From the Archives

HANDING IT WELL

F10

The Farmhand loader, originally developed in the USA for stacking hay in the field, was one of the first hydraulic devices of its kind. Stuart Gibbard explains how, in later years, the company introduced UK farmers to a whole new concept of materials handling, including the highly successful F Series loaders and Flat 8 Bale System.

THE HYDRAULIC FARM LOADER

has been integral to agricultural systems across the world, and several firms and individuals have laid claim to its invention. In the UK, the pioneer in the field was unquestionably Joe Bamford, whose JCB Major loader of 1949 made full use of hydraulic rams in a design suited for both agricultural and industrial use. In the early days of loader development in the USA there were several Left: A very early American brochure for the Farmhand loader manufactured by the Superior Separator Company of Hopkins, Missouri. Joseph Schwan’s original design for the

‘Hydraulic Farm Hand’ loader, taken from a 1940s patent specification. Above: The Farmhand loader was part of a complete system of materials handling with options and attachments for most agricultural applications. This Farmhand F10 loader is fitted to a County Power Drives tractor. The tractor’s 11F torque converter transmission, complete with forward/ reverse shuttle, was ideal for jobs like manure handling. Bam load of h sui an lo U L A t

court battles between inventors with each claiming the other had infringed their patents. However, there can be no doubt that the first to harness hydraulics to operate an agricultural loader was North Dakota farmer, Joseph F. Schwan.

Joe Schwan’s objective was to develop a tractormounted device for loading and stacking hay in the field, utilising an oil pump and hydraulic cylinder to raise and lower a front-end mechanism. He began working on the concept in 1936, building his first design on a toy tractor.

After constructing full-size prototypes, and proving the loader in the field, Schwan patented his design in 1940. He also approached various firms with the idea of getting his device into production. Interest was shown by the Superior Separator Company of Minneapolis. This company, founded in 1929, was a manufacturer of grain handling, separating and cleaning equipment. The loader went into full production in 1941 as the ‘Hydraulic Farm Hand’. The company claimed that it was so named because it was ‘the nearest thing to a flesh and blood farm hand in all round usefulness on a farm’.

The design was a fairly crude affair with cantilevered booms pivoting from the top of a vertical frame at the rear of the tractor and was mounted on its own sub-frame extending below the rear-axle housings. The pump was driven off the PTO with the oil reservoir located on the rear frame.

The booms were raised by two long rams mounted either side of the tractor. The front sweep for hay was tilted by a single vertical ram inside the rear frame, operating a wire rope attached to the sweep via a pulley and sheave arrangement. As well as the hay sweep, the loader was also offered with a manure fork or earth bucket. Capacity was 3000lb for low lifts or 1000lb at a maximum height of 21ft.

Left: A Ford 5000 fitted with a Farmhand F11 loader. The F11 was a heavy-duty, high-lift loader with a tear-out rating of 4000lb (1815kg) and a lift capacity of 3500lb (1590kg). Below: This Farmhand F11 loader and County Power Drives tractor combination was purchased in 1973 by Fred Gittus who farmed at Saxham, near Bury St. Edmunds. The cab was manufactured at Suton by Farmhand (UK) Ltd.

Left: The Farmhand F12 loader was sold as a package with the

County Power Drives tractor. The Countys, based on Ford 5000 or 7000 models, were fitted with County-Brockhouse 11F torque converters.

The loader remained on the market until 1942, after which material restrictions following the USA’s entry into the Second World War led to its manufacture being temporarily suspended. Production resumed in 1944 with the loader featuring improved hydraulic control from a new spool-valve arrangement that was jointly developed by Joe Schwan and Superior’s own head of engineering, Charles F. Pierson. In 1947, as demand for the loader increased across North America, Superior opened a subsidiary business in Winnipeg, Canada. Two years later, the firm relocated its main manufacturing facilities to Hopkins, a suburban city west of Minneapolis. The original Hydraulic Farm Hand became the Farmhand Heavy Duty loader, and was joined by the Farmhand Special, which was designed to fit smaller tractors and had a maximum capacity of 2000lb and 17ft reach.

At the same time, the Farmhand Standard, a more compact loader designed to fit a wider range of tractors, was added to the line-up. It had a 2000lb maximum capacity and 12ft reach.

In 1951, to cope with the rapid growth in sales, the Superior Separator Company, now with Charles Pierson as its president, was reorganised into two separate divisions. The Superior Grain Separator Company handled the cleaning and processing machinery for the milling, malting and seed industries, while the Farmhand Company manufactured and marketed the loaders and materials handling equipment. The Hopkins site

was expanded so that each division could have its own factory, offices and personnel. The range of Farmhand loaders continued to grow during the 1950s. Other products were added to the line including feeder wagons, diet feeders, trailers, manure spreaders and a rotary snow plough.

F11 F11

F11 introduction

Probably the most important introduction was the F11 loader, launched in 1957. The F11 was a selfcontained high-reach loader incorporating its own independent hydraulic system with a gear-driven PTO pump. Its heavy duty booms were made from corrosion-resistant Cor-Ten steel. The F11 loader, attached to the tractor via a sub-frame to the rear axle, also featured doubleacting lift and tilt rams. A wide range of attachments was available.

In 1959, Superior purchased an Oregon manufacturer of bulk feed trucks. The following year, the Superior Grain Separator Company, its various product lines and its operations in Hopkins and Winnipeg were acquired by the Daffin Manufacturing Company.

Industrialist, Irl A Daffin, was one of a group of businessmen who had rescued New Holland from the brink of bankruptcy in 1940. After the Sperry Corporation bought new Holland in 1947, Daffin left to develop his own business. Daffin’s products included haying equipment, land levellers and scrapers, cultivators and beet harvesters.

The Daffin products were merged into the Farmhand line, which continued to operate from Hopkins and Winnipeg as the Farmhand Division of the Daffin Corporation. Following the merger, the Farmhand loaders became part of a full system for materials handling. Attachments for the F11 and the other loaders in the range included manure and silage forks, root, soil and grain buckets, a push-off buckrake and a hydraulic grapple.

Flat 8 system

Farmhand also developed its Flat 8 Bale System with an Accumulator that was towed behind the baler to discharge the bales in units of eight. The Farmhand Bale Fork, fitted to a loader, used its specially shaped tines to load or stack the eight-pack of bales.

The Farmhand Flat 8 Bale System and the F11 loader were introduced to the UK in 1963. Designed for farms handling 12,000 or more bales each season, the system became an instant success. Two years later, in 1965, Farmhand (UK) Ltd was established with a base at Suton, near Wymondham, in Norfolk.

As well as assembling equipment imported from the USA, the UK operation also manufactured some of its own machines using locally sourced materials. The F11 loader couldn’t be used with tractors fitted with the safety cabs that became mandatory in 1970,

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1929 Superior Separator Company established in Minneapolis. 1936 North Dakota farmer, Joe Schwan, develops tractor loader. 1940 Schwan sells his loader design to Superior Separator Company. 1942 Loader production suspended due to wartime restrictions. 1944 Improved hydraulic control for ‘Farm Hand’ loader. 1949 Daffin Manufacturing Company launches line of haying equipment. 1951 Farmhand Company formed after reorganisation of parent business. 1952 Farmhand introduces its Standard loader after relocating to Hopkins. 1957 Launch of Farmhand F11 loader. 1960 Farmhand acquired by the Daffin Manufacturing Company. 1963 Farmhand Bale Handling system introduced to UK. 1965 Formation of Farmhand (UK) Ltd. 1971 Farmhand F12 loader introduced to the UK. 1979 Vermeer round balers marketed in UK by Farmhand. 1981 Juko seed drills distributed in UK by Farmhand. 1985 Farmhand (UK) Ltd acquired by Thrige Agro Group. 1995 AgEquipment Group and its Farmhand brand sold to AGCO.

Specification

F10

Model Farmhand F12 loader (1975) Hydraulic system

PTO-driven pump delivering up to 18gpm (82lpm) at 1350psi Oil capacity Six gallons

Hydraulic cylinders

Twin 44in x 3.5in (111cm x 8.9cm) main rams; 11in x 3in (28cm x 7.6cm) tilt rams Lift capacity Lift to full height, 3000lb (1362kg); tear out force 4500lb (2041kg) Lift height 13ft 4in (5m) Weight 1750lb (793kg) Attachments Pallet fork, manure fork and grapple, grain scoop, general purpose scoop, root bucket, push-off buckrake, bale fork Above: A four-wheel drive Ford 4600 equipped with a Farmhand F9H loader, which was made in France by Agram. Left: Handling grain with a Farmhand F10 loader. The F10 would lift to 10ft 6in (3.2m) and the scoop capacity was 32cu.ft (0.9cu. m)

and so Farmhand (UK) Ltd constructed its own cabs for Ford and Massey Ferguson tractors.

The loaders were sold under the slogan ‘mechanised muscle for tough jobs’. Brackets were available to fit the F11 loader to a variety of tractors including Fordson, Ford, Massey Ferguson, International Harvester, Nuffield, David Brown and John Deere models. The tractor rear wheels had to be set at a minimum of 68in centres to accommodate the loader arms/booms while also providing stability.

F12 loader

Eventually, the F11 was superseded by the F12 loader system, which could be fitted to tractors equipped with standard safety cabs and, later, quiet cabs. There was a wide range of attachments including eight-bale and ten-bale systems, which could be used in conjunction with bale carriers and stack movers.

The F11 and F12 loaders were also sold as a package with the County Power Drives, a Ford 5000 conversion fitted with a torque converter transmission. County Power Drives Ltd was formed in the early 1970s as an offshoot of the parent company, County Commercial Cars Ltd, to market ancillary equipment for Ford and County tractors including assister rams, special wheels, Howard reduction boxes and Brockhouse torque converters.

The venture with Farmhand led to the development of Ford 5000 and 7000 models equipped with F11 (and later F12) loaders and fitted with County-Brockhouse 11F torque converters. The 11F transmission provided a powershift forward/reverse shuttle in conjunction with a manual gearbox. The first County Power Drives/Farmhand F11 combination, based on a Ford 5000, was bought by Suffolk farmer, Fred Gittus, who farmed near Bury St. Edmunds.

Right: The Farmhand F12 loader system was offered with various attachments for silage and manure handling, including a hydraulic grapple-fork. F9H

F12

F12C & F10

F10 BALE FORK

Other products

Farmhand’s UK subsidiary also marketed spreaders, feed wagons and diet feeders, as well as American-made Vermeer round balers, which were sold under the Farmhand name in this country. Eventually, Finnish Juko seed drills were also added to the product line.

All the products were designed to integrate, with the Vermeer machines, forming a complete big round bale system with the Farmhand loaders. The Vermeer was the original big round baler and more than 10,000 had been made in less than ten years.

Farmhand’s Power-Box system also integrated with the loaders. The Power-Box was a multipurpose unit mounted on a 9t cantilever-type tandem-axle chassis. Designed to handle manure, slurry, silage, grass, grain or roots, it could be used as a spreader, forage feeder of self-unloading trailer. For those farmers who preferred to remain with conventional balers, the Farmhand Flat 8 Bale System had almost no equal and could handle up to 1800 bales per day. This was later superseded by the Flat 10 system, which worked in conjunction with Farmhand’s 10-Bale Accumulator. The Flat 10 Bale Fork allowed the bales to be stacked ten high to form a 100-bale ‘stacklet’. This could be moved by the Stackhand, one of the first bale chasers, which provided a fast and efficient means of bale carting and stacking. ‘Farmhandling Bales’ became the company’s slogan, and an F11 or F12 loader provided the solution for many farms faced with mammoth handling problems.

FX-13 The F10 model, a later addition to the range, was designed as a quick-attach loader mounted via side-rails rather than a sub-frame. Maximum reach was 10ft 6in. For smaller tractors, Farmhand marketed its F9 and F10 loaders. These were sourced from Agram in France, although the attachments were manufactured locally in Norfolk. In 1985, Farmhand (UK) Ltd was acquired by the Danish Thrige Agro Group and merged with Nordsten and Howard. Following the acquisition, the American Farmhand and French Agram loaders were replaced with a new line of Howard Farmhand loaders sourced from Denmark. The American Farmhand brand became part of the AgEquipment Group, which was purchased by AGCO in 1995.

Above: By the early 1980s, Farmhand (UK) Ltd was offering a wide range of loaders. The F12C on the left was a heavy-duty model with parallel linkage, while the F10, right, was a more compact loader. Left: Farmhand’s Flat 10 Bale Fork was part of a complete system for stacking and carting bales. The tractor is a late County Power Drives model, based on a Ford 7600, fi tted with an F10 loader. Inset left: Howard Farmhand loaders were sourced from the Danish Veto/Gyro range. The FX-13 Parallel model is fi tted to a Ford 5030 tractor.

Below: The Power-Box spreader was part of Farmhand’s integrated system of materials handling. It could also be used as a forage feeder of self-unloading trailer. The tractor, a John Deere 2140, is equipped with an F10 loader with a manure fork and grapple.