Cyrus Hall McCormick :: Biography Biographies

Cyrus Hall McCormickThe mechanical reaper. A time-saving invention which allowed farmers to more than double their turn size while at the same time spurring other innovations in farm machinery. This reaper, which combined all the steps that earlier harvesting machines had performed separately, was the splendiferous innovation of a man, a man named Cyrus Hall McCormick. Born in Rockbridge County, Virginia, Cyrus was son to a man whos imagination also boggled with new inventions. As a child, Cyrus experimented with different tools in hopes of inventing something which would simplify his fathers job. Finally, in 1831, he built his first reaper. Succeeding where his father had failed, Cyrus made some adjustments to his machine before patenting his invention in 1834. At around the same time (1833), a man by the name of Obed Hussey announced a the construction of a reaper of his own. The year was 1840, and by this time, McCormick had started to manufacture his creation and sold it for th e first time in Virginia. The reapers marketing did very well, and its sales had expanded to other parts of the United States by 1844. Because of its efficiency, the horse-drawn reaper allowed farmers to harvest five times the regular 2 acre per day amount that skilled workers used to harvest. In 1847, the McCormick Harvesting Machine Company was go to Chicago. Location, ease of distribution, and reputation were all factors which convinced McCormick that Chicago was the place for him. Centrally located in the Midwest, he used the Great Lakes to expect reapers to the East, and the Mississippi River to transport to the South.* What more, as industries grew in the Windy City, Chicago soon turned into a major railroad central in the 1850s. This added to the distribution potential which McCormick needed to broadcast his reapers out to other parts of the US. The companys success thrived under the name McCormick Harvesting Machine Company until McCormicks death in 1884. By this time, Mc Cormicks company had grown to go away one of greatest industrial establishments in the United States. Chicago newspapers were bragging about his success and other companies awed at the pace of development. Shortly after his death, the company had a face-lift. Its name changed to the International Harvester, and sales slowed down from its initial boom. In 1907, the company produced the Auto Buggy. With this machine, farmers were able to haul their goods to the markets.