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. On October 18, 1899, Oppenheim began to produce his new manure spreader, incorporating the “widespread” paddle device. Neighbors soon referred to it as “Oppenheim’s new idea” and Oppenheim adopted this name for his business. 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. Oppenheim, and Henry Synck, one of Oppenheim’s first employees, the company, had branches in eight states and an assembly plant in Guelph, Ontario. It had total sales in 1916 of $1,250,000. Eight years later, in 1924, the factory was turning out 125 manure spreaders in an eight-hour day. and “became the brand that set the standards for spreader performance, durability and reliability decade after decade.” During the 1920s, Henry Synck, who became president of the company in 1936 when Joseph’s son, B.C. Oppenheim, died, patented several improvements to the spreader. In 1945 the Oppenheim family sold its controlling interest in the closely held New Idea Company to AVCO Manufacturing. AVCO later sold the company to White Farm Equipment Company which in 1993 sold it to AGCO (Allis-Gleaner Corporation), the current owner. It is clear, however, that there were other competitors in this field, each of whom spread the manure by a slightly different technique. One of these is the Great Western Farm Equipment Line, produced in Chicago, IL. See also Broadcast spreader Honeywagon Liquid manure List of agricultural machinery Reuse of excreta References Bibliography U.S. Patent Office, Patent No. 648,519, Manure Distributor and Spreader for Joseph Oppenheim, Maria Stein, Ohio, Filed February 17, 1900. Patents for Henry Synck issued 1920-1937 (accessed February 8, 2011) “Henry Synck,” Nevin O. Winter, Litt.D., History of Northwest Ohio, vol. 2, p. 874, The Lewis Publishing Company, Chicago & New York, 1917. Tharran E. Gaines, “100 Years of New Ideas,” FieldHAND, Spring 1999, p. 8. Brian Wayne Wells, “The New Idea Spreader Company of Coldwater, Ohio (Part 1 of 2 Parts),” Belt/Pulley Magazine, Vol. 11, No. 5, September/October 1998, (accessed Nov. 8, 2010) Brian Wayne Wells, “The New Idea Spreader Company (Part 2 of 2 Parts)” Belt/Pulley Magazine, Vol. 11, No. 6, November/December 1998, (accessed Nov. 8, 2010)