How the McCormick Reaper Revolutionized Farming

Cyrus McCormick, a blacksmith in Virginia, developed the first practical mechanical reaper to harvest grain in 1831 when he was only 22 years old. His machine, at first a local curiosity, proved to be enormously important. In the decades following McCormicks first attempts to bring mechanical aid to farm work, his invention would revolutionize farming in the United States and around the world. Early Experiments McCormicks father had earlier tried to invent a mechanical device for harvesting but gave up on it. But in the summer of 1831 the son took up the job and labored for about six weeks in the family blacksmith shop.   Confident he had worked out the tricky mechanics of the device, McCormick demonstrated it at a local gathering place, Steeles Tavern. The machine had some innovative features that would make it possible for a farmer to harvest grain faster than could ever be done by hand. As the demonstration was later described, local farmers were at first puzzled by the peculiar contraption that looked like a sled with some machinery on top of it. There was a cutting blade and spinning parts which would hold grain heads while the stalks were being cut. As McCormick began the demonstration, the machine was pulled through a wheat field behind a horse. The machinery began to move, and it was suddenly apparent that the horse pulling the device was doing all the physical work. McCormick only had to walk beside the machine and rake the wheat stalks into piles which could be bound as usual. The machine worked perfectly and McCormick was able to use it that year in the fall harvest. Business Success McCormick produced more of the machines, and at first, he only sold them to local farmers. But as word of the machines amazing functionality spread, he began selling more. He ultimately started a factory in Chicago. The McCormick Reaper revolutionized agriculture, making it possible to harvest large areas of grain much faster than could have been done by men wielding scythes. Because farmers could harvest more, they could plant more. So McCormicks invention of the reaper made the possibility of food shortages, or even famine, less likely. It was said that before McCormicks machinery changed farming forever, families would have to struggle to cut enough grain during the fall to last them until the next harvest. One farmer, highly skilled at swinging at scythe, might only be able to harvest two acres of grain in a day. With a reaper, one man with a horse could harvest large fields in a day. It was thus possible to have much larger farms, with hundreds or even thousands of acres. The earliest horse-drawn reapers made by McCormick cut the grain, which fell onto a platform so it could be raked up by a man walking alongside the machine. Later models consistently added practical features, and McCormicks farm machinery business grew steadily. By the end of the 19th century, McCormick reapers did not just cut wheat, they could also thresh it and put it into sacks, ready for storage or shipment. At the Great Exhibition of 1851 in London, McCormick exhibited his latest model. The American machine was the source of much curiosity. McCormicks reaper, during a competition held at an English farm in July 1851, outperformed a British-made reaper. When the McCormick reaper was returned to the Crystal Palace, the site of the Great Exhibition, word had spread. In the crowds attending the exhibition, the machine from America became a must-see attraction. In the 1850s McCormicks business grew as Chicago became the center of the railroads in the Midwest, and his machinery could be shipped to all parts of the country. The spread of the reapers meant that American grain production also increased. It has been noted that McCormicks farming machines may have had an impact on the Civil War, as they were more common in the North. And that meant farmhands going off to war had less impact on grain production. In the South, where hand tools were more common, the loss of farm hands to the military had much more impact. In the years following the Civil War the company founded by McCormick continued to grow. When workers at McCormicks factory struck in 1886, events surrounding the strike led to the Haymarket Riot, a watershed event in American labor history.

Workplace Inequality And Gender Inequality - 1678 Words

Workplace Inequality Brittany N. Shipley Central Penn College Abstract As you are reading you will be informed of the many factors that can contribute to workplace inequality. Three factors associated with workplace would include (1) the individuals gender can determine compensation (2) the race or ethnicity of an individual (3) the age of the individuals. All such factors contribute to the issues of workplace inequality, not only in gender but race and age as well. Keywords: Compensation, job, race/ethnicity, gender, age, pay gap Workplace Inequality In 1963 United States President, John F. Kennedy signed the Equal Pay Act of 1963, which was meant to make every single effort to close the pay gap. On the other hand this pay gap still exists in the United States not only for women but men and women of many different races/ ethnicities, and ages are affected with workplace inequality. In the 1970’s the pay gap began to lessen because women and their growth in education and workplace involvement and to men’s salaries increasing at a much slower speed than before and in 2014 women who had full-time employment in the United States in general remained around 79 percent of whatever a male individual was compensated, making a gap of 21 percent in pay gap just between gender. (By the Numbers) The Pay Gap Gender pay gap which is defined as the pay difference in men and women’s average incomes, typically described as either the earnings ratio among men and women and could beShow MoreRelatedGender Inequality Of The Workplace1255 Words   |  6 Pages Fact or Fiction: Gender Inequality in the Workplace Will respect resolve the gender inequality issue in the workplace? While there s always going to be a person who craves more money because greed is a major factor in why respect is in decline in the workplace. Gender inequality is prevalent in the workplace, but we can bridge the gap if more people had respect for their counterparts. Enforcing this amongst employees will cut down on discrimination lawsuit cases and these companies can growRead MoreGender Inequalities in the Workplace1963 Words   |  8 Pages‘Describe and analyse gender inequalities in the workplace?’ Gender inequalities in the workplace have been an ongoing issue for many years, which has mainly been central to women in the workplace, as senior management has prioritised men over women. This has made it very difficult for women to work their way up to management as women are considered to be incompetent compared to the men in the workplace. The wage gap between men and women has raised much debate, as men are generally more likelyRead MoreGender Inequality And The Workplace Essay1344 Words   |  6 PagesGender inequality or also known as gender stratification, is the unequal distribution of a society’s wealth, power, and privilege between females and males. (Scott and Schwartz, 2000). Even though gender equality in the workplace has improved substantially in the US since 1979 especially when women started representing an increasingly larger share of the total workforce and earning about 62 percent as much as men, the women s average pay continues to be lower than thatRead MoreGender Inequality Within The Workplace Essay1209 Words   |  5 PagesGender Inequality in the Workplace The generation now has made it easier to equalize men and women but there is still a substantial amount of places where gender inequality is still happening in the workplace and where females still face discrimination. 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The same trend follows in the workplace, females are less likely to hold positions of authority compared to their equivalent male counterparts. This is a key contributor to the lack of gender equalityRead MoreGender Inequality During The Workplace1609 Words   |  7 PagesGender Inequality in the Workplace Times have changed; western women have more influence in the workplace than ever before in history. Today women make up 19% of Congress, almost double the share from 20 years ago. Five percent of women are now serving as CEOs of Fortune 500 companies (Pew Research â€Å"Women in Leadership). Approximately 65 percent of women work in high paying careers, triple that of 40 years ago. The gender gap in salary is also less than it was decades ago. In spite of these advances

Tomorrow When The War Began Free Essays

That ‘Evil is a human invention’. And I agree with her. When the dragonfly eats the mosquito, the hermit and when Elli blows up the lawn mower are all excellent point which I will be discussing and arguing about throughout this essay . We will write a custom essay sample on Tomorrow When The War Began or any similar topic only for you Order Now The first point is when the dragon fly eats the mosquito. Elli makes the point that when the dragonfly eats the mosquito it is in reality nature but humans seem to take this simple act of life and turn it into something evil and dark. To make this mint more clear and defined, here is a line from the book. He was eating it alive. Bit by bit the mosquito, still struggling wildly, was munched up. † If someone else was in Else’s position they may have even killed the dragon fly because they thought it was that evil. My second point is the Hermit. The Hermit is one of the side stories in the book they don’t get that deep into the story but they give up just enough details to make a point out of it. The hermit in the book is considered to be evil by everyone in Wearied. But when Elli discovers the Hermits den she finds old documents and photo’s of his family. If he was so evil why would he keep them. Personally I think that he was putting his family out of their misery by shooting them, and he stayed away from everyone because he could not stand being judged. My third and final point is when Elli blows up the lawn mower. After doing so she starts to question herself throughout the book and cannot make clear decisions because of this. She keeps asking herself the question ‘ am an evil person. Her friend tell her that she had to do it or her friends may have been killed and that makes her wonder ‘is evil a human invention. If this was the animal kingdom and she was a lioness and a hyena was trying to eat her cubs there is no doubt that the lioness would fight the hyena. That again would not be evil in reality, in reality that would be nature. In conclusion I think that evil is a human invention and that Elli try’s to fight this fact and also tries to embrace it. This becomes more bold when she blows up the lawn mower, Discovers the Hermit is real and when the dragonfly eats the mosquito. In the end I think and will continue thinking that evil is a human invention. How to cite Tomorrow When The War Began, Essays Tomorrow When the War Began Free Essays Book Project: Tomorrow when the war began by John Marsden Christine Hermansson English 6 Autumn 2012 On the Author: John Marsden, born 1950, Australian author. At age 28, after working several jobs, Marsden began a teaching course. Whilst working as a teacher, Marsden began writing for children, and in 1987 with a diary novel So Much to Tell You, about a girl who stops talking after being the victim of a disaster. We will write a custom essay sample on Tomorrow: When the War Began or any similar topic only for you Order Now After his debut, followed several similar stories, often written in letter or diary form, about troubled youth. Since then, he has written or edited over 40 books and has sold over 5 million books throughout the world. Marsden portrays violence and evil without euphemisms. Best known, he has become the adventure series that begins with Tomorrow, When the War Began (1993), about a group of Australian teenagers who are forced to form a guerrilla group to survive since their country has been invaded by an alien power. The seven books in the suite raises questions as how to handle that life turns into a nightmare and how to maintain their humanity when forced to kill to survive. In a follow-up trilogy, which began with the While I Live (2003), portrayed Ellie, a young, future destinies. In 2006, Marsden started an alternative school, Candlebark School in the Macedon Ranges, in which he is the school principal. Marsden has since reduced his writing to focus on teaching and running the school. He is also the patron of youth media organisation Express Media. Marsden has had his books translated into ten languages including Swedish, Norwegian, French, German, Dutch, Danish, Italian, Polish and Spanish. My Reasons for Reading this Book: I saw this movie about a year ago and I really liked it, so when I found this in the library I just had to read it. I wanted to know if there is a lot difference between the book and the movie, and I can’t wait to read the rest of these books. There are six others that continues this story. The reason I like this type of movie/book is because I like stories that have to do with the end of the world. Whether it is war, zombies taking over the world or a disease spreading. I think it has to do with my sick need of wanting to prepare for the end of the world, when ever that may come. My Summary: Imagine if you went camping with your friends for a few days and came back to find everyone was missing†¦ that is what this book is about. The main character is the 17-year-old Ellie Linton. She lives in a town called Wirrawee, Australia. Ellie plans to take a break from work on her parents farm and set out on one last adventure before summer vacation is over, a camping trip to the legendary oasis that is rumored to be located in the middle of the stone desert that surrounds the village, and that the locals call â€Å"Hell†. The six friends that goes with her on the trip are Robyn, Homer, Fiona, Corrie, Kevin and Lee. My Reading Log: Finishing Remarks I have now finished the book and I loved it! The story is so good! I can not wait to find out what happens next. The language is also great, very modern. I definitely want to find out more and I am curious about what will happen in the next book. It is exciting and fascinating and the characters are very believable. I would most certainly recommend this book to anyone! Secondary Sources For information on the author: Marsden, John. Tomorrow when the war began. Australia: Pan Macmillan Australia Pty Ltd, 1993. John Marsden. http://www. ne. se/lang/john-marsden, Nationalencyklopedin, hamtad 2012-10-30. â€Å"John Marsden† Wikipedia. 25 October 2012 hamtad 2012-10-30 How to cite Tomorrow: When the War Began, Essay examples