Reaper-binder

A harvesting machine that cuts standing grain and ties it into bundles called sheaves. It mechanizes two steps of grain harvest in one pass.

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Reaper: A machine that cuts standing grain and leaves it in rows or swaths. The reaper’s cutting action is the first stage of a reaper-binder’s work.
Cyrus McCormick: An American inventor and manufacturer associated with the commercial development of the mechanical reaper. His reaper helped establish the cutting technology later combined with binding.
Sheaf: A bundle of cut grain stalks tied together for drying, handling, or storage. Making tied sheaves is the defining output of the machine.
Combine harvester: A machine that harvests grain by combining reaping, threshing, and winnowing operations. A combine threshes grain in the field instead of producing sheaves for separate threshing.
Reel (agricultural machinery): A rotating assembly of arms that guides standing crops toward a cutting mechanism. The reel helps feed stalks evenly into the binder’s cutter.
Charles Withington: An American inventor who patented an early twine-binding mechanism for grain harvesters. His binding mechanism helped make automatic tying practical.
Grain drying: The removal of moisture from harvested grain to prepare it for storage or processing. Sheaves commonly stood in the field to dry before threshing.
Swather: A machine that cuts crops and lays them in windrows for later drying or pickup. A swather leaves cut crop in rows rather than tying it into sheaves.
Sickle bar mower: A mower that cuts plants with reciprocating blades moving past stationary guards. Its reciprocating cutter is the basis of many reaper-binder cutting assemblies.
John Appleby: An American inventor whose knotter design enabled practical twine-binding harvesters. His knotter solved a central problem in reliably tying machine-made sheaves.