Cyrus Hall McCormick

Cyrus Hall McCormick 1809-84, inventor of the reaper, b. Rockbridge co., Va. His father, Robert McCormick (1780-1846), had worked intermittently for over 20 years at his blacksmith shop on a reaping machine, but had given it up before Cyrus, his eldest son, began working on different principles. The first public demonstration of the reaper, as constructed by Cyrus, took place in July, 1831, and was a success, although he did not patent it until after Obed Hussey announced his invention in 1834. McCormick's reaper contained the straight reciprocating knife, guards, reel, divider, platform, main-drive wheel, and other innovations that are essential features of every satisfactory harvesting machine. His early machines were made for local use, and not until more than 10 years later did he begin in earnest to expand his market. In 1847 he built his Chicago factory; in 1851 he introduced the reaper into England and, subsequently, into other European countries. He continued to patent improvements and demonstrated his machine in the field, often in competition with Hussey's reaper. After 1850 many strong competitors appeared and Hussey gave up, while only McCormick's unusual business ability kept him in the running. He was quick to purchase promising inventions and added the self-rake, hand binder, and twine binder.

Bibliography: See biographies by W. T. Hutchinson (2 vol., 2d ed. 1968) and H. N. Casson (1909, repr. 1971).

McCormick, Cyrus Hall (1809–1884), inventor and manufacturer.Cyrus Hall McCormick was born on a farm in Rockbridge County, Virginia. In 1831, he took up the project his father had pursued unsuccessfully for twenty years: building a reaper to speed the harvesting of small grains. In July 1831, he gave a public demonstration of his new design, which embodied key innovations common to every subsequent reaper. McCormick started a business to manufacture his reaper, locating in Chicago in 1847, closer to the agricultural heartland. His company quickly became the industry leader, maintaining that position until the Civil War.

During the war, while McCormick lived in London, his company lost its leadership as a manufacturer of farm machinery, though it remained important. After the war, he left the company management to his brother Leander. When the devastating Chicago fire destroyed his factory in 1871, McCormick considered abandoning the business, but his wife Nettie Fowler (whom he married in 1858) intervened, urging reconstruction of the factory. Thereafter she played a central role in the management of the McCormick Company and its successor, the International Harvester Corporation.

From 1857 until his death, McCormick was deeply involved in Democratic party politics. He was also a committed Presbyterian layman. In 1859, he endowed four professorships at the Presbyterian Theological Seminary of the Northwest (renamed McCormick Theological Seminary in 1886). McCormick's inventive genius transformed grain harvesting and agricultural practices, yet the success of his company (and, perhaps, his reputation) resulted primarily from the business acumen of his wife and, subsequently, his eldest son, Cyrus Jr.
See also Agriculture: 1770s to 1890; Gilded Age; Industrialization; Technology.

Bibliography

William T. Hutchinson , Cyrus Hall McCormick, 2 vols., 1930, 1935.
R. Douglas Hurt , American Farm Tools: From Hand‐Power to Steam‐Power, 1982.
J. Sanford Rikoon , Threshing in the Middle West, 1820–1948: A Study of Traditional Culture and Technological Change, 1989.

Fred V. Carstensen