American businessman Cyrus McCormick came up with the idea for the mechanical reaper and started the McCormick Harvesting Company. Cyrus was born in Virginia to a father who was an inventor. He didn’t get much formal education, but he was good at mechanics and quickly picked up his father’s skills, since his father used to do a lot of experiments with farm equipment. When his father stopped working on building a reaper, Cyrus took over the project. In 1831, after making a few changes to the original design, he was able to build the first mechanical reaper that did well in the marketplace. Over the next few decades, though, he had to deal with competition from other inventors. However, he was able to improve the machine’s mechanism, which made it a success and kept him at the top of the market. In 1847, he started the McCormick Harvesting Machine Company in Chicago to make, sell, and distribute reapers. Over the years, McCormick Harvesting Machine Company grew to be the biggest company in the United States that makes farm equipment. This happened because the company came up with new ways to do business. When the great Chicago fire of 1871 burned down the factory, he rebuilt it with more space and grew his business. After that, Cyrus also became a well-known public figure and stayed involved in both Presbyterian and Democratic politics. Cyrus McCormick was a great inventor with great business sense. He will always be remembered for his work to improve agriculture and make it more automated.
Early years and childhood
Cyrus Hall McCormick was born in Rockbridge County, Virginia, on February 15, 1809. His parents were Robert McCormick, a farmer and inventor, and Mary Ann “Polly” Hall. He was the oldest of his parents’ eight kids.
McCormick didn’t learn much in local schools, but he always had his father’s creative spirit and spent most of his time as a child in his father’s workshop. Over the years, Robert was able to make a number of useful tools for the farm, but his attempt to make a reaping machine didn’t work.
Cyrus McCormick’s Career
When Robert gave up on the idea in 1831, Cyrus took over the job of making a reaper. After making a few changes to his father’s original design, Cyrus was able to build a reaping machine. He first showed it to people in Virginia in 1831.
Over the next few years, Cyrus worked on making his machine better by making it bigger and better. In June 1834, he finally got a patent for the machine, but he couldn’t sell any because it didn’t work well in different situations.
The McCormick family did more than just farm. They also had an iron foundry and a metal smelting business. After the Panic of 1837 made things worse for the family’s finances, the foundry failed and put the family in debt.
After that, Cyrus worked to make his mechanical reaper even better so he could sell it. The next year, he sold one reaper. In 1844, he was able to sell 50 reapers because he had worked hard to make the machine better.
In 1845, he got a second patent for an even better reaper. With money from the mayor of Chicago, William Ogden, he opened a factory in Chicago in 1847 to make the machines. In its first year, the company sold 800 machines and became known as the McCormick Harvesting Machine Company.
Over the next few years, Cyrus had to deal with a lot of competition from other inventors when it came to getting a patent for the mechanical reaper. In 1848, Cyrus tried to get his patent for the reaper renewed, but the US Patent Office said no because a similar patent had just been given a few months before.
After that, he got into a legal battle with other inventors, but he couldn’t win, so the basic machine became part of the public domain. Then Cyrus decided to beat his competitors by coming up with new ways to do business.
With the rise of railroads, Cyrus’s business grew, and he increased sales of his machine by doing things like mass production, getting a lot of publicity, hiring salespeople to show the public how the machine worked in the field and offering a warranty.
Because of this, the business grew, and the McCormick mechanical reaper became known in almost every part of the country. Soon, European farmers started using McCormick mechanical reapers. By 1856, the McCormick Company was selling more than 4,000 machines a year.
When the McCormick factory burned down in the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, his wife told him to start over and rebuild the business.
In 1873, he reopened a new factory with more space and began looking for business opportunities in other countries. In 1880, Cyrus gave his son, Cyrus McCormick, Jr., control of the company he ran.
McCormick was not only an inventor and businessman, but he also helped people in need and was involved in the Presbyterian Church and the Democratic Party. He was the main person who helped get the McCormick Theological Seminary in Chicago started.
Works of note
The first commercially successful reaping machine, which was made by Cyrus McCormick, was the first person to successfully use machines to harvest grain. At a time when the amount of manual labor was the only way to harvest grain, he invented the mechanical reaper. Its design and way of working are the basis for modern harvesting machines.
In 1847, McCormick opened his own factory in Chicago to make reapers. Over the years, the factory grew and became the best at making agricultural equipment. As an industrialist, he achieved a level of success that had never been seen before. He did this by coming up with new ways to market his products and by running an efficient business.
Awards & Achievements
At the Crystal Palace Exhibition in London in 1851, McCormick’s reaper won the Gold Medal.
In 1878, he was chosen to join the prestigious French Academy of Sciences because “no other living man has done more for agriculture than he has.”
The Junior Achievement U.S. Business Hall of Fame made Cyrus McCormick a member in 1975.
Personal History and Legacies
In January 1858, Nancy “Nettie” Fowler, who worked for McCormick, became his wife. Together, they had seven children.
McCormick died on May 13, 1884, at his home in Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A. He had been paralyzed for the last four years of his life. Graceland Cemetery is where he was laid to rest.
Estimated Net worth
Cyrus is one of the wealthiest and most well-known physicists. Based on what we found on Wikipedia, Forbes, and Business Insider, Cyrus McCormick has a net worth of about $1.5 million.