Jacob R. Thomas, a Carroll County farmer, assembles a wheat reaping machine and tries it out in a field near Union Bridge in 1811. The machine fails to cut much and, facing ridicule from his neighbors, Thomas abandons his machine. But that first experiment with a mechanical reaper ushers in the age of agricultural machines in America.
Obed Hussey (1792-1860), a Quaker inventor from Maine, perfects Thomas’ reaper in a Baltimore factory and patents the device in 1831. Virginian Cyrus McCormick (1809-1884) patents his reaper in 1834 but claims he had it perfected in 1831. He goes on to build an agricultural machine empire.
Hussey creates a reaper manufacturing business in Baltimore, making it the home of the Hussey Reaper. His business flounders in competition with McCormick.
Carroll County farmers try the new reapers, acknowledging that they are ten times faster than the hand operated system, but fear that machinery will replace their jobs.
