It mingled with the straw and killed the cattle--at least so the farmers complained; it cut their hands and even found its way, with disastrous results, into the flour mills.

Deering now appeared as the owner of a startling invention by John F.Appleby.This did all that the Withington machine did and did it better and quicker; and it had the great advantage that it bound with twine instead of wire.

The new machine immediately swept aside all competitors; McCormick, to save his reaper from disaster, presently perfected a twine binder of his own.

The appearance of Appleby's improvement in 1884 completes the cycle of the McCormick reaper on its mechanical side The harvesting machine of fifty nations today is the one to which Appleby put the final touches in 1884.
Since then nothing of any great importance has been added.
This outline of invention, however, comprises only part of the story.
The development of the reaper business presents a narrative quite as adventurous as that of the reaper itself.

Cyrus McCormick was not only a great inventor; he was also a great businessman.