A McCormick Deering Type EM 6

Attachment B-32641: Bits of our farming heritage slowly rusting away - Coyote Flats at Longhill Road and Sexsmith Road, East Kelowna, BC - Photographed April 29, 2010.

This old, rusting hulk of a machine is resting outside the northwestern gate entrance to Coyote Flats manure sales. There are several old bits of farm machinery buried in the long grass mostly out of site, quickly forgotten. This attachment was pulled behind a tractor and riden by a person who would control the clutch and brake assembly. The metal box with International Harvester logo at the bottom right held an assortment of specialty tools for adjusting gears and brakes on the spot.

International Harvester circa 1911

In 1885, Deering began producing a line of mowers. Between 1893 and 1911, the company produced the Ideal Plain Lift, Ideal Giant, Ideal Vertical Lift, Ideal 1-Horse Plain Lift and Ideal 1-Horse Vertical Lift. Between 1886 and 1915, McCormick marketed the New 4 Mower, New Big 4 Mower and Vertical Lift Mower.

International Harvester Co. was formed Aug. 12, 1902, when McCormick Harvesting Machine Co., Deering Harvester Co., Plano Harvester Co., Milwaukee Harvester Co. and Warder, Bushnell & Glessner Co. merged. The new company was capitalized at $120 million. Cyrus H. McCormick Jr. was named president of the board and Charles Deering was named chairman.

In 1911, International Harvester began producing implements such as mowers, tedders, rakes and fertilizer distributors under the McCormick name. The McCormick-Deering line of mowers included the No. 6 Plain Mower, No. 6 Vertical Lift Mower and Big 6 Mower. In succeeding years the company produced the McCormick-Deering No. 6 Plain Lift Mower, No. 7 Regular Lift, No. 7 Vertical Lift, Big 7 Regular Lift, Big Trailing – Regular Lift, and the No. 9 mower (also known as the McCormick-Deering Enclosed Steel Gear Mower). From 1939 to 1946, the company offered a regular size and heavy size No. 9 mower.

The No. 9 mower was advertised as designed to “take less power to pull and last a lifetime.” The gears were faster so the sickle ran faster, but more power was required to pull the machine. In addition to the Deering and McCormick lines, the company also offered the Little Vertical Mower, New 1-Horse Plain Lift Mower and New 1-Horse Vertical Lift Mower.

Closed gears were a big improvement in mower design. Because the gears run continuously in oil, dirt can’t cause undue wear or damage to the gear and bearings. McCormick-Deering’s No. 9 mowers were very popular in the Midwest. Some models came with trucks, which lifted the weight of the mower off the horse.

Mowers remained essentially the same until tractors began replacing horses in the 1930s. A popular enhancement of the day was the mower’s response to an obstruction during mowing. “The bar swung back, the power shaft telescoped and the clutch automatically disengaged and stopped the sickle,” notes Ronald Stokes Barlow in 300 Years of Farm Implements and Machinery 1630-1930.

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