Grain cradle

The scythe improved on the sickle by giving the mower a more ergonomic stance and permitting a larger blade.

However, keeping the grain stems aligned in the windrow required great skill and where these skills were less available the addition of a cradle helped to manage the grain heads, reducing the sheaver's work-load and improving efficiency at threshing.

[1] Although the grain cradle was in previous use in parts of Europe it was not generally used because skilled labour was traditionally available.

Fifty American patents were issued between 1823 and 1930, the first in 1823 in western New York state and the last in 1924 in West Virginia peaking between 1875 and 1900.

[citation needed] The cradle was commonly used throughout the 1800s and into the beginning of the 20th century, in part because many of the smaller farms were not designed for mechanical reaping and in part because there were still a great number of smaller farms where the mechanical reaper was not economical.