The Louden Machinery Company History, Page 1

William Louden's specialized farm-equipment contributions to dairy farming have been compared to John Deere's and Cyrus McCormick's well-known contributions to grain farmers.

On September 24, 1867 William Louden received his first patent for a device which helped farmers stack hay efficiently. The Louden Machinery Company continued to develop and manufacture a variety of hay tools that allowed a farmer to easily and efficiently move and store hay.

Besides easing the backbreaking labor of 19th century farms, these new inventions meant that barns could be bigger and taller, enabling farms to be larger and more efficient.

Wm. Louden

Barn door hanger

Among many innovations, a flexible barn door hanger was introduced in 1895, the forerunner of practically every barn door hanger still used today.

Louden developed more and more laborsaving devices, such as individual easy-to-clean metal cattle-watering drinking cups, which had the advantage of preventing the spread of disease between cows.

In 1907 a free barn planning service was begun to help farmers erect more efficient barns (designed to use Louden barn equipment, of course).

By 1939 over 25,000 original Louden barn plans had been distributed all around the world. Tens of thousands of additional barns were equipped or retrofitted with Louden products.

Catalogue back cover c. 1935

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