About Cyrus Hall McCormick
Often credited for inventing the Reaper, which was created by a black slave named Jo Anderson. Cyrus McCormick got the patent because slaves were considered property and not citizens, thus could not legally patent inventions.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyrus_McCormick

http://www.invent.org/hall_of_fame/101.html

Cyrus Hall McCormick, Sr. (1809–1884) was an American inventor and founder of the McCormick Harvesting Machine Company, which became part of International Harvester Company in 1902. He and many members of the McCormick family became prominent Chicagoans. Although McCormick is often called the "inventor" of the mechanical reaper, it was based on work by others, including his family members.

Early life

Cyrus Hall McCormick was born February 15, 1809 on the McCormick family farm known as Walnut Grove in Rockbridge County, Virginia, in the Shenandoah Valley on the western side of the Blue Ridge Mountains. His parents were Robert McCormick (1780–1846) and Mary Ann Hall McCormick (1780–1853), both of whom were of Scots-Irish descent. He was the oldest of eight children, and had little or no formal education.

Although the plantation kept some slaves, every family member was expected to help during harvest. From a young age, McCormick preferred using machines to save work in the fields. In his teens he devised a scythe cradle, and then patented plows that could be used on hillsides and sharpened themselves. His father kept a workshop to repair and build machines, such as those for mills on the property. McCormick tried to sell a hemp brake machine to farmers in Kentucky but made no sales.