Robert McCormick Jr. (June 8, 1780 – July 4, 1846) was an American inventor who invented numerous devices including a version of the reaper.

[1] McCormick was born June 8, 1780, on the family estate of Walnut Grove in Rockbridge County, Virginia, in the Shenandoah Valley on the western side of the Blue Ridge Mountains.

He eventually decided to formalize some of his work when he applied for a patent in 1830 for a "hemp-break", a device for breaking hemp and flax.

[7] His wife Polly encouraged him to give it to their assertive and business-minded son Cyrus, who was able to improve and patent it in 1834 and establish the McCormick Harvesting Machine Company which led to the great wealth the family accumulated.

McCormick is a soft red winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) developed and released in May 2002 by the Virginia Agricultural Experiment Station.