hi all,
yes Howard went bust a couple of times. i my opinion due to cheap imports competition in the walk behind machine market sector. (i doubt any of his workers complained about being overpaid). thankfully todays companies making and selling Howard branded products seem to be trying hard to maintain the policy of best quality.
one thing yous non-aussies need to remember is Howard made rotary hoe cultivators which he called Rotavators, under his own patents, not tillers as per von Meyenberg patent, and commonly known as Rototillers. internet searching for howard rotavator will get results.
notable exceptions are the lighter Rotacadet which was same width (70 inches) as the heavy duty Rotavators, but sold as being for fast seedbed preparation not initial ground breakup.
Howard has been known to sell rebadged tillers made by others, probably to fill gaps in their product range or price range.
i just noticed a line of modern vertical axis tillers on Kongskildes website sold as Howards. (HOWARD POWER HARROW HK 10 etc) these are more like some of the pre Howard pre internal combustion era "steam plow" machines from America and England.
for the best history visit bungartz.nl , and i totally recommend Donald A. Jones book "The Rototiller in America" as great education on rotary tillage history. have a look with amazons book preview function. for pictures of "real" not modern Howards, visit howardregister.com and see gallery.
i been researching howards for 6 months now, the more i know, the more i know how little i know... they made so many different machines over the years.
Howard took several years to "invent" his rotary hoe, trying different blade shapes and action until he found out what worked where he lived. the same can be said about the rototillers, several types of tines were made to suit different soil types. as an aussie i like to think everbody should use a Howard, but in reality every farmer needs to use the machine which does the particular job he wants done in the soil types on his farm. some of your best advice should probably come from your neighbours and local machinery dealers.
bye, Rodney.