prolific inventor (the same may be said of the Manny
family I, and his early death was unquestionably a great loss to progress.
His machine was for a time built by W^alter A. Wood. It was one of the
earliest of successful combined machines.

In 1852, B. Densmore, of New York, obtained a patent, Feb. 10, for a
hanging drive-wheel in supplementary frame, hinged to and outside of the
main frame, etc. It was assigned to D. M Osborne and W. A. Kirby. R.
T. Osgood, of Maine, obtained a patent, Feb. 17, assigned to and liberally

AMERICAN AGRICULTUKAI. IMPLEMENTS. 49

re-issued by Cj'renus Wheeler, of Poplar Ridge, N. Y., for independent
driving and supporting wheels on a common axle, carrying a rectangular
main frame between them on the axle; also providing each drive- wheel
with ratchet-wheel and pawl, for the purpose so well known. This was one
of the base patents on the old " Cayuga Chief " and other such machines,
and so was that granted to E. Forbush, July 20, which also went to Mr.
Wheeler. It covered the rake, supported by pivoted connection in the
rear of the drive-wheel axis, sweeping over the platform and delivering
grain to the rear of the main frame. J. S. & D. Lake, same date, obtained
a patent for flexible bar devices, assigned to and re-issued extensivel}' by
Jas. Saxton, of Canton, Ohio. W. H. Seymour, Dec. 14, obtained, a patent
for raker's stand on their old " New Yorker," and supplementary metallic
frame for gearing. Jearum Atkins, Chelsea, 111., patented, Dec. 21, his
automatic self-rake, which was truly an automaton. It picked up the grain,
turned round and laid it off. It was a striking sight in the field, worked
well and had large sale for two or three years, but 1857, with its heavy,
tangled grain and financial troubles, wrecked both machine and manu-
facturers.

In 1853, Thos. D. Burrall, of New York, patented, April 5, an additional
apron to platform, to convert rear-discharge into side-discharge. It was re-
issued for much more. J. H. Manny, April 19, patented cutter fingers, and
June 21, a sickle. Philo Sylla and Augustus Adams, of Elgin, 111., Sept. 20,
obtained a patent for a jointed bar. They assigned to C. Aultman, of Can-
ton, Ohio, who re-issued it extensively, and it became one in the Buckeye
system. W. & T. Schnebley, New York, Dec. 20, patented a peculiar self-
rake.

In 1854, A. J. Cook, of Ohio, patented, March 28, a reel-rake, sweeping
backward, assigned to C. Wheeler. George Esterly, of Wisconsin, obtained
a patent, June 27, on construction of sickle, and a sort of plow track-clearer
for divider. Abner Whitely, Aug. 22, obtained a patent for a conical track-
clearer, and Sept. 19, for suspending rake to one of the reel-blades, a very
important patent^ He invented many valuable devices. C. Wheeler, Dec.
5, patented a hanging finger-bar. W. F. Ketchum, assignor to R. L,. How-
ard, BuiTalo, N. Y., Dec. 19, patented a segmental rim for drive- wheel, to be
used off or on in reaping or mowing. Many will remember this old How-
ard machine. Ketchum was a versatile inventor, the pioneer in mowers
and he applied his genius in every direction. He died in the harness.

In 1855, J. E. Newcomb, on Jan. 9, obtained a patent for a dropper and
other devices, assigned to J. F. Seiberling, Akron, Ohio, who was the
acknowledged head of the dropper system. Cyrenus Wheeler, Feb. 6, ob-
tained a patent for a combination of a hinged finger-beam and a side-deliv-
ery platform. Mr. Wheeler was a prolific and thoroughly practical inven-
tor. The old "Cayuga Chief" was built under his patents principally— in
fact, he was one of the chiefs in the two-wheel jointed-bar fraternitv, and
his works live. Walter A. Wood, Hoosick Falls, N. Y., March 25, obtained
a patent for giving the inside of the grain-wheel a conical shape for track-
clearing, and for improvements on platform Moses G. Hubbard, New
York, June 4, obtained a patent for an angle iron bar. Hubbard invented

50 AMERICAN AGRICUL'fURAIv IMPLEMENTS.

numerous devices and can be followed all through this department in the
patent office. J. Richardson obtained a patent, June 19, for a self-rake, after-
ward assigned to Walter A. Wood. J. E Heath, of Ohio, Sept. 11, obtained
a patent for a cam gear in center of drive-wheel.

In 1856, the patent of Owen Dorse}% of Maryland, March 4, was an im-
portant one for a continuously revolving reel raking device, "the rakes of
which rise and fall as they rotate, and as they approach the front part of the
platform descend to the level of the latter and sweep over it, raking the cut
grain therefrom, and then ri.se at the discharge end of the platform out of
the way. " This was a very valuable invention. At first the driver could
not ride, but this difficulty was obviated by the T. Whitenack patent of
Feb. 5, 1861, and by several others. Cornelius Aultman and Lewis Miller,
assignors to Ball, Aultman & Co., Canton, Ohio, patented, June 17, a double
rule joint or double-jointed coupling for finger-bar machine. Patents were
issued to M. G. Hubbard, Sept. 2, for his self-rake; and the .same date to
Wm. A. Kirby, for drive-wheel having no outer frame support, for the
construction of his two-part frame inside of drive-wheel, and for hinged
lever seat. Pells Manny, of Illinois, Oct. 21, obtained two patents for the
construction of sickles and vStirrup brace for finger-bar. Wm. N. Whitely,
of Springfield, Ohio, Nov. 25, covered improvement on his .self-rake for
balancing by connecting driver's seat with front end of frame, and also for
controlling the rake.

In 1857, D. M Osborne and W. A. Kirby, assignees of W. Mulley, Feb.
10, secured a patent covering a reel support on single post, a feature of the
Kirby. Walter A. Wood, same date, obtained two patents for raker's seat
and for shoe track-clearer. George Esterly, March 24, covered leading
trucks for his big wheel, single gear machine. Ralph Emerson, of Rock-
ford, 111., May 26, patented an improvement on tongue and castor wheel
for Manny machine; and John P. Manny, July 14, an improvement on self-
rake. C. P. Gronberg, of Geneva, 111., Dec. 1, secured a patent for a pecul-
iar raking device. Gronberg was an inventor of merit, but he was unfort-
unate in his undertakings. E. Ball, of Canton, Ohio, same date, obtained
a patent for holding up hinged cutter-bar for moving, etc., and for several
other devices pertaining to the Ball machine. Mr. Ball was one of the
pioneers in the two-wheeled jointed-bar system. He was a good man and
a thoroughly excellent manufacturer, but became involved in business and
died soon after.

In 1858, J. L. Fountain, of Rockford, 111., patented, Jan. 12, a self-
rake. F. Nishwitz, of New York, Feb. 16, patented a lever pawl and chain
for raising floating cutter-bar. It is said that Ni.shwitz was one of the first
to construct a practical jointed-bar machine, but was too poor to go on
with it. Geo. S. Curtis, of Chicago, patented, Feb. 28, his cam reaper.
Lewis Miller, Canton, Ohio, May 4, obtained a patent relating to front-cut,
iolnted bar machines, for hinging, raising and folding cutter-bar on the
" Buckeye," and, same date, on combining reel with hinged platform so as to
preserve their relations when undulating. These were important patents.
L J-, W. S. and C. H. McCormick, May 11, secured a patent for construc-
tion of finger-bar, liberally re-issued afterward; John P. Manny, July 6, four

AMERICAN AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS. 51

patents on his machine; C. H. McCormick, Sept. 21, on shape of guard
fingers; McClintock Young, Maryland, same date, who then began the
foundation of what was known afterward as McCormick's self-rake; Jas. S.
Marsh, Lewisburg, Pa., Nov. 16, on lever and adjustment of finger-bar.

In 1859, Wm. N. and Andrew Whitely, obtained a patent, Jan, 18, on
guards and sections; J. S. and H. R. Russell, of Maryland, March 29, for
improvements on reel rake, assigned to J. F. Seiberling, and forming part
of his system. S. A. Lindsay, of Maryland, Aug. 2, for a reel rake arranged
to accommodate itself to a hinged platform, also covering the important
combination of a quadrant platform, hinged finger-beam and frame sup-
ported by two wheels; Obed Hussey, Aug. 23, for raising and lowering de-
vice for his machine, his last patent; E. Ball, Oct. 18, drag-bar and swiveled
coupling-arm and finger-bar; Wm. A. Kirby, Nov. 15, location of raker's
seat on Kirby reaper.

In 1860, E. Ball and M. E. Ballard, March 20, secured a patent for steel
spring cap-plate with heel of cutter-bar and shoe; Lewis E. Reese, New Jer-
sey, April 10, for improvement on revolving reel-rake to enable driver to
ride comfortably; F. H. Manny, of Illinois, Aug. 20, for hinged cap and
shoe; Walter A. Wood, Sept. 11, on his self-rake or automatic fork. McClin-
tock Young, Sept. 18, obtained a valuable patent for "combination of a
revolving reel shaft carrj-ing diverging reel gatherers supported at one end
only, the fixed double-walled cam and the rake revolving around said shaft,
and oscillating on an axis both eccentric and transverse to said shaft
with a counterpoise to equalize the movement of said rake;" re-issued after
assignment to the McCormicks. This, combined with other devices, became
the INIcCormick self-rake.

In 1861, D. S. Morgan obtained a patent, Jan. 22, for reel support; J. S.
Marsh, May 21, for rake; Walter A. Wood, Nov. 19, covering improvements
on his well-known self-rake now practicallj^ invented; D. L. Emerson, of
Rockford, 111., Dec. 10, on combination of wheel and divider, one of his
many patents.

In 1862, Ralph Emerson, on Jan. 14, obtained a patent relating to a
lever-bar and attachment of guards; Samuel Johnson, Nov. 4, for his sweep-
rake, mounted directly and vrholly upon a suspended hinged joint finger-
beam.

In 1863, a patent was issued to James S. Marsh, Feb. 10, for revolving
rake and reel, the arms of which are hinged to the revolving head independ-
ent of each other, etc., and to Reuben HofFheins, Pennsylvania, Nov. 3, for
self-rake mounted on finger-beam and rotating on a vertical axis, or
nearly so.

In 1864 the most important patent issued on reapers was to O. H. Bur-
dick, Jan. 7, for his rake, which was one of the D. M. Osborne & Co. system.

In 1865, a patent was issued to Samuel Johnston, Feb. 7, assignor to
himself and R. L. Howard, of Buffalo, N. Y., for his celebrated reel rake.
In this all the arms carried rakes, and were each hinged independently and
all controlled by the driver; to John A. Dodge, of Auburn, N. Y., May 23,
for construction of main gearing, etc. ; to Wm. N. Whitely, Aug. 29, for
Champion self-rake; to Lewis Miller, of Ohio, Nov. 21, for his well-known

52 AMERICAN AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS.

table-rake, i. e., table upon which grain falls, and revolving rake beneath,
to sweep it off to the side and rear; to A. J. Manny (another Manny in the
field), Nov. 28, for hinged cutting apparatus, and to Wni. N. Whitely, Dec.
5, for improvements on drag-bar.

In 18()(), three patents were issued to Wm. N. Whitely, Jan. 30, for im-
provements on the Champion; one to O. H. Burdick, assignor to himself
and D. M. Osborne, Feb. 27, for rake and reel; one to Adam R. Reese, of
New Jersey, May 1, for revolving rake in connection with driver's seat, and
one to Wm. N. Whitely, Aug. 21, for reel and rake independent of reel for
hinged platform.

In 1867, a patent was issued to L. J. McCormick, and L. Erpelding,
Jan. 15, for supplementary frame, hinged finger-beam worked by lifting
and locking levers; and to Amos Rank, Feb. 12, for longitudinal drag-bar
and other improvements on the " Etna " machine.

In 1868, Jas. S. Marsh obtained a patent, Jan. 21, for de\'ices on his
rake; Rufus Button, Feb. 11, five patents on reaper construction; C. Wheeler,
April 21, two patents on rake and on machine; G. W. N. Yost, of Corry,
Pa., June 9, five patents on devices pertaining to the "Climax" machine,
mowing and reaping.

In 1869, John Barnes, of Rockford, 111., obtained, Jan. 12, two patents
on his self-rake machine; Amos Rank, of Ohio, Maj' 4, one covering
devices for dropper; Eph. Myers, of Maryland, Dec. 4, for dropper; T. F.
Lippincott, of Pennsylvania, Dec. 21, for dropper; and L.J. McCormick, L.
Erpelding and Wm. R. Baker, for over-hung reel in connection with rotat-
ing turning rake mounted on the finger-beam.

The inventions that have been noticed in the foregoing bring us down
to 1870, to the time when foundation features of reapers had all been in-
vented and substantially perfected. It is therefore unnecessary to pursue
the subject farther, especially since the reaper had by this time begun to
beat a retreat in the harvest fields of the west before the advance guard of
modern harvesting machinery.

CHAPTER VII.

Harvesters

SINCE the advent of the Marsh harv'ester the term "harvester'- nas been
applied almost exclusively to the particular kind of machines which
carry binders, whether men to bind by hand, or automatic binders, substi-
tuted for the men, to bind mechanically. But this use of the term is arbitrary
and narrow, it should take in strippers, headers and combined har\"esters
and threshers; and it will at least be better for our purpose to give it a wider
meaning.

The first harvester, then, of which we have an}- certain record was the
often mentioned Gallic stripping header described by Pliny in the first cent-
urj' and by Palladius in the fourth. It appears to have been uninter-
ruptedly used for several centuries, and unquestionably it had not been in
use that long without having been more or less improved, for the people
who could invent and construct siich a machine would surely improve upon
it, and they would also invent others of like character. There is no doubt
that various reaping and har^-esting machines were used by the ancients of
which we have no record, principally because agricultural pursuits were
not honored and historians gave their attention chiefly to matters of gov-
ernment and war. But had the Alexandrian library- and museum escaped
destruction, we should have had descriptions of many strange devices and
methods, some of great value, that have been lost to the world and never
yet found by our wisest men or most skillful inventors.

This machine of the Gauls had lance-shaped knives, or teeth, with
sharpened sides, projecting forward from a bar, like guard-teeth, but set
close together and forming a sort of comb. As it was pushed forward the
stalks next the head came between these sharp teeth and were cut or
stripped off into a box attached, to and behind the cutter-bar, and carried by
two wheels. When the box was filled with heads, the machine was driven
in and emptied. This is the way in which it is supposed that it was worked,
and the illustration is the generally accepted representation of it as roughly
reconstructed from the old Latin descriptions.

This har%-esting machine has not received the attention it deser\-es. It
was the prototype of all headers and strippers. Its distinctive features are
shown in several modern inventions in this class, and the Australian strip-
pers of to-day, less their threshing attachments, are mere copies. Undoubt-
edly it was found to be exactly the thing required for such grain as was
raised upon the plains of Gaul, just as in Australia it is peculiarly adapted
to the requirements there.

The discussion of this machine in England a hundred years ago, grow-
ing out of the publication of the descriptions given bv both Pliny and Pal-

53

54 AMERICAN AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS.

ladius, and instigated also by a premium offered by the Society for the En-
couragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce, brought out in 17.*<G the
machine "for rippling corn" (grain) of Wm. Pitt, of Pendeford. It was an
attempted improvement on the ancient one just described. The "rippling
cylinder" — the first suggestion of a reel — took off and delivered the heads
into a box behind the strippers. Mr. Pitt says: "The grain thus collected,
in a short time of the most favorable weather the straw may be cut and col-
lected at leisure, and with less regard to rain or showers than is necessarily
the case in the common mode of harvesting." So here, after nearly 1,800
years, we have the second header, according to the records. What held
the world back during this long interval? A successful clover header niade
in 1807 had exactly the Gallic cutting apparatus, and it was not unlike a
modern popular American clover header. Nothing further seemed to have
been done on this class of machines by British inventors for a long time; so
we may now take up American inventions.

Samuel Lane, of Hallowell, Maine, Aug. 8, 1828, obtained a patent for
a combined harvester and thresher. It was an ingenious machine, but very
complex. There is no record of its use, and it probably never went beyond
a patent. ""^ was, however, the first machine of record covering these prin-
ciples.

D. Ashmore and J. Peck, of Tennessee, Sept. 18, 1835, patented a
header with cutters like those of the old Gallic machine; but they added
fingers (not cutting) projecting beyond the cutters, "the better to guide the
heads to the knives," and also a reel, or "open cylinder," carrying knives
which in revolving came nearly into contact with the row of fixed lance-
shaped knives or strippers. It resembled somewhat the first modern har-
vesting machine — that of Wm. Pitt, in 1786, before described. They claimed
"the principle of the governor of the rudder to give direction to the ma-
chine." Bell also, in 1826, had a hand lever for directing his reaper, and
both were operated from behind.

E. Briggs and C. G. Carpenter, Feb. 6, 1836, patented a machine that
ran on four wheels, like wagon wheels, and depended upon the traction of
the two hind wheels to carry both the cutting and threshing apparatus.
They claimed broadly "the manner and principle of applying the power of
a team to cutting, threshing and cleaning grain by moving forward the
machine," etc., but this was not a new idea.

June 28, 1836, H. Moore and J. Hascall, of Kalamazoo, Mich., patented
a machine for harvesting, threshing, cleaning and bagging grain which
deserves particular mention because of its many ingenious devices, its com-
parative success and the notoriety it gained on account of the unsuccessful
attempt made in 1853 to get the patent extended through Congress. This
machine in the hands of its ingenious proprietors would have proved a suc-
cess had they been able to invent something to regulate the weather in this
western country. But the maxim, old at the time of Pliny and quoted by
him, that " 'tis better to reap two days too soon than two days too late,"'
has always been in the way of such har\'esters, in this climate at any rate,
for here the proper time to citt is not the proper time to thresh grain. This
machine had a reciprocating sickle, working across fixed guard-teeth, with.

AMERICAN' AGRICILTIRAT. IMPLEMENTS 55

a "rippling cylinder,"' studded with rows of small spikes, acting as a gather-
ing reel over the sickle and delivering the grain upon an endless apron
behind, which carried the heads back to a threshing cylinder. Back of the
latter was a traveling sieve, or riddle, which carried the coarser refuse over
to fall upon the ground, while the threshed grain and chaff, sifting through
the sieve, was winnowed by a fan blast, then elevated and delivered through
a spout into bags.

The next machine of this class was invented by Alfred Churchill, of
Geneva, 111., and patented March Iti, 1.S41. It was constructed on an en-
tirely different principle from the foregoing, but it does not appear that it
ever went into use.

;May 14, 1841. D. A. Church, of New York, obtained a patent for still
another har\-ester and thresher. The peculiar feature of this was that it
had the old Gallic comb cutters, improved bj- having a spring attached to
keep them up to the gathering wheel, which latter operated, like the old
"rippling cylinder, " to force the heads against and between the knives.
The heads, after being dissevered, were carried back, threshed and delivered
in substantially the usual manner. Some of these machines were manu-
factured for the market, and gave, it is claimed, good satisfaction. In 1847,
Feb. 13. Mr. Church, in connection with L. H. Overt, of New York, and
W. W. and O. F. Willoughby, of Chicago, patented certain improvements
in the construction of a separator, consisting of ' 'separate combs turning on
pivots in endless chains," etc. Mr. Church died about this time. E. C.
West, of Vermont, June 25, 1845, patented a sort of revolving cradle ap-
paratus for cutting, with apron to receive grain and to deliver to threshers.
March 7, 1846, J. Darling, of Michigan, patented improvements upon car-
rying platforms formed of toothed slats and moving as described to convey
grain to the thresher. He also claimed a mode of steering by pivot wheels.
Clinton Foster, of Indiana, Jan. 1, 1847, patented devices relating to ma-
chines of this description. 'Mr. Foster was a son of Judge Foster, of Hamil-
ton county, Ohio, on whose farm Capt. Husse}- tried his machine in 18.32.
He got into a way of inventing in consequence, and did some creditable
work on harvesting machines.

In connection with the subject of harvesters and threshers, considerable
interest attaches to the invention of a Mr. Ridley, of South Australia, in
1845. It is described as follows: "It is something like a cart pushed for-
ward by two horses instead of being drawn. In front of the machine is a
verv large steel comb, which, as the machine advances, seizes the straw as
a comb seizes the hair, that is, the grain was combed out, the kernels falling
into the box, or the heads were dragged up to a cylinder playing over the
comb and threshed out. The winnowing, it is said, was done by the "draft
raised by the motion of the machine." The publication of this invention
occasioned considerable discussion, and the English papers were verj- indig-
nant that the Yankees should claim that they had any such machines here.
Even Her ilajesty and Prince Albert became interested, and "were pleased
to express to Mr. Ridley their admiration of the value and importance of his
invention." Inasmuch as our patent office records show several elaborate
har%-esting and threshing machines prior to this — Moore & Hascall ha\-ing

50 AMERICAN AORICn.TrKAI. rMPIj;MKNTS.

used theirs some ei.i^lit or nine years before — the indignation over " Yankee
assumption" manifested by our British cousins was certainly uncalled for,
and somewhat ridiculous, considering the character of the invention. Even
in their own dominions, and much nearer home, a machine for harvesting
and threshing had been constructed and used some time during the
"thirties" by a man named Williams, in Canada, which might have been
quoted against this Australian device, both on the score of ingenuitj- and

priority.

George Esterly, of Wisconsin, Oct 2, 1844, obtained a patent on his
header or harvester. "The box which receives the grain is supported on
wheels and is provided with a permanent knife in front, and a rotating reel
with beaters, which carry the heads of grain up against the permanent knife
to cut them off." By a lever the attendant adjusted the cutter and reel to
the varying height of the grain. Esterly's machine was manufactured on a
considerable scale and did good work. The illustration shows the first one
made and used in 1844. Afterward he added a canvas apron to carry the
heads l)ack, and another to deliver to the side and into wagons; besides mak-
ing improvements in other respects. It was a leading machine back in the
"forties."

March 27, 1.S49, Jonathan Haines, of Illinois, patented his celebrated
header, known throughout the west generally some years since, and in Cali-
fornia still, as "Haines Illinois harvester." Large numbers of them have
been built, and they were thoroughly practical heading harvesters. His
claim was on "suspending the frame which carries the conveyer reel and
cutter, upon the axles of the wheels A, when the frame thus suspended is
hinged to the tongue, and rendered capable of being turned upon its bear-
ings, by means of a lever, for the purpose of elevating and depressing the
cutter as herein set forth." It cut a very wide swath in the ordinary man-
ner and harvested rapidly when run to its capacity. The patent was subse-
quently re-issued so as to cover his devices better.

In the summer of 1850 Augustus Adams and J. T. Gifford, of Elgin, 111.,
built a machine and made application for patent (which was afterward with-
drawn) on "improvements for cutting and gathering grain either by the
reaping or heading process. " The cut grain was delivered by means of an
endless canvas apron into a receptacle at the side which was like a wagon
box and upon wheels, and falling on the floor was lifted therefrom by two
or more attendants, riding in the box, and placed upon a table along the
outer side, where it was bound. This machine was tried in the harvest of
1850 or 1851 and was probabl}^ the first in the field, with men riding thereon,
who bound the grain as cut. But Mr. Gifford dying, Mr. Adams connected
himself with Pliilo Sylla, and they began on a machine of a different char-
acter, which was patented Sept. 20, 1853. This carried three men upon its
platform to bind the grain, which was forked or shoved around to them by
a fourth man. A box was attached to receive the sheaves and carry them
until enough was collected for a "shock," when they were dumped upon
the stubble. It contained another principle: the finger-bar was hinged to
the main frame, allowing it to "vibrate perpendicularly and accommodate
itself to uneven ground." On account of the latter feature, particularly,

AMERICAN AGRICLXTURAL IMPLEMENTS.

GALLIC STRIPPING HEADER, FIRST CENTURY.

PITTS MACHINE, 1

MARSH HARVESTER, AS BUILT IN 18T9.

MODERN CALIFORNIA COMBINED HARVESTER. AUSTRALI.^II 'COMBINED" STRIPPING

HARVESTER.

5H AMERICAN AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS.

the patent was purchased by C. Aultmau & Co., to whom it was re-issued in
six divisions. Unquestionably it was one of those inventions which set a
stake, so to speak; and if the inventors had comprehended all the possi-
bilities of this machine, as well as of the other which they abandoned, and
had thoroughly followed them up, thej' might have reaped great advantages
therefrom. But as a harvester, this last carried so many men that it was too
heavy and cumbrous, and the facilities for handling the grain were not
sufficient to enable the operator to take care of it, especially if heavy or
tangled. They built a hundred or more of them and then discontinued.

April 1, 1S56, A. Elliott, of California, patented a complicated machine
by which grain, after being cut, was formed " into sheaves or bundles, by
means of a series of endless bands and rollers having an intermittent
motion," which were bound by boys during a stop in the revolution of the
compressing apparatus that grasped the bundles. The machine was not
practical and it added nothing to progress. Ezra Emmert, Franklin Grove,
111., Jan. 19, 1858, patented a machine with an apron delivery, his claim
being for the "peculiarly constructed apron F, and retaining hooksy, y, in
combination with binding hook L and platform M, for purposes specified."
This was never put upon the market. Possibly both these latter machines
should have been classed with binders on account of their devices for form-
ing bundles, but the tying was done by hand.

We have now traced this class of machines down to the advent of the
Marsh harvester, the prototype of all machines which since have carried
binders — whether men or automatic machinery substituted in place of men
— to bind grain before delivery to the ground. No other harvesting ma-
chine before it had lived to establish a general trade. The Haines header
made the best record, but it was limited to localities where the climate and
conditions might allow its use. At the time the Marsh harvester began
seeking a place in the market "reapers" — hand-rakers, self-rakers and
droppers — held the trade substantially to the exclusion of any other kind of
harvesting machine. So many failures and disappointments had attended
the introduction of hai-vesting machines that a general prejudice existed
against anything not strictly a reaper.

This was the condition of the trade when C. W. and \V. W. Marsh, of
DeKalb county. 111., invented their harvester and during the years of its
development and introduction. They had not the advantage of the earlier
inventors for whom there was an open field, and a hungry demand for any-
thing that might ci;t the grain; but the}-, and parties interested in them,
had to face, with a machine clouded by the failures of others, various excel-
lent reapers backed by established reputations and wealthy proprietors, in
full control of the market.

Their original patent was granted Aug. 17, 1858, and their first harvester,
built at home, was successfully operated through harvest that year. It has
never been changed materially, in principle or form, since; and if the same
old jnachine as used in 1858, and painted as others now are, were seen
standing to-day in any field in America, Europe or Australia, with binders'
tables off", one familiarwith such machines would wonder, as he came forward
for a closer inspection, whether it was McCormick's, Wood's or Deering's,,

AMERICAN AGRICULTL'RAL IMPLEMENTS. 59

Samuelson's or Hornsbys harvester and binder, and why the binder was
not in place.

Its invention was not the result of an accident, but was deliberatelv
studied and worked out on the farm during 1856, 1857 and 1858, and, some-
what like Esterly's header, from practical necessity. The theory of the in-
ventors was that two men might bind the grain cut by a five-foot sickle in
ordinary motion, provided it could be delivered to them in the best possible
position and condition for binding, and they could have perfect freedom of
action. They knew that traps or aids in binding would simply be impedi-
ments, and that only a free swing and an open chance at the grain would
enable them to handle it; so they arranged the elevated deliver}-, recept-
acle and tables, and the platform, with these ends in view, that the oper-
ators alternating in their work regularly might have equal advantages and
facilities for binding, and that their weight might give necessary traction
and balance. This was their original invention, without reference to the
original patent, which was misunderstood by the examiner, and botched by
Munn & Co , the attorneys who filed the application. The bundle carrier,
with its caster wheel, shown in first patent, was, as it proved, an unfortunate
afterthought. It was not built with the first machine, and was no more
necessary to it than such attachments have been to other harvesters.

The second Marsh harvester was built in Chicago in 1859. It worked
admirably through that harvest, and aroused much enthusiasm and courage
in the inventors. In 1860 they attempted to put up a dozen at home; but
they were fifteen miles from the railroad, the work was partly done in
Chicago, partly at De Kalb, and partly at home and around among the
Vjlacksmiths. The machines came together badly, and had neither strength
nor capacity for the extraordinary weight and height of the grain grown
that year, so these failed except one or two, which were patched up and
pulled through — but the men handled the grain when it could be gotten to
them. This was a serious disaster, and everybody interested in the invent-
ors advised them to give the thing up, except Lewis Steward, of Piano, 111 ,
who saw one of the 1860 machines work; so they went to Piano, and in con-
nection with Mr. Hollister, a thorough mechanic, built a harvester which,
though somewhat imperfect in details, had the required strength, mechan-
ical action, and capacity for all kinds of grain. This was experimented
with and improved during the years 1861, 1862 and 1863, and seeming suffi-
ciently practical, the manufacture of harvesters for the market began at
Piano in the fall of 1863 by Steward & Marsh. Fifty were begun, only
twenty-six being completed, but they gave fair satisfaction in the har^-est of
1864, and the balance of them, improved somewhat, were successfully
marketed in 1865.

Meantime the Marsh Bros, had become involved through these experi-
mental expenses and losses, and having neither the experience nor the in-
clination to be manufacturers, but hoping to avoid that necessity, they were
induced to sell a third interest in their invention to Champlin & Taylor, a
couple of speculators, in connection with whom they made a license for six
of the western states to Easter & Gammon, of Chicago, reserving, however,
certain rights to themselves and for the Piano shops. About this time, also,

•60 AMERICAN AGRICl'LTrRAI, IMPLKMEXTS.

Euierson & Talcolt became interested through purchase from Champlin &
Taylor. Unfortunately, too many were thus interested, and the machines
thereafter were made, not as they should have been during their develop-
ment— continuously in one shop and by one set of men — but at Piano by
Marsh, Steward & Co.; at Beloit, Wis., by Parker & Stone; at Roekford,
111., by Emerson, Talcott & Co., and at Springfield, Ohio, by Warder,
Mitchell & Co. Some in consequence were constructed well, some fairly
and some poorl}-.

The introductor}' struggle was severe and costly to the inventors and
proprietors. On account of its solitary position all others were naturally
combined against it. Binders were prejudiced from the start, supposing it
would be very hard work, or that the machine in the end might reduce de-
maud for labor in harvest. They had to be coaxed, sometimes specially
hired, and generally instructed. Trials were gotten up, and experienced
men who could bind alone exhibited their capacity. Even farmers' daugh-
ters who had become experts were taken to trials and bound the grain as
cut, to show men what they ought to be able to do. And thus the machine
steadily gained ground.

From the time of the invention of this machine, until ISTl-fourteen
years — none like it was on the market, or publicly known except in patents.
In 1871 Mr. Ellward had six machines built at Piano— a modification of the
Marsh; and about this time W. R. Low got out his machine; which was a
change in another direction, Ellward's machine became well known in
time as the St. Paul harvester; and Low's, improved by himself aud Au-
gustus Adams, as the Low, Adams & French har^'ester, built by the Sand-
wich Manufacturing Company. Both these concerns recognized the rights
of the inventors, took out licenses and built good machines. Along in
1872 and 1873 other parties began making harvesters, and also experiment-
ing with automatic binders attached — the Wood for instance— as also did the
Marsh licensees, at first sending out both the hand and automatic binding
attachments, aud as the latter became perfected, dropping the former al-
together. The McCormicks began putting out harvesters in 1875 and wire
binders in 1877, and others came in later.

Thus as the years rolled along hand binding gradually gave place to
automatic binding, with wire at first and cord at last; and thus also out of
the body of the old Marsh harvester sprang the various harvesters and
binders now harvesting grain for the world.

Of straight harvesters — carrying men to bind- there had been made up
to and including 1879, over 100,000, of which about two-thirds had been
produced by the Marsh combination, and the rest by outsiders.

There seems to be nothing worthy of notice in this line among the pat-
ents, during the latter part of 1858 or 1859. In February, 1860, E. Peck,
of California, obtained a patent on a header — for improvements in guiding
and turning the machine bj^ means of shaft pinion and semicircular rack;
B. F. Witt, of Indiana, April 10, 18G0, for a harvester which had a supple-
mentary carriage attached with saddles for binders; C. Alvord, of Wisconsin,
March 5, 1861, for a harvester which had a reciprocating gavel carrier to
deliver gavels alternately at each end of a trough, to be bound, etc. ; J. R.

AMERICAX AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS. 61

and C. N. Mayberry, of Illinois, Nov. 19, 1861, for improvements in balanc-
ing, equalization of draft, and raising and lowering their header. Sept. 16,
1862, Royal Hance, of Illinois, patented a header on which the convevor was
located in front of the drive wheel and the horses were attached to and
drew from the front.

C. W. and W. W. Marsh, Jan. 5, 1864, patented improvements on their
harvester, for projecting part of the elevator forward the better to carry up
butts of grain, etc.; D. J. Marvin, of California, Nov. 15, 1864, obtained a
patent for a harvester and thresher, "so pivoting or hanging cutter frame
upon the main axle that it can be moved longitudinally and also raised and
lowered at pleasure," etc.; J. W. Harvey, of Iowa, Dec. 27, 1864, on an
auxiliary concave receiver, gate and gaveling fingers, for seizing the grain
to facilitate binding. C. W. and W. W. Marsh, Feb. 14, 1865, received a
patent covering scolloped gatherer or hollow inside divider with hinged ex-
tension; and J. Seibel, Feb. 21, 1865, on a "push" harvester. C. Denton, of
Illinois, Oct. 9, 1866, patented his header, the improvements being chieflj-
upon devices for raising and lowering the cutting apparatus and in attach-
ing the spout, etc. J. Emer}-, of Iowa, June 25, 1867, obtained a patent for
rotating binders' station in connection with a harvester. This idea was
further developed by J. D. Easter & Co., some years after. J. Lancaster, of
Maryland, Aug. 29, 1867, patented for a harvester a rake and fender, in con-
nection with binders' platform in rear of grain platform. C. W. and W.
W. Marsh, Nov. 12, 1867, secured a patent on a single driving belt for har-
vester platform and elevator with adjustable tightening pulley, etc. ;J.
Underwood, of Iowa, June 9, 1868, patented his harvester in which "the
grain as it is felled by the cutter is moved backward and upward and deliv-
ered upon a platform upon which it is moved laterally toward the inner
side to a position where it may be conveniently bound by hand" — the grain
being moved by a reciprocating follower. C. Denton, of Illinois, June 30
1868, obtained a patent on spout and arrangement for driving sickles for his
header; C. W. and B. F. Witt, of Indiana, Aug. 4, 1868, on a tipping rake to
receive grain and deliver to binder, and binder table in combination with
tipping rake; M. Vanderpool, Oregon, Oct. 6, 1868, on peculiar harvester
and thresher, with spiral reel, obliquely ribbed drum, ribbed concaves and
spiked drums, etc. ; L. B. Lathrop, California, May 25, 1869, on a harvester
and thresher with too many devices to describe herein; July 13, 1869, E.
Emmert, of Illinois, on "the combination of a continuously moving carrier
with an oscillating stop rake, to intermit the delivery of grain to the binder"
and W. G. and L,. T. Davis, Oregon, Nov. 16, 1869, "a combined header and
thresher, constructed substantially as described, and having arrano-ements
for attaching teams both at front and rear substantially as set forth."

AUSTR.\LIAN STRIPPING HARVESTERS.

The first machine of record on this plan as used in Australia was the
one brought out by Mr. Ridley in 1845, already described. Stripping har-
vesters, however, which are now so extensively used in many portions of
Australasia, where climate and grain may be adaptable, have been of recent
development. All seem to have the steel comb stripping arrangement of
the old Gallic machine so frequently referred to — with the "rippling cylin-

•62 AMKRICAN AGRICULTURAL IMI'LEMEXTS.

der" added first l)y Mr. Tilt in ITStJ, but so set as to tlireih out the grain
from the heads, v.-hich threshed grain from ordinary strippers, to be cleaned
by "winnowers" — as separate machines, either by following or receiving the
uncleaned grain brought to them. The combined stripper and winnower is
called by Australians a "combined harvester." The following is a descrip-
tion of McKay's:

"The front portion is made as the ordinary stripper, the drum driving
the stripped grain up over the apron and into a hopper, under which the
riddles are suspended on self-adjusting rollers, by the action of which they
are always retained in a horizontal position, which is necessary for the
proper cleaning of the grain. The blast is derived from a fan placed at
bottom of the back part of the machine, the current of air from which is
directed through the riddles, and is quite sufficient to eflfectually remove all
chaflF, etc., from the grain. The power of the blast can be regulated by the
driver as may be required, and the riddles have a vibratory motion imparted
to them, as in the ordinary winnower. The chaflF is carried forward into a
box placed behind the drum, thus preventing its escape over the field,
which is an objection urged against other harvesters. When filled the box
can be instantly emptied of its contents by the man moving a lever and the
chaff dropped in a heap. All whiteheads are returned by an elevator to the
drum to be re-threshed. The grain, after passing through the riddles, falls on
a screen in the usual manner, and is conveyed to an elevator placed on the
rear side of the machine. This elevates it into a hopper from which the bags
are filled. The bag stands on the platform close beside the driver's seat, and
thus all the principal operations are under his eye. The grain is run into
the bag through a tube. To overcome the difficulty hitherto felt of sewing
the bags a very simple device has been hit upon. The bags are sewn before
they are taken to the field, all but about three inches of the corner. The
grain is run into this opening, and as the bag is attached to a shaking lever
it can be completely filled. In the sewing of the bags a length of twine is
left at the corner sufl&cient to secure it. Thus when the bag is full, the
driver has merely to twist the string around a time or two (an operation only
requiring a few seconds), and the bag is then disposed of in a fit condition
for market. For the greater convenience of gathering they may be dropped
two at a time, there being sufficient room on the platform to carry two
or more bags as occasion may require."

THE CALIFORNIA COMBINED HARVESTER.

The climate of California has proved favorable to the development of
the ' ' combined harvester, ' ' and during the past ten years many styles of
this eminently labor-saving implement have been perfected and manufact-
ured for use in the great wheat ranches west of the Rockies. The invention
of the main features of this machine was recorded in the patent ofl&ce before
any hand-raking reaper had been made practical for the market, and it
seemed at first as though it would come into general use. But climatic con-
ditions in the central and eastern states are such that wheat must be cut
before it is dry enough to be threshed. On the Pacific coast it seldom or
never rains during the harvest season, and the straw stands straight and
stiflf.

AMERICAN AGRICULTUR.\L IMPLEMENTS. 63

The combined harvester, as generally used on the Coast, is practically a
combination of a header, cutting Iti to 4U feet, with a threshing cylinder
and separator. It is drawn or propelled either by animals or by a traction
engine. Eighteen to twentj'-four or more horses or mules are required to
handle one of the more common size, or a traction engine developing 40 to
60-horse power. A machine of ordinary- capacity, requiring three or some-
times four men to operate it, will cut 50 acres per day, lea\-ing the grain in
oags, which are dropped from the machine, to be picked up by wagons.

CHAPTER VIII.

Automatic Binders.

PROGRESS is made by steps, uot by leaps, but always there were men
whose ideas projected far in advance of their times. Inventors and
reformers usually attempt to cover too much, in view of conditions current;
and their efforts fail because people, although generally disposed to take in
improved methods and theories if given regularlj^ and in small doses, will
reject the same altogether if offered in mass. They forget that the world
was not made in a daj' — that its rock had to be covered with mould before
it could take on its dress of ornamented green. Radicals are uot philo-
sophic architects; they too often build superstructures before the foundations
have been laid. Their ambition is too vaulting and too crisp; they fail be-
cause they

"Soar too high and fall for lack of moisture quite a-dry,"

as Byron wrote of Bob Southey. Still these Excelsiors are necessary factors
in progress. Though they may flash up like rockets and come down like
the sticks, their short illuminations usually point out roads which others
following may pursue more surely and successfully. Many machines and
manv theories have failed because their projectors built up airy edifices upon
insufl&cient foundations; but some have failed simply because the people
were not ready or fitted to receive them.

Inventors of har\-esting machinery dreamed over self-raking devices,
and wandered among the mazy complications of combined harvesters and
threshers, before any one had produced a practical cutting apparatus. Ogle
and Brown got out early a promising reaper, but the people broke it up and
mobbed them. These all failed, but they pointed out the road which others
took in due time.

Inventors were seeking after automatic binders— the climax of harvest-
in"' machinery — before a practical reaper had been fully found. They also
were in advance of the times and conditions, and could not have succeeded
because practical reaping machines had first to be fully developed, generally
introduced, and made thoroughly familiar to farmers. Hence all the earlier
efforts failed, though some of them might have been crowned with success
had the conditions been favorable.

The invention and development of self-binders may be divided into three
eras, the first comprising the earlier efforts, which were confined chieflj' to
the adaptation of binding devices to reapers— some as attachments operated
bv attendants, and some complete and automatic throughout, but all, sub-
stantially, upon what is called the "low down" theory. Every kind possible
of material was used and every conceivable form of binder was tried, butall
failed to the extent that none established itself in the market. The second

6t

AMERICAN AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS. 65

era began with the adaptation of self-binders to the Marsh harvester and runs
through the various stages of development in wire and twine binders, and
down to the time of the third, or current era, wherein all useless and im-
practicable devices have been eliminated, all material for bands has given
place to twine, and all machines upon the market, with one or two excep-
tions, are substantially alike in form and general principles.

John E. Heath, of Warren, Ohio, was the first of record to attempt to
bind grain by machinery, and his was a twine or cord binder. His patent
was dated July 22, 1850, and the claims are as follows:

"First. Gathering the grain and compressing it into a sheaf substan-
tially as herein set forth, by means of the rake and standard

"Second. Carrying the cord around the sheaf and holding the latter
until the band is tied by means of the curved lever h, and toothed arm^\
substantially as herein described

"Third. The employment of split thimble and sliding hook to aid in
tying the band.

"Fourth. Alternating the rake to gather the grain and compress the
sheaf, by means of the spring, strap and drum, substantially as herein set
forth."

"Fifth. Bridging the space through which the bound sheaf drops, to
support the grain while it is being gathered, substantially as herein set
forth."

But little is known of Heath's binder except from his patent It is said
that he built several machines and that they operated fairly well for a first
effort. They must have given good promise, as he sold the right to the
southern portion of Illinois for ^^4,000 to S. H. Tudor in 1851, and made
other transfers on record He was born in Tolland, Conn., March 19, 1806.
At the age of twelve he made ax-helves and ox-yokes by machinery. He
removed to Ohio at an early date and there conceived the idea of a binder.
vSomewhere about 1840 he took first premium' for his mower at the state fair
in Chicago, and in 1855 he was awarded the ;f 1,000 grand gold medal offered
by the Massachusetts Agricultural Society for the best mowing machine.
He died at Prairie City, 111., July 16, 1881.

The next patent for a binder was granted to Watson, Renwick & Wat-
son, May 13, 1851. This patent is a curiosity and a study. The specifica-
tion is exceedingly long, with many drawings, and it is reinforced by two
or three pages of modifications, the inventors evidently intending to cover
every form of binding device that they could think of Their first claim
reads as follows: "The method of raking and binding grain with one opera-
tion, by the mechanism herein specified or its equivalent ". That was
comprehensive and broad enough .surely. The next claim related to the
self-rake, which was a toothed arrangement, sweeping the grain lengthwise
of the platform and delivering to the binder located at the end Their claim
reads: "The method of adapting the binding apparatus to the length of the
cut grain; either by moving the cutting apparatus backward and forward to
accommodate the binder, or by moving the binder nearer to or further from
the front of the platform in such a manner that thesheaf may be bound near
the middle of its length," etc. The next claim covers the automatic prin-

66 AMF.BICAN AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS.

ciple, the parts "acting in connection and automatically, by motion derived
from or dependent upon the movement of the machine," etc.; and the fifth
covers the cord arm, which, with the cord or twine, encircled the bundle,
the cord paying off from a reel and through the end of the arm in the usual
way, substantially. It shows two ways of fastening and band; one by pass-
ing the end of the cord through an eyelet which is closed down upon them
by a blow from a plunger, the other by making a knot. Apparently every-
thing necessary in the way of a binder was thought of and much more, but
it did not get beyond experiments.

P. H. Watson and E. S. Renwick, two of the three inventors who.se
patent we have just described, were granted another patent on binders Dec.
6, 1853. This is an exceedinglj' complicated invention, but its general
form more nearly approaches the modern harvester and binder than any
other of these early inventions.

The grain was to fall upon revolving bands, and was to be carried up
by a series of such bands into a sort of crib, in which it was to be bound
and from which it was to be delivered upon the ground. The binding was
to be done with cord or twine, tied with a knot, and all the movements
were automatic. This also had several pages of variations and modifications
added. It was a mass of ingenious but impracticable devices, and the
patent is well known in the courts, as it has been a stumbling block in the
way of later inventors. Mr. Watson became a noted patent lawyer, was
assistant secretary of war under Stanton, and after«'ard president of the
Erie railway.

These first three efforts were made with cord or twine as the material
for binding. The next patent on binders was granted to J. E. Nesen, of
New York, December 13, 1853. He employed an endless platform apron,
having an intermittent motion for carrj-ing the grain to the binder hooks
which compressed into bundles that were bound with straw bands. It was
not an automatic binder, of course.

Geo. W. N. Yost, of Mississippi, Jan. 1, 185G, obtained a patent on a
machine for binding with a cord band, cut to right length, wnth a knot tied
in one end. This knotted end was placed in a notch and the other end
went somewhere. A gathering and compressing apparatus swept along the
platform, forming a bundle, around which the band was brought, when its
ends were tied by an attendant.

W. E. Pagett, of Virginia, Julj* 29, 1856, used m.etal strips prepared with
hooks and rings in combination with slide and " way " by which the bands
were put around the bundle and hooked together.

These three last described were not automatic and the)- added nothing
to advancement. The next machine showed decided progress. This was
the invention of C. A. McPhitridge, of St. Louis, Mo., by whom it was
patented Nov. 18, 1856. The theory of it is very well given in his claim, as
follows: "The combination of the reciprocating arm G, with spring pliers
G attached, with stationary arm M, revolving twister r, cutting plate q,
friction brake q, spring m, and movable plate o ; when the same are con
structed and arranged to operate in relation to each other and the main
frame and driving wheel, for the purpose of binding grain from a continuous

AMERICAN AGRICILTURAL IMPLEMENTS. 67

coil of wire," etc. He was the first to bind with wire, which was coiled
upon a reel and delivered to the reciprocating binding arm. The latter per
formed its functions substantially like the modern arm, and the wire received
the ordinary twist and cut.

During the year 1857 four binder patents were issued, as follows: April
2S, to J. F. Barrett, New York; Mayo, to H. Kellogg, Marengo, 111.; Sept.
22. to J. F. Black, Lancaster, 111., and Dec. 29, to L. D. Phillipps, of Chi-
cago. All were for improvements in, or aids to, hand binding with straw.
It is a singular coincidence that during this same year the IMarsh Bros, were
inventing their harvester and seeking the same end — rapid straw-binding
— but in another way altogether, their plan being to deliver the grain by
the machine in the best possible condition and position to the attendant
binders riding, leaving them to do the mere tj-ing by hand, free from and
undisturbed by the traps and aids proposed by others.

Allen Sherwood, Auburn, N. Y , Jan. 26, 1858, took out a patent, and
Sept 14 another, covering devices in his wire binder. The first patent
claims binding the grain by means of a wire, placed on a spool and carried
partially around the grain by the arm, in connection with twisting and
cutting devices; and the second claims — in combination with fingers for
throwing the gathered gavel up into the concave — the arm for carrying the
binding wire up and over the sheaf and placing the wire in the slot of the
twisting wheel; also the combination of the sliding knife with the twisting
wheel for cutting off the wire, the twisting wheel with the wire carriers;
and finally, the " forming a knot or enlargement on the end of the wire be-
hind where it is cut off b}- the cutter, by twisting the portion of it," for the
purpose of preventing the end from being drawn out of the slot in the
twister. Aug. 30, 1859, he took out another patent covering improvements
in his machine. Sherwood's binder was very ingenious and did good work.
It was intended for attachment to reapers of the time, hence was not fully
automatic, but required an attendant to work it. He spent several j-ears
in developing and in trying to introduce it, and a considerable number
were built and used, giving promise of ultimate success, but the prejudice of
farmers against wire and its high price proved too much for him. He
fought manful y, working his binders about the countr\- and at fairs, and he
only failed because the conditions were too unfavorable.

March 2, 1858, W. L. Childs, of New York, patented an ingenious
twine-binder. The cord was taken from a spool located in the grain-wheel
divider. It was passed under the platform and around in front of the re-
ceptable into the nippers, above, in the arm; a self-rake swept the grain
against the cord, which was forced back, receiving and encompassing the
gavel; then the arm came down, the twine was cut off, and the ends were
twisted and tucked under automatically. He also had a bundle car-
rier. INIarch 23, a patent was issued to A. F. French, of Yermont, cov-
ering devices for aiding attendant to bind with straw bands, twisted by
hand; May 11, to G. Notman, of Ohio, for a mechanism by which the blind-
ing was done with cords cut to lengths and placed by an attendant; July 6,
to John P. Manny, of Rockford. 111., on a machine something like the last,
for binding with a prepared cord band, cut to proper length, having a knot

68 AMERICAN AGRICULTURAI, IMPI^EMEXTS.

tied in one end and a little cast hook on the other, placed in position by an
attendant, but automatically passed around the compressed gavel — hook and
knot engaging as bundle expanded when loosened from the compressor,
the binding mechanism operating in combination "with a rake that auto-
matically throws itself out of gear," etc.

August 17, C. W. and W. W. Marsh patented their hand-binding har-
vester, which, though not belonging specifically to this class, became
finally the foundation upon which practical binders up to this time have
been built.

To J. Mitchell, Sept. 7, was granted a patent for an automatic straw-
binder. "This invention consists in the use of clamps or band-carriers, a
band-twisting device, tucking rod, and discharging device applied to the
reaper, arranged relatively with each other and operated, whereby the grain
is bound into sheaves and discharged upon the ground, the whole working
automatically as the machine moves along." It was not practical. The
next patent, Nov. 16, was to Wm. Graj', of Ohio, covering ingenious con-
trivances for binding automatically with straw. The idea was suggested to
him by the peculiar automatic self-rake of Jearum Atkins, mentioned in
review of reapers. "Spring talons forked at ends and mounted on a turn-
ing post like Atkins' self-rake, are brought down to the gavel by cam slot
in post; they descend so that one talon strikes the heads and the other the
butts; their spring ends being forced into the grain pick up a wisp for
a band; they then turn at right angles to the gavel, placing the wisp or
band across it; descending further and coming together with band carried
around the gavel, the ends of the bands are twi.sted by rotating pliers and
tucked under; then the talons raise, lifting the bundle and dropping it
upon the ground, and go back to place to repeat," etc. One feature which
is deserving of particular notice is described in first claim: "The arrange-
ment of gravitating platform /^19, and the seriesof levers, G, H, I, J, with
their accessories, in the described connection with a drive-wheel, for the
automatic starting of the binding mechanism by the weight of the sheaf or
gavel," that is, the weight of the sheaf threw the binder in gear.

March 8, 1859, to A. Ralston, of Pennsylvania, a patent was issued on
device for assisting attendant to bind with straw. It had a "shocking car-
riage' ' attached, in which a shock was formed and dropped upon the ground
through its bottom. To J. D. Osborn, of Michigan, June 14, a patent was
issued for a twine-binder, of which the claim is as follows: "A binding
knot composed of three loops passed through each other, when said passing
of the loops through each other is affected by machinery driven or moved
from any of the moving parts of a harvesting machine, and whether ac-
complished by the means herein stated or by their substantial equivalents. ' '
The cord or twine was taken from a reel. To F. Meyer, of Illinois, Aug.
2, a patent was issued for a very ingenious and complicated series of devices
by which a straw rope band was twisted from the butt of the gavel and
wound around the latter while being turned or rotated for the purpose. To
C. H. McAller, of Wisconsin, Aug. 16, a patent was issued for devices to aid
attendant in binding with straw by hand, and Oct. 11, to J. McAller for im-
provements on the same. To C. H. Durkee, of Wisconsin, Nov. 22, a patent

AMERICAN AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS.

6S

M'PHITRIDGE PATENT, 1856, FIRST WIRE
BINDER.

LOCKE'S WIRE BINDER, 18T3.

burson's wire binder, 1861, attached to

A reaper.

JAS F GORDONS CRA\E LINDER, 187:)

JOHN H. GORDON'S "PACKER" BINDER, 18'3.

"i^ aAIKRICAN agricultur.\l implkmexts.

was issued for mechanism arranged to assist attendant in binding with straw
bands, cut and prepared.

In 1860, May 22, a patent was issued to D. W. Avers, of Illinois, for a
wire-binder, having a rotating arm, twisting device, cutter and holder, ''all
the parts working automatically by the turning of a shaft, and a gavel bound
at each revolution of the shaft." To H. Kaller, of Illinois, June o, a patent
was issued for a wire-binder with a vibrating curved arm, and means for
cutting and twisting the wire; and to A. B. Smith, of Penn.sylvania, June
19, for cord-binder, the chief feature bein.y^ its compressing arms, working
independently of the cord arm, etc. June 2(j, W. W. Burson, of H'inois,
obtained his first patent. This was for a twine-binder, to be used upon any
reaper and to be operated by an attendant. It tied a knot in the cord by
means of hooks working together. July 10 a patent was granted to J.
Courser, of Illinois, for an automatic knot-tying device for taking twine
from a reel; on the 17th of the same month, to J. S. Hickey, of Illinois, for a
binder to be operated by hand, and to Chas. Mar.ston, of Wisconsin, Aug.
14, for a very cumbrous and complicated machine for binding and shocking,
and devices to aid attendants riding to bind with straw braid. It will be noted
that all but two of the binder patents of 18G0 were issued to citizens of Illi-
nois, and one of these hardly belongs to this class.

In IS61, Feb. 12, a patent was issued to S. Reynolds, of Rhode Island,
for a wire-binder, with arm, twister and cutter, operating automatically;
to L. P. Harris, of Ohio, Feb. 26, for another wire-binder, which discovers
nothing new. W. W. Burson, then of Yates, but now of Rockford, 111.,
took out a patent on the same date, Feb. 26, 1861. This was for his wire-
binder; and it was the foundation of a machine that made more stir, and
came nearer to practical success and public approval than any other of the
various binders belonging to the I'rst era. It was constructed as an attach-
ment to the ordinar}' reaper. As the gavels were raked into the bincier, an
attendant sitting beside it turned a crank giving the necessary movements
for binding the bundles. Other patents for improvements were issued to
him as follows: To H. M. and W. W. Burson, March 3, 1863; to W. W.
Burson, Aug. 11, 1863; also Oct. 4, 1864, and July 25, 1865, the two latter
patents covering devices for adapting his binder to the use of twine. Bur-
son's first binder, built in 1859, patented June 26, ISCO, and mentioned be-
fore, bound with twine, but as that material was not easily obtained he
turned his attention to wire. He had two wire-binders at work in the har-
vest of 1860. The next year some twenty-five of them were built at Musca-
tine, Iowa, for attachment to the John H. Manny reaper, and were worked
in the harvest from Vandalia, 111., northward as far as Red Wing, Minn.,
several being sold to farmers. In 1862 about fifty more were made. One of
them was at the great reaper trial at Dixon, 111., that \ear. It made a de-
cided sensation, and notices of its work appeared in many newspapers of
the time. As said by the Chicago Tribune: "The great feature of the day,
which never failed to draw the crowd, was the grain binder of W W. Bur-
son; " and hy the Fanneis'' Advocate: "Burson truly had an ovation that must
have been gratifying to him." It was used on a John H. INIanny six-foot-
cut reaper, made by Talcott, Emerson & Co., of Rockford, 111. Burson ar-

AMERICAN AGiaCULTLRAL IMPLKMEXTS. 71

ranged with this firm to build for him 1,100 of his binders for 18B3. These
were good machines and worked well, but the prejudice against wire and its
cost at war prices operated against them. The}- were mosth- sold, however,
and used for many years thereafter; but a profitable market could not be
established for them, so their manufacture was discontinued. Yielding to
the objections against wnre, he turned again to twine-inventing and sub-
stituted a knotter in place of his wire twister, and he had this in success-
ful operation in I860. During the winter following Mr. Emerson went to
even,' twine factory in the United States, and to agents of foreign manufact-
urers of twine, to find or to get made what should be sufficiently cheap and
also strong enough for practical use as material for binding Nothing then
could be produced, on account of war prices and crude machinerv, that
would answer the purpose. Still determined to succeed, Talcott, Emerson
& Co. imported machinery and began manufacturing twine, but their fac-
tory burned up soon after, and they discontinued further efforts. At this
time, too, the Marsh harvester was rapidly gaining favor, and on the score
of economy was a successful competitor against any sort of binder, no mat-
ter what kind of material might then be used on the latter. Mr. Burson
says that he got on a Marsh harvester cutting rye in 1866, and bound two
rounds alone, at first trial. He decided there that a binder had to be made
fully automatic, and that material for binding must be cheaper to enable a
self-binder to compete with the harvester.

In 1S61, Oct. '19, to C. Alvord, of Wisconsin, a patent was issued for
reciprocating gavel carriers, presses, etc.; to C. Powers and P. Lancaster,
of Michigan, Oct. 29, for a twine-binding attachment which had considera-
ble merit, its chief feature being a rotating head in connection with a
swinging arm. The ends of the cord were held by a tight twist.

In 1862, April 15, to A. S. Harding, of New York, a patent was issued
for a machine to rake and bind grain with straw taken automatically
from a box, put around gavel and ends twisted, clamps and other devices
helping in the operation; to J. H. and A. E. Rodstone, of Indiana, Aug. 19,
for rake and straw-binding devices, and to J. M. Grosh, of Pennsylvania,
Oct. 28, for something of the same general character.

In 1863, Jan. 13, to H. Palmer, of New York, a patent was granted for
an automatic twine-binder. The grain was drawn from a slotted platform
by a reciprocating rake, when it was caught by a cradle and delivered to
hooks, clamped and bound by a series of operations and devices. To R. D.
Brown, of Indiana, April 7, a patent was issued for a complicated machine
which, in addition to binding the sheaves, deposited them in bunches on
the ground, and had a device for counting the number thus dropped; to \V.
H. Harrah and H. P. Jones, of Iowa, June 30, for a wire-binding attach-
ment operated by an attendant; to J. Judevine and Z. Shaw, of Wisconsin,
July 14, for a similar wire-binding attachment; to A. B. Smith, of Pennsyl-
vania, July 28, for improvements on his twine-binder, first patented June
19, 1860; to A. Under^NOod, of Wisconsin, Aug. 11, for a very ingenious au-
tomatic twine-binding attachment, which was constructed on its own plat-
form, taking the place of the reaper platform when attached, and forming
thus a complete machine (the cord was twisted and then tied, and an auto-

72 AMKUICAN AGRICri.TURAL IMPLEMENTS.

matic fork discharj^ed the ])undles); to W. I). Harrali, of Iowa, Dec. 22, for
a novel bindinj^ mechanisni, the gavel of grain being pressed endwise into
a compressing tube on which were prepared endless bands, one of which
was slipped over the sheaf as it passed out of the tube, the expansion of the
bundle tightening the band around it.

In 1804, Jan. 2(), S. T. Holly took out two patents on binder. Jacob
Behel, then of Earlville, now of Rockford, 111., Feb. 1(>, obtained a patent
for one of the most important inventions ever made on binders, viz.; the
knotting bill and turning cord holder. The bill, which was .substantially
like all in use now, seized the portions of the cord which were to form the
knot, and looping the .same, moved l)ack past the knife, which .severed the cord
at the proper point, leaving the end of the cord from the reel (or ball) firmly
held by the turning cord wheel. Mr. Behel, in connection with W. Hedges,
took out another patent Sept. 0, which has, among various claims, one for
an adjustable cord guide located between reel (or ball) and binding arm;
and his patent of Sept. 19, 1865, claims a friction apparatus, swinging frame
and cord guides, for the cord as taken from the .spool (or ball), akso the com-
bination of tying bill and moving knife. Mr. Behel was a meritorious in-
ventor, but unfortunately he was too earlj'; for when the time came for all
the world to u.se his inventions his patents had nearly all expired. To S.
J. Wallace, of Illinois, April 12, 1804, a patent for a wire-binder was issued
having several ingenious and important features— a rack for giving motion
to twister, etc. — but it is too long and complicated to describe. T. T. Curtis,
of Michigan, May 3, patented a machine that combined a self rake, binder
and .shocker. During the balance of the year no binder patents were is.sued
except those to Burson and Behel, already mentioned.

This brings us down to the year 1805 on all the binder patents issued
previously, and here we may stop taking them in course, for lack of time
and room, and because also here ended, with Burson's final effort, all hope
on the part of practical men, of establishing a marketable self-binder with
conditions as they were, i e., with material for binding so dear; with the
difficulties in the way of making any binder work in connection with a
reaper or on the "low-down " principle; and with the Marsh harvester on
the market then as a successful competitor on the score of economy against
any binder, no matter how thoroughly practical in operation it might have
been. It is somewhat remarkable, too, that the Marsh harvester, which at
that time repidsed binders, should be the verj' machine which a few j-ears
after invited them on.

"The first clear idea of an automatic binder as an attachment to our har-
vester," says Mr. Marsh, "I got in July, 1870, in this manner: I was then
operating one of the machines, which we had sold to the government, at
Ungarisch, Altenburg, Hungary, upon the farms connected with the Agri-
cultural College. Prince or Archduke Nicholas, of Wiirtemberg, was stop-
ping there at the time and became very much interested in the trials of
machines then in progress One afternoon, after he had followed the har
vester around several times, watching the operation of machines and bind-
ers, as he had frequently done before, he asked me to have them stop at the
end furthest from the crowd (which, by the way, v/as not allowed to follow).

AMERICAN AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS. 73

He fhen said that such men as they had in Europe would never bind by
hand successfully, but that an automatic binder should be put in their place.
Evidently he had been studying the subject, for he explained quite in detail
his plan — the location and movement of the binder, which was to use wire;
in short, he gave me the general outline, which several years after I saw in
•Gordon's "crane " binder; and he asked me to remain over and help him,
with such good mechanics as we could get at the institute, to produce a
binder for the following season. I had no idea, then, of the importance of
his suggestion, and gave it scarcely a thought, except to wonder at his in-
ventive disposition and I never heard further of him."

There were several binder patents granted during the year ISGo, but
none of them represented successful inventors or machines, except two
issued Dec. 19, to S. D. Locke, of Janesville, Wis., one covering a compress-
ing device, the other his rotating hook twister. Locke sslxs he began in
18(51 to build a binder which, after nearly completing, he abandoned, to
commence on one of another style or plan. From this commencement to
1869 he was engaged in efforts to adapt binders to reapers, working on differ-
ent plans and taking out various patents. In the spring of 1869 he arranged
with Walter A. Wood & Co., of Hoosick Falls, N. Y., and went there. He
tried first to fit his binder to the Wood self-raker; but gave that up and then
put one on a heading machine, operating it with fair success in 1870. The
company built several for these headers the next year. In 1872 he attached
one, as he says, to " a har^-ester of the modern or Marsh type." They built
five on this plan in 1873, of which four were used for that har\-est. Next
year a few more were built and the next three hundred, and after that the}-
w'ere put upon the market iu large numbers by the Wood company, up to
1880, inclusive.

Mr. Locke took out patents too numerous to mention. He claims to
be the first man to build an automatic binder as a distinct and separate ma-
chine for attachment to a harvester, and Walter A. Wood & Co. were the
first to build and put regularh- upon the market successful automatic bind-
ing machines. While it is probably true that Mr. Locke was the first in-
ventor of binders on record who made a final success, and that success began
Avith the adaptation of his binder to the Marsh harvester in 1872, yet to S.
D. Carpenter, of Carthage, Mo., then of Madison, Wis., probably belongs
the credit of the first attempt of the kind. Carpenter seems to have been
the first to discover this necessity to binders: the elevation and then down-
ward delivery of the flowing stream. He began his binder work back in
1861 or 1862, in the usual way for attachment to reapers; and although there
is some dispute or discrepancy as to dates, he certainly had a binder on a
IMarsh harvester as early as 1867. His machine c eated considerable of a
sensation, was successfully exhibited and a number experimentalh* built,
but they did not get it upon the market.

In the long list of meritorious inventors the name of James F. Gordon,
•of Rochester, N. Y., and of his brother, John H. Gordon, should stand out
prominently on account of their valuable work and their persistent efforts.
James F. began inventing in this line as early as 1862 and had a full-sized
machine in 1*>64. He continued his experiments under adverse conditions

74 ami;rican agriclxtural implements.

— lack of means, and other disadvantages — getting a second machine built
in Kalamazoo, Mich., in 1867, and another in Rochester, N. Y. , in 1868,
which was successfully operated near that city and elsewhere during har-
vest. May 12, of that year, his first patent was issued. Meantime he had
been compelled to dispose of interests in his inventions to provide funds
for this development. He built several for the next season which were used
in the field, and exhibited at fairs — but success was not assured until 1871,
when he procured a Marsh harvester and attached his binder thereto, with
which new combination he did good work that harvest. He continued on
this last plan, assisted by his brother, John H., through 1872 and 1873
building, perfecting and exhibiting their binders as attached to harvesters.
Aug. 27, 1872, he obtained a patent on the improved machine, and June 16,
1874, on another. On account of peculiar construction one of these early
binders was designated the "gaveller" and the other as the "recipro-
cator. ' '

John H. Gordon, then living at Kalamazoo, Mich., built his first
" packer " binder during the fall of 1873, and prior to the next harvest three
were completed for the market. He bought three Marsh harvesters upon
which to place them. One of the machines thus combined he sold to Ed.
McElroy, living near Kalamazoo, for $'M)0 cash. This is believed to be
the first cash sale of an automatic binder on record. It did excellent work
and bound about one hundred acres. Gammon, Deering & vStewart became
interested in Gordon binders in 1873 and in 1874 began putting them on
the market. J. F. Gordon produced soon after what was known as his
"crane" binder, which was built largely by Gammon, Deering & Steward.
D. M. Osborne & Co. also built this, taking license from both the brothers
on their machines; and D. M. Osborne afterward bought an interest in their
patents. J. H. Gordon next invented his "crank and guide-arm," or the
Buckej'e wire-binder— so called after this concern took license and began
building. This was in 1878. The next year Walter A. Wood & Co. took a
license on this last machine, as improved, and made a couple of hundred
before they changed to tv^ine. Having thus brought their several wire-
binders to a high state of perfection (and it is a sti iking peculiarity that
all worked well from the start) with several of the la' '^e.st manufacturers as
their licensees, building thousands annually, the v ( rid seemed fairly in
their grasp, w-hen suddenly the twine binders surged to the front and cap-
tured the whole trade.

Along in the early part of the "seventies" several ingenious binding
machines were patented by various inventors. W. H. Payne began them
and continued thereafter \\ith varying .success, until the Appleby swept
him and others out of the market. It is said that he was the first to use a
bundle carrier with a binder. There were Spaulding, with his measuring
or trip device; Baila. Chapman and Fowler, with his ingenious mechanism
for stitching a band around and into a bundle. Keller and Storle did good
work, and so did Travis and J. F. Steward later. John H. Whitney patented
his binder, low-down, in 1870 and 1872, and was making rapid strides toward
success; but his fire was too intense and he soon burned out, dying ia
1872.

AMERICAN AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS.

75

THE APPLEBY "STA^'DAKD" BINDER, AS FIRST PUT ON THE MARKET.

BEHEL'S tying bill — FORMING THE KNOT.

76 AMERICAN AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS.

Geo. Draper, of Mazomanie, Wis., an Englishman by birth, but forty
years in this country, while an invalid, invented and had built in 1870 and
1871, a very ingenious binder, applying it to the Kirby reaper. It is said
that it was a very creditable effort, and that among other practical devices
it had an automatic trip lever for starting the binding mechanism under
pressure from the grain. Ill health and lack of means prevented the full
development of his ideas.

So much misfortune had all along befallen these various efibrts to at-
tach binders to reapers, that the attention of inventors about that time
became directed to another method of gathering and binding the grain,
resulting in the peculiar machine called the "gleaner," which is a binder
attached to a raking device for gathering gavels, deposited on the ground,
from a reaper, and binding them. A patent was granted to M. T. Ridout,
Nov. 14, 1871, for the first gleaner. Other patents were issued on this style
of machine to J. A. Scott in 1873, Leuz and Wittker in 1874, and afterwards
to R. Eickmeyer, M. G. Hubbard, Samuel Johnson, W. N. Whitely and
others. Many of them were built and used successfully, especially in the
eastern and middle states.

Had Marquis L. Gorham, of Rockford, 111., lived to complete his work,
it is altogether probable that his name would have been amongthe fir.st of the
successful inventors of twine-binders. He began on his binder in 1873 and
had it done for the harvest of 1874. He attached it to an "altered over Marsh
harvester." This machine did good work in the har\-est of 1874, cutting and
binding many acres. Mr. Gorham obtained patents on it Feb. 9, and March 16,
1875. He continued his experiments, making improvements and applying for
patents thereon, until sickness intervened, and finally death in the fall of 1870
brought to rest his overtaxed body and brain. Some efforts were made to
finish his work, btit the master spirit was no longer present to guide it to
successful completion, and it was not pushed forward with sufficient prompt-
itude to obtain a place before the Appleby had captured the market on this
style of machine. Mr. Gorham was a brilliant inventor, quick in percep-
tion, rapid in execution, and practical always. He added much to the per-
fection of farm implements. His seeders, cultivators, etc., are well known
all over the western country.

The St. Paul Harvester Works, of St. Paul, Minn., did a large amount
of pioneer work. They were among the first to build, exhibit and put upon
the market modern cord-binders, under the EHward and Levalley patents.
The binder operated fairly well, and they were gaining ground with it, un-
til the Appleby and Holmes stepped in before and demolished them.

Chas. B. Withington, of Janesville, Wis., patented Feb. 20, 1872, and
May 19, 1874, one of the best and most successful wire-binders ever put in the
field, as attached to the Marsh harvester manufactured by C. H. and L. J.
McCormick & Co. This binder differed essentially from the Gordon and
other wire-binders, in its chain movement, in carrying two spools of wire
from which the bands were formed, and in other operating devices. In
1874, or early in 1875, Withington sold a half interest in his patents to the
McCormicks and made general arrangements with them for the develop-
ment and manufacture of his machines. They built three or four experi-

AMERICAN AGRICULTURAI, IMPLEMENTS. 77

mental binders for 1875; thirty or forty in 1876. and in 1877 they were put
regularly upon the market, where they held a foremost place until 1881,
when the McCormicks began building the Appleby.

No name is so well known among persons interested in harvesting ma-
chines as that of John F. Appleby, and no machine ever swept over the
world with such overwhelming rapidity— once it got started — as the twine-
binder designated the "Appleby." This success was not due to the new-
ness of the devices applied, nor to the surpassing character of Mr. Appleby's
genius, although he has been, a persistent and clear-headed inventor; but it
would seem that the ingenuity of a number of inventors, running in the
same direction, had become massed or dammed before certain common ob-
structions, beyond which they could not flow; and it was reserved for him
to combine in his binder — built upon the Marsh harvester — the most prac-
tical of these principles, directing the best efforts into one channel; and
b^^ devices of his own to remove the obstructions, thus opening the way
for the flood that followed.

In the fall of 1881 W. N. Whitely, then the head of the Champion in-
terest at Springfield, Ohio, who had been experimenting largely with low-
down and other binders since 1875, bought the interest of Appleby and his
assignees in his many patents. Others had obtained licenses or shop rights,
or arranged with Whitely therefor. So from that' time and onward the
twenty odd manufacturers of the United States have been running substan-
tially in one groove, building the Appleby type of binders upon the Marsh
type of hai-\^esters, each applying special or distinctive devices in accord-
ance with his bent, the Holmes binder only, built by the Walter A. Wood
company, differing from the others in .some of its principles. Mr. Holmes,
the inventor, began experimenting in this direction as long ago as 1S68,
it is said. He was poor, and struggled along as best he could, until
1879 when the Wood company gave him assistance. His patent was granted
Dec. 3, 1878.

CHAPTER IX.

Mowers.

MAKING hay— cutting and drying grass for fodder — was a familiar duty
among ancient stock raisers. The process is frequently alluded to in
the Bible, but the uses of hay are now nearly or quite forgotten in Pales-
tine, straw and chaff having long ago supplied its place for fodder. From
primitive times down to the present there has been no material change in
the process of manual mowing. The scythe of the pre-historic Lacustrine
inhabitant of Switzerland was curved, and was attached to a handle, form-
ing an implement substantially the same as we now use, and that likewise,
when swung into the grass or grain, described the segment of a circle in
cutting; and so does the sickle. It was this natural primitive movement
that the first constructors of both reapers and mowers tried to imitate or
reproduce in their machines, and early American inventors of mowers per-
sistentl}^ endeavored to make practically operative this original principle.
Indeed, it was many years before the rotary or scythe-curve theorj- of cut-
ting was abandoned.

The idea of mowing grass by horse power was conceived in America,
and the first patent ostensibly covering a machine of that character was
granted to Peter Gaillard, of Lancaster, Pa., Dec. 4, 1812; so, according to
the record, he was the first inventor in this line. Previous to the date of
this patent several crude reaping machines had been produced in England,
but none of them had passed the experimental stage or been put up in prac-
tical form, and all were intended, as their construction and descriptions
indicate, for cutting grain and not grass. The credit for the conception,
therefore, of mowing grass with a machine propelled by other than man
power belongs to an American inventor, although, because reapers and
mowers are usuall}' classified together, writers on this subject speak of these
old English reapers as mowing and reaping machines.

Jeremiah Bailey, of Chester county, Pa., Feb. 13, 1822, patented a
mower or grass-cutting machine which made considerable stir at the time,
in England as well as in this country. The Mechanic's Magazine (British),
1823, describes it as follows: "The mowing machine of which the above cut
is a representation was invented by Jeremiah Bailey, of Chester county,
United States, who has obtained a patent for the same. It has been exten-
sively used and approved of during the last season in the neighborhood of
the patentee, and promises to be of great public utility. It is understood
that it will mow ten acres per day. The following description will explain
its operation and show the skill and ingenuity of the inventor:

"This machine is supported by two wheels on different axles. The left
wdieel is fixed to its axle, so that they revolve together. The right revolves

■-MERICAX AGRICULTIRAL IMPLEMENTS. 79

on its axle like a common cart wheel, and is placed about a foot further
back than the other. The left works within the frame, and has a circle of
cogs screwed on the outside of the felloes, but of a less diameter, to keep
them from the ground. These cogs work into a vertical cog wheel in front
that turns an iron shaft extending horizontally toward the center of the ma-
chine; upon the inner end of this shaft is fixed a vertical face wheel, whose
cogs turn a trundle-head on a vertical shaft. To the bottom of this shaft,
near the ground, is fixed a circular horizontal framework, on the circumfer-
ence of which is screvped the scj'thes in six parts, laid horizontally, with the
edges turned outward, so as to form a complete circle. To keep the scythes
at a proper distance from the ground the bottom of the shaft is supported
on a piece of wood of the machine, secured by a tye from the tail, somewhat
resembling a sled runner, in which it works in the manner of a gudgeon;
with the inequalities of the ground the scythe frame shaft and trundle-head
rise and fall. The edge of the scythe, in its revolution, passes under a
whetstone fixed on an axis, and revolving with the scythe. To create fric-
tion this axis is more or less inclined to the line of the direction of the revo-
lution, according to the friction required. This stone, by means of a sliding
rod by which it is attached to the machine, rises and falls with the scythes.

* * * The horse is put into shafts and walks in front of the left side of
the machine, and always on the mowed ground after the first swath is cut

* * * The grass as it is cut is first thrown by the progressive motion
against a rise in the scythe frame toward the center, and by the same motion
is afterward thrown off in a regular row, following the center of the machine. ' '

The next patent was granted July 3, 1824, to John A. Wadsworth, Ports-
mouth, R. I., for a horse scythe. May 18, 1825, E. Cope and J. Hoopes.
Jr., of Chester Count)', Pa., received a patent on a mowing machine some-
what similar in principle to that of Jeremiah Bailey, described, but of better
form and simpler construction. A letter written in 18o4, by N. Cope, son
of E. Cope, contained the following regarding this mower: "This was a very
efficient machine, but was chiefly used for mowing grass, and it would cut
an acre in thirty minutes by the watch, better than it possibly could be done
by hand. I assisted to build some twent3--five or thirty of them before I
came west,and I much question whether, for the purpose of grass-cutting.
a better or more simple machine has, or ever will be, constructed."

As reapers and mowers belong to the same original general class, '"har-
vesters," and have, as was particularly the case at first, so many features in
common, it is somewhat difficult at times to draw the line between them.
In many of the older patents they are described as machines for reaping and
mowing, having been designed for both purposes, and in some specifications
they are described first as one and then as the other without distinction of
purpose; so one cannot always clearly understand to which division of
the general class the inventor intended his machine, or to which it really
belonged. Taking Hussey's invention as an instance: Contemporary and
later writers usually speak of it as a mowing machine, while in fact it was
essentially a reaper, and made its record as such, although it was designed
to both reap and mow, and introduced features without which mowers
could not have been made sufficiently practical for the general trade. In

80 AMERICAN AGRICLLTLRAL IMPLEMENTS.

the course of later development the lines become less mixed and more
divergent, until now the distinction between mowers and reapers or har-
vesting machines is plainly marked. Mowers, with reference to the manner
in which the power is attached, are known as center-draft and side draft;
with reference to their bearing wheels, by which power is communicateil to
the cutting devices, they are one-wheeled and two-wheeled; and as to adjust-
ment of the cutting devices are known as rigid-bar and hinged-bar. These
are general distinctions of which there are respectively many variations.

There is no difficulty in distinguishing the invention of Erastus Inger-
soll, Farmington, Mich., patented May 7, 1830. It was unquestionably in-
tended for cutting grass, with what success one may judge from the descrip-
tion: "Runners bearing some resemblance to those of a sleigh are framed
together. A roller extending across from one of these to the other at the
back part rests upon the ground, and revolves when the machine is drawn
forward. Two pieces serving as shafts extend forward, being .secured by
proper framing. The mowing or cutting part is a horizontal wheel about
eight feet in diameter, running near to the ground, its lower gudgeon fitted
in a piece framed across the runners, and its upper is one of the .shaft pieces.
A band from the roller extends to a wheel on the axis of this cutting wheel
to give it motion. The cutters are knives fitted on to the periphery of the
wheel so as to form a complete circle."

Although the next patent, to William ^Manning, Plainfield, N. J., May
3, 1831, covered what was designated a reaping machine, its cutting device
marked an important .step in the development of mowers. Quoting from
the description: "From the axletree extend two arms. * « * The two
arms are united together b}- a cross-bar at their extreme ends, which cross-
bar when the machine is in action rests and slides forward on the ground.
Teeth of six or eight inches in length, more or less, are set like rake teeth,
standing forsvard on the cross-bar. These are made slender, and are for the
purpose of holding the grass or grain to be cut * * * a flat bar of iron
lies along upon the cross-bar, and the cutters are to be attached to this upper
bar. The cutters are spear-shaped, and are sharpened on each of their
edges. They may vary in their length and width, but ordinarily they
may be about six inches long, and three or four wide at their bases The
grass or grain, which is held up by the teeth, passes between these knives
or cutters." April 26, 1833, Richard Heath, West Newbury, Mass., obtained
a patent for a mower similar in principle to the Bailey, and so, June 29, 1S33,
did Thos A. Anderson, of McMinn county, Tenn. Both these machines
drove revolving scythes placed near the ground, and neither contained any-
thing specially new and valuable in the art.

When the invention of Obed Hussey, Cincinnati, O., patented Dec. 31,
1833, was added to the others that have been mentioned, the foundation of
reapers and mowers had become substantially laid, and thenceforward the
erection of structures thereon and the perfection of their details became
the chief work of inventors in this line. The main feature of his invention,
the cutting device, is thus set forth by Mr. Hussey. "The cutting blades are
of lancet-point shape, and sharp on both sides; these are fixed side bj- side
on an iron rod, in the position of sawteeth, and receive a vibrating motion

AMERICAN AGRICULTURAI. IMPLEMENTS. 81

from a crank to which the iron rod is attached; these blades project forward
from the front edge of the platform towards the grain, and play through a
corresponding row of permanent iron guards or fingers, which also project
forward from the front of the platform. As the machine progresses forward
the grain or grass comes in between the stationarj- guards or fingers and is
cut off by the vibrating blades. * * * The great point in this invention
is the double finger, in combination with the vibrating blades, each finger
being formed of an upper and lower half, with sufi&cient space between
for the passage of the blades through them. The straw or grass to be cut
is supported both above and below the edges of the blades, and is cut off as
the blades pass through the fingers by the revolution of the crank." In
this first machine the upper part of the guard came back to the sickle beam,
and the result was that grass or stubble drew in and more or less choked
the sickle. Some years after, by cutting off the rear end of the upper por-
tion of the guard and leaving it open, so that stuff might work back and
out — thus forming what has been called the lip of the guard — Mr. Hussey
effectually remedied the difficulty, and a practical cutting device for har-
vesting machines, substantialh- as used to this day, v.-as produced Man-
ning, in 1831, showed the guard-teeth or fingers attached to the beam over
which a sickle or cutter, similar to Hussey's, was made to vibrate, but these
guards or fingers were single, that is, no lip or returning piece over the
sickle was pro^■ided, hence it was not and could not be a practical cutting
device because it lacked the step toward completion that I\Ir. Hussey took.
However, in the development of this feature. Manning — as an inventor
simply — is entitled to as much credit as Hussey, for he stood midway be-
tween Ogle and Hussey, and made full}- as long a step- as did the latter.

December 23, 1834, Enoch Ambler, Root, N. Y., obtained a patent for a
machine to cut grain by horse power. There seems to be much difference of
opinion as to the merits of Ambler's invention. Contemporary writers refer
to it rather contemptuously, but an examination of the cut of his old finger-
bar will show that for one of the earliest efforts it was a long step in the
direction of.successful grain cutting by horse power.

The next patent in this line was granted to Abraham Rundell, Verona,
N. Y. , April 22, 1835, and covered a new idea in cutting. The device con-
sisted of two sickles, or cutters, with corresponding points, to be operated
in contrary directions, thus making a double shear cut with each pair of
points, the whole operating like a series of double-acting scissors. This was
the first of a number of inventions and improvements upon the same prin-
ciple made both iji this country and in England; and the cutting device of
one of the most successful mowers of its time, the Danford, was of this
character.

The first patent of \Vm. F. Ketchum, Buffalo, N Y., was issued Nov.
18, 1844. There is nothing of special importance in this first patent of Mr.
Ketchum's, but it is worthy of notice because he was the father of the mower
trade; that is, he was the first man to put mowers successfully upon the
market distinctively as such and not as combined with the reaper. The
chief claim and the one relating to mowers in this patent was as follows;
"What I claim as my invention is the combination of the driving-wheels

82 AMERICAN AGRIClI.TrKAIv IMPLEMIIXTS

with the cutters, in the manner described, by forniinj^ internal gear ou the
wheels and inclosing all the driving gear inside of them by the construction
and arrangement aboye set forth." Another patent was granted to Ketchum
March 7, 1846. It had no bearing upon mowers, but his next, July 10, 1847,
as it furnished a new feature of value to mowers and to reapers and mowers
combined, became quite important, especially as afterwards re-issued. The
claims in the re-issue are as follows:

"First. Placing the cutter-bar and cutters lower than the frame of
the machine, and opposite the side of the plane of the wheel, in such a
manner as to leave unobstructed space below the frame, and also between
the wheel and the cutters with their supports, to allow the machine to pass
freely and without clogging over the cut grass or grain, as set forth.

"Second. Placing the cutters lower than the frame and axle, and in
or nearly in the same vertical plane with the axle on which the frame
hangs and vibrates, and parallel or nearlj- so to said axle, so that the vibra-
tions of the frame on uneven ground shall not materially elevate or depress
the cutters, as herein set forth.

" Third. The endless chain of cutters in combination with the guard-
teeth, operating substantially as described."

The main feature of this patent was the unobstructed space between
driving-wheel and finger-bar and its support.s. The endless band of cutters
did not work satisfactorily, although when the machine came out it created
a great flutter among reaper men, as its extreme simplicity and great possi-
bilities, if it proved practical, were apparent to all.

The next name to be noticed in the order of mower development is that
of Eliakim B. Forbush, who obtained a patent Nov. 17, 1849. His claim in
this, his first patent, is on an open triangular tooth, or triangular hollow
tooth for cutting grass and grain, "the object being to diminish friction in
vibration and to afford a more perfect clearance. ' ' Following Mr. Forbush
further we find that July 20, 1852, another patent was issued to him em-
bracing four claims relating to guard fingers, etc., also to a pivoted raking
arrangement. This patent was afterwards assigned to Cyrenus Wheeler,
Jr., and re-issued in several divisions, mainly to cover points pertaining to
reaping machines. The Forbush machines were made in Buffalo, X. Y.,
and were put out both as combined, and as mowers simph-. The machine
was quite similar to the Ketchum, and in consequence the firm manufact-
uring it — the Smith Brothers — were sued by Mr. Ketchum for infringement,
and were forced to discontinue making it.

One of the men engaged in constructing the Forbush was AVilliam A.
Kirby; and from witnessing the operation of that machine in the field he
concluded to get up one that might avoid its defects. The first Kirby ma-
chine was completed in ISoo; and the first patent was granted April lo, and
the second Sept. 2, 1856. The first related to the method of connecting the
guard-fingers to the finger-bar, and projecting rivet heads and spaces in
connection with the cutters and fingers. The second patent contained the
important feature of pivoting the main driving and supporting wheel to an
arm which was in turn hinged to the frame of the machine concentric to
the first gear shaft; which arrangement permitted the wheel to swing on its

AMERICAN AGRICn.TrRAT, TMPT,KMKXTS

S3

PREHISTORIC SCYTHh

BAILEY'S MOWER, lSt2.

HUSSEY'S MACHINE, 1833.

ICETCUUM S MOWER, AS BUILT

^Sfn?iT??^

FORBCSH MOWER.

JOHN H. MANNY'S MACHINE AS A MOWER.

SY-LLA & AD.^MS, HINGED BAR, 186^.

CYRENfS WHRFLER, JR , 1854.

84 AMERICAN AGRICUI/n RAI. IMl'I.KMKNTS.

hinged connection with the gear frame, indept ndent of it and the frame
and the cutting apparatus connected therewith to rise and fall independent
of the up-and-down motions of the road wheel. A seat for the driver was
pivoted to the frame of the machine and fulcrumed on the axle and its arm,
so that the weight of the driver was added to the wheel to give it sufficient
adhesion to drive the cutters, and at the same time relieve the cutting appa-
ratus and frame from undue pressure on the ground when used in mowing.
Mr. Kirby, from time to time, improved and perfected his machine, which,
like the Ketchum and Forbush, was one-w-heeled, with rigid-bar, although
the latter had a certain adjustability as described. It became by far the
most .successful of the type. The three started at Buffalo, N. Y., one seem-
ing to grow out of the other, and finally they were more or less merged or
consolidated by D. M. Osborne & Co., at Auburn, N. Y., whose machines,
combining all the best elements of these originals and other improvements,
soon became famous, principally as reapers, but also as mowers.

Going back to Sept. 17, 1850, we notice the patent granted to Ebenezer
Danford, with claim as follows: "The application to a reaping and mowing
machine of two sickles working together in opposite directions, * * *
so as to throw the weight of the moving part upon opposite sides of the
center of the crank or bit, for the purpose set forth. " Mr. Danford's ma-
chine did not make much of a record as a reaper; but as a mower it was
quite noted for its excellent cutting qualities, though the time and care re-
quired to keep the sickles in good working order proved a bar against its
entrance into general favor. A considerable number of them were made,
sold and satisfactorily used.

No one of these early machines made a better reputation in its time
than the combined reaper and mower of John H. Manny; and thirtj'-five
3-ears ago in the northwest as a mower it was considered the best of its class.
Manny's first patent was granted Sept. 23, 1851, and covered his triangular
frame, which was one of the principal features of his machine as a reaper.
Nov. 23, 1852, he obtained another patent covering the combination of a
"track scraper" with drive wheels; and also the form and construction of
guard fingers so as to cut well and avoid clogging. This and other patents
were re-issued largely (as usually were important patents during those early
years), but they related to details of construction rather than to new princi-
ples. Manny was a practical as well as a prolific inventor, and his machine
had obtained a foremost position early in the race when he died.

By 1855 one-wheeled rigid-bar mowing machines had become practical,
either in connection with reapers or as mowers alone. Concerning some
features it is impossible to determine definitely who presented them first;
and others shade from one into another so finely that it is difiicult to dis-
tinguish them. Often they comprised series of evolutions within the one
grand evolution by which han/esting machines have been developed and
perfected, and again the first use of a device is not clearly shown, as in the
case of "track-clearers." For instance some of the earliest English ma-
chines show a separating and gathering away of the cut from uncut stalks.
In Hussey's patent of 1833 there is a device, shaped somewhat like the
mouldboard of a plow, at the grain end of the bar, that, with platform re-

AMP;RICAX AGRICULTrRAL IMPLEMENTS.

85

E. BALL, 1856.

E. BALL, 1857.

JOHN LONG, 1857.

LEWIS MILLER, 1858.

86 AMERICAN AGRICfLTlRAI. IMPI.KMKNTS.

moved, would turn the swath away from the standing grain or grass. It is
said that Joel Lupton put on what was avowedly a track-clearer in 1841.
Several just mention them in their claims; Ketchum patented one in lSo.3;
Whitely another in 1S')4; Wheeler in 18.V), and thus they were evolved.

TWO-WHEELED MOWERS WITH HINGED BARS.

Apparently the first conception of flexibility or automatic adjustability
to the ground surface in the cutting apparatus was shown in the mower of
Jeremiah Bailey, 1822. Hussey's machine of 1888 had its draft attachment
in front of two driving wheels; and the frame behind, which bore the later-
ally projecting finger bar, having been hinged to the main axle and sup-
ported in the rear by a little wheel, could to a certain extent accomtnodate
itself and the cutting apparatus, in the forward movement, to the inequali-
ties of the ground uncontrolled by the passage over of the driving wheels.
This was the beginning of practical flexibility.

The next machine in order that showed the features which we are trac-
ing was never patented, but became somewhat famous for reference in after
years. The following account of it is extracted from Knight's "Mechanical
Dictionary:" " Hazard Knowles, the machinist of the Washington patent
office, invented in 1837 a reaping machine having a scalloped reciprocating
cutter; the cutting apparatus jointed to a double arm, the opposite end of
which was in turn jointed to the main frame, coincident with the axis of
the crank-shaft; both supporting wheels were drivers for the cutters. It
was a front-cut machine, and had a lever to raise the cutter-bar to clear
stumps and other obstructions. A machine was constructed in 1838, and in
1839 was purchased by Joel Lupton, who rode upon the machine along the
turnpike to his home, near Winchester, Va. The machine was used occa-
sionally during a few of the following years, but was soon laid aside, owing
to a fear of the neighbors that it would disturb the relations of labor. It was
afterwards purchased by one of the large firms of reaping machine makers
who became involved in the tedious and expensive litigation which ensued
when the reaper became an important article of manufacture and trade. This
machine is principally curious in its anticipation of so many of the impor-
tant features of the more useful machines. Like Bell's machine in its his-
tory, though far superior to the Scotch machine in mechanical structure and
adaptabilit}-, it was a conception embodied in a single machine, and became
an abandoned experiment, to be brought fonvard when the inventions and
contests of others gave it importance. It was a machine of great possibil-
ities, but the inventor failed to assert his rights. His position in the patent
office prevented his becoming a patentee, and he preferred to retain his
salary to embarking in the business of making machines of so novel a char-
acter. About 1863 the machine was brought forward in a patent suit. It
may be presumed that it formed but another in.stance of the rule, that a
single machine made and practically hidden away, shall not be allowed to
defeat a patent, when a subsequent inventor has showed due diligence. It
also indicates that the patent is a quid pro quo, an exclusive right in return
for an invention adequately described on record." In his famous contest
with Wheeler et al.— the suit referred to — Moses G. Hubbard showed this
machine at Albany, N. Y., but the court ignored it under the rule tersely-

AMERICAN" AGRICri.TURAL IMPI.EMEXTS. 87

stated b}- Dr. Knight, so equitably and so thoroughly in accord with com-
mon sense.

Alexander M. Wilson, of New York, Sept. 3, 1846, received a patent on
a mower, with a cutting wheel something like that of the Bailey; and it is
evident from his action that he had some conception of the importance of
adjustabilit}' or flexibility in a cutting apparatus. He originally took out a
patent on the same machine substantially, in 1835, and the model and
records having been burned by the great fire in the patent office, 1836, he
was allowed to renew his patent in 1837; but in doing so he made more
prominent the adjustable or flexible feature, which, as slightly improved,
in his patent of 1846, was covered by claim as follows: "I claim jointing the
horse-frame to the forward part of the main frame, but back of the shaft of
the cutting wheel, so as to have the horses forward and to the side of the
cutter, in combination with a wheel of cutters for cutting grain or grass, so
that the cutters may follow the undulations of the ground, independent of,
and not afi'ected by, the up-and-down movement of the horses, as herein de-
scribed. ' '

It is said that Frederick Nishwitz, of Brooklyn, N. Y., who took out
several patents in this line during the "fifties," had invented a jointed bar
mower many years before, but was too poor at the time even to get a patent,
and so was compelled to l(»t others succeed to his invention; and also that
one Gerger, of Springfield, 111., filed an application in 1849 for a patent on
a hinged bar which was rejected; but as in other cases, by neglecting to
complete their work, they rendered what they had done useless to themselves
and to the public, and left the field still open to others.

A considerable amount of work was done in this development during
1852. Byron Densmore, of New York, Feb. 10, obtained a patent which as
afterwards re-issued and assigned to D. M. Osborne and \V. A. Kirby had a
claim as follows: "Hanging the driving wheel in a supplementary frame, or
its equivalent, which is hinged at one end to the main frame while its oppo-
site end may be adjusted and secured at various heights, or be left free, as
desired, whereb}- the cutting apparatus may be held at any desired height
for reaping or be left free to accommodate itself to the undulations of the
ground for mowing, etc." The patent became one of the Kirby system
controlled by D. M. Osborne & Co. His machine had a single driving
wheel, but the cutting apparatus was sufficiently flexible to render it in this
respect the only single wheel mower that could compete successfully with
the two- wheeled jointed-bar machines. R. T. Osgood, Orland, Me.. Feb.
17, 1852, got a patent, which, as re-issued and assigned to Cyrenus Wheeler,
Jr., covered two independent driving and supporting wheels on a common
axle with a ratchet wheel and pawl for each, so that either could hold in
gear when advanced or be out of gear when backed, a peculiarly hinged ar-
rangement for cutter-bar and frame, a lever so that driver could raise or
depress cutters from his seat while machine was in motion, a balance wheel
"to equalize the motion of the cutters," and other points not necessary to
mention. July 20, 1852, two important patents were granted, one to Jesse
S and David Lake, of New Jersey, and the other to Eliakim B. Forbush,
Buffalo, N. Y. The first was afterwards assigned and re-issued to Jas. A.

88

AMIiRICAX AGRICULTUKAI, IMPLKMKXTS.

CIRCULAR MOTION

CONTINUOUS AND ADVANCING.

PSHOCrOHD.IJBt.

''1

DCANSTOn.iail

CUBUKIANS.IKO.

rHANCK.Itil.

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CONTINUOUS

WITH ALTERNATE

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OOaPCRTZ
^ONOOM.KIX.

CHART SHOWIXG FORM AND
FROM

MOVEMENTS OF THE CUTTERS OF HARVESTING MACHINES.
WOODCROFT'S appendix (ENGLISH).

AMERICAN AGRICULTfRAL IMPLEMENTS.

89

CUTTERS

WORKED BY

HAND.

RECTILINEAR MOTION.

RECIPROCATING AND ADVANCINC.

BEDr0R06HIRe.l807.

^

BROOMAN LONDON. 1652

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BROoaAii loaooa.isso.

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CHART SHOWING FORM AXD
FROM

MOVEMF.NTS OF THE CUTTERS OF HARVESTING MACHINES.
WOODCROFT'S APPENDIX (ENGLISH).

'JU AMliKICAN AGRICULTURAL IMl'LHiiUM'S.

Saxtou, Cantou, O. It had a single driviug wheel, but it claimed the at-
tachment, by double hinged arrangement to the frame of any mowing ma-
chine, of the cutter bar, "so that the guards or fingers, or that part to which
thej' are sustained and supported, Avill be free to rise or fall bodily, and also
to have a lateral or wabbling motion to enable the cutting apparatus to con-
form freeh' to the undulations of the ground over which it is drawn, inde-
pendent of the up-and-down motion of the main frame." It also claimed
lever, coupling piece, etc. The Forbush patent assigned and re-issued to
Cyrenus Wheeler, Jr., as to mowers, covered the "making of the outer and
inner shoes broader in front of the finger-bar," and "the bearing piece Z,
placed between the outer shoe and guard finger, for the support of the outer
end of the cutter-bar." C. B. Brown, Grigg.sville, 111., Dec. 7, 18o2, pat-
ented a skeleton track-clearer, which was assigned to C. Aultman & Co.

The next patent of importance in mowers was granted to Philo Sylla
and Augustus Adams, Elgin, 111., Sept. 20, 1853, for a harvesting machine.
It was purchased by C. Aultman & Co., Canton, O., for a trifle, and was
re issued to them in .six divisions, five of which related to flexible or hinged
bar devices for mowers and by priority stood at the head of the "Buckeye"
mower patent sj'stem; while the remaining division, relating to har\'esters,
was sold for a large sum to the "Marsh Harvester" pool. The claims are
too many to give in full, and it is sufficient to say that they were made to
cover all that was possible, under the original patent, for double-hinged
floating-bar cutting apparatus.

The patent granted to Cyrenus Wheeler, Jr., Dec. 5, 1854, set a stake
by the way or marked the di%ision line between the old and the new system
of grass cutting, not so much because of the importance or novelty of the
features presented as in tiie fact that it covered a machine that was distinct-
ively in construction and intention a two-wheeled jointed-bar mower, and
although its original cutters were discarded it stands in proper form at the
head of its class — indicating specific purpose, and combining with the new,
valuable old features that were but incidental to and scattered among the
inventions previously noticed. An evolution had been accomplished, and
although the thing turned out was rude and imperfect it had the new form,
to which the inventor and others soon gave more symmetry and better ac-
tion. Mr. Wheeler seems also to have had a clearly defined purpose, viz. :
to develop a practical marketable mower upon the new plan; for he contin-
ued to make i:nprovements, to take out patents therefor, to build machines
and to push their introduction until the great mower business of the country
had become fully established upon this basis by himself and others working
in the same general direction. ThisfirstWheeler patent formed the foundation
of the "Cayuga Chief" .system, and was as re-issued the first of the long line
of patents which several years after were pooled and owned jointly by the
leaders, in the manufacture of Buckeye, Ball and Cayuga Chief machines,
when they made their great combination. To show that ]Mr. Wheeler's pur-
pose was clearly specified originally it is only necessary to quote the original
claim of the patent of Dec. 5, 1854. "Having the cutter-bar h, provided for
the purpose with a .socket z to one extremity of the arched bar w, by means
of joints a a and .segments b r, .said arched bar being in its turn pivoted in

AMERICAX AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS. 91

X to the main frame A, all for the purpose of giving the cutter-bar h, by
means of levers j d and^, a motion independent of the frame, and both ro-
tating longitudinally parallel to the ground, and oscillating radially from
the points a a in order to adapt the same to the inequalities of the ground,
or to stop its action at pleasure." This patent was re-issued Jan. 3, 1860, in
six divisions— covering a laterally projecting finger-bar, hinged to one end
or corner of a main frame that is free to vibrate about a gear-center, so that
said finger-bar ma^- be permitted at each end to follow the undulations of
the ground, and also so that it may rock or roll in the line of its length as
well as rise and fall in a line transverse thereto; and making claims for a
pitman in t-^'o pieces constructed so that it would not be cramped by the
movement of the finger-bar, and on other details of improvement and con-
struction. 'Sir. Wheeler took out many patents — covering points relating to
mowers in general and devr'^es pertaining specially to the Cayuga Chief,
either as reaper or mower, which, by the way, was a rear-cut machine, i.e.,
the cutter-bar was rearAvard of the driving-wheels.

To Jonathan Haines, Pekin, 111., a patent was granted, Sept. 4, 1855, on
a mower, which as an invention ranks with any in this class. It was a two-
wheeled machine vvith a floating bar, and well proportioned. In the original
patent the claims are: "First, the hanging of the cutter-bar to the main
frame by means of the longitudinal k and transverse rods w, so that said
cutter-bar may be free to rise and fall to the undulations of the ground,
while it is prevented from all lateral motion. * * * Also the use of a
driver's seat when mounted on ways or rails, so that the driver can at plea-
sure throw his weight forward or backward, to aid in balancing or relieving
the cutters, as the variable character of the ground or condition of the grass
may require." It was afterward re-issued so as to cover the points invented
more clearh'

Many familiar names will be noticed among the inventors of devices
for mowing machines at this period. George Esterly, June 27, 1854, pat-
ented a track-clearer of plow shape, Abner Whitely, Aug. 22, the rolling
cone for the same purpose, and Walter A. Wood, March 20, 1855, the outer
wheel with its inner face conical for clearing the track. In those days Moses
G. Hubbard, then of New York, was an active inventor. June 4, 1855, he
claimed "the emploA-ment of the fingers to each sickle blade for the purpose
of dividing the cutter force expended at each stroke of the cutter." And he
also claimed making the cutter-bar (meaning the sickle-bar) of angle iron,
so as to afford a shoulder against which to abut the sections, so that a .single
rivet would hold each. Feb. 5, 1856, Abner Whitely obtained a patent in
which he claimed "changing the angle of the fingers and cutters of reaping
and mowing machines while machine is in motion and the finger piece rest-
ing upon the ground."

The patent granted June 17, 185(5, to Cornelius Aultman and Lewis
Miller, Canton, O., assignors to Ball, Aultman & Co., was a most important
one. The original claim was for "connecting the cutter-bar to the machine
by the double rule joint, or the double-jointed coupling piece, B C, " etc.
It was afterwards re-issued in six divisions: covering bj- the two first com-
binations in which the shoe that carries the end of the finger beam, the

92 AMERICAN AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENlb.

hinged brace bar and hinged coupling arm are essential elements; by the
two next the arrangement for holding up the bar with its hinge, hinged
coupling arm and catch for the purpose of removing the mower from place
to place conveniently and securely; and by the two next the ratchet-wheel,
pawl and spring combination, with two driving wheels and one main gear
wheel upon a common axle for holding in and out of gear, as described.
Immediately following, Aug. 12, 185(), Ephraim Ball, of Ball, Aultman &
Co., aforesaid, took out a patent which, although the claim onlj- covered de-
tails of construction, showed the hinged brace that afterwards, as improved
and patented, became well known to the trade as "Ball's drag-bar " \Vm.
N. Whitely, Springfield, O., Nov. 26, 1856, obtained a valuable patent for
self-raking reaper, which was one of the first and best as a "combined"' .self-
raking-reaper and mower. Jan. 27, 1S57, M. G. Hubbard was granted a
patent on a finger-bar that obtained flexibility through being attached to
the frame by two flat spring braces, so that the bar could have a vertical
motion independent of the frame, its motion being governed by the surface
of the ground. Feb. 9, 1858, he patented an improvement on this device,
and March 17, 1857, a shifting seat as specially arranged.

Between the last date and Dec. 1, 1857, when Ephraim Ball's principal
patent was issued, several were granted which as re-issued became of some
importance to manufacturers. Ball's patent originally had but one brief
claim, as follows: "The combination of the short curved brace rod ^ with
the rigid and broad angle attachment of the inclined bar O to the finger-
bar/', the whole arranged for joint operation." It was re-issued July 17,
1800, in seven divisions, with an aggregate of thirty-three claims. These
several divisions and many claims covered hinges, coupling arm brace-bar,
shoe and finger-bar in various combinations; ths gear wheels and ratchet-
wheel, pawl, spring and case for these latter in various combinations; the
balance-wheel to regulate the crank-shaft; the swiveled pitman, and, in
fact, all the features of what was known as the Ball mower; of which the
patent drawing is a very good representation so far as it goes. It was an ex-
cellent mower and was the first of its class to obtain a wide reputation as such.

A few days after Ball's patent was issued, John Long. Massillon, O.,
Dec. 29, 1857, took one out that afterwards was assigned and re-issued to
Whitely, Fassler & Kelly, and furnished some of the prominent features of
the Champion mower. There were two divisions made of the re-issue, but the
first claim of the first division covers the principal features: " The combi-
nation in a machine having two independent driving-wheels of a single
drag-bar flexibh' connected at its front end with the main frame forward
of the axis of the supporting wheels, its rear end free to rise or fall inde-
pendent of said main frame, and connected with the main shoe by two
joints, one forward and the other in rear of the sickle, for the purpose of
affording the cutting apparatus firm support, and permitting either end of
the same to rise or fall with the undulations of the ground over which it is
drawn," etc. The other claims are for various combinations— chiefly of
these features, and also on the slotted retaining link and other details.

February 16, 1858, to Fred Nishwitz, Brooklyn, N. Y. , was granted a pat-
ent that, as re-issued, cut quite a figure among the manufacturers of mowers.

AMERICAN AGRICULTURAL IMPLKMtXTS. il.'J

Feb. 23, 1858, a patent was granted to Hamilton A. Parkliurst, Fairfield, N.
v., for a mower in this class, which patent was afterward assigned and re-
issued to C. H. McCormick, covering features and details not noticeably-
important in themselves or differing much from others described. It is
said, however, that this machine was constructed and used as early as 1854;
if so, the inventor was much in advance of others who anticipated him in
the patent office and obtained patents that influenced the trade when the
pioneers were establishing it.

To Lewis Miller, Canton, O., a patent was issued. May 4, 1S58, that
marked an era in the history- of mowers. The drawings show the clean-cut
features of the invention, and that the inventor was not a novice in this
work. In this machine the essential elements of a successful modern two-
wheeled mower, with hinged floating finger-bar, had at last been massed.
It had two supporting wheels, each of them equally drivers, and a floating-
Ijar made short or stopping at the heel, each end free to rise or fall, with
its coupling connection raised off the ground, so as to pass over the cut
grass, and with levers for governing its action. The original claims are stated
as follows: "I claim so hinging the bar or beam which carries the cutters
and fingers to the beam Z, as that it maybe raised up, folded over, and
carried upon the main frame, substantially as described (2) I also claim,
in combination with the beam L, hinged as described, the braces ^VS, rig-
idh- connected therewith, but hinged at their opposite ends, so that the
beam L may rise and fall at pleasure, but be permanently braced in its
proper position to give the cutter and finger-bars or beams, in turn, their
proper working position. ' ' Nine divisions were made of this when re-issued.
These covered: First, the hinging of the finger-beam to the main frame, so
that it can be folded up thereon; second, hinging the coupling arm to the
frame at one side of the main axle and supporting it by a brace hinged to
the frame on the opposite side of the axle, in such a manner as to obtain
a wide basis for bracing on a short frame, without interfering with the fold-
ing" of the finger-bar, etc.; third, the combination of crank, its journal-
bearing, coupling-arm and hinge of its inner end, with a hanger that is
made a common support for these parts; fourth, method of folding finger-
beam upon the frame by aid of the coupling-arm with lifting lever, etc. ;
fifth, the combination of knuckle with joints which connects finger-beam
and coupling-arm, and the lever for raising beam off the ground, and of a
lever to turn on a pivot and to vibrate laterally, with notches and a catch
to support the lever at any required elevation, together with the coupling-
arm and finger-beam, suspended to it; sixth, the arrangement of hand-lever,
driver's seat and foot-lever whereby the driver may, when necessary, use
both his hands and feet to rai.se finger-beam; seventh, the combination of
spring, pawl, and the teeth with the jib and key of the connecting rod and
cutter, etc.; and eighth and ninth, shoe and adjustable sole.

Between the issue of the original Buckeye patent and 1800 several others
were taken out covering devices in this class of mowers, of more or less im-
portance, by W. S. vStetson, W. N. Whitely, M. G. Hubbard, Willard &
Ross, Lewis and Jacob Miller and E. Ball; but enough have been mentioned
to show the steps by which two- wheeled flexible or hinged bar-mowers were

94 AMKRICAX ACRICULTL'KAL IMPLEMENTS.

developed into practical luacliiiies. During such development they became
grouped into several great distinctive systems, the leaders of which, in their
order, were the Cayuga Chief, the Ball and the Buckeye. The proprietors
of the patents covering, respectively, these three systems, saw that, if either
should attempt to assert rights over the other, endless litigation would
ensue, and that their energies, which were fully required to meet the grow-
ing demands of trade, would be iiselessly expended in efforts to define patent
lines that had crossed each other in every direction. To litigate they were
likely to destroy both business and patents, but to pool their rights and mass
them they could jointly protect each other and probably control the mar-
ket; and acting upon this assumption they formed the famous ". hinged-bar
pool." It was a wise proceeding for all concerned. The patents, which
represented most of the brain work that up to that time had been expended
in producing and making practical these useful machines, were not used for
mutual destruction, but for the joint maintenance of the rights which they
assured to their owners, and for the protection of all who chose to avail
themselves of the same, under license, at, for the time, reasonable fees.. Prog-
ress was stimulated, and not stifled as it would have been had the uncertain-
ties of tedious lawsuits been hanging over invention and trade. Improve-
ments followed fast. Other s}-stems grew up and expanded Before the
association, with the patents, had expired, a number of great factories had
been established that were making mowers substantially perfect in construc-
tion and operation; and competition has since maintained, if it has not
raised the standard of excellence, while the reduced cost of materials and
increased facilities for production have brought the price of a mower down
within the capacity of any person who may need one.

The names of the patent owners and inventors represented personally or
by their patents in this combination belong appropriatelj* in any history of
mowers. The members of the consolidation were Cyrenus Wheeler, Jr.,
James A. Saxton, John DeWalt, C. Aultman & Co., and Adriance, Piatt &
Co., with Wm. Allen as attorney. The following patents under date of
original issue belonged to the combination: Patents of Cyrenus Wheeler,
Jr., Dec. 5, IS'A, re-issued in six divisions; and extended seven years from
Dec. 5, 1808; Feb. 6, 1855, re-issued and extended; Sept. 2, 1856, re-issued;
March 12, 1861, May 26, 1863; Feb. 9, 1864, four patents; Oct. 8, 1867; Feb.
11, 1868; and owned by Cyrenus Wheeler, Jr., through assignments, patent
ofD. S. McNamara, JuneSO, 1857, re-issued, and Sept. 28, 1858, re-issued in
four divisions; of E. B. Forbush, Jul}- 20, 1852; re-issued in four divisions
and extended, and March 18, 1856, re-issued; of B. F. Roney, March 11,

1856, re-issued; of E. T. Ford, Jan. 1863; of C. B. Wagner, June 24, 1856,
two patents; of H. G. Vanderwerken, Dec. 8, 1857; of Thos. H. Dodge,
Nov. 15, 1859, Jan. 31, 1860, and Feb. 19, 1868; of H. H. Smith, Sept. 8,

1857, re-issued in three divisions; of A. J. Holman, March 2, 1858, re-issued
in two divisions; of C. A. Brownlick, Jan. 4, 1859; re-issued in two divisions;
of E. Jones, March 27, 1860, re-issued in three divisions; of Chas. Tinker,
and I. A. Sprague, Aug. 4, 1857, re-issued; and of S. S. Bartlett, Feb. 25,
lS(i2. Patents of C Aultman & Co., through assignment — Sylla & Adams,
Sept. 20. 1S5.'>, five of the six divisions into which itvv'as re-is.sued, extended;

AMERICAN- AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS. 95

of T^ewis Miller, June 17, 1856, re-issued in six divisions, and INIay 4, 1^58,
re-issued in nine divisions. The patents of E. Ball were also in the pool.
They were dated Dec. 1, 1857, re-issued in seven divisions, and Oct. 18, 1859;
and there was in the Ball list the patent granted to J. S. and David Lake,
July '10, 1852, assigned to James A. Saxton, re-issued in four divisions, and
extended. Saxton probably turned in also the Willard & Ross re-issues —
seven divisions of patent dated Nov. 3, 1857.

Previous to the general introduction of jointed-bar mowers, the practi-
cal rigid-bar one- wheeled machines readily cut swaths five and six feet wide,
but owing to the angles that the pitman had to take in relation to the
jointed-bar, on account of its varying movements, it was not practicable to
cut a swath more than aVjout four feet in width. The new system brought
in and established the narrow cut, and displacing the one-wheeled wide-cut
machines by force of custom apparently, also displaced the two-wheeled
center-draft mowers — the Eureka, for instance — which carried their width of
cut without any difficulty; but during the past few years some of the old
firms seem to have recalled the fact that the one-wheeled mowers could cut
wide swaths, and having concluded that it was because these old cutter-bars,
more or less supported, did not drag loosel}' and lieavih- upon the ground,
they soon found a way to partial!}* suspend or sustain the jointed-bar so that
it also might float lightl}- over the surface. This is accomplished by a sys-
tem of springs that transfers the weight of the cutter-bar from the ground
to the driving-wTieels, thus relieving the drag and down pressure and
increasing the traction. With this improvement very wide two-wheeled
jointed-bar mowers are now made and satisfactorily used in considerable
numbers.

CHAPTER X.

Haying Tools and Machinery.

THE introduction of the mowing machine naturally created a desire for
some speedier method of raking the mown hay than was afforded by the
tedious hand-rake that had done duty after both the scythe and cradle, espe-
ciall}' during the Civil war, when the use of the mower became general in
the effort to supply provender for the armies. To meet this demand, inventive
genius brought out the old revolving horse-rake and made it a practical im-
plement for general use. With it the hay could be gathered quickly into
windrows, and if properly handled it would rake the field clean. But some-
thing better was in store for the farmer, and in due time the spring-tooth
sulky rake was perfected. With it the work could be done more rapidly and
the windrows were left in better condition for loading. As made to-day the
hay rakes of the sixty or seventy manufacturers engaged in this line in the
United States are substantially alike in general principles and construction.
There are two classes, however, the hand-dump and the self-dump, the
formei being operated by a lever and the latter bj- a foot trip throwing into
connection a ratchet in the wheel to raise the teeth and leave the hay in the
windrow.

The Walter A. Wood Co., of Hoosick Falls, N. Y., have been pioneer
manufacturers in this line, making both hand and self-dump rakes, and we
may safely illustrate their machine without causing jealousy on the part of
others who make just as good an implement. Their self-dump rake has
wood or steel wheels, as desired, and wooden axle, the teeth being raised
for dumping by an "internal wheel ratchet" engaging the wheels at each
side and causing their revolution to lift the frame that holds the teeth. The
trip for operating the dump is under the foot of the driver. The thills of
the ten and twelve-foot rakes are so made that they can be moved to the
center to form a pole for two horses.

SIDE-DEI.IVERY RAKES.

The side-delivery hay rake is an invention brought cut in recent years
to be used in connection with a hay loader. It is difficult to rake the hay
with an ordinary sulky rake so that it will lie in long windrows convenient
for the hay loader to take it up, and inventors have been seeking a new form
of rake that would leave a continuous windrow at the side.

One of the first implements of this class to be brought out was the side-
delivery rake of the Chambers, Bering, Quinlan Co., of Decatur, 111. It is
arranged, as shown in the illustration, with a crank-shaft resembling that of
a tedder, but running forw'ard diagonally. Mounted on this shaft are kick

forks arranged in gangs of three, there being four such gangs in all. As

96

AMERICAN- AGRICULTURAI. IMPLEMENTS.

97

98 AMERICAN ACKICri/nUAI. IMI'LEMKNTS.

shown, the shaft is operated by gearing and a link belt from one of the for-
ward wheels.

The Beck side-delivery rake, which has been pnt on the market by the
Stoddard Manufacturing Co., of Dayton, Ohio, is decidedly novel in its
principle and construction. It has three raking reels, which operate in
series and carry the hay to one side. The fingers are long, elastic spokes
with a hub set below the line of the driving-shaft, from which motion is
transmitted to the spokes by a driving-wheel that acts on each spoke sepa-
rately through a loose sliding thimble to carry it forward. Its operation
can be better understood by reference to the illustration.

HAY TEDDERS.

There are few implements that give more general satisfaction iu use or
that are simpler in construction and operation than the hay tedder. The
idea of the implement was no doubt conceived by some farmer or farmer's
boy as a means for shaking up, by horse power, hay that had lain out iu the
rain and needed turning so the sun could cure it. But when the tedder had
been developed into a practical implement it was found that it had a wider
field of usefulness. In mowing, the horses and machine must needs pass
over the grass that has been cut, packing it down more or less, and if the
hay is left in that condition it dries but slowly and imperfectly, always leav-
ing the under part of the swath damp or onlj'- partially cured. As in the
case of the hay rake, it is difficult to select a tedder for illustration from the
fifty or more that are on the market. However, D. M. Osborne & Co., of
Auburn, N. Y. , who are pioneers in the manufacture of mowing machines,
have latel}' brought out a tedder that is made entirely of steel. The frame of
this tedder is of angle-steel bar, light in w^eight but of ample .strength. The
axle is of one and one-fourth-inch steel and is provided with ratchets and
pawls in the wheels. It has a steel crank-shaft which derives its power from
a gearing placed on the middle of the axle. Altogether, the implement is
neat and practical iu its design and a fit companion of the all-steel hay rake,
which this house recently brought out, the first of its class.

HAY-I,OADERS.

Efforts to produce a practical hay-loader have been made by scores of
inventors during the past generation, but until recent years there has been
no demand among the farmers that would warrant the manufacture of such
an implement on a large scale. About twenty years ago the Keystone
Manufacturing Company, of vSterling, 111., began experiments in this line
and brought out the pioneer implement in its class. As will be seen, it is
mounted on two wheels and is made to be drawn after the wagon. It has
a cylinder with bars carrying hooks like the tines of a pitchfork, designed
to lift the hay from the ground and deposit it upon an endless carrier or
apron which elevates it to the wagon. The weight of the loader gives its
two supporting wheels sufficient tractile power to operate the cylinder aud
elevator. It is claimed that with it a load can be taken from the windrow in
five minutes.

The Deere hay loader, recently brought out by the Deere & Mansur
Company, of Moline, 111., works on an entirely different principle. It con-
sists of a series of rakes, .so mounted upon a crank -shaft that they grasp the

AMERICAX AGRICULTL-RAI< IMPI^EMiiN

TS.

99

THE BECK HAY LOADER.

THE SANDWICH "CLEAN SWEEP" HAY

LOADER

THE KEYSTONE HAY LOADER.

100 AMERICAN AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS.

hay in the swath and draw it a short distance forward on the frame of the
loader by the peculiar alternating movement of the rakes. The hooks on
the under side of each rake gradually carry the hay to the top of the eleva-
tor, where it falls over in a cataract on the wagon. It is simple in design
and effective in operation, and has met with a favorable reception.

The Beck hay loader, a companion implement to the Beck side-de-
livery rake, previously noticed, is made by the Farmers Friend Manufactur-
ing Company, of Dayton, Ohio. It has, in common with other loaders, the
two carrying wheels from which power is derived by gearing to operate the
loader. The hay is gathered from the swath or windrow by a revolving rake
and elevated a short distance by an endless carrier, the latter dropping it
upon a long carrier by which it is elevated and dropped upon the
wagon.

HAY FORKS AND CARRIERS.

The hay fork and carrier for taking away hay in barns, or for use in
stacking it in the field, followed in the procession of other improvements
that began about thirty years ago in this industry. The first step that was
taken was in the development of a harpoon fork. A patent was issued in
September, 1864, to F. I/. Walker, and other patents in the two or three
years succeeding, which laid the foundation for the Nellis single-harpoon
fork, Mr. Xellis patenting, in 1873, a locking device that is now in general
use on this style of fork. Another hay fork, which is known in the trade
as the Walker, was patented by F. L. Walker, in 1868. The double-har-
poon fork, generally known as the Harris, was patented in 1867 by S. & E.
Harris. Several patents were issued in the "sixties" that laid the foun-
dation for grapple forks, which, however, have been modified in construc-
tion from the ideas of their first inventors, making them more simple and
eflfective.

At first, hay forks were used without carriers, but inventors were not
long in bringing out tracks and carriers by which the hay could be depos-
ited at a distance from the wagon. J. F. Porter, of Ottawa, 111., was a pio-
neer in this line, having begun in 1869, using at first an iron rod for the
track, or a common 2x4 scantling. In 1872, Mr. Porter patented improve-
ments that gave considerable impetus to the demand for hay carriers, and
has since added many valuable features. Other inventors have also been
at work in the field, and the records of their efforts are so voluminous in the
Patent Office that it would be difficult to point out the various steps followed
by the evolution of the trade.

Within the past ten years various forms of steel track have been per-
fected for hay carriers. In 1883, Jacob Ney, of Canton, Ohio, patented a
track, consisting of two horizontal pieces of angle-steel, one flange being set
vertically with the supporting rods or hanging hooks attached to it, and the
other forming a horizontal track for the wheels of the carrier. The joints
were made with clamps or fish plates. In 1886, P. A. Myers, of Ashland,
Ohio, patented a track formed of two T bars, placed side by side, held by
upper and lower clamps and with connecting bolts passing vertically through
the clamps. The suspending rod or cylinder hooks are inserted between
the beams at convenient places. In 1S87, J. F- Porter, of Ottawa, 111., pat-

AMERICAN AGRICULTURAL IMPLE.MEXTS.

101

porter's HAV CARRIER.

THE HARRIS DOUBLE HARPOOX FORK.

THE NELLIS FORK.

THE MYERS DOUBLE RAIL STEEL TRACT

THE NEY STEEL TR.\CK.

102 AMERICAN AGRICULTURAI, IMPI^EMHXTS.

ented a form of solid steel rail, and he has also obtained a recent patent on
a single rail with a flange on each side to support the carrier.

BALING PRESSES.

The many patents granted on baling presses during the early half of the
present century show that inventors began early to wrestle with the prob-
lem of making up hay in compact bales for transportation. It seems, how-
ever, that no one was able to create a demand that would warrant the man-
ufacture of this useful machine until, in 1853, H. Iv. Emery, of Albany, N.Y.,
began the manufacture and sale of a crude form of horizontal press, in which
levers attached to plungers in each end of the baling chamber were oper-
ated by chains and pulleys. It was awkward in appearance and in opera-
tion it was only capable of making five 250-pound bales per hour, requiring
two men and a horse to operate it. It made a bale 24x24x48 inches.

Soon after this first effort, in 1859 or 1860, P. K. Dederick, of Albany,
became interested in the hay press. Mr. Dederick acquired the patterns
and business of a series of efforts that had begun years before, and continued
his experiments until he had brought into practical form a press for general
use. In 1872 he invented a continuous form of press, which has since come
into general use. George Ertel, of Quincy, 111., was the pioneer in the west
in the manufacture of hay presses. His first effort in this direction was in
1866, when he made a vertical press to be operated by horse power. vSoon
after he gave his entire time to the development and manufacture of hay
presses and contributed many valuable improvements

About ten years ago steam power presses were introduced and came
into general use in response to a demand for greater baling capacity than
was possible with horse power. The latest improvement looking to an
increase of capacity is a self-tying device, introduced by the Famous Manu-
facturing Company, the pioneer house in the west among the manufacturers
who were at the Columbian Exposition.

The manufacture of hay presses has become an important industry, one
that was well represented at the Columbian Exposition by the exhibits of
eight or ten manufacturers.

CHAPTER XL

Threshing Machinery.

IT is probable that at first the little grain that was raised was shelled by
hand, but as the quantity increased the kernels were whipped from the
heads across sticks or poles or pounded out by a staff or rod. In Isaiah,
xxviii., 27, 28, we read: "For the fitches [peas] are not threshed with a
threshing instrument, neither is a cast wheel turned about upon the cum-
min [a seed-plant something like carawaj-] ; but the fitches are beaten out
with a stafif and the cummin with a rod. Bread corn is bruised, because he
will not ever be threshing it, nor break it with the wheel of his cart, nor
bruise it with his horsemen."

Here we have several methods of threshing indicated; peas and seeds
from plants were beaten out by a staff or rod, while the grain crops required
something more expeditious and elaborate in construction, designated a
threshing instrument; but the cleaning was accomplished by winnowing;
i.e., by tossing up the threshings, after the straw was raked off, so that the
wind might blow aside the chaff and dirt. A club was at some early time
attached to the staff, and thus the flail was invented.

Cattle were generally used by the ancients to tread out the grain spread
upon the " threshing floor " — referred to in Deuteronomy, xxv., 4: "Thou
shalt not muzzle the ox when he treadeth out the corn " — and also to draw
around over the grain the charatz of the Egj'ptians and the nioreg of the
Hebrews, the former having been something like the "stone-boat," which
is used on farms east for gathering stones, but made rough on the bottom.
The latter consisted of a sled-like frame between the runners of which
spiked cylinders were placed that revolved upon the grain as the rude im-
plement was drawn around. Similar devices were known to the old Romans,
by whom they were called traha and tribula. Something of this sort is still
used in eastern countries and in Italy, but one of the common methods of
threshing there is by means of large fluted rollers or beaters revolving upon
a long horizontal shaft or sweep, one end of which is attached by a ring
around a post set in the center of the circular threshing-floor, the cattle
being hitched to the outer end. As they move around outside of the grain
spread upon the floor the rollers turn upon the shaft and beat out the
grain.

The flail has been known among the Japanese from the earliest times,
according to their records; either used singly for threshing grain from the
straw, or in connection with a stripper, called by them mogi-kogi. This
latter is a large comb, with teeth of iron or hard wood. The Japanese im-
plement is attached to a frame or bench, the teeth pointing upward. The

grain, after being first reaped, is brought to it, and the heads are stripped

103

lot AMRRICAN- AGRICULTURAL IMPLKMEXTS.

or comiied off between the teeth by being drawn through 1)y hand. The
headings are gathered up and carried to a threshing floor, where the kernels
are beaten out by flails. The grain is cleaned by winnowing or by screening.

Michael Menzies, of Scotland, is supposed to have been the first inventor
of a power threshing-machine, for which he obtained a patent in 1732. This
was a contrivance arranged to drive a large number of flails by water-power.
It is described as a wonderful invention and "capable of giving 1,320
strokes per minute, as many as thirty-three men threshing briskly" — ^de-
cidedly indefinite; and as "moved by a great water wheel and triddles."
The grain was brought to this machine as it was to others invented and
used during the last century and the early part of this, before portable
threshers were introduced. The flail motion was not practicable, and was
soon aljandoned.

The first practical effort leading in the right direction was made by a
Scotch farmer named Iveckie about 1758. He invented "a rotary machine
which consisted of a set of cross-arms attached to a horizontal shaft, and
the whole enclosed in a cylinder case." It threshed dry oats very well, but
knocked off" wheat heads, and, while it was not practical as constructed, it
demonstrated the superiority of the rotary motion and pointed out the road
to success.

The first successful threshing-machine — the type of modern threshers —
was invented by still another Scotchman, Andrew Meikle, in 1786, and pat-
ented in 1788. In this "the grain in the straw is fed from the board A, be-
tween two fluted rollers B, to the beater-cylinder C, thence passes to an-
other beating-cylinder G, which operates over a concave grating; a third
cylinder H raises and loosens the straw which parts from its grain F
through the concaves, and the straw is delivered at A'." Circular rakes or
beating-cylinders were added in 1789, but a fanning-mill was not provided
till 1800, when at last a complete "separator" was produced, threshing,
cleaning and delivering the grain at one operation. Still these machines
were "stationary," being generally put up in buildings, and the grain was
drawn to them.

In a work describing the "Implements of Husbandry Used in Scot-
land," by Andrew Gray, engineer, published in 1814, is a description of a
threshing-machine which seems to have been a complete separator to be
driven by two horses attached to a stationary power. Except that it was
not portable, it had all the general principles of a modern separator, even
to grading the grain, delivering two qualities while in operation — on one
side the heavy kernels, on the other the light, or screenings. The inventor's
name is not given.

It has been generally supposed that the threshing cylinder was first
invented and perfected, next the straw-.separating devices, and then the
cleaning, and that thus one thing after another was invented and applied
until the present perfection had been attained, but early inventors of
threshing-machines, both in Great Britain and in this country, like those
of reapers, reached too far at first. They covered the whole ground in
theory before any main features had been made practical; hence the com-
bination of a number of undeveloped principles, working imperfectly of

AMERICAN AGRICULTURAI^ IMPLEMENTS. 105

course, rendered the whole too difficult to mauage and unfit for general
use. Afterward open-cylinder threshers — called "chaff-pilers" by some,
"bob-tails," "ground-hogs" and "bull-threshers" by others — were made
and put upon the market successfully. About this time ' 'traveling thresh-
ers," which went around the fields after the grain, were used to some ex-
tent. These opened the way for those that carried the separating attach-
ments, which latter were improved as use pointed out the necessity until,
having become practical throughout, the "separator" absorbed the trade to
the exclusion of the older or simpler forms of thresher, and further devel-
opment has separated the "separator" into several diflfereut classes, each of
which has been substantially perfected.

All the early threshers were stationary. They were set up in barns or
other buildings, and the grain was brought to them like grists to a mill.
Sometimes they were driven by water, but generally by what have been
called cider-mill horse-powers. These were usually under cover, and were
very simple in construction, consisting generally of a center-post, or spin-
dle, pivoted at bottom and top in beams, with long sweep attached, and
carrying a very large horizontal master-wheel, generally overhead, which
drove a pinion and shaft and transmitted the power b}' a belt or tumbling-
rod to the thresher. The next idea was a traveling thresher with harvesting
attachments or without, and these obtained power for their operation from
the traction of their ground wheels as they were hauled around the fields.
About this time tread or railway horse-powers were introduced, and soon
after sweep-powers came into use.

It is possible that some of the early threshers of British make were
brought to America or that others similar were made in this country quite
early in the century. It. is said that "bull-threshers" were used as far back
as 1825 or farther, but there is no trace of substantial improvement in them
until Aug. 8, 1828, when Samuel Lane, of Hallowell, Maine, patented a
traveling thresher with harvester attachments. Another patent was granted
to him April G, 1831, but both were unrestored. The first had an apron car-
rier, and cut some figure in the suit between Pitts and Wemple many years
after. Lane was an ingenious inventor, but unsuccessful, and died poor in
1844.

The Pitts brothers — Hiram A. and John A. — of Winthrop, Maine, were
the first American inventors who were successful and practical in this line,
whose inventions went into general use and have come down to this day.
H. A. Pitts, in 1830, patented an improvement on a railway or tread power,
which consisted in the substitution of hard maple rollersunder the movable
platform, connected by an endless chain, for the old-fashioned leather belt.
He and his brother, John A., began the manufacture of these improved
powers on a small scale in their native town, and introduced them in the
state of Maine and to some extent in other New England states. They be-
came popular for giving power to the ' 'ground-hog' ' thresher, as the open-cyl-
inder machine was called there. While operating these machines, H. A.
Pitts conceivedthe idea of combining the old "ground-hog" and the common
fanning-mill in a portable form. In 1834 he completed a machine on this
plan which operated successfully. After various improvements had been

106 AMERICAN AGRICUIvTURAI. IMPI.KMKNTS.

made by him and his l)rother during the intervening years, a patent was
granted to them, Uec. 29. 1837, for their thresher, which was the original of
the great family of "endless apron" or "great belt" separators. This first
machine, though quite different in appearance from those of the class as
constructed at the present day, had all their essential features. It did not
have a "second carrier" or open raddle; the apron ended at the picker; the
beater was rpund and armed with pegs; the picker was of the same form,
but smaller, and its office was to throw the straw off from the machine; and
the elevator did not rettirn the tailings to the threshing cylinder, but emp-
tied them into the .sides of the machine over the return board or sieves for
re-fanning.

The invention of the Pitts brothers marked a distinct era in the history
of threshing machines; and although various improvements have been made
in the details of this type of threshers, it is a remarkable fact that they fol-
lowed the principles covered by the original patent all the way down for
more than half a century. They manufactured these machines in company
until 1840, when John A. Pitts went to Albany, then to Rochester, N. Y.,
where he connected himself with Joseph Hall, another pioneer. Next he
went to Springfield, Ohio, and finally to Buffalo, N. Y., where he died in
1859.

Hiram A. Pitts remained in Maine until 1847, when he removed to Alton,
111., where he began the manufacture of threshing machines. He built a
good many at that place, improving and perfecting them from year to year.
In 1851 he removed to Chicago, and in 1852 put upon the market his first
threshers from that point. During the years following a large trade was es-
tablished, and his machine, known as the "Chicago Pitts," found a market
wherever grain was raised to any extent. He died, in 1860.

Returning to the patent record, we find that Feb. 5, 1836, E. Briggs and
C. G. Carpenter patented a traveling thresher which could be used with or
without a grain-cutting attachment. It ran on four wheels, like wagon
wheels, and depended upon the traction of the two hind wheels for power.

About 1830 Jacob V. A. Wemple, of Montgomery county, N. Y., a black-
smith and wagon-maker, became interested in threshing machines on ac"
count of repairing some of the crude machines in use then. He invented
an open-cylinder or "bull-thresher" and a horse-power to go with it, and
began manufacturing at Mineyville, N. Y. The peculiaritj^ of the thresher
was in the shape of the cylinder teeth and in the manner of fastening them
to the cylinder. The horse-power was of the stationar}- type. About 1840
he entered into partnership with George AVestingliouse, whose son was since
the inventor of the celebrated air brake for railroad cars. Together the two
inventors and mechanics worked out a separator differing somewhat from
that of the Pitts brothers', in this chiefly, that it had a short-slatted canvas
carrier that delivered the threshings upon a traveling sieve or riddle, which
was given a vibratory movement by running over square tumblers or rollers,
the grain and chaff shaking through, the straw being carried over. They
obtained a patent for this machine, which was afterward known as the Wem-
ple thresher, July 13, 1S43. They were then manufacturing at Fonda, N.Y.
Mr. Westinghouse soon after withdrew, going first to Central Bridge and

AMERICAN- AGRICUI.TURAI, IMPLEMENTS.

107

^^-i^^^^V-,

THE CHARATZ OF EGYPT.

THE MOREG OF THE HEBREWS.

JAPANESE "STRIPPER.'

EARLY ENGLISH SEPARATOR.

108 AMERICAN AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS,

afterward to Schenectady, N. Y., where he permanently established himself.
He continued manufacturing threshers, after the Wemple principle, for many
years. He also built at an early day an open-cylinder "ground hog"
thresher with a vibrating separating attachment. He died in 1844.

Mr. Wemple came to Chicago in 1848. He made and put out his ma-
chines successfully up to and including 1852, when he sold his shops to H.
A. Pitts and retired from the business personally, leaving it to his son,
Andrew, and a Mr. Kline, who continued under the name of Wemple &
Kline until the general crash of 1857, when they went down with many
others. Mr. Wemple died in 1878.

There was no difficulty in getting most of the grain from the straw with
the early plans for separation, but all the while the strife has been to pro-
vide devices the best and surest to save the little left. The early British
machines and those of the same type constructed in this country sought to
accomplish this by combined beaters and pickers, which beat and tossed the
straw along over concave grates or stationary raddles, through which the
grain fell. It is claimed that about all the grain was obtained by these de-
vices. An improvement was inaugurated and established by Pitts, whose
general plan was to carry the threshings along upon an endless ascending
belt, having more or less of a vib)ratory or jarring motion while running,
by which the grain was caused to settle through the .straw, the process being
aided by pickers and beaters operating upon the moving mass. The.se
principles, when fully developed, seemed to be capable of saving substan-
tially all the grain. But perfection had not been attained, and a series of
experiments upon still other methods of separation culminated in what is
commonly recognized as the "vibrator."

Earh'in the "thirties" Pitts used a perforated board or platform, which
was shaken longitudinally, in connection with the "ground-hog" thresher,
while experimenting, and before the adoption of the endless apron. Geo.
Westiughouse, at a later period, used a pan in a similar manner. There is
no doubt that separating devices to be shaken longitudinally were attached
to the old "ground-hog " or "bull" thresher, at various times before .sepa-
rators, as a class, were generally used. A patent was granted to W. Pier-
pont, of Salem, N. J., May 7, 1850, on this principle; but Cyrus Roberts,
then of Belleville, 111., was the first to invent and carry forward to successful
completion devices necessary to the development of the modern vibrating
type of threshers.

It seems that John Cox and Cyrus Roberts commenced to build tread-
powers and "ground-hog" threshers at Belleville along in 1848 or 1849.
During the second year they added a vibrating pan or separator, to take
the place of the forkers and the men who pitched the straw away. This
addition to the machine was set on legs, loosely, so as to vibrate backward
and forward by the action of a crank and pitman attached. It was made
of lumber, consisting of side-boards and a plain bottom the width of the
cylinder, six to ten feet long, and bored full of holes. The vibration caused
by the crank motion shook the grain and chaff through these holes, making
a partial separation only. It did not dispense with the forkers. as they
still had to help get the straw away with their forks, but it assisted mate-

AMERICAN- AGRICCLTURAL IMPLEMENTS.

i09

PITTS MACHINE AS MADE IN 1838.

OLD WEMPLE THRESHER AND HORSE POWER.

THE SWEEPSTAKES THRESHER, PITTS' SYSTEM.

DX & ROBERTS' VIBRATING THRESHER. IS52.

NICHOLS & SHEPARD'S FIRST \^BRATOR, 1858.

no AMERICAN AGKICLLTUKAL IMPLEMKNTS

rially in the operation of separating and dividing the grain from the straw.
There was no fanning mill as yet to the machine, no frame-work, decking
nor covering,bnt ill a short time a frame was added, and to this the vibrating
pan or separator was suspended by rods. Other improvements were made,
and, July 20, 1852, Mr. Rol)erts obtained a patent on the machine, the fir.st
claim of which was as follows: "Having thus described my improvements
in grain separator and cleaner, what I claim therein as new, and desire to
secure by letters patent, is the combination of the adjustable crank for
vibrating the separating trough with the adjustable tracks on which the
jumping roller runs, which shakes the trough up and down, whereby the
straw may be accelerated or retarded without affecting the vertical shaking
of the straw." March 25, 1856, they obtained a patent for the shaking
fingers, which had been added meantime. This thresher was developed
into a first-class machine, known at first as "Cox & Roberts' thresher. "
The Cox & Roberts' thresher was also manufactured by Kingsland & Fergu-
son, of St. Louis, Mo., who w-ere among the first to adopt this principle,
and were prominent in the early struggles to develop and establish it. A
few years after Mr. Cox sold his interest in the business, and in 1857 Mr.
Roberts also sold out, and afterwards went to Three Rivers, Mich. , where he
resided until the time of his death, the past summer.

The development of the Cox & Roberts machine was slow, and no great
headway was made in the establishment of the principle until in 1858, when
Nichols & Shepard, who had been manufacturing agricultural implements
at Battle Creek, Mich., since 1848, commenced to build threshers upon this
vibrating principle. Their plan was to let the straw pass from the thresh-
ing cylinder directly upon successive ranks of lifting fingers, to which was
imparted a sudden up and down motion, by means of which the straw was
thoroughly agitated from the moment it left the cylinder until it reached
the end of the machine. Their first separator had but one "shaker." It
gave good promise, but, of course, was more or less crude and defective in
operative qualities. John Nichols gave che machine the trademark name
"Vibrator," and devoted his attention particularly to the details of its devel-
opment. The next year, 1859, "double shakers" were put in the machine.
They counterbalanced one another, thus stopping the end-shake, and they
also greatly assisted in separating by allowing the grain to drop through
the slatwork of the upper shaker into the conveyor-shaker below. At this
time the cylinders were built of wooden staves bolted to iron heads, the
teeth (of the old form, patented many years before by Fox & Borland) being
driven in, or of wrought-iron bars provided with teeth and attached to cast-
iron heads and center-piece. Usually but six bars were used, and it was
found that the bars, with their teeth, were too far apart, causing the straw
to be jerked from the hands of the feeder and carried through before being
threshed clean. They then adopted the iron cylinder, but added more bars
until they built the "twelve-bar cylinder." They kept on building and im-
proving their vibrator, encountering and overcoming many obstacles in con-
struction, until 1864. About this time the machine attracted the attention
of H. H. Taylor, of Chicago. He had long been the most extensive dealer
in threshing machines in the United States, and had just obtained an inter-

AMERICAN AGRICUIvTURAI, IMPi,EMENTS.

Ill

OLD STYLE, SINGLE GEAR POWER,
USED BY PITTS.

PITTS-CAREY PO-WER, MOUNTED.

DOUBLE PINION PITTS-CAREY POWER.

J. I. case's climax POWER.

WOODBURY POWER ON TWO WHEELS.

U,

m "vo/^^, /;\L

THE DINGEE-WOODUUKY POWER.

112 AMERICAN AGRICULTURAI, IMPUiMENTS.

est in the Marsh harvester, then at the opening of its career, for the purpose
of widening his business in that direction. After a careful investigation of
the merits and prospects of the vibrator, he was so favorably impressed that
in 1865 he negotiated with Nichols & Shepard and obtained an interest in
their patents and shops, meantime disposing of his interest in the harvester-
This reinforcement added vigor to the contest and struggle for supremacy
between the new principle and the old types of machines. A year or so
after, C. Aultmau, of C. Aultman & Co., Canton, O., manufacturers of the
then celebrated "Sweepstakes" thresher, bought an interest in the vibrator
patents, and in connection with Mr. Taylor established the Aultman &
Taylor Company at Mansfield, O., in 1867. This consolidation of interests
told heavily upon the ranks of the old system. One by one its supporters
gave way, until at last substantially all had capitulated or had fallen into
line under the new dispensation. Mr. Taylor died in the heat of the con-
test, and Mr. Aultman after it had ended.

In the foregoing full credit has been given the originators of and lead-
ers in the vibrator movement for the conception and establishment of the
general principle; but it is not to be supposed that perfection had been
attained by them in the first few years, or that the restless energy of genius
would stop there. When a new system or principle has been developed to
success and general acceptance, immediately invention seeks to provide
improved methods or better plans for applying the same. Some of these
changes may be but in form, others in both form and principle, while still
others may advance by evolution so far from the original type as to lose
their identity therewith, and thus it has been in the development of thresh-
ers since the vibrating system was established.

POWERS FOR THRESHING MACHINES.

Previous to 1830 several kinds of crude stationary powers had been con-
structed and used for threshers, and tread (since called railway) powers
had by that time become quite practical. These latter were soon after con-
structed so as to be portable; and the advantages of this principle being ob-
vious, inventors and manufacturers thereafter adopted portability as a chief
feature.

It was a simple process when portability became essential to take down
the big wheel and pinion of the old stationary power, to arrange frame
and levers, and to extend the horizontal rod along the ground, so that horses
might travel over it. Then, when the toothed cylinder was substituted for
the old-fashioned barred drum, to provide the increase of speed required
through an intermediate gear, that is, to add what is known as the "jack."
After a portable lever-power had been blocked out, so to speak, its use
would readily point out necessary improvements; and as use increased and
powers multiplied different makers would naturally travel in different direc-
tions in the application of such improvements.

Probably the first down-power was simply a large bull-wheel and a
single pinion. It might have been either a spur or bevel-gear, as both had
been used on stationary powers. As far back as 1800 a spur master-wheel
and pinion, with a pair of bevel-gears connected for increasing speed, all
overhead, had been used in a stationary power for a threshing machine, hence

AMERICAN AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS. 113

one method, at least, of increasing speed in the power itself was pointed
out; but it required considerable invention and mechanical skill to get these
crude ideas into a successful portable lever-power.

Doubtless several kinds of fairly practical powers were constructed and
used before any showed sufficient superiority to create a type, and probably
they were nearly or quite all of the low speed, that is, requiring jacks to
give sufficient motion; but as with the "separator" so with the power, it
seems that the Pitts brothers were the leaders. At any rate the Pitts power
was the first to gain general use and to maintain its position, as improved,
of course, in the market down to the present day.

Powers designated by their motions are of two classes — the low and the
high speed. The first requires the jack to increase motion, and the second
furnishes sufficient speed direct; but this is quite an indefinite distinction,
because compound gears, and the rate of speed which may be given by the
gears or the cylinder, afford wide scope in the construction of the power
itself, so that the line between the two types may not be strongly marked.
These powers for threshing machines are now obsolete, but for other pur-
poses are very useful, and are generally manufactured. Of the early high-
speed powers the Planet, the Woodbury, the triple-gear and the Climax
were the leaders. The first lever-power used by the Pitts brothers had the
large master-wheel and single pinion with jack; but they were experiment-
ing upon the Climax, so-called, about 1845, when Mr. Carey, who was work-
ing in the same room with H. A. Pitts, suggested using two pinions instead
of one for the two bevel-wheels in the center to prevent heat and wear. The
result was the internal gear and the turning of the bevel-wheels down, and
thus the foundation of the Pitts-Carey power was laid. Mr. Carey made no
claims to the invention at that time, but the Pitts brothers, in honor of his
suggestion, had his name signed to the application for patent, taking as-
signment in full; and afterwards they paid him $500, which he thankfully
received. The original iron bridge which joined the two pinions proving
too rigid, the Pitts brothers put on their movable step and adjustable cap
to hold both top and bottom of bull-pinion and bevel- wheel. This they
patented in 1846. The Pitts-Carey combination became a popular power
at once, and retained its hold under various modifications, constructions and
names. They were not mounted at first, but had that distinction at an
early day, and have been frecjuently improved in accordance with current
requirements.

The triple-gear is a high speed type of power, and is put out in vari-
ous forms according to the uses required of it. Its principles are plainlv
shown in the illustration, and so are those of the Climax.

The Woodbury power has had from the first marked peculiarities. Its
construction was such that it could only be used as mounted, for which reason,
perhaps, it led in the introduction of mounted powers. It rode into the
market on two wheels along in the forepart of the "fifties," but did not gain
ground very fast, owing to its liability to break; but later, as constructed at
Springfield, Ohio, at Racine, by J. I. Case, and by other careful manufact.
urers, it gave satisfaction Later on it was mounted on four wheels, and was
improved and strengthened, so that it had become a sturdy competitor witL

114 AMKRICAX ACRICUIvTURAI^ IMPLEMENTS.

the Pitts-Carey, the Climax and the triple-gear types, but it wasstill supposed
to lack the strength and durability required for the larger styles of sepa-
rators. The original Woodbury had but two driving pinions for the master-
wheel, one above and one below, on either end of the shaft, upon which
was the big spur-wheel; the others were traveling pinions simph-. W. W.
Dingee, a skillful mechanic and an inventor in this line, remodeled the
power by making the idlers working parts of the power, thus putting upon
four pinions the strain and wear that previously had been applied to two.

PORTABI^E AND TRACTION STKAM ENGINES.

The use of steam power for agricultural purposes began in England
almost half a century ago. Patents had been granted more than a century
ago to Watt and others on steam engines of portable or traction form, and
nearly all the essential elements of portable threshing engines had been
invented long before threshers had become well enough known for practi-
cal men to operate them by .steam power.

In 18.^0 Horace Greelej' mentions in the New York Tribune that he had
seen at Watertown, N. Y., a portable .steam engine for farm use, and his
comments upon its work would indicate that but little was known of such
engines.

During the Civil war the high cost of iron and steel made it impractica-
ble to put on the market engines for threshing purposes at a price within
the means of farmers and threshermen, and it was not until several years
after that manufacturers of threshing machinery turned their attention seri-
ously to building them. As .soon as the success of steam threshing was
demonstrated, they brought out portable engines, at first of six and eight-
horse power, but later on of greater capacity, as the trade demanded. The
most important improvement that was made was in the development of a
durable traction gear, but manj^ minor inventions have been added. An
important .step was taken when a form of fire-box was brought out adapted
to the use of straw as fuel instead of coal or wood.

CHAPTER XII.

Corn-harvesters.

THE harvesting of com is one of the problems that our inventors and
manufacturers have long sought to solve. Forty-three years ago the
first patent in this class was granted to Edmund W. Ouincy, of Illinois, who
has, since that time, become well-known throughout the countrj- as "Old
Father Quincy."

There are two stages in the development of any implement. The first
covers the conception of the idea and the making of an " operative ' ' imple-
ment— one that does its work satisfactorily in the hands of the inventor or
others who handle it carefully. The second stage covers the pioneer
efforts to manufacture it and to introduce it into general use. For ex-
ample, many inventors during the early part of the centurj- had reapers
that were "operative," but it was not until 1846 that they had become suf-
ficiently practical to be made and sold in large numbers. Again, inventors
began about 1850 to study out the problem of a self-binding harvester, and
many machines were made that would work well in the hands of inventors,
but it was twenty-five j-ears before they had become perfect in design and
operation so they could be manufactured for general use; and during this
time as much capital was lost in fruitless efforts as there is invested in the
industry at the present time.

There are, to-day, several corn-harvesters that work successfully in the
field when handled carefully, but whether they have reached the final stage
of development so they may be put on the market in large numbers, no one
can predict. An encouraging feature is that these machines are in the
hands of the large manufacturers of twine-binding harvesters, who have
ample capital to carry the work through to success.

" Old Father Quincy 's " first machine was essentially a field-picker. It
was a crude and impractical affair, and is only worthy of notice because it
was the first of record. Many other inventors worked, liked Ouincy, on
this idea of a machine to pass over the row and pick the ears from the stalks.
It would seem that a machine capable of gathering all the ears had never
been made by any of them, although many have come near to attaining
that result. Some machines have worked fairly well in corn that stood up in
good condition, but this is not the real object to be gained. The successful
machine, be it a field-picker or a harvester and binder, must work well under
all conditions, whether the ears be three feet or seven feet from the ground,
and whether the stalks stand upright or lie twisted and blown.

In recent years, since the development of the twine-binding harvester,
practical men have been almost unanimous in the belief that the corn-har-

116 AMERICAN' AGRICULTURAL IMPLKMKNTS.

vester of the future will be a binder. In the meantime, however, another
type of machine, dignified by the name of a harvester, has been perfected
and large numbers made and sold. This is the "sled harvester," on which
two men stand and gather the stalks in their arms as the machine is drawn
forward, the stalks being cut b}- knives attached to each side of it at the de-
sired height from the ground.

The first harvester of this class was patented by J. C. Peterson, of West
Mansfield, O , who put one in the field in 1886. Soon after H. McDonald
became interested, and removing to Bellefontain^e, O., began manufacturing
it the following year. Others followed and added improvements, until eight
or ten har\'esters of this tj-pe were in the field. Three were exhibited at the
Columbian Exposition; by the \Vm. N. Whitely Company, of Muncie, Ind.,
the A. W. Butt Implement Company and the Foos Manufacturing Com-
pany, both of Springfield, O. It is claimed that with one of these harvesters
two men and a boy can cut 300 shocks per day. The men stand on the sled
and each gathers an armful in passing from one shock to the next, taking
two rows and stopping at each shock to deposit the corn at "gallus hills"
previously prepared.

Nearly all the leading manufacturers of harvesting machines have ex-
perimented more or less with corn-harvesters, and three of them exhibited
machines at the Columbian Exposition. D. M. Osborne & Co., of Auburn,
N. Y. , were the first of these three to come before the public, they having
had in the field for three or four years a machine adapted to be used
either as a corn-binder or an ensilage-harvester. As may be seen by refer-
ence to illustration, it has two gathering arms carrying endless chains,
which pick up the corn and pass it backward to the table or elevator. The
knife is of circular form. The binding attachment may be used the same as
though harvesting wheat, or an elevator may be attached, as illustrated,
having endless chains with fingers to carry the corn to the top and deposit it
in a wagon driven alongside.

The McCormick Harvesting Machine Compauj-, of Chicago, the pioneer
reaper house, had on exhibition a machine that is odd in appearance, but
gives promise of practical w^ork. The horses are hitched behind this ma-
chine, the same as they would be hitched to a "header," an apparently ad-
vantageous plan. The down corn is picked up by gathering arms, which
are provided with chains for passing the stalks backward to the cutting
knife and the binder. A standard twine-binder is used, but set in a verti-
cal position, so as to receive the stalks as they are cut and keep them verti-
cal until the bundle is discharged. This machine is remarkably simple in
construction, a feature that is generally more than half the battle in the
development of an invention. The illustration .shows quite clearlj- its gen-
eral appearance.

William Deering & Co., of Chicago, the pioneers in developing the
Appleby twine-binder, have been experimenting since 1881 with corn har^
vesting machinery, and it is quite well known among machine men
that they have expended in the neighborhood of |200,000 in their search
for practical inventions. Their exhibit at the Columbian Exposition
probably attracted more attention from practical men than any other ma-

AMERICAN AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS.

ii';

THE PETERSOX CORN HARVESTER.

THE "scientific"' corn H.^RVESTER

THE OSBORNE CORN HARVESTER.

118

AMERICAN AGRICULTURAI. IMPLEMENTS.

THE Mccormick corn binder.

THE DEERING CORN HARVESTER AND BINDER.

AMERICAN AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS. 119

chiue exhibit, an indicatiou of the interest that is felt in the problem of
harvesting corn. Their leading machine i.s a modified, form of the standard
Appleby binder, the harvester being adapted to operate with the binder re-
moved, to elevate the corn into a vvagon. A circular knife or saw is used,
set in horizontal position for cutting the stalks, which are bent forward by
a hood, and fall upon a chain elevator which carries them over the drive-
wheel to the binder, in the same manner as a canvas elevator carries wheat,
but with the stalks in a reverse position, i. e., with the tops forward. The
machine is simple in construction, and has made an excellent record in the
field, especially in the examination conducted by the World's Fair judges.
It rained during the trial, making the ground soft and the corn difficult to
handle, some of it being thirteen feet high, and the wind blew a gale. The
conditions could scarcely have been more trying, but the machine did ex-
cellent work. The illustration is from a photograph taken in the same
'field a few days after. Deering also exhibited at the fair a field-picking
harvester, and a small hand-husker, operated by a crank, intended for use
in the southwest where corn is stored in the husks to protect it from the
weevil.

The development of the corn-harvester and binder by the manufactur-
ers whose efforts have just been noticed, leads to the mention of a machine
that can hardly be classed with harvesters, but which may be noticed in this
chapter to better advantage than in any other of the chapters on corn ma-
chinery. The Keystone corn-husker and fodder-cutter, as made by the
Keystone Manufacturing Company, of Sterling, 111., has been before the
trade for several years, and has become favorably known as a practical ma-
chine for the purpose indicated by its name. As the stalks are fed into the
machine butts foremost, the stem of the ear is cut by the knives and the ear
falls upon a series of inclined rollers under the feeder's table. The ear
slides downward upon the rollers, which seize the husk and strip it away,
allowing the ear to pass on and fall into a carrier, which elevates it into a
wagon or bin. The operation is simplicity in itself, and the work done is
quite satisfactory. A feature that appeals to the practical farmer, and espe-
cially to the stock raiser, is that the fodder is all saved and put into the most
convenient form for feeding.

CHAPTER XIII.

Corn-shellers.

THE development of the corn-sheller has been contemporaneous with the
pioneer work in corn-planters, cultivators and other implements. The
one-row corn-drill or planter was used to a limited extent prior to 1850, and
so also Avas the small hand corn-sheller. When the farmers found themselves
in possession of improved planters and cultivators, with the effectiveness of
labor correspondingly increased, they naturally began to inquire for a means
of shelling the corn rapidly. Inventors were quick to answer, and practical
manufacturers became interested in the new industry in due .season.

William Cobbett, the noted English political writer, retreating from
the difficulties into which his effusions had drawn him, came to the United
States in 1817, and leased a farm on L,ong Island. He became much inter-
ested in corn-growing, and returning to England in 1820, he soon after took
a farm there and began the cultivation of Indian corn specially, with a view
of acclimating it. He says of shelling corn: "This is done in America by
scraping or rasping the ears upon a piece of iron fixed across a tub, into
which the grains fall. The iron is commonly a bayonet."

The Mexican Indians tie a bunch of cobs together in circular form, mak-
ing what they call an olotero, and against this they rub off the kernels by
hand. Many other crude ways for aiding the hands to shell corn by the
turning, rubbing or grating process, were known and practiced in the early
days before any one had thought of the first "one-hole" sheller, which was
simply a hole smaller than an average ear, through which the cob was
driven, leaving its corn on the way; and it was by improvement and a
proper mechanical combination of these elementary methods that the first
real corn-sheller was produced. The first efforts were directed towards
shelling simply, the next to separating or removing the cobs, then the chaff
and litter, and la.stly to increasing capacity and perfection of operation.
The balance-wheel, to give steadiness, was added quite early.

Knight, in his Mechanical Dictionary, gives very little indeed concern-
ing shellers. He divides them into three classes as follows:

"1. The roughened or toothed disk which operates upon the ears in
connection with a chute or oblique pressure-board, which holds the corn
against the rubber.

2. The cylinder with toothed periphery acting upon the ears in connec-
tion with a concave which affords a gradually decreasing throat, as the ears
roll and rub and part with their grains.

3. An orifice into which the ear is driven by a blow from a mallet, driv-
ing the cob through and shelling ofif the grains "

120

AMERICAN AGRICL'LTrKAI. IMPLEMENTS. 121

Probably the first description of a machine for shelling corn is contained
in an English cyclopedia, dating back about sixty years. The following
comment appears on this subject: "In this country [England] there are
machines of different kinds which perform the operation of shelling corn
with great rapidity; but whoever has a threshing machine might, by setting
the rollers and drum somewhat wider than usual, dispense with manual
labor, both in the operations of husking and shelling; and indeed we see no
reason why the crop should, not be harvested, like a crop of drilled beans, with
Gladstone's bean reaper, and sheaved, shocked, stacked and threshed like an v
other grain." Of the sheller illustrated the author says: " It is composed of a
thin vertical wheel, covered with iron on one side made rough by punctures,
which wheel works in a trough and separates the grains from the stalks
[cobs] by rubbing. The ears or spikes of corn are thrown in by hand one
at a time; and while the separated grains pass through a funnel below, the
naked stalk is brought up at the end of the wheel opposite to that at which
it was put in. The wheel may either be made rough on both sides or on
one side, according to quantity of the work required to be done, and
the force to be applied." Of another it is said: " Mariott's improved maize
separator is the most perfect machine of this kind at present in use; it has not
hitherto been much used in England, but a good many have been exported
to America and the colonies."

Here we find that machines clearly belonging to Knight's first class —
prototypes of the modern "picker-wheel" shellers— were built in England
for the American market sixty years ago at least, and probably before au}^
attempt had been made in this countr\- to manufacture anything of the
kind. This need not be wondered at, for the British were considerably in
the advance of us, up to the last half centur}^ in all these practical arts,
both as inventors and manufacturers. It is since then that America has
outstripped all other nations in the development, perfection and use of farm
implements.

Hand-shellers of the "picker- wheel" type were probably the first that
were made in this country. Of these the "Clinton" and "Burrall" were
among the earliest to be produced for the market. In the Prairie Fai mer
of January, 1847, occurs the following:

"Mr. Bradley, of Kalamazoo county, Mich., asks: 'Will you not give us
a pattern for corn-sheller — not of seven or one horse-power, but of one
man-power— such as every small or large farmer may have without great
expense, say from five to ten dollars?'" In reply the editor says: "Bur-
rail's corn-sheller * * * is, as we are assured, an excellent machine,
costing eleven or twelve dollars, made wholly of iron, and can be turned
by hand or horse-power. It is to be had in eastern warehouses, but there
are none of them or any other in our market." So, according to the
Prairie Farmer, there were no corn-shellers for sale in Chicago nor else-
where in the west, we would naturally assume; but Mr. Bradley's expres-
sion, "not of seven or one horse-power," indicates that he was acquainted
with such as were run by power.

The late-Augustus Adams, of Sandwich, 111., the recognized leader in
the development of corn-shellers, in answer to an inquir}- some j-ears before

122 AMERICAN AGKiClLTLRAI. IMPLEMENTS.

his death, said: "The first sheller that I ever saw was one that 'Father
Brewster' had when he came to Elgin, 111., which he brought from the east,
but where made I do not kuow. It was like one of our one-hole machines,
except that it delivered the shelled corn and cobs all together. The first
separating sheller I ever saw was the Burrall iron sheller, about 1S43 or
1S44, which discharged the corn at the bottom and the cobs at the end.
This was built at Seneca Falls, N. Y. The first two-hole sheller that I
know of was made by Allen "Wayne, who furnished his own patterns and
had his castings made by B. "W. Raymond when the latter was in company
with me at Elgin. Wayne failed, owing Raymond for castings, etc. Ray-
mond took his patterns and stock and turned them over to us at Elgin, and
we worked up the unfinished stock, which was the commencemeut of our
making two-hole shellers. The first power sheller I ever saw was. I think,
in 1843 or 1844, at Bloomington, 111., and was what was known as the 'can-
non' sheller. It was a cast-iron case about seven feet long and perhaps a
foot in diameter, receiving the corn at one end and discharging the cobs at
the other. * * * I do not recollect its internal arrangement well enough
to describe it. I think it was made in Pennsylvania. The second was a
cylinder sheller, made at Peoria. The next (about 1858) was the 'Mag-
nolia,' built at Magnolia, Putnam county, 111., which shelled with ribs on
a cast cylinder, and it had, I think, a concave with round rods to let the
corn through. * * * The next cylinder sheller that came considerably
into xise, more especially in warehouses, was the 'Richards.' made in Chi-
cago. This had a revolving screen surrounding the cylinder to separate
the com from the cobs."

Thos, A- Gait, of Sterling, 111., is another pioneer in the development
of com-shellers. At the time of the above quoted interview Mr. Gait had
this to say: "My first experience with a power sheller was about fifty years
ago, when a boy. We used to place the corn on a bam floor about a foot
deep, and it was shelled out by horse-power; that is. by putting four horses
on it and letting them tramp the corn ofi" the cob, which at that time was
thought to be a very successful way of shelling com. It was probably be-
fore the time when such a thing as a corn-sheller was thought of. At that
time, when corn was needed for domestic use, we usually placed eight or ten
bushels of it in the large brick oven after the baking was done and dried it
out; then it was removed into the kitchen to the big fire-place, and by laying
a shovel over the tub we managed, as we thought, to shell ver\- rapidly by
hand. Some time after that we got a corn-sheller which, if I recollect
rightlv, was on the same principle as the present 'picker- wheel' sheller."

Mr. Gait said that he recalled "using a sheller at an early day made by
driving broken nails into a cylinder, placing the cyliuder in a box. and as
the cylinder was turned it shelled the corn from the cob."

The Annual Register of Rural Afiairs for 1857 says of Smiths patent
"cannon'' sheller, then manufactured at Kinderhook, N. Y., that it was
considered the best then in use for shelling corn on a large scale, and de-
scribed it as follows: "It is a horizontal-toothed cylinder, six feet long and
fourteen inches in diameter. It can be operated by water, steam or horse-
power, and hence would be very valuable in the western states, where Indian

AMERICAX AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMEXTS. Ii3

com is grown in large quantities. * * * The ears of com are confined
in the operation to a part of the upper or rising side of this cylinder bv
means of a cast-iron concave or case extending the -whole length of the ma-
chine, and the corn being shoveled in at one end is driven through, and
the cobs discharged at the other, while the com falls below, being admitted
by the small space on either side of the cylinder. The operation is gov-
erned by elevating or depressing the discharging end, which causes the
machine to discharge the cobs fast or slow, and of course operating more or
less upon them, thus securing to the operator the means of finishing his
work. It is capable of shelling 2Cm) bushels of ears per hour w-ith a two-
horse power. Price, ^4oand |^iO.'' The Register also speaks of the '"Clin-
ton ' one and two-hole shellers of the disk or picker-wheel type, as in gen-
eral use. This sheller was built by the Clinton Agricultural Works, of
Clintonville, Conn., and had a very extensive sale, in fact quantities of them
were shipped abroad,

Mr. Adams moved from Elgin to Sandwich, 111., in LSoT, where A.
Adams & Sons continued the business and put out several styles of shellers
of the picker-wheel type; and before the war the firm had become ^dely
known to the com buyers on the roads running through the '"corn-belt" on
account of their two and four-hole horse-power machines. These were, as
to shelling de\-ices, simply enlargements of their hand-shellers, consisting
of a large picker-faced disk or wheel, wdth a smaller wheel having beveled
and ribbed face (stripping or feed wheel i faced to it, and a rag iron for each
shelling set, and arranged in series of two and four for two or four-hole
shellers. The four-hole machine was furnished with fan and elevator, and
was turned by two horse-power. It was fed from a table on a level with the
throats, a man on each side feeding two. Two expert men could put through
about SCK) bushels per day, a very satisfactory- result, considering the inex-
pensive character of the machinery-, the light force and power for operating
it, and the neatness and cleanness of the work done.

"Wm. Gillman, of Ottawa, 111., early in the '" sixties " began the manu-
facture of a cylinder sheller for portable ser\-ice among the farmers. This
was a very good machine and had considerable sale. It was the beginning
of the business that for many years past has been conducted by the King
& Hamilton Company. There was also in use before the war a cylinder
sheller made at LaFayette, Ind. This was a large machine adapted to
warehouse use, substantially the same as the one buUt by Mr. Richards, of
Chicago, and known widely as the ""Richards" sheller. Many others in
the west began manufacture later, some of them continuing successftdly to
the present time.

In the east, besides the '"Clinton," which received its name from Da^^d
Clinton, who invented the bevel or feed-wheel and its combination with the
picker-wheel, and the ""Burrall."' invented by T.J. Burrall, who about 1S50
fixed his shelling device in a cast-iron case, with separator forming a part
of the case, there were A. Blaker & Co., Newtown, Pa.; the Pennock Manu-
facturing Company, Kennett Square, Pa. ; and Ruggles. Nourse &. Mason,
Worcester Mass. . all mantifacturing shellers along about ISoO of the picker-
wheel type.

I'J-l AMERICAN AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS.

Who first in this country made provision for separating the cobs from
the shelled corn in the "picker- wheel" class of shellers, it would be difficult
to determine, but he only improved the principle applied to this purpose in
the old English machine mentioned. At any rate the little "Burrall" had
such a separating device, the cast shell in which the shelling wheels were
inclosed being so arranged in relation to the large sheller-wheel (picker or
straight runner) as to hold the cob, after the corn was shelled from it,
pressed lightly to said large wheel in its revolution until the cob arrived at
an opening in the case, through which it was discharged by its centrifugal
momentum. Early in the "fifties" the slatted cob-rake, or riddle, on which
the cobs were carried off— the corn sifting through — was introduced; and
soon after came the fan for blowing out the light impurities. The late
Augustus Adams, as early as 1854 or 1855, at Elgin, 111., made two-hole
hand shellers with cob-rakes. Slats of wood were arranged on a pair of
leather belts, spread wide enough apart so that the slats, extending across
from one end to the other of the belts, would about cover the width of the
double set of shelling-wheels; the inner end of said carrier or cob-rake
reached under the shelling-wheels, and the outer end— somewhat higher —
projected behind so as to deliver the cobs free of the machine. The slats
were so shaped as not to present flat surfaces for the shelled corn to ride on,
but allowed the latter to pass freely through and down the delivery chute.
About 1858 Mr. Adams produced a flexible iron cob-rake, which has proved
to be one of the most valuable features of the modern Adams shellers. It
was a rake made of iron or steel rods — three sixteenths to one-quarter-inch
round, according to the size of the machine the rake w^as intended for — each
rod forming a link, the ends being so peculiarly turned that, joining with
those of the next link or rod, perfectly flexible connections were made.
The rods formed the slats across, and enough thus connected made a thor-
oughly flexible iron riddle, as pliable practically for its purpose as cloth or
leather, which, besides being durable, presented small, round surfaces upon
which the kernels could not ride out and be wasted.

A two-hole one-horse power sheller, made by the Dillmans, of Plain-
field, 111. , had a cob-carrier constructed and arranged like the first described
as constructed by Mr. Adams, except that the slats consisted of foltied strips
of sheet metal. These presented a rounded face, but at intervals along the
carrier the front lip or fold of a slat was left up to engage with lagging cobs
and insure their passage up the incline to point of delivery outside. This
feature was covered by a patent.

Cob-carriers and fans were usually at that time attachments to power
shellers. Hand shellers, which were made by the parties above mentioned,
by Gait & Tracy, at Sterling, 111., and others in the west, were mostly of the
Clinton or Burrall types, and generally without separating devices, or with
such as were used to shoot out the cobs. After cob-carriers and fans had
been added to picker-wheel shellers, the next step in development was the
elevator, which device takes the shelled corn from under the machine and
carries it up to be delivered into bags. This and other parts were improved
and rendered more effective as the maturing experience of manufacturers
saw the need.

AMERICAN AGRICULTUR.\Iv IMPLEMENTS. 12->

The uext and the greatest improveruent for giving capacity to these shell-
ers was the self-feeding device, invented by Augustus Adams about 1860. At
that time one and two-hole shellers— hand and power — and those that had
been made with four holes, were fed each from a table on a level with the feed
throats by hand, the operator manipulating the ear^) 30 as to present them
endways to the shelling devices. For the four-hole machine two men were
required, one on each side of the table. The capacity of the power shellers fed
thus depended largely upon the dexterity of the attendant feeders, and much
loss resulted. The following is from the pen of Mr. Adams: " In the fall of
18-59 I conceived the idea of carrying the ears to the throats of the machine
by a series of belts, which proved a success, although it came near being
a failure, as the belts would carry up the corn faster than the throats could
receive it, causing clogging. To avoid this difficulty I conceived the idea
of making and placing the picker- wheels in the throats as now used, which
gave the desired result and made the feeder a success, enabling the operator
to feed the machine by shoveling the corn into the feeder, and thus dis-
pensing with hand feeding." This feeder for a four-hole sheller was con-
structed as follows: There was a long trough inclined backward from a point
above the feeding throats of the machine, at an angle not too sharp to admit
of the corn being carried up without much tumbling and rolling back-
ward, and in this trough were arranged four carrying belts with lugs run-
ning parallel to each other, in parallel spaces corresponding to the four
throats of the machine. The partitions that divided the trough into these
spaces were so sloped or tapered that at their lower ends they scarcely rose
above the level of the bottom of the trough, but they were gradually increased
in their rise from the bottom as they approached the highest point, so the
corn, shoveled promiscuously in at the lower end of the trough, was carried
forward by the four belts, and as it progressed these rising partitions raised
the ears that were lying crosswise above the lugs placed on the belts for the
purpose of moving the corn upward, when, being thus released therefrom,
their tendency was to roll backward off the edges of the partitions into the
hollows between, lengthwise, and on the top of the lugged belts, which car-
ried them in that position up to the highest point, whence they were dis-
charged down corresponding chutes into the throats of the machines.
Afterward, to prevent clogging at the throats, Mr. Adams placed a little
picker- wheel at the side of each throat to aid in regularly distributing and in
accelerating the ears as they passed into the shelling-wheels. These devices
were improved in form and construction from time to time. They worked
satisfactorily and gave much greater capacity to the shellers,. besides pro-
viding a way for enlargement to six holes or more, but they did not yet
constitute a perfect feeeder, for ears would still wedge and clog at the feed
throats. To remedy this defect and to make a positive feed the invention of
H. A. Adams was added in 1872, which consisted in the location of a power-
ful shaft with wings or projections over the throats, so that in turning they
seized upon the approaching ears, at the point where they were likely to
hesitate and wedge, and forced them through. This device not only com-
pletely prevented clogging, but it also increased the shelling capacity'
largely. Another improvement in the construction of the feeder was made

12G AMERICAN AGRICULTLRAI, IMPLEMENTS.

some years after by J. Q. and O. R. Adams, sons of Augustus, but engaged
in manufacture at Marseilles, 111., who suljstituted chains for the former
belts and rollers, thus oVjviating the difificulties experienced, when running
in winter, with ice and snow.

Other makers were active also. The Plainfield sheller had made an
excellent record in improvements and practical operation. Meantime A.
H. Shreffler had connected himself with the concern, and in 1867 the works
w^ere removed to Joliet, 111., and there conducted under the title of the
Joliet Manufacturing Company. Mr. ShrefBer, in 1875 or 1876, made an im-
portant advance in the art by raising the main shaft of the sheller — the one
upon which the "straight runner" or picker-disk is placed, and to which
power is usually applied — to a higher plane than its companion-shaft, upon
which the rapidly revolving "bevel-runners" or stripping- wheels, and the
balance-wheel are placed, so that the ears of corn could be delivered closely
to the throat of the machine and run into the shelling-wheels practically on
a level; thus obviaticg the necessity of raising the corn so high as in the
older form of feeder, and also, the difficulty consequent upon such raising
— the tumbling and rolling of the ears in their descent. This improvement
again added to the capacity as well as to convenience and quality of work,
and was generally adopted by other makers. With these main improve-
ments, and the many in details of construction which followed, the capacity
of a four-hole two-horse sheller has been raised to 2,500 bushels per day
when run to good advantage.

The Keystone Manufacturing Company, Sterling, 111., successors to
Gait & Trac}', made quite a departure from the ordinary picker-wheel
sheller. They substituted for the bevel-runner or stripping-wheel and rag-
iron with spring, a "shelling picker-shaft," with a shelling length of eight
to ten inches. In this machine the shoe and screen have been discarded,
and the separation is made by open links through which the corn passes
while the cobs, etc. , are being carried off.

CHAPTER XIV.

F^eed and Ensilage-cutters.

THE practice of preparing coarse food for cattle by cutting is probably as
old as their domestication. Large vegetables would require reduction
in size before they could be eaten, and the convenience of some preparation
and regulation must have been soon recognized. The Hebrews chopped or
cut both straw and grain in the bundle for feed, and so did the Egyptians,
Greeks and Romans. The last-named people fed of various succulent
grasses and vegetables, cutting up and measuring rations according to the
requirements of their stock; but they probably had no machines for cutting
other than knives or chopping implements. The first feed-cutter i for straw)
mentioned in agricultural records, was invented by one Hochfield, in Saxony,
over a hundred years ago, but no description appears in the brief notice of it.
In Great Britain straw-cutters, mostly on the simple plan of a knife on a lever,
pivoted at one end and having a handle at the other, were used. Vegetable
slicers were also made and on the market during the latter part of last
century, as were steamers, boilers, roasters, breakers and bruisers. Straw and
chaff-cutters were patented in this country early in the centurj'. Probably
the first advance was the lever knife, the next a frame and feed box, with
straight descending knife. These primitive cutters are designated as of the
guillotine type, and to this class belonged the Hotchkiss straw-cutter,
patented Aug 2, 1808, and again Jan. 17, 1817. There were several forms
of these early guillotine cutters — that is, of those that operated on a straight
line upon the straw or fodder as it was issued from the throat By an early
improvement the knife was given an endwise motion in addition to its de-
scending, making a draw cut Some had V-shaped knives or cutting plates,
and others had double-edged knives — cutting on the return while ascend-
ing as well as when descending. Another class of feed-cutters had cutting
knives upon a cylinder on a horizontal axis in front of the throat and cut-
ting towards the axis. "Salmon, of Woburn. England [quoting from
Knight], about seventy years since, introduced the oblique knife, attached
cylinder fashion, between two wheels and cutting towards the throat of
the straw box; revolving in the same plane of motion as the straw is
moved. This feature is shown in the United States patents granted to East-
man, Jan. 29, 1822, and to Denson, May 2, 1835. Weir's chaflFand fodder-
cutter, used in England more than sixty years ago, was probably the
first representative of another class. It had two cun'ed knives attached,
•each with one end to a spoke and the other to the rim of a large balance-
wheel. A crank was fixed to the wheel which, in revolving, carried the
knives, the latter cutting against a plane at the end of the feeding trough
or throat. This old English machine was of the class specified by Dr.

127

128

AMERICAN AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS.

CYLINDRICAL STALK CUTTER.

HIDE ROLLER H.\Y CCTTER.

AMERICAN AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS. 129

Knight as having " the radial or curved knife attached to a wheel revolving
on an axis parallel to the direction of the feed and thus cutting off the straw
as it issues from the throat of the machine." Albaret's (France) cutter be-
longs to this class, as do several styles of excellent cutters now made in this
country. The knives of some of the machines of this class have a draw
cut, being governed b}- eccentrics that give them a rocking motion. Spiral
cutters of various forms were early invented. In one kind " one roller has
spiral knives, and the other spiral abutment corrugations, whose intervals
are entered by the knives." Some cylinder machines cut against rollers
covered with raw-hide, and some cutters were self-sharpening. Circular
saws, peculiarly arranged, were tried and used to some extent, and many
other devices not mentioned, but these we have noticed represent various
types of early cutters that more or less prefigured the perfected and enlarged
machines now in general use. All these early feed-cutters were turned or
worked by hand by means of a crank or lever, and at first they were fed by
hand. The first attempt at automatic feeding was an endless web of cloth
passing over two rollers. The next improvement was ' ' a worm to turn two
feeding- wheels to convey the fodder to the knives attached to two arms of
the fly-wheel. ' ' This arrangement fed so that the fodder could be cut at such
length as was required. Various improvements in self-feeding devices have
been made since, affecting their facility and safety. These primitive ma-
chines were intended for cutting straw and hay chiefly; for corn-stalk cut-
ting and rapid work more capacity was given in construction, and horse or
steam-powers were attached.

It is scarcely fifty years since feed-cutters were first made for the market
in the United States. In Great Britain, and on the continent of Europe to
some extent, where farms are small, rents high and fodder dear, for perhaps
a hundred years past machines of this class have been made and sold.
They are not necessary' tools like the plow — which all agricultural peoples,
no matter what the state of their civilization, must have— but they are im-
plements of economy, marking advanced intelligence on the part of the
users. The peasant procured a plow of some sort, because he must have it
or starve; it was not a matter to exercise his thought or judgment, it was
one of necessity. On the contrary, the modern farmer or stock raiser buys
a feed-cutter or grinder as the result of deliberate, intelligent consideration;
and it marks his advanced capacity, while the failure to invest in such
economic implements indicates lack of progress, and lack of ability to em-
ploy resources or materials to best advantage.

Some time early in the "forties" several parties in the eastern states
began to make feed-cutters— then generally called straw or chaff-cutters —
for a limited trade. That section of our country had become pretty well
settled, and the rough, weak lands having been put largely to stock, econ-
omy in the u.se of feed began to be generally studied and practiced. The
old firm of Ruggles, Nourse & Mason, at Worcester, Mass., made straw and
hay-cutters previous to 1845 ; and in 1848 the New York State Agricultural
Society awarded them first premium for their hide-roller cutter. A feed-
cutter made by this old concern, having a pair of feed-rollers, was cata-
logued as early as 1847; and various forms and styles of these machines had

130 AMERICAN AGRICUIvTURAL IMPI^EMENTS.

been produced and put upon the market by them early in the "fifties,"
affording types for many of the modern machines.

Bildad B. Belcher, of Chicopee Falls, Mass., was a pioneer in this line,
and brought out the class of cutters known as " self-sharpeners." It seems
that in the winter of 1849 an ingenious Vermont mechanic conceived the
idea of a feed-cutter, the knives of which any person of ordinary intelligence
might grind and keep in order, and produced what was known as the
Yankee Blade. In the summer of 1852 Mr. Belcher became interested in
it, and made arrangements for its manufacture and sale. He began opera-
tions in the fall of that 5^ear, improved the machine in various ways, and
came out with it under the name of the self-sharpening feed-cutter. It
sharpened itself by reversing the motion, and applying oil and emery. The
working parts consisted of "an upper and lower cylinder, each provided
with from three to nine flanges, according to the length designed to be cut.
A straight stationary knife, made of the best material, and of great strength,
is placed between the flanged cylinders, and arranged in such a way that
the feed to be cut is caught by the flanges, passed between the cylinders,
and is cut off" as it is brought in contact with the knife. The flanges are
made spiral, and make a smooth shear cut, cutting off the hay or other feed
with the greatest ease and perfection. By this simple arrangement it will
be seen a perfect self-feeding machine is produced, without the aid of a
separate feeding apparatus."

Large numbers of these implements v/ere made and sold, and they still
hold a respectable place in the eastern markets. In 1850, or thereabouts,
Warren Gale invented a cutter known since as Gale's, the knives cutting
against metal instead of rawhide. This was a self-feeder, and was made by
the firm of Belcher & Taylor, at Chicopee Falls, Mr. Taylor having come
into the firm in 1861.

Feed-cutters, like corn-shellers, were made at first in a small way at
many places, for the trade in vicinities, for any mechanic could make
a practical hand-lever cutter; indeed, all that was wanted was a piece of
scythe pivoted at one end and handled at the other, to be moved up and
down before a V-snaped trough, in which the fodder is laid and fed by one
hand, as with the scythe lever it is cut off by the other. Anybody, with
the assistance of a country blacksmith, could make this sufficiently well to
be thoroughly practical.

As far back as 1844, in central Pennsylvania, a machine consisting of a
rotary disk having curved knives upon one side and a roughened grinding
surface upon the other, revolving close to a stationary disk with a rough
surface, was considerably used. It was without feed rolls, and the feeding
of it was not only exceedingly dangerous, but very hard work, as the vibra-
tions due to the knives striking the fodder were passed through the arms of
the operator with such ill effect as to cause numbness.

As population moved westward grass and pasture lands became scarcer,
or more were put under cultivation, and stock-raising increased largely
because of the growing demand for beef and dairy products. It became
essential to study the economies in feed and its preparation. Eastern
farmers who moved west, and British and German farmers who immigrated

AMERICAN AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS. 131

here, had been familiar with fodder-cutters for hay, straw or vegetables " at
home;" hence when they became possessed of stock in numbers, they
would naturall}' look out for feed-cutters, having known their advantages.
So these machines were ordered westward — at first by those who had been
familiar with their use, and then by others who became converted by obser-
vation, but the movement was slow. In the meantime factories in the west
hegan making them, and since 1880 the discussion and adoption by many
of the ensilage system increased largely the interest of farmers and stock-
raisers. Intelligent feeders saw that a great saving in fodder could be made
through proper preparation, careful experiments indicating a large per-
centage of gain over the old loose way.

Increased demand has, of course, resulted in active competition, and
the latter has stimulated invention, so as trade in cutters has extended, vari-
ous improvements have followed, especially in devices for adding to capac-
ity and facility, but the markets are pretty evenly divided now between the
two chief classes, and, as in other lines of machinery, what began in the east
has culminated in the west, both in extent of trade and perfection of con-
struction, and some eastern manufacturers have also followed "the march of
empire" westward.

CHAPTER XV.

Grinding Mills.

No one kuows when grcmnd grain was first fed to domestic animals.
Sheep, swine, and animals for milk and meat were in domestication
during the latter part of the stone age, when man began first to cultivate
cereals, to grind and convert the same into primitive bread; and they would
naturally eat the refuse with relish, which man observing would therefore give
to them— the morv. thoroughly to subject as well as to provide for them. So
the practice of giving to stock ground feed was coeval and has been current
with grinding, since man began to do either; but it is not probable that any
mill or grinder was made especially to prepare grain for such purpose
before our own times. The stones of the old-fashioned grist-mills were set
so as to crack wheat or oats or make coarse corn meal for feed, as farmers
desired, and it is not probable that any portable mills for farm use were
made until after metallic burrs had been invented and successfully used for
grinding grain. At first, hand mills with iron plates were made to do coarse
work where regular mills were not accessible, as in the army, to crack grain
for slaves on plantations, and later, as enlarged and fitted for powers, to pre-
pare food for stock. These were varied and improved to meet requirements
and changes that time had rendered necessary, and finally they have come
into general use as portable feed grinders. The demand for mills for such
purpose stimulated invention, so various crunching, crushing, cracking and
grinding mills with metal crushers or grinders have been produced, and
burr stones also have been simply arranged and adapted in several forms to
farm and plantation uses, of all which now there is a great variety.

In the east, and wherever grist mills were common and convenient,
farmers and feeders of stock could get their grain prepared without diflS-
culty; so there they have longer been disposed to use ground feed, and more
generally than in the west, or in other places where water-power was scarce
and mills few; but the advent of cheap portable grinders, coupled with im-
proved systems of stock -farming, reversed these conditions. In the west
where grain, especially corn, was cheap, or where methods were primitive
on account of remote location, ear-corn was, and to some extent is yet,
dumped upon the ground— in the mud which the weather so frequently pro-
vides—for the stock to eat, as well as they might, what of it was not neces-
sarily wasted. This was the rule all over the settled portions of the west
thirty-five years ago. During the Crimean war, which began in 1853 and
ended in 1856, prices for grain advanced considerably, and a bushel of corn
was of so much value that the farmer disliked to feed it out, especially to
throw it upon the ground, where a considerable portion must be wasted.

132

AMERICAN AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMEXTS. 133

Economy in feed, unthought of before, became a subject for stud}-. He
measured and scrimped where before he had thrown out hap-hazard, and
"he fed to avoid useless waste. He soaked the grain ; he carefully saved the
tailings; he bought bran; he invested in patent steamers for cooking vegeta-
bles and other fodder, mixed; in fact he did what he could to fill and fatten
his stock with something cheaper than grain.

It was not then a question of proper feeding so much as of cheap filling,
that engrossed the farmer's mind. About this time the cob and corn-mill
man came around and he was made welcome; and the shrill shrieks of me-
tallic disk grinders were borne upon the breezes. But this war closed the
crash of 1S57 followed; in 18-58 continuous rains destroyed the crops; in 1859
frost killed the corn generalh-; in 1860 there were splendid crops, but prices
were so low in the winter of 1860-61 that corn was quite commonly burned as
ordinary fuel. During these years the feed-grinder man disappeared. In
18(11 grain began to feel the effects of the civil war; prices went up and up
year after year, and again the feed-grinder man appeared, this time, how-
ever, to sta}', for he brought around better mills, and the farmer had begun
to ::Ludy methods of feeding for the purpose of improving the size and qual-
ity of his stock as well as economizing food. Progress was slow at first
a^ter this reaction, for grinders were still imperfect; but as the advan-
tages of ground feed over grain in the natural state became apparent, the
demand increased, and this of course stimulated inventors and manufact-
urers to improve and perfect their various devices, and so the trade has in-
creased.

The first known use of metallic disks or grinding plates was by the
French during the time of Napoleon I and in the army. The mill adopted
by this great general to provide meal for his soldiers " while on the road to
IIoscow" isdescribed as follows: "Itconsistedof two circular cast-iron plates,
about twelve inches in diameter, placed in a vertical position. One was fixed,
the other rotated by a hand-crank:. The plates were indented all over with
radiating grooves, and the corn [grain] was conducted to the center, or eye,
by a lateral hopper. The meal, as it was ground, was projected from the
periphery by the centrifugal force of the revohnng plate." Another mill,
of French invention also, stands on a tripod or three legs, It has two
hand-cranks, each for a man, to drive the grinders — the meal being delivered
in a sack suspended beneath and between the legs. Francis Devereux, in
France, obtained a patent for a military mill in 1824; but it seems to be
substantially the same as those used a dozen 3'ears before in the Russian cam-
paign, already described, except that the grooves cut in the metallic plates
radiated regularly from their centers. From these or like originals the
disk grinders have emanated.

Feed grinding mills, with metallic grinders or burrs of the conoidal or
conical form, with correspondent shell or " bell " turning on a vertical axis,
on the principle of old-fashioned pepper mills, were prefigured in form to
some extent by mills found at Pompeii, as also by some of the ancient
querns. Hand mills on this principle were made and used by soldiers,
pioneers and others requiring them for grinding grain, but not to the same
extent as those of the other class.

13-4

AMERICAN AGRICUIvTURAI. IMPI.KMEXTS.

THE BUCKEYE MILL,

VARIOrS STYLES OF DISK DRESS.

AMERICAN AGRICULTURAI. IMPLEMENTS. I35

I\Ir. Marsh says that his first experitnce with a feed-grinder was at the
close of the Crimean war, but before the reaction had fairly set in. Grain
was still high and economy in feed was an important consideration. The
mill he then used was known as the " Little Giant." It was built at Cin-
cinnati, O., and was the production of J. A. Hedges, who gave it the name by
which Senator Stephen A. Douglas was familiarly known in the west. It
was a sweep mill, low speed, not unlike in appearance others of the class as
made now, and was intended only for crushing and coarsely grinding cob
and corn for stock. The ears were thrown into the hopper, spike teeth
directly under in revolution seized and crushed them, and then they were
ground between the lower portion of the conoidal burr and its correspond-
ent shell— the meal falling into a box below. In direct evolution the "Big
Giant" came next, with blades for crushing, and ribs decreasing in size and
increasing in number toward base of the cone and shell — the dress resem-
bling that of a burr stone.

C. Leavitt, in 1855, patented a mill of this class which was built at
Mansfield, Ohio. Mr. Leavitt died several years ago, but his feed-grinder,
with various improvements, is still built by several manufacturers.

Freeport, 111., is noted for the invention and manufacture of feed-mills
of this class. Several years ago the Morgan Bros, began making them,
and to obtain greater capacity thoy invented the triple gear, whereby the
cone was made to revolve three times as fast as the shell, a combination
that became very popular. The Stover Manufacturing Company then com-
menced to make a sweepgrinder of similar style. Stover's patent. At about
this time George K. Smith invented a combined horse-power and feed-mill,
which he, in connection with H. C. Staver, of Chicago, introduced under the
name of the "Buckeye." Mr. Smith afterward invented a new combined
power and mill which he called the " Victor."

CHAPTER XVI.

Wind-mills.

THE use of wind, like the use of water, for power purposes, was first
suggested by the observation of its natural force and capacity to move
objects, and its tendency to turn or whirl them around under certain con-
ditions. Probably the original wind-mill was made by primitive man as a
toy for his child, and the fir.st water-wheel ma}^ have had its origin in the
same way; then as form and action were improved by frequent construction,
their utility for the convej-ance of power became apparent, and simple
experiments for such purposes were made. We can only imagine how the
forces of wind and water may have been originally used to give motion
to wheels, but when or for what practical purpose first applied even im-
agination fails to give us any conception. Wind and water, the moving
forces of nature with which man was in common contact, gave him the
first ideas of mechanical power. Probably water was put in service before
wind, but the use of both elements for power began far beyond the reach of
the records or traditions to which we now have access; and when we come
down to historic times we find much uncertainty and some contradiction
among old as well as' modern writers on the subject.

Wind-mills for grinding grain, according to various accounts, were used
in the east long before the Christian era, but the earliest recorded application
of wind power was for another purpose. A description is given in the
"Spiritalia," by Hero of Alexandria, B. C. 150, of a wind-mill which worked
the piston of an air-pump to blow an organ.

The world was set back many centuries, and arts were lost that may
never again be found, when the Alexandrian library and museum were
destroyed by the fanatics of the times; but fragmental descriptions of
what was there have come down to us, and show that the genius of inven-
tion had traversed every line in the remote past and long before our era, in
which latter there has been chiefly a great revival of old devices and an
adaptation of them to practical uses far beyond that of any previous age.

Johann Beckmann, a German professor of natural sciences, in his
"History of Inventions," written 1780-1805, and translated into English in
1817, discusses wind-mills largely and learnedly. He says: "Mabillon men-
tions a diploma of the year 1105, in which a convent in France is allowed
to erect water and wind-mills molendina ad ventuni. In the year 1143 there
was in Northamptonshire an abbey situated in a wood, which in the course
of 180 years was entirel)' destroj'ed. One cause of the destruction was said
to be, that in the whole neighborhood there was no house, wind or water-
mill built, for which the timber was not taken from this wood.

13G

AMERICAN AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS. 137

"In the twelfth ceutur}-, wheu these mills begau to be more common, a
•dispute arose whether the tithes of them belonged to the clergj-, and Pope
Celestine III determined the question in favor of the church. In the j-ear
1332 one Bartolommeo Verde proposed to the Venetians to build a wind-
mill. When his plan had been examined a piece of ground was assigned to
him, which he was.to retain in case his undertaking should succeed within
a time specified. In the year 1393 the city of Spires caused a wind-mill to
"be erected, and sent to the Netherlands for a person acquainted with the
method of grinding by it. A wind-mill was also constructed at Frankfort,
in 1442, but I do not know whether there had not been some there before."

Wind-mills seem to have been common throughout the more civilized
portions of Europe during the middle ages. Besides in Germany and Hol-
land, the}- were mentioned as used at a very earlj- time in Bohemia, in France,
and later in England, Italy and Spain. The Spanish author, Cervantes,
who wrote "Don Quixote" about A. D. 1600, in relating the adventures of
"his crazy knight, tells of his encounter with one of thirty or forty wind-
mills that stood in a plain through which he traveled.

An incident relating to the erection of a wind-mill in the Netherlands,
which shows the condition of the times, and the assumption and rapacity of
the ruling classes, is quaintly told by the chronicler, Jargow, and is men-
tioned in Wolff's "The Wind-mill as a Prime Mover. ' "As our monastery
had not a mill to grind corn, they resolved to build one. When the Lord
of Woerst heard this he did everji;hing in his power to prevent it, saying that
the wind in Zealand belonged to him, and that no one ought to build a mill
there without his consent. The matter was therefore referred to the Bishop
of Utrecht, who, as soon as the affair was made known to him, replied in a
violent passion that no one had power over the wind within his diocese but
himself and the church at Utrecht; and he immediately granted full power,
by letters patent, dated 1391, to the convent at Windsheim to build for them-
selves and their successors a good wind-mill in anyplace which they might
find convenient." In like manner the city of Haarlem obtained leave from
Albert Count Palatine of the Rhine to build a wind-mill in the year 1394.

Wind power for drainage or drawing water off land was used in Holland
several hundred years ago. There is an account of a mill of that kind which
was built at Alkmaar in 1408; of another at vSchoonhoven in 1450; of still
another in Enkhuysen in 1452, and undoubtedly many others were built for
such purpose about that time.

The earliest wind-mills were stationary, and were therefore set for the
prevailing wind, because they could receive it from one direction; and later,
some were placed on floats upon the water, so that the}- could be easily
moved around to catch the wind .from whatever quarter it might blow;
next "post" mills were erected, in which the whole building, with the
wind sails, shaft and the machinery is supported upon a vertical post or
column upon which it revolved when actuated by a lever, but not auto-
matically. Later on, " tower " mills were constructed, in which only the
head, cap, or dome of the building, with the shaft which it contained,
revolved. These, after automatic regulators for turning them to the wind
had been applied, became the standard European wind-mill. Quoting

138 AMERICAN AGRICULTURAI, IMPI.KMKNTS.

from Wolfi's work: "European wiud-mills have been divided into two gen-
eral classes, according to the inclination of the shaft:

" 1. Horizontal mills, in which the sails were so placed as to turn, by
the impulse of the wind, in a horizontal plane, and hence about an axis
exactly vertical; and

' ' 2. Vertical mills, in which the sails turn in a nearly vertical plane,
i.e., about an axis nearly horizontal."

In " vertical " mills of the European type the tower or building which
supported the wind-mill proper was either of wood or stone; if of stone, the
tower was commonly in the form of a frustum of a cone. The principal
parts of the mill proper are:

" 1. An axle or shaft, either of wood or stone, in the top of the build-
ing, inclined to the horizontal at an angle of from ten to fifteen degrees, as
observation has shown that the impulse of the wind is usually exerted in
lines descending at such angles.

' ' 2. The sails attached to near the outer extremity of the shaft, and
turning in nearly a vertical plane. The planes of these sails are placed
obliquely to the plane of revolution, so that when the wind blows in the
direction of the axle it impinges upon their surface obliquely, and thus the
effort of the sail to recede from the wind causes it to turn upon its axle.
These sails consist of wooden frames (arms and cross-bars), with canvas cov-
ering the lattice or frame-work. If four in number, as is the rule, though
five and six have been employed, the sails are fixed in position at right
angles to each other. They are usually constructed from thirty to forty
feet in length, though fifty feet has often been exceeded.

"3. A large-toothed wheel upon the horizontal axle, the teeth of which
engage with those of a pinion upon

" 4. A vertical shaft from which motion is imparted to the machinery.

" It will be understood that the horizontal shaft is supported at its inner
end near the center of the base of the dome or cone surmounting the mill,
while its opposite extremity passes through a perforation in one side of the
dome, where it has its main support, and projects far enough to receive the
ends of the long timbers or arms of the sail. The pivot at the lower or
inner end of the shaft takes up but a small part of the weight and counter-
pressure.

"The axle is constructed of some hard wood like oak, or of wrought-
iron, with cast-iron flanges of large diameter keyed on the front, which are
furnished with recesses for receiving and holding the arms of the sails.

"The sails are made plane, concave, or warped. The latter, the most
efifective, have been in greatest use; and the angles employed in the Dutch
type of mill (' tower ' j have, on the whole, approached very closely to those
which theoretical analysis proves to be the most serviceable. Where plane
sails have been used the bars have all had the same angle of inclination,
ranging between twelve and eighteen degrees to the plane of revolution."

The "post," also called German mill, as mentioned before, is supported
upon a massive central column, around which the superstructure is revolved
to meet the M-ind. This type is not used to any extent now, if at all, and
need not be described. In the "tower," known as the Dutch mill, thedome

AMERICAN AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS. 139

only is turned with the axle and sails. The vertical toothed wheel travels
around the pinion of the post, so the connection is not broken. ''The turn-
ing of the dome was formerly eflFected by a toothed wheel, which engaged
in a rack on the inner side, and which was turned by an endless cord pulled
by a man; but at the present time Cubett's method is employed. This con-
sists of a set of small sails, or an auxiliary wind-mill placed in an upright
position upon a long arm or frame projecting in the plane of the horizontal
shaft, but on the opposite side of the dome, the plane of the sails of the
auxiliary wind-mill being nearly at right angles to the plane of the sails of
the wind-mill proper. By their revolution the sails turn a shaft and pinion,
and finally act upon teeth surrounding the exterior of the dome, turning it
until the wind no longer moves the auxiliary wind-mill vanes, when the
sails proper will be exactly in their best position to receive the impulse of
the wind." It must not be supposed that this is the only method of auto-
matically turning the sails or face of a wind-mill to position for best receiv-
ing the wind, for in "The Complete Dictionary of Arts and Sciences," pub-
bli.shed in 176<i, may be found a cut and description of a wind-mill quite
like those in common use in America, with a vane for turning the face of
the wheel — consisting of eight sails or sections on as many arms — to the
wind; and wind-mills of various types other than those just mentioned were
long ago and are now used in Europe, and for different purposes; but those
we have described represent the standard European mills, such as have been
— as primitively constructed and as improved — in common use there for
hundreds of years.

The variations in the intensity of the wind made it necessary that some
method of governing or regulating the mill be provided. This was accom-
plished by changing the extent of sail surface offered to the wind; that is,
by furling or unfurling the sails. At first much trouble and delaj- were
occasioned by this method of regulation, as the mill had to be stopped
while it was done; so inventors sought better plans. In 1870 Andrew Meikle,
the same Scotchman who a few years after invented the first successful
threshing machine, devised for reefing wind-mill sails when in mcJtion ' 'an
ingenious application of the centrifugal governor, " viz. : a sliding piece,
which operated upon rollers placed transversely with the arms, and wound
up or reefed the canvas when the sails attained too great a velocity. The
unfurling of the sails or increasing their speed was accomplished by a
weight which actuated a rod passing through the center of the main axle,
and operated centripetally on the sliding frames; and then unwound the
canvas when the motion of the sails was too much retarded." This was the
first successful reefing apparatus for wind-mill sails, and it imparted a stead-
iness of motion never before attained, and not since excelled to any extent.
Various other methods for governing wind-mills of the European type have
been devised and successfully applied, and many improvements have been
made. The use of wind power is as old in Europe as civilization. It has
been applied chiefly to grinding grain, and next to pumping. In the low
lands, as in Holland, one sees wind-mills everj-where. Long lines of them
pump the waters off" the sunken lands, and others grind grain or furnish
cheap power for various mechanical and manufacturing purposes. INIany

140

AMERICAX ACRICULTURAIv IMPLEMENTS.

GERMAN OR "post" WIXD-MILL, A. D. 1200. THE HALLADAY STANDARD WIND-MILL.

AMERICAN AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS. I41

wind-mills of the European tj'pe have been erected in the United States, and
in German or Dutch settlements we find them often.

With wind-mills, as with other classes of machines and implements,
while we ma}^ find traces of them in the remote past, and considerable
development in Europe, yet in the United States only have they been
brought out in such practical forms and perfection of operation as to come
into common use for various purposes. Wind, though furnishing abundant
force as a motive power, is uncertain and irregular in the extreme, hence it
has taxed the ingenuity of man, far more than water has, to provide means
by which this unstable and violent power could be subjected to his will; and
the success that he has attained, the delicacy and perfection of action with
which his devices adapt themselves to the varj'iug moods of so fitful a fluid,
are indeed wonderful.

The purposes for which wind power may be used are many and increas-
ing, and the manufacture of wind-mills has become one of the important
industries of the United States, employing the very best inventive talent
and mechanical skill, and occupying now the large number of factories
engaged in the business for their full capacity. Many thousands of wind-
mills or wind-engines are annually manufactured, for a trade not limited to
particular sections, but as broad as our countrj', in fact, reaching far bevond,
for the foreign demand takes a considerable portion of this annual product.
Where moderate force is required, but not a continuous or too rapid motion,
wind-power is sufficiently reliable to be thoroughly satisfactory^ and it is the
most economical.

The main difference between American and European wind-mills is in
the form of the wheel upon which the force of the wind is received, and by
which motion is communicated to the machinery or operating parts attached.
Instead of a small number — usually four — of very wide sails common to the
foreign mills described, the American wind-mill consists of a large number
of narrow and comparatively short slats or blades so set with reference to
the common center as to form a wheel in general appearance. By this plan
sufficient wind surface is provided, and size, capacity and strength are
obtained with a minimum of weight, as well as symmetry' and convenience
of construction. American wind-mills are of the vertical class, chiefly,
although horizontal mills have been used to some extent.

The wind-mills now used in the United States may be divided into two
general classes:

First, in which the wheel is composed of sections, is flexible or folding,
and is commonly known as "open" or "sectional," with or without vane to
bring wheel around to the wind. Regulation is accomplished bv devices
which project toward the wind the inner ends of the fans or sections of the
wheel.

Second, where the wheel is "solid," that is, the sections or fans of the
wheel are secured firmly to the arms and do not fold as in the open wheel,
with vane so placed and arranged as to regulate and govern the mill.

There are many types which scarcely belong to either class, but are
departures from one or the other.

Wind-power is now largely used for the following purposes: For water-

142 AMERICAN AGRICULTURAI. IMPLEMENTS.

ing stock on dairy or stock farms; for domestic and ornamental uses; for
water supply and for protection in towns and villages; for ^jumping water at
railroad stations; for irrigation and drainage; small-geared wind-mills are
used for grinding feed and running light machinery on dairy and stock
farms, and large-geared for running custom flouring mills, and shafting
and machinery of various kinds. It does not follow in any of these applica-
tions of wind-power that a suspension of work during a calm materially in-
jures its usefulness, hence it is peculiarly adaptable to them. But it can be
applied to work where accumulated power can be stored for future use,
besides the storage of water; for instance, for compressing and storing air,
and for driving djaiamo machines to charge electrical accumulators. Mr.
Wolff, in his "Wind-mill as a Prime Mover," sa3's regarding the latter prop-
osition: "This was first suggested in 1881 by Sir William Thomson. The
application of the wind-mill to this purpose will soon come actively into
plaj- when storage batteries have been developed to a greater success than
is attained at the present time." Wind-mills have made many sections in-
habitable, and enjoyable also, where streams and springs are lacking. They
provide fresh, pure water for stock, and for domestic as well as ornamental
purposes. They have been the means of rapidly increasing the dairy inter-
ests of this country by furnishing supplies of the limpid liquid, making it
possible for every farmer to have a "living spring" at his door and under
his control. The health of animals depends upon having pure water to
drink, hence wind-mills aid and regulate the sanitary conditions of the
household, and of the barn and farm yard largely. No power can more
economically store water in towns and villages for fire protection, and
domestic uses; in fact no power is so generally desirable and satisfactorj',
counting cost and results, where the conditions are such that it can be suc-
cessfully applied.

The Halladay "standard" wind-mill is generally recognized as the pio-
neer in the first class. It was the invention of Daniel Halladay and John
Burnham, and the story of its birth is as follows.

"Going to Ellington, Conn., Mr. Burnham engaged there with Henry
McCray in the pump business, and soon began the sale of the now well-
known 'hydraulic rams.' He continued in this business until he was
nearly thirty years of age, and during that time found so many who wanted
running water where they had not fall enough to use the ram, that his at-
tention was directed to wind as a motive power. Here was the power of
millions of horses sweeping through the heavens over every man's farm
throughout the known world, that might be utilized to the saving of human
— the dearest of all — labor. It was this thought that inspired him and
urged him on to the prosecution of that invention which has more than met
his hopeful expectations. There was at that time no factory making self-
regulating wind-mills in this country, and probably none in the world; and
this was the reason Mr. Burnham divined why there was such great diffi-
culty in producing a machine that could stand the strong winds, and he felt
that if this difficulty could be obviated the success of such a machine would
be certain. Feeling that he had but limited abilities as an inventor, he ap-
plied to Daniel Hallada}*, then conducting a small machine shop in the

AMERICAN AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS. 143

village, and after several times calling his attention to the subject, secured
from him the reply: 'I can invent a self-regulating wind-mill that will be
safe from all danger of destruction in violent wind storms, but after I should
get it made I don't know a single man in the world who would want one.'
Being assured by Mr. Burnham that he would find men who wanted them,
he began and soon produced a self-regulating wind-mill. The two now
united in the enterprise, and in the summer of 1854 organized a joint stock
company in South Coventry, Conn., with Mr. Halladay as superintendent
and Mr. Burnham as general agent. The wonderful growth of the enter-
prise is abundantly shown in the fact that when the machine was first en-
tered at the state fair for a premium it had to be entered as a miscellaneous
article, as no such thing had ever been entered on a fair ground for a pre-
mium, while to-day there are dozens at every state and county fair through-
out the country, and millions of dollars are invested in their manufacture."

There is probably no important invention in the history of the agri-
cultural implement industry that has more romance in the circumstances
connected with its conception than the "solid wheel" wind-mill. Its
inventor was a missionary named Wheeler who had settled in northern
Wisconsin in 1841 and was laboring patiently to Christianize the Indians
and to teach them the habits of civilized life. It is said that the idea of a
wind-mill to grind corn and wheat and pump water for the Indians occurred
to him in 1844, but it was not until 1866 that he took steps to put his idea
into practice. He had fallen from a ladder at this time and broken his
wrist, and to keep his mind engaged while the fracture was healing he
drafted with his uninjured hand the plan of his invention, using a jack-
knife and a board laid across his chair. The same day that his wrist was
broken, his son, who had started on a journey to St. Paul, 200 miles away,
was brought back with a broken leg caused by a falling tree. The father
had a good pair of legs and the son a pair of sound hands, and as soon as
they were able they made the wood parts of their wind-mill. The govern-
ment blacksmith nearby became interested in the project, and made the
necessary mountings. April 26, 1866, the new invention was put in opera-
tion and worked successfully at first, but a storm soon after tore it to pieces.
This led to a deeper study of the problem, and Wheeler then conceived the
idea of a "side vane" set against the wind, with the wheel pivoted so a
strong wind would blow it around at an angle or entirely out of the wind.
In two months a mill of the self-regulating type was in operation. The
inventor, however, was failing fast in health, and that fall he moved to
Beloit, Wis., surrenderina: his missionary work. In the spring of 1867 a
wealthy banker from the east, a relative, visited them, and he recognized
what had never occurred to Wheeler, the value of a patent on the inven-
tion. At his solicitation Wheeler began on a model, but his strength only
permitted him to work a few minutes at a time, and it was not finished for
two months. It was then sent on to Washington, however, and a patent
was granted in due time. Manufacturing was begun soon after at Beloit,
laying the foundation for the business of the Eclipse Wind Engine Com-
pany.

The revolution in the wind-mill industry which has resulted from the

H4 AMERICAN AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS.

introduction of the steel l»ck-geared mill (the Aermotor) is noticed in detail
in the historical sketch of the Aermotor Company of Chicago. The change
consisted in substituting a lesser number of wide steel slats, curved in cross
section, in place of the thick wooden slats common to the old style mills.
This change has eliminated the obstruction to the wind that was inevitable
in the old form of construction, and has greatly increased the efficiency of
a wheel of the same size. A steel wind-mill is thus able to run in light
winds that would bring no response from the heavy wooden wheels, and its
usefulness on the farm is correspondingly increased. In fact, the change
has opened up new possibilities in the use of power mills for feed-grinding,
wood-sawing and the performance of other work in which light power.is
required. The durability of the new form of mill has been insured by a
process of galvanizing each section after it has been assembled. Ever}- part
of the mill thus receives the protective coating. The same galvanizing pro-
cess is applied to the steel towers.

The revolution resulting from the introduction of steel has not yet gone
far enough to demonstrate fully what may be done in irrigation, but the
experiments of recent years would indicate that this field is full of possi-
bilities. The cumbrous Dutch mills have played an important part in the
history of Holland, in reclaiming from the ocean and keeping clear of
water a large part of the land under cultivation in that country, and it may
be that the sprightly steel mill of the western continent will perform an
equally important task in watering the arid regions west of the Mississippi
and Missouri rivers.

CHAPTER XVII.

Miscellaneous Agricultural Implements

THERE were exhibited at the Columbian Exposition many interesting
and useful implements whose manufacture has not assumed the im-
portance of the classes that have been noticed in the preceding chapters.
It v/ould be impossible in the scope of this work to give historical informa-
tion regarding any of these implements, and the best that can be promised
for them is a brief review of the points of excellence in a few of the most
important of them.

THE BEMIS TRANSPLANTER.

The Bemis Transplanter was exhibited by the Fuller & Johnson Manu-
facturing Co. , of Madison, Wisconsin. It is designed for setting out tobacco,
tomatoes, strawberries and other plants that are transplanted from a hot
bed to the open field. The dropping is done by hand by two men or boj-s, who
ride on the low seats in the rear. The planter opens a furrow and drops a
quantity of water for each hill, and the droppers place each plant in the
water and allow the packing plates to cover and press the dirt around it.
The row is thus left in a ridge, about one inch higher than the level of the
field. A check-rower is provided when desired, to drop the water in the
same manner as corn is dropped, and the plant is then set just as the water
falls. Many advantages are claimed for setting the plants by this machine,
besides the saving of labor.

THE ASPINWALL POTATO PLANTER.

The transplanter naturally suggests an implement that was not on ex-
hibition, but has become quite well known during the past few years, the
Aspinwall potato planter. This implement successfully performs a task that
is one of the most tedious on the farm, when done by hand, and its work is
quite satisfactor}-. The furrow is opened by a peculiarly shaped plow,
and the cuttings or seeds are dropped and covered automatically. The
dropping device is the most interesting feature of the machine. It con-
sists of several bars or spokes hung to the middle of the revolving axle
of the planter, each having a peculiar hook or claw at its outer end.
The potatoes, which are carried in the large hopper shown, are allowed
to pass down through a gate upon a concave, and each revolving hook
or foot passes upwards among them in its revolution, and grasps a cut-
ting which it carries and drops at the proper time. The operation is quite
simple, but a difficult one to describe. The dropping mechanism can
be adjusted to plant at any distance desired. Five to eight acres
per day can be planted, the work being accurately done and superior to hand

work. A great advantage is claimed for covering the seed with fresh, moist

145

146 AMERICAN AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS.

earth, rather than with dry soil, as is often the case when planting is done
by hand.

POTATO DIGGERS.

The Hoover potato digger was one of the few implements exhibited in
this line at the AVorld's Fair, and was the only one that has become gener-
ally known both in this country and abroad. It has a strong scoop-like
plow which passes under the- hills and throws them upward upon a chain
carrier. This carrier passes the earth and potatoes backward and upward,
taking the dirt through and leaving the potatoes on top of the ground.

THE KEMP MANURE SPREADER.

The saving of manure and putting it upon the land has been in the past
a disagreeable feature of farm work, although every farmer understands the
value, and in manv parts of the country the necessity, of returning to the
soil as much as possible of the vital elements that have been taken from it.
Kemp's manure spreader is intended to simplify this work, and at the same
time to do it more efficiently. A revolving toothed cylinder is mounted in
the rear end of a wide, specially constructed wagon box, and in its operation
throws the manure out in a thin, even layer, covering every part of the
ground traversed. The wagon box has a movable bottom, consisting of slats
connected with each other by a link belt, and moving over numerous small
rollers, so as to feed the load to the cylinder.

IMPLEMENTS FOR SUGAR BEET CULTURE.

Our manufacturers are giving considerable attention to the production
of implements needed in sugar beet culture, and at least three of them had
exhibits at the Columbian Exhibition. The Johnston Harvester Co., of
Batavia, N. Y., exhibited among other implements a beet cultivator and also
a harvester. The peculiar feature of their cultivator is found in the spiders
used in place of shovels. With them it is possible to cultivate much nearer
to the growing crop, without covering up the plants, especially when they
are very small, than would be practicable with a shovel cultivator. The
spiders do not drag through the ground. Each spider finger is forced into
the soil to a depth of three or four inches, and when withdrawn brings up the
weeds without interfering with the roots of the crop. It may be set to cul-
tivate any crop two rows at a time, provided the rows are not less than six-
teen and not more than twenty-four inches apart. Knives are provided to
be used in place of these spiders whenever the}' may be found preferable.

The Johnston beet harvester is designed for digging and topping sugar
beets at one operation. The shares penetrate the soil from four to six
inches on either side, and loosen the beet without wounding it or breaking
the tap root, the top being meantime cut off and carried out of the way by
an ingenious device.

The Moline Plow Company have a beet harvester quite different in the
frame that carries it and in the topping device, but the same principle is
used in the digging share.

PART II.

PIONEER MANUFACTURING CENTERS.

Chicago.

WILLIAM DEERING & CO. AND THE TWINE BINDING
HARVESTER.

CHICAGO may well be proud of the beautiful Columbian "White City,"
the magnificent four-century plant that has opened its petals on the
shores of Lake Michigan before the admiring people of all nations. The
most marvelous enterprise ever conceived for man's entertainment and edu-
cation, it has come as the crowning event in a development that stands
without parallel in man's history, the building of one of the world's great
cities and the settlement of an agricultural empire, within the memory of
those now living, almost, we might say, within a generation. In this brief
period perhaps the greatest migration in the history of the human race has
taken place, with Chicago as its focus, resulting in the settlement of the
vast agricultural area of the Mississippi valley.

Two factors have contributed to this rapid development: First, the
railroads built in response to the demand of pioneer settlers, or to invite
settlement and cultivation; and second, the improved agricultural imple-
ments, by the use of which the settlers were able to pay for homes and to
furnish traffic in farm products that would sustain the railroads. Which
factor was the more important it would be difficult to determine, but it is
certain that not one-half of the roads now in operation in the Mississippi
valley would have been built without the prospect of the traffic that would
come from improved agricultural methods. It is even safe to say that with-
out the twine-binding harvester our statistics of small grain production
would tell an entirely different stor3% and the western half of the country,
with its millions of fertile acres that now bear abundant harvests and sup-
port a thrifty farming people and prosperous cities, would not have made
one-half the progress with which it has been blessed.

The twine-binding harvester has more capital invested in its manufact-
ure than any other single machine in the world, excepting only the steam
engine, and its use in the harvest fields of the world saves the labor of any-
where from five to twenty millions of men, according as it maybe compared
with the reaper, the cradle or the sickle. From one- quarter to one- third
of the world's supply of this eminently useful machine is made in one fact-
ory in Chicago, that of W^illiam Deering & Co. This is a strong assertion,

147

148 AMERICAN AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS.

but the writer is in position to know the facts, and he makes the statement
frankly, especially since William Deering & Co. are the recognized pioneers,
first, in the introduction of the harvester, and later, in the development
of the twine-binder.

The hand-binding harvester invented by the Marsh Brothers, of DeKalb
county, thirty-five years ago, and first put on the market from Piano, 111.,
five years later, was the beginning of this industry. Two farmer's boys,
familiar only with the reapers then in use in their part of the country,
plunged boldly into an unexplored field of invention, a field from which so
many had turned back unsuccessful that it was thought to be barren of any-
thing practical. Undaunted by the discouraging advice of older heads,
who said a harvester was impossible, they carefully planned their invention,
and with only the tools available on a farm and the castings from an old
reaper, they built complete in principle and successful in operation, the
first Marsh harvester, an invention many times greater in value than other
machines produced before or since that required the accumulated efforts of
a hundred inventors In fact, it may be said without fear of contradiction
that in the history of invention in harvesting machinery there is no case on
record where the conception of the principles to be incorporated in a
machine entirely new in form and purpose was so clear in the minds of the
inventors, and where the first machine built did as perfect work or required
as little later improvement to make it a fully marketable machine. If the
invention of the harvester seems romantic in the incidents surrounding it,
the subsequent introduction and manufacture of the machine for general use
were equally so.

No one took a deeper interest in the pioneer efforts at Piano than did
William Deering, and when a few years later he became actively interested
in the business, bringing into it ample capital and new ideas, his aggressive
and tireless management pushed the harvester trade out into channels that
it.had hitherto been unable to reach. By 1879 the demand for harvesters
and wire-binders had grown to such proportions that Mr. Deering saw the
business could not longer be handled with the facilities available at Piano.
Gammon & Deering had in 1874 begun the manufacture of Gordon wire-
binders, and Mr. Deering seemed to see more clearly than anj- one else con-
nected with the industry the impetus that would be given to the demand
for harvesting machinery could a successful twine or cord-binder be per-
fected. He had been following closely during the harvest of 1878 the
experiments of Appleby, and saw in the twine-binder the machine of the
future, and he was not slow to undertake what may be considered as the
pioneer work of putting Mr Appleby's invention extensively on the mar-
ket. The firm of Gammon & Deering, having followed two of these
machines through the harvest of 1878, put out a considerable number of
them in 1879, and they worked successfully. In the fall of that year Gam-
mon & Deering dissolved partnership, Mr. Gammon retiring from the firm.
The following, descriptive of the later developments of the industry, is from
the pen of Mr. Marsh, who had been so long associated with Mr. Deering at
Piano:

"The year 1880 was a memorable one in the annals of the harvesting

AMERICAN- AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS.

149

WILLIAM DEERING & CO.'S TWINE BINDING HARVESTER.

SKELETON OF THE DEERING HARVESTER.

150 AMERICAN AGRICUIvTURAIv IMPLEMENTS.

machine business. The old hand-binding harvester had been pushed from
its place in the market by the child of its adoption, the automatic binder,
several styles of which binding with wire were built and successfully put
upon the market to supply a large and growing demand. Mr. Deering was
now the sole representative of the vast interests of the old concern, and he
was making two bold movements; he was building new shops in Chicago,
and removing his works thereto from Piano, thus changing his base and
reforming his front in the face of the enemy, and he was preparing to make
a charge directly upon the center of the opposing hosts. The position was
dangerous and required a leader of judgment, nerve, great executive ability
and force of character. These attributes Mr. Deering possessed. The cam-
paign of l.'^SO ended in complete success; his Appleby binders — manufact-
ured and put upon the market from shops on wheels, so to speak — swept
everything before them. The harvest of that year was a Waterloo defeat
for the wire-binders, and sauve qui pent might well have been the cry of the
leaders thereafter as they rushed for cover under the Appleby patents. Mr.
Deering won a complete victory; he established twine-binding machines as
the grain-harvesters of the time, and of the future, and himself as the
acknowledged leader in the movement.

"From 1880 onward Mr. Deering's progress has been steadily and
sweepiugly upward. The shops have been enlarged year after year, and
new departments have been added until now it is one of the largest* and
most complete institutions of the kind in this or any other country. In
1883 Mr. Deering had the business incorporated under the title, \Vm. Deer-
ing & Co., and by this change he is enabled, through the assistance of his
sons and others interested, to escape somewhat the cares of constant appli-
cation to the details of such an immense establishment with its many
branches, and one would think that a physical organization apparently not
over-strong would have sooner required relief. His two sons, Charles W. and
James E., who have been interested in the concern since 1880, and have
become thoroughly familiar with the details, have abh- seconded their father's
efforts, and are fully competent to maintain the ground that he has won."

"One of the triumphs of the 19th century," was the title of a little pam-
phlet, copies of which were distributed by Wm. Deering & Co. at the Colum-
bian Exposition. It told of the triumph of inventive ingenuity and mechanical
skill, embodied in the twine-binder, and in it was told also the storj' of one
who had visited the Deering works, and had made notes of what he saw in
the various departments of the wonderful factory. Twenty years ago the
iron parts of a machine would have been slowly hammered into form by a
blacksmith, but here acres of machinery were set up and were grinding out
by the million, with the accuracy of form and size that can only be obtained
by a soulless machine, the parts that, when assembled, make up a year's
output of harvesting machinery. The Deering factory is a large subject,

*This was wriUen in 18S7. Since that time the business of William Deering & Co. has
more than doubled, and the works are now the largest agricultural implement factory in
the world

AMERICAN AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS.

151

THE APPLEBY BINDER, AS PERFECTED BY WILLIAM DEERING & C<X

152 AMERICAN AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS.

one that would require a volume to treat adequately. It would be a depart-
ure from the purpose of this brief sketch to attempt even the most hasty
review of the manner of making a binder. Suffice it to say that every part
of the Deering machine is made in their works, thus insuring the highest
quality of material and workmanship.

In the main frame of the Deering binder a truss form of construction has
been adopted, giving the necessary rigidity with the least weight. The plat-
form is attached to this frame "by long double-grip malleable and steel joints
at front and rear, and further strengthened by a rigid main brace, connecting
the main frame truss and the inner shoe of the cutter-bar. " ' Next to a strong
frame, a properly constructed main wheel is vital in a harvester. The
Deering wheel is of bicycle pattern, with suspension spokes bolted in a
rigid rim of wood having a steel tire. The grain wheel is of steel, with a
malleable hub and a wide tire. A simple device is used for raising and
lowering the platform, which is suspended by its corners so as to prevent
warping or sagging. The platform is forty-eight inches wide, an unusual
width, but designed to give the machine ample capacity in long grain.
The canvas is kept taut by a spring, which allows it to contract and expand
with changes of the atmosphere. A special feature claimed for the machine
is in the elevator, which is fifty-five inches wide and extends seven inches in
front of the line of the platform, thus doing away entirely with clogging
and choking at the inner end of the cutter-bar, heretofore a weak point in
binders. The acme of adjustability has been reached in the Deering reel, a
single lever being arranged to raise and lower it, or to shift it forward or
back.

The illustration shown of the Deering binder represents fairly the
improvements that have been made in this marvelous machine since it was
first considered perfect, fifteen years ago. A comparison of this illustration
with the cuts in the chapter on Automatic Binders, in the first part of this
book, will show to those to whom it may never have occurred, the work
that master mechanics in the Deering shops have expended in simplifying
its construction and improving its general design.

AMERICAN AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS. 153

THE Mccormick reaper works.

The name of McCormick has become inseparably connected with the
invention of the reaper, and a monument of gratitude has been erected to
the memory of the man whose work as the pioneer in the reaper industry
is destined to pass into history as one of the greatest contributions to
human progress. This book is not written to decide the much-mooted
question "who invented the reaper?" any further than the comment that
appears on that question in the chapter on reapers. It is sufficient for the
purpose of this sketch, and for the average man to know, that of the score
or more of inventors who, before McCormick's time, saw the vision of a
reaper that would harvest the grain of the world, not one was able to arrive
at the combination of mechanical principles that would make the vision a
reality. Unfortunately, the discussion of McCormick's invention has gen-
erally been confined to his patent of 1834, when, in fact, a fully successful
reaper, one that was sufficiently practical to be used by the farmers gener-
ally, was not produced until twelve years later.

There is probably no case on record, in the history of agricultural
implements, of an inventor who surmounted greater obstacles, or who
showed more heroic persistence in the development of an idea, than Cyrus
H, McCormick. The world has produced few such men in any branch of
industrial life. Mr. McCormick found the world cutting its grain
with sickles; he left it with reapers in use on a million farms. After a
struggle with adverse conditions extending over fifteen years, during which
he built experimental machines in different parts of the country, he suc-
ceeded, in 1846, in making, at Brockport, N. Y., 100 machines that were put
in the farmers' hands and successfully operated, thus laying the foundation
for the industry.

Robert, father of the late Cyrus H. McCormick, as early as 1816 built
an experimental reaper and tried it on his farm. It was on the "rotary"
principle, having a cylinder or drum set upright with a knife projecting
from its lower end or edge. It proved unsuccessful, but it is said that he
continued the experiments in later j-ears and produced a machine with a
reciprocating knife, the idea of which served as a nucleus for the invention
of his son, in 1831. After Cyrus H. McCormick had finally demonstrated
at Brockport the success of his reaper, he came to Chicago, in 1847, and
began his remarkable career as a manufacturer. This business was con-
tinued by him until late in the "fifties," when he was joined by his
brothers, Leander J. and Wm. S., and on the death of William S., a few
years later, the firm became C. H. & L,. J. McCormick, which style was
retained until 1879, when the business was incorporated as the McCormick
Harvesting Machine Company-. Later, the stock of L. J., a fourth interest,
was purchased by the estate of Cyrus H., which now owns the business.

From the beginning the house has confined its attention to machinery
for harvesting grain and grasses. In 1875 they began making harvesters,
and, soon after, automatic wire-binders were put out. In 1881 they took a
license under the Appleby patents, and have since been making twine-
binders of the standard type, substantially the same as those made by all
manufacturers who have operated under the Appleby patents.

l.')4

AMERICAN AGRICUI/rURAI. IMPl,EMENTS.

'Sf'--

-^-..--r-.-.

THE ORIGINAL McCORMICK REAPE:R OK 1831.

THE MCCORMICK REAPER OK TO-DAY.

AMERICAN AGRICUtTURAIv IMPLEMENTS. 15o

THE "AERMOTOR" AND THE AERMOTOR COMPANY.

The latest branch of the agricultural implement industry to experience
a revolution is the manufacture of windmills. The change has been brought
about by the invention and introduction in the trade of the steel back -geared
mill and steel tower, and the results promise to be far-reaching. Since the
first introduction a generation ago of the two classes of wooden wheels
generally manufactured in America, the sectional and the solid, there has
been little change in their general design, improvements being possible
only in details and in adaptations of their fundamental principles. To the
casual observer the recent revolution may not seem so clear, as the solid
form of wheel and the vane have been retained in the new style, in the
smaller sizes at least; but the change has come through the addition of two
new principles to the old combination, increasing the efficiency of a mill
of a given size 50 per cent or more, and materially lessening the cost of
manufacture. In brief, this new principle consists, first, in eliminating as
far as possible all obstructions to the wind that arise from the use of wooden
slats and arms, and substituting for the thick, narrow slats of the old form of
construction a lesser number of wide steel slats or fans, curs-ed so as to con-
vert into power the full force of the wind, but presenting as an obstruction
to its passage only a thin, knife-like edge of steel; and second, in gearing
back the wheel so it will expend three revolutions in one stroke of the
pump, thus taking advantage of the lightest wind, and getting a higher
rate of efficiency out of a moderate or strong wind; without strain upon the
framework or tower. The pioneers in this revolution are T. O. Perry, the
inventor of the new principles, and L. W. Noyes, the founder and present
head of the Aermotor Company, the new windmill having become known
in the trade as the Aermotor.

It may be said in advance that the Aermotor is the invention and design
of a mechanical engineer, in sharp contrast with many other inventions in
the agricultural implement industry that are the result of a moment's
inspiration or a crude experiment, often on the part of an unlettered farmer.
It is said that in the exhaustive experiments that were conducted to
determine the best design for the Aermotor, over 5,000 dynamometrical tests
were made on sixty-one different forms of wheels, propelled by an artificial,
and therefore uniform, wind. By these experiments many questions relat-
ing to the proper speed of the wheel were determined: the best form, angle
and curvature and amount of sail surface; the resistance of air to rotation;
obstructions in the wheel, such as wooden arms; obstructions before the
wheel, as in the vaneless mill, and numerous other more abstruse, though
not less important, questions.

Exhaustive work of this character might be expected to bear fruit, and
that it has done so in this case maj^ be seen in the enormous demand that
has developed for the new wind engine, an expansion of manufacture that
can only be compared to the development of the harvesting machine trade
following the invention of the twine binder.

The first Aermotors were put on the market in 1888 by L. W. Noyes, of
Chicago, but as only forty-five mills were made in that year, it may be said
that the beginning pfthe industry was in 1889. Mr. Noyes was well equipped

156 AMERICAN AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS.

for the trying work of "pioneering" the new invention. He had begun in
1876 in the implement and hardware trade, establishing in that year a line
of manufacture that is still successful.

In 1879 Mr. Noyes invented a dictionarv holder, coining the term for it,
and began its manufacture on a scale that has brought it into general
use. Altogether Mr. Noyes has taken out a hundred or more patents, many
of them in the harvesting machine industry. His experience in the wind-
mill industry extended over .several years, with one of the pioneer houses in
this line, and gave him a knowledge of the field that has since proved
invaluable.

Soon after the busine.ss was established it was incorporated under the
name of the Aermotor Company. The name Aermotor had been selected by
Mr. Noyes, and the business was organized and has grown up under his
able management. The popularity of the new mill is well shown by the
growth of its manufacture. At first only one floor was occupied, the fourth
at 42 and 44 West Monroe street, in Chicago. The next year, 1889, the
business was moved to the six-story building at 110 and 112 South Jefferson
street, the company taking a five-year lease, and believing the building
large enough for several years to come. Within a year, however, the
facilities were found inadequate, and in November, 1890, the company
moved to its present location, at Rockwell and Fillmore streets. A much
larger building was erected here, but still further extensions were needed,
and in 1891 four acres of land adjoining were purchased to make room for
new buildings. The facilities for manufacturing are now complete, com-
prising a foundry, a galvanizing plant, and a full equipment of special
machinery for stamping, shearing, punching, riveting and the various pro-
cesses through which the steel plates, angles and other materials must pass
to become parts of complete Aermotors.

An inspection of this plant forces upon one the conclusion that the
greatest field for inventive and organizing ability at the present time is in
factory methods and processes. Once a revolution has passed in the princi-
ples and construction of an implement, but little improvement may be made
for a generation except in minor details; but in the factory producing that
implement, if it is under progressive management, there is a continual change
in methods for accomplishing a certain result. Machinery must replace
slow and tedious hand labor at every point, and machines that have not
been used enough to wear them appreciably, must be discarded for some-
thing new of greater capacity and efficiency. In this way only can the cost
of manufacture be reduced to a minimum, so the factory in question may
lead in competition in its industry. The Aermotor factory is remarkable
for the improvements that have been made in every department. In the
foundrv, for example, devices for expediting the moulder's work have been
adopted, increasing a workman's product from six to sixteen pieces per day
in one case, and from twelve to forty-five in another instance; these devices
also improving the qualit}' of the product. In every detail of the work carried
on in this factory the same sj'^stem and organization appears, looking to
decreased cost of production and higher quality of the product. As a result
of these improvements, and of the advantages inherent in the new princi-

AMERICAN AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS.

157

THE AERMOTOR STEEL BACK-GEARED WIND-MILL.

THE STEFI, TOWER.

THE TILTING TOWER.

15S AMERICAN AGRICULTURAL, IMPLEMENTS.

pies of the Aermotor, the claim is made, with reason, that the cost of wind
power — the cheapest power known — has been reduced to one-sixth of what
it was a few years ago. It has been made possible to greatly increase the use
of windmills by bringing the price within the means of a greater number of
purchasers.

No agricultural implement serves the farmer in more varied ways, or
makes itself more generally useful than the windmill. Its chief mission
in the past has been the pumping of water for the household and for stock,
and in this it has proved a blessing indeed to humanity. But the intro-
duction of the steel mill promises to bring within the reach of every farmer
a source of power that will be of inestimable value to him, in grinding feed
for his stock, and in a dozen other lines of farm work for which light
power is required. Wooden w'indmills have, in fact, been applied to a con-
siderable extent to these uses, but the ability of the Aermotor to run in light
winds more than doubles the average time when the power is available.

The decreased cost of wind power that has conae from the introduction
of steel has given a new interest to the question of using windmills in
irrigation. The farmers of the far west, and especially in the arid regions,
where they already depend upon irrigation, have been experimenting for
many years with windmills, but the cost of a pumping outfit for a farm has
been too great for profitable results. It has been demonstrated, however,
that millions of arid acres in the western half of the United States are
underlaid with strata of water-bearing sand or gravel, furnishing an abund-
ant supply of water, often quite near the surface. Undoubtedly the steel
windmill will play an important part in the near future in reclaiming this
vast area. It is generally conceded by the advocates of irrigation that all
the land immediately adjoining streams of water in the west has been taken
up, and that the opening of areas of any extent in the future depends, on
the one hand, upon building long and costly ditches and other engineering
works, and on the other hand, upon the general introduction of windmills.

In this connection it is of interest to note calculations of Prof. R. H.
Thurston, of Cornell University, on the amount of energy that is developed
by the atmosphere. Says Mr. Thurston: "The magnitude of the store of
aerial energy upon which mankind may draw^ so long as the race exists
upon this earth, is be\-ondthe reach of the imagination to conceive, but not
beyond the power of computation of the mathematician. * * *
The atmosphere weighs about a ton to every square foot of the earth's sur-
face. * * * Its energy is that due to motion at velocities varying
all the way from the gentlest zephyr to the hurricane and cyclone, rushing
over the prairie or along the surface of the sea at more than 100 miles per
hour. * * * Assuming the moderate velocity of 16.7 miles an
hour for the whole atmosphere of the globe, its energy per mile is
* * * certainly more than half a million times as much power as
have all the engines in the world combined. Each cubic mile would store
40,000,000,000 horse power; and ever}^ square mile, could 100 feet of its
superincumbent atmosphere be utilized, would yield about 80,000,000 horse
power, which is not far from the aggregate of the existing steam power of
the world."

xMERICAX AGRICULTLRAL IMPLEMENTS.

lo9

THE STAYER & ABBOTT MANUFACTURING COMPANY.

As indicated briefly in the chapter of this book devoted to feed grinders,
the Buckeye combined feed mill and power was introduced in the trade by
H. C. Staver, of Chicago, founder of the Staver & Abbott Manufacturing
Company. Mr. Staver had been associated with Geo. K. Smith, the
inventor of this mill, and recognizing its value he acquired the patents on it
and undertook the pioneer work of putting it on the market. The H. C.
Staver Implement Company was organized in 1884 to manufacture it in
connection with other lines of agricultural implements. A large busi-
ness was built up, and in time the manufacture of road carts, buggies and

THE BUCKEYE COMBINED FEED MILL AND HOUSE TOWER.

othervehicles was added. In the fall of 1890 the business was con.solidated
with the Abbott Buggy Company, and its operations were still further
extended, the capital .stock being increased to $400,000.

Mr. Staver's life has had its full share of hardships and romance. He
began in the agricultural trade in Wisconsin some twenty- five years ago,
where his first emplo^-ment was as a canvasser for a patent clothes line. After
working two months and earning|;l20in commissions, his employer, who had
looked after the collections, left for parts unknown, leaving the young man
with a board bill and other debts he had incurred. Securing work in a hotel,
his attention was one day attracted by a party of men in the street who were
unsuccessfully attempting to set up a reaper. He showed them how to get
it together, and this led to the offer of a position as canvasser and reaper
expert for a local firm. From this beginning he gradually rose, working as
traveling salesman for the Mar.sh harvester, and later in 1875 going to Kan-
sas City to engage in the jobbing trade, where he remained until 1879. He
then became secretarj' of the J. I. Case Plow Company at Racine, Wis.,
remaining there until he began manufacturing in Chitago.

160 AMEB.ICAX AGKICULTURAL IMPLEMKXTS.

THE FAMOUS MANUFACTURING COMPANY.

The development of the hay press industry in the west has been largely
dependent upon the growth of cities like Chicago. This city has more
than doubled its population in the past ten years and other western cities
have grown at almost as rapid a rate. The market for baled ha)' has
widened in a corresponding degree and absorbs at the present time a large
proportion of the hay crop, with a promise of taking a still greater share in
the next few years.

Quincy, 111. , is the pioneer city of the west in the manufacture of hay-
presses. It was here that the first upright large bale-beater presses were
made, this pioneer step leading to the introduction of horse-power horizon-
tal presses and other improvements.

One of the pioneers who began at Quincy, was Andrew Wickey, the
founder of the Famous Manufacturing Company, now of Chicago, the oldest
western manufacturer in this line represented at the Columbian Exposition.
Mr. Wickey had been engaged in the jobbing of agricultural implements at
Quincy, and, seeing the need of a convenient portable press that could be
used by farmers so they could take advantage of the market for baled-hay,
he began manufacturing in this line in 1881. The first press which he intro-
duced was known as the Champion side discharge press, with cogged-
segment double acting power. The chamber was fitted with a pressure-
gauge and when the bale had reached its full size and had been tied, it was
discharged by the rotation of the pressure-gauge, which presented" its
reverse end for a new bale. This press was manufactured on quite a large
scale. Following the introduction of the Champion side discharge, Mr.
Wickey designed an upright pattern of press known as the Common
Sense. It had many devices in common with the Champion side-discharge
horizontal press, but used a capstan power. The next and most important
change consisted in dispensing with the side-discharge principle and the
pressure-gauge and substituting a perpetual bale-chamber.

In 1887 <:he Famous Manufacturing Company brought out the Champion
belt-power press, being the first steam-power press manufactured in the
west, and in 1888 the Champion four-hor.se detached power press, and also
an attached power-press. In the same year the company introduced the
Champion two-horse full-circle press, a machine constructed entirely of iron
and steel, which has had a large sale. Having from time to time greatly
increased the number of styles and sizes as demanded by the trade, they now
make upwards of twenty different st34es of presses.

In the fall of 1892 they perfected the self-tying attachment for the
Champion press, a radically new invention in the hay-press industry, and
one that promises to have far-reaching results. It takes the wire from the
coil, passes it around the bale and fastens the ends together, the entire oper-
ation being automatic, thus reducing the help required as also the cost of
the wire.

The business established by Mr. Wickey was incorporated in 1883 as the
Famous Manufacturing Company and so continues. In 1889 the company
removed to Chicago, increasing its capital stock to |100,000, and erecting
large and complete works.

AMERICAN AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS.

161

THE CHAMPION BELT POWER BALING FRESS-

CHAMPION DETACHED POWER BALING PRESS.

CHAMPION T^VO

.-, i.ALi:.U I'RESS.

Rockford, 111.

EMERSON, TAIvCOTT & CO

JH. MANNY laid the foundation for the reaper business of Rockford,
• 111. At the time of the invention of his reaper he was farming with
his father at Waddams' Grove, 111., near Rockford. They had a large crop
of wheat, and wanted a machine to cut it, and they heard that Geo. Esterlv,
of Wisconsin, was making machines that would harvest grain. Thej' vis-
ited Esterly to buy one of his machines, but found that he would probably
not be able to get one finished for them in time for their harvest. John H
Manny, who was then a very young man, remained with Esterly at his shop
to help him complete the "header," which he undertook to furnish for them,
and thus had his first insight into the construction of harvesting machinery.
They brought this header home and used it successful!}', making a number
like it for sale the next year. Subsequently John H. Manny conceived the
idea of making a reaper, and after the trials incident to an inventor who
undertakes so great a task he succeeded in bringing out a practical machine.
There were no railroads through the country at this time, except a line to
Rockford, and John H. Manny and those interested with him in building
his machine came to Rockford to buy their hardware, which was furnished
to them by the firm of Blinn & Emerson. This was in 1852 or 1853. In
the fall of 1853 they concluded to locate at Rockford permanently, John P.
Manny coming with his brother as an employee. Subseqiiently, in the spring
of 1854, Wait and Sylvester Talcott became interested with Mr. Manny
under the firm name J. H. Manny & Co., and they manufactured a consid-
erable number of combined reapers and mowers for the harvest of 1854 In
the summer of 1854 a new firm was organized under the name of Manny & Co. ,
consisting of John H. Manny, Wait and Sylvester Talcott, Jess Blinn and
Ralph Emerson, who manufactured for the harvest of 1855 and 1856 about
6,000 machines. John H. Manny died in 1856, and the manufacture of his
machines was then carried on by Wait and Sylvester Talcott and Ralph
Emerson until 1860, when Mr. Emerson bought out his partners and associ-
ated himself with Wm. A. Talcott. Following the death of Mr. Manny the
firm was known as Talcott, Emerson & Co., until the change in the person-
nel of the firm in 18(50, when it became Emerson & Co., who continued the
business under this style until seventeen years ago, when it was incorpo-
rated under the name of Emerson, Talcott & Co.

Encouraged by the success of their enterprises in building reapers,
mowers, binders and Marsh harvesters, various other concerns have
at one time or another engaged in the same business in Rockford, the prin-
cipal of whom was John P. Manny, who .started for himself soon after the
death of his brother. The Fountain Bros, also began in this line about

163

AMERICAN AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS, 163

1856 and built a considerable number of reapers, but became involved and
retired from the business. W. A. Knowlton, first as agent for John H.
Manny's widow and subsequently on his own account, carried on the man-
ufacture of reapers and mowers until he also became involved and retired.
Various other attempts to manufacture reapers and mowers were made, but
none of them have been successful except the continuous enterprise in
which Mr. Emerson became interested in the fall of 1854, and with which
he has ever since remained identified.

In lS{il W. W. Burson brought to Rockford and showed to Emerson &
Co. a wire-binder, which they recognized as the first practical machine that
had been produced. The result was that about 1,200 binders were built for
Mr. Burson by Emerson & Co. , proving to be the first successful grain
binders ever put on the market. The machines, as shown by the illustra-
tions in the chapter on "Automatic Binders," were made as attachments to
reapers. The cost of wire at this time, however, was very high and the
prejudice of the farmers very great against it. Still the manufacture of the
Burson binder was persevered in until the invention of the Marsh harvester,
on which two men could ride and bind without any cost for binding mate-
rial. This effectually set aside the attempt to construct and introduce wire-
binders. The first Marsh harvesters built by Emerson & Co. were for the
harvest of 1867. Subsequently they became ver}^ extensive manufacturers
of harvesters until this machine in turn was gradually superseded by
improved wire and twine-binders.

Going back, now, to about 1870, we find one of the most interesting
events in the history of Rockford. Jacob Behel brought to Emerson & Co.
the first twine-binder in which the twine was tied into a successful knot by
what was then called the "duck's bill" tyer, which drew the two ends of the
twine through and made a knot, the device being practically the same as is
used on all twine-binders to-da}\ Recognizing the value of the invention if
twine or cord could be secured at a reasonable price, Mr. Emerson spent
many weeks going all over the United States in the search for a manufact-
urer who would make the twine cheap enough for general use in the har-
vest fields of the world. He met with disappointment, however, as the
cheapest twine he could find would cost from 75 cents to $1 per acre to bind
the grain, and this a poor quality of twine, the cost of a twine that he con-
sidered strong enough being nearly $2 per acre. This was fatal to Mr.
Behel's enterprise. Had he brought out kis invention twelve or fourteen
years later, when the cost of twine had materially cheapened, his patent
would have been worth several millions of dollars, as it would have con-
trolled the twine-binder industry.

Moline, 111.

DEERE & COMPANY AND THE STEEL PLOW.

NO city in the west has become more favora1:)ly known to the farmers of
America and the world as a manufacturing center than Moline, and
certainly no city could be more deserving of a high reputation. The steel
plow laid the foundation for the prosperity of the vvestern farmer, and he
would be ungrateful indeed were he to forget the place in which was devel-
oped this most indispensable of all implements. In commercial importance
the manufacture of the steel plow stands second among the branches of the
agricultural implement industry, harvesting machinery alone taking prece-
dence over it. Considered from the point of view of its usefulness to the
farmer in return for the investment, no implement has conferred greater
benefits upon agriculture than the steel plow.

While John Deere was the pioneer in this line, others were in the field
at an early day, and there are now a score or more of prominent houses
engaged in the manufacture of steel plows. Almost invariably the pioneer
in an industry falls to the rear after he has established it and allows others
to take a foremost position and the highest honors; but to the credit of the
house Mr. Deere founded it may be said that the discriminating demand of
a million farmers who seek the best has kept it to the front for over half a
century. In no other branch of the agricultural implement industry can a
house be found that has made as favorable a record.

The manufacture of steel plows in the west was begun in 1837 at Grand
Detour by John Deere, who had moved to the west from Vermont, bringing
little with him but a kit of blacksmith's tools and the skill he had acquired
during several years spent at the forge. The few people who were then
living in Grand Detour were not long in discovering his abilit}^ as a
mechanic, and " piled upon the floor of his shop their broken trace chains
and clevises, their worn-out ' bull tongues' and worse worn shares; and
while the young blacksmith hammered out lap rings for their chains,
welded their clevises, ' drew out' their bull tongues and ' laid' their shares,
his mind dwelt upon the improvement of the plow, the implement of the
greatest importance to the pioneer."

Mr. Deere soon began to make plows, in partnership with Major
Andrus, and this gave him a new interest in the problem of making a self-
scouring plow. He saw that the wooden mouldboard plows of the time
entered the ground with difficulty, clogged up and failed to scour. His
first plow had a wrought-iron landside and standard, with a mouldboard
and a share of steel cut from an old saw-mill saw and bent over a log shaped
for the purpose, the beam and handles being made from white oak rails.

]64

AMERICAN AGRICULTURAI, IMPLEMENTS.

165

THE JOHN DEERE PLC^'.

DEERE & CO.'S STEEL FRAME "RED JACKET" PLOW.

DEERE & CO.'i? STEEL BE.'^M STUBBLE PLOTV.

](;t; AMERICAN AGRICULTURAI. IMPLEMENTS.

In J 838 two of these plows were made, which aroused considerable interest
among the farmers by the excellent work they did. Mr. Deere saw by this
time that the successful scouring of a steel mouldboard depended largely
upon its curvature, and his next experiments were with a view to making a
plow that would scour in land that had been plowed four or five times,
especially the black, sticky bottom lauds. lie visited points in Ogle, Lee,
Whiteside and other counties where the farmers had never been able to
make a plow scour, and were becoming discouraged, and in 1839 built ten
plows. In 1840 he added a second anvil in his shop and made fort)' plows.
In 1841 a brick shop was erected and seventy-five were built, and in 1x42
100 plows. In 184o, by erecting a two-story brick shop and adding a small
foundry, the firm of Andrus & Deere was able to turn out 400 plows. B3' this
time the difficulty of obtaining steel in the quantity and quality needed had
become a serious obstacle in the way of further development. In the course
of his search for material Mr. Deere wrote Nailor & Co., importers, of New
York, explaining to them the demand of the growing agricultural States of
the West for a cast-steel plow, and stated the size and quality of the steel
plates he wanted. They replied that no such steel could be had in America,
but they would send to England and have it rolled specially for his
purpose.

In the tneantime Mr. Deere had becotne dissatisfied with the limited
opportunities for manufacturing at Grand Detour, far from the water, then
the only means of transportation for material, coal or finished products.
Selling out his interest in the business, in 1847, to Major Andrus, he
removed to Moline, where he found the advantages of water power, coal
nearby in abundance, and cheap river transportation. A partnership was
formed with R. M. Tate and J. M. Gould, shops were erected and 700 plows
were turned out the first year. About this time the English .steel arrived
and fifty plows were made of it and sent to different parts of the country
where the soil was known to be the most difficult to plow. So successful
were they in the field that the demand increased rapidly, and in I80O 1,600
plows were put out, which was considered a remarkable number in those
early daj's.

In 1852 the shops were enlarged and new machinery was put in, and by
1857 the annual output had risen to 10,000 plows. Messrs. Tate and Gould
had sold their interests to Mr. Deere in 1853, and he continued alone until
1858, when his son, Chas. H. , who had completed his education for a busi-
ness career, was taken into partnership, and in 1863 Stephen H. Velie, Mr.
Deere's son-in-law, a man of considerable experience in mercantile life,
also became a member of the firm. In 1862 the manufacture of cultivators
was begun, and in time other lines, now known as "plow goods," were
added. In 1868 the business was incorporated under the name Deere &
Company, with John Deere as president; Chas. H. Deere, vice-president
and general manager, and S. H. Velie, secretary. As railroads were built
through the west a flood of new settlers came in and the manufacture of
plows expanded enormously, the John Deere goods maintaining well the
position they had won in the pioneer days. In 1882 the capital stock of the
company was increased to |1, 000, 000, a further increase in later years mak-

AMERICAN AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS.

167

DEERE & CO.'S "C. H. D.'* CORN CULTIVATOR.

DEERE & CO."S "kid"' THREE WHEEL PLOW.

ir.8

AMERICAN AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS.

ing it 11,500,000. In 1.S86 Mr. Deere died at the ripe age of 82, and the
presidency fell to his son. Both father and son had held offices of honor
and public trust, John Deere having served as mayor of Moline, besides
taking an active interest in public enterprise and in banking. Chas. H.
Deere held the office of Illinois labor commissioner for several years, and
has been honored with elective and appointive political offices. He is
largely interested in banking and in other investments, still finding time,
however, to give general direction to the business of Deere & Company.
Mr. Velie continues to hold the office of secretary.

Deere & Company have probabl}' the most complete organization of
any house iu the we.st; a fact that augurs well for the future of their busi-
ness. The following are the officers of the company: Charles H. Deere,
president; Charles C. Webber, vice-president; Stephen H. Velie, secretary;
Charles H. Pope, assistant secretary; Peter C. Simmon, treasurer; Willard
L. Velie, superintendent sales department ; William Butterworth, attor-
ney. In the principal jobbing centers strong branch houses have been
built up, and from these houses the John Deere plows and associated
lines are distributed. The oldest of these houses is the John Deere Plow
Co. at Kansas City, l\Io., which was established in 1869, under the style
Deere, Mansur & Co., and continued under this organization until
1889, when it was incorporated under the present name. C. H. Deere
is president, S. H. Velie, vice-president and G. W. Fuller, of Kansas City,
secretary and treasurer. At St. Louis, the firm of Deere, Mansur & Co.
was established in 1874 to distribute the John Deere goods and a general
line of agricultural implements and vehicles in the southern trade. This
business was conducted under the name Deere, Mansur & Co. until 1889,
when the Moline interest was purchased by the St. Louis members and the
firm was incorporated as the Mansur & Tebbetts Implement Compan}-. The
Des Moines, la., branch was established in 1877, and has grown to be a
large jobbing house, under the name H. H. Sickles & Co. The members
of the firm are H. H. Sickles, Deere & Co. and the Moline Wagon Co.
Deere & Co. 's house at Council Bluffii, la., Deere, Wells & Co., was organ-
ized in 1881, and incorporated in 1891, and is one of the best-known jobbing
houses in the west. C. H. Deere is president; Morris Rosenfield, vice-
president, and Lucius AVells, secretary and treasurer. The Minneapolis
house was established in 1881 under the name Deere & Co., with the
parent house as a partner with C. C. Webber and W. J. Dean. Lately it
has been incorporated as the Deere & Webber Company. The Deere
Implement Company, of San Francisco, Cal., incorporated in 1892, was
established in 1889. C. H. Deere is president; S. H. Velie, vice-president,
and F. W. Vaughn, secretarj- and treasurer. Deere & Co., also have
branch houses at Indianapolis, and other jobbing and distribution centers.

Galesburgh, 111

GEO. W. BROWN & CO.

ONE of the greatest blessings ever conferred upon humanity was the in-
vention of the modern corn-planter. To the casual observer it may
only seem to be a useful implement, saving the farmer considerable time
and labor in the planting of his corn, but to the student of agricultural
history it is far more than this. Viewed in this light it may be seen that
the corn-planter — with the "straddle-row" cultivator that came after it —
has been the means of transforming agriculture in the west, and of increas-
ing the production of corn until the yield in the United States in a favorable
season exceeds two billions of bushels, enough to feed the bread-eating
nations of the world. How much this has been worth, in the increased
revenue it has brought to the farmer, in the cheapening of food for the
millions in the cities, and in the employment it has afforded for labor in
industries dependent upon the corn crop, no one can estimate.

It has almost, if not altogether, doubled the production of corn, by
doubling the efficiency of the farmer's labor in planting, and has made in-
dependent farmers on free land west of the Mississippi of men who would
otherwise be farm laborers in the older states. The corn crop of the west
has afforded a considerable share of their traffic to the railroads that carry it
to the market, and it has increased enormously the world's supplj* of beef
and pork, bringing abundance to the table of the workingman The manu-
facture of implements used in growing the crop has contributed largely to
the development of prosperous western cities like Galesburgh, and the
handling of the crop or products representing it gives employment to armies
of workingmen, as in Chicago, for example, where the meat-packing
industries require the labor of 30,000 people, and support four of five times
as man}-.

Important inventions in the agricultural implement industry are almost
invariably the accumulation of the efforts of a number of inventors, but
the vital principles of the corn- planter were all the invention of one man,
George W. Brown. It is true that there were corn-planter patents issued
before his, and in some of them may be found suggestions of the devices
that he afterwards conceived and put in practice, but all the efforts of these
early inventors were given to the production of automatic planters or drills,
while Mr. Brown's invention was primarily intended for dropping by a
hand lever so that the rows could be placed in check by the operator, to
permit of cross cultivation.

Mr. Brown's inventive efforts began about 1848. He was then living at
Tylersville, near Galesburgh, where he had settled twelve years before. He
was a carpenter by profession, and the farmers for miles around brought

3"" AMKRIC.-> V AGRICUl/riKAI, IMPLEMUXTS.

their iniplcmcuts to him to have them repaired. His first idea of a planter
was to combine a hopper, and a device for dropping the corn, with a shovel
plow, a section of log rolling behind to cover the hills. In the spring of
1851 he made his first practical planter, of the type shown in his patent of
1803. In 18.")'2 he planted sixteen acres for himself and eight for a neighbor,
and the same spring began the manufacture of ten planters. He only had
the means to finish one of them, although he had sold everything on his
farm to raise the money necessary for it and for securing his patents.
Becoming desperate he sold his farm, went deepl}' into debt for more money,
and staked ail upon the success of his invention. Times were hard, and
soon he w^as so much involved that had he been called upon to pay his
debts he would not have had a dollar left. He commenced manufacturing
at Shanghai, 111., and in 1853 completed twelve machines, one of which that
season planted 300 acres of corn. In 1854 lie made 100 planters, and in 1855
300, after which he removed to Galesburgh.

The business was now fairly established, but it was of slow growth.
Every one knew that corn when planted with a hoe would come up, at least
if the seed was good, but would it grow when run through the hopper of
this new-fangled machine? All could see that the machine would run "very
prettily" through the field, but did it leave the corn in the right place, and
in the proper quantities? Was it well covered and would it grow? These
questions were seriousl}- asked, foolish as they may seem to the present
generation. For ten or twelve years the planters could only be sent through
the country on wagons and sold by agents or canvassers, who w^ere prepared
to demonstrate in the field the operation of the new implement. So great
were the expenses of introduction that ten years after Mr. Brown had begun
manufacturing he did not consider himself worth a dollar. However, the
planter trade was gradually developing, and he was building a firm founda-
tion for the future.

During the war the thousands of planters hat had gone into use played
a part by no means unimportant in raising corn and beef, so much in
demand "at the front" when labor was scarce at home. As a well-known
public man has said: "Call to mind, if you please, a military hero whose
memory humanity has so much reason to bless as that of George vStephen-
son. The mighty deeds of Alexander and Hannibal, of Caesar and Napoleon
—what are they compared with the triumphs of Galileo and Newton, of
Stephenson, Fulton and Morse? During his great struggle, comparing
France to England, Napoleon said: 'We must overpower her in the end;
we havea vastly greater population.' Itdid not occur to him that England's
steam engines, the children of James Watt, represented thirty millions
of men. It was these iron men, and not the armies of Wellington at Waterloo,
that overcame him. How many men during our war represented in the army
McCormick's reapers and Brown's corn-planters; or what would have been
the difference in the muster rolls if the wheat had all been cut by cradles
and the corn all planted with hoes, when the existence of our great armies
depended upon wheat and corn?"

In 1804 the business had become so well .settled that it was pos.sible ta
make a radical change in the system of selling planters. It had been im-

AMERICAN AGKICLXTURAL IMPLEMENTS.

171

THE BKOWN CuKN 1'i.ANTEK IX OPERATION.

THE IMPROVED BROWN PLANTER AND CHECK ROWER.

172 AMERICAN AGKICn/rrRAL IMPLEMENTS.

possible in the early years of the industry to get local dealers interested so
they would become active agents, but it was decided to take the bold step
of doing away with hired canvassers, and also to discontinue the practice of
placing goods in the hands of dealers on commission The times were good
and the change resulted in an enormous expansion of the business, which
continued until the factory was ©ne of the largest in the world making
agricultural implements.

The record of Mr. Brown's most important patents appears in Chapter
IV of the first part of this book. It will be sufficient for this brief sketch of
his pioneer work as a manufacturer to mention that the business was incor-
porated under the name Geo. W. Brown & Co., in 1880, with |oOO,000 capital.
Mr. Brown took the office of president; I. S. Perkins, who had been his
business manager since 1804, was elected vice-president; Jas. E. Brown,
treasurer, and Loren Stevens, secretary. M. T. Perrin is now (1893), vice-
president and James E. Brown, secretar}- and treasurer. Mr. Brown, who is
now in his seventy-eighth year, is thus able to escape the details of the bus-
iness, and spends a part of each year in California, enjoying the rest to which
lie is entitled as one of the foremost of the inventors who have distinguished
themselves in the agricultural implement industry of America.

Moline, 111.

THE MOLINE PLOW COMPANY'S "FLYING DUTCHMAN."

THE three-wheel plow, broiight out in 1884, is the most important inven-
tion that has been contributed to the plow industry in the past twenty
3-ears. The IMoline Plow Company's Flying Dutchman was the pioneer in
this class. Its distinctive principle is in pivoting the plow at the heel, so
it is lowered into and raised out of the ground in the most natural and easy
way, by first lowering or raising the point. A compound lever places the
control of the plow under the hand of the operator, so it can be lowered
and leveled in the furrow by one movement of the lever, or raised and
leveled for traveling, the plow taking always a proper position.

The Moline Champion corn planter was the first full}- practical "com-
bined''check row planter and drill put upon the market The successful
combination of the drill and planter in one implement was effected by
arranging the planter plates so they are rotated by a chain driven from the
main axle of the planter. Each hole in the seed plate accommodates but
one kernel of corn, which is dropped into the seed tube and held at the heel
of the tube ready for its release. For planting in drill the wire is taken
off and the check valve tied back so the kernels drop directly into the furrow.

Candee, Swan & Co., in 1806, established at IMoline the house that was
incorporated in 1870 as the Moline Plow Company. The present officers
are George Stephens, president; G. A. Stephens, vice-president; F. G.
Allen, secretar}', and S. M. Hill, treasurer.

AMERICAN AGRICUL,TUR.-.L IMPLEMENTS.

173

THE MOLINE PLOW COMPANY'S CHAMPION COMBINED CHECK-ROW PIANTER AND DRILL.

Decatur, 111.

HA WORTH & SONS AND THE CHECK-ROWER.

T^HE most remarkable feature of American life may be found in the
1 methods of our western farmers. Spurred on by the ambition to
become independent land-owners and to make comfortable homes for their
families, the millions of toilers in the Mississippi valley and the states
south and west have provided themselves with one after another of labor-
saving implements and machines, until to-day they each do twice to four
times the work of a farmer in the older states of the east, who has not
equipped himself with the same labor-saving appliances.

The reaper was too slow for the western farmer and he demanded a
harvester and was not satisfied until the automatic binder had been per-
fected. So it has been in the case of implements used in corn-growing, the
chief of which is the check-row corn-planter. The old-fashioned corn-
planter, when it was first brought into use, was a valuable implement, but it
required two men or a man and a boy to operate it, besides the labor of
marking, and thus was expensive for the majority of farmers who had no
extra labor at hand. The invention of the check-rower saved three-fourths
the labor of planting, and proved a boon indeed tb the farmers in their battle
against the adverse conditions that have prevailed during the last fifteen or
twenty years. For this improvement the farmer is indebted to George D.
Haworth, of Decatur, 111., the practical inventor who developed it, and to
Haworth & Sons, the pioneer manufacturers who brought it into general use.

George D. Haworth began the manufacture of corn-planters at Spring-
field, Ohio, in 185.3, making at first single-row planters or drills. Often at
this early day his thoughts turned to the problem of inventing a device that
would plant the hills in check, and a few years after he heard of the effort
of Robbins, a resident of the next county, and this gave him new hope.
Nothing came of the Robbins effort, however. The use of a chain was
impracticable, because of the high price of iron and steel, and Mr. Haworth's
experiments with iron wire demonstrated that, aside from its great cost,
wire wouM not last to plant more than fifty acres and was liable to break
and cause trouble. Various experiments were made with substitutes, espe-
cially after Mr. Haworth removed to Illinois. Hemp rope was tried, and
three or four hundred check-rowers were made and sold with a view to
using it. But it would stretch after it had been wet, and proved unsatis-
factory. However, enough had been done to develop practical devices for
use in a check-rower, and it was only a question of time when a practical line
or wire would be found. At this time, during the war, cotton rope was very
high in price, costing about thirty cents per pound. In time the price

AMERICAN AGRICULTl-RAI. IMPLEMENTS.

175

the haworth corx planter and check rower.

Hopper

THE HAWORTH DROPPER AND VALVE.

176 AMERICAN AGRICri^TlJRAI. IMPI.KMENTS.

declined until it reached fourteen cents per pound, and by 1867 quite a
manufacturing business was developed by the Haworths, which grew until
ten to fifteen thousand check-rowers per year was sold, the number running
in one year as high as twenty thousand. In 1870 Bessemer steel wire was
introduced at a price that made a still larger sale for check-rowers, and for
combined corn-planters and check-rowers, which were first put upon the
market about this time.

In addition to the distinction of having been the pioneer in check-
rowers, Mr. Haworth has originated several valuable improvements and
distinctive principles. The most important of these is the principle of lay-
ing the wire across the planter so as to obviate all " side draft" or weight
on one side that would cause the shoe covering it to,run deeper than the
one on the other side. This feature is controlled by the Haworths by
patents which they hold on reversible guides, through which the wire runs
across tlie planter. Another feature is the spring anchor, by which the wire
is held at the end of th2 row. An improvement that has come into general
use is the locking device for preventing the recoil of the slide in the drop-
ping mechanism. Still another feature of the Haworth planter is that the
tappet is operated by the direct blow of the knot on the line, and requires
less power than where it operates by the recoil of the spring against which
it has been drawn by the wire.

The conditions under which corn is planted vary from season to sea-
son, and a planter that does excellent work under ordinary conditions is
apt to meet with the greatest difficulty in an unusual year. Geo. D.
Haworth, the founder of the busine.ss of Haworth & vSons, and the active
head of the house to-day, has made it a life study to produce a planter that
should be able to meet all conditions of soil and planting. As a result of
his experience the Haworth planter has many principles not enumerated
above that are in a large measure accountable for its success in the trade.

The main wheels of the planter are aided in covering by two small
auxiliary wheels, which run directly behind the shoe. Some of the
advantages claimed for this design are that the seed will not wash out
on rolling land, and mice or vermin cannot follow the rows; the wheels
work near the runners and the pulverized soil is fed in so as to completely
envelop the seed, leaving it packed just enough to insure quick germina-
tion; and in a depression or dead furrow the planter will place the corn at
the same depth as on level ground. With this covering device the soil is
first crowded into the furrow from one side, the covering wheel then filling
and packing from the other side, and in this way it is possible to completely
fill the furrow with finely pulverized earth.

Canton, 111.

THE PARLIN & ORENDORFF COMPANY.

ILLINOIS stands first among the States of the Union in the manufacture
of agricultural implements. It was on the fertile prairies of Illinois
that the most important of our modern implements were invented and
developed, and it is in this State that the largest factories for their produc-
tion have been built up. One of the most interesting fields of work for
the historian of the future will be found in the development of agriculture
in this and other western States during the past half century and the sub-
sequent development of industries that are based upon agriculture. In the
lives of our inventors and pioneer manufacturers, for example, may be
found much that is interesting to the general reader and of inestimable
value to those who seek the sovirce of the enormous gains the west has made
in wealth and in the ability to produce the means of subsistence. Volumes
might be written for each of a score or more houses that were established
forty to fifty years ago, that have sent out in ever increasing streams the
implements needed by the farmer to lighten his labor and increase his
earnings.

In Canton, Illinois, is located the oldest permanent steel plow factory
in the United States, and, so far as the writer knows, the oldest permanent
agricultural implement factor}- in the west. It was established in 1842 by
the late Wm. Parlin, who was a thorough blacksmith, having served a reg-
ular apprenticeship in the east, and had the requisite energy and ability to
rise in his calling and become a leader in the west in the manufacture of a
general line of agricultural implements.

Mr. Parlin came to Canton in 1840 from Massachusetts, after hav-
ing worked at his trade one year in St. Louis, Mo., arriving at Canton
with only 25 cents working capital and his tools, but with a determi-
nation to earn his way to success. He had reached Canton by way of
the Mississippi and Illinois rivers, walking ten miles from the nearest land-
ing to the village, July 4. He immediately established a blacksmith shop
and began doing the local work incident to his "trade." The first article
that he made was a "froe" for splitting lath from oak timber for building
purposes. From this beginning his patronage grew, and during his leisure
time he began to make plows. The first that he turned out had wooden
mouldboards, with steel shares cut from old saws; but "boilerplate" was
^Iso used for the mouldboards of some of his plows, and in 1842 several
were made with steel mouldboards and landsides. These proved so wel-
come to the farmers that he found it necessary to employ extra help in
turning out plows, and the original shop, a small, rude building, was

enlarged again and again, until in 1846 a small foundrv was added.

177

178

AMERICAN AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS.

THE CANTON CLIPPER STEEL BEAM PLOW

THE CANTON CLIPPER TRICYCLE PLOW.

AMERICAN AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS. 179

In the winter of 1847-48, however, his entire plant was swept away by
fire, and he found it uecessar}' to begin again in a small way. His first
brick building was erected on the site of the present works in 1849, a 20x60
structure, one story high, and Mr. Parlin's facilities for manufacturing were
thus considerabl}- increased.

The business was conducted by Mr. Parlin alone until 1852, when \Vm.
J. Orendorif joined resources with him under the firm name of Wm. Parlin
& Co., and preparations were made for still further enlarging the business.
The horse-power that had been used for running their grindstones and
other machinery was discarded and steam-power employed. About this
time the Clipper style of plows was designed and introduced, bringing
before the farmers of the west an implement that still stands at the head
after the lapse of over 40 years. But as their output increased the new firm
found it up-hill work extending their business beyond the limits the}- had
hitherto worked. Transportation facilities were poor, as it was necessary to
get material from and finished goods to the Illinois river, ten miles away.

"Selling goods at that time was quite a different process from what it
is co-day," said IMr. Orendorff" a few years ago to a newspaper man who
was inter\-iewing him. ' 'I used to load up a platform wagon built for that pur-
pose and drive out to the principal towns seeking customers, until my plows
were either sold or consigned to country merchants, when I would return
to Canton, catch up with my books and office work, and do the same thing
over again. As our facilities were increased we had to go farther away to
sell our plows. We then took them to pieces and loaded into wagons and
drove into far-oflf territory. Upon one trip with three wagon loads I remem-
ber driving for some dajs without much success. Stopping one evening at
a 'tavern,' I noticed a stranger with his feet resting against a jamb of the
fire-place; and after learning with what we were loaded, he opened up the
conversation by asking me what I was going to do with those plows. Upon
telling him my purpose, he said, ' Better take them over to my place and I
will sell them for you; my place is at Knoxville, Iowa.' A few days later it
began raining, and the roads, never good, were abominable. We drove
into Knoxville, found Mr. Cunningham to be all right, left three loads, or
nearly 100 plows, with him and returned home. The next spring he sold
them all and paid the cash. We also found markets for our product
by shipping them up and down the Illinois, Mississippi and IVIissouri rivers
by boat, I frequently going along selling or consigning a few of them at
the different towns as the boats discharged and loaded other freight, until all
were disposed of. In the spring of 1855 I went with a cargo down the Illi-
nois river to St. Louis, and up the ^Missouri as far as Kansas City, then little
more than a landing, and there established a trade in that country that has
had a satisfactory and continuous growth, extending all over the great
southwest and west to the Pacific coast."

This energetic work in the introduction of their plows naturally led to
further enlargements of the shops, and they began the manufacture of other
agricultural implements than plows, beginning with walking-cultivators
and shovel-plows in 1856, stalk-cutters in 1857, and other implements as the
necessity arose or favorable opportunities presented. In 1865 their first

180

AMERICAN AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS.

THB CANTON LISTER.

THE CANTON STALK CUTTBR.

AMERICAN AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS. 181

riding-cultivator was put on the market. The following year their foundry
was enlarged and additions were made to other parts of the works. The
first lister ever manufactured for the trade was built by Parlin & Orendorff
at Canton. It was the invention of a Missouri blacksmith, who succeeded
in interesting this firm in the new method of planting corn in the west.
So great was its popularity that during the first year the listers were sent
out as soon as finished, some by express, and many of them before the
paint had dried.

In 1862 the first railroad was built to Canton, the Chicago, Burlington
& Quincy. This made them independent of water transportation, and their
shipping facilities were made still more complete by the building of the
Toledo, Peoria & Western road in 1868. And as the years rolled on the
demand for the celebrated Canton goods has increased and the factory
enlarged, until they employ from six to eight hundred men, which, together
with their improved niachinerj^, give them almost unlimited capacity in
this particular line. The old firm was merged into a corporation in 1880,
taking in younger members of the two families under style of Parlin &
Orendorff Co., a close corporation. They have this year, for 1894,
added many new features to older style of implements, and some new
machines, prominent among them the new Canton steel corn-planter and
check- rower.

Dixon, 111.

THE GRAND DETOUR PLOW COMPANY.

THE city of Dixon, one of the best known manufacturing centers in
northern Illinois, enjoys the distinction of having the oldest plow
factory in the west, that of the Grand Detour Plow Company. The busi-
ness of this compan}- was established in 1837 at Grand Detour, a town six
miles above Dixon on the Rock river, b}' Major Andrus and John Deere.
Major Andrus had come from Vermont and settled at Grand Detour in
1834, and in 1837, when Mr. Deere came west, the two formed a partnership
under the name Andrus & Deere. During this year they began to make
plows, turning out nine of the crude implements then popular with the
farmers. Iron and steel were so expensive at this time and difficult to
obtain that the early settlers were obliged to do their work with wooden
mouldboard plows, with the possible improvement of covering the wearing
surface with pieces of old saws. Soon, however, the new firm were able to
make plows with successful self-scouring mouldboards, an achievement
that was destined to make Grand Detour famous. All over the Illinois
prairies the farmers were meeting with the greatest difficulty, especially in
the black, sticky bottom lands, in getting plows that would scour, and in
some sections they were almost ready to give up in despair and leave their
land. The news that plows could be had at Grand Detour that would scour
in any kind of soil soon spread, and farmers came from adjoining counties,
and, if the firm had no finished plows on hand, would wait until they could
be made. The writer has it from the lips of an early settler in Lake county,
100 miles away, that he drove with his father all the way to the shops of
Andrus & Deere to get plows for their neighbors. From this may be
learned the value to the farmers of a perfect self-scouring plow.

The first "factory" was merely a small blacksmith shop, and it was
only in the third year that they added a second forge. Major Andrus having
heretofore done the woodwork, while Mr. Deere did the smithing. In time
they were able to set up a horse-power grindstone in a building quite a dis-
tance from the shop, the plows being carried back and forth bj^ the work-
men. From time to time, however, their facilities were improved, and in
the sixth year they put in a steam engine and boiler, other machiner}- and
improvements being added in due time. Soon they were able to supply
the demands of the country tributary to Dixon, and plows were loaded
upon wagons and sent through adjoining counties, and farmers were
induced in some cases to act as agents.

In 1847 Mr. Deere withdrew from the partnership — which had under-
gone many changes in the parties associated in it with Messrs. Andrus &
Deere— and removed to Moline. The business at Grand Detour was then

AMERICAN" AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS. 183

run for several years by Mr. Andrus alone, but in time Col. Amos Bosworth
became interested. Col. Bosworth died in the service in April, 18B2, as
lieutenant-colonel of the Thirty-fourth Illinois regiment, and in August,
1863, Theron Cumins, now president of the Grand Detour Plow Company,
joined Major Andrus. In October, 1857, the factory, which had grown
rapidly and was now of considerable size, was burned down, but was at
once rebuilt. Ten j-ears later a still greater misfortune visited the firm in
the death of Major Andrus. Rising to the occasion, however, Mr. Cumins
continued the business alone until 18(59. at which time Col. H. T. Noble, of
Dixon, became interested as a partner. The firm name changed to T.
Cumins & Co., and Col. Noble continued actively in the business until his
death, April 15, 1891.

By this time the railroads had been built in every direction through
the west, except to Grand Detour, and their influence could no longer be
ignored. Dixon had been fortunate in securing two roads, and had grown
to be a considerable city, becoming, in fact, the " railroad town" for Grand
Detour. Aside from the inconvenience of the old location, transportation
to and from the pathway of the "iron horse," on materials and finished
goods, amounted to $4,000 per year. A new factory was therefore erected
at Dixon, and the business transferred, their plows, however, retaining the
name "Grand Detour." In June, 1874, Orris B. Dodge took an interest
in the business, and the firm became Cumins, Noble & Dodge, continuing
under this style until June, 1879, when they incorporated as the Grand
Detour Plow Company. The present officers are: Theron Cumins, presi-
dent; Charles H. Noble, vice-president; Orris B. Dodge, secretary and
treasurer.

In the meantime the business had grown enormously, and new lines of
agricultural implements were added, the most important of which was
sulky plows. In 1874 they acquired the Crossley patents on a sulky that
had been successfully manufactured since 1871 b}- parties at Apple River,
111. This plow became one of the best known of the pioneer two-wheeled
sulkies, of which many thousands were manufactured and sold during the
"good times" the farmers experienced in the years following their intro-
duction. This style of plow soon gave way to a more modern iron frame
two-wheel sulky, named the Grand Detour, which filled a popular demand
for half a dozen years, until it made way in turn for the now famous and
popular three-wheel plow called the Little Yankee. The manufacture of
cultivators, spike-tooth and disk harrows and other implements was added
in time, and the business grew until it became one of the largest agricult-
ural implement factories of the west, a position it has since more than
maintained.

The Little Yankee three-wheel plow made by the Grand Detour Plow
Company was the first three-wheel plow that drew from the end of the
beam instead of from the frame in which the beam was held. This manner
of hitching gave the .same adjustment for depth and width of furrow in a
sulky plow that could be had in a walking plow, and was an important
improvement in riding plows, especially in making it possible to adjust the
suction of the plow to hard or soft ground by changing the hitch, and to

184

AMKRICAN ACRICITI.TrRAI, IMPLEMENTS.

GRAND DETOUR PLOW CO.'S "LITTLE YANKEE."

GRAND DBTOUR PLOW CO.'S FOUR HORSE EVENER.

GRAND DETOUR PLOW CO.'S WALKING PLOW.

AMERICAN AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS. 185

bold the plow in the ground when the share became worn. Another im-
portant feature in a three-wheel plow that was introduced in the trade by
the Little Yankee was the inclination of both furrow- wheels against the land,
so as to make the plow run steadily, to cut a furrow of even width, to do
away with the landside, and to carry the entire weight of the furrow on the
wheels.

This plow is also made with two bottoms, known as the Yankee gang,
and for use with it a four-horse equalizer has been provided by the company
that is in itself an important improvement, one that required a tedious and
expensive series of experiments before it was perfected. The difficulty in
hitching four horses to a plow is in keeping one horse in the furrow and
three horses on the land and at the same time bringing the line of draft
somewhere near the end of the beam, so as to obviate "side draft." The
illustration shows better than words could explain how this has been
eflfected.

In corn cultivators the Grand Detour Plow Company make six standard
styles, walking, tongueless and riding, and have lately acquired the patents
on a disk cultivator that has made a record. Disk cultivators as generally
made have a tendency to gouge out the corn when it is small, sometimes
baffling the most careful driver. This has been overcome by pivoting the
carrying wheels of the cultivator at each end of the axle. A foot lever is
attached to the spindle of each wheel, and the direction of the cultivator is
thus under the perfect control of the driver, so that crooked corn rows can
be easily and successfully cultivated.

In the manufacture of disk harrows the company have become well
known, and lately they have perfected a steel frame harrow in which the
brace is of square hollow steel. The company make numerous styles
of spike-tooth harrows. A distinguishing feature which they have patented
in this line is a clip for holding the tooth. After a tooth has become
worn on its front edge, the bolts which secure this holding clip to the frame
may be loosened, and the tooth turned so as to present a new cutting edge;
and the tooth may be set up or down as desired when worn.

While these new implements, and many others we have not the space
to mention, have been developed, walking plows have not been forgotten,
and as complete a variety of wood and steel beam plows as the farmers of
the west require is made at Dixon, the list comprising over 100 styles, which
"would necessarily require a volume to describe or illustrate.

Sandwich, 111.

THE SANDWICH MANUFACTURING COMPANY.

WHEN the late Augustiis Adams started his little foundry at Elgin, 111.,
in 1840, it was, so far as known, the only one in existence west of the
Great Lakes. A small one had been projected in Chicago a year or two
before, but could not be maintained, and had gone down. The first lot of
Lehigh, or hard coal, brought to Chicago, was on an order from him exe-
cuted by a Chicago commission house. In this way began the career in the
west of a pioneer inventor and manufacturer, who is entitled to the first
rank among the benefactors "by whose lives and genius many are made
wealthy and enjoy greater immunity from the labor and drudgery of past
ages; and who have conduced to make business a pleasure in these modern
times." His career as a manufacturer for more than sixty years, during
fifty of which he was identified with the manufacturing industries of Illi-
nois, was prominent. Simultaneously with the mention of his name are
called to mind many of the more important inventions of which he is the
father, and for which the great west is indebted to him; prominent among
which may be listed the first grain-cutting machine on which the grain was
bound and carried together; the "hinged bar, " now used in mowing ma-
chines of all classes, and towering above all, the celebrated Adams self-
feeding power corn-sheller, which, with improvements made by himself
and his sons in following years, have made the names "Adams" and "vSand-
wich"' household words wherever corn is raised expressive of the highest
excellence in corn-shelling machinery.

Many curious incidents were connected with I\Ir. Adams' beginning as a
manufacturer. The first iron he melted was in a little "pocket furnace,"
or rudely constructed brick melting pot, and with charcoal burned by him-
self for the purpose. The iron came from a small pile that remained in Chicago,
on the site of the older undertaking above referred to, that had run for a
short time and gone down; and the first castings that ]\Ir. Adams made were
what the Hoosiers, who came long distances to buy them, called "sled
soles" and "plow pints." Seeking to improve upon this first crude begin-
ning, he undertook unaided the construction of a melting apparatus some-
what more in the nature of the modern cupola, and believed he could melt
to better advantage by the use of Lehigh, or the hard Pennsylvania coal,
than by charcoal, if he could procure it. There was no stock in Chicago,
and so far as he knew, never had been any brought up the lakes, and he
encountered some difficulty in getting the small amount he required to
make the experiment. His limited means would not admit of any invest-
ment in that stock beyond what was required for such an experiment, until

186

AMERICAN AGRlCLO'LKAi, IMFLEMKXTS.

187

188 AMERICAN AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMEXTS.

it could be shown that it would be available for further operations. He
succeeded in interesting the shipping house, Norton & Grey, of Chicago,
to forward an order for him to Buffalo or Erie for a small amount, say a few
hundred pounds, to enable him to carry out his undertaking to that extent.
It was well understood that the time required to get the stock around to
Chicago on such an order would be greater than would be required now to
order and receive goods from England. After the lapse of something more
than two months, he was notified by the house Norton & Grey that the
order had been executed, and the coal was on the way, but by some mistake ot
the shippers a larger amount had been sent than he ordered, in fact about a
ton, which was contained in three hogsheads, and as 'they had no call for
that stock, and did not see any immediate prospect of disposing of the sur-
plus, they had to ask him to take the whole lot, which he did. The inci-
dent was one that pioneers in the coal trade in Chicago often referred to
afterwards as the beginning of an enormous traffic, which at the present
time requires several miles of docks on the Chicago river.

Mr. Adams at a verj' early date become convinced that the corn crop
was destined to be the most important of the agricultural products of the
Mississippi valley, and that great wealth and traffic would develop in the
raising and shipping of that grain. Elgin was then one of the few growing
towns of northern Illinois, and a few years after came into prominence as
the temporary terminus of the first railroad out from Chicago, then known
as the Chicago & Galena Union, and which is now a part of the Chicago &
Northwestern system. Like most other pioneers, Mr. Adams suffered con-
siderable loss in the development of his machinery. He was then ser\'ing
in the state senate and came into acquaintance with parties from Sandwich,
who succeeded in interesting him to remove his family and business from
Elgin and locate in this then new town, the principal inducement thereto
being that Sandwich would be nearer the center of the corn belt, and was
advantageously located on the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy road, which
had been recently completed through to the Mississippi river.

Removal was made in 1857, and business begun there under the firm
name of A. Adams & Sons. The venture proved successful. The small
shop established grew as the demand increased throughout the west, and a
large trade was developed, especially during the war. By 1867 the business
controlled by the firm had become so great in its extent that incorporation
was deemed advisable, and the Sandwich Manufacturing Company was
organized to succeed to the firm of A. Adams & Sons.

Mr. Adams did not remain long in active connection with the company
after incorporation. Early in the "seventies" he withdrew and inter-
ested himself with his younger sons in founding and developing another
manufacturing business at Marseilles, 111., which has come to strong stand-
ing and an enviable reputation.

For many years before his death, which occurred in October, 1892, he
had practically retired from all business.

Since the incorporation of the Sandwich Manufacturing Companv it
has been under the immediate direction of J. P. and H. A. Adams (the oldest
sons and members of the original firm of Adams & Sons), to whose ability
as business men, manufacturers and inventors, the success of this, one of the

AMERICAN AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS.

189

190 AMERICAN AGRICLXTURAI. IMPLEMENTS.

oldest and best known manufacturintf houses of the interior, and its world
famed power corn shellers, may be ascribed.

The business has since kept step with the development of the interior
and western states in the production of corn, and the Sandwich shellers
have come into use all through the country. While power corn-shellers are
not so generally vised in the eastern states as in the Mis.sissippi valley and
westward, still the operations of the house are important east to the Atlantic
seaboard, and their machines have an export sale of growing volume from
year to year.

From the two-hole corn sheller, fed by hand, with which manufacture
begun in the early years, has been developed the powerful self-feeding ma-
chines of the present daj', made in such sizes as the smallest farm product,
or. the greatest holdings of the heaviest corn buyers may require, machines
with a capacity to take from the crib and deliver in perfect merchantable
condition into warehouses or cars anywhere between five hundred and five
thousand bushels per day. The factory has grown from the small wooden
shop first established, and though twice burned down, has each time come
up with still greater capacity for manufacturing, until to-day it ranks among
the largest institutions in the west.

Sterling, 111.

THE PIONEER WORK OF THE KEYSTONE MANUFACTrRING

COMPANY.
"nPHERE be three things, " said Bacon, "that make a nation great and
1 prosperous; a fertile soil, busy workshops, and easy conveyance
for men and goods from place to place." After the lapse of nearly three
centuries, during which the civilized nations of the world have made greater
progress than the most optimistic dreamer of Bacon's time could have
predicted, the force of the philosopher's maxim can be understood, especially
by Americans. A soil of inexhaustible fertility, mammoth workshops and
factories to furnish the farmer improved implements and machiner}- for carry-
ing on his work, and a network of steel highways traversed by the ' 'iron
horse, ' ' have contributed to the building up in the Mississippi Valley of a vast
empire, the wealthiest, most powerful and most enterprising in the world.
How much of the progress the west has made in the last half century is due
to the resources of the soil and the industry of the pioneer settlers, and how
much to the inspiration of inventors, who have produced the labor-saving
implements necessary to develop those resources, no one can measure, but
certain it is that the inventors and pioneer manufacturers who have pro-
duced these mar^-elously ingenious implements have erected to themselves
monuments more enduring than marble or granite in the records they have
made in the development of this country.

Of the pioneer manufacturers who began prior tolSGO, only one is left in
active charge of the business he established. Thomas A. Gait, president of the
Keystone Manufacturing Company, of .Sterling, 111., enjoys this distinction.
Mr. Gait began manufacturing at Sterling in 1857. He was a Pennsylvania
boy, born in 1828, brought up on the farm with meager opportunities for an
education, and thrown upon his own resources at the early age of fourteen
by the death of his father. After working several years in a store as a clerk
at Concord, Pa., at Strasburgand Philadelphia, he began business for himself
at Strasburg, but sold out in 1855 and came west to Sterling. Here he
opened up in the hardware business, in which he continued several years.
In 1857 Mr. Gait started a small 14x16 shop to manufacture broadcast
seeders. Only two men were employed at first, but the business grew
rapidly, not only in the manufacture of seeders, but in other lines that were
added soon after. Mr. Gait's was one of the first seeders put on the market.
In 18G3 he began the manufacture of hand corn-shellers, and also of cultivators
and wagons. About this time Mr. Gait formed a partnership with Geo. S.
Tracy, who had been conducting a planing mill, and the two lines of busi-
ness were consolidated under the name of Gait & Tracy. The facilities of
the new firm for manufacturing implements were considerably increased,

191

192

AMERICAN AGKICULTURAt, IMPLEMENTS.

AJIER1CA>- AGKICLXTLRAI. IMPLK-MKNTS. 193

and corn-shellers were put out in large numbers, as well as broadcast seeders
and various other implements.

The Kej'stone Manufacturing Company have been among the very largest
manufacturers of corn-planters, beginning at a very early day, in 1867. In
fact the name Keystone was derived, at the time of incorporation, from
the Keystone planter, which had been introduced in the trade by Gait &
Tracy. It was made on the "open heel" drop pattern, and was an excellent
implement. The prestige gained by its introduction at the time when the
west needed it most has been well maintained by the company, who have
contributed many improvements and are to-day in the front rank. By this
time their factory was one of the largest in the west, as a result of improve-
ments which they had contributed to the various lines in which they were
engaged. The west was developing rapidl}-, and their business under the
best of management, was more than keeping pace with it. Sterling had
become one of the foremost manufacturing cities in the west, and imp-
lements made at Sterling were in use wherever corn was grown.

About this time the Keystone hay-loader was brought out, and the
company undertook the pioneer work of its development and introduction.
The work of loading hay in the field was the most tedious in the harvesting
of this important crop, and the improved mowers and rakes that had been
developed made it seem still more laborious and awkward. The Kev-stone
loader was destined to play no small part in expediting the hay harvest, in
which time is a more important factor than in any other work done on the
farm. This valuable implement is illustrated in the chapter on haying
tools and machinery.

In 1874 the Keystone power corn-sheller was brought out. It was
made under the Packer patents, covering an entirely new principle in this
class of machiner}-, the purpose of which was to give large capacity and
perfect separation. As shown in the illustration of this shelling principle
the shelling picker wheel has been discarded in it, and a "picker shaft" has
been substituted for it, with a shelling length of nine inches, this shaft pass-
ing the corn through rapidly and insuring perfect shelling. The shaft is
adjustable for damp or dry corn by the thumbscrew above, the lower end
being free to move up or down under pressure, regulated by the coiled spring
above it. In the Keystone sheller the corn is separated from the cobs by an
open-link carrier on which it falls, the links being large enough to allow the
kernels to pass through, but retaining and carrying over the cobs with the
silk and bits of husks that would otherwise fall in the shelled corn.

It is, however, in the development of the Keystone corn-husker and
fodder-shredder that Ivlr. Gait has shown in the highest decree the originality
and foresight of the true pioneer. This machine is without doubt destined
to hold the highest place in the near future, in the labor-saving equipment
of the corn-growing farmer, for it not only saves labor but in a large part of
the west will double the value of the corn crop. The chemist and the prac-
tical stock feeder alike agree that the ears of corn contain only a little more
than half of the feeding value of the plant, but heretofore the farmers of the
west have been unable to save their fodder, this part of the crop going gener-
all\- to waste, except as cattle may be turned into the fields after husking to

194

AMKRIC.VX AfrRICfLTrRAI, I MPIJ'.MRNTS.

AMERICAN- AGRICULTrR-\L IMPLEMENTS. 195

feed upon what they do not tramp under foot. The Keystone corn-husker and
fodder-cutter is destined to revolutionize corn-growing in the west, by mak-
ing it possible for the farmers to save their fodder and make the best kind of
provender of it, a feed, in fact, that commands when baled as high a price
in our city markets as hay. Incidentally the machine saves the husks sep-
arate from the fodder, and for them there is a demand that would pay for the
machine itself, in some cases, in a season's work. The fodder is either
shredded by the cylinder mounted in front of the feed rollers, resembling
a thresher cylinder, or it may be cut by a cylinder mounted with knives
like those of a feed-cutter.

The Keystone Manufacturing Company are also the pioneers in the
manufacture of disk harrows in the west, they having begun in this line in
1880. Improvements have been contributed by them from time to time,
and a ver>- large business has been built up, sales in a favorable season
amounting to 10,000 harrows. An important improvement which they have
made is in adopting ball bearings to carrj- the end thrust of the gangs.

Piano, 111.

THE PIONEER "HARVESTER CITY."

"OOYS, you are on the right track. If you can run your machine suc-
L) cessfully ten rods it can be made to run ten miles, and there is a man
at Piano who can make it do this." These encouraging words spoken to
the Marsh brothers, in the harvest of 1860, by Lewis Steward, made Piano
the pioneer city in the manufacture of modern harvesting machinery.

The first Marsh harvester was built in June, 1858, and although it was
rudely constructed it worked successfully through the harvest of that year.
The practicability of the principles embodied in the machine was demon-
strated, but the inventors were far from being skilled mechanics, and their
efforts in 1859 and 1860 had resulted in the break down of their experimental
machine, witnessed by Mr. Steward. That the inventors were discouraged
may be readily understood. They had been unsuccessful in getting manu-
facturers interested in the machine, and situated as they were, many miles
from the railroad, the prospects for getting it established on the market
were dubious indeed.

The encouraging advice of Mr. Steward led to the building of an experi-
mental harvester at Piano, for the harvest of 1861, and this was used and
tested under varying conditions, until 1863, when the machine was con-
sidered "sufficiently developed for the test of sale." For the harvest of
1864, the firm of Steward & Marsh made and put out twenty-six machines,
the first harvesters ever put upon the market, and thus the foundation was
laid for the har\-ester business at Ptano, and for the manufacture of har-
vesters and binders for the market of the world. The firm of Easter &
Gammon were at this time engaged at Chicago as dealers in reapers and
mowers. They met this first lot of harvesters in competition in the field,
and soon after, in 1864, they obtained exclusive rights for the sale of the
Marsh harvester for six western states. This arrangement was continued
until 1868, when Easter & Gammon dissolved partnership and divided
between them the territory they held under the Marsh patents. Mr. Gammon
then took James P. Prindle into partnership, and the firm of Gammon &
Prindle continued the business. In 1869, I\Ir. Gammon acquired an interest
in the Piano shops, with the Marshes and Stewards, and early in 1870, Mr.
Prindle having retired, William Deering took an active interest in the
institution, and the afterwards famous firm of Gammon & Deering was
organized, becoming in time sole owners of the Piano shops, and gradually
enlarging the sales of hars^esters and automatic wire binders; the firm of
J. D. Easter & Co. having failed in 1877, and turned over their territory

under the Marsh patents to Gammon & Deering. In the fall of 1879 Gam-

1%

AMERICAN AG;;ICLXTI'KAIv implements.

197

THE PLANO BINDER, WITH FLV WHEEI. ATTACHED.

^^"^f^" ' ^^«8SvT\\G* CO CAN.

THE CHAIN' DRIVE OI' THE JONES MOWER.

rj8 AMERICAN AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS.

mon & Deering dissolved partnership, and the business of the firm was
removed to Chicago and continued by Mr. Deering, whose remarkably suc-
cessful career since that time is told elsewhere.

THE PLANO MANUFACTURING COMPANY.

During the winter of 1880-81 the works at Piano were idle, but in April,
1881, steps were taken to organize a company, with a view to carrying on
the manufacture of twine binders, in the town that had acquitted itself so
well during the development of the industry. William H. Jones took the
lead in the new enterprise, Mr. Gammon and Lewis Steward promptly
coming to his support. Mr. Jones was well qualified for the difficult task
of launching the new business. He had begun in 1866 in the sale of reapers
and mowers, in Wisconsin, and had been identified with the Piano interests
since 1870, at which time he entered the employ of Mr. Gammon. Until
Gammon & Deering dissolved he served in the capacity of superintendent
of agencies, remaining with Mr. Deering until 1881, when the Piano Manu-
facturing Company was incorporated, with Mr. Jones as president and
executive officer. The old shops had suffered from business changes, and
were so fire-scarred and dismantled when the new organization took posses-
sion that only 250 binders could be manufactured for the harvest of 1881,
but so well acquainted was the new organization with every detail of the
business, and with the mechanical construction required to make a perfect
harvester, that these machines were eminently successful, and ten times the
number were put out the next year. From this beginning the business
grew rapidly, and to-day the Piano Manufacturing Companj^ rank among
the very largest manufacturers of twine-binding harvesters.

Several features distinguish the Piano "light running" binder from
the standard Appleby machines. A peculiar stjde of chain drive has been
adopted, which contains many meritorious features. In the reel a radical
improvement has been made in adapting to it a friction clutch that allows
the reel to turn back when it meets an obstruction in the grain or overhead,
thus avoiding breakage. Most important of all, however, is the application
of stored power, obtained through the use of a "fly wheel." In the best
adjusted binders in the hands of an expert there is a slight variation in the
draft of the machine at the moment of tying a bundle, and in the average
machine in the farmer's hands, the difference in draft at this point is quite
appreciable.

In their mowers the Piano Manufacturing Company have "pioneered "
or introduced in the trade, the chain-drive principle, the advantage of
which is that wear does not impair its efficiency, or cause loss of power. As
the sprockets do not require as perfect alignment as gears, they therefore
run more freely and are less liable to get out of order. The great problem
in agricultural machinery is to perfect devices that give a high rate of effi-
ciency when new, and at the same time are not easily deranged by abuse
or neglect on the part of the operator, or by the wear of two or three
seasons.

These and other distinctive features of the Piano machines are the result
of a lifetime spent in the field by the president, Mr. Jones, who was one of

AMERICAN AGRICULTURAL IMPLKMKNTS. 199

the pioneers in the introduction of the ^larsh harvester. His life, in fact,
from field expert and canvasser to president, would make as romantic a
story as could be found in the machine trade. As Mr. Marsh has observed:
" Probably no one knew as well as he what were the essentials of a thor-
oughly satisfactory harvesting machine to run in the field. Mechanics, no
matter how skillful or sensible, consider a machine always from a mechani-
cal point of view, and even if they have had much field experience, their
shop training will govern, and the3- are ever inclined to sacrifice operative
qualities to mechanical construction when these points seem to interfere.
To thoroughly combine and fuse these attributes into one machine
required the master hand and strong will of Mr. Jones. In the
construction of the original Piano harvester and binder, he made
practical operative qualities paramount, and mechanical science subsers'-
ient to their production; and he ruled out peremptorily every device or
suggestion that did not have, in his opinion, that end in view. This course
he has maintained right along, and its result is manifest in the excellence
of the Piano machines and the phenomenal success of the Piano Manu-
facturing Company."

We may here leave to some future historian of the agricultural imple-
ment industry, the sad duty of writing the last chapter in the historj' of
Piano. With a record of thirty years, beginning with the pioneer work of
introducing the jNIarsh harvester, Piano has yielded the scepter to Chicago,
and will be known no more in the manufacture of harvesting machinery.
Within the past year the Piano Manufacturing Company has erected at
West Pullman, a suburb of Chicago, one of the most labor-saving and
completely equipped for the manufacture of Piano machines, more than
doubling its facilities and has abandoned the Piano shops,thus ending the
career in this industry of the town which has earned the laurel of "Har-
vester City."

South Bend, Ind.

THE OLIVER CHILLED PLOW WORKS.

THB world is ever ready to do honor to men who have been successful in
war, or in political or professional life, but it seems to give credit
grudgingly or not at all to those who in practical pursuits, by power of mind
over their surroundings, have conceived inventions that affect the destiny
of nations. The one who directs an army and destroys life and property is
idolized, but the inventor who adds to the wealth of the world by increas-
ing man's power of production, and who lengthens the life of the farmer by
lightening his toil, is too often destined to be forgotten. How few there are
to-day, for example, who are familiar with the names of Chas. Newbold and
Jethro Wood, the inventors who conceived and made practical the cast-
iron plow.

As soon as the farmer of fifty years ago had been taught to use some-
thing better than his old wooden "bull" plow, he turned his attention to
labor-saving problems in other lines of farm work, and the reaper, the
threshing machine, the mower and other modern implements were brought
forth in due season. The cast-iron plow awoke the fanner from his lethargy
of eighteenth century methods, but as the country became settled, condi-
tions arose that it could not master. The soil in which it had at first worked
satisfactorily, became, by repeated stirring, dense and sticky, so cast-iron
would not scour; and it was also found that many kinds of soil could not be
plowed with it at all. Besides, the farmers had become more ambitious,
led on by widening markets for their crops, and would wear out a plow in
one season that under the old conditions might have lasted ten.

The invention of the chilled plow by James Oliver, of South Bend, Ind.,
was destined to revolutionize the cast plow industry' and furnish the farmer,
at a moderate price, a plow with a mouldboard that would scour in any soil
and last a lifetime. Mr. Oliver spent years in experimenting with chilled
metal and succeeded eventually in making a perfect chilled mouldboard.
This was his greatest achievement, but it was for him only the stepping-
stone to other inventions that revolutionized the construction and adjust-
ment of walking plows, constituting as a whole a series of inventions that
can scarcely be paralleled in the record of any inventor of agricultural
implements. Furthermore, Mr. Oliver has been an eminently successful
business man, and the Oliver Chilled Plow Works have grown under his
supervision until they rank not lower than fifth or sixth, in the number of
men employed and the value of the annual output, among the agricultural
implement factories of the world.

The manufacture of plows was begun in South Bend, in 1855, by Mr.
Oliver, he having previously worked for some years as a moulder, executing
in that time difficult contracts for making castings. There was little in the

200

AMERICAN- AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMEXTS.

201

THE OLIVER CHILLED PLOW.

THE OLIVER CHILLED PLOW WITH WHEEL AND JOINTER.

THE OLIVER CHILLED PLOW WITH REVERSrPLE POINT AND SH.\RE.

202 AMERICAN AGRICULTURAIv IMPLEMENTS.

beginning that was suggestive of the present Oliver Chilled Plow Works.
The shop was a small one and uninviting in appearance, and the casts run
but three heats a week, with 1,500 pounds to a ton each. Yet even at this
rate the capital of Mr. Oliver and his partner was soon exhausted, and they
were in straightened circumstances, when an unexpected misfortune visited
them in the form of a tremendous freshet that flooded their furnace. After
recovering from this misfortune, Mr. Oliver bought a team and wagon and
began a canvass of the country to get his plows introduced. He found it
uphill work, but persevered until he had eighty agencies established within
a radius of fifty miles. This seemed like a fair beginning, but the diflference
between the cost of production and the price obtained, after deducting com-
missions and the expenses of selling, left a very narrow margin of profit.
However, a substantial foundation was laid upon which to build and extend
the business in the future.

It was about this time that Mr. Oliver began to investigate the possi-
bilities of a plow that would scour in all kinds of soil and at the same time
be more durable, especially in sandy or gravelly land. Naturally his thoughts
turned to the use of chilled metal, but the prospects of success in this direc-
tion were poor indeed. Fortunes had beeti spent in the preceding twenty-
five years in experiments looking to a perfect chilled plow, and those who
had once been sanguine liad given up all hope. "Nothing daunted, " said
Mr. Oliver in an interview a few years later, "I determined to solve the
mystery. When I announced my determination people held up their hands
in admonitory horror, and regarded me with feelings of astonishment, not
unmixed with contempt, which latter they were free to express. Plow men
who had spent years in experimenting and had abandoned the project of a
complete chilled plow advised me not to undertake it. Those who had
aided me with money and influence forsook me, and I was classed with the
fools who pursue the fallacy of perpetual motion. Although feeling keenly
the cuts of former friends, I determined to succeed. Day and night for
years I thought of nothing else, and made everything bend to this one great
object of my life. My first success was attained when I adopted the plan of
using hot water in the chills, which dried the moisture in the flasks and
prevented blow holes. My next was a method of ventilating the chills by
grooves along the face of the mould, which allowed the escape of the gases
that form within the flask when melted iron is poured in, and thus permitted
the liquid metal to come in direct contact with the face of the chill and all
its surface, removing all the soft spots in the mouldboard and leaving the
surface smooth and perfect. But my crowning success was the discover}' of
the annealing process, which deprived the metal of its brittleness. When I
made that I could justly claim that for the first time a fully perfect chilled
plow had been made."

As may be seen by reference to the chapter on plows, INIr. Oliver's inven-
tions cover a number of important features in a walking plow. These are
the slotted handle-brace for holding the heel of the beam, so it can be set for
two or three horses; the peculiar form of standard by which the beam is
given a "center draft" position; the share with a coulter or cutting edge
seated directly against the front end of the mouldboard, thus giving a new
rnttinp edffe each time the share is renewed; the wheel for a wood beam

AMERICAN AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS. 203

plow having a standard that can be adjusted closely to the line of draft
when the beam is shifted, and the bracket that holds the coulter or share to
the beam by the use of only one bolt. The farmer who will compare the work
of the Oliver plow with one that does not possess these features can under-
stand how much they add to its efl&ciency. These improvements explain
the enormous business of the Oliver Chilled Plow Works. It has been but
the natural course of the "trade" concentrating upon South Bend a demand
for plows that has built up a factory covering a good sized farm, with an
enormous foundry and a blacksmith shop, wood shops and other depart-
ments of proportionate size. On this "farm" a thousand men find emplov-
ment and support as many families, and from it goes forth to all parts of the
Union, aud to every foreign country, the American chilled plow, emblematic
of American ingenuity and skilled workmanship.

Associated with Mr. Oliver in the first years of his business was Harvey
I/ittle and later T. M. Bissell and George Milburn. His partners withdrew
in time, however, leaving Mr. Oliver as the principal owner of the South
Bend Iron Works, the business ha\'ing been incorporated under this name.
Mr. Oliver is now president of the corporation, his son, Joseph D. Oliver,
treasurer, and George Ford, secretary. Branch houses have been estab-
lished in the leading trade centers, where the Oliver goods are carried in
stock and distributed under the direction of veteran plow men, some of
whom were with IMr. Oliver during the earh' years of the industry. St.
Louis, Mo., Indianapolis, Ind., Mansfield, Ohio, Harrisburgh, Pa , Roches-
ter, N. Y., Dallas, Texas, and San Francisco, Cal., are the most important
of these houses.

PIONEER THRESHER FACTORIES AT RICHMOND.

The Robinson Machine Works were established at Richmond, Ind., in
1842, in the manufacture of " chaff-piler" threshing-machines. A traveling
thresher, designed to thresh the grain as it was drawn through the field,
was also made for a time, neither of these machines separating the grain
from the chaff. About 1860 they commenced making portable engines and
Pitts separators. In 1872 the business was incorporated under the name
of the Robinson Machine Works, and in 1889 they reincorporated as
Robinson & Co., with F. W. Robinson as president and superintendent;
A. G. Robinson, vice-president and treasurer, and S. E. Swavne, secretary.

The business of Gaar, Scott & Co, was established at Richmond, Ind.,
in 1835, by J. M. aud J. Hutton, who continued until 1849, when A. Gaar &
Co. bought them out. The latter firm was incorporated in 1870, under the
name Gaar, Scott & Co. The manufacture of portable engines was begun
in 1852, and traction engines in 1878.

THE HOOSIER GRAIN DRILL.

The manufacture of the Hoosier grain drill was commenced at Milton,
Ind., in 1857, in a small way by the patentee, Joseph Ingels. In 1868 the
business was purchased by the Hoosier Drill Company. In 1870 the manu-
facture of corn drills was begun, and broadcast seeders in 1877, and in 1878
the company removed to Richmond, where new works were erected. Many
changes have taken place in the ownership and management of the busi-
ness. J. M. Westcott is now president; Omar Hollingsworth, treasurer; B.
J. Westcott, secretary, and J. A. Carr, superintendent.

Akron, 0.

AULTMAN, MILLER & CO. AND THE BUCKEYE MOWER.

IN accrediting any house with pioneer work in the industry with which it
has been identified, it is implied that some improvement of far-reaching
importance has been contributed by that house, or that a revolution has
taken place in the industry as a result of a new principle it has evolved.
In some cases a pioneer invention merely substitutes new devices for old
without materially increasing the usefulness of the implement or machine,
but in ever}' industry there has been contributed at some stage of its devel-
opment an invention that entirely changes the "standard" and so increases
the usefulness of the machine that the result appears at once in the changes
that follow in the area and yield of the crop or crops for which it is adapted.
In the case of the revolution that followed the invention of the hinged-bar
principle in mowers (as embodied in the Buckeye) this change appears in
a striking manner.

For example, the annual hay crop for ten years prior to 1856, the date
of the invention of the Buckeye, averaged less than 11,000,000 tons. For
the ten succeeding years it exceeded 20,000,000 tons. This prodigious in-
crease, more than doubling the crop production, cannot be attributed to the
growth of population. Compared with the rate of increased crop product,
that growth was so small as to be almost insignificant. As a matter of fact
this enormous stimulant to the production of the hay crop was due to the
invention of the two-wheeled hinged-bar principle of the Buckeye, and to
the general introduction of mowers and reapers embodying that principle.

An event partaking somewhat of the dramatic in character indicates the
incipienc}- of this harvester revolution with singular clearness. The United
States Agricultural Societj' invited a general field competition of harvesting
machines at Syracuse, N. Y , in July, 1857. Every machine made in the
countr}' participated in the trial, the record of which, with cuts of the
machines, is preserved in the report of the judges. Every machine present
except the Buckeye, whether mower or reaper, had one driving wheel.
These machines had no hinged-bars; their driving gears were on, or inside
of the driver, and not on the axle; this gear did not cease to impart motion
to the cutting parts when the machine moved backwards; they had no lead-
ing wheels with brace to coupling-arms; they had no adjustable track-
clearers; they had no shoe-slides, and guards with steel-faced cutting edges;
their cutter-bars could not be lifted, neither could they be folded, nor had
they any foot-lifting device.

The machine which was destined to endow agriculture with all these

advantages, advantages which have "finally been adopted by the public and

2()-t

AMERICAN AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS.

205

the world," and which, for all that is now known, "will forever afterward
become a part of the perfect machine," was the Buckeye.

The Buckeye was also at Syracuse, putting in its first public appearance
on that occasion. Although made first as a mower, its motive system was

L.MileT.

Jfower

J\r769 Eeissued Jul 9i659l

TifS

•>v*

THE "hinged bar" IN DETAIL.

immediately adapted to reaping. The larger portion of the grain and sub-
stantially all the grass of the world was har\-ested by machines modeled on
the Buckeye system until the advent of self-binders furnished a speedier
method for grain.

206 AMKRICAX AGRICULTIRAL IMI'I.KMKXTS.

The starting point, in a manufacturing way, of the Buckeye industry
was made at the viUage of Greentown, Stark county, Ohio, in the early
"thirties." John Miller, the father, and Lewis and Jacob Miller, the sons,
also C. Aultnian and Kphraim Ball, were interested in the shop which
turned out plows, harrows, spinning wheels and threshers. Later on, about
184S, Hussey reapers were made under a royalty.

Still later it was decided to add. a mower to the output. Negotiations
were entered into with Mr. Ketchum, the patentee of the most successful
mower of that day. Mr. Ketchum fixed his roj'alty at $40 per machine,
and was inexorable. The young firm decided that such a figure was inad-
missible, and resolved to make a mower of their own invention. That was
a turjiing point. Had the price fixed by Ketchum been satisfactory, those
revolutionary modifications which are classed under the general term of
the " hinged-bar" might never have been made.

After the above action had been taken by the firm there ensued a series
of experiments and trials, the full details of which would make, if space
permitted, a wonderfull}- interesting chapter in pioneer harvester history.
Lewis Miller, who led the way in these inventions, is still living, and it was
from him that these particulars were obtained.

The first experiment ended with the ma-
chine here shown, the first successful two- |-'-» ■ — • — — ■ ■■'~n

wheeled mower. It did good work and its
inventor was very proud of it, so much so
that he had this cut made. Its gears, how-
ever, were in the drivers, and it had a stiff

bar. It was resolved to change that. '■t^''^^^ '^J^^^'lT^'^

This brings us to the second experi- ; '|$^1v^5^!■•'A;-^-'^-.^,

ment, which also ended satisfactorily, so . . y '•■-■ "'-'■'^■■■^r^m.

much so that a patent was applied for. An

illustration is shown of the drawing that was used. The gears had now been
transferred to the axle and the bar made pliable by hinges. Not until a con-
siderable time after this stage of development had been reached was it
learned thatSylla & Adams, of Illinois, had already patented a device which
involved this principle of a hinge in the bar. Though very unlike the
Buckeye plan, and used for a different purpose, it still involved the princi-
ple. The exclusive right to its use was bought for a modest sum.

The third and last effort that can be called an experiment ended in
1857, culminating in the machine shown at vS^-racuse. The period covered
by this evolution reached from 1S.'34 to 1857. It was, as has been intimated,
a period of severest tension, and the problem was only wrought out bj- the
help of a stout heart and an unbounded faith. The story in detail, like
many another story of great efforts crowned by grand successes, will never
fail to win for its heroes the profoundest respect and the highest admiration.

The principles embodied in this machine, generally known under the
term ' 'Buckeye," are shown in a drawing filed with the patent of July 9, 1859.
This illustrates more clearly than a shaded machine picture can "do some of
the special, and now indispensable, devices to which reference has just
been made. The folding of the bar as shown is still peculiar to the Buckeye,

AMKRICAX AGRICL'LTURAL IMPtEMEXTS.

207

although the latter first taught the lesson of folding the bar in any shape.
In addition to that feature may be seen the brace A^, the wheel C, with
its brace S, the lifting lever and quadrant shown bj' figures 6, 7 and 8, the
adjustable seat T' the foot-lift P, all of which, as much as the two wheels,
have been derived from the Buckeye and constitute part of the "perfect
machine" of to-day. Another device, and an indispensably important
device to every modern mower, is the knuckle-joint, with gag e, as shown
in the small cut. Another of the Buckeye devices in general u.se on mow-
ers is the "adjustable sole," of double-runner form, shown in cut. The

THE SECOND BUCKEYE EXPERIMENT.

THE PAWL AND SPRING.

pawl, with spring, transmitting the motion of the drive-wheels to the cut-
ters while moving forward, but not backward, is invaluable and indispensa-
ble on all mowers

In the foregoing, reference has been had only to the pioneer days of a
pioneer industry-; in other words to those successive mechanical achieve-
ments by means of which one of our great industrial establishments entitled
itself to the honor and gratitude of mankind. Space forbids farther venture
in this history than a most summary outline. All manufacturers were com-
pelled to immediately avail themselves of the Buckeye inventions. Serious
objection was made only by several houses, now mostly extinct, to the front-

208

AMKKICAN AC.RICUI/rUKAI, IMPLEMENTS.

THE "original" BrCKEYE.

BUCKEYE MOWER OF TO-DAY.

'^'B^^^'^

BUCKEYE TABLE RAKE REAPER.

BUCKEYE BANNER BINDER.

BUCKEYE "FR.^MELESS ' BINDER.

AMERICAN AGRICULXrRAL IMPLEMENTS. 209

cut, but its greater safety in connectiou -with otlier advantages, made it
invincible.

During the era of the reaper, extending from IS-jti to 1880, the Buckeye
Avorks were large makers of that class of machines. The great bulk of the
reapers bearing the brand Buckeye were of the Table-rake pattern. The
peculiarity of the latter was a fork on a jointed arm which .swept around a
vertical axis in the centre of the platform, fir.st across the sickle end and
parallel to the cutters, then gathering and compressing the grain against the
circle-board, then delivering the gavel in a compressed form at the side,
and out of the way of the machine on the next round. The reaping part
was made as an attachment to the mower. The economy of this arrange-
ment, and the great excellence of both mower and reaper made the Table-
rake exceedingly popular and brought the house a very large trade.

In the earlier days of binders the Buckeye house placed on the market
the Buckeye Platform, or Low-down binder. Although a great many
machines of this pattern were sold about 1883 and 188-4, it was found that
their operation left much to be desired. Experiment and improvement upon
this model has resulted in the Buckeye Banner binder, which is too well
known in the markets of the present day to need description. Certain of
the original patents on the earlier low-down, and which cover devices essen-
tial to the success of that type of machine, inure to the benefit of the Ban-
ner, which has as its specialty farms of moderate size, and harvesting on
hilly land.

For large work, and for all the possible conditions of crop that a harvest-
ing machine is liable to encounter, the Buckeye Frameless binder is placed
on the market as the embodiment of the highest tvpe of results that have
been approved by modern experience and invention.

Some years since Aultman, Miller & Co. established a twine factory in
connection with their harvester plant. The methods of the twine houses,
and the inferior twines placed on the market, compelled this step, which
has resulted most satisfactorily both to their customers and to all concerned.

In concluding this brief survey it is proper to name the man to whose
inventive genius is due the wide and well-grounded reputation of the
Buckeye interests, Lewis Miller. The modern mowing machine is the oflf-
spring of his brain. The Table-rake, and the characterizing features of both
the Frameless and Banner binders, were his inventions. It is, however, as
the inventor of the Buckeye mower, the pioneer of all mowers in those feat-
ures which constitute their controlling recommendations, that he will for
all time hold the highest place as an inventor who will ever deserve the
meed of gratitude from his countn,'men and mankind. Mr. Miller would
have been entitled to rank with the foremost inventors in this class, had he
done no more than to make the first successful two-wheeled machine, for
this was an improvement of fully as great value as others from men whose
work made them leaders in the industry. But this improvement was only
the first step in the series of inventions conceived by him, which, when
worked out in practice, produced the perfect hinged or floating bar of the
standard mower of to-day.

Springfield, 0.

THE CHAMnOX vSYvSTEM OF HARVESTING MACHINERY.

"/"^HAMPION CITY " is the name that has been bestowed by common
v_> consent upon Springfield. As a result of inventive genius and busi-
ness ability combined in the highest degree, Champion reapers and mowers
became the exemplification of their name during the earliest years of the
reaper industry, apd the subsequent development of the Champion "83-8-
tem " of harvesting machinery has made vSpriugfield one of the largest
cities in Ohio and the second city in the world in the manufacture of agri-
cultural implements. The inception and rise of the Champion practically
covers the period of development of improved agricultural implements in
America, and Springfield enjoys a position bj- no means the least among the
centres of invention and development from which have gone forth the
means of increasing five to tenfold the producing capacity of the American
farmer. " Champion City " and the men of genius who have controlled the
Champion system have done their part well and are entitled to a full share
of credit from a grateful people.

The Champion interest was fortunate in having almost from the
first an organization that was unquestionably the strongest in the reaper
industr}', and the result was that the production of Champion reapers and
mowers multiplied until it reached 70,000 machines per j'ear, giving vSpriug-
field the first position in this class; and in the subsequent evolutions of the
trade which have carried down more than half the capital invested in this
industrj' in the United States, the Champion has kept to the front, and
to-day its organization is, if possible, stronger than before, in the hands of
the pioneer house that established the reaper industry in vSpriugfield.

The manufacture of reapers was begun at Springfield in 1850 by Benja-
min H. AVarder. Mr. Warder had come to Ohio from the east at an early day
and settled in Springfield. The water power available here induced him to
establi.sh a saw mill, later a grist mill and woolen mill, and a factorj' for
making small agricultural tools which was soon developed into a reaper
factory, and still later he established a shop for making wagons, plows and
other agricultural implements. The introduction of the hand- rake reaper
by Seymour & Morgan, of Brockport, New York, attracted Mr. Warder's
attention in 1S."J0, and he bought an interest in the patents, paying what
was then considered an enormous sum for an investment of so uncertain a
character, |30,000. He at once began manufacturing this reaper on a large
scale and introduced it throughout Ohio and the west; and a few years later,
when Seymour & INIorgan had perfected the New Yorker self-rake, he took
a license under the patents on it. In this way the reaper industry began at

AMERICAN- AGRICIXTURAL IMPLEMENTS. 211

Springfield, the New Yorker reaper, or combined reaper and mower, as it
•was made by Mr. "Warder, becoming the nucleus of the Champion system.
As the countr\- developed the business grew rapidly and taxed I\Ir. Warder's
resources to the utmost to extend his facilities for manufacturing so as to
keep pace with the demand during the years prior to 18G0, and later, during
the Civil War.

During these years the industry had been gathering recruits. Early in
the "fifties" Mr. Warder associated with himself J. C. Child, adopting
the firm name of Warder & Child, and continued under this style until
Januar}-, 1866. In the meantime Mr. Warder had performed a duty that
few of the manufacturers in his line undertook: he had gone to the front
during the Civil War and serv'ed as lieutenant of a company organized
among his men. In his absence from Springfield the business interests of
his firm were looked after by his partner, Mr. Child, and by Ross Mitchell
and J. J. Glessner. While in the ser\-ice Mr. Warder became intimately
acquainted with A. S. Bushnell, who was serv'ing as captain of the next
company in their regiment. The friendship thus established grew stronger
as the great struggle neared its close and led to Mr. Bushnell becoming
actively interested, iipon his return home, as a partner in the Springfield
business, with which he had been identified in a small way some years
before. In 1866 Warder & Child dissolved and a new firm was organized
under the name of Warder, Mitchell & Co., consisting of B. H. Warder,
Ross Mitchell, A. S. Bushnell and J. J. Glessner. This arrangement expired
by limitation in 1879, and the£rm was then organized as Warder, Bushnell
& Glessner, Mr. Mitchell retiring.

The reaper industry had other recruits also in these earh- days. In 1851
a reaper trial had been held near Springfield, at which all the machines
then in competition in the trade were entered. A young farmer's boy who
witnessed this trial, William X, Whitely, w"as destined to become famous in
later years as identified with the Champion system, winning in fact, the
popular title of the " Reaper King. " In 1852 he built his first machine,
with a view to making a combined reaper and mower. An improved
experimental machine was built by him in 1853, and used in 1854, and in
1854-5 he perfected and began in a small way to manufacture the first suc-
cessful combined self-raking reaper and mower that was put on the market.
This was an important step in the development of har^-esting machinery,
one that was destined to win for its inventor a foremost place and a full
share of credit in the development of the Champion system. In 1856 Mr-
Whitely entered into partnership with Jerome Fassler and O. S. Kelly,
under the name of Whitely, Fassler & Kelly, and thej' began the manufact-
ure of Whitely' s machine, overcoming gradually the difficulties incidental
to pioneer work, and becoming firmly established by 1860. From this time
on the new firm grew in influence, and came into competition with the
older house alongside of which it was working. This competition event-
ually became keen and continued until 1867, when overtures were made for
a division of territory and a consolidation of their machine interests, so
that each house could conduct its business without demoralizing rivalry-.
Recognizing valuable features in Whitely' s machine, the Warder interest

212 AMERICAN' AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS.

readily assented to this proposition and terms were agreed upon in the fall
of 18C7. In carrj-ing out the plan the Champion Machine Company was
organized to handle territory ceded to it by the two old houses, and Mr.
Whitely's brother became prominent in it.

This consolidation of interests was a fortunate step. It gave to Spring-
field a strength of organization that was possessed b}' no other pioneer
manufacturing center in the entire industrj-. By its terms Mr. Warder and
his associates had the lead in the biisiness management of the Champion
interests, Mr. Whitely was placed at the head of experimental work for the
three houses, and Mr. Fassler, unexcelled as a mechanic and superinten-
dent, organized their factor}^ methods. The needs of the west for harvest-
ing machinen.' gave a new impetus to the demand for the Champion, and
after eighteen years of pioneer work Warder, Mitchell & Co. were able to
accumulate a surplus beyond the requirements for enlarging their facilities.
Hitherto their business had absorbed in its growth all the profits that could
be made from the manufacture and sale of their machines. Springfield
sent out better machines than ever before, and was able to market them to
better advantage. The good points of both systems were combined in the
new Champion interest and a series of improvements was begun that far
increased their lead in the reaper industrj". The use of malleable iron in
machine construction was introduced in the trade by the Champion inter-
est, a malleable iron foundrv- having been established in 1874 by the three
houses. A few years later an equally important step was taken in the intro-
duction of steel construction in their reapers. The Champion interest was
also noted for the care given to details in the manufacture of their machinery
and for the high grade of materials which they used. Still another influ-
ence that has operated in Springfield's favor, and that becomes more
striking as the years pass, is that her workmen have "grown up "to the
har\'esting machine industry, and are familiar with its details from their
boyhood. They are almost entirely American born, and having been bred to
this business have a peculiar adaptation to it, and their industrious habits
and high character have without doubt imparted, in some degree, at least,
a higher character to the machines they make.

It was the original intention of the parties to the consolidation of 1867
that the Warder interest should in time (after a certain number of machines
had been manufactured), assume control of the business management and
the entire trade of the Champion interest, but this agreement was not carried
out, and the three divisions of territon,- and three business organizations
were kept distinct until the lamentable failure of Whitely, Fassler & Kelly
in 1887, and the withdrawal of the Champion Machine Company from the
business. At this time, however, Warder, Bushnell & Glessner purchased
the rights of these two houses, and enlarged their facilities to provide for
the increased obligations in furnishing Champion machinery for the entire
countr}'. To strengthen their position under the new responsibility the
firm incorporated as the Warder, Bushnell & Glessner Company.

The business of the Warder, Bushnell & Glessner Company has increased
steadily from the day it was established by ]\Ir. Warder, in 1850, having had
a gradual, conservative growth, without strikes, financial difficulties or other

AMEKICAX AGKICLLTLRAL IMPLEMENTS.

21c

OUTLINE VIEW OF CHAMPION MOWER SHO-^'ING THE ONLY GEARING USED
THE POLE, SKAT, ETC., ARE REMOVED.

THE NE%V CH.AMPION BINDER.

ELEVATOR ON NEW CHAMPION HARVESTER. THE DEFLECTION OF THE UPPER CANVAS CHANGES
THE DIRECTION OF THE FLOW OF THE GRAIN AND FEEDS THE GRAIN INTO THE PACKERS.

214 AMERICAN AGRICUI.TURAI. IMPLEMENTS.

set-backs. For a, generation they have operated one of the very largest fac-
tories in the world, and they have made as many machines during their
career as any other harvesting machine house. Their machines have always
been the best that mechanical ingenuity and skill could make from the best
material obtainable, and the company's financial position, as a result of
their long and successful career, is second to none, a circumstance that
augurs well for the future of the Champion. Mr. Warder is one of the two
survivors of the pioneers in the reaper industry, and though he no longer
takes an active part in the management he retains his financial interest.

Their facilities for manufacturing have been enlarged from year to year,
the latest step in this direction having been the erection during the past
year of a mammoth foundry. This building is more than 1,000 feet in
length, covering about two acres, and is equipped with the latest mechan-
ical devices for facilitating work, including a system of heating and ven-
tilation that changes the atmosphere once in five minutes and carries away
the smoke and gases that have hitherto made foundries so disagreeable.
These annual improvements are necessary because the Champion is increas-
ing its hold upon the machine trade of the world, and Champion machines
are now supplied only by the Warder, Bushnell «Sc Glessuer Company.

The Champion machines are noted for their "distinctive" features.
For the purpose of this sketch mention need only be made of two: the
peculiar gear of the Champion mower, and the improved elevator which
distinguishes the Champion binder. Their mower is popularly known in
the machine trade by the name "wobble gear." This device performs with
two gear-wheels the work of multiplying the speed of the driving-axle to
that required for the pitman. These wheels are in mesh, facing each other,
and one revolves with the driving-wheel, while the other remains station-
arv, except for the "wobbling" or winding motion that is transmitted to it
bv the driving gear, of which only a portion is in mesh at one time. One
of the wheels has forty-eight cogs and the other forty-six, and the speed is
multiplied twenty -three times. The gear is simplicity in itself, and mini-
mizes friction, which reduces the draft very considerably.

The illustration shows the principle of the new Champion elevator quite
clearly. In the standard elevator the lower canvas extends above the table,
and the straw is likely to fall back so as to be carried down by the slats on
the returning canvas. In this new elevator the lower canvas is shorter, and
the grain in its upward course readily passes the opening between the
roller and the curved or arched extension of the table.

HAY RAKES AND TEDDERS.

The business of the Thomas Manufacturing Company at Springfield,
O., was established by J. H. Thomas & Sons, in 1873, in the manufacture of
the Thomas rake. Other styles of rakes were added in later j-ears. Hay
tedders were introduced in 1882; lawn-mowers and iron pumps in 1886; the
Thomas disk harrow in 1892; and for 1894 they announce the Thomas hay-
loader. The business was incorporated by the Thomas INIanufacturing
Company in 1886, with John H. Thomas as president and W. S. Thomas,
his son, as secretarv and treasurer.

AMERICAN AORICULTIKAI. IMPLEMENTS. 215

IRON TURBINE WIXD-MILLS.

The business of ^last, Foos & Co., at Spriugfield, O., was established
in lalo, the firm incorporating under the present name in 1880. Their
product at first was the Anderson boiler, which they afterwards discon-
tinued making. In 1870 they commenced the manufacture of the iron
turbine wind-engine; in 1877, lawn-mowers, and in 1878, Buckeye pumps.
Wrought-iron fence, cresting and ornamental iron-work were introduced in

1882, and in 1892 the Columbia steel wind-mill was brought out. P. P.
Mast is president and J. W. Crane secretarj' and treasurer.

A PIONEER THRESHER HOUSE.

The manufacture of threshing machinery was begun at Springfield, O.,
in 1845, by John A. Pitts, one of the brothers who were the inventors of
the "endless apron" thresher. The business underwent many changes,
having been conducted by Pitts & r^IcUennan, by IVIcLennan, Cushman &
Rinehart, b}' Rinehart, Ballard & Co., the Springfield Engine & Thresher
Company, and now by the O. S. Kelly Company. The manufacture of
engines was begun in 1883, and the Kelly duplex grinding-mill was intro-
duced in 1887. The O. S. Kelh- Company began the manufacture of steam
road rollers in 1890, and this is now an important branch of their business,
which includes the manufacture of threshing machines, swinging stackers,
portable and traction engines, horse powers and steam road rollers.

GRINDING MILLS AND CORN HARVESTERS.

The Foos Manufacturing Company was established in Springfield, in

1883, for the manufacture of the Scientific grinding mills. In 1890 they
commenced the manufacture of sled corn hars^esters, and introduced a line
of corn planters in 1892. G. S. Foos is president; R. H. Foos, vice-presi-
dent; W. F. Foos, treasurer: H. S. Bradley, secretary, and James F. Win-
chell. superintendent.

PIONEERS IN ENSILAGE CUTTERS.

The E. W. Ross Company of Springfield, are pioneers in the manufact-
ure of ensilage cutters in this country. The nucleus of their present business
was established at Fvilton, N. Y., in 1851, by E. P. Ross. Hay and fodder
cutters were manufactured on a considerable scale at that time, in connection
with a jobbing and repair business in machinerj-. A few years later Mr.
Ross became interested in paper mill machiner)-, but continued the manu"
facture of feed cutters, and in 1877 or 1878 made and put out the first ensi-
lage cutters. In 1885 the concern removed to Springfield, O., and during the
past five years has added a large line of sweep and tread powers, grinding
mills and other implements. In 1890 the business was incorporated under
the name of the E. W. Ross Company, with E. W. Ross, a son of E. P.
Ross, as president. Since the death of E. W. Ross in 1892 the presidency
has devolved upon his widow, M. F. Ross. N. Fitch is vice-president and
general manager and S. E. Lincoln, secretary.

216 AMERICAN AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS.

A PIONEER GRAIN DRILL HOUSE.
The business of P. P. Ma.st& Co.. at Springfield, was established in 1856
by John H. Thomas and P. P. Mast, under the firm name of Thomas &
Mast. The lines of manufacture in which they first engaged were grain drills
and cider mills, but they soon after became interested in other implements.
Early in the "sixties" they began making straddle row cultivators, and took
out many patents covering improvements in this line. In 1871 Thomas &
Mast dissolved partnership and the business was continued under the pres-
ent name, P. P. Mast & Co. The firm is now incorporated, with P. P.
Mast as president and C. R. Crain as secretary and treasurer.

DOUBLE DISTRIBUTER GRAIN DRILLS.
The business of the Superior Drill Co. was established at Springfield in
18H7 by Ferrell, Ludlow & Rodgers, in the manufacture of grain drills under
the "double distributer" patents of C. E. Patric. In 1872 John H. Thomas
purchased the interest of Ferrell and the firm became Thomas, Ludlow &
Rodgers. A reorganization took place in 1883, when the firm incorporated
as the Superior Drill Co. INIany improvements have been made in force
feed grain drills, the most important of which is the disk wheel for regulat-
ing the amount of grain to be sown. This device was patented by Mr
Patric in 1881.

Mansfield, 0.

THE AULTMAN & TAYLOR MACHINERY COMPANY.

THE manufacture of Aultman & Taylor threshers was established in
1867 at Mansfield, O., by Cornelius Aultman and H. H. Taylor, under
the name of the Aultman & Taylor Company. Mr. Aultman was one of
Ohio's pioneer manufacturers as the head of the firm of C. Aultman & Co.,
at Canton, where the Buckeye mower was developed and for many years
manufactured, and also "endless apron" threshers, horse-powers, and
other lines of agricultural implements. Henry Hobart Taylor had taken
the general agency at Chicago for C. Aultman & Co. in I860, and had built
up a large jobbing business in agricultural implements at the time the
Aultman & Taylor Company was organized. Recognizing the elements of
success in the new "vibrator" threshers, Mr. Taylor succeeded in enlisting
IMr. Aultman in this enterprise. The new machines, under the trade-mark
name of the "starved rooster," soon became well known, and the company
has become one of the largest in the thresher industry. The house is now
incorporated as the Aultman & Taylor Machinery Company.

Dayton, 0.

THE firm of WeusthoflF&. Getz, in 1870, laid the foundation of the busi-
ness that is now conducted by the Farmers Friend Manufacturing
Company, at Dayton, it having been incorporated under the present name
in 1870. Grain drills have been manufactured from the first. In 1879 a
line of corn planters was added, spring tooth harrows being introduced in
18S6, and hay loaders and lawn mowers in 1888. The only important change
in the management of the business was in 1887, when J. W. Stoddard, of the
Stoddard Manufacturing Compan}-, became president V. P. Van Home is
secretary and J. F. Campbell, treasurer.

The business of the Stoddard Manufacturing Co., at Dayton, was
established in 1875, by J. W. Stoddard & Co., the firm consisting of J. W.
and E. F. Stoddard and W. A. Scott. The Tiger hay rake was one of the
first implements introduced by the firm, and they have since added other
styles of rakes. They were among the earliest manufacturers of disk har-
rows, and it is still a large department of their business Recently the
Havana press drill has been introduced and also the Beck side delivery hay

rake.

217

Ashland, 0.

HAYING TOOLS AND PUMPS.

FE. MYERS &: BRO. of Ashland, O.. were one of the pioneer houses
• in haying tools, represented at the Columbian Exposition. One of
the first patents issued on steel track was to P. A. ISIyers in 1884, and a

later invention, double
rail steel track, has
been generally intro-
duced by this firm, as
well as reversible car-
riers and other lines
of haying tools. F.
E. Myers became in-
terested in the imple-
ment trade in 1870,
and in 1876 he and his
brother, P. A., estab-
lished an implement
store in Ashland, one
of the most complete
of its kind in the state.
This and other interests led them
to begin manufacturing a few
years later. They became inter-
ested also in pumps, and in 1883
P. A. Myers invented the glass
valve seat which has become so
well known in the trade as used
in ^Myers pumps. From this time
on their manufacturing interests
enlarged and F. E. ^Myers & Bro.
have become known among the
leading manufacturers of Ohio.
They are largely interested in the
Bucher & Gibbs Plow Company,
■^ f A I \/ ^i^^ms °^ Canton, F. E. Myers having

^ '^ C. become identified with this house

THE MYERS GLASS VALVE SEAT. , i • r i-L I,

by traveling for them, becoming
their superintendent of agencies in 1885, at the time of their incorporation.

THE MYERS REVERSIBLE UAY CARRIER.

Hoosick Falls, N. Y.

THE WALTER A. WOOD REAPER AND MOWER INDUSTRY.

NO name has become better known to the world than that of Walter A.
Wood. The highest honors that can fall to any man were his, and at his
death a wave of sympathy flashed from continent to continent, finding no-
where a community iu which the news might be welcome, as would be the
death of some great general who had wrought devastation and misery.
Walter A. Wood lived the peaceful life of an American citizen; and the
admiration of all who knew him, for his high character and sterling integ-
rity, was only surpassed by the homage paid him as one of the foremost of
America's inventors and business men. As a result of his genius and indus-
try Hoosick Falls has become one of the best known manufacturing cities
in the world. Beginning iu a small shop, with limited capital, the manu-
facture of mowers and reapers, established by him, grew until the shores of
the American continent were no longer the boundaries of the people favored
by the possession of his improved machinery. Wherever grass and grain
were grown the name of Walter A. Wood became known and his machines
were foremost in foreign lands among the inventions that have given the
American people the reputation they enjoy for ingenuity and skill.

Mr. Wood was of New Hampshire birth and in his earh' years assisted
his father at wagon and plow making, developing great mechanical skill
and taste. When twenty-one years of age he left home for Hoosick Falls
where he engaged in the blacksmithing department of the manufacturing
establishment of Parsons «S: Wilder. Here he remained about four years
and gained the reputation of being the best workman in the shop. He then
went to Tennessee and after a time engaged in wagon making, during which
ser\-ice he wrought the iron work for a carriage of President James K. Polk.
Returning to Hoosick Falls, he entered into partnership with John White,
under the name of White & Wood, in the manufacture of plows and other
foundry products, continuing until the fall of 1852, when this connection
was severed.

At this time Mr. Wood became associated with J. Russell Parsons in the
firm of Wood & Parsons, for the manufacture of mowing and reaping
machines under the patents of John H. Manny, of Illinois, the firm having
purchased the rights under the Manny patents for the state of New York.
The following year Wood & Parsons dissolved partnership and the business
was continued by Walter A. Wood, who, as his biographer has said, "Had
at last found the proper field for the exercise of his inventive genius, indom.
itable energ}' and tireless industry-." In 1855 Mr. Wood purchased the
Tremont cotton mills and fitted up the buildings for the manufacture of his

219

*2l'0 AMERICAN AGRICUI.TURAI, IMPI.KMEXTS.

reapers and mowers. The original Manny machine was a crude affair and
would scarcely be recognized as a reaper by the farmer of to-day, but Mr.
Wood's inventive genius soon wrought important changes, amounting to a
revolixtion, in its design and construction.

The first Walter A. Wood machine was introduced into England in
1856, where its initial work was done on the estate of the late Prince Con-
sort at Windsor. It soon becnme well-known in England and an agency
was establi.shed in London for its sale, this laying the foundation for the
enormous foreign trade that the company have since developed.

In 18G0 fire swept away their buildings at Hoosick Falls, but they were
rebuilt in time for the next harvest. In 1861 the first self-raking reaper put
on the market under Mr. Wood's patents was introduced, important
improvements being made in its design in 1863. In 1865 the demand for
Mr. Wood's machines had increased so considerablj' that it was necessary
to greatly enlarge their facilities for manufacturing, and the business was
incorporated under the name of the Walter A. Wood Mowing & Reaping
Machine Company, of which Mr. Wood became president, holding that
office until his death in 1892.

In 1870 the works were again entirely destroyed by fire, but, fortunately,
an adjoining mill building had been acquired the year previous, and it was
possible to fit this up and partially supply the demand of the harvest of
1870. The works were then rebuilt on a far larger scale and with a conven-
ience of arrangement that was possible in laj-ing an entirely new plant.
From this time on, as the influence of the house grew throughout the
world, new buildings and additions were required, until to-day the works
rank among the very largest of the world's factories. In the meantime
Mr. Wood had brought out several machines that were destined to play
an important part in the history of harvesting machinery.

The first automatic grain-binder ever put on the market was the Locke
machine made by the Walter A. Wood Company. As early as 1861 Sylvanus
D. Locke, to whom the invention of the machine is to be accredited, began
experiments looking to a machine that would bind grain with wire; and he
continued in this effort until 1809. In 1870 the first machine of this type
that was fully successful was put in the field near Hoosick Falls, INIr. Wood
having arranged in 1869 to take up the burden of introducing it on the
market. The fire of that year prevented extensive experiments, but in the
two succeeding years considerable work was done. In 1874 twenty-five
machines were built; in 1875 three hundred; in 1876 twelve hundred, and
in 1877 three thousand machines. In 1878 the Walter A. Wood enclosed
gear mower was introduced, the sales of which have since run into the
hundreds of thousands.

Many other important machines have been designed and perfected at
the Hoosick Falls works, making the line of the Walter A. Wood Company
complete in mowers, reapers and binders. Probably their greatest success
in pioneer work has been achieved with the Holmes twine-binder, which
divides the honors with the Appleby type of machine in the harvest fields
of the world. There are many distinctive features in the Holmes binder,
the chief of these being in the rotary packer, in the style of knotter that

AMERICAN- AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS.

?21

WALTER A. WOOD "ENCLOSED GEAR" MOWER.

WALTER A. WOOD " TUBULAR STEEL" REAPER.

222 AMERICAN AGRICULTURAI, IMPI^EMENTS.

is used and in the dischargers. The packers in use on the Appleby binder
are reciprocating, while those in the Wood binder rotate and are contin-
uously in contact with the grain, causing less vibration. The knot-tying
device of this binder is reciprocating, and many advantages are claimed
for it in simplicity of operation. The dischargers operate in a way that
does not permit of winding, so that the bundle carrier may be piled high
with sheaves. Still other important features are noticeable in this binder,
but it would be impossible to describe them in detail. They are well
known to all who are in the field, or who are familiar with this class of
machinery.

The company have lately introduced the Walter A. Wood tubular steel
mower. The remarkable feature of this machine is that it is constructed
almost wholly of steel, the frame being made of steel tubing. The wheels
of this mower are of steel, made under special machinery. The axle is of
steel, and has no holes to weaken it. The tread of the machine is change-
able, for different widths of cut, this adjustment being secured b}' apeculiar
device, the Wood "axle-exteusion." The bar is so hung that the guards
rise easily over obstructions, and at the same time the sections droop in front.
Lightness of draft is a special aim in this mower, and is gained by the large
journals used, with brass bushings, and by making every point in the con-
struction of the machine conform to the highest possible standard. Asa
result the tubular steel mower has become known as the leader of light
draft machines. The Wood "tubular steel" reaper has become favorably
known throughout the world, and scarcely needs comment. It is an excel-
lent machine, and has done good work in ever}- part of the world where
grain is grown.

It is doubtful if any American house has taken more medals and awards
at international expositions than the Walter A. Wood Company. Certainly
no manufacturer of harvesting machinery has done so. In 1862, at the first
international trial of harvesting machines held in England, the Wood
machines were awarded the "medal of merit," the highest honor conferred
by the Society of Arts of England. In 1867, at the Paris Universal Expo-
sition, the Wood machines were awarded the "iron and gold medal of
honor," the highest distinction conferred, and they won in addition the
first prize in the great international field trial. The next victory was in
Vienna, in 1873, at the International Exposition, where a "grand diploma of
honor" was awarded to Wood. A like award was made at the Centennial
Exposition at Philadelphia, in 1876. At the Paris Exposition of 1889 Mr.
Wood took the first honors for his standard binders, and exhibited and suc-
cessfully operated his straw-binder. Altogether the Walter A. Wood
machines have been awarded about 1,200 medals by various expositions and
societies.

AMERICAN AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS.

22S

.•ALTER A. WOOD "SIN'GLE APRON" BIXPER IN GRAIN.

Auburn, N. Y.

THK OSBORNE SYSTEM OF HARVESTING MACHINERY.

AUBURN, New York, has been known for nearly forty years as one of
the leading cities of the world in the development and manufacture
of grain and grass cutting machinery. It was in western New York, in a
section of country tributary to Auburn, that Ketchum and Eor1)u.sh and
Kirby conceived and worked out in practice the vital principles of the old
rigid bar mowers, and it was here that features vital to a self-raking reaper
were invented and perfected. At an early period of this development
D. M. Osborne was associated at Buffalo with Forbush and Kirby, and while
he was not an inventor, he had a talent as indispensable to the future of the
reaper and mower industry — the faculty of discriminating between the
good features and the worthless in these various inventions that were con-
ceived by his associates. Under Mr. Osborne's wise leadership and guid-
ance, whatever was good in these machines was preserved and fused into a
composite design, and in this way abortive efforts and the work of inventors
who were ahead of their time were made to bear fruit. Mr. Osborne proved
to be a born leader of men, and his business and mechanical ability were
of so high an order and combined in so rare a degree that within a few
years he had built up out of chaos a perfectly organized system of machinery,
and reapers and mowers bearing his name were in use in all parts of the
world.

It was in 1855 that Mr. Osborne met \V. A. Kirby in BuflFalo, about the
time that Kirby' s patents were issued on a new style of mower that he had
invented. Mr. Osborne encouraged Kirby to persevere in his efforts to get
his machine on the market, with the result that seven machines were put
out in the harvest of 185(5. The success of these machines was such as to
convince Mr. Osborne of their merit and he borrowed the money necessary,
$4,000, and purchased the interest in the patents of parties who had been
associated with Kirby. The next year, 1857, two hundred machines were
built, and though they were naturally imperfect in mechanical details of
construction as compared with machines that had been longer on the mar-
ket, the second prize was won at the great United States trial at Syracuse
by one of them. At the end of the year Mr. Osborne had made enough
money to pay off the debts that he had incurred and arrangements were
made to manufacture the machines on a larger scale. In December, 1857,
Oliver T. Holbrook, of Rushville, N. Y., became interested in the business,
advancing considerable money needed to carry on manufacturing at Auburn,
where the machines were built for the next harvest, in the shops of O. H.
Burdick. In the fall of 1858 Mr. Osborne associated with himself Charles P.
Wood and Cyrus C. Dennis as partners, under the firm name of D. M.
Osborne & Co., and they took possession of the Burdick shop.

The partnership referred to lasted four vears. In November, 18G2, the

224

AMERICAN AGRICULTURAL IMPI.KMKNTS. 225

firm dissolved and 'Sir. Wood retired with some |2o,000 as his share of the
profits. Mr. Osborne and Mr. Dennis then formed a new partnership under
the old name, D. M. Osborne & Co., to which John H. Osborne was admit-
ted in 1805. The close of the civil war marked an important change in the
life of the northern people. The improved agricultural implements that
had been brought into use had taken the places on the farm of the soldiers
who were at the front, and they, returning home to find their occupation
gone, turned their attention to the nation's undeveloped resources. They
went to the far west, and with the aid of improved machinery such as had
supplanted them at home, began the work of subduing the prairie soil.
Mr. Osborne's business was bound to grow with the country, and his atten-
tion was turned early to this new development in the west. A branch
house had been established at Philadelphia, and now another large agency
was opened in Chicago. Later came the third in St. Louis, and a fourth in
Cleveland. In 186'3 the death of Mr. Dennis dissolved the partnership, but
a new firm was organized, O. H. Burdick taking Mr. Dennis' place.

In 1866 occurred one of the most important events in the history- of the
agricultural implement industry, the great reaper trial at Auburn, held
under the auspices of the New York State Agricultural Society. There
were entered in competition 44 mowers and 30 reapers. The list of judges
included several eminent men, among them Ezra Cornell, of Ithaca. D.
M. Osborne & Co. won the first prize for a hand-raking reaper, and second
prize for a one-horse mower.

In 1872 Mr. Osborne carried out a purpose he had long kept in mind,
to take an extended trip abroad, and make better arrangements in the
principal foreign countries for the sale of his goods. As a result of this
trip European agencies were established at Bremen, Paris, Liverpool and
other points, and the next year a large exhibit was made at the Vienna
Exposition. This laid the foundation for an extensive foreign trade that is
still on the increase, having far exceeded the boundaries that were origin-
ally in view.

In 1875 D. jNI. Osborne & Co. absorbed the business of the Cayuga Chief
Manufacturing Company, and in this way secured an important addition to
the Osborne system of machinery. The organization of the company then
stood as follows: D. M. Osborne, president; J. H. Osborne, secretary, and
A. G. Beardsley, treasurer.

In the fall of 1876 Mr. Osborne met at the Centennial James F. Gordon,
the famous inventor, who had been experimenting since 1869 with his wire-
binder. Arrangements were made with Gordon and his brother by which
they came to Auburn to build a self-binding harvester. The success of their
work was demonstrated in the harvest of 1877, in which was witnessed an
important revolution in the reaper industry. The wire-binder not onlj-
proved to be a successful machine in the field, but increased largely the
demand for harvesting machinery, and paved the way for the introduction
of the twine-binder, which brought a still more remarkable increase in the
number of farmers who undertook to equip themselves with improved
machinery.

In the sudden revolution in harvesting machinerv that followed the

226 AMERICAN AGRICLXTURAI< I MPI,KMKNTS.

invention of the Appleby binder, Mr. Osborne played a prominent part.
His first machine, placed on the market in 1882, was a modification of the
Gordon binder, adapted to use twine instead of wire. The experience of
that year, however, demonstrated the superiorit)^ of the Appleby machine,
and Mr. Osborne took a license to build it. Not content with the standard
machine as generally made at that time, he set about improving it, and the
remaining years of his life were given to its development. That they were
fruitful years may be known by the fact that the Osborne machine was the
first in the field with a steel frame, an improvement of far-reaching impor-
tance. It has ever since been a subject of remark among machine men
that just as he had overcome the difficulties incident to pioneer work with
a new invention, especially after the change to steel, in which he led the
industry, his health should have entirely failed him, death following a few
months after. But the legacy which Mr. Osborne left the world in the
Osborne system of harvesting machinery is a sufficient monument to his
name, one that will endure as long as grass and grain are grown.

The new Osborne twine binder retains the distinctive features that Mr.
Osborne left upon it, with improvements that might be expected from the
fertile minds of the experts who survive him, and whose lives are pledged
to maintain the standard that he set up.

The peculiar construction of the steel frame is retained in the steel
angles put together with malleable corner irons and held by steel bolts and
nuts, making it well-nigh indestructible and preventing any sagging or
springing. The sickle is driven in front by a straight drive, in a simple
and eflFective manner, directly from the crank-shaft in front of the drive-
wheel, thus securing great power. In the Osborne knotter a swinging disk
or twine-holder is used. The most difficult problem in a knotter is to be
able to tie successfully the different qualities of twine found on the market.
This swinging disk enables any kind of twine, large or small, to be used.
When the twine is closed in the disk, and as the knotter begins to tie, the
disk rises and yields the twine to the knotter-hook. With this swinging
disk but little strain is left on the twine, except that due to the expansion
of the bundle when it is discharged by the binder. The machine is
equipped with all of the latest devices in the tilting apparatus, the steel
sheaf-carrier, transportation trucks and the clover and flax attachment.

The Osborne No. 4 mower has many points of excellence. The main
frame is cast in one piece, and is compact and strong, thus insuring easy and
steady motion of crank-head pitman. There are four pawls in the drive-
wheel, which are interchangeable. They take up all lost motion, the
knives are kept in constant motion, clogging cannot occur, and the knives
are set in motion the moment the horses start. The gearing is completely
inclosed, excluding all wet or dust.

At Mr. Osborne's death the presidency of the company devolved upon
his son, T. M. Osborne, who has risen to the difficulties of his position with
an energy that augurs well for the future of the Osborne system. J. H.
Osborne, a brother of the late president, is secretary, and E. D. Metcalf
treasurer

AMERICAN AGRICrLTURAL IMPLEMENTS.

227

THE OSBORNE NO. 4 MOWER.

THE OSBORNE TWINE BINDING HARVESTER

Brockport, N. Y.

THE OLDEST REAPER FACTORY IN THE WORLD.

THE oldest reaper factory in the world is located at Brockport, N. Y. In
1844 Seymour & Morgan established a shop at Brockport, known as
the Globe Works, for the manufacture of agricultural implements, and
quite a business was built up. The beginning of the manufacture of reap-
ers on a successful scale dates from the time that Cyrus H. McCormick was
induced to come to Brockport to build his machines.

Mr. McCormick had met, while in W'ashington attending to his patents,
the Hon. E. B. Holmes, member of Congress from Brockport, who told him
about these new works and of the men in charge, and advised him to go
there. The machine which he brought with him for the inspection of
Seymour & Morgan was very crude. There was no driver's seat, and the
man who raked off walked along beside Lhe platform. The gearing was
imperfect, and the sickle was but a thin, straight strip of steel, on the front
edge serrated reversely every four or five inches of its length, and liable to be
clogged at the slightest provocation. Yet, though so coarse, immature and
imperfect, it was a machine with which it was possible to cut grain when
the conditions were all favorable. Various trials, however, suggested vari-
ous improvements. It was cut down a little here, strengthened a little
there, and generally brought into better form. The raker sat astride a sad-
dle provided for him in rear of gearing and used an ordinary hand-rake;
but the driver rode a horse or walked, for still there was no seat. The
result of the negotiations and experiments was that an arrangement was
made whereby Seymour & Morgan engaged themselves to build a quantity
of IMcCormick's reapers, as improved, for the following season's harvest;
and in pursuance of this arrangement there were built at the old Globe
Works by Seymour & Morgan for the harvest of 1846, one hundred of
these reapers, the first quantity of harvesting machines ever built by one con-
cern, put upon the market and sold; and thus the old Globe Works
became the first reaper factory in the world.

As an example of the undeveloped condition of manufacture at that
time, it may be stated that a portion of the peculiar spear-shaped guard-
fingers of this first hundred machines was let out to country blacksmiths in
the vicinity, who forged them for twenty-four cents each, and the machine
bolts also at four and a half cents; the iron, cut to proper length for each,
having been furnished them by Seymour & Morgan. The next year by the
use of swages the guard-fingers were made at the shops and at less than half
the cost. A little later they made them of cast iron; and thus the first
guard-fingers were brought out.

AMERICAN AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS. 229

The manufacture of these crude reapers was a bold venture on the part
of Seymour & Morgan, and required unusual nerve, which both had in a
high degree, but Dayton S. Morgan, the junior member, had, in addition to
his push and energy, a prescient eye; he saw in the new machine its promises
and possibilities, and he took his share of the risk with the fullest faith in
his foresight. Reaping by machiner\', incredible as may now seem the
statement, was then considered by most people who claimed an average
share of intelligence and common-sense, entirely impracticable, and it was
difficult indeed to find parties with sufficient boldness or pluck and energy
to undertake the hazardous enterprise of building reapers, and quite as diffi-
cult to prevail upon farmers to take the chances of cutting their grain with
them, or to look favorably upou such an innovation. But the hundred
machines made that year operated successfull}-; they were sold aud settled
for, aud their advent inaugurated a revolution in the manner of cutting and
harvesting grain, for up to that time the cradle had been the most improved
implement used for the purpose.

Seymour & Morgan continued the manufacture ofMcCormick machines
under license until 1848, when the original patent expired. They then
introduced the reaper known as the "New Yorker," which gained a world-
wide reputation, and was universally acknowledged as the best machine of
its day. It was a hand-raking reaper, with stand for raker and forker, seat
for the driver, aud with scalloped serrated sectional sickle substantially the
same as now used. For the harvest of 1851 they ventured to make 500 of
these machines; and people wondered how and where they could possibly
be sold. About this time Mr. Morgan purchased of Mr. Seymour the patents
that controlled this reaper. Later it was made a combined reaper and
mower and was put upon the market extensively. Meantime a self-raking
attachment had been invented and developed for the machine. The first
application of the quadrant platform aud automatic rake to the New Yorker
was made in 1850, and the first in use in the harvest of that year. Further
tests were satisfactorily continued in 1851, and in the years following by
putting out a- few which were the first successful "self-rakers" on the mar-
ket; and in 1854 the manufacture of the "New Yorker self-raker" in quan-
tities for the trade became the regular business of the concern.

Sej^mour & Morgan are thus entitled to the rank of the pioneer house
in reapers, as they not only built the first lot of fully successful hand-raking
machines, but were the first also to make and introduce self-rake reapers.

Shortsville, N. Y.

THE EMPIRE DRILL COMPANY AND THE "FORCE FEED."

WESTERN New York has been famous for fifty years or more as a wheat
producing centre, and at one time stood pre-eminent for the quality
of the flour made from wheat ejrown there. Until the decline in value of
this cereal in recent years it formed the principal crop of the western New
York farmer, and Rochester, commanding the Genesee valley, became
known as the Flour City. The demand for land in this garden spot led to
a high valuation at an early day and this in turn stimulated the farmers to
more careful methods, so that the western New Yorker became noted for
his thoroughness and scientific farming. These were ideal conditions for
the germination of new inventions, with a view to labor saving on the farm
or the more thorough performance of farm work, and hence it was that
western New York produced so many noted inventors like Ketcham,
Forbush, Kirby, Cyrenus Wheeler and others in the reaper industry and at
an earlier day Jethro Wood, the inventor of the cast plow.

The force feed is the most important invention that has been produced
in the drill industry in America, and this has been developed in western
New York from the crude device of the first inventor, who conceived the
idea and gave the name "force feed" to his invention, down to the latest
mysterious improvement, by which the same adjustment that "sows two
bushels of oats per acre will sow two bushels of wheat or any other small
grain, upon the same area." To the practical drill man the feed is the vital
principle, the "life" of a grain drill, and the invention of the first crude
force feed may be said to have begun an era in this industry, the device
having been improved from time to time until to-day it successfully per-
forms the duty indicated by its name.

Gilbert Jessup was the pioneer inventor in this line, and Foster, Jessup
& Brown were the manufacturers who introduced his invention to the
world. It was a crude affair, having only a rotary disk with teeth or pro-
jections for carrying the grain from the hopper to the discharging cup, but
it furnished a skeleton on which to build later improvements. Early in the
' 'sixties' ' Jessup patented a new style of feed, practically a double distributer,
having internal and external runs, the internal chamber or run having been
used in it for the first time.

In 1854 H. L. and C. P. Brown withdrew from the firm of Foster, Jessup

& Brown and removed to Shortsville, N. Y. , where they established the

manufacture of drills, operating under these two patents, in which they

were interested. In this enterprise they were eminently successful and

were able to build up a considerable demand for the new force feed grain

230

AMERICAN AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS.

231

2;52 AMERICAN AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS.

drill. In 1866 another important step was taken in the invention of a feed
embodying a distributer with a single internal chamber or run adjusted to
sow varying quantities of grain by changing the .speed at which it was
driven. This new invention at once became popular and was known to the
trade as the Empire feed. The first style of feed which they made under
Jessup's patent had been known as the Brown run and Jessup's second
invention as the Jessup run or feed. Improvements in this new Empire feed
were made from time to time with a view to making it a mechanically exact
force feed. The great difficulty to be overcome was that in this, as in all
other devices for distributing grain in measured quantities, there was a
slight variation in the amount sowed per acre of oats as compared with
wheat or other small grain. After a long series of experiments this diffi-
culty was overcome and in 1878 the Empire feed was introduced in substan-
tially the same style as it is known to-day.

The business at Shortsville was continued under the style H. L. & C. P.
Brown, until 1877, when Oliver S. Titus and others became interested and
a partnership was formed under the name of the Empire Drill Company.

Schenectady, No Y.

A PIONEER THRESHER HOUSE.

THE Westinghouse Company, of Schenectady, N. Y., is one of the old-
est thresher houses in America, having been established in 1836 by
the late Geo. Westinghouse The first product consisted of tread-powers,
"ground-hog" threshers and fannmg-mills. Various improvements were
made, and in time "separators" were built, and other implements were
also manufactured. The business was conducted by Geo. Westinghouse
individually until 1851, and from 1851 to 1883 by G. Westinghouse & Co.,
his sons joining in the business as partners. In 1883 the house incorpo-
rated as the Westinghouse Company, the surviving sons remaining as prin-
cipals. Various styles of threshing machinery are manufactured for grain,
beans and peas and other crops, and also a rye thresher, with binding
attachment for the straw.

Buffalo, N. Y.

THE PITTS AGRICULTUR-IL WORKS.

THE Pitts Agricultural Works, of Buffalo, were established in 1851, by
John A. Pitts, the noted inventor. Their threshing machines became
widely known as the Buffalo Pitts, the company manufacturing separators
and horse-powers on an extensive scale. They incorporated in 1877, and in
1880 began the manufacture of portable, traction and straw-burning engines.
John A. Pitts died in 1859 and was succeeded by his son, John B. Pitts, and
James Brayley, and later by James Brayley as proprietor of the works.
Carleton Sprague is now president and treasurer; C. M. Greiner, secretary
and J. B. Olmsted, attorney.

Macedon, N. Y.

BICKFORD & HUFFMAN— FERTILIZER GRAIN DRILLS.

BICKFORD & HUFFMAN, of Macedon, are pioneers in the manufacture
of fertilizer grain-drills. They began in 1842 as dealers and jobbers in
agricultural implements, conducting also a repair business and making plows
and other implements. They gradually withdrew from other lines and have
since made a specialty of grain-drills. In 1870 Henry Huffman, the junior
partner, died, leaving his interest in the hands of his widow, who continued
as partner with Lyman Bickford. In 1885 Mr. Bickford sold out to his
partner, then Mrs. Kirkpatricl:, who continued the business under the old
firm name, with G. W. Kirkpatrick as manager, until January, 1893, when
they incorporated as the Bickford & Huffman Company. G. W. Kirkpatrick
is president of the company and W. P. Thistlewaite is secretary and
treasurer.

Philadelphia, Pa.

S. L. ALLEN & CO. AND THE PLANET JR. IMPLEMENTS.

THE business of S. L. Allen & Co., of Philadelphia, manufacturers of
farm garden implements, dates from 1869. At this time S. L. Allen,
who was a farmer and market gardener living a few miles out of Philadel-
phia, invented a number of improved implements, among others a seed drill,
a wheel hoe, a garden plow and a horse hoe. These he had made for a time
for himself and his neighbors at a blacksmith shop near by. Soon after Mr.
Allen began manufacturing on a large scale, and has continued to the pres-
ent time, having associated with him as partners Wm. H. Roberts and E. H.
Richie. The trademarks "Planet Jr." and "Firefly" have become well
known throughout the world.

Waynesboro, Pa.

THE GEISER MANUFACTURING COIMPANY.

IN 1866 Daniel Geiser, now deceased, established at Waynesboro the busi-
ness that was incorporated in 1869 as the Geiser Manufacturing Com-
pany, Mr. Geiser having as associates J. F. Oiler, Benj. E. Price and
Josiah Fahrney. They originally built the Geiser self-regulating threshers
and horse-powers, beginning the manufacture of engines in 1879, when they
purchased the plant of F. F. & A. B. Landis, of Lancaster, Pa. F. F. Landis
took at this time the position of superintendent and in 1889 designed the
New Peerless thresher. The company also make portable eiigines and saw-
mills, and have for several years past had steam plowing outfits on the mar-
ket, using their traction engine. A. E. Price is president; B. E. Price, vice-
president; A. D. Morganthal, secretary; J. J. Oiler, treasurer, and F. F.
Landis, superintendent.

Albion, Mich.

THE GALE MANUFACTURING COMPANY.

THE nucleus of the Gale Manufacturing Company's present business was
established at Albion, in 1864, by Horatio and A. J. Gale and E. C. Hol-
lingsworth. The Gale family had, in fact, begun making plows about fifty
years ago at Hillsdale, Mich., removing later to Jonesville, and finally
coming to Albion. The business grew rapidly and in 1874 was incorporated.
In 1885 the plant was partially destroyed by fire, but was rebuilt and further
enlargements made. In 1887 a syndicate, headed by H. K. White, of Detroit,
and several members of the Gale family, acquired a controlling interest in the
company and infused new life into the management. An entirely new fac-
tory was erected in 1888 on the site of the old shops, with about 150,000
square feet of floor space, and the best of machinery and facilities. In 1890
this company absorbed the business of the Albion Manufacturing Company,
of which Horatio Gale was the head, and added the Albion riding cultiva-
tor, a combination of seven machines in one, to their line, as well as the
Daisy cultivators and Daisy hay rakes. In 1892 the cultivator interests of
the re-organized Castree-Mallery Company, of Flint, Mich., were absorbed,
making an important addition to a line of implements already large, of
which Gale plows and the Big Injun sulky were the nucleus. The present
ofi&cers of the company are: H. K. White, president; A. E. F. White, vice-
president; H. R. Stoepel, secretary and treasurer, and E. C. Lester, superin-
tendent.

Three Rivers, Mich.

ROBERTS, THROP & CO.— THRESHERS AND POWER CORN
SHELLERS.

ROBERTS, THROP & CO., of Three Rivers, are the direct successors of
the firm of Cox & Roberts, who began business at Belleville, 111., in
1848. Mr. Roberts was the inventor and patentee of the "vibrator" threshing
machine, and began its manufacture, removing soon after, in 1855, to Three
Rivers. John A. Throp and Stephen Hibbs became associated with Mr.
Roberts, and in time the firm name, Roberts, Throp & Co., was adopted. The
firm incorporated in 1875 and Mr. Roberts became president, holding that
office until his death, a short time since. The Invincible vibrating
thresher was their leading machine, but in later years they introduced the
Cyrus Roberts power corn-sheller, the Happy Thought potato-digger and a
line of railway specialties.

St. Louis, Mo.

THE KINGSLAND & DOUGLAS MANUFACTURING COMPANY.

THE Kingsland & Douglas Manufactuting Company are one of the oldest
implement houses iu the west. The firm of Kingsland & Ferguson
liegan in 1844 in the manufacture of saw-mills and threshing machinery,
making the old Phoenix thresher of the " ground hog " type, and later the
Cox & Roberts vibrator, and also manufacturing Hedge's corn-shellers. In
1863 they began making the Phoenix cotton gins, and in 186G cotton presses.
At the present time their leading articles of manufacture are the Kingsland
direct acting, steam cylinder, self-packing presses, the Reeder-Hercules
self-packing screw presses, the Elliott Douglas cotton gins, feeders and con-
densers, the Schulze patent pneumatic cotton elevator sy.stems, besides saw-
mills, threshers, cane-mills, corn-shellers and castings of all kinds.

In 1874 the death of George Kingsland, the head of the original firm,
led to the incorporation of the business as the Kingsland & Ferguson Manu-
facturing Company. In 1887 D. K. Ferguson retired and the style was
changed to Kingsland & Douglas Manufacturing Company. L. D. Kings-
land and E. W. Douglas had been the active managers of the business, and
have remained at the head of it.

UnWersity of British Columbia Library

DUE DATE

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NOV U 1986

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