July 1, 1814 - Jethro Wood, of Scipio, NY, received a patent for "Ploughs"; 1819 - sold almost 4,000/year.

February 3, 1819 - Stephen McCormick, of Faquier Court House, VA, received a patent for a "Plough"; cast iron plow with detachable components; introduced concept of replaceable and standardized parts; January 28, 1826 - received second patent for a "Plough"; December 1, 1837 - received third patent for a "Plow"; cast-iron mould board had an adjustable wrought-iron point mounted beneath, able to decrease the draft, while deepening the furrow, and breaking up the soil more effectively.

November 23, 1835 - Henry Burden, of Troy, NY, former superintendent of the Troy Iron and Nail Factory, recieved a patent for "Making Horsehoes"; horseshoe manufacturing machine capable of making sixty horseshoes a minute, produced shoes more rapidly and uniformly than the hand production method which had been used prior to this invention; made nearly all the horseshoes used by the Union calvary during the Civil War.

August 31, 1836 - African-American inventor, Henry Blair of Glenross, MD, received a patent for a "Cotton-Planter"; cotton seed planter.

1837 - John Deere developed, manufactured first cast-steel plow in Grand Detour, IL; 1855 - sold more than 10,000 plows; February 21, 1865 - John Deere, of Moline, IL, received a patent for "Improvement in Plows" ("Improvements in Landside and Share Plates for Plows"); 1868 - John Deere's business incorporated under the name Deere & Company; September 21, 1897 - Deere and Company registered "John Deere" trademark first used in 1847 (wagons); September 10, 1912 - registered logo first used in 1873 (deer leaping over log, "John Deere" arching above, "Moline, Ill." below).

January 9, 1838 - Julius Hatch, of Great Bend, PA, received patent for a "Grain Drill"; planter.

August 25, 1840 - Joseph Gibbons, of Adrian, MI, received patent for a "Grain Drill" ("new and useful improvement in the manner of constructing a machine for the planting or sowing of seeds of various kinds...the manner in which I determine and regulate the capacity of the cavities in the cylinders for the reception of the seed").

1842 - Jerome Increase Case founded the J I Case Company; gained recognition as the first builder of a steam engine for agricultural use; known in manufacturing circles as the "Threshing Machine King"; 1964 - bought by Tenneco.

1847 - Edward P. Allis began as small burr millstone maker; 1861 - acquired Milwaukee’s Reliance Works; produced steam engines, flour-milling equipment; 1863 - changed name to Edward P. Allis and Company; 1889 - employed nearly 1500 men; 1890s - Milwaukee’s largest industrial employer; built heavy machinery for factories, mines, power plants, public utilities (heating plants; pumps, pipes for Milwaukee Water Works); 1901 - merged with Fraser & Chalmers Company, Gates Ironworks, Dickson Manufacturing Company, formed Allis-Chalmers Manufacturing Company; 1985 - acquired by Klockner-Humboldt-Deutz of the Deutz Corporation of Germany.

1847 - Daniel Massey opened workshop in Newcastle ON, to build simple farm implements; 1857 - Alanson Harris established A. Harris and Son implement works at Beamsville, ON to make, repair farm machinery; 1891 - Massey, Harris merged; 1938 - produced world’s first commercially successful self-propelled combine; 1953 - Massey-Harris merged with Harry Ferguson Limited of Coventry, England; twin skills in harvesting machinery,  tractor - produced one of world’s most powerful forces in farm equipment; 1995 - acquired by AGCO Corporation.

October 21, 1852 - John Fowler of Temple Gate, Bristol, UK, received Royal Letters Patent for "Improvements in Machinery for Draining Land" ; steam cultivation of land, commercialized land drainage; 1851 - first patent for Mole Drainage Plough, horse-drawn drainage plough; helped Irish peasants drain peat bogs.

May 8, 1855 - George W. Brown, of Galesburg, IL, received a patent for a "Seed Planter"; April 5, 1864 - received a patent for a "Corn-Planter"; first successful mechanical corn planter.

December 1, 1857 - Ephraim Ball, of Canton, OH, received a patent for a "Harvester" ("Improvement in Mowing-Machines"); known as "Ball's Improved Ohio Mower" (grass harvester); first widely successful of two-wheeled flexible or hinged bar mowers; influenced change from single driving-wheel machines to double drivers.

December 3, 1861 - Wilkenson Furnas, of Ononwa, IA, received a patent for a "Wheel-Cultivator" ("Improvement in Plows...designed for cultivating growing plants in bilts or drills-such as corn, potatoes, etc."); riding cultivator; first John Deere plow adapted to riding; February 16, 1864 - received a patent for a "Wheel-Cultivator" ("Improvement in Cultivators").

June 17, 1862 - W.H. Fancher and C.M. French of Waterloo, NY, received patent for a "Plow" ("Improvement in Combined Plow and Gun"); combination proposed to give those in agribusiness an "efficient weapon of defense at very slight expense in addition" to that of a plow; added elements of light ordinance, designed for "especially when used in border localities, subject to savage feuds and guerrilla warfare" to metal plow with wooden handles of ordinary construction; share served as anchor in the ground to resist recoil; wooden handles used to set direction.

January 12, 1864 - John Deere, of Moline, IL, received a patent for Improvement in Molds for Casting Steel" ("to cast in a perfect manner the shares, moldboards, landslides, and other articles of steel"); casting steel in shapes in dry-sand molds; April 5, 1864 - received patent for "Improvement in Cast-Steel Molds" ("for coating the interior surfaces of molds of dry sand to be used in casting steel into shapes").

February 16, 1864 - Jacob Behel, of Earleville, IL, received a patent for "Improvement in Grain-Binders" ("to bind gavels of grain or other materials into sheaves or bundles with cord bands, and to knot the ends of the bands together").

February 2, 1869 - James Oliver, of South Bend, IN, received a patent for "Casting Mould Boards" ("new arrangement of mould-board pattern and chill for plows"); removable tempered steel plow blade.

1872 - Thomas Chalmers founded Fraser & Chalmers Company (Chicago, IL), manufacturer of mining machinery, boilers, and pumps; 1890 - headed by William Chalmers, one of world's largest manufacturers of mining equipment.

April 7, 1874 - Edward H. Sutton, of Edenton, NC, received a patent for "Improvement in Cotton-Cultivators"; plows.

June 29, 1875 - Gilpin Moore, of Rock Island,. IL, received a patent for "Sulky-Plows" ("simple in structure, free from complicated systems of gearing, or levers being operated by a single lever, and which will possess strength, durability, and ease in operation...the wheels will be exactly balanced in their movements...the driver, in raising or lowering the plow, does not raise or support any portion of his own weight...with a given movement of the single operating-lever, a greater degree of vertical movement or travel of the wheel-centers of the axle is secured than is accomplished in ordinary plows, maintaining the plow at all times in a level of horizontal position...angle of the bottom of the sole-plate may be readily adjusted"); one of most outstanding 19th-century sulky plows; April 4, 1882 - received a patent for a "Cultivator" ("shovel-beams arranged in pairs and each pair manipulated by a single handle"); a power-lift; assigned to Deere and Company.

February 18, 1879 - John F. Appleby, of West Depere, WI, received a patent for "Improvement in Grain-Binding Harvesters"; established a class of binding machines.

March 23, 1880 - John Stevens, of Neenah, WI, received patent for a "Grain-Crushing Roll"; flour rolling mill.

July 4, 1882 - Sylvanus D. Locke, of Hoosick Falls, NY, received a patent for a "Grain-Binder" ("devices for holding the binding material and governing it in its passage as it is payed out in the operation of binding").

1883 - Benjamin Holt produced his first horse-drawn "Link-Belt Combined Harvester"; founded Holt Manufacturing Company in Stockton, CA; later called Caterpillar Tractor.

May 20, 1884 - Lockrum Blue, of Washington, DC, received a patent for a "Hand Corn-Shelling Device" ("for rapidly and effectually removing the grain from ears of corn").

May 11, 1886 - Black Inventor Willis Marshall, of Chicago, IL, received a patent for a "Grain-Binder" for grain harvesters; designed to remedy objections to the "construction of the tripping-dog and spring and their mode of connection".

June 1, 1886 - Black American inventor W. H. Richardson, of Baltimore, MD, received a patent for a "Cotton Chopper".

February 23, 1892 - Black American inventor, Peter D. Smith of Springfield, OH, received patent for a "Grain-Binder", way to form a binding-rope for sheaf from wisp or portion of cut grain and mechanism to be applied to reaper to perform this, knot the rope around the sheaf and eject it.

September 6, 1892- John Froelich of Froelich, IA, built and sold the first gasoline tractor in the U.S. to Langford, SD (lacked easy access to a wood or coal supply for steam-powered unit); geared for both forward and reverse motion; powered by a Van Duzen vertical single-cylinder gasoline engine mounted on wooden beams upon a Robinson running gear - powered a J.I. Case threshing machine and propelled the vehicle; January 10, 1893 -  formed the Waterloo Gasoline Tractor Engine Company; 1918 - taken over by the John Deere Plow Co. (mass-produced gasoline-powered tractors based on Froelich's designs).

April 10, 1894 - George W. Murray, of Sumter, SC, received a patent for a "Combined Furrow-Opener and Stalk-Knocker" ("to open center furrows, and simultaneously therewith knock or break stalks at each side thereof, said stalks being left upon the ground for the purpose of enriching the same"); received second patent (#517,961) for a "Cultivator and Marker" ("improvements in cultivators and to that particular class thereof employed for opening furrows for the reception of seed").

June 5, 1894 - George W. Murray, of Rembert, SC, received six patents: for a "Planter";  for a "Cotton Chopper"; for a "Fertilizer Distributor"; for a ""Planter" ("to discharge broadcast various kinds of seed; to provide for a regulation of the discharge; and for a feed for the hopper");  for a "Combined Cotton-Seed Planter and Fertilizer Distributer"; and a patent for a "Reaper" "(machine adapted to reap small grain, to gather the same into bundles, and to automatically dump the bundles at proper intervals upon the ground, whereby said grain may be readily gathered").

August 28, 1894 - Black American inventor, Robert H. Gray, of Lexington, KY, received patent for a "Baling Press".

March 24, 1896 - Clement A. Hardy, of Dallas, TX, received patent for a "Rotary Disk Plow"; designed to be drawn into the earth by their own action and by the weight of the soil lifted by the disks and carried on their faces and have a cutting action on the bottom of the furrow instead of scraping, thereby reduced weight of the machinery.

February 16, 1897 - Peter Walker, of Friar's Point, MS, received a patent for a "Machine for Cleaning Seed-Cotton" ("automatically delivering cotton containing the seed, freed from dust and various foreign matter, to the gins").

1901 - Edward P. Allis and Company merged with Fraser & Chalmers Company (Gates Iron Works of Chicago and Dickson Manufacturing Company); formed Allis-Chalmers Manufacturing Company; 1914 - built first farm tractor; became a leading manufacturer of farm equipment; 1979 - $2 billion corporation; 1985 - sold farm equipment division to K-H-Deutz AG of Germany; 1990 - acquired by AGCO Corp. (Georgia), farm equipment maker.

(Allis-Chalmers), Charles H. Wendel; editing and design by George H. Dammann (1988). The Allis-Chalmers Story. (Sarasota, FL: Crestline Pub., 372 p.). Allis-Chalmers Corporation--History; Agricultural machinery industry--United States--History; Machinery industry--United States--History.

(Allis-Chalmers), Walter M. Buescher (1992). Plow Peddler. (Macomb, IL: Glenbridge Pub., 320 p.). Buescher, Walter M.; Allis-Chalmers Corporation--History; Businessmen--United States--Biography; Agricultural machinery industry--United States--History.

(J. I. Case), Stewart H. Holbrook; updated by Richard G. Charlton (1976). Machines of Plenty: Chronicle of an Innovator in Construction and Agricultural Equipment (New York, NY: Macmillan, 269 p. [Reprint of 1955 ed. with new chapters]). J. I. Case Company; Agricultural machinery--United States--History; Agriculture--United States--History.

(J. I. Case), C.H. Wendel (1994). 150 Years of J. I. Case (Osceola, WI: Motorbooks International, 336 p. [orig. pub. 1991]). Case tractors--History.

(Caterpillar), general editor, Walter A. Payne (1982). Benjamin Holt: The Story of the Caterpillar Tractor (Stockton, CA: University of the Pacific, 102 p.). Holt, Benjamin, 1849-1920; Caterpillar Tractor Company--History; Businesspeople--United States--Biography; Stockton (Calif.)--History. 

(Caterpillar), Michael Zinman (1986). The History of the Decline and Fall of the Raterpillar Tractor Company: A Modern Business Saga (Adsley, NY: Haydn Foundation, 231 p.). Raterpillar Tractor Company--History; Caterpillar Tractor Company; Tractor industry--United States; Consolidation and merger of corporations--United States.

(Caterpillar), Eric C. Orlemann (2000). Caterpillar Chronicle: The History of the World's Greatest Earthmovers (Osceola, WI: MBI, 168 p.). Caterpillar, Inc.--History; Caterpillar tractors--History; Earthmoving machinery--History.

(Deere), Wayne G. Broehl, Jr. (1984). John Deere's Company : A History of Deere & Company and Its Times. (New York, NY: Doubleday, 870 p.). Benjamin Ames Kimball Professor of the Science of Administration Emeritus, Amos Tuck School of Business Administration (Dartmouth College). Deere, John, 1804-1886; Deere & Company--History; Industrialists--United States--Biography; Agricultural machinery industry--United States--History. Classic business history.

(Deere), John Gerstner (2000). Genuine Value: The John Deere Journey. (Moline, IL: Deere & Company, 286 p.). Editor and Creative Director (Deere). Deere & Company -- History -- Pictorial works; Agricultural implement industry -- History -- Pictorial works; John Deere tractors; Tractors; Agricultural machinery industry -- History -- Pictorial works.

(Deere), Bold Games (2004). John Deere American Farmer. (Plymouth, MN: Destineer Publishing). Publisher of Mass-Market Electronic Entertainment for Personal Computers. Mass-market electronic entertainment; impulse-oriented mass market games.

(Deere), Neil Dahlstrom and Jeremy Dahlstrom; introduction by David Vaught (2005). The John Deere Story: A Biography of Plowmakers John and Charles Deere. (DeKalb, IL: Northern Illinois University Press, 224 p.). Deere Reference Archivist. Deere, John, 1804-1886; Deere, Charles; Deere & Company--History; Industrialists--United States--Biography; Plows--Illinois--History; Agricultural machinery industry--Illinois--History.

(Deere), David Magee (2005). The John Deere Way: Performance That Endures. (Hoboken, NJ: Wiley, 256 p.). Former Newspaper Columnist and Editor. Deere, John, 1804-1886; Deere & Company--History; Agricultural machinery industry--United States--History. 

(J. Furphy & Sons), John Barnes (2998). Made in Shepparton: The History of J. Furphy & Sons, 1873-1998. (Shepparton, Vic.: J. Furphy & Sons, 99 p.). --History; Metal trade--Auistralia--Shepparton (Vic.); Agricultural machinery--Australia--Shepparton (Vic.).

(Harvester), Cyrus Hall McCormick (1931). The Century of the Reaper: An Account of Cyrus Hall McCormick, the Inventor of the Reaper; of the McCormick Harvesting Company, the Business He Created; and of the International Harvester Company, His Heirs and Chief Memorial. (Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin, 307 p.). McCormick, Cyrus Hall, 1809-1884; Harvesting machinery.

(Harvester), Clara Ingram Judson (1948). Reaper Man, The Story of Cyrus Hall McCormick. (Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin, 156 p.). McCormick, Cyrus Hall, 1809-1884.

(Harvester), Norbert Lyons; With a foreword by Robert Hall McCormick III (1955). The McCormick Reaper Legend; The True Story of a Great Invention. (New York, NY: Exposition Press, 217 p.). McCormick, Robert, 1780-1846; McCormick, Cyrus Hall, 1809-1884; McCormick, Leander James, 1819-1900; Harvesting machinery.

(Harvester), William T. Hutchinson (1968). Cyrus Hall McCormick. (New York, NY: Da Capo Press, 2 vols. [orig. pub. 1930]). McCormick, Cyrus Hall, 1809-1884; Harvesting machinery. 

(Harvester), Robert W. Ozanne (1968). Wages in Practice and Theory: McCormick and International Harvester, 1860-1960. (Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press, 161 p.). International Harvester Company; Wages -- United States.

(Harvester), Herbert N. Casson (1971). Cyrus Hall McCormick: His Life and Work. (Freeport, NY: Books for Libraries, 264 p. [orig. pub. 1909]). McCormick, Cyrus Hall, 1809-1884; Harvesting machinery.

(Harvester), Fred V. Carstensen (1984). American Enterprise in Foreign Markets: Studies of Singer and International Harvester in Imperial Russia (Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 289 p.). "Kompaniia Zinger (Firm)--History; International Harvester in Russia--History; Corporations, American--Soviet Union--History--Case studies; International business enterprises--United States--History--Case studies; International business enterprises--Soviet Union--History--Case studies.

(Harvester), Barbara Marsh (1985). A Corporate Tragedy: The Agony of International Harvester Company. (New York, NY: Doubleday, 324 p.). International Harvester Company; Agricultural machinery industry--United States.

(Harvester), Allen Wells (1985). Yucatán's Gilded Age: Haciendas, Henequen, and International Harvester, 1860-1915. (Albuquerque, NM: University of New Mexico Press, 239 p.). International Harvester Company--History; Henequen industry--Mexico--Yucatán (State)--History; Haciendas--Mexico--Yucatán (State)--History.

(Harvester), C.H. Wendel (1993). 150 Years of International Harvester (Osceola, WI: Motorbooks International, 416 p. [orig. pub. 1981]).

(Harvester), Esko Heikkonen (1995). Reaping the Bounty: McCormick Harvesting Machine Company Turns Abroad, 1878-1902. (Helsinki, Finland: Finnish Historical Society, 319 p.). McCormick, Cyrus Hall, 1809-1884; McCormick Harvesting Machine Company--History; Agricultural machinery industry--United States--History.

(Harvester), Kenneth Durr and Lee Sullivan; introduction by Hugh Downs (2007). International Harvester, McCormick, Navistar : Milestones in the Company that Helped Build America. (Portland, OR: Graphic Arts Books, 252 p.). Director of the History Division (History Associates Incorporated). International Harvester Company--History; Agricultural machinery industry--United States--History. Until 1831, grain was still harvested as in time of Pharaohs. McCormick invented reaper, pioneered modern sales, marketing techniques, created industrial powerhouse ranked with U.S. Steel, Standard Oil. 

(Hesston), Billy M. Jones (1987). Factory on the Plains: Lyle Yost and the Hesston Corporation. (Wichita, KS: Center of Entrepreneurship, W. Frank Barton School of Business Administration, Wichita State University, 237 p.). Yost, Lyle Edgar, 1913- ; Hesston Corporation--History; Industrialists--United States--Biography; Agricultural machinery industry--United States--History; Industrial equipment industry--United States--History.

(Massey-Ferguson), E. P. Neufeld (1969). A Global Corporation; A History of the International Development of Massey-Ferguson Limited. (Toronto, ON: University of Toronto Press, 427 p.). Massey-Ferguson, ltd.

(Massey-Ferguson), Colin Fraser (1973). Tractor Pioneer; The Life of Harry Ferguson. (Athens, OH: Ohio University Press, 294 p.). Ferguson, Harry, 1884-1960.

(Massey-Ferguson), Peter Cook (1981). Massey at the Brink: The Story of Canada's Greatest Multinational and Its Struggle To Survive. (Toronto, ON: Collins, 288 p.). Massey-Ferguson Ltd.--History; Massey-Ferguson Ltd.--Finance--History; Agricultural machinery industry--Canada--History.

(Massey-Ferguson), Merrill Dennison (1949). Harvest Triumphant; The Story of Massey-Harris. (New York, NY: Dodd, Mead, 351 p.). Massey-Harris Company; Harvesting machinery; Agriculture--Canada.

(Massey-Ferguson), James S. Duncan (1971). Not a One-Way Street; The Autobiography of James S. Duncan. (Toronto, ON: Clarke, Irwin, 262 p.). Duncan, James S. (James Stuart), b. 1893; Businesspeople--Canada--Biography; Agricultural machinery industry--Canada.

(Melroe Company), Robert F. Karolevitz (1968). "E. G.," Inventor by Necessity; The Story of E. G. Melroe and the Melroe Company. (Aberdeen, SD: North Plains Press, 160 p.). Melroe, E. G., 1892-1955; Agricultural machinery industry--United States; Inventors--United States--Biography.

(Minneapolis-Moline), Norman F. Thomas (1976). Minneapolis-Moline: A History of Its Formation and Operations (New York, NY: Arno Press, 318 p. [Originally presented as the author's thesis, University of Minnesota, 1953]).

(Oliver-Hart-Parr), C.H. Wendel (1993). Oliver Hart-Parr (Osceola, WI: Motorbooks International, 296 p.).

R. L. Ardrey (1894). American Agricultural Implements; A Review of Invention and Development in the Agricultural Implement Industry of the United States. (Chicago, IL: The Author, 236 p.). Agricultural machinery; Agricultural machinery industry--United States.

Craig Canine (1995). Dream Reaper: The Story of an Old-Fashioned Inventor in the High-Tech, High-Stakes World of Modern Agriculture. (Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 300 p. [orig. pub. 1995]). Underwood, Mark; Lagergren, Ralph; Harvesting machinery--United States--History; Agriculture--United States--History.

Donald Holley (2000). The Second Great Emancipation: The Mechanical Cotton Picker, Black Migration, and How They Shaped the Modern South. (Fayetteville, AR: University of Arkansas, 284 p.). Professor of History (University of Arkansas at Monticello). Cotton farmers--Southern States--History--20th century; African American agricultural laborers--Southern States--History--20th century; Farm mechanization--Social aspects--Southern States--History--20th century; Cotton-picking machinery--Southern States--History--20th century; Migration, Internal--United States--History--20th century; African Americans--Employment--History--20th century.

Angela Lakwete (2003). Inventing the Cotton Gin: Machine and Myth in Antebellum America. (Baltimore, MD: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 232 p.). Teaches History (Auburn University). Cotton gins and ginning--United States--History--19th century; Inventions--United States--History--19th century. Slave labor–based antebellum South innovated, industrialized, modernized.

Arthur Pound (1931). The Reaper, A History of the Efforts of Those Who Justly May Be Said to Have Made Bread Cheap. (New York, NY: Greenberg, 382 p.). Harvesting machinery--History.

Leo Rogin (1931). The Introduction of Farm Machinery in Its Relation to the Productivity of Labor in the Agriculture of the United States During the Nineteenth Century. (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 260 p.). Agricultural machinery; Agriculture--United States; Agricultural laborers--United States; Wheat--United States.

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