Description: Reverse reads: "New Idea, Inc. manufacturers of farm implements. Coldwater, Mercer County. Credit - Mumm Romer Robbins & Pearson, Inc." In 1899 Joseph Oppenheim with the help of Henry Synck invented the first mechanical manure spreader. Oppenheim conceived the idea of a practical manure spreader during a game of paddle ball. He subsequently developed a model from a cigar box and demonstrated the feasibility of distributing manure in a "wide spread pattern." Manure was loaded into the spreader. A mechanism moved the manure to the rear where it was distributed by paddles. Oppenheim's future son-in-law, Synck, worked with him to perfect the invention. After months of "trial and error it became obvious he (Oppenheim) had solved the problem of manure spreading...... that he had created a "New Idea." .....and that a name and an invention had been born!" Oppenheim died in 1901 and was buried in Maria Stein. Following his death, his wife, Mary Ellerbrock Oppenheim, invested in New Idea and made decisions to move the company forward. The "New Idea Spreader Works" was established and built in Maria Stein. The "New Idea" caught on quickly because it relieved farmers of the back-breaking chore of manually distributing manure from a wagon. Mary Oppenheim died in 1907. New Idea continued to grow and in 1908 the company moved to Coldwater, Ohio, where a railhead existed to ship the completed spreaders. Henry Synck remained involved with New Idea. In his older age, Henry Synck sold New Idea to Avco, a conglomerate that was subsequently acquired by Textron. In a complicated series of transactions, Textron subsequently divested New Idea to Allied Corporation, another conglomerate (White-New Idea) who subsequent divested it to AGCO Corporation. New Idea has continued to produce a broad spectrum of farm-related machinery. Unfortunately, the Coldwater, Ohio plant established by the Oppenheim family and Henry Synck was closed in 1999 as the manufacturer sought to reduce costs and consolidate manufacturing in fewer locations. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SA1039AV_B08F02_002_001
Subjects: New Idea, Inc.; Farm machinery; Industries--Ohio--Springfield; Ohio--History--Pictorial works; Federal Writers' Project
Places: Coldwater (Ohio); Mercer County (Ohio)