Cyrus McCormick

After suffering from paralysis during the last four years of his life, McCormick died on May 13, 1884, at his home in Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A. He was interred in Graceland Cemetery.

Cyrus Hall McCormick was born on February 15, 1809, Rockbridge County, Virginia, U.S., to Robert McCormick, a farmer and inventor, and his wife, Mary Ann "Polly" Hall. He was the eldest of the eight children of his parents.

McCormick received limited education from local schools but possessed his father’s creative edge since childhood and spent most of the time in his father’s workshop. Over the years, Robert was successful in inventing several practical farm implements but had failed in his experiment to build a successful reaping machine.

In 1831, when Robert abandoned the idea, Cyrus took over the task to build a reaper. After incorporating several changes to the original design of his father, Cyrus achieved success in constructing a reaping machine and first demonstrated it in Virginia in 1831.

Over the next few years, Cyrus worked to improve his machine, increasing its capacity and enhancing its mechanism. In June 1834, he finally patented the invention but was unable to sell any as the machine was unable to handle varying conditions.

In addition to farming, the McCormick family also had an iron foundry and operated in a metal smelting business. After facing difficult financial times which culminated in the Panic of 1837, the foundry failed and left the family in debt.

Thereafter, Cyrus turned to further improve his mechanical reaper in order make a business out of it. The following year, he sold one reaper and after continuously working to enhance the machine, Cyrus succeeded and was able to sell 50 reapers in 1844.

In 1845, he patented a second design of his improved reaper. In 1847, he established a factory in Chicago to build the machines with the financial help from the mayor, William Ogden. The firm was able to sell 800 machines in the first year and eventually came to be known as the McCormick Harvesting Machine Company.

Cyrus McCormick was the first person to effectively mechanize grain harvesting with his invention of the first commercially successful reaping machine. At a time, when the grain productivity was limited to the amount of manual labor, he created the mechanical reaper whose working and mechanism formed the basis for modern-day harvesting machines.

In 1847, McCormick established his own reaper manufacturing factory in Chicago which continued to expand over the years and emerged as the leader in producing agricultural equipment. By incorporating innovative marketing strategies and managing an efficient workforce, he rose to unprecedented success as an industrialist.