New Idea Manure Spreader

Color illustration of a wagon pulled by two white horses on a farm with black text.

The New Idea Spreader Company, formerly known as New Idea Spreader Works, was founded by Joseph Oppenheim in 1899, with the help of his son B.C. Oppenheim. The senior Oppenheim was a schoolmaster and came up with the idea to modify the manure spreaders after watching his students play tom ball. During the game, he noticed that the person handling the bat could control which direction the ball went by angling the bat differently. He felt the same could be done with the spreaders. After trial runs with the help of his son, their idea worked, and they were able to sell some of their early models to neighbors. Later, they expanded the New Idea Manure Spreaders and produced them in a factory, which produced a machine about every three minutes. In 1930, New Idea purchased the Sandwich Company, which provided them with new farming designs like fine corn shellers and hay loaders. After being sold several times, New Idea was closed and liquidated in 1999.