Kendall County, Illinois - Chapter 54: Our Inventions, 1877

Chapter 54: Our Inventions

lUR COUNTY can boast of its full share of worthy inventors who have aided in the wonderful advance of the last quarter of a century. And in nothing is this advance seen more than in agricultural machinery, especially harvesters and

Forty-two years ago the plow had a wooden mouldboard, hewed out of a slab, and tipped with an iron shear. For breaking plows it required a slab six feet long. Daniel Webster's breaking plow, made by himself in 1837, is thirteen feet long, and the mouldboard is^overed with wrought iron strips. (, About 1839, mouldboards were made of boiler iron, cut into the right shape with cold chisels. The Grand Detour plow was of this kind. Then followed cast iron mouldboards.

About 1847, right width mouldboard iron came into the market, from which plates could be cut as they were wanted. Next, the cast steel plows came in, which we are using to-day. Fletcher Misner, at Millington, is our oldest plow manufacturer.\

Riding plows are the fashion to-day, and are manufactured successfully at Millbrook and other points. In 1873 James C. Cams took out a patent on the mode of attaching the plow to the frame, by which the draught is lessened.

we have five patents. Jacob Zimmerman, Oswego, 1855, improved cultivator. Parley F. Freeland, Newark, 1859, a machine designed to answer equally well in killing the weeds and pulverizing the soil.

Nelson Messenger, Newark, 1860, Messenger Gopher; blades fifteen inches long, attached to the machine by a patent angle. This has proved to be a superior implement, and has been extensively manufactured at the Millbrook Works, where the patent is now owned.

Ezra McEwen, Lisbon, 1864, riding gopher, adjustable blades, to run deep or shallow ; also, reversible, to throw the dirt away from the corn the first time through, being attached to the tongue by a flexible joint. About sixty were made at the Lisbon shop.

Nelson Messenger, 1876, improved gopher, manufactured at Ottawa. The appellation "gopher" is a local name referring to the peculiar shape of the blades or shovels. They are certainly the best implements for working corn, as they destroy the weeds without cutting

Isaac Harris, Pavilion, 1877, riding harrow. By this invention the farmer is freed from the last necessity of soiling his boots from the time the first furrow is plowed to the time when the last sheaf is gathered.

The Hussey reaper, Virginia, was the first one made with sections for the cutting edge, and from it McCormick undoubtedly got his idea. The successful manufacturers are very rarely the original inventors. William Hoag ran a Hussey reaper in 1844. In 1845, the McCormick was introduced. Mr. McCormick himself came around and solicited farmers to take them. J. R. Bullard and Zenas McEwen each took one. In 1846, Ezra McEwen manufactured an improved reaper at Lisbon, and was followed by Keith & Stevens in 1847.

In 1848, several were made at a shop at Long Grove, on the Oswego road, southeast of Yorkville. In 1846, the self-rake was introduced by Smith of Batavia, but the machinery was too complex to work well.^In 1853, Messenger & Preshur built twenty reapers at Newark, after Green's patent, Ottawa, and they did good work. The following year Lot Preshur made some on his own account after the plan of Rugg's machine, Ottawa, which went before the horses ; but this was soon changed, and the team placed ahead. Some of Rugg's reapers cut a swath ten feet wide.

In mowers, we have one patent, that of John F. Steward, Piano, 1876, device to tilt forward the edge of the cutter bar while passing over uneven ground, are intended to cut off the heads of grain, leaving the straw in the field, and were popular when wheat fields were large and the straw was of no value. The first introduced was Esterley's, from Whitewater, Wisconsin, 1845. They were push machines, and the curving reel brought the grain to a stationary knife, where it was sheared off. About the same time, Ezra McEwen produced one of his own invention that operated with a sickle and did good work, and he manufactured them in 1848 at Lisbon.

Keith & Stevens, in 1848, also manufactured a number of the Haines' Headers. At present, however, both reapers and headers are being supplanted by

The Marsh Harvester was begun at Piano in 1860, and at least five of the patenis which cover it belong to this county. N. H. Kennedy and F. J. Coddington, 1877, two patents, both on the elevator, designed to simplify the process. Coddington & Steward, 1876, raising and lowering device, used extensively. John F. Steward, 1876, adjustable reel, used on all Piano harvesters. The same, 1876, device for retaining the binder's platform on a level, whatever the adjustment or dip of the harvester.

er's platform. In all previous machines the platform was raised and lowered wuth the cutter bar. Second, graded belts in the elevator, by which the butts of the grain are moved faster than the heads. In previous machines the heads came up first. Third, an upper selfadjustable elevator, by which the grain, whether light or heavy, is kept in place on the lower elevator. They are manufactured at Sheridan.

J. Heath, of Warren, Ohio, 1850, was the first inventor. He bound with twine. A. Sherwood's machine was the first to bind with wire. Paper and straw are also used, though not with the same success.

The Gordon binder is manufactured at the Piano works, and two thousand are being built for next season. No less than ten patents which cover it belong to this county, and have been granted within two years. E. H. Gammon has two patents for general improvements, and two others for the same, in connection with R. H. Dixon and J. F. Steward. Mr. Steward has two patents for general improvements. Also a device for delivering the grain into the automatic binder, one patent ; a device for adjusting the position of the band upon the bundle, two patents ; a device for more perfectly twisting the wire after it has passed around the bundle. The last is an important and profitable invention.

Horse Rakes

four improvements. S. E. Ament, 1867, horse rake on runners, thirteen improvements. Edward G. Ament, Newark, 1875, horse rake still further improved - remarkable for the simplicity of its arrangement and perfection of its work.

Ditcher And Scrapers

Albert Keith, Lisbon, 1862, grading and excavating machine ; made adjustable to greater or less depth, and to uneven ground. Jacob Zimmerman, Oswego, improved road scraper. Frederick Post, Little Rock, 1868, riding scraper ; the load can be carried any distance. E. G. Ament, 1876, barn yard scraper ; designed to clean up barn yards and cow yards without gouging the surface, and to save its cost once in cleanliness and once in manure each year.

Wire Fence

Elbridge Gale, Yorkville, 1872, portable wire fence, made in sections and looped together. A. V. Wormley, Oswego, 1873, barb fence ; the barbs are worked in with a patent twist between three small wires, making a barbed cable. Considerable quantities are manufactured. Hamilton Cherry and Sheldon H. Wheeler, Na-au-say, 1877, improved barb fence. G. G. Hunt, Bristol, 1877, improved barb fence. He has four separate kinds, all jointed and made in sections of any length : (1) Two wires, twisted, and wire barb ; (2) four pointed barb and single wire ; (3) twisted wire and steel barb ; (4) single wire and two steel barbs.

buque," ''Dacotah," and other base burners, and he receives an important royalty therefrom. The beginning of his invention was in 1863, while residing at Quincy. This was followed at Bristol, in 1870, by the device for illuminating through mica windows, and in 1871 by the movable coal reservoir. He has altogether five stove patents. Burdett & Smith, Troy, New York, own a onehalf interest in them.

having two patents, both dating 1875. First, for adjustable eye glasses, by which differences in vision are overcome. Second, a revolving stereoscope, capable of showing three hundred pictures. The same, Avith his brother, Aurelius Steward, has made several improvements in

Sewing And Knitting Machines

A. Steward. 1867, ruffling attachment for sewing machines, by which the feed bar feeds the cloth faster on one side than on the other ; sold for two thousand dollars. Same, 1872, improvement in sewing machines. J. F. Steward, 1867, knot indicator for knitting machines,.

Water Wheels

1868, adjustable lower wheel on the shaft, which can be regulated accordinfj; to the amount of water. Walter Aitken, 1863. improved propelling apparatus for steamers.

Transportation Conveyor

tion by stationary power, of coal, grain, or other freight. A section with a belt one thousand feet long has been constructed and successfullv tested. It can be built for fifteen hundred dollars a mile, and is claimed to move freight for one-fifth the cost of teaming. This is an important invention.

Store Furniture

Oil Dispenser, David M. Haight, Oswego, 1876. The oil is taken from the barrel without a faucet. Oil Pump and Measure, M. C. Richards, Oswego, 1876. Works on the siphon principle, and measures out the exact amount of oil wanted from the upper side of the barrel.

C. G. Mororan, Bristol Station, 1875. Glycerine Dispenser, for druggists' use in retailing heavy oils. Can be guaged to half an ounce and upwards at each turn of the crank.

Thread Show Case, A. Steward, 1868. The spools are placed on inclined shelves, whereby those in the rear supply the places of those removed in front. The case is in general use, and pays a royalty of twenty-five cents each to the inventor.

Railroad Improvements

G. G. Hunt, 1864, device by which car wheels can be removed without disturbing the trucks. Same, 1864, oil reservoir and wick for journal boxes, by which they may run a year without oiling. Same, 1864, steam

1864, smoke burner for tubular boiler. Same, 1864, car axle, by which one wheel can turn faster than the other around curves, instead of slipping, as on the old plan.

Miscellaneous Inventions

G. G. Hunt, 1855, arrangement of reed board for two sets of reeds in cabinet organs. Same, 1864, double acting churn, by which two dashers move in opposite directions.

Ezra McEwen, Lisbon, 1876, double cylinder corn sheller, with roller to keep the corn on the cylinder. It does not break the cob or cut the corn. Manufactured by a St. Louis firm.

E. G. Ament, Newark, 1867, corn shocker. Two men and a team will shock four acres a day and put the shocks close together in rows thirty rods apart, thus leaving the ground free for plowing.

From the Mormon press. Piano : Book of Doctrine and Covenants, 1865. Bible and Testament, printed from plates, 1867. Saint's Harp - hymn book, 1870. Book of Mormon, 1874. Hesperius ; book of poems of D. H. Smith, 1875. Discussion, between Rev. Shinn and Elder Forscutt, 1875. Manual and Rules of Order, 1876.

^Tiscellaneous works : Immaterial Elements, by E. D. Sargent, M. D. Bristol, 1873. History of the Thirty- Sixth Ren;iment, by Lyman G. Bennett, of Yorkville, 1876.