Our Old Bookcase
First, this history is to address the myth, that the New Idea Company made the “first manure spreader.” W.E. Martin, Oconee, GA had an early patent on a manure spreader, dated October 4, 1870. Early inventors were inspired by the 1776-1876 Centennial Celebration of the United States and filed patents for hundreds of technical improvements in the 1870’s and 1880’s. History books give credit to Joseph Sargent Kemp, Syracuse, NY (originally from Ontario, Canada) as the “inventor of the first practical manure spreader” in 1877. The three Garst Brothers, Greenville, Ohio, made manure spreaders beginning in 1885. As of 1890, John M. Kramer and his brother Henry Kramer manufactured the Champion Manure Spreaders and other farm equipment. A series of financial struggles and a fire in 1896 were financial challenges to the business.
Fred Heckman and Henry Synck were working in 1898 in the John M. Kramer & Brother Machine Shop. This is a complex story, told in this original book.
Joseph Oppenheim was a teacher at St. John School at Maria Stein. Oppenheim became involved with these men. Oppenheim had watched the boys play ball and watched how the boys hit the ball at an angle and the ball went in different directions. Oppenheim’s creative ideas were the turning point for the success of the New Idea Company, when he had the paddles placed at an angle at the back of the spreaders, to spread the manure across the fields. On February 17, 1900, Joseph Oppenheim filed his application for his first patent, which he received the patent, No. 648,519 on May 1, 1900. This patent was the turning point, which made the New Idea Company successful, and the company lasted a century from 1899–1999. The New Idea Spreader plant at Maria Stein, lasted until the beginning of moving the plant to Coldwater, between 1909 and 1912.
See the post card photograph above, post marked July 22, 1912, with its Water Tower and the series of buildings at Coldwater. The Narrow Gauge Railroad at Maria Stein was discontinued as of 1923. By 1879, the L.E. & W. Railroad traveled through Portland to Fort Recovery, and to Coldwater and points east, which provided for transportation for the New Idea Company’s farm equipment to the market.
I am certain that I will be hearing “the facts” about this story from the readers who have not read the book, “New Idea Company’s Horse Drawn Manure Spreaders, Maria Stein & Coldwater, Ohio.” This documented book was prepared by the New Idea Historic Preservation Committee of the Mercer County Historical Society and printed by The Messenger Press at Carthagena, Ohio, in July 2013. This book is the most complete history of the New Idea Company’s Horse Drawn Spreaders in existence. Without the work of this committee, this history book might not have happened.
For details of this history, see a copy of this book at the Coldwater Public Library. (Being popular, this book & the corn picker books are sold out.) The last two of the four New Idea History Books will be on sale, at the Mercer County Historical Museum: The New Idea Uni-System, and The New Idea Hay Tools. The other books for sale will include the “Oil & Gas Boom History,” including the Off Shore Oil Wells on Grand Lake.
The next open house at the museum will be held on Sunday afternoon, October the 24th for the military exhibit. The following open house at the museum will be held on Sunday, November 14th for the post card exhibit. The Centennial Buildings book will be free to the first 25 guests.