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McCormick Harvesting Machine Co
The Worlds First Reaper Public Test
Cyrus Hall McCormick's Invention
Steeles Tavern, Virginia July 1831 |
In
1831 the then 22 year old Cyrus Hall McCormick demonstrated his first reaper. Cyrus slowly
invented a reaper, modified it, corrected it, and in 1834 patented it. Shipping each $100
reaper to the West meant an additional $25 in freight so McCormick decided to move himself
to Chicago in 1847. The next decade brought with it immense challenges including the large
Chicago fire of 1871 that burned down McCormick'
s factories and offices. McCormick
was 62 at the time and tremendously wealthy.
But instead of retiring he rebuilt. But the next
ten years proved too much and McCormick died
in 1884. He was succeeded by his son
Cyrus Jr., who had already spent five years
as his father'
s secretary. Young Cyrus
was 25 when he took over McCormick'
s worldwide operations.
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In 1873 a former dry-goods manufacturer and merchant by the
name of William Deering arrived in Chicago and for the next six
year McCormick battled Deering and other competitors for
harvester and binder markets. By 1902 Deering Harvester was
much more self-sufficient, it'
s manufacturing more efficient.
But the competitive battles during the past decade had led to
overproduction. Hustling for every sale, its stock on hand
far exceeded realistic needs. In 1902 $60 million changed
hands and the company acquired the factories, warehouses, inventories and
properties of Deering Harvester, McCormick Harvesting Machinery Co.,
and others. By 1906 the new conglomerate produced its first tractors.
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left
McCormick Deering W series Brochure
One of the finest brochures covering the McCormick Dearing W4, W6, WD6 W9 and WD9 Standard Tractors.
a real gem.
SIZE
= 4.2 MB
PAGES
= 12 pages
McCormick Deering W series Brochure |
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McCormick Reaper |
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THE McCORMICK REAPER 1842
In 1831, Cyrus McCormick drove this one horse contraption through a wheat field to cut the very first grain mechanically. He sold the first one in 1842 and began manufacturing them in Chicago in 1847 Under the name McCormick Harvesting Machinery Co The price was $120.00 and 2,000 had been sold by 1849. One man drove the horse While another raked the grain off in sheaves to be tied into bundles with some 'twisted strands of the, same grain stalks.
Since before Christ, all grain had been planted by hand, cultivated with a hoe, cut with a scythe and threshed with a flail. This simple little implement would user a new era in farming,
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FARMALL |
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Farmall Regular
The first mass-produced row-crop farm tractor profoundly changed farm production and the implement industry. However,
when the McCormick-Deering division of International Harvester rolled the first
Farmall tractor out of the factory door, they did so reluctantly.
International Harvester was hesitant about introducing the Farmall, fearing it would steal sales from the conventional 10-20.
But once it was on the market it changed the American farming tractor and the farm tractor industry.
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McCormick-Deering
WD-6 Diesel |
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The
International Harvester Company
produced the McCormick-Deering WD-6 Diesel Tractor for fourteen years form 1940 until 1954. The McCormick-Deering WD-6 use the same
gasoline starting system as the McCormick-Deering WD-40 which was introduced in 1934
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