Re: Rototiller Recommendation

Posted by David Kronwall on April 05, 2006 at 04:07:15 from (64.201.78.59):

In Reply to: Rototiller Recommendation posted by Russ(Bolivia) on April 04, 2006 at 11:27:17:

I can tell you a little about Howard Rotavator, because I worked for them from 1979 til 1985. I was their ad manager and wrote/photographed their brochures and sales literature. Howard was a worldwide company headquartered in England. They called their rotary tiller a ROTAVATOR (which, by the way, is a palindrome--a word spelled the same way forward and backward), because ROTA stood for "rotary" and VATOR stood for "cultivator," since the Brits refer to tillage as cultivation. It's a registered trademark.

The ROTAVATOR was designed by A.C. Howard, who developed the scroll-pattern of the blades along the rotory shaft, powered by the tractor PTO. A.C. was a contemporary of Henry Ford, and I'm told, he and Henry--both tinkerers and inventors at heart--used to correspond and compare notes.

Howard's USA headquarters was in Harvard, IL, when I joined them. We had a manufacturing plant in Muscoda, WI, where we built small ROTAVATORS like the Model HN and HJ--suitable for small, garden-type tractors. We also built a large, wide seedbed tiller called the Model HW ROTASPIKE. The rest of the ROTAVATOR line--designed for the horsepower you're using and higher--has always been made overseas. Some models were English, some French, some German.

ROTAVATORS have always been rugged, well-designed machines. They are, however, quite heavy and do require substantial horsepower. I don't remember specifics, but I agree with what dhermese and Tramway guy have indicated--they do require power and, depending on your soil, 8" of depth might take either a slow, slow forward speed or multiple passes.

Unfortunately for a lot of us, Howard closed their USA facilities in 1985 but continued to be made overseas. The company was purchased I think in the late '80s by the Danish giant Thrige Agro, which made a full line of ag equipment. ROTAVATORS continued to be sold in the states by distributors, and they still are.

Apparently the line has been acquired by Klonskilde (not sure of the spelling), the people who make chisel plows and other tillage equipment. As far as I know, they are still handled by the same distributors around the USA. I guess they have changed the good ol' Howard orange for Klonskilde red, but the machines are still being built.

Russ(Bolivia)...I'd recommend locating the Howard Rotavator distributor in your area and checking them out. If you're not sure who that is, you might contact the distributor I know in Illinois--Guy Farm Machinery in Woodstock, IL--and ask Clyde who your distributor would be. Tell him Dave sent ya.

David

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