Grain Sickle, 1800-1840

Sickles helped farmers harvest grain crops. Using this age-old tool, however, was backbreaking work. Laborers constantly had to stoop over to gather and cut the stalks. The work also had to be done quickly before ripen grains were scattered by the wind or poor weather destroyed the crop. The invention of mechanized reapers did away with this laborious task on large acre farms.