The McCormick
reaper |
The McCormick reaper for kids: What is a reaper?
A reaper is a person, or a farming machine, that reaps
(gathers and cuts) crops at harvest, when they are ripe.
The McCormick mechanical reaper replaced the manual
cutting of the crop with scythes and sickles.
The McCormick reaper for kids: Wheat in the North
The climate of the Northern states was ideal for the
production of wheat. The early farmers only had
wooden plows to break the grass cover
and roots of the turf. In 1819 Jethro Wood patented an
iron-bladed plow then in 1837, John Deere engineered a
plow with sharp-edged steel blades that cut cleanly
through the sod. This invention reduced the amount of
labor required to prepare an acre for farming by half.
However, the invention of the mechanical
reaper by Cyrus McCormick, and its use in the Northern
states, equaled the importance that the
1793 Eli Whitney Cotton Gin
and the development of the
Samuel Slater cotton mills
had made to the Southern States.
The McCormick reaper for kids: What crops are reaped?
The grain crops that are reaped include wheat, rye, oats and maize.
Cyrus
McCormick Mechanical Reaper for kids: Wheat
The
success of wheat growing on the
agriculture industry depended upon the ability quickly to harvest
the crop. The process is as follows:
● Wheat must
be allowed to stand until it is fully ripened
● When ripe
it had to be quickly reaped and stored away out of the reach of
the wet rain which would ruin the crop
● Every year
at harvest time this led to a few weeks in which there was there
was a huge demand for labor on the wheat farms
● The
problem was that there was little labor to be had and the cost
of the labor was high
Cyrus
McCormick solved this problem for the wheat farmers by inventing a
horse drawn, mechanical reaper. His design was pulled by horses and
cut the grain to one side of the horse team.
McCormick reaper for
kids
The info about the McCormick reaper provides interesting facts and
important information about this important event that occured during the presidency of the 7th President of the United States of America.
Cyrus
McCormick Mechanical Reaper for kids: Facts, Biography and Timeline
Interesting Cyrus McCormick Mechanical Reaper Facts and Timeline for kids are
detailed below. The history of the Cyrus McCormick Mechanical Reaper is told in a
factual timeline sequence consisting of a series of short facts
providing a simple method of relating the
history of the Cyrus McCormick
Mechanical Reaper.
Cyrus
McCormick Biography and Mechanical Reaper Timeline and Facts for kids
Mechanical Reaper
Timeline Fact 1:
The inventor of the
mechanical reaper was Cyrus Hall McCormick (1809–1884)
Mechanical Reaper
Timeline Fact 2:
1809: Cyrus McCormick
was born on February 15, 1809 in Rockbridge County,
Virginia. He was the eldest of 8 children born to Robert
McCormick and Mary Ann "Polly" Hall
Mechanical Reaper
Timeline Fact 3:
Cyrus McCormick was
raised on the 1200 acre family farm in "Walnut Grove",
north of Lexington, Virginia
Mechanical Reaper
Timeline Fact 4:
Cyrus McCormick had a
limited education at local schools
Mechanical Reaper
Timeline Fact 5:
His father, Robert
McCormick, had a family blacksmith shop and Cyrus worked
with his father as he tried various methods to invent a
mechanical reaper.
Mechanical Reaper
Timeline Fact 6:
1824: Cyrus McCormick
invented a lightweight cradle for carting harvested
grain at the age of 15
Mechanical Reaper
Timeline Fact 7:
Robert McCormick was
unsuccessful in his efforts to invent an efficient
mechanical reaper but Cyrus, realizing the importance of
a mechanical reaper, continued the quest using his
father's basic design
Mechanical Reaper
Timeline Fact 8:
1831: Cyrus McCormick
invents the horse drawn, McCormick mechanical reaper
Mechanical Reaper
Timeline Fact 9:
1833: Obed Hussey of
Ohio patented a mechanical reaper called the Hussey
Reaper
Mechanical Reaper
Timeline Fact
11: Hussey's machine used
a saw-like cutter bar which cut stalks far more
effectively than McCormick's. It was therefore deemed of
better quality than the invention of Cyrus and achieved
a greater financial success
Mechanical Reaper
Timeline Fact 12:
1837: The
Panic of 1837
left Cyrus in considerable debt - he turned his
attention to improving his harvesting machine
Mechanical Reaper
Timeline Fact 13:
1843: Cyrus McCormick
had increased his sales to 50 machines a year - but they
were local sales.
Mechanical Reaper
Timeline Fact 14:
1846: Cyrus McCormick
moved to Chicago, a central hub for wheat growers with
good transportation links that was a good location to
expand his market
Mechanical Reaper
Timeline Fact 15:
1847: He opens a
factory in Chicago - his goal is to sell 500 machines
for the 1848 harvest
Mechanical Reaper
Timeline Fact 16:
1850: Cyrus McCormick
acquires the rights to Obed Hussey's cutter-bar
mechanism and improved the quality of his own machines
and his business boomed
Mechanical Reaper
Timeline Fact 17:
1851: The Crystal
Palace Exhibition in London. McCormick and Hussey went
head to head in a competition between their machines -
Cyrus won
Mechanical Reaper
Timeline Fact 18:
1855: The use of the
horse reaper was adding £55 million dollars to the
wealth of the country every year
Mechanical Reaper
Timeline Fact 19:
1858: Cyrus McCormick
married Nancy Maria Fowler, they would have 7 children
together
Mechanical Reaper
Timeline Fact 20:
1884: Cyrus McCormick
died in Chicago on May 13, 1884
Mechanical Reaper
Timeline Fact 21:
1902: McCormick
Harvesting Machine Co. amalgamated with other companies
to form International Harvester Company
Cyrus
McCormick Biography and Mechanical Reaper Timeline and Facts for kids
McCormick reaper for kids - President Andrew Jackson Video
The article on the
McCormick reaper provides an overview of one of the Important issues of his presidential term in office. The following
Andrew Jackson video will
give you additional important facts and dates about the political events experienced by the 7th American President whose presidency spanned from March 4, 1829 to March 4, 1837.
McCormick reaper
●
Interesting Facts about
McCormick reaper for kids and schools
●
Key events
McCormick reaper for kids
●
The McCormick reaper, a Important
event in US history
●
Andrew Jackson Presidency from March 4, 1829 to March 4, 1837
●
Fast, fun, interesting
timeline
about Important events
●
Foreign & Domestic
policies of President Andrew Jackson
● McCormick reaper for schools,
homework, kids and children
|