image: WISCONSIN HISTORICAL SOCIETY

In the 19th century, the McCormick Harvesting Co. steamrolled competitors with marketing materials focused on its reapers winning competitions at shows from agricultural exhibitions to world's fairs. Its 1882 catalogue, for example, declared them “Best in the World” with “First Prize Taken by Them at Every World's Fair.” The company reached peak ballyhoo after winning 25 medals at the 1900 Paris World Expo with this fantastical depiction for the French edition of its catalog: A reaper drives like a Roman chariot through an admiring international crowd on a Parisian boulevard toward a triumphal arch.