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The
Industrial Revolution The mechanical reaper invented by Cyrus McCormick in 1831, the mechanical thresher designed by Hiram and John Pitts in the 1830s, and the steel plow developed by John Deere in 1837 revolutionized farming. These inventions allowed farmers to produce more crops at a lower cost for a rapidly expanding commercial market. Mechanical threshers enabled farmers to process grain about thirty times faster than by hand; a farmer using a mechanical reaper could harvest five to six acres a day compared to one acre a day using a hand-held scythe. |
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Broadsides
for farm machinery, c. 1855.
Click image to enlarge. Copyright 2002 The Chicago Historical Society |
Images 9 & 10 of
15
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