Patrick Bell

Patrick Bell (12 May 1799 – 22 April 1869) was a Church of Scotland minister and inventor.

Born in the rural parish of Auchterhouse in Angus, Scotland, into a farming family, Bell chose to study divinity at the University of St Andrews.

Bell invented the reaping machine while working on his father's farm.

On May 3, 1831, a patent was issued in the United States to William Manning for the reaper of essentially the same design.

McCormick with his brothers mass-produced the machines and developed what became the International Harvester Company.