Machine-History.Com

Farmers for thousands of years harvested grain crops by hand. They could cut the stalks, stack them in large piles, then store them in a silo. It took many people to do these tasks, until in 1831 Cyrus McCormick (and later others) developed the reaper, a machine that cuts the stalks with reciprocating knifes after a reel leans the standing grain towards the rack, platform or endless canvas. McCormick's reaper required two people, one to ride and guide the horse pulling it, and the other to rake cut grain off the platform into a windrow on the ground.