Haying was once the hardest work on the farm, and in no crop has
machinery been more efficient. The basic idea in the reaper, the
cutter-bar, is the whole of the mower, and the machine developed
with the reaper. Previously Jeremiah Bailey, of Chester County,
Pennsylvania, had patented in 1822 a machine drawn by horses
carrying a revolving wheel with six scythes, which was widely
used. The inventions of Manning, Hussey, and McCormick made the
mower practicable. Hazard Knowles, an employee of the Patent
Office, invented the hinged cutter-bar, which could be lifted
over an obstruction, but never patented the invention. William F.
Ketchum of Buffalo, New York, in 1844, patented the first machine
intended to cut hay only, and dozens of others followed. The
modern mowing machine was practically developed in the patent of
Lewis Miller of Canton, Ohio, in 1858. Several times as many
mowers as harvesters are sold, and for that matter, reapers
without binding attachments are still manufactured.
Hayrakes and tedders seem to have developed almost of themselves.
Diligent research has failed to discover any reliable information
on the invention of the hayrake, though a horserake was patented
as early as 1818. Joab Center of Hudson, New York, patented a
machine for turning and spreading hay in 1834.
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