Every step in the progress of modern achievement has been met with
strong resistance and hostile contest. There is in business an actual
firing line where continuous conflict wages, and so fierce does the
struggle become that it requires a certain class of men possessing
qualities, not only of energy and perseverance, but of tenacity and
combativeness, aggressive and determined to fight to the last ditch for
commercial supremacy. Such men do not always rely upon the merits of
their cause, nor do they stop to question the justice or injustice of
their methods. They have but one goal, commercial supremacy, and every
effort is bent and every man and method utilized to attain that end.
Men of inventive genius are rarely of that type. They are more often
unassuming and averse to anything like a personal combat. Such a man was
Obed Hussey, inventor of the reaper. Honest and conscientious, enured to
hard and unremitting toil, with the inspiration of a new idea for the
benefit of mankind burning in his brain, he applied himself in the face
of immense difficulties to the production and perfection of the great
gift which he gave to the world. He was a man at once so humble and so
broad in his kindness, so loyal to his Quaker ideals of righteousness
and justice, that he offered no protests, or arguments against his
rivals and opponents other than the superiority of his own machine. Only
his great genius which produced the superior machine (a fact which no
one could possibly contradict) could have saved him from the fierce
opposition of his more powerful rivals. One has only to read from some
of his own letters reproduced in this narrative, to witness the fairness
of his attitude, or to gain a knowledge of his scruples.
Yet it was just this which has operated to deprive Obed Hussey of his
well deserved fame as inventor of the reaper. Moreover, a great industry,
fostered by his opponents in the patent controversy, has grown up, the
basis and life of which is Obed Hussey's invention of the reaper. It
would seem that the vast fortunes made from this industry should be ample
reward for those who are receiving the benefits of a man's life work
without whose genius it would never have been.
In 1897 there was published in Chicago a booklet entitled "A Brief
Narrative of the Invention of Reaping Machines," a large part of which is
reproduced in this book. The pamphlets of which the narrative was a
republication were from the pen of Edward Stabler, an able man and a
mechanic of great skill and ability, a close friend of Mr. Hussey and one
familiar with his reaper and with all the facts which he set forth in
these articles. Such other facts and information as are published herein
were furnished by Martha Hussey, daughter of Mr. Hussey, now living and
by my uncle, Hon. Alexander B. Lamberton, who married Mr. Hussey's widow.
Mr. Lamberton is a man of high standing, having for many years taken an
active part in the affairs of Rochester. He was President of the
Rochester Chamber of Commerce, 1901-1904 (three successive terms), and
has been President of the Rochester Park Board for the past eleven years.
He also won national fame as a hunter and naturalist and was President of
the National Association for the Protection of Fish and Game. His
relation to the Hussey family has made him conversant with the whole
history of the invention of the reaper and of Mr. Hussey's early
struggles.
The facts as set forth in this volume are well known to the reaper men of
the United States, men high up in the industry. Had Mr. Hussey lived, he
would have been able to establish his claim to the invention of the
reaper beyond the shadow of a doubt. This humble man, who, against
tremendous odds and powerful opposition, proved his contentions before
Congress and the United States Patent Office could certainly have won
deserved fame with the public.
His tragic death, which came just at the time when his Congressional
victory was certain and the future of his reaper seemed bright with
promise, occurred while he was en route from Boston to Portland, Maine,
on August 4, 1860. In those days there was often no water in the cars.
The train had stopped at a station when a little child asked for a drink
of water and Mr. Hussey stepped out to get it for her. On his return, as
he attempted to re-enter, the cars started; he was thrown beneath the
wheels and instantly killed. The last act of his life was one of kindness
and compassion.
Obed Hussey is dead, but his machine still lives, an article of
measureless value to the great world of agriculture. His life was one of
long suffering and faithful service and he justly deserves the proper
credit and honor for his great invention. To Obed Hussey belongs the fame
of Inventor of the Reaper as these pages will show, to which purpose
these facts are published by those who knew him and his works, and these
facts, like his works, stand squarely on their own merits.
FOLLETT L. GREENO.
Rochester, N. Y., April 21, 1912.
[Illustration: Obed Hussey, Inventor of the Reaper]