Contract Awarded for Mine Resistant Ambush Protected Vehicle Program In May 2007, the relatively small defense operation of Navistar was awarded a $623 million contract for production of its version of the innovative Mine
Read More Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicle—the International® MaxxPro®.The military called for rapid production of this new lifesaving vehicle, and Navistar proudly stepped up to the challenge. By 2012, Navistar Defense delivered almost 9,000 MaxxPro vehicles in nine different variants to the U.S. military and its allies, helping to save the lives of servicemen and women in harm’s way.

Navistar’s New Proprietary Engine Brand, MaxxForce®
The company has been making engines since 1905 and diesel engines since 1933.After using a variety of popular brand names including Red, Black and Green Diamond, Navistar
Read More organized all engines under the MaxxForce name in 2006. MaxxForce engines are available in a range of sizes from 3.2 to 15 liters. Most are used to power the company’s medium, heavy and severe trucks, as well as IC bus models, but others are built for agricultural equipment and industrial applications.

International® Introduces the ProStar®
International reset its heavy product segment with the introduction of the most aerodynamic Class 8 truck on the market, the ProStar. Five years and millions of hours in the making,
Read More the International ProStar was designed to provide best-in-class fuel economy, unparalleled driver satisfaction, unprecedented uptime and the lowest cost of ownership.

MWM Acquisition
Navistar acquired MWM, South America’s leading diesel engine producer and exporter, to give the company a stronghold in Brazil.With manufacturing facilities in Brazil and Argentina, MWM employs some 4,000
Read More workers including more than 300 engineers.The company makes Navistar MaxxForce® engines, as well as private label engines for others including Volkswagen (VW), Land Rover, General Motors (GM) and Volvo. MWM exports to over 30 countries on five continents.

Mahindra Joint Venture
Reviving a former relationship from the 1960s, Navistar and automaker Mahindra & Mahindra of India, created a new truck partnership in 2005, followed by an engine venture in 2007. Utilizing the
Read More expertise of both companies, these agreements set in motion plans for the production of trucks and engines in India.These modern trucks would be designed to meet the specific transport needs of the subcontinent.

International Hybrid Trucks
When the International® 4000 Series Hybrid was introduced it was the first commercial diesel/electric hybrid on the market. Prior to this rollout, 22 prototype Class 6 utility trucks were tested
Read More by real world customers for a year.At the end of the year, each customer had the opportunity to return the truck in exchange for one with a conventional diesel engine, but none did.A second test followed with 50 trucks, and again none were returned, proving the concept to be production worthy.

Dan Ustian Becomes CEO of Navistar
Under his leadership the company created a series of new products including its most innovative truck line to date, made key acquisitions and developed a number important of domestic and
Read More international partnerships.

Navistar Defense
Navistar re-entered the defense industry in 2003 with the creation of a new business unit committed to building and selling products to the U.S. armed forces.The International® 7000-MV Series was one of the
Read More first major contracts awarded to Navistar Defense.The vehicles utilized the company’s existing commercial assets, which included the 7000 Series platform. Since then, there have been many other successful products developed for the military.

New Engine Facilities
In 2002, a new plant was constructed in Huntsville, Alabama to build Mid-Range diesel engines.Then in 2008, a second plant was constructed nearby to build Big Bore diesels.The production lines in both
Read More of these high-tech plants are flexible with the ability to build various engine sizes on the same line, at the same time.These MaxxForce® engines represent state-of-the-art construction with their durable, light weight, compacted graphite iron blocks.

The Next Generation of Vehicles
This new line of trucks was the first completely new series since 1987. During the development phase, the platform was known internally as NGV (Next Generation Vehicle).The first truck to be
Read More introduced was the 4300, later known as the DuraStar®.This new group of trucks later included the ProStar®,WorkStar® and TranStar®, among others.

Global Expansion Continues
In 1998, Navistar moved the manufacturing of the cab-over-engine, International® 9800 highway tractor to Brazil. Then, in 2011, the company moved some of the medium-duty, DuraStar® manufacturing
Read More to Brazil as well. Beyond Brazil, the 9800 is exported to other South American countries. Other International truck models sold in South America are currently manufactured in Escobedo, Mexico.

John Horne Becomes CEO of International Harvester
Horne continued to push toward cost cutting and more efficient manufacturing. By the time he retired in 2002, Navistar’s financial recovery was complete.

Navistar Begins the Acquisition of AmTran
The company had been making school buses with the help of third party coach builders since 1922. Navistar began its acquisition of bus body maker AmTran in 1991 by purchasing a
Read More one-third stake in the company. By April of 1995, the sale of the remaining two-thirds was complete. In 2002, the AmTran name was changed to IC Corporation (later re-named IC Bus™).With this acquisition, Navistar became the first completely integrated coach maker—a manufacturer of both chassis and bodies.The company has enjoyed a significant market share and has extended the line to include commercial buses.

International Trucks Announces the Thousand Series Line
In 1987, a new truck, the 8300 was introduced. Its smooth, fiberglass front end incorporated a grill without chrome—a radical idea in the truck world.The 8300 had been
Read More designed to be aerodynamic for fuel efficiency, but the resulting style was a very modern, distinctive look. In the following years, an extensive line of medium and heavy trucks was developed based on this groundbreaking style. Internally this line was known as QSP, but externally and unofficially it was the Thousand Series.

James Cotting Becomes CEO of International Harvester
Cotting put in place financial reforms that would help save the company. He oversaw eight years of steady gains for the smaller, more efficient company.

Navistar
The year 1986 brought a new beginning to this 155 year old company, now known as Navistar.The company would limit itself to building trucks, buses and engines.With this more focused business plan, the outlook for
Read More the company began to improve, although sales growth experienced in the boom years of the 1950s and 1960s was now ancient history.

Fighting for Survival
As the company’s financial crisis grew, it became apparent that drastic measures were necessary. In 1980 the company discontinued the Scout line of trucks. In 1981 the Cub Cadet line of lawn tractors
Read More was sold as well as the Solar Division of gas turbine products. In 1982 the Construction Equipment business was sold to Dresser Industries. But the largest, and almost unthinkable happened in 1984 when the 153 year old agricultural business was sold to the Tennaco subsidiary of Case.

Louis Menk Becomes President of International Harvester
Menk spent his career as a railroad executive. He was a member of the IH board when he was called on for a temporary stint as President of the International
Read More Harvester. During his six month tenure he guided the company through many difficult restructuring decisions.

Donald Lennox Becomes CEO of International Harvester
Lennox focused on cost cutting, product simplification, plant closings and the selling of the construction business and the farm equipment business.

The Axial Flow Combine
Starting with horse-drawn combines in the 1920s, the company continuously worked to improve the technology of this important farm tool—a combination of a harvester and a thresher. In 1977, after more
Read More than one million man-hours of engineering and testing, International Harvester introduced a game-changing design.This new axial flow technology completely revolutionized the harvesting of grain.

Archie McCardell Becomes President of International Harvester
When McCardell was recruited by Brooks McCormick from his position as CEO of Xerox, IH was ranked as number 28 in sales among all U.S. companies and 346th in
Read More return on sales. McCardell had to deal with a free falling agricultural market, a difficult truck market and a labor crisis— unprecedented difficulties for this proud company. His valiant attempt to rebuild the company to its former self failed and he was replaced in 1982.

The S-Series of Trucks is Introduced
This simple workhorse line of trucks was the company’s most popular product through its most financially difficult times. Some go so far to credit it for generating enough sales to save
Read More the company.

International® Introduces the PayStar®
In November of 1972 International introduced the severe duty PayStar.This truck was built for the construction industry and typically used with a mixer or dump body.

Brooks McCormick Becomes President of International Harvester
The grandson of Cyrus McCormick’s brother William, he boosted morale and profits, and sought to remedy overexpansion and inefficient manufacturing. Brooks was
Read More the last of the McCormicks to run the company.

International Product on the Moon
In August of 1969, Apollo astronaut Alan Bean installed a container of nuclear fuel to power the Apollo Lunar Surface Experiments Package (ALSEP) on the moon.This Beryllium container,
Read More designed to hold the 1,400° F fuel, was made by the Solar Division of International Harvester. Solar had been working with NASA for much of the 1960s on the Saturn V Rocket program—the rockets used to launch most of the Apollo missions.

International® Introduces the TranStar®
This updated cab over engine model would continue to be a sales leader much like its predecessor the Emeryville.

International® Introduces the M-Series
This line of Severe Duty trucks was built for the construction industry.

Voltas Joint Venture
The company entered into a joint venture with Voltas Limited to build farm tractors in India.Voltas would later be known as Mahindra & Mahindra.These McCormick International tractors were built in
Read More Bombay (now known as Mumbai).This successful partnership was a precursor to the joint ventures of today including a 2005 joint venture with Mahindra & Mahindra to build trucks and engines.

Harry Bercher Becomes President of International Harvester
The last of the sales-oriented chief executives, he oversaw product line growth, and sought to create consistently profitable production.

International Introduces the LoadStar
This modern truck was available as both a medium and heavy duty vehicle. Like the Scout, it is one of the more notable designs of the company’s lead industrial designer,Ted Ornas.

The Scout — A Forerunner to the Modern-Day SUV
The Scout was International Harvester’s most popular consumer vehicle of all time. Originally designed as something to “replace the horse,” it was manufactured from 1961 to
Read More 1980 and is considered to be a forerunner of the modern-day SUV.The original version had a canvas top, two removable doors and a folding windshield. International Harvester’s lead designer,Ted Ornas is still revered around the world for this icon of design.

The Cub Cadet Lawn Tractor was Introduced
This popular line of lawn tractors and accessories is another example of a very successful line extension—building on the well respected IH name in the tractor business.

Frank Jenks Becomes President of International Harvester
He guided the company through two recessions and several labor conflicts, and oversaw the introduction of the versatile Scout.

The Stylish V-Line of Conventional and Cab Over Engine Trucks was Introduced
This line of heavy trucks was aptly named for the V-8 engines they featured.

Little Golden Books Publishes an IH Truck Book
This child’s activity book exclusively features International trucks.With printed trucks to punch out of heavy pages, it demonstrates the company’s long-standing place in pop
Read More culture.

The International Travelall is Introduced
This innovative vehicle was a precursor to the modern-day SUV. In 1957 it was the first vehicle of its type to offer a second door on the passenger side for better access to the
Read More rear seats.A fourth passenger door was added in 1961.The Chevy Suburban, a direct competitor to the Travelall did not have four passenger doors until 1973.

Hough Acquisition Construction Equipment Lineup
International Harvester began making crawler tractors in 1929.The company purchased the Frank G. Hough Co. in 1952 and greatly expanded its offerings in the construction
Read More category. Heavy-duty and often over-sized construction equipment was now part of the mix.This acquisition coincided with the country’s dramatic growth after World War II.The equipment was suited for the new construction of the highway system and suburbia.

John McCaffrey Becomes Chairman of International Harvester
He reined in the company’s diversification but encouraged further expansion in trucks, construction machinery, and farm equipment.

The Cab-Over-Engine Highway Trucks
After the war International re-introduced the cab forward and cab-over-engine trucks.This time they were designed as highway trucks. One of the most popular International Trucks of all
Read More time was the Modal DCOF-405, otherwise known as the “Emeryville”. Built to enable truckers to haul more goods while meeting the overall length laws, the Emeryville was the best selling truck on American highways for four consecutive years in the 1960s.

International Introduces the Model L Line of Trucks
This new line of trucks encompassed everything from a pickup to a highway tractor. It featured the new “Comfo-Vision” cab.The cab was the first to have a one piece, wrap
Read More around windshield. It offered more head and leg room than any previous cab and a heating and ventilating system.

The Cotton Picker
The McCormick-Deering H-10-H Cotton Picker, introduced in 1943, was the first practical mechanical cotton picker. It did for cotton farmers what the reaper had done for grain farmers more than 100 years
Read More earlier. International Harvester began experimenting as early as 1923, but none of the company’s or the competitor’s models succeeded until 20 years later. Acceptance of this product grew slowly and did not reach meaningful production until the 1950s.

WWII Military Production
In the wake of Pearl Harbor, International Harvester, like other American companies, ramped up its defense production, converting and expanding its factories to meet the demand. IH manufactured a
Read More variety of trucks, half tracks, torpedoes, large guns, munitions, and more. Some of the trucks were military versions of the company’s commercially available trucks and others, like this M-2-4, were strictly designed for military use.

Fowler McCormick Becomes Chairman of International Harvester
Fowler was president of the company during WW II and in the boom years that followed. He was the grandson of John D. Rockefeller and Cyrus McCormick. He worked
Read More his up through lower level positions within the company. These experiences gave him real insight into issues faced by the employees. As President, he elevated labor-management relations and anti-discriminatory policies to new heights.

International Introduces the Farmall H.
Renowned Industrial Designer Raymond Loewy was hired to redesign the Farmall line of tractors.This new letter series included the Model H, which became International Harvester’s best
Read More selling tractor of all time. It was on the market until 1953.This model was the best selling of all Farmall tractors over the years.

International Introduces the Metro
This was the first multi-stop, walk-in delivery truck built by an original equipment manufacturer.World famous industrial designer, Raymond Loewy designed this model for International
Read More Harvester.

International Begins to Build Trucks with Cummins Engines
In 1938 International Truck dealers on the west coast began replacing Internaitonal engines with Cummins engines to provide the power customers wanted—especially
Read More customers hauling heavier loads or double trailers.That same year International began building the heavier duty D-Series trucks with extended hoods to accommodate the larger Cummins engines.

International D-Series Introduced
Unlike earlier truck series that were phased in gradually, the entire D-Series, ranging from 1/2-ton to 10-ton capacity, was introduced within about a month. Despite the harsh economic
Read More conditions of the time, the D-Series, which even included a woody station wagon, was enthusiastically received by the buying public.

Sydney McAllister Becomes President of International Harvester
McAllister was very familiar with the company’s European operations and oversaw continued espansion overseas as well as with the truck line.

International Innovation — The First Tandem Axle
International built the first tandem axle, six-wheel trucks in 1934, providing power to both rear axles.When working on uneven terrain at construction sites, as these trucks
Read More often did, the powered set of wheels could easily become suspended, leaving the truck powerless.With a tandem axle, at least one set of wheels is in contact with the ground at all times to keep the truck moving.

International C-Series Introduced
Following a trend in industry as a whole, the C-Series adopted the Art Deco styling of the time.The C-Series encompassed a full line of trucks from a light station wagon-like truck to a
Read More heavy highway tractor.

Addis McKinsry Becomes President of International Harvester
McKinstry turned the company from a net loss to net profit and was able to rehire many of put out of work by the Depression.

The First Diesel Engine
In 1933, International Harvester produced its first diesel engine, the D-40, which was a four-cylinder, four-cycle, overhead valve, pre-combustion, full-diesel engine.These engines were made at the
Read More company’s Tractor Works in Chicago and were used in TD-40 crawler tractors.Three years later, the company introduced its first six-cylinder diesel engine, the D-80, followed by its first diesel-powered truck in 1937.

Exclusive Contract for The Hoover Dam
The builders of the Hoover Dam selected International Harvester as the exclusive supplier of trucks for this enormous construction project. Before the actual dam could be built, four
Read More diversion tunnels needed to be cut out of solid rock to reroute the river. Each tunnel was 56 feet in diameter and 4,000 feet long.To get the project started, these sturdy trucks ran 24 hours a day, seven days a week to haul rock from the site.

International Introduces its First Crawler Tractor
These versatile tractors, branded as McCormick-Deering TracTracTors, were used in both construction and agriculture.

Herbert Perkins Becomes President of International Harvester
Perkins put in place the company’s program to assist employees in the early days of the Great Depression.

International Innovation — The Two-Speed Rear Axle
The 1928 Six-Speed Special was the first truck equipped with a two-speed rear axle.This essentially upgraded a three-speed transmission to six speeds.With six speeds,
Read More trucks could pull a heavy load easily which was important during a time when more powerful trucks were in great demand.The low, first gear was especially helpful to pull large loads up a steep hill.

The 54, 74, 94 and 104 Models
These models were available with either chain drive or with a differential. Many of them were built with a powerful Hall Scott engine and used as dump trucks.The Hoover Dam and the New York
Read More Subway system were built using these hard working trucks.

The Farmall Regular Revolutionizes Farming
After years of work, International Harvester introduced the Farmall Regular—a tractor that revolutionized row crop farming on a global scale. It had all the features farmers were
Read More looking for—a triangular stance, high ground clearance, a small turning radius, substantial power and the ability to easily change implements.Versions of the Farmall tractor were manufactured until 1985 when the agricultural equipment business was sold to Tenneco, parent company of J.I. Case.

International Innovation — The Wet Cylinder Sleeve
In 1924, International introduced to the truck manufacturing industry what was hailed as revolutionary and “the greatest single improvement ever made on a motor truck
Read More engine”—removable, wet cylinder sleeves. Since that time, replaceable sleeves have been virtually standard on truck engines of all makes. Before this, having worn or scored cylinders meant removing the engine and re-boring the engine block.With replaceable sleeves, the engine could be easily and inexpensively rebuilt without removing the engine from the chassis.

Red Baby —Dealership Service Trucks
The smallest of the new S-Series trucks was a pickup. Each dealership in North America owned at least one of these red pickups, affectionately known as Red Babys.With these trucks
Read More International dealers found it easy to regularly call on their rural customers, delivering orders, making service calls or just socializing.The Red Babys became a very common site on the backroads of the U.S. and Canada.The Red Baby nickname became so ingrained in the culture that it bacame a generic term for any service truck owned by an auto, truck or tractor dealership.

Fort Wayne, Indiana Factory
As roads improved and demand for motor trucks soared, International Harvester began construction of a truck factory in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Production at the site began in 1923, the same year
Read More that truck production started at the Chatham Works in Ontario. Meanwhile, the Springfield Works had been converted to truck manufacturing in 1921.

Alexander Legge Becomes President of International Harvester
The former cowboy becomes one of the most important presidents of IHC. He lead the company through the difficult, earliest days of the Great Depression. He also
Read More served President Woodrow Wilson as Vice Chairman of the War Industries Board during WWI and wrote the economic section of the Treaty of Versailles. For a second time, in 1931, Legge became president of the company.

The Company's First School Bus
In 1922, International Harvester built its first school bus using an S-Series truck chassis.The first buses could seat up to 25 children. Earlier, third party coach builders had used
Read More International truck chassis to create both commercial jitneys and school buses, but it was 1922 when the company began to focus on this business.

International Innovation — The Power Take Off
International Harvester introduced a powered wheel on their Model 8-16 Tractor. It was designed to power other pieces of farm equipment by using a wide, long leather belt.The
Read More company then produced a series of farm machinery to work with the PTO.They included a hay press, conveyors and a hammer mill.

Harold McCormick Becomes President of the McCormick Harvesting Machine Company
Cyrus McCormick’s middle son takes over as president and creates the company’s innovative Employee Representation Plan. Harold was married to
Read More Edith Rockefeller, daughter of Standard Oil tycoon John D. Rockefeller from 1895 to 1921.

The United States Enters World War I—IH Provides Trucks
International Harvester, because of its wide spread dealer network, was selected to provide trucks for all the state-side U. S. Military bases.The company also
Read More manufactured machine gun carts and wagons for the Military.

Farm Implements
Early on the company realized there was an enormous market for all kinds of farm implements. So beyond the reapers, binders and mowers, International Harvester sold huge volumes of thousands of different
Read More implements every year.At first these devices were made for horse-drawn applications and later for tractors.

International Truck Models G, H, K and L
This series of similar looking, but different size trucks was the modern replacement for the high wheelers.These new models had sloping, French-style hoods with the radiator
Read More positioned at the rear of the engine compartment. This was done to keep them from being easy prey for vandals.The teamsters, who’s business it was to handle teams of horses, feared the competition these new motorized trucks would cut into their business and did what they could to curtail their popularity.

The Auto Wagon
Commonly known as the Farmer’s Wagon,The Auto Wagon was much like the Auto Buggy with the back seat removed. It was the company’s first truck and could haul up to 800 lbs. of cargo.The original models were
Read More built with an air-cooled engine, and later models with a water-cooled engine using one of Johnston’s invention — the radiator.

First All International Harvester Tractors
International Harvester entered the tractor market in 1906 with a unit manufactured by the Ohio Manufacturing Company.Two years later, the first tractors built entirely at
Read More International Harvester’s Akron Works went on the market. By 1910, the Titan and Mogul tractors represented over a third of the American tractor production.

The Auto Buggy
In 1907, the company introduced the Auto Buggy, the company’s first passenger vehicle. After developing the company’s first gasoline engine, engineer E. A. Johnston worked on a motorized buggy for years and
Read More finally convinced Cyrus McCormick Jr. to begin production in 1907.

Truly International — Global Expansion
Due to high demand for product overseas, International Harvester opened manufacturing facilities in foreign countries including Norrköping, Sweden (1905); Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
Read More (1910); Lubertzy, Russia (1910); and Düsseldorf, Germany (1911). The company also continued to expand its dealer network. By 1912, IHC had 36,000 dealerships in 38 countries around the world and was truly an international company.

Vertical Integration
International Harvester adopted the concept of vertical integration and began acquiring pieces of their supply chain. William Deering had started this process before the merger with McCormick. IH owned
Read More three iron ore mines, two large ore boats, a coal mine (and the entire town), a steel mill, three sisal plantations and 90 square miles of hardwood forests.

International Harvester Company
The International Harvester Company is born with the personal help of J. P. Morgan after Cyrus McCormick Jr. agrees to merge his McCormick Harvesting Machine Company with William Deering’s
Read More Deering Harvester Company and three other smaller firms. By 1910 the company was the 4th largest in the U.S.

First McCormick Gasoline Engine
In 1897 E.A. Johnston developed the first McCormick gasoline combustion engine, for stationary use on farms. The following spring, Johnston modified the design and installed the engine on a
Read More lightweight wagon chassis. The stationary engines would go into full production in 1905.

McCormick Deering Merger Negotiations Begin
Cyrus McCormick, Jr., and William Deering began the arduous work of negotiating a merger of their companies-- the two largest American farm implement manufacturers.

The Haymarket Riots
When These riots took place over several days a few blocks from the new Chicago Reaper Works on the South Side of Chicago. Picketing McCormick union workers mixed with “scabs”. The event lead to a
Read More shorter work day and the Labor Day holiday.

Cyrus McCormick Jr. Becomes President of the Company
When Cyrus McCormick died in 1884 his oldest son, 25 year old Cyrus Jr., took over control of the company. Cyrus Jr. was educated at Princeton and had a good sense of
Read More business like his father. Cyrus Jr. was personal friends with Woodrow Wilson, a classmate at Princeton. During his 24 years as a guiding force of the company, he would oversee major milestones including the merger with William Deering’s company to create International Harvester, as well as the first company engine, automobile, truck and tractor.

McCormick Twine Binder
After a few years it became obvious that the wire used in a wire binder was causing injury to farm animals. To remedy the situation, McCormick, following the lead of competitor William Deering,
Read More licensed new twine binder technology from inventor John Appleby. The volume of twine necessary to support this product made it necessary for the company to create large sisal plantations in Mexico, Cuba and the Philippines and twine mills in Chicago (2), Auburn, New York, New Orleans, Louisana, St. Paul, Minnesota, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, Neuss, Germany, Norrkoping, Sweden and Croix, France.

McCormick Wire Binder
Charles Withington brought his design for a self-binder to McCormick in 1872. The machine would not only cut the wheat but it would bind it into sheafs and deposit them on the ground. McCormick liked
Read More the idea and purchased it from Withington, made further refinements and began selling these self binders in 1877. Until this time a group of workers would need to follow the reaper to gather the cut wheat and tie it into sheafs by hand.

Stanton Credits the Reaper
After the end of The Civil War, Abraham Lincoln’s Secretary of War Edwin Stanton credits the McCormick Reaper with the North’s victory and keeping the nation intact. “By taking the place of
Read More regiments of young men in the western harvest fields, it releases them to do battle for the Union at the front and at the same time keeps up the supply of bread for the Nation and the Nation’s armies. Thus, without McCormick’s invention, I fear the North could not win and the Union would be dismembered.”

McCormick Reaper in the U.S. Capitol Building
In 1865 Italian artist Constantion Brumidi begins painting fresco murals in the U.S. Capitol Building. One of them depicts Ceres, Goddes of Grain, (the origin of our word
Read More “ceral”) sitting on a McCormick Reaper. This image is referenced in Dan Brown’s 2009 novel The Lost Symbol.

Self-Rake Reaper
In 1860, Cyrus McCormick introduced the self-rake reaper. This innovation eliminated the need to have a second worker walk along side the reaper to rake the cut wheat off the machine to the ground.

McCormick v. Manny and Lincoln
In 1854, Cyrus McCormick, defending his reaper patent, was challenged by John Manny of Rockford, Illinois. As the case was planned for Springfield, Illinois, Manny hired local attorney Abraham
Read More Lincoln who studied the case and prepared a brief. However, when the case was moved to Cincinnati, Ohio, Lincoln was dismissed. Lincoln stayed to observe the proceedings and was paid a substantial sum for his services after Manny won this round in court.

Award Winning Products and Business Practices
McCormick brought his reaper to the first World’s Fair in London, “The Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of all Nations,” and won top honors. He, and later his son Cyrus
Read More Jr., would continue to exhibit their machinery and win medals to bring recognition to the company’s products. McCormick pioneered public relations by creating advertisements back home featuring these medals.

McCormick Works Opens in Chicago
In 1851 Cyrus McCormick and his partner completed construction on the McCormick Reaper Works which began in 1847. By 1856, the factory produced more than 4,000 reapers a year.

First Franchise Dealership Network
The genius of Cyrus McCormick was not limited to his engineering abilities. His visionary take on business was equally important to his company’s success. McCormick was a true
Read More pioneer—starting in about 1850 he began to establish many of the practices still in use today. He created the first franchise dealership network of any kind, anywhere, and on a global scale. This style of dealership network is used today by every major automaker.

Reaping Machine
As the North American continent unfolded to agriculture, the need for extra labor at harvest time grew exponentially. A host of inventors tried to solve the problem, but it was 22-year-old Cyrus McCormick
Read More who stuck with it and after numerous refinements devised the first truly practical mechanical reaper. McCormick’s innovation transcended technology. The business Cyrus McCormick built on the basis of his invention pioneered modern manufacturing and sales techniques. Jo Anderson, a slave on the McCormick farm in Virginia, toiled alongside Cyrus in the farm’s blacksmith shop during the reaper’s development. Their friendship endured long after the abolition of slavery.