but the first really successful reaper, the first reaper that actually
reaped, was made in the United States. In the summer of 1831, Cyrus
McCormick, a young blacksmith living in the Shenandoah Valley in
Virginia, made a trial of a reaper which he and his father had
invented--how much they had learned from Ogle we do not know--and the
trial was successful (Fig. 9). With two horses he cut six acres of oats
in an afternoon. "Such a thing," says Mr. Casson in his life of
McCormick, "at the time was incredible. It was equal to the work of six
laborers with scythes or twenty-four peasants with sickles. It was as
marvelous as though a man had walked down the street carrying a dray
horse on his back."
Although McCormick had his reaper in successful operation by 1831 he did
not take out a patent for the machine until 1834. One year before this
(in 1833) Obed Hussey, a sailor living in Baltimore, took out a patent
for a reaper that was successful and that was in many respects as famous
a machine as McCormick's. So while McCormick was the first in the field
with his invention, Hussey was the first to secure a patent. The
machines of McCormick and Hussey were very much alike: both had the
platform, the iron bar armed with guards and the long knife moving to
and fro. The most remarkable feature of Hussey's machine was the knife
which consisted of thin triangular plates of steel sharpened on two
edges and riveted side by side upon a flat bar (Fig. 10). The saw-like
teeth of Hussey's knife caught the wheat between the guards and cut it
better than any knife that had as yet appeared. Both the McCormick
reapers and the Hussey reapers were practical and successful and each of
these inventors performed a noble part in giving the world the reaper it
needed.
[Illustration: FIG. 10.--THE KNIFE BLADE OF HUSSEY'S REAPER.]
The McCormick and the Hussey reapers gave new life to farming in the
United States. Especially was the reaper a blessing to the Western
farmers. In 1844 McCormick took a trip through the West, passing through
Ohio, Michigan, Illinois, and Iowa. As he passed through Illinois he saw
how badly the reaper was needed. He saw great fields of ripe wheat
thrown open to be devoured by hogs and cattle because there were not
enough laborers to harvest the crops. The farmers had worked day and
night and their wives and children had worked but they could not harvest
the grain; they had raised more than the scythe and sickle could cut.
McCormick saw that the West was the natural home for the reaper and in
1847 he moved to Chicago, built a factory, and began to make reapers. In
less than a year he had orders for 500 machines and before ten years had
passed he had sold nearly 25,000 reapers. It was these reapers that
caused the frontier line to move westward at the rate of thirty miles a
year.
[Illustration: FIG. 11.--REAPER PROVIDED WITH SEAT FOR THE RAKER.]
Improvements upon the machines of Hussey and McCormick came thick and
fast. One of the first improvements was to remove the grain from the
platform in a better way. With the first machines a man followed the
reaper (Fig. 9) and removed the grain with a rake. Then a seat was
provided and the man sat (Fig. 11) on the reaper and raked off the
grain. Finally the _self-raking_ reaper was invented. In this machine,
as it appeared in its completed form about 1865, the reel and rake were
combined. The reel consisted of a number of revolving arms each of
which carried a rake (Fig. 12). As the arms revolved they not only moved
the standing grain toward the knife, but they also swept the platform
and raked off the wheat in neat bunches ready to be bound into sheaves.
So the self-raking reaper saved the labor of the man who raked the wheat
from the platform.
[Illustration: FIG. 12.--SELF-RAKING REAPER.]
Because it saved the labor of one man the self-raking reaper was for a
time the king of reaping machines. But it did not remain king long, for
soon there came into the harvest fields a reaper that saved the labor of
several men. This was the _self-binder_. With the older machines, as the
grain was raked off the platform it was gathered and bound into sheaves
by men who followed the reaper, one reaper requiring the services of
three or four or five human binders. With the self-binder (Fig. 13) the
grain was gathered into sheaves and neatly tied without the aid of human
hands. At first, wire was used in binding the sheaves but by 1880 most
self-binders were using twine. So the self-binder saved the labor not
only of the man who raked the grain from the platform but it saved the
labor of all the binders as well.
[Illustration: FIG. 13.--A SELF-BINDING REAPER.]
[Illustration: FIG. 14.--A COMBINED HARVESTER AND THRESHER.]
The last step in the development of the reaper was taken when the
_complete harvester_ was invented. This machine cuts the standing grain,
threshes it, winnows[13] it, and places it in sacks (Fig. 14). As this
giant reaper travels over the field one sees on one side the cutting bar
15 to 25 feet in length slicing its way through the wheat, while on the
other side of the machine streams of grain run into sacks which, as fast
as they are filled, are hauled to the barn or to the nearest railway
station. The complete harvester is either drawn by horses--30 or 40 in
number--or by a powerful engine. It cuts and threshes 100 acres of wheat
in a day and the cost is less than 50 cents an acre. It does as much
work in a day as could have been done by a hundred men before the days
of McCormick. Of all the wonderful machines used by farmers the most
wonderful is the complete harvester, the latest and the greatest of
reapers.
FOOTNOTE:
[13] To winnow grain is to separate it from the chaff by a fanning
process.
THE MILL
[Illustration: FIG. 1.--THE FIRST MILL.]
The first mill was a hole made in a stationary rock (Fig. 1). The grain
was placed in the hole and crushed with a stone held in the hand. On
Centre street in Trenton, New Jersey, not many years ago one of these
primitive mills could still be seen and there are evidences that such
mills once existed in all parts of the world. In those places where the
earth did not supply the stationary rock, stones were brought from afar
and hollowed out into cup-like form and in these the grinding was done.
[Illustration: FIG. 2.--THE KNOCKING-STANE.]
The mill which consisted of a hole in a rock and a stone in the hands
was followed by the "knocking-stane" and mallet (Fig. 2). The
"knocking-stane" was a mortar, or cup-shaped vessel made of stone; the
mallet was usually made of wood. The grain was placed in the mortar and
struck repeatedly with the mallet, the beating being kept up until a
coarse flour was produced. This is an exceedingly rude method of
crushing grain, yet this is the way the people in some parts of Scotland
grind their barley at the present time.
[Illustration: FIG. 3.--MORTAR AND PESTLE MILL.]
At a very early date the "knocking-stane" was laid aside for the mortar
and pestle (Fig. 3) almost everywhere. In this mill the grain instead of
being struck with a hammer was pounded with a pestle. The bottom of the
pestle was frequently covered with iron in which grooves were cut. As
the man pounded he found that when he gave the pestle a twirling or
rotary motion as it fell it ground the grain much faster. We may be sure
that after this was learned the twirling motion was always given.
The mortar and pestle were followed by the slab-mill (Fig. 4). Here the
grain was ground by being rubbed between two stones. Dr. Livingstone,
the great African explorer, gives the following description of a
slab-mill which he saw in operation in South Africa. "The operator
kneeling grasps the upper millstone with both hands and works it
backwards and forwards in the hollow of the lower millstone, in the same
way that a baker works his dough. The weight of the person is brought to
bear on the movable stone and while it is pressed and pushed forward and
backward one hand supplies every now and then a little grain to be
bruised and ground."
[Illustration: FIG. 4.--THE SLAB-MILL.]
[Illustration: FIG. 5.--THE UPPER AND NETHER MILLSTONE.]
As we have seen, the primitive miller gradually learned that the pestle
did better work when it fell with a twirling motion. This little bit of
experience led to important results in the development of the mill. If
the grinding were done better with a twirling motion, why not have as
much of the twirling motion as possible? Why not make the upper stone go
round and round? This was what was done. The upper stone was caused to
turn round and round. The wheel-mill, the mill of the upper and nether
millstone (Fig. 5), was invented. When and where it was invented we
cannot tell for it was in use among all civilized peoples before history
began to be written. There were many kinds of wheel-mills among the
nations of antiquity and in principle they were all alike in
construction. How they worked may be learned by studying Figure 5 which
represents a mill used in ancient India. The upper stone is placed upon
the pivot projecting from the center of the lower (nether) stone, and
caused to revolve by means of the handle. The grain when placed in the
hollow at the center of the upper stone (Fig. 5) works its way down
between the stones and comes out at the circumference ground, bran and
flour together. The mill was fed with grain by the operator. The first
hopper was a human hand.
[Illustration: FIG. 6.--AN ANCIENT JEWISH MILL.]
[Illustration: FIG. 7.--AN OLD ROMAN MILL.]
[Illustration: FIG. 8.--A SCOTTISH QUERN.]
[Illustration: FIG. 9.--POMPEIAN FLOUR MILL, 79 A. D.]
We have here several pictures of ancient mills. Figure 6 is an ancient
Jewish mill. As we look at it we may recall the words, "Two women shall
be grinding at a mill, the one shall be taken, and the other left."[14]
Figure 7 is an old Roman mill bearing a strong resemblance to the coffee
mill that is used in our kitchens. Figure 8 is a Scottish quern, a mill
that may still be found in use, it is said, in some parts of Scotland.
Figure 9 is an old flour mill dug from the ruins of the city of Pompeii
which was destroyed by an eruption in the year 79 A. D. Figure 10 shows
the construction of this interesting mill. The upper (outer) stone is
shaped like an hour-glass, the upper half of which serves as a hopper;
the lower half turns upon the cone-shaped lower stone and does the
grinding. The mill was operated by the projecting handles, the operators
walking round and round the mill. Sometimes it was turned by human
power, sometimes by horses or oxen.
[Illustration: FIG. 10.--SHOWING THE INTERIOR OF POMPEIAN MILL.]
[Illustration: FIG. 11.--THE FIRST WATER-MILL, 50 B. C.]
[Illustration: FIG. 12.--SHOWING THE INTERIOR OF THE FIRST WATER-MILL.]
The Pompeian mill shows that as early as the first century the Romans
ground their grain by animal power. Indeed about this time a still
greater change was made in the method of grinding grain. When Julius
Cæsar flourished (50 B. C.) men began to harness the power of running
water and make it turn their mills (Fig. 11). From Figure 12 we may
easily learn how this was done. The running water turns the wheel and in
doing so turns the upper millstone. A hopper is suspended from the roof
by ropes. Through this the grain passes into the mill. Here was a
great saving in human labor and a great advancement in mill making. A
Roman writer of Cæsar's time appreciating how great a blessing was the
invention of the water-mill exclaimed:
Ye maids who toiled so faithful at the mill
Now cease from work and from these toils be still;
Sleep now till dawn and let the birds with glee
Sing to the ruddy morn, on bush and tree;
For what your hands performed so long, so true,
Ceres[15] has charged the water-nymphs to do;
They come, the limpid sisters, to her call,
And on the wheel with dashing fury fall;
Impel the axle with a whirling sound
And make the massive millstone reel around
And bring the floury heap luxuriant to the ground.
Nothing can be simpler than the water-mill described above; it was the
old mill of the upper and nether millstones, the old hand mill turned by
water. That was all. Yet, as simple as it was, many centuries passed
after its invention before a new principle in flour making was
discovered. There were inventions for lowering and raising the stone so
as to grind finer or coarser as might be desired, and there were
improvements in the kind of water wheels employed, and better methods of
sifting the flour from the bran were discovered from time to time, but
the water-mill invented in the time of Julius Cæsar remained practically
unchanged until the early part of the nineteenth century, when the last
step in the development of the mill was taken.[16]
[Illustration: FIG. 13.--AN EARLY FLOUR ROLLER-MILL.]
About 1810 millers in Austria, more particularly those in Vienna, began
to grind their grain by passing it between two horizontal rollers (Fig.
13). The rollers were spirally grooved and turned toward each other.
There was a wide difference between this process and the one to which
the world was accustomed, yet the new method was found to be better than
the old one. Austrian flour and Austrian bread became famous. The
delicious Vienna bread on our tables of course has never seen Vienna. It
is called "Vienna bread" because it is made out of a kind of flour which
was first ground in the Austrian capital. The Austrian way of grinding
grew rapidly into favor among millers everywhere. In the United States
where there was so much wheat to be ground the roller process was taken
up eagerly and improved upon as only Americans know how to improve upon
an idea. In the flour mills of the West the grain was soon passing
through a series of rollers. By the first pair of rollers the grain was
simply cracked into pieces somewhat coarse. Then after being bolted
(sifted) it was passed between a second pair of rollers and reduced to a
greater fineness. Then it was bolted again and passed between a third
pair of rollers. The rolling and sifting continued until a practically
pure flour was obtained. A pure flour is the modern miller's ideal. He
wants a branless flour and a flourless bran. The old stone mill could
not grind this kind of flour. Before the roller mill appeared there was
always bran in the flour and flour in the bran.
[Illustration: FIG. 14.--A MODERN FLOUR ROLLER-MILL.]
The invention of the flour roller-mill (Fig. 14) is the last step in the
development of the mill. The roller process has almost entirely driven
out all other processes. Now and then we see by the roadside an old
fashioned mill with the upper and nether stone, but we seldom see one
that is prosperous and thriving. Millers, like everybody else in these
days, do business on a large scale and to make flour on a large scale
they must use the roller-mill. Thus the hole in the rock in which a
handful of grain was laboriously crushed has, through long ages of
growth, become the great factory in which thousands of barrels of flour
are made in a day.
[Illustration]
FOOTNOTES:
[14] Matthew xxiv, 41. In ancient times nearly all the grinding was done
by women.
[15] Ceres was the goddess of grain.
[16] In the thirteenth century wind-power began to be used for turning
mills, and in some countries windmills were as common as water-mills.
THE LOOM
Have you ever seen a loom? It would not be a wonder if you have not. In
these days the average person seldom sees one. Everyone knows in a vague
sort of way that clothes and carpets are made of wool or silk or cotton,
as the case may be, and that they are woven upon an instrument called a
loom. This is about as much as we usually know about the clothes we wear
or the carpets we walk upon. We buy these things from the store and that
is all there is to it. In the olden times, and not so very long ago
either, everybody knew something about weaving, at least every girl and
woman knew something of the art, and a loom was as familiar an object in
the household then as a sewing machine is now.
Matrons and maidens sat in snow-white caps and in kirtles
Scarlet and blue and green, with distaff spinning the golden
Flax for the gossiping loom, whose noisy shuttle within doors
Mingled their sounds with the whir of the wheels and the
songs of the maidens.
This picture of home life in Acadia two hundred years ago would have
served as a picture of home life almost everywhere in the civilized
world. From the beginning of history until modern times most of the
weaving was done by the women in the home.
The earliest practical weaver on record is the spider and it may be that
man learned his first lesson in weaving from this skilled little workman
(Fig. 1); or the beautiful nest of the weaver-bird may have given to
human beings the first hints in the weaving art. Whoever may have been
his teacher, it is certain that man learned how to weave in the earliest
stages of existence. It is thought that his first effort in this
direction consisted in making cages for animals and wiers (traps) for
catching fish (Fig. 2) by interlacing vines or canes or slender boughs.
The next step was taken when women began to make baskets and cradles and
mats by interlacing long slender strips of wood (Fig. 3).
[Illustration: FIG. 1.--THE FIRST LESSON IN WEAVING.]
[Illustration: FIG. 2.--A WIER TRAP OF THE VIRGINIA INDIANS.]
[Illustration: FIG. 3.--PRIMITIVE BASKET MAKING.]
[Illustration: FIG. 4.--THE PRIMITIVE LOOM.]
Basket weaving led to cloth weaving, and this led to the loom. In Figure
4 we see the simplest and oldest form of the loom. It consisted of a
single stick (yarn beam) of wood about four feet long. This was the
first form of the loom--just a straight stick of wood and nothing more.
From the stick the threads which run lengthwise in the cloth were
suspended. These threads are known as the _warp_. The threads which
run breadthwise in the cloth are known as the _weft_, or _woof_. As the
woman's deft fingers pass along with the weft she carries the thread
over the first warp thread, under the second, over the third, under the
fourth, and so on. Here we have not only the simplest form of the loom
but the simplest kind of cloth.
[Illustration: FIG. 5.--THE PUEBLO LOOM.]
[Illustration: FIG. 6.--THE HEDDLE.]
In the loom worked by the Pueblo woman (Fig. 5) a new piece appears.
This is the frame through which the threads of the warp pass and which
the woman is holding in her right hand. The frame is called a heald, or
_heddle_ (Fig. 6). The heddle is of the greatest importance in the
construction of the loom and it is well worth while to understand what
it does. In the loom operated by the Chilcoot woman (Fig. 4) you noticed
that the weaver passed the weft thread above and below the alternate
threads of the warp. This required a separate movement for every thread
of the warp; if there were a hundred threads a hundred movements were
required to pass the weft across once. Now the heddle used by the Pueblo
woman separated the fifty warp threads that were to pass above the weft
thread from the fifty that were to pass below it, making an opening
called, a _shed_. When the shed was made the weft thread could be passed
across at one movement. One movement instead of a hundred! How was this
accomplished? Fifty alternate warp threads were passed through the holes
in the bars of the heddle frame, one thread through each hole; the other
fifty alternate threads passed between the bars of the heddle frame.
Now suppose the entire warp of a hundred threads is stretched tight and
firm between the woman's body and the yarn beam. With her right hand she
_raises_ the heddle and thus lifts the fifty threads which pass through
the holes in the bars, while the other fifty threads remain unmoved.
This movement makes the passage or shed through which she passes the
weft with the left hand. After beating the weft thread close to the
cloth either with the fingers or with a sword-like stick, she lowers the
heddle with its fifty threads, the other fifty still remain fixed and
unmoved. Another shed is formed and the weft is passed through again.
Thus with the raising and lowering of the heddle the weft is passed
backward and forward and the weaving goes on quite rapidly. If you care
to do so you can make a Pueblo loom and can weave a belt on it.
[Illustration: FIG. 7.--AN OLD AFRICAN LOOM.]
In the old African loom represented in Fig. 7 we find several
improvements upon the loom of the Pueblo woman. In the first place, it
has two heddles instead of one. These are operated by the feet, leaving
the hands free to do other work. In the second place, the wooden frame
which the weaver holds in his right hand is not to be seen in the Pueblo
loom. This frame called the _batten_, or _lathe_, contains the _reed_,
which is a series of slats or bars between which the threads of the warp
pass after they leave the heddle. When the weaver has thrown the weft
through the shed he brings the batten down hard and the reed drives the
last weft thread close to the woven part of the cloth. The reed takes
the place of the sword-like stick used by the Pueblo woman. Last and
most important: in the African's left hand is the _shuttle_, or little
car--weaver's ship, the Germans call it--which carries the weft across
(Fig. 8).
[Illustration: FIG. 8.--A PRIMITIVE SHUTTLE.]
The loom described above seems to be clumsy and rude when compared with
a loom of the present day, yet it is really the kind of loom which was
used by nearly all civilized people from the dawn of their civilization
to the middle of the eighteenth century. It is the loom of history and
poetry and song. Upon a loom of this kind was woven Joseph's coat with
its many colors and the garment which the fair Penelope made when she
deceived her suitors. Of course as the centuries passed the parts of the
loom were better made and weavers became more skilful. In Figure 9 we
have the loom as it appeared in the sixteenth century. If we inspect it
closely we shall find it to be merely the old African loom mounted on
stout upright timbers instead of being mounted on a tripod made of
poles. With her feet the weaver works the heddle, with her right hand
she throws the shuttle, with her left she draws toward her the swinging
batten and drives the weft home with the reed.
[Illustration: FIG. 9.--A LOOM OF THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY.]
[Illustration: FIG. 10.--KAY'S FLYING SHUTTLE.]
The year 1733 is a most important date in the development of the loom
for in that year John Kay, a practical loommaker of Lancashire, England,
invented the flying shuttle and thus did more for the loom than any man
whom we can distinguish by name. To appreciate the great service of Kay
we must recall how the shuttle was operated before his time. You
remember it was thrown through the shed by one of the weaver's hands and
caught and returned by the other hand. Sometimes it was caught and
returned by a boy. This was at best a slow process and unless the weaver
had an assistant to return the shuttle only narrow pieces could be
woven. The common width of cloth, three-fourths of a yard, had its
origin in necessity. The weaver's arms were not long enough to weave a
wider piece. "The essence of Kay's invention was that the shuttle was
thrown from side to side by a mechanical device instead of being passed
from hand to hand. One hand only was required for the shuttle while the
other was left free to beat up the cloth (with the batten) after each
throw, and the shuttle would fly across wide cloth as well as narrow."
You will be able to understand Kay's invention by studying Figure 10
which shows how the flying shuttle worked. _G_ is a groove
(shuttle-race) on which the shuttle runs as it crosses through the shed
leaving its thread behind it. _I_ and _I_ are boxes which the shuttle
(Fig. 11) enters at the end of the journey. In each box is a driver _K_
sliding freely on the polished rod _F_. The weaver with his right hand
pulls the handle _H_ and _K_ drives the shuttle to the opposite side.
With his left hand he works the reed, with his feet he works the heddle.
[Illustration: FIG. 11.--A MODERN SHUTTLE.]