Obed Hussey | Page 5

apparatus was
pretty much the same as now used in Hussey's machine. The knife is
constructed of steel plates, riveted to a flat bar of iron. These plates are
three inches broad at the end where they are riveted to the bar, and four
and a half inches long, projecting in front, and tapering nearly to a
point, forming what is described as a saw with very coarse teeth, which

are sharp on both edges. This cutter is supported on what he terms
guards, which are attached to the front edge of the platform or
cutter-bar (as termed by Hussey), one every three inches the whole
width of the machine, projecting horizontally in front about six or eight
inches. These guards have long slots through them horizontally through
which the cutter vibrates, and thus form a support for the grain whilst it
is cut, and protect the cutter from liability to injury from large stones
and other obstructions. The cutter is attached by means of a pitman rod
to a crank, which is put in motion by gearing connecting with one or
both of the ground wheels as may be desired, according to
circumstances, which gives to the cutter as the machine advances, a
quick vibrating motion; and each point of the cutter vibrates from the
centre of one guard, through the space between, to the centre of the
next, thus cutting equally both ways. As the machine advances, the
grain is readily cut, and the butts are carried along with the machine
which causes the tops to fall back upon the platform without the aid of
the reel. The grain to be cut was separated from that to be left standing
by means of a point projecting in front of the cutter, in the form of a
wedge, bearing the grain both inwards and outwards, with a board set
edgewise upon it, sloping downwards, to a point in front. The grain was
raked from the machine by a man riding upon it, in rear of the frame, at
the side of the cutter, nearly in range with the guards, with his back
towards the team, sometimes at the side and sometimes behind the
platform. Soon after this date Mr. Hussey changed the construction of
his machine somewhat, used one large ground wheel instead of two,
placed the platform alongside the frame, and placed his raker on a seat
by the side of the large ground wheel, facing the team, and raked the
grain off in rear of the platform.
[Sidenote: The Most Practical]
"This was for many years doubtless the most practical reaping machine
known, and, with the improvements that have been made upon it, from
time to time, it is now preferred to any other in many wheat growing
sections of the country."
[Sidenote: Mr. Hussey's Plea]

The fact and intensity of Mr. Hussey's struggles may, in part, be
gathered from his letter to Edward Stabler, dated March 12, 1854:
"Baltimore, March 12, 1854.
"My Esteemed Friend, Edward Stabler:--
"I think the work goes bravely on. I am unable to express my
estimation of thy disinterested efforts; I never before experienced
anything of the kind; it seems entirely new to me to have any one go
out of their way so much, to do so much for me. I am not so much
surprised at the progress thee makes considering the man, as I am that
any man could be found to do me such a service. I hope thee will not
get weary; I am sure thee will not. I hope the Committee will not act so
unjustly as to turn their backs on all cases because there is 'rascality' in
some; because there is rascality in some cases, why should a just cause
suffer? The facts in my case can be easily proved. I made no money
during the existence of my patent, or I might say I made less than I
would have made if I had held an under-clerk's position in the Patent
Office; I would have been better off at the end of the 14 years if I had
filled exactly such station as my foreman holds, and got his pay, and
would not have had half the hard work, nor a hundredth part of the
heart-aching. I never experienced half the fatigue in rowing after a
whale in the Pacific Ocean (which I have often done) as I experienced
year after year for eighteen years in the harvest field, I might say
twenty years, for I worked as hard in England as I do at home, for in
the harvest, wherever I am there is no rest for me. If I am guilty of no
rascality why should I not be compensated for toiling to introduce an
invention which I thought to be of