Historedia
AmericasEvent

Cyrus McCormick granted a patent for the mechanical reaper

When
1834
Where
United States Patent Office
Episodes
1

Cyrus McCormick received a United States patent for his mechanical reaper on June 21, 1834. The grant recognized his horse-drawn implement for cutting grain, though his claim to sole invention was contested by rival designs, including Obed Hussey's 1833 patent. McCormick asserted his machine was invented in 1831, but the patent was granted in 1834, establishing a legal basis for his commercial success despite later disputes over design origins.

Episodes

  1. 1834-06-21 · United States Patent OfficePatent Grant

    Cyrus McCormick received a U.S. patent for his mechanical reaper on June 21, 1834, covering a horse-drawn implement for cutting grain.

Background and detail

Patent Grant. Cyrus McCormick was granted a patent for his mechanical reaper on June 21, 1834. This occurred two years after he received a patent for a self-sharpening plow. The patent covered a horse-drawn farm implement designed to cut small grain crops. McCormick claimed the machine was invented in 1831, asserting a prior claim to the general design, though the official grant date remained 1834.

People involved

Sources

  1. Cyrus McCormick Wikipedia, revision of 2026-09-28
  2. Reaper Wikipedia, revision of 2026-09-29

Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.