, against
tremendous odds and powerful opposition, proved his contentions before
Congress and the United States Patent Office could certainly have won
deserved fame with the public.

His tragic death, which came just at the time when his Congressional
victory was certain and the future of his reaper seemed bright with
promise, occurred while he was en route from Boston to Portland, Maine,
on August 4, 1860. In those days there was often no water in the cars.
The train had stopped at a station when a little child asked for a drink
of water and Mr. Hussey stepped out to get it for her. On his return, as
he attempted to re-enter, the cars started; he was thrown beneath the
wheels and instantly killed. The last act of his life was one of kindness
and compassion.

Obed Hussey is dead, but his machine still lives, an article of
measureless value to the great world of agriculture. His life was one of
long suffering and faithful service and he justly deserves the proper
credit and honor for his great invention. To Obed Hussey belongs the fame
of Inventor of the Reaper as these pages will show, to which purpose
these facts are published by those who knew him and his works, and these
facts, like his works, stand squarely on their own merits.

FOLLETT L. GREENO.
Rochester, N. Y., April 21, 1912.

[Illustration: Obed Hussey, Inventor of the Reaper]

OBED HUSSEY, THE INVENTOR OF THE REAPER

[Sidenote: A Natural Inventor]

Obed Hussey was of Quaker stock, born in Maine in 1792 and early removed
to Nantucket, Mass. When young, like all Nantucket boys, he had a desire
to go to sea, and made one or two whaling voyages. He was of quiet and
retiring disposition, studious, thoughtful, with a strong bent for
studying intricate mechanical contrivances. Little is known of his early
life and there is none living who knew him at that time. He was a
skillful draftsman and incessant worker at different inventions all his
life. He invented a successful steam plow, for which he obtained a medal
in the West. He also invented a machine for grinding out hooks and eyes,
a mill for grinding corn and cobs, a husking machine run by horse power,
the "iron finger bar," a machine for crushing sugar cane, a machine for
making artificial ice, and other devices of more or less note.

His chief characteristic seems to have been an extremely sensitive,
modest and unassuming personality. It was this reticence which has served
to keep him in the