Obed Hussey | Page 2

States, men high up in the industry. Had Mr. Hussey lived,
he would have been able to establish his claim to the invention of the
reaper beyond the shadow of a doubt. This humble man, who, against
tremendous odds and powerful opposition, proved his contentions
before Congress and the United States Patent Office could certainly
have won deserved fame with the public.
His tragic death, which came just at the time when his Congressional
victory was certain and the future of his reaper seemed bright with
promise, occurred while he was en route from Boston to Portland,
Maine, on August 4, 1860. In those days there was often no water in
the cars. The train had stopped at a station when a little child asked for
a drink of water and Mr. Hussey stepped out to get it for her. On his
return, as he attempted to re-enter, the cars started; he was thrown
beneath the wheels and instantly killed. The last act of his life was one
of kindness and compassion.
Obed Hussey is dead, but his machine still lives, an article of
measureless value to the great world of agriculture. His life was one of
long suffering and faithful service and he justly deserves the proper
credit and honor for his great invention. To Obed Hussey belongs the
fame of Inventor of the Reaper as these pages will show, to which
purpose these facts are published by those who knew him and his
works, and these facts, like his works, stand squarely on their own
merits.
FOLLETT L. GREENO. Rochester, N. Y., April 21, 1912.
[Illustration: Obed Hussey, Inventor of the Reaper]

OBED HUSSEY, THE INVENTOR OF THE REAPER
[Sidenote: A Natural Inventor]

Obed Hussey was of Quaker stock, born in Maine in 1792 and early
removed to Nantucket, Mass. When young, like all Nantucket boys, he
had a desire to go to sea, and made one or two whaling voyages. He
was of quiet and retiring disposition, studious, thoughtful, with a strong
bent for studying intricate mechanical contrivances. Little is known of
his early life and there is none living who knew him at that time. He
was a skillful draftsman and incessant worker at different inventions all
his life. He invented a successful steam plow, for which he obtained a
medal in the West. He also invented a machine for grinding out hooks
and eyes, a mill for grinding corn and cobs, a husking machine run by
horse power, the "iron finger bar," a machine for crushing sugar cane, a
machine for making artificial ice, and other devices of more or less
note.
His chief characteristic seems to have been an extremely sensitive,
modest and unassuming personality. It was this reticence which has
served to keep him in the background as the inventor of the reaper. He
was unwilling to push himself forward, and his claim to distinction has
had to rest solely upon the merits of his greatest invention.
Mr. Hussey first began work on his reaper in a room at the factory of
Richard B. Chenoweth, a manufacturer of agricultural implements, and
the story of those early efforts is told by Sarah A. Chenoweth, a
granddaughter of the latter:
[Sidenote: Early Efforts]
"As a child, it seemed that I had always known Mr. Hussey. I saw him
every day of my life, for he lived in a room, the use of which my
grandfather, Richard B. Chenoweth, a manufacturer of agricultural
implements in Baltimore City, had given him at his factory. No grown
person was allowed to enter, for in this room he spent most of his time
making patterns for the perfecting of his reaper. I, unforbidden, was his
constant visitor, and asked him numberless questions, one of which, I
remember, was why he washed and dried his dishes with shavings. His
reply was characteristic of himself, 'Shavings are clean.'
[Sidenote: First Trial]

"At this time I was about seven years of age, having been born in 1824.
Although very poor at the time, he was a man of education, upright and
honorable, and so very gentle in both speech and manner that I never
knew fear or awe of him. I do not know for a certainty how long he
remained there,--several years, at the least, I think, but of his
connection with the reaper, I am positive, for it was talked of morning,
noon and night. To this day, my brother bears on his finger a scar,
made by receiving a cut from one of the teeth of the machine. When,
finally, the model was completed, it was brought out into the yard of
the factory for trial. This trial was made on a board, drilled with holes,
and stuck full of rye straws. I helped to put those very straws in