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Planter technology drastically changed in 1971 when the International Harvester Cyclo planter was introduced. This revolutionary machine eliminated the need for planter plates, clutch and all other components on other planters. IH used an air metering system to provide the ultimate in planting accuracy. The key to the Cyclo planter was a stainless steel planter drum. Changing from corn to beans required a simple change of drums rather than row unit plates found on other brands. The Cyclo also offered bulk fill planting which was an industry first. CaseIH offered the Cyclo planter through 1998 and today offers many of the Cyclo's engineering advancements on its 1200 ASM line.

The IH planter brochure pictured above was printed in January 1974 (stock# AD-31502-C). It pictures a 6 row 400 Cyclo planter and 766 tractor on the cover. Inside IH features the 4, 6 and 8 row 400 planters, 4 to 16 row tool bar 500 Cyclo planters. The brochure stresses the the Cyclo advantage and gives farmers testimonies on the planters population increases, labor saving bulk fill and speed. One farmer talks about planting 100 acres of beans in seven hours with a 6 row unit and having his best stand ever.


Classic Corn Planters by Gordy Schultz
Time to plant. This month The Literature Rack is going to look back at the popular planters of the late 1960's and early 1970's. This was the make or break era in the industry. Since the 1930's it was the standard for an equipment manufacturer to offer tractors and equipment. The corn planter was an important tool offered by most of the tractor manufactures. Planters were not all that complicated, they basically cut into the soil and dropped a seed. Most planters were two or four 4 rows. As farming practices began to trend larger, farmers began to look for bigger and more efficient planters. Row spacing for years had been set at 40 inches based on old horse drawn days when the row had to be spaced wide enough for a horse to walk down for cultivation. "Narrow" rows became popular in the late 60's as better hybrid seeds and fertilizers and insecticides improved yields. Fuel prices rose in the 70's and accuracy and speed became a must. It was important to cross the field with large planters that could cover large acreage fast while boosting yeilds. The companies who invested in technology and planter engineering continued to offer planters and those who were still offering the basics in the late 70's opted to focus just on tractors.

Planter technology drastically changed in 1971 when the International Harvester Cyclo planter was introduced. This revolutionary machine eliminated the need for planter plates, clutch and all other components on other planters. IH used an air metering system to provide the ultimate in planting accuracy. The key to the Cyclo planter was a stainless steel planter drum. Changing from corn to beans required a simple change of drums rather than row unit plates found on other brands. The Cyclo also offered bulk fill planting which was an industry first. CaseIH offered the Cyclo planter through 1998 and today offers many of the Cyclo's engineering advancements on its 1200 ASM line. The IH planter brochure pictured above was printed in January 1974 (stock# AD-31502-C). It pictures a 6 row 400 Cyclo planter and 766 tractor on the cover. Inside IH features the 4, 6 and 8 row 400 planters, 4 to 16 row tool bar 500 Cyclo planters. The brochure stresses the the Cyclo advantage and gives farmers testimonies on the planters population increases, labor saving bulk fill and speed. One farmer talks about planting 100 acres of beans in seven hours with a 6 row unit and having his best stand ever.

John Deere had relied on its tried and true 494 planter to dominate the planter market in the 1960's. With IH's introduction of the Cyclo in 1971 JD had its clocked cleaned in planter sales. That all changed in 1975 when John Deere introduced the Max-Emerge planter line that continues to this day as a planting system leader. The Max-Emerge advantage came at the point where the seed entered the ground. Most planters of the day gauged their planting depth with a press wheel following the planter box by 2 or 3 feet. The conventional planter basically used a butter knife blade to cut the soil. The big press wheel trailing way behind this blade tended to bounce along and cause skips. The John Deere Max-Emerge gauge depth was set where the seed hit the ground with twin wheels up front that follow any ground contour. The Max-Emerge offered uniform depth across the field, allowing for less early sprouts, fewer stragglers and an overall uniform emergence which leads to better pollination. The brochure above was released by John Deere in November 1976 (stock# A-15-76-11). The cover shows a 12 row 7000 series drawn planter on a 4430. The brochure features 7000 drawn planters from 4 to 12 rows and 7100 rigid and verticle fold planters from 4 to 12 rows. These planters stood out not only for seed placement but for other features found in the brochure such as planter monitors an advancement not offered by most planter makers of the era.

The White Plant/Aire was a planter that can be summed up as accurate, fast and reliable. The White traces its roots back to the solid and well known Oliver planter line. In 1975 Oliver's parent company changed from spring meadow green to red colors on the planter line and offered it under the company's name; WHITE. The key features of the White stated above combined one principle of simplicity. Plant/Aire planters utilized low pressure air ( not a vacuum) provided by individual electric blowers on each box. The air pressure held individual seed in a vertically mounted seed disc. Then a cutoff automatically dropped the seed into the seed tube where gravity not pressure placed the seed into the row. Early White planters used the butter knife type row opener. White planters are still offered by AGCO today and are sold under the slogan "Simply Advanced". Modern White planters still use the same vertical disc planting feature. The brochure shown above was released by White Farm Equipment in April 1975 (stock# S-215AR). It features a 12 row 3405 planter on the cover. On the inside cover we see the 3405 is being pulled by the new White 4-150 articulated 4wd. During the mid-70's White pushed large farming with 4wd tractors. The 4-150 appears in many planter brochures as the field tractor that is also a row cropper. Big planters were a key focus of White and the 4-150 offered the power and speed to pull 12 and 16 row Plant/Aire planters. IH would later capitalize on the idea of 4wds doing more than plowing in the spring with the 2+2. The three planters you have just read about are the machines that made the cut with farmers with their advancements and yield increasing features. Below are planters offered by well known brand names in the tractor market that did not find the following of the Cyclo, Max-Emerge and Plant/Aire.
Case offered corn planters for a number of years. The company was an innovator in no-till and minimum-till during the 1960's when plowing nice neat furrows was still the norm. The Case OT-350 Chisel-Planter made a farmer stop and look and this is cover shot of the Case 1966 Optimum Tillage planter brochure pictured on right (stock# A37466L). Case had all of today's principles in effect on the OT planters with no-till and 30 inch rows. The OT-350 did it all. An integrated chisel unit plowed up front. It left the old crop residue on top and incorporated some residue into the soil. The soil was able to soak up moisture and fight erosion that can ruin seed germination. These were all ideas that were unheard of in the 1960's. Plow deep and often was the standard practice. Case had the right concept but had to over come farmers notions of clean tilled row crop fields. Most farmers could not imagine a field covered with trash and residue offering high yields. The OT literature makes a strong pitch for one pass planting. The OT could put down herbicide, add starter fertilizer, apply nitrogen, chisel plow, plant and firm the seed bed. The OT-350 could also help cut down tractor needs on the farm. Rather than having two small tractors for multiple passes in the field a 7 plow bottom Case 1030 tractor or 8 bottom 1200 Traction King tractor could get the job done with an OT planter. The Case-Chisel planter was also handy in the fall. The OT could apply anhydrous ammonia, granular fertilizer and insecticides right into corn and bean residue. The Case OT-350 was probably the most advanced planter going into the 1970's in concept. It was just too far ahead of its time. Low sales lead Case to cease production in 1972 along with most of its implement line to focus on big tractors.
Ford made farming affordable with tractors for farmers in the early years with the Fordson. The Fordson tractor was the Model T of the field from 1918 through the mid 1920's. When International Harvester released the Farmall tractor in 1924, row crop farmer switched to IH in droves and Ford exited the farm market. In the 1940's Ford re-entered the farm market and found great success with the red belly 8n tractor. For the first time the company offered a full line of equipment. By the 1950's Ford was offering plows, disks, planters, mowers, balers, pickers and combines. True blue farmers used Ford corn planters. Fords last planter line was the 300 series, offered in the 1970's. The Ford Planter brochure on the right was released in 1970 (stock# AD1-4690). The brochure cover features the big new 6 row 320 planter on a Ford 5000. Ford offered one row planters to 12 row planters mounted on tool bars and lister bars to meet all soil conditions. The 320 planter became Fords most popular planter offering strength and reliability with a large 5x5 steel box beam frame. You could plant 6 30 inch rows with the 320 or 8 20 inch rows. The 320 was built to work with the Ford 5000 or big 105 hp 8600. The Ford 208 field cultivator could be mounted in front of 320 to put the 8600 to work. Ford offered a good planter. It had all the necessary options with chemical and fertilizer tanks and plenty of row sizes. Ford did not have an edge in the planter market. It offered a simple plate planter while IH, John Deere and White were developing seed placement for better stands. Ford left the planter market in the mid-70's. In 2002 New Holland the carrier of the blue torch released a new blue planter called the SP580. It is based on the CaseIH ASM 1200 series.
Allis-Chalmers was a corn planter contender in the 1970's and 80's. As you can see from this 1982 brochure cover (stock# AED700-8102) Allis-Chalmers was ready to meet every type of planting requirement a farmer might have. Allis-Chalmers planter slogan was "The Pioneer in Conservation Planting". AC really put IH and John Deere on edge with its planter line. Allis had the planter for no-till, min-till and conventional tillage. The company offered plate and air type planters. AC's unique planter feature was individually driven planter boxes that were low to the ground so the seed had a short drop for accurate placement. Allis-Chalmers offered planters from 4 to 24 rows in this time period. It also built 6 row planters for Massey-Ferguson. Allis-Chalmers had a strong following on the corn belt and dairy regions. Farmers accepted the basic AC design and liked their versatility. AC first pioneered the No-Til trade mark in 1965 and in the 1980's farmers were beginning to except the concept in mass. Unfortunately due to a harsh AG economy in the 80's the company lacked the funds to develop the planter line for the future. AC was still using the classic butter knife press wheel delivery system. The company continued to sell planters until it sold its AG division to Deutz-Fhar in 1985. The new Deutz-Allis Corporation continued to offer the popular Allis planters. The planters were built at Vermeer factory during this era. Unfortunately Deutz changed the popular AC orange to Spring green and soon sales all but disappeared and the planter line ended in 1990.
Corn planters are one of the most important tools on the farm. If you do not have a good planter you will not have a good crop to harvest. Corn planters are built to plant many crops including many varieties of corn, soy beans, beets, peanuts, sunflowers, milo and cotton. The corn planters on today's market trace their roots back to the age of advancement in the late 60's and early 70's. As planters grow in space age accuracy hopefully this basic brochure article will show you how the companies marketed their planters original engineering concepts and either succeed or looked toward new horizons in other markets. Next April I hope we can look at the literature of the big planter names and how they compare their brand and features to the competition. One last highlight is brochures value on the collectors market? There is no real guide that sets literature prices but most dealers set prices based on previous toy show and e-bay sales. The brochures pictured in this article may range any where from $2 to $10. Brochures like the White Plant/Aire may only bring $2 because White has a small following among collectors. Brochures like the International, John Deere and Allis-Chalmers in the mid-70's to early 80's range may bring $5-$7. A brochure like the Case and Ford planter guides may bring $10 because they are on the rare to harder to find side. Over all implement brochures are often fairly in expensive to collect. I will close with a collectors tip. You may pay $15-$20 for on the John Deere 4430, IH 766, Case 1030, White 4-150 Allis-Chalmers 7080 and Ford 8600 but all these models also appear in implement pieces such as these planter books. If you just want company pictures of tractors the implement brochures maybe a cost effective way to start your literature collection.