John Francis Appleby (1840–1917) was an
American inventor who developed a knotting device to bind grain bundles with
twine
Twine is a strong thread, light string or cord composed of two or more thinner strands twisted, and then twisted together (plied). The strands are plied in the opposite direction to that of their twist, which adds torsional strength to the cor ...
. It became the foundation for all farm grain binding machinery and was used extensively by all the major manufacturers of large grain harvesting machines in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Appleby's knotting device was a major landmark in the mechanization of agriculture and aided the development of the western wheat fields of the United States.
Background
John Francis Appleby was born in
Westmoreland, New York in 1840. In 1844 his extended family of 17 arrived by boat to
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at the 2020 census, Milwaukee i ...
.
When he was just 18, Appleby invented the basic knotting device that would become the foundation for all farm binding machinery, but no one was interested in the idea at the time.
He served with the
23rd Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry Regiment
The 23rd Wisconsin Infantry Regiment was a volunteer infantry regiment that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War.
Service
The 23rd Wisconsin was organized at Madison, Wisconsin, and mustered into Federal service on August ...
in the
American Civil War
The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by state ...
, from 1862 to 1865. During the war, Appleby invented and patented a manual magazine feed
breech loading needle gun. When the US government rejected the idea, Appleby sold the patent for $500. The weapon was later used extensively by the
Prussian Army
The Royal Prussian Army (1701–1919, german: Königlich Preußische Armee) served as the army of the Kingdom of Prussia. It became vital to the development of Brandenburg-Prussia as a European power.
The Prussian Army had its roots in the co ...
.
Grain binder
After the war, he returned to Wisconsin and by 1874 had developed a successful wire grain binder. He was unable to gain any financial backing for it because of lack of support from farmers for the use of wire binding because small bits of wire often got into feed grain and were ingested by cattle, causing them harm.
By 1878, Appleby had developed a successful
twine binder, which he patented. Twine binders did not cut into the wheat or, like wire binders, kill cattle that happened to eat a strand.
He licensed the twine binder mechanism to the Gammon and Deering Company, which incorporated it into its Marsh Harvester grain binders and harvesters. Primarily on the value of Appleby’s twine binder, The Deering Harvester Company (as it became known in 1880) outsold its competitors.
Appleby's design soon became the standard grain binding device used on machines manufactured by
Cyrus McCormick
Cyrus Hall McCormick (February 15, 1809 – May 13, 1884) was an American inventor and businessman who founded the McCormick Harvesting Machine Company, which later became part of the International Harvester Company in 1902. Originally from the ...
’s McCormick Harvesting Machine Company, Champion Machine Works, and the D.M. Osborne Co.
Later life
In 1881, Appleby sold his grain binder machine patent interests to Champion Machine. He continued to work on various inventions, eventually patenting a horse-drawn
cotton harvesting machine in 1905.
He died in
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
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in November 1917.
John Appleby is the namesake of the small community of
Appleby, South Dakota.
References
External links
Wisconsin Historical Society official website Swingle, F. B. "Unbending Backs at Harvest Time" ''Wisconsin Agriculturalist'' July 14, 1923; reprinted as "The Invention of the Twine Binder" in ''The Wisconsin Magazine of History'', vol. 10, 1927, Wisconsin Historical Society Deering Estate at Cutler.16701 SW 72 Ave.Miami FL 33157USA305-235-1668
{{DEFAULTSORT:Appleby, John
1917 deaths
1840 births
History of Wisconsin
People of Wisconsin in the American Civil War
People from Chicago
People from Westmoreland, New York
People from Milwaukee