 CYRUS McCORMICKBorn in 1809 - Died in 1884
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CYRUS McCORMICKBorn in 1809 - Died in 1884
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Cyrus McCormick (SIGH rus - mac COR mik) grew up on a farm in Virginia. His goal was to earn a million dollars. In 1833 that was a lot of money. The average worker only earned a nickel an hour. Twenty-six years later, he had earned a million dollars. He had also changed the way people farmed, with his wheat harvester called the reaper. Cyrus and his wife were very generous, sharing their money with people who needed help.
Before his invention, a farmer could harvest only one to three acres a day using a scythe * (SIGHTH). With the invention, a farmer and a helper could harvest 12 acres a day!
He had invented the reaper when he was only 22 years old. His father had tried for 15 years to invent a harvester, but had not been able to build one successfully. He had made a lot of mistakes, but young Cyrus learned from his father's mistakes. If a strand of wheat got tangled in the machine, he would get down on his hands and knees to look, until he found out exactly why it had tangled. He asked his father if he could take over working on the invention. His father gave his permission, but thought it was hopeless.
In just 2 months he was able to make a harvester. Some said it looked like a combination of a flying machine, a wheelbarrow, and a carriage * . When he tested it, he could harvest an acre an hour. (Remember, the old by-hand speed was one to three acres a day.)
He invited farmers to come and watch him work. They thought it was just entertainment * . They would watch him harvest, and then they would go home and use their old hand scythes. They would say things like, "I'm running a farm, not a circus."
Cyrus decided he would get some of the successful farmers to test his reaper. Maybe they would talk the other farmers into buying a reaper of their own. He just could not interest them, so he decided to work on it some more so it would work even better. He put a blade on it which would chop the wheat off cleanly.
In 1843, another man, who was also making a reaper, challenged him to a contest. They would see who could cut the most wheat. On the day of the contest, it rained. The other man's reaper jammed and wouldn't cut, but McCormick had designed his to cut in damp weather.
That year he sold 29 reapers and each year after that he sold more and more. By 1850, he was selling 5,000 reapers a year.
His company became the International Harvester Company in 1902.
Grain harvesting history
At the time of his death in 1884, enough grain was shipped from Chicago to bake 10 billion loaves of bread a year, thanks to McCormick's invention.
"Men of Progress" painted by Christian Schussele. (flickr Cliff 1066)
Cyrus McCormick 4th from left (click on picture to identify all men)
Larger image
A frequent question: "Who wrote this biography and when was it written?" Look on this Reference Citations Chart.
Cyrus Hall McCormick
National Inventor's Hall of Fame
Mechanical Reaper
Cyrus McCormick's Farm
Online book "Inventors"
Cyrus McCormick, page 207
Early reaper and scythe
at Wikipedia
"Cyrus Hall McCormick - His Life and Work"
online book
Cyrus McCormick
at Wikipedia
A Growing National Economy
Westward Movement
video lessons
(Click on the topics "Interactive Media Files", be sure volume is turned up.)
Inventions
By Teacher Created Resources
Thematic Units from Teacher Created Materials are literature based, cross-curricular, and ready to use. They provide activities, many of them hands-on, for all areas of the curriculum, including math, science, language arts, social studies, physical education, art, and music. Each book offers two or more literature-based units and lesson plans plus cross-curricular activities and worksheets, a culminating activity, management ideas, and a bibliography.Complete and comprehensive, these reproducible units are designed with student interest and teacher usability in mind. The planning is complete. The books used in "Inventions" (that will need to be purchased or borrowed)are: "Steven Caney's Invention Book" by Steven Caney "Ben and Me" by Robert Lawson "Mistakes That Worked" by Charlotte Foltz Jones
Grades 3-5. 80 pages, softcover.
Inventors Card Game
By U.s. Games Systems, Inc.
The Authors and More card game series is a classic collection perfectly suited as learning tools-easy to play and lots of fun too! This deck features color portraits of 13 major inventors and their inventions. Includes instructions. Suitable for most card games.
From Word Central's Student Dictionary
by Merriam - Webster
(Pronunciation note: the schwa sound is shown by ə)
scythe
Pronunciation: 'sI[th]
Function: noun
a tool that has a curved blade on a long curved handle
and is used for mowing grass or grain by hand ...
carriage
Pronunciation: 'kar-ij
Function: noun
a horse-drawn wheeled vehicle designed for carrying persons...
entertainment
Pronunciation: "en-tər-'tAn-mənt
Function: noun
a means of amusement or recreation; especially : a public performance...
Page Comments
Most Recent Comments ( See more comments on this page ) 2010-01-21
Great site! I was able to find everything I needed about inventor Cyrus McCormick here for an article I'm writing. I'll be including a link to this page and hope it increases your traffic.
Nan Keltie (potter1165_AT_hughes_DOT_net)2009-12-02
This page is awesome 0.o
2009-10-15
This page is awesome <(0.0)> :D
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