Cyrus H. McCormick
| Cyrus McCormick | |
|---|---|
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| Born |
Cyrus Hall McCormick February 15, 1809 Shenandoah Valley, Virginia, U.S. |
| Died | May 13, 1884 (aged 75) Chicago, Illinois, U.S. |
| Cause of death | Stroke |
| Resting place | Graceland Cemetery |
| Known for | International Harvester |
| Net worth |
 US $11 million at the time of his death ($293.21 million today; approximately 1/1072nd of United States' gross national product at that time) |
| Spouse(s) |
Nancy Fowler (m. 1858–1884; his death) |
| Children |
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| Parent(s) |
Robert McCormick, Jr. Mary Ann Hall |
| Relatives | See McCormick family |
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Cyrus Hall McCormick (February 15, 1809 – May 13, 1884) was an American inventor and businessperson, the founder of the McCormick Harvesting Machine Company, which later became part of the International Harvester Company in 1902. From the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia, he and many members of his family became prominent residents of Chicago.
Although McCormick has sometimes been simplistically credited as the [single] "inventor" of the mechanical reaper, he was one of several inventors who contributed successful models in the 1830s, and his efforts built on more than two decades of work by his father, as well as the aid of Jo Anderson, a slave held by his family. Even greater than his achievement as an inventor was his success in the development of a modern company, with manufacturing, marketing, and a sales force to market his products.
Cyrus McCormick was born on February 15, 1809 in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. He was the eldest of eight children born to inventor Robert McCormick, Jr. (1780–1846) and Mary Ann "Polly" Hall (1780–1853). As Cyrus' father saw the potential of the design for a mechanical reaper, he applied for a patent to claim it as his own invention. He worked for 28 years on a horse-drawn mechanical reaper to harvest grain; however, he was never able to reproduce a reliable version.
Cyrus took up the project. He was aided by Jo Anderson, an enslaved African American on the McCormick plantation at the time. A few machines based on a design of Patrick Bell of Scotland (which had not been patented) were available in the United States in these years. The Bell machine was pushed by horses. The McCormick design was pulled by horses and cut the grain to one side of the team.
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