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484

IMPORTANT INVENTIONS FROM 1850 To 1860.

Obed Hussey, that of C. H. McCormick, the Combined Reaping, Threshing, and Winnowing Machine of Moore & Haskell, of Michigan, and the Mowing Machine of the late Wm. F. Ketchum, patented in 1844, which was the pioneer implement for that purpose. Unusual interest in this class of machinery was also excited by a grand field trial of Mowers and Reapers, held under the auspices of the New York State Agricultural Society, at Geneva, in 1852, when two premiums were awarded, and by that instituted at Syracuse, N. Y., by the United States Agricultural Society, in July, 1857, when fifteen mowing, nine reaping, and fourteen combined Mowing and Reaping Machines were entered for competition. Previous to the latter year no less than one hundred and seventy-six grain and grass harvesters, and sixty-two mowing machines had been patented in the United States. Since that time the number has steadily increased, amounting to between one and two hundred annually, in some years, including several original machines. Among these were many improvements in the appendages and minor details of construction, which have secured greater cheapness, efficiency, or durability; rendering several of the most approved machines the basis of prosperous manufacture, as well as inestimable blessings to the agricultural communities of this and foreign countries. Without disparagement to many other inventors, who have made valuable improvements, the following may be named as successful in the introduction of Mowers and Reapers, single or combined, and of valuable appurtenances to such machines. Many of the patentees, like Hussey, McCormick, Ketchum, and other early inventors, have recorded numerous modifications of the mechanism; some of them almost yearly, and some several times in the same year, so great has been the stimulus to improvement, and the demand for good implements in this branch of mechanics. Among the patentees of harvesting machinery in 1850, was John E. Heath, of Warren, Ohio, who also patented a machine for raking and binding grain. In 1851, John H. Manny, of Waddam's Grove, Ill., brought forward a Combined Mower and Harvester, which, though far from being a perfectly constructed instrument, shared with that of W. F. Ketchum, of Buffalo, N. Y., the only two premiums awarded for Mowers at the Geneva trial, in the following year. It was the subject of improvements patented by the inventor in 1852 and 1853, and afterward became the basis of numerous improvements made by Walter A. Wood, of Hoosick Falls, Rensselaer Co., N. Y., who purchased a territorial right in the machine. A Grain and Grass Harvester was patented the same year by Wm. H. Seymour, assignor to Seymour, Morgan & Co., of Brockport, N. Y., who has made many improvements in Mowers and Harvesters. The Automaton

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MOWING AND REAPING MACHINES.

485

In 1853, Philo,

Reaper of Jearum Atkins, of Chelsea, Illinois, since extensively manufactured at Dayton, Ohio, was patented the same year. Sylla, and Augustus Adams, of Elgin, Ill., patented an improvement in Grass and Grain Harvesters, provided with platforms and seats for a raker and two binders, and a box to receive the sheaves, etc. And Thomas D. Burrall, of Geneva, N. Y., the same year made an improvement in Reaping Machines by making an additional apron or platform, with gearing, to convert a rear discharge into a side discharge of the grain. This Convertible Reaper took the first premium at the Geneva trial in the preceding year, and a diploma was awarded the inventor at Syracuse, in 1857, for a Mowing Machine, distinguished for its simplicity and solidity of construction. In 1853 and 1854, additional improvements were made in Grain and Grass Harvesters by John H. Manny, of Rockford; and by Howard & Ketchum, of Buffalo; and in Mowing Machines, by M. Hallenbeck and Alanson Gale, of Albany, N. Y. Of more than fifty patents for improvements in Harvesting Machinery, granted in 1855, the Illinois Harvester of Jonathan Haines, of Pekin, Ill., said to be capable of harvesting twenty acres per diem, that of John E. Newcomb, of Whitehall, N. Y., and the Combined Mowers and Harvesters of Dietz & Dunham, of Raritan, N. Y., and of Wm. H. Hovey, of Springfield, Mass., and others, have each acquired a reputation. Among numerous improvements in Mowers and Reapers, patented in 1856, were the well-known Mowing Machines of E. Ball, and of C. Aultman & Lewis Miller, of Canton, Ohio; both assigned to Ball, Aultman & Miller, manufacturers of that place. In 1859, the latter patent was divided, and reissued as six separate patents, and that of Ball was reissued as two. In 1857, the patents for this kind of machinery numbered about one hundred and twenty; among which were five for improvements in Harvesters, issued to Walter A. Wood, of Hoosick Falls. Improvements in Automatic Rakes, for Harvesters, which of late years have attracted much attention, were also patented by two or three persons, in 1856. Among others, in 1857, by John W. Brokan, of Springfield, Ohio, who assigned the patent to Warden, Brokan & Child, to whom were also assigned a patent for a Mowing Machine by Thomas Harding, of that place; and another for a Combined Mower and Reaper, patented by Brokan and Harding conjointly. In 1858, a still larger number of improvements in these machines was patented, and each of the four following years augmented the number of new and successful machines, or of valuable modifications in those already in use. The machines already named, most of which are favorite implements, as well as the older ones of C. H. McCormick, Obed Hussey, W. F. Ketchum, and those of R. S. Allen, of New York

486

IMPORTANT INVENTIONS FROM 1850 TO 1860.

city, and others, are each manufactured to the number of many thousands annually. The whole number of Reapers and Mowers made by some. ten or twelve leading manufacturers in the four years following 1860, is said to have been about two hundred and fourteen thousand machines.

Of Threshing Machines and Grain Separators, indispensable in large farming operations, which require the Horse-power Reaper, some three hundred and fifty patents had been recorded previous to 1857, including several valuable implements. Among these were the machines of J. A. Pitts, of Buffalo, which received the Gold Medal at the Paris Exhibition, in 1855, Gilbert's Excelsior Machine, Moffat's Improved, Palmer's Rotary, Snyder's, Wagener's, and Zimmerman's Machines for threshing, separating, cleaning, and bagging grain. Allen's Single Horse-power, Hathaway's, and other machines, with many improved machines of later introduction, were patented within the period here reviewed. Instruments for husking and shelling corn have also been greatly multiplied to the benefit of the western farmer. The patented improvements in Ploughs usually outnumber those of any other implement, and, including twenty-eight patents for Hill-side Ploughs, amounted in all, previous to the year 1857, to about five hundred. Some novel and useful modifications of this typical instrument of husbandry, both in form and material, were introduced within the last five years. The Gang Plough, the Sulky Plough, the Shovel Plough, the 'Plough with revolving or wheel coulter, the Steam Plough, and, the more practicable substitute for the latter, the Rotary Spader, have each occupied the attention of inventors during this time, and with one and two horse Cultivators, Broadcast Seed Sowers and Drills, Iron Rollers, improved Harrows, etc., constitute the great dependence of farmers in the tillage of large farms and plantations. Gang Ploughs were patented by two persons, in 1850, and by several in subsequent years; and, in 1857, three patents were granted for Steam Ploughs, to D. B. Spencer, of Virginia; J. R. Gray, of Wisconsin; and E. Groves, of New York. These were followed by three others, in 1858, in September of which year the Ploughing Machine of J. W. Fawkes, of Pennsylvania, one of the number, was first tested at Centralia, Illinois, with a degree of success and promise not since sustained by it or others in this country. In 1859, four other Steam Ploughs were patented, and many other patents have since been granted for that purpose. A valuable machine for farmers was the portable and inexpensive, but efficient, Hay and Cotton Press, patented in 1854.

II. In the Metallurgic Arts, some useful processes and productions

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