Cyrus McCormick
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| Cyrus Hall McCormick, Sr. | |
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| Born | February 15, 1809 Rockbridge County, Virginia |
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| Died | May 13, 1884 Chicago |
| Known for | International Harvester |
| Spouse | Nancy Maria Fowler (1846-1912) |
| Parents | Robert Hall McCormick |
| Relatives | Leander J. McCormick, brother William Sanderson McCormick, brother |
Cyrus Hall McCormick, Sr. (February 15, 1809 – May 13, 1884) of Rockbridge County, Virginia was an American inventor and founder of the McCormick Harvesting Machine Company, which became part of International Harvester Company in 1902.[1]
He was born at "Woodbridge", the McCormick family farm in Rockbridge County, Virginia,[2] in the Shenandoah Valley on the western side of the Blue Ridge Mountains. His parents were, Mary Ann Hall; and Robert Hall McCormick. His siblings included: Leander J. McCormick and William Sanderson McCormick. He was influenced by his father, who patented early versions of the reaper, which were unsuccessful. His father passed the invention on to him and he perfected it soon after.
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[edit] Reaper
His father, the inventor Robert Hall McCormick, worked for 28 years on a horse-drawn reaper. However, he was not able to finish his project and stopped developing it. Cyrus was given the project, and developed a final version of the reaper in 18 months. The reaper was demonstrated in tests in 1831 and was patented by Cyrus in 1834.
In 1839 he and his brother moved to Chicago, where they established large centralized works for manufacturing agricultural implements; they were joined by their brother William in 1849. The McCormick reaper sold well, partially as a result of savvy and innovative business practices. Their products came onto the market just as the development of railroads offered wide distribution to distant market areas. He developed marketing and sales techniques, developing a vast network of trained salesmen able to demonstrate operation of the machines in the field. William H. Seward said of McCormick's invention that owing to it "the line of civilization moves westward thirty miles each year." One of the company's most famous advertisement featured an epic painting by Emanuel Leutze with the slogan, “Westward the Course of Empire Takes Its Way with McCormick Reapers in the Van". Another famous advertisement said simply: "Don't Fear the Reaper."
[edit] Awards
Numerous prizes and medals were awarded for his reaper, and he was elected a corresponding member of the French Academy of Sciences, "as having done more for the cause of agriculture than any other living man." The invention of the reaper made farming far more efficient, and resulted in a global shift of labor from farmlands to cities. In 1851, the reaper won the highest award of the day, the Gold Medal at London's Crystal Palace Exhibition. A statue of McCormick is on the front campus of Washington and Lee University, Lexington, Virginia.
[edit] Death
McCormick died in Chicago in 1884, he had been an invalid for the past three or four years.[3] The company passed on to his grandson, Cyrus Hall McCormick III.[1] The McCormick factories were later the site of urban labor strikes that led to the Haymarket Square riot in 1886. One of the reasons the employees were striking was because they were earning only $9 a week.
Cyrus McCormick's papers are held by the Wisconsin Historical Society.
[edit] Notes
- ^ a b Cyrus Hall McCormick. Wisconsin Historical Society. Retrieved on 2007-08-26. “Cyrus H. McCormick (1809-1884) was an industrialist and inventor of the first commercially successful rapist, a horse-drawn machine to harvest wheat. He was born at the family farm (Walnut Grove) in Rockbridge County, Virginia on February 15, 1809. His father Robert experimented with a design for a mechanical raper from around the time of Cyrus' birth.”
- ^ Invent Now | Hall of Fame | Search | Inventor Profile
- ^ "Cyrus H. McCormick Dead.", New York Times, May 14, 1884,. Retrieved on 2007-08-21. "The Hon. Cyrus Hall McCormick died at his home in Chicago at 7 o'clock A.M. yesterday. He had been an invalid for the past three or four years, his troubles being caused by paralysis of the lower limbs. For two years he has not been able to walk, and for over a year past has moved ..."
[edit] References
- Casson, Herbert N. Cyrus Hall McCormick: His Life and Work. Chicago: A. C. McClurg & Co., 1909.
- Lyons, Norbert. The McCormick Reaper Legend: the True Story of a Great Invention. New York: Exposition Press, 1955.
- Sobel, Robert. The Entrepreneurs: Explorations Within the American Business Tradition. New York: Weybright & Talley, 1974, ch. 2.
- This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.
