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Inventors and Inventions

Cyrus McCormick

Cyrus McCormick
Reading Level
     edHelper's suggested reading level:   grades 8 to 9
     Flesch-Kincaid grade level:   8.13

Vocabulary
     challenging words:    steam-powered, scythe, raked, production, inventor, twine, addition, mass, efficient, operation, platform, giant, acre, bind, stalks, credit
     content words:    Cyrus McCormick, Walnut Grove, Shenandoah Valley, In Chicago, From Chicago, Great Lakes, Mississippi River, Crystal Palace Exhibition, McCormick Patented Reaping Machine, McCormick Automatic Self-Rake Reaper

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Cyrus McCormick
By Sharon Fabian 		  
1     For hundreds, maybe thousands, of years farmers harvested grain with a scythe. A scythe was a tool with a long curved blade and a bent handle with bars for both hands to grip. A strong farmer could cut down about an acre of grain in one day with his scythe.
 
2     Cyrus McCormick was born in 1809 and, when he was growing up, farmers were still harvesting their grain by hand. It was hard work, and it required all of their time during harvest season. Farmers could plant only as much grain as they felt confident of being able to harvest in time.
 
3     Cyrus' father had thought for a long time that there must be a more efficient way to harvest grain -- some way to make use of a machine to do part of the work. He tried out all kinds of ideas in his blacksmith shop on their Walnut Grove farm, in Virginia's Shenandoah Valley, but never came up with an idea that worked well. Cyrus took up where his father left off.

Paragraphs 4 to 9:
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