Shocking grain was an art.


The earlier machines for harvesting wheat were relatively simple.


with the straw. Explosions in flour mills were also caused by
the pieces of wire in friction with machinery. These condi-
tions opened our eyes; finally Mr. Parker and Mr. Stone
agreed to aid me financially in the building of a twine binder,
and I had the working parts in order within two months.
This was the first complete model of a twine binder that ever
tied a knot. The knotter was the same old bird-bill type that
I had made when a boy in the little shop back in Heart
Prairie. But still the task remained of mounting the binder
in such a manner as to take the cut grain and bind it by the
use of power applied from the wheels of the harvester. This
took more thinking and planning than the making of the
knotter itself. I hit upon the U frame, planned elevators to
carry the grain to the binder, packers to keep the bundle in
shape, and a butter to form the square base of the bundle.
The needle was so shaped as to compress the bundle before
tying. The tripping device gauged the size of the sheaf, and
all parts received power from one gear wheel. This took a
tremendous deal of planning, but after I had seen the needs
of the entire scheme I set myself to carrying them out, and
little real change has been made to this day except in the
way of small improvements.
    "I took the model up into the garret above the shop and
worked alone for months. One of the members of the firm
grew impatient and naturally wanted to see results. 'Where


is Appleby,' he would ask, 'and what is he doing?' One day
he went up to the attic to see for himself. My first model
lay on the floor covered with dust. He came downstairs and
declared, 'Appleby hasn't done a thing.' However, my newl
machine had just been placed in the polishing room-the bind-ý
er was done.
    "This first machine was tried out at Beloit in Parker and!
Stone's rye field, and, as eye witnesses declared, worked per-1
fectly and cunningly, not missing a bundle. I promised myj
partners to make three more that year, and the war was on]
between wire and twine as a material for grain bands. Ths&
next year we made one hundred and fifteen of the twine bind-
ers, and threshermen who threshed the grain harvested by
these first machines sent us voluntary statements recommend.
ing the work done by the Appleby binder.
    "The larger harvester companies began to investigate.
Gammon and Deering sent experts into the grain fields of
Texas and other states to watch and report to them of the
success of this Appleby twine binder, with the result that the
wire binders soon were driven from the field, and in 1879 this
firm began to manufacture twine binders under a license
granted by our firm. Many of these early twine binders show
splendid records which prove their durability, and although
manufacturers of wire binders declared that the crickets would
eat off the bands, the twine users were triumphant and in
four years manufacturers all necessarily turned to the little
Wisconsin firm for the right to build twine binders. Farmers
wanted thousands of harvesters, and it was now plain that
they would want those that used twine, not wire. There was
some difficulty in securing good material for the making of
the necessary small, smooth, strong grade of twine, but Wil-
liam Deering gave his personal attention to the task after his
company had secured of us the right to manufacture twine-
using machines.
    "You boys may be interested to know that the first shop-
right was granted to Hoover, Allen, and Gamble of the Excel-
sior Harvester Works at Miamisburg, Ohio, Mr. Deering hav-
ing previously recommended the Appleby binder to them.
Then we built one each for several other firms and sold
licenses to manufacture under a royalty of six dollars on each
machine. The next year, 1882, the McCormicks paid us thirty-
five thousand dollars for the right to manufacture twine bind-
ers. We finally sold out our entire plant to one of the larger
firms and laid the foundations of what later grew to be the
International Harvester Company. I worked for the Deerings
for many years, but upon the consolidation of the larger
firms I concluded that my work was dofie and retired from
the harvest field.
    "You may be interested in our cotton picker which I have
been working on, but that, of course, is another story."
    We thanked John F. Appleby, left his office, and left Chi-
cago, my friend jubilant at having heard these facts from
the lips of one of the most wonderful men in all that great,
busy city.
    "Wasn't that a good story?" I asked him.
    "One of the best stories in America," he vowed, looking
out of the car window at the binders working in the fields
along the way. "Are all these harvesters using Appleby's
knotter?"
    "Every binder in the world," I assured him. "Nobody
ever made a better one."
    On another visit I persuaded Mr. Appleby to give that
first little old knotter to the Wisconsin State Historical Mu-
seum at Madison, and there it is today.
    Mr. Appleby died at Chicago, November 8, 1917.


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