Joseph Oppenheim (March 1, 1859 – November 24, 1901) was an American educator who invented the modern widespread manure spreader that made farming less labor-intensive and far more efficient in the early 20th century.
Early life and teaching career Born on March 1, 1859, in the small village of Kirchhundem, Kingdom of Prussia. Oppenheim obtained a liberal education at universities in Bonn, Germany, and Innsbruck, Austria,"Joseph Oppenheim," in Nevin O. Winter, Litt. D., History of Northwest Ohio, Vol. 3, p. 1671, The Lewis Publishing Company, Chicago & New York: 1917.. (accessed May 17, 2011). Photograph of Joseph Oppenheim appears after page 1670 (accessed May 17, 2011). and upon graduation from college at the age of 20 he immigrated to the United States. He received a teaching degree in 1881 from St. Francis College in Wisconsin and after briefly teaching in Putnam County, Ohio, he returned to St. Francis College for further study. On August 9, 1883, he married Anna Mary Ellerbrock of Glandorf, Ohio.Cindy Birt, "New Idea: Its Start and the First 75 Years," The Celina, Ohio Daily Standard, May 16, 1974, p. 18. He then taught in Freyburg, Ohio, New Albany, Indiana, and Grand Rapids, Michigan, before settling in the small town of Maria Stein, Ohio."Joseph Oppenheim Would Be 100 Sunday," Mercer County Chronicle-Journal, February 26, 1959, page 1 Oppenheim was "an accomplished musician, specializing in piano and pipe organ, ... a remarkable scholar, conversant with four languages, well read in literature, and an excellent speaker."Winter, History of Northwest Ohio, Vol. 3, p. 1671 As an educator, Oppenheim became the first teacher in Ohio to receive a Lifetime State Teachers Certificate.Mercer County Notables website, http://billwendel.com/history/index.htm (accessed, Nov. 9, 2010)
Educator turns inventor In the 1890s, Oppenheim was a schoolmaster in the one-room country schoolhouse in Maria Stein, the town where John M. Kramer was building a "manure unloader" based on a patent in his name but claimed to be jointly owned by him, Fred Heckman and Henry Synck.Fred Heckman, "Early Manure Spreader History: Particularly of New Idea," Pamphlet, Coldwater, Ohio, July, 1939, p. 4, "the patent for the manure distributor was issued in Kramer's name although I always thought Henry Synck and I would own the Patent when granted, but Kramer also signed the application, and he had not done anything...but he may have had a right because it was worked out in his shop, so we were with three in this Patent." quoted in Birt, "New Idea and Its Start ..." at p. 19. See also: Knapp, "More than one person invented the Manure Spreader," Mercer County Chronicle, July 22, 1999, p. 1 indicating that the Kramer's device was known as a "manure unloader" with photograph of "unloader" on p. 2. The "more than one person" Knapp (obviously tongue-in-cheek) refers to is Oppenheim's widow who, after Joseph's death, received his second New Idea spreader patent as his "executor." Originally manure was thrown from a wagon.Birt, "New Idea: Its Start…" page 19 column 3; See also: "Three Generations, The Story of New Idea" "Our 60th Year," Pamphlet, Coldwater, Ohio 1959, pp 1 &2. The unloader that Kramer built used a drag chain at the bottom of the wagon to pull the load of manure to the rear where it was shredded by a pair of beaters and deposited directly behind the machine, but with very little spreading to the sides.Tharran E. Gaines, "100 Years of New Ideas," FieldHAND, Spring 1999, p. 8; See also: Birt, "New Idea: Its Start…" p. 18. As a result, farmers still had to take the time-consuming step of heading into the fields with peg-tooth drags or similar implements to spread the manure in order to prevent burning the soil.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 November 8, 2010)
As a schoolmaster, Oppenheim was concerned that the older boys often missed class at certain times of the year to stay home and work on the farm, usually loading and spreading manure. Not only was the chore backbreaking, but it deprived them of their education which Oppenheim saw as a need for the future."100th Anniversary, A Century of Excellence, New Idea 1899-1999," Pamphlet, AGCO Corporation 1999, p. 3. See also: B.C. Oppenheim, "My Father's Help to the Farmer," The Country Gentleman, Vol LXXXII, Issue 42, Page 31, Nov. 17, 1917, at (accessed May 17, 2011)
While watching children play a game called "tom ball," Oppenheim noticed that when the ball was struck with the bat, which was actually a paddle-shaped board, the ball was deflected to one side or the other, depending on the angle of the paddle."100th Anniversary, A Century of Excellence, New Idea 1899-1999," Pamphlet, AGCO Corporation 1999, p. 3 Oppenheim saw this paddle-effect as the solution to the problem of manure spreading. He felt that a series of paddles could be attached to the rear of a manure unloader to cast manure in a wide pattern several times the width of the wagon.Wells, "The New Idea Spreader Company … Part 1". Nearly all other documents referenced herein contain the same story.
To test his theory, Joseph, with the help of his oldest son, B.C. Oppenheim, knocked the end out of a cigar box and built a small rotary paddle distributor into that open end. Each of the paddles on the rotary distributor was set at a different angle. Then, Joseph and his son filled the cigar box with chaff and operated the small distributor with power from the drive wheel of a sewing machine. The test was successful. The chaff was thrown in a wide pattern. After several other tests, Oppenheim became convinced that he had an idea that could be designed into manure unloaders.Wells, "The New Idea Spreader Company … Part 1" When Kramer's machine shop was destroyed by fire and his business failed, Oppenheim obtained Kramer's patent in exchange for forgiving a loan he had made to KramerBirt, "New Idea: Its Start…" p. 18 and then obtained a patent for his own new idea.U.S. Patent Office, Patent No. 648,519, Manure Distributor and Spreader for Joseph Oppenheim, Maria Stein, Ohio, Filed February 17, 1900. See also,"Avco New Idea Marks 70th Anniversary," Avco New Idea Dealer News. Vol 15, No. 10, October 1969, p. 2. Thus the widespread modern manure spreader was born.Wells, "The New Idea Spreader Company … Part1"
Oppenheim's New Idea manure spreader Oppenheim's first New Idea spreader had two beaters. The top beater was situated immediately above the lower beater and was smaller because pulverizing of the top part of the load was easier than the bottom. Immediately behind the beaters was the famous New Idea "widespread" which had a steel axle with several wooden paddles attached to it.Wells, "The New Idea Spreader Company… Part 1". The paddles were six inches wide and eight inches long, fastened to the shaft at an angle to throw the manure outward."Birt, "New Idea; Its Start:..." p. 19.
On October 18, 1899, Oppenheim broke ground for a small shop in Maria Stein, Ohio, where he could produce his new manure spreader, incorporating the "widespread" paddle device in addition to two beaters.For photographs of Oppenheim's "widespread" new idea see: "New Idea Celebrates 100th Anniversary," Mercer County Chronicle, September 2–8, 1999, p. 9; See also: "100th Anniversary, A Century of Excellence, New Idea 1899-1999," Pamphlet, AGCO Corporation, pp. 1,3 and 4. (Compare with Kramer "manure unloader" in Knapp, "More Than One Person…".). For additional pictures of the original New Idea Spreader see the company's advertisement in a 1918 Country Gentleman Magazine containing a guarantee by B.C. Oppenheim at https://www.flickr.com/photos/dok1/3417639257/ (accessed May 17, 2011) and the 1939 restoration at http://www.farmcollector.com/restoration/new-idea-manure-spreader.aspx (last accessed March 22, 2011). Among the first employees he hired at the shop were Fred Heckman and Henry Synck.Birt, "New Idea: Its Start…." p. 18. Synck, who later married one of Joseph's daughters, Wilhelmina,Birt, "New Idea: Its Start...." p. 18 was said by contemporaries to have had "a genius for machinery and mechanics of all kinds." and "in 1899 he entered the employ of Oppenheim and gradually familiarized himself with the technique of the business."."Henry Synck,"in Nevin O. Winter, Litt.D., History of Northwest Ohio, vol. 2, p. 824, at (accessed May 17, 2011). Although Synck had been "employed by Kramer Brothers at low wages, he secured experience that was invaluable to him in later years...and in 1899, he entered the employ of Mr. Joseph Oppenheim of Maria Stein, and gradually familiarized himself with the technique of the business until he became one of the heads of the New Idea Spreader Company." Neighbors around the town of Maria Stein started referring to the widespread manure spreaders as "Oppenheim's new idea" and Joseph adopted this as the name for the business.Birt, "New Idea: Its Start…" p. 18.The original name of the company was "The New Idea Spreader Works." See also: B.C. Oppenheim, "My Father's Help to the Farmer," The Country Gentleman. Vol LXXXII, Issue 42, Page 31, Nov. 17, 1917, at (accessed May 17, 2011)
Only two manure spreaders were produced the first year of operation and fourteen the following year."Avco New Idea Marks 70th Anniversary," Avco New Idea Dealer News, Vol 15, No. 10, October 1969, p. 4. Oppenheim did not live long enough to realize any financial reward, for he died on November 24, 1901, as one of the victims of typhoid fever that struck the small village."Avco New Idea Marks 70th Anniversary," p. 2. But his wife, Anna Mary, carried on operations of the New Idea Spreader Works by using the money obtained from Joseph's insurance policy."The New Idea Spreader Company,"in Nevin O. Winter, Litt.D., History of Northwest Ohio, vol. 3, p. 1673, at (accessed May 17, 2011). states "At [Oppenheim's] death his widow [Anna Mary Oppenheim, b. 1861, d. 1907] received $3000 life insurance and she courageously placed this amount at the disposal of the business. It was a remarkable instance of business courage on the part of a woman who had no other source of income. The results justified her confidence. At her death in 1907 the business was continued by her six children...." See also: B.C. Oppenheim, "My Father's Help to the Farmer," The Country Gentleman. Vol LXXXII Issue 42 Page 31, Nov. 17, 1917, at (accessed May 17, 2011) Joseph's son, B.C. Oppenheim, became the president in place of his father and Henry Synck was in charge of production."Bernard C. Oppenheim," in Nevin O. Winter, Litt.D., History of Northwest Ohio, vol. 3, p. 1671 at (accessed May 17, 2011) "Bernard C. ... was left in charge of the sales, promotion and financial end of the New Idea Spreader Company ...Young Oppenheim gave every hour of the day to hard labor in the plant and for many years continued office work in the evening." Photograph of Bernard C. Oppenheim preceding page 1671 (accessed May 17, 2011). Also see: "100th Anniversary, A Century of Excellence, New Idea 1899-1999" Pamphlet, AGCO Corporation 1999, p. 5. Not only did the business carry on, it thrived on brisk sales of the New Idea spreader.Birt, "New Idea: Its Start…" p. 18. Also see: "New Idea Spreader Company," in Winter, History of Northwest Ohio, Vol 3, p. 1672. at (accessed May 17, 2011) stating, "The New Idea spreader ... is radically different in construction from others which had been in use prior thereto. Its special feature is that it is a "widespread" machine. At first it inevitably encountered prejudice...because ...it was so completely different from the machines farmers had been accustomed to. However, the New Idea spreader demonstrated its capacity for better work, and ...soon... became dominant and competitors were obliged to change their machines or cease business altogether."