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| US inventor
who developed one of the first successful reaping machines 1833 and various
other agricultural machinery. Hussey was born in Maine. His reaping machine used the principle of a reciprocating knife cutting against stationary guards or figures. The cutter was attached to a crank activated by gearing, connected to one of the wheels. The contraption was pulled by horses walking alongside the standing grain. During the harvest of 1834, he demonstrated the reaper to farmers and began to sell the machines. In 1851 he went to Britain and demonstrated the reaper at Hull and Barnardscastle. He was invited to show it to Prince Albert, who bought two (at £21 each). An earlier rival design of reaper had been developed by Cyrus McCormick in 1831, although Hussey's was patented first. Hussey also invented a steam plough, a machine for making hooks and eyes, a grinding mill for maize and a horse-powered husking machine, a sugar-cane crusher, and an ice-making machine. |