Emerson Manufacturing Co. A Family Connection

I was doing some family history research when I discovered that my grandfather, Louis Andrew Belden, had been employed in Rockford, Illinois at the firm of Emerson Manufacturing Co. in 1905 and, his father in law, Great-Grandpa William J Goff, was also employed there in 1903-1905. This firm later became Emerson-Brantingham Co and was purchased in 1928 by J I Case Co. Finding the information about Grandpa Belden’s employment at Emerson Manufacturing Co sparked my interest in the Emerson firm. In doing research, I found a large amount of history of development and manufacture of grain reapers and mowers in Illinois. Some of this history is followed in this book. Also, some biographical information about Mr Emerson and others involved. I have included pictures of some of them and their invention patents. As an engineer involved in farm equipment design and development, I found it interesting to see how the first reapers evolved into other more sophisticated grain binders that not only cut the standing grain but also packaged it into tied bundles ready to gather and bring to the threshing machine for separation of the seeds and straw.