[Sidenote: A Natural Inventor]
Obed Hussey was of Quaker stock, born in Maine in 1792 and early removed
to Nantucket, Mass. When young, like all Nantucket boys, he had a desire
to go to sea, and made one or two whaling voyages. He was of quiet and
retiring disposition, studious, thoughtful, with a strong bent for
studying intricate mechanical contrivances. Little is known of his early
life and there is none living who knew him at that time. He was a
skillful draftsman and incessant worker at different inventions all his
life. He invented a successful steam plow, for which he obtained a medal
in the West. He also invented a machine for grinding out hooks and eyes,
a mill for grinding corn and cobs, a husking machine run by horse power,
the "iron finger bar," a machine for crushing sugar cane, a machine for
making artificial ice, and other devices of more or less note.
His chief characteristic seems to have been an extremely sensitive,
modest and unassuming personality. It was this reticence which has served
to keep him in the background as the inventor of the reaper. He was
unwilling to push himself forward, and his claim to distinction has had
to rest solely upon the merits of his greatest invention.
Mr. Hussey first began work on his reaper in a room at the factory of
Richard B. Chenoweth, a manufacturer of agricultural implements, and the
story of those early efforts is told by Sarah A. Chenoweth, a
granddaughter of the latter:
[Sidenote: Early Efforts]
"As a child, it seemed that I had always known Mr. Hussey. I saw him
every day of my life, for he lived in a room, the use of which my
grandfather, Richard B. Chenoweth, a manufacturer of agricultural
implements in Baltimore City, had given him at his factory. No grown
person was allowed to enter, for in this room he spent most of his time
making patterns for the perfecting of his reaper. I, unforbidden, was
his constant visitor, and asked him numberless questions, one of which,
I remember, was why he washed and dried his dishes with shavings. His
reply was characteristic of himself, 'Shavings are clean.'
[Sidenote: First Trial]
"At this time I was about seven years of age, having been born in 1824.
Although very poor at the time, he was a man of education, upright and
honorable, and so very gentle in both speech and manner that I never
knew fear or awe of him. I do not know for a certainty how long he
remained there,--several years, at the least, I think, but of his
connection with the reaper, I am _positive_, for it was talked of
morning, noon and night. To this day, my brother bears on his finger a
scar, made by receiving a cut from one of the teeth of the machine.
When, finally, the model was completed, it was brought out into the yard
of the factory for trial. This trial was made on a board, drilled with
holes, and stuck full of rye straws. I helped to put those very straws
in place. Mr. Hussey, with repressed excitement, stood watching, and
when he saw the perfect success of his invention, he hastened to his
room too moved and agitated to speak. This scene is vividly impressed on
my mind, as is also a remark made by a workman, that Mr. Hussey did not
wish us to see the tears in his eyes."
The story of Mr. Hussey's efforts at that time is also told by a brother
of the little granddaughter:
"Chicago, Nov. 25, 1893.
"Clark Lane, Esq.,
"Elkhart, Ind.
"My Dear Sir:--
"I notice in this morning's 'Inter Ocean' your letter of 22nd in
regard to the First Reaper and Obed Hussey; now I can say that the
name of Obed Hussey called to my mind the best friend of my
boyhood days, as he was in the habit of keeping me supplied with
pennies when I was short, and taught me how to put iron on a wood
sled, and helped me to make my first wagon as he turned the wheel
for me. You are right with regard to the date of the fingers and
shaped cutters for Reapers, as I saw and handled it, to my sorrow
in 1833 or '34 before the machine was finished and nearly cut my
fingers off. I have the whole thing photographed in my mind and
can show the spot or within 10 feet of it where I lay on the
floor. It was not possible to try it in Maryland, owing to the
hilly nature of the ground, and was afterwards taken to Ohio for
trial and was rebuilt there, or at least a part of it, but of that
part (the rebuilding) I do not know for a certainty, but the bars,
fingers and knives I do most positively remember, as I was a lad
of some eight or nine years old with a mechanical turn of mind and
was looking into what seemed strange to me, hence I cut my finger
so bad that I carried the scar for a number of years. I very
distinctly remember the incomplete reaper made by my old friend,
Obed Hussey, as it was made in my grandfather's shop in Baltimore,
Maryland, who was at that time the leading plow-maker of the U. S.
and that it was made either in 1833 or '34, as I would not have
had a chance to see it if later than '34 as I was not at home
until '38, when it had been sent, as I was told, to Ohio for trial
and some parts had to be rebuilt.
"Please excuse the liberty I have taken in writing to you, but I
could not resist the temptation to give my tribute to my old
friend, O. Hussey.
"Very respectfully yours,
(Signed) "W. H. CHENOWETH."
The machine referred to was, no doubt, the reaper completed and tested
near Cincinnati in the harvest of 1833.
[Sidenote: The First Reaper]
It is not known when Mr. Hussey left the Chenoweth factory, but during
the winter of 1832-33 he was at Cincinnati working upon the reaper that,
more than else, won him lasting fame during the harvest of 1833. The
"Mechanics Magazine" for April, 1834, contains an illustration of
"Hussey's Grain Cutter." The picture does not represent the model
deposited in the Patent Office with his application, for it differs in
many essentials from the drawing of the patent, which, of course,
corresponded with the model there filed. It has neither divider nor
outer wheel, and the construction of the platform differs from that of
his regular machine. It is thought that the picture represents the small
working model made at the Chenoweth factory, mentioned by the little
girl.
[Sidenote: Financing the First Reaper]
Mr. Hussey found one who took an interest in his invention and became so
confident of its value that he provided the necessary funds and
mechanical facilities for manufacturing a reaper to be tested in the
field. This was Jarvis Reynolds of Cincinnati. Drawings were made of
the cutting apparatus and a description of it was sent by the inventor
to a friend, Edwin G. Pratt, early in 1833.
[Sidenote: The Reaper Historian]
Another personal friend of Obed Hussey was Edward Stabler, who lived at
Sandy Hill, Maryland, and was, as he termed himself, "a farmer and a
mechanic." That he was a mechanic of ability is evidenced by government
seals which were cut by him, that for the Smithsonian Institute being
worthy of mention as an example of his skill. He was a postmaster from
President Jackson's time until his own death. He is the only one who may
be said to have acted as Hussey's historian, and has left very much
valuable information in the form of letters, legal papers, et cetera. In
1854 and '55 he published "A Brief Narrative of the Invention of Reaping
Machines," "Hussey's Reaping Machine in England," and "A Review of the
Pamphlet of W. N. P. Fitzgerald in Opposition to the Extension of the
Patent of Obed Hussey; and also of the Defense, of Evidence in Favor of
Said Extention," etc. There is sufficient data obtainable from Mr.
Stabler's various publications and material in the Congressional Library
to enable one to judge for himself whether the honors placed upon this
inventor by the Patent Office, the Courts, by Congress, and by the
farmer were earned.
It was at the time Mr. Hussey was residing in Baltimore that he turned
his attention to the idea of a reaping machine and spent his leisure
hours in working out his model. This satisfied him that the thing was
practical, and he undertook an operating machine, which, although
lightly made, was fully sufficient to test the great principle. At this
time he had no knowledge whether any others had undertaken anything in
this direction and there was nothing in his own mechanical occupation
which would make him familiar with the subject.
[Sidenote: McCormick Claims Invention]
As the only other claimant for the honor of inventing the reaper was
Cyrus H. McCormick, reference is here made to a book entitled "Memorial
of Robert McCormick," the father of Cyrus H. McCormick, Leander J.
McCormick and William S. McCormick, published by the said Leander J.
McCormick in 1885, pages 44 to the bottom of page 51, also pages 58 to
61 inclusive, from which I extract:
[Sidenote: Denial by Members of McCormick Family]
"Now, while we have no disposition to question the merits of the
so-called McCormick harvester and binder, which, without doubt, is a
good machine,--though the judgment of foreigners as to its value is of
no consequence,--we do assert that C. H. McCormick was not entitled to
any of the honors showered upon him as its inventor. To be more
explicit, he not only did not invent the said machine, nor mechanically
assist in the combinations of the inventions of others which produced
it, but he never invented or produced any essential elementary part in
any reaping or harvesting machine from the first to last. These
assertions are broad, but absolutely true. They stand squarely upon the
records and the history and state of the art. C. H. McCormick, or any
one for him, cannot deny them with proofs, therefore he is not entitled
to recognition as the man who 'has done more to elevate agriculture than
any man the world has produced,' because of his supposed inventions in
this line; but on the contrary, that the development of Western
agriculture has elevated him, and that he has more money, and received
more honors, 'than any man the world has produced,' by appropriating the
brains of others, and the credit due them as inventors, are propositions
much more defensible."
[Sidenote: Their Affirmation of Hussey's Claim]
"But the man who is entitled to the most credit, as inventor and pioneer
in this business, is Obed Hussey, who, December 31st, 1833, patented the
machine (successfully operated in previous harvest, well known and in
use since to this day), which combined all the main features--except the
reel, which was then an old device--of practical reapers down to the
time, at least, when 'harvesters,' so-called, came into the field."
[Illustration: (From An Old Print)]
[Sidenote: The First Machine]
The following is also copied from "Memorial of Robert McCormick,"
published by Leander J. McCormick in 1885: