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CYRUS McCORMICK Born in 1809 - Died in 1884

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.

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
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This biography by Patsy Stevens, a retired teacher, was written in 2001.

A frequent question: "Who wrote this biography and when was it written?" Look on this Reference Citations Chart.

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PRINTABLES Alphabetical Order Cyrus McCormick Word Search Cyrus McCormick Crossword Puzzle Cyrus McCormick - Word Scramble Cyrus McCormick - Word Match * Cyrus McCormick Study Sheet Worksheet Color a picture of Cyrus McCormick Print Cyrus McCormick Test

RESEARCH LINKS

Cyrus Hall McCormick National Inventor's Hall of Fame Mechanical Reaper Cyrus McCormick's Farm Early reaper and scythe at Wikipedia Cyrus McCormick at Wikipedia The Centennial Exhibition (audio) Black Inventors (audio) Engines of Our Ingenuity. A Growing National Economy Westward Movement video lessons (Click on the topics "Interactive Media Files", be sure volume is turned up.) 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... The Story of Inventions, Second Edition By Frank P. Bachman / Christian Liberty Press Now updated, The Story of Inventions covers key innovations from the 15th through the 20th century. Divided into four sections: Power, Manufacturing & Production, Communications, and Transportation, chapters focus on the invention as well as the life of the inventor, weaving together true-life stories in a format enjoyable for young and old. Learn about the printing press, steel, computers, steamboats and other inventions that paved the way for the growth of our modern world. Comprehension questions follow each chapter. 280 pages, softcover. Upper elementary grades. 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. A LIBRARY OF ONLINE BOOKS and BOOK PREVIEWS Online book "Inventors" Cyrus McCormick, page 207 Cyrus Hall Mccormick - Seed-Time 1809-1856 by William T. Hutchinson (selected pages) Order here Popular Science, June 1926 - Cyrus McCormick (full view) The 100 Greatest Inventions Of All Time: A Ranking Past and Present by Tom Philbin (selected pages) Order here Inventors and Inventions, Volume 4 by Marshall Cavendish Corporation (selected pages) Cyrus Hall McCormick and the reaper by Reuben Gold Thwaites (public domain, full view) Builders of Our Country: Cyrus McCormick by Gertrude Van Duyn Southworth (public domain, full view) Famous Leaders of Industry by Edwin Wildman (selected pages) Order here Preview these Amazon books using the links below. Farmland Innovator: A Story About Cyrus Mccormick by Catherine A. Welch, Jan Naimo Jones (selected pages) "Cyrus Hall McCormick - His Life and Work" by Herbert Newton Casson (public domain, full view)

This video shows how they harvested grain in the old days.

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2011-02-16 very intresting...this helped with my history project! Miss Texas :)

2010-05-10 wow...kindaaa boringggg!!! :P Cameron<3

2010-05-10 -this helpedd alot on my homeworkk for mr.katz and mrs.lewis. theyre always doing conjoined projects between history and elnglish and this helpeddd alot :] Brown Shuggaaa

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Biographies in this Series

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American Patriots	Benjamin Franklin	Francis Scott Key	Deborah Sampson	Molly Pitcher
World Leaders	Constantine	Alexander the Great	Winston Churchill
Inventors	Alexander Graham Bell	Johann Gutenberg	Cyrus McCormick	The Wright Brothers	Henry Ford	Thomas A. Edison
	Sequoyah	Nikola Tesla	Michael Faraday	Dean Kamen	Jack Kilby	Leonardo Da Vinci
	Donald O'Neal
Explorers	Christopher Columbus	Meriwether Lewis	Robert Peary	John Muir	Matthew Henson	Sir Edmund Hillary
	Kit Carson	Johnny Appleseed	Daniel Boone
Women who made a difference	Clara Barton	Helen Keller	Florence Nightingale	Joan of Arc	Amelia Earhart	Annie Oakley
	Susan B. Anthony	Elizabeth Keckly	Harriet Tubman	Anne Frank	Eleanor Roosevelt	Madam C.J. Walker
	Sadako Sasaki	Henrietta Lacks
Scientists	George Washington Carver	Sir Isaac Newton	Marie Curie	Louis Pasteur	Albert Einstein	Galileo
	Lise Meitner	Norman Borlaug	Benjamin Banneker
Educators	Noah Webster	Booker T. Washington	Aristotle	Mary McLeod Bethune
Physicians	Hippocrates	Walter Reed	Albert Schweitzer
Religious Leaders	George Muller	Increase Mather
Athletes	Lou Gehrig	Wilma Rudolph	Tiger Woods	Michael Phelps
Civil Rights Leaders	Martin Luther King	Rosa Parks	Sojourner Truth	Frederick Douglass	Mary Ann Shadd Cary	James Forten
	Gandhi	César Chávez	William Wilberforce	Nelson Mandela
Composers	Beethoven	Mozart
Authors	Laura Ingalls Wilder	Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain)	Ernest Hemingway	Greg Mortenson	Phillis Wheatley
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	Rembrandt	Grandma Moses	Cassatt	Renoir	Cezanne	Rockwell

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