"Report of the Board of Trustees of 'The Maryland Agricultural Society,'
for the Eastern Shore, on the machine for harvesting small grain,
invented by Mr. Obed Hussey, of Cincinnati, Ohio.
[Sidenote: Invitation of Agricultural Board]
[Illustration: Silver medal won by Mr. Hussey with the Reaper at
Baltimore in 1850.]
[Sidenote: How the Reaper Worked]
"The favorable accounts of the operation of this implement in several of
the Western States, induced the board to invite Mr. Hussey to bring it
to Maryland, and submit it to their inspection. It was accordingly
exhibited in Oxford, Talbot county, on the first of July, in presence of
the board, and a considerable number of other gentlemen. Its performance
may justly be denominated perfect, as it cuts every spear of grain,
collects it in bunches of the proper size for sheaves, and lays it
straight and even for the binders. On the 12th of July a public
exhibition was made at Easton, under the direction of the board; several
hundred persons, principally farmers, assembled to witness it, and
expressed themselves highly satisfied with the result. At the Trappe,
where it was shown by the inventor on the following Saturday, an equal
degree of approbation was evinced. It was afterwards used on the farm of
Mr. Tench Tilghman, where 180 acres of wheat, oats, and barley were cut
with it. Three mules of medium size worked in it constantly, with as
much ease as in a drag harrow. They moved with equal facility in a walk
or a trot. A concise description of this simple implement will show that
it is admirably adapted to the important purpose for which it was
invented. Resting on two wheels, which are permanently attached to the
machine, and impart the motion to the whole, the main body of the
machine is drawn by the horses along the outer edge of the standing
grain. As the horses travel outside of the grain, it is neither knocked
down or tangled in the slightest degree. Behind the wheels is a platform
(supported by a roller or wheel), which projects beyond the side of the
machine five feet into the grain. On the front of the edge projecting
part of the platform is the cutter. This is composed of twenty-one
teeth, resembling large lancet blades, which are placed side by side,
and firmly riveted to a rod of iron. A lateral motion is imparted to it
by a crank, causing it to vibrate between two rows of iron spikes, which
point forward. As the machine advances, the grain is cut and falls
backwards on the platform, where it collects in a pile. A man is placed
on the part of the platform directly behind the horses, and with a rake
of peculiar construction pushes off the grain in separate bunches, each
bunch making a sheaf. It may appear to some that the grain will
accumulate too rapidly for this man to perform his duty. But, upon
considering the difference between the space occupied by the grain when
standing, and when lying in a pile after it is cut, it will be evident
that the raker has ample time to push off the bunches even in the
thickest grain. In thin grain he has to wait until sufficient has
collected to form a sheaf.
"The machine is driven around the grain, which may be sown either on a
smooth surface or on corn ridges. For the first round a way may be
cleared with a cradle; but this is deemed unnecessary, for the grain,
when driven over, is left in an inclined position, and by cutting it in
the opposite direction as much of it is saved as with a cradle. Fourteen
acres in corn lands were cut between 10 A. M. and 7-1/2 P. M. The hands
had never worked with the machine before, nor was it a trial day's work;
for, owing to the shortness of the straw, the machine was not allowed to
cut when passing over the ridges from one side of the ground to the
other, and this time was consequently lost. From the principle on which
the cutting is performed, a keen edge to the cutter is by no means
essential. The toughest weeds, an occasional corn stalk, or a stick of
the thickness of a man's little finger, have been frequently cut without
at all affecting its operation; it can be sharpened, however, in a few
minutes with a file. The width of the swath may be increased by having
the cutter made longer, and the same machine will cut a stubble of
several different heights.
[Sidenote: Mr. Hussey Awarded Silver Cups]
"There is ample room to make the different parts of any size, though the
strength of every part has been fully tested. The machine has been often
choked by oyster-shells getting into the cutter, in attempting to cut
too low a stubble. The motion of the machinery being checked, the main
wheels slide on the ground; the strain on every part being equal to the
power exerted by the horses. It can be managed by any intelligent,
careful negro. We deem it a simple, strong, and effective machine, and
take much pleasure in awarding unanimously the meritorious inventor of
it a handsome pair of silver cups.
"ROBERT H. GOLDSBOROUGH,
SAMUEL STEVENS,
SAMUEL T. KENNARD,
ROBERT BANNING,
SAMUEL HAMBLETON, Senr.,
NICHOLAS GOLDSBOROUGH,
EDWARD N. HAMBLETON,
JAMES LI. CHAMBERLAIN,
MARTIN GOLDSBOROUGH,
HORATIO L. EDMONSON,
TENCH TILGHMAN."
Mr. Lane goes on to say that one of the machines was taken to La Porte,
Indiana, and there put to work. Another was sent to Illinois.
"The turning and fitting for these machines was done at the mill of
Henry Rogers, about 500 yards away from the little shop. In the
following copy of a recent affidavit sent us, date not given, these last
matters are sufficiently substantiated."
Mr. Lane continues:
[Sidenote: The True Inventor]
"Who invented the Reaper? The full, honest answer is that Obed Hussey
invented the Reaper.
"Between April and July, 1835, John Lane and Henry Rogers (with Isaac
and Clark Lane assisting in the work) at their respective places of
business one mile north of Mt. Healthy, Hamilton County, Ohio, made to
order of Obed Hussey one Reaping machine for S. F. and Algernon Foster,
then of the same County and State. Said Reaper was made to conform to or
with drawings and patterns made and furnished by the said Obed Hussey,
who also superintended the work of making the machine, and witnessed its
trial in the field near the middle of June, 1835, in presence of many
farmers, mechanics and others near by where the same was made; and when
and where it was delivered to the Messrs. Foster's, who took this same
reaper to La Porte County, Indiana, for the reaping season of the same
year.
"For the iron and steel work done as aforesaid books in my possession
show that fifty-three and 69/100 dollars was paid by Messrs. Fosters,
July 6th, 1835, to John Lane and by him receipted for in full, etc.,
etc.
"The cutting device we then made for this machine evidently was the
invention of Obed Hussey; and it was as near exactly the same in all
material parts to the cutting device now universally in use, as the hand
made sickle could then or now be made. The sections of sickle were
forged steel blades V shaped, having serrated or sickle cut edges, and
riveted to vibrating bar passing through slotted fingers, substantially
riveted to the apron or table upon which the cut grain fell in position
to be raked, or 'forked off.'
"This Obed Hussey machine cutting in a good average stand of barley,
June, 1835, was light draught for two horses and left as clean and as
evenly cut stubble behind it as the best of machines now do the same
work. But one fault, if any, with this first reaper was _the lack of
one or more cogs_ in the driving wheel that gave motion to the
sickle, which required the team to walk a bit too fast for teams of
habitual, or slow motion.
(Signed) "CLARK LANE."
[Sidenote: McCormick Late in the Field]
[Sidenote: McCormick's Application Rejected]
Regarding one who became a competitor of Hussey, much can be gathered
from the U.S. Patent Office. McCormick, who came comparatively late in
the field, when applying for an extension of his patents made many
admissions which were afterwards shown to dispute that he had
accomplished a successful machine before Mr. Hussey and others. He tells
us in his petition and brief to the Commissioner of Patents that he had
operated his machine in some late wheat in the harvest of 1831, but
that, although he was sometimes flattered, he was often discouraged;
that he did not make sales or sell rights because not satisfied that the
reaper would succeed well. He was not sufficiently satisfied of its
being a "useful" machine to patent the reaper; he tells us that its
construction and proportions were imperfect and its cutting apparatus
defective on account of liability to choke. He admits that the cutting
"proved not sufficiently certain to be relied upon in all situations"
until "the improvement in the fingers and reversed angle of the teeth of
the sickle" shown in his patent of 1845 were adopted. A farmer ordered a
machine to be delivered in 1841, but McCormick "did not then feel that
it was safe to warrant its performance." These facts are found in the
records of the United States Patent Office. Referring to Mr. Hussey, on
whose patent, among others, McCormick's application for an extension was
rejected, who proved to be a factor he must consider, he said: "I did
not interfere with him because I did not find him very much in the way,
calculated to beat him without, and supposed it might be best to do so."
Mr. Hussey, no doubt, took the charitable view and supposed Mr.
McCormick to have meant that his proofs would have been sufficient to
support him in his own rights. Mr. Hussey, the Quaker, wrote the Board
to whom McCormick's application for an extension had been referred, and
from his letter I quote:
"In view of all these facts, I feel justified in asking your Honorable
Board a decision, which, while it adjudges McCormick's machine according
to its merits, will not be prejudicial to my interests, seeing that Mr.
McCormick makes no claims to the grand principle in my machine, which
makes it valuable, and so much better than his, which principle I claim
as my invention.
[Sidenote: Mr. Hussey's Attitude]
"I had no intention, neither had I any desire, to place any obstacle in
the way of the extension of McCormick's patent, but the course he has
taken, before your Board and before Congress, has compelled me to act in
self defense, by which I have given your Honorable Board much trouble,
which I would have gladly avoided."
Mr. McCormick also said to the Board: "If my claim be made out as so far
appears from the evidence presented, it will be observed (as I think)
that nothing will be left of Mr. Hussey's claim to which he is entitled,
and all the improvements he has added since his patent have, I believe,
been taken from mine." Reference is no doubt had to the effect that
Hussey, in some of his machines, used only a single drive wheel and
balanced his machine thereon. He confessed that he never received
profits from his first patent until after twelve years of study, and
never should have realized anything from the invention but for later
improvements, and he continues as follows: "If then it shall appear that
I am the original inventor of all the leading and important principles
of the invention, is it wrong that I should ask for reciprocal benefits
for myself, who alone have brought them into being? Mr. Hussey's prior
patent stood in Mr. McCormick's way, but its inventor raised no voice
against the extension of McCormick's rights unless his prior rights
became endangered. The honors due Mr. Hussey were not lessened by the
Commissioner of Patents when treating of a competitive claimant to have
invented the reaper.
[Sidenote: Not McCormick's Inventions]
Mr. McCormick took out a third patent in 1847 covering inventions shown
by the statement of Leander and others to have been the invention of the
_father_ or _some one else_. An application was made for the
extension of this patent. It then became necessary that the applicant
show that he had not reaped the benefits he believed himself entitled to
through his monopoly for the term of the patent.
[Sidenote: Neither Brilliant nor Extraordinary]
The value of the second patent that of 1845, may be gathered from the
words of the Commissioner of Patents: "The invention of 1845, considered
in itself, and examined in presence of the reaping machine as then in
successful operation, both in Europe and America, can scarcely be
regarded as brilliant or in any degree extraordinary."
The Commissioner further said:
[Sidenote: An Efficient Machine]
"It was a conviction of the inefficiency of the machine that led the
applicant to make his invention of 1847, which, by a modification of
pre-existing elements, provided an advantageous location for the raker's
seat. Upon this his fame as an inventor rests, and to this is his reaper
indebted for the triumphs it has achieved. This seat had been previously
known in at least nine patented reapers; but it had not been well
placed, and an appropriate location for it was, up to 1847, an
acknowledged desideratum. Whatever, however, may have been the value or
the success of the reaper as improved in 1847, such value or success can
exert no influence in determining the issue under discussion."
The Commissioner further said, referring to the 1847 patent:
[Sidenote: McCormick's "Invention" Valueless]
"Without the parts thus slowly accumulated and combined, and which have
been so unhesitatingly appropriated by himself, _his own invention
would have been as valueless as would be a shingle to him who could find
no house-top on which to nail it_. The construction insisted on would
compel the public to pay again, and pay extravagantly, for that which is
already its own, alike by purchase and by long uninterrupted
possession."
The authorities cited make it clear the Hussey reaper was successful,
from the start, but _the Patent Office did not seem to think that the
machine of his opponent for honors was so_.
The Commissioner in his decision refers to the testimony of William S.
McCormick, who, at that time, was a partner of Cyrus McCormick as a
manufacturer and seller of the McCormick reaper:
[Sidenote: A Worthless Machine]
"As a farmer I used the reaper without a seat, before a good one was
invented, and am perfectly certain that it was so nearly worthless that
a machine without one could not be sold at any price that would pay in
competition with one having a raker's seat; this is my experience from
my intimate connection with the business for many years."
(Commissioner's Decision, January 28, 1859.)