Late 19th Century Green Brothers and Company Royal Royce Reaper

After acquiring the rights to build and sell John S. Royce’s patented design, Green Bros. & Co. made this reaper at their factory in Waterford, Ontario sometime after 1875.  The reaper was one of a number of mechanized inventions developed over the course of the nineteenth century to replace the scythe and grain cradle as the primary tools for harvesting crops.  A farmer used this reaper by hooking it up to a team of two horses.  He would then sit in the seat, balancing out the weight of the reaper so the horses could pull it straight ahead.  As the reaper moved forward, the rake-arms moved in a clockwise motion, each rake-arm pushing the wheat into the reaper blades at the front of the platform.  The blades cut the wheat a few inches from the ground, and the rake-arm pushed the cut pieces onto the platform.  As the rake-arm continued its rotation, it deposited the cut wheat in a pile to the side of the platform behind the farmer in his seat, and then moved to a position roughly perpendicular to the ground before beginning the cycle again.

The reaper you see here was reportedly used near the Ontario town of Ailsa Craig, an important center for farming in the early twentieth century.  It may have come from the same area, or even the same farm, as the neighboring Sawyer-Massey threshing machine.  As you look at this machine, you might note the care with which someone painted the platform and other parts of the machine.  You might also note the decorated seat.  Although farmers used machines like this reaper to perform difficult tasks in harsh conditions, manufacturers took pride in their tools, often embellishing them with visually appealing designs.  Many farmers appreciated the manufacturers’ decorative efforts.

Inventive minds began developing the reaper as a mechanized harvesting tool by the early nineteenth century. In the 1830s, Obed Hussey and Cyrus McCormick independently invented the most effective reapers which would impact the development of harvesting equipment for the next several decades.  Stuhr Museum exhibits a replica McCormick reaper produced to celebrate the centennial of its invention.  Building on the pioneering efforts of Hussey, McCormick, and others, John S. Royce, a resident of Cuylerville, New York, patented a series of improvements for reapers and harvesters during the 1860s and 1870s.  The entrepreneurial Royce received royalties for his patents from a large number of companies throughout the United States who wished to build and sell his machines.¹

Expanding his market, Royce obtained a Canadian patent for this reaper on March 5, 1875 – the patent date is stamped on the reaper seen here.  Green Bros. & Co. was one of at least a few Ontario manufacturers who paid Royce to use his patent.²  Established as a foundry in 1844 by James Lodor Green, Green Bros. & Co. began producing the Royce Reaper in 1875.  In that first year, the company reportedly made and sold 25 Royce Reapers; in 1876, the company sold another 300.³  Along with reapers, Green Bros. & Co. also sold plows, harrows, rollers, engines, and shingle machines.

From The Province of Ontario As It Is, published in 1877.

Notes

¹ Locations for Royce Reaper manufacturers in the U.S. included Perry, NY, Dansville, NY, Richmond, IN, Jackson, MI, and Atlanta, GA.

³ Other locations for Royce Reaper manufacturers in Ontario included Ayr and Brampton.

⁴ The Province of Ontario As It Is. Containing Manufacturing, Commercial, Statistical and Other Valuable Information (Toronto: The Province of Ontario, 1877), p. 29, which can be found here.  The advertisement seen above is from page 28 of this book.