Combines MHarryE they were watching you

Something VERY interesting is included in this patent application. Be sure to read through page 9 in the drawings. Right there, for the whole world to see, Deere admits that rotary separation is more efficient than walker designs. The date this patent was filed is listed as April 23, 1982 and approved on May 12, 1987. How many times did we all hear Deere say rotaries were no good between '82 and the intro of the STSIJ

If you think about it, why would JD advertise against their own machine. Nobody does that. Besides, I have seen some Gleaner adds in some old magazines dating right before they came out with the N6 advertising against rotaries anyway most. So Deere wasn't the only one.

This sounds almost exactly like a combine produced by Fiat laverda in Europe shortly after rotaries came out in the U S. It had a large grain tank since the separation was carried on in a rotor behind the header kind of like the early experimental prototype rotary mounted behind the header on a C Gleaner years ago. It was sold in Europe for a while by laverda.

Deere's position has "always" been that rotary seperation was only advantageous for larger capacity combines, and that the added manufacturing costs were not warranted for smaller combines. I remember those Gleaner ad's that dismissed the rotaries; - the ad read "Gleaner Combines Run Circles Around Thier Rotaries" and it showed a Gleaner l2 with an 8 row cornhead, with the noses of a New Holland and IH facing the Gleaner. The ad also displayed a comparison chart of the l2_TR70 with 190 horsepower_IH 1460 and the M2_TR70 with 145 horsepower_IH 1440. Era - 1978 or thereabouts.

I don't doubt the l's did run circles around the early rotaries, especially since all of them were longitudinal rotors. It wasn't until the N's came out that threshing could be accomplished without twisting the crop up first. And if Deere's position was that rotors were only good in large combines, why didn't they have one soonerIJ They have had conventionals in the same classes as everyone else's rotors all along - except for Gleaner's class 7 models and the more recent CATs.

It wasn't_isn't common to have seen N7's and R70's traded for 8820's and 9600's, so Deere probably felt they had the Class VI market adequately covered with thier conventionals. The 9650STS is really a Class VII 9750STS with fewer horsies and a smaller grain tank, so it was probably more feasible to offer a Class VI rotary when they decided to enter the Class VII market. What I found peculiar about the Gleaner ad's was that this particular ad was running at the same time the N6's were on the market. In a way, Gleaner was contradicting thier own product.

Gleaner's Marketing Manager was nearing retirement just before the N6 was introduced - his idea was to push what we had to sell and let the next guy worry about what comes next. Remember how mid-70s Gleaner advertizing pushed feeder beaters against feed chains when we all knew we were headed toward 2, not 1 feeder chainIJ In the early 70s my job was hillside combines, where feeding uphill is always a challenge. Feeding was always a N5_N6_N7 issue, narrow feeder house, huge appetite. The Engr Manager called me into his office, told me that since feeding was my thing, make the N's feed even if it took putting a feeder beater in front. So I went out with an N prototype (not the early down front rotor version). When I saw what it would eat it totally blew me away. No feeder beater could ever feed this animal (we did try some versions though). At the time I left Gleaner in 1989, the only thing that we had tried that would adequately feed an N7 or R7 in small grain was a Macdon draper head. So - advertizingIJ Sell what you have today and worry about tomorrow -- tomorrow.

Good answer; - and I guess modern day living-proof of your motto would be Deere who, for years, found every inconceivable way to avoid introducing a rotary (sorry, single-tine) combine, only to sing it's praises years later. What I found odd about the Gleaner l2_M2 advertising was that it ran AT THE SAME TIME as the Gleaner rotaries were on the market. Presumably, Allis Chalmers considered the N5_N6_N7 combines to be thier "ultra-high" capacity combines, and thier conventional line be be more "in par" with the capacities of the New Holland and IHC rotaries. If I invested a few hours, I could probably find the copy of "Country Guide" magazine that had this ad in addition to a N6 ad within the same edition.

I'm not familiar with the ad you're talking about, but it sounds like Gleaner wasn't advertizing against rotaries, just the competition's models.