McCormick's Patent for Raker's Seat
"And the gearing which communicates motion to the crank is placed back of the driving wheel, which is therefore subject to be clogged by sand, dirt, straw, etc.—and in consequence of the relative position of the various parts, the attendant is obliged to walk on the ground by the side of the machine, to rake the cut grain from the platform as it is delivered and laid there by the reel. These defects which have so much retarded the introduction into practical and general use of Reaping Machines, I have remedied by my improvements, the nature of which consists in placing the driving wheels further back than heretofore, and back of the gearing which communicates motion to the sickle, which is placed in a line back of the axis of the driving wheel, the connexion being formed, etc., and also bringing the driving wheel sufficiently far back to balance the frame of the machine with the raker on it, to make room for him to sit or stand on the frame," etc., etc.—"which cannot be done, if the raker walks by the side of the machine, as heretofore."
Hussey Fourteen Years Ahead
Now if C. H. McCormick's testimony in his own favor, can be considered reliable, he certainly had not invented a seat for his raker as late as 1845—and not long prior to 1847, when he patented it; and just fourteen years after Hussey had used it every year, successively. The raker's seat therefore was just as original an invention as the reel.
The "straight sickle blade," but cut one way only, and abandoned some 10 or 12 years after its conception in 1831, as he states, appears to be the only original idea—properly belonging to whom it may—in the patent of 1834. As to the "foundation" of the machine, viz:—the platform, cog wheels, crank, etc., etc., they have been used by every projector in reaping machines, for a century.
A machine exhibited at the World's Fair in London, by C. H. McCormick, had the "straight sickle blade," but alternating the cuts every few inches. With such a machine it is impracticable to cut grain, much less grass, efficiently, divested of the reel. That plan has since been changed to a much more efficient blade, the scolloped edged sickle. That it was used in the Northwestern States by others several years previous to its adoption by C. H. McCormick, we believe admits of just as little doubt, as rests with the priority of invention of the Reel, Rakers-seat, etc.
There is one other important feature, patented in 1845 and referred to in the Pusey letter;—an "Iron case to preserve the sickles from clogging;" these we will also take a look into after a while.
Obed Hussey, as appears by the evidence before us, made his first machine in Cincinnati, Ohio, where he then resided, in the spring of 1833, and it was patented the same year.
The Hussey Principle
His principle—the arrangement and construction of the Guards and Knives—was precisely identical with those used by him at the present day, except an improvement patented in 1847, leaving openings at the back end of the slot in the guards for the escape of particles of straw or grass that might get in between the blades and guards.