![]() ![]() I think Charles Deere did something similar creating the false knowledge that John Deere single-handedly invented the prairie plow.Ĭonventional wisdom is that John Deere was the inventor of the plow. I think the International Harvester company invested millions in public relations to create the false knowledge that Cyrus was the inventor. I think Cyrus McCormick had a brother who was involved at some point. There were about 120 or more people that invented each of the numerous little mechanisms that, together, make up the Reaper.Ĭyrus McCormick's dad may have been a contributor. ![]() If you Google the question "who invented the reaper" It says Cyrus McCormick but it's not true. The assertion that Cyrus McCormick built and demonstrated a successful reaper in 1831 is a fiction.Ĭyrus McCormick was one of several people who were BUILDING reapers in the late 1800s, and around the turn of the century the McCormick Deering company started on a huge effort to create the false history that Cyrus McCormick invented the Reaper. The reapers that were built by IHC in 1931 do not look like the 1831 McCormick reaper because there was no 1831 McCormick reaper. I am almost finished with the 11th and most informative book of all those I have read.Īnd, I feel qualified to make a comment about whether the 1931 "replica" Reapers that are presented as authentic copies of the McCormick 1831 reaper, are actually faithful replicas of a reaper that was built and demonstrated by Cyrus McCormick in 1831. ![]() I was confused about the self-raking reaper, and the various other reapers that came before and after, and wanted to read up on the various steps and various inventors and manufacturers involved. Sometimes you can match details in a photo to get provenance on an antique, but Daguerreotypes weren't created until 1837 so no photos of the original demonstrated in 1831 would exist. If that reaper in the pictures is the original prototype that he made in 1831, it would be a priceless antique and should be in a museum! To get the item verified as "the" original, you would probably need some provenance like documentation from the McCormick family saying that is was the original. Wisconsin Historical society information on Cyrus McCormick: I searched Google patents and found it in the link below. They say that Cyrus McCormick built and demonstrated the reaper in 1831, but didn't get the patent until 1834. The accounting of cotton, with the weight of worldwide demand at its back and the lure of profits for plantation owners, could be merciless.I would think the Wisconsin Historical society to be a reliable source of information. Anyone falling short could be beaten and was certainly subject to intense verbal abuse. For operations that counted productivity by pounds of cotton picked, it was much the same. It was all ultimately known as the "pushing system." Over the years, slaves were expected to clear more and more land, going from some 5 acres per person in the first half of the century, to 10 acres in the decades just before the Civil War. ![]() Those who fell behind were often subjected to brutal whippings. "Captains" were tasked with setting a frenzied pace and anyone who couldn't keep up could face dire consequences beyond an aching back and sore hands. An account by Charles Ball, who was enslaved on a South Carolina cotton plantation in the early decades of the 19th century, details some of the immense pressure faced by enslaved people picking cotton. According to Slate, this ramp up in production did happen, but at a terrible human cost. ![]()
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