The Uni-System concept was among the more interesting farm machinery ideas introduced to the Irish market over the past 50 years. The idea was of a base power unit, meaning and engine and transmission that could be used to operate a combine harvester and then convert to a self-propelled type silage harvester. The aim was to give greater annual use to a basic power unit on the farm.One of the Ireland’s biggest farm machinery companies at the time, McGee of Ardee, introduced the Uni-System from the US under the Farmhand brand name. McGee’s were importers for the Farmhand range, which included tub feeders, tractor loaders and balers.
The Uni-System concept was among the more interesting farm machinery ideas introduced to the Irish market over the past 50 years. The idea was of a base power unit, meaning and engine and transmission that could be used to operate a combine harvester and then convert to a self-propelled type silage harvester. The aim was to give greater annual use to a basic power unit on the farm.
One of the Ireland’s biggest farm machinery companies at the time, McGee of Ardee, introduced the Uni-System from the US under the Farmhand brand name. McGee’s were importers for the Farmhand range, which included tub feeders, tractor loaders and balers.
The Uni-System was originally developed by a company called New Idea based in Ohio. It was designed to be attached to a combine harvester or self-propelled grass or maize silage harvester unit that wrapped around the power unit. It was developed to lower depreciation costs on the farm as the power unit could be changed or upgraded at lower cost while retaining the combine or harvester unit.
The Farmhand Uni-System 709 that McGee’s showed at the 1979 Spring Show was powered by a six-cylinder 175hp turbo-diesel engine. The machine had a hydrostatic transmission to eliminate the belts and other couplings.
This engine was mounted to the rear of a modern, quiet cab. Further back was the 315 litre fuel tank and hydraulic system reservoir to improve weight distribution and reduce the need for optional weights.
The aim of the design was to reduce the numbers of engine power units on the farm and add more versatility than simply having an idle combine system after a relatively short harvest. The machine system was first tested in Britain in 1978 on the Elveden farm of the owner of the Guinness empire, Lord Iveagh. There were plans for an Irish demonstration the following year after its Spring Show launch.
The manufacturers claimed that the machine could be converted from a self-propelled silage harvester to a combine in just two hours. This involved removing the pickup head, undoing three harvester head bolts, extending the jacks beneath the harvester and removing the five driving belts. The harvester power unit could then be driven away to be coupled to the combine.
The combine harvester unit was based around a 13ft header that claimed an output of between 5t and 7t per hour, which was good at that time. The threshing unit consisted of a 36in wide drum that was 22in in diameter. The cleaning system consisted of three 12in wide shakers or walkers that were 12ft long. The grain tank had a capacity of more than 2t.
When used as a silage harvester, the machine was fitted with a 6ft wide grass silage pickup head feeding a four-feeder roll system and then to a 21in wide, 18in diameter 6 knife chopper unit. A knife sharpening unit was included as standard on the machine, which had a claimed capacity of 40 to 50 tonnes of wilted silage.
The third component of the machine was a maize header that could replace the grass unit with a three-row harvester head. The team at Elveden farm also used the Uni-System to operate their four-row maize planted earlier in the season. The concept was excellent in giving greater scope for cost-effective machine use. Despite that, British and Irish farmers did not take to it.
New Idea claimed to have sold in excess of 20,000 of these machines in the US. The price for the base machine with its air conditioned quiet cab was £26,000, with the grass silage harvester head adding £8,600 and the combine system adding another £13,000 to the price. This meant an all-in price of £47,600.
The concept was excellent in giving greater scope for more cost-effective machine use. Despite that, British and Irish farmers did not take to it and the concept was withdrawn from the Irish market after about two years.
Who was behind New Idea?
New Idea Farm Machinery Company developed in a farming area of Ohio in the 1890s after a father and son-in-law team of Joseph Oppenheim and Henry Synck Jr developed a mechanical manure spreading machine. After months of trial and error, Oppenheim had solved the problem of manure spreading. He had created a “new idea”, and from that the brand name was born.
New Idea was taken over by an aviation company, AVCO, in the 1960s. In the 1970s it linked up with another US company, Farmhand, to export its machines to Britain and Ireland as Farmhand had a British based company.
In 1984 the New Idea division was purchased by White Farm Equipment to form White-New Idea, a division of the Allied Products Corporation. In 1993, AGCO purchased White-New Idea. AGCO and White before that had manufactured tractors at the Coldwater, Ohio factory, but in 1999, AGCO closed it. The New Idea brand name was dropped by AGCO around 2007.
Deere self-propel spectacle
West Cork Vintage Ploughing and Threshing Association has gathered together an impressive lineup of John Deere self-propelled silage harvesters from the early 1970s for a very special John Deere celebration event on this Sunday, 11 September at Argehane, Clonakilty, to raise money to support the ASD units in Kilbrittain NS and Gaelscoil Chloch na gCoillte and Aspect AS Support Service. The club expects to have at least 17 machines in action in an 80-acre silage field, as the major spectacle of the event to celebrate 50 years of John Deere in Ireland.
Galway model show
Farm model collectors in the west of Ireland are staging a diorama and model show this weekend at the Raheen Woods Hotel, Athenry, Co Galway, which is only five minutes from exit 17 on the M6 motorway, on Sunday 11 September. Model collector Mike O’Malley (086-252 77602) who runs the annual event in aid of the Galway Hospice Foundation, said he expects a large number of new diorama displays at the event, which runs from 10am to 5pm.
Rosdillig rally
The 29th Rosdillig vintage rally and steam threshing event takes place on Sunday 18 September at Borris, Co Carlow. Elaine Stanley (087-775 1895) of the committee said the event will include a 100-year-old Clayton & Shuttlecock threshing machine in action on its original iron wheels. It was originally owned by Pakie Breen of Ballybrack, Borris, Co Carlow. This mill is currently owned by Mick McCormack and Philip Whitford whose farm the rally will be held on.
Irish Farmers Journal Vintage Diary
Contact
10 September Braid Valley Vintage Tractor Road Run, Tyrone 0044-7802537124
10 September Dungiven Parish Church Vintage Rally, Derry 0044-7775632570
10 September Killelagh & St John’s Vintage Day, Swatragh, Derry 0044-7759425131
10 September Rathfriland Vintage Rally, Antrim 0044-7879417079
10 September Clough Vintage, Alex Douglas Run, Down 0044-7926970643
10 September Tullylagan Vintage Tractor Road Run, Dungannon 044-7832336014
10 September Peninsula Vintage Rally, Ballyhalbert, Down 0044-7789448668
11 September Galway Model and Diorama Show, Athenry, Galway 086-252 77602
11 September Caim Vintage Threshing and Run, Wexford 087-917 2654
11 September Slievenamon Vintage Tractor run, Tipperary 086-085 4381
11 September Tullogher/Rosbercon Vintage Road Run, Kilkenny 086-106 0689
11September South Kerry Ploughing and Harvest, Kenmare, Kerry 087-338 1842
11 September Carnew Heritage Vintage working day, Wexford 087-643 6482
11 September Knockbridge Vintage Club Show, Louth 087-976 3355
11 September Newtownstewart Tractor Run, Tyrone 0044-7934562332
17/18 September Whitecross Vintage Ferguson record, Carrigans, Donegal 087-680 1588
17/18 September Glengariff Run by Ballincollig Vintage Club, Cork 087-909 6616
17 September Ballygowan Vintage Annual Rally, Down 0044-7496028519
17 September Country Comes to Town Vintage event, Portadown 0044-7733417540
17 September Corbet Tractor Run, Castlewellan Road, Banbridge 0044-7849662758
17 September Lisnagaver Hall Vintage Rally, Rasharkin, Antrim 0044-7922246089
17 September St John’s Parish Vintage Rally, Ballinderry, Tyrone 0044-7512374811
18 September Curraghmore Vintage field day, Waterford 087-123 8070
18 September Rosdillig Vintage Rally, Carlow 087-775 1895
18 September Camp Static Show, Kerry 087-958 8631
18 September Limerick Diecast Model Show, Limerick 087-327 7757
*Dates are subject to change. The Irish Farmers Journal does not take responsibility for date or venue changes. Please contact each event before you travel.
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