Manure spreader

Many of these ground-driven spreaders are still produced today, mostly in the form of small units that can be pulled behind a larger garden tractor or an all terrain vehicle (ATV).

In recent years hydraulic and PTO driven units have been developed to offer variable application rates.

Several models are also designed with removable rotating mechanisms (beaters), attachable side extensions, and tailgates for hauling chopped forages, cereal grains, and other crops.

[8] Oppenheim, a schoolmaster in the small town, concerned that his older male students often missed school loading and spreading manure,[9] patented a wagon that, behind the drag chain and two beaters, incorporated a steel axle with several wooden paddles attached to the shaft at an angle to throw the manure outward in a broad pattern eliminating the necessity for manual spreading.

[12] Although Oppenheim died in November, 1901, the demand for the New Idea Spreader Company’s labor-saving “widespread” machines quickly grew and fifteen years later, under the direction of his oldest son, B.C.

[15] and “became the brand that set the standards for spreader performance, durability and reliability decade after decade.”[16] During the 1920s, Henry Synck, who became president of the company in 1936 when Joseph’s son, B.C.

A modern manure spreader
An advertisement for a J.S. Kemp model spreader