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Stephen McCormick (26 Aug 1784 - 28 Aug 1875) American inventor and manufacturer who invented and manufactured a practical cast iron plow with detachable components. His was an early use of standardization of replaceable parts which led to the development of improved manufacturing processes. Short biography of Stephen McCormick >>

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To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, Stephen McCormick, of Fauquier County, Virginia, have invented an Improvement in Plows, of which the following is a specification.

This plow has a plate of wrought-iron added to a bar, which forms the landside, point, and share. There is a mortise-hole through the share, near the bar, to receive the sheath and brace.

The mold-board is made of cast-iron, and is so constructed as to fit on the share end. It has a perpendicular landside of ten inches or less, (agreeable to the size of the plow,) which has a shoulder that butts against the sheath. The front part of the mold-board has a gradual rise to the highest part of the lower edge of the mold-board, and has a circular shape, which forms a gradual rise to a right angle to the landside. The upper edge widens gradually until it hangs over the heel or bottom part six or eight inches. The mold-board is confined to the sheath by two rivets and by two to the stilt. The share is confined to the mold-board by a brace passing in front of the sheath through the wood or by this side of an iron beam which is fastened by a screw; also, a screw passing through near the edge of the mold board and share. The bead is confined by a screw to the stilt.

The beam is made of iron; is about six feet long, with a considerable curve, two inches and a half wide, and one and an eighth thick, which is large enough for three horses. The front end has holes to admit an open ring or clevis; also, a hole through the other end, where it comes into the stilt, which is confined by a rivet-pin. This beam is let into the top of the sheath, which is made of wood, and is confined by a cap of the iron. The beam has a band of iron about five inches in front of the sheath, which is large enough on the under edge of the beam to admit a hook of one end of a brace which passes through the sheath and stilt near the heel of the plow, which is fastened by a screw. The stilts are made of wood, about five and a half feet long.

Nature bears long with those who wrong her. She is patient under abuse. But when abuse has gone too far, when the time of reckoning finally comes, she is equally slow to be appeased and to turn away her wrath. (1882) -- Nathaniel Egleston, who was writing then about deforestation, but speaks equally well about the danger of climate change today.

Carl Sagan: In science it often happens that scientists say, 'You know that's a really good argument; my position is mistaken,' and then they would actually change their minds and you never hear that old view from them again. They really do it. It doesn't happen as often as it should, because scientists are human and change is sometimes painful. But it happens every day. I cannot recall the last time something like that happened in politics or religion. (1987) ...(more by Sagan)

Albert Einstein: I used to wonder how it comes about that the electron is negative. Negative-positive—these are perfectly symmetric in physics. There is no reason whatever to prefer one to the other. Then why is the electron negative? I thought about this for a long time and at last all I could think was “It won the fight!” ...(more by Einstein)

Richard Feynman: It is the facts that matter, not the proofs. Physics can progress without the proofs, but we can't go on without the facts ... if the facts are right, then the proofs are a matter of playing around with the algebra correctly. ...(more by Feynman)

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