Chalfant: International Harvester opens office in Sedalia In 1834, a Virginia farmer named Cyrus McCormick filed a patent for a harvesting machine that he and his father had been trying to perfect for many years. The machine was the first successful horse-drawn mechanical reaper to be developed, but sales were so slow that by 1846, the company had sold fewer than 100 machines.
June 12, 2013 - Sedalia Democrat