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An Encyclopedia of the History of Technology part 81

An Encyclopedia of the History of Technology part 81. This one of a kind encyclopedia presents the entire field of technology from rudimentary agricultural tools to communication satellites in this first of its kind reference source. Following an introduction that discusses basic tools, devices, and mechanisms, the chapters are grouped into five parts that provide detailed information on materials, power and engineering, transportation, communication and calculation, and technology and society, revealing how different technologies have together evolved to produce enormous changes in the course of history | PART FIVE TECHNOLOGY AND SOCIETY Figure 16.2 The McCormick reaper patented in 1834. This machine employed the essential features of the modern reaper vibrating sickle-edged blade fingers to hold the grain and reel divider and platform to receive it. In Europe the search for a harvesting machine was also being conducted in the early years of the nineteenth century and the Society of Arts offered a prize for a number of years. Eventually the Revd Patrick Bell designed a machine which was built by his local blacksmith and successfully used to harvest corn in the summer of 1828. Bell decided that his machine was so important that the restrictions in production that would occur if it was patented should be avoided. Unfortunately this meant that those imitations that were built were of poor and uncontrolled quality and the idea lay dormant for a number of years owing to the bad reputation they gained. In the USA Cyrus McCormick designed a reaper which he patented in 1834 and put into limited production about the same time Figure 16.2 . While enjoying considerable success in America it was some time before it was to appear in Europe. The incentive was the Great Exhibition held in London in 1851 and more particularly the trials organized that summer by the Royal Agricultural Society of England. Resistance to the machine was not pure conservatism but also had a technical and economic basis. Not least of the problems was the ridge and furrow drainage system to be found on most of the heavy lands of Britain which made it difficult if not impossible to operate the reaper. New drainage techniques being developed at about the same time were eventually to remove this particular obstacle but the heavy investment needed created its own delay. 782 AGRICULTURE Figure 16.2 The McCormick reaper patented in 1834. This machine employed the essential features of the modern reaper vibrating sickle-edged blade fingers to hold the grain and reel divider and platform to receive it. These .