Dain Manufacturing Company
In the summer of 1881, Joseph Dain, a furniture dealer in Meadville, Missouri, laid the foundation for the company which was to become the oldest and largest exclusive hay tool manufacturing concern in existence.
Mr. Dain's first invention was an inclined stacker for lifting the hay from a sweep rake and putting it on the stack. His next development was an improved sweep rake. Both ideas were sound, but he met opposition when he tried to interest farmers. They claimed his method would spoil the hay-that hay had to be cocked and go through its initial sweat in the cock before it could safely be stacked. Nevertheless, Joseph Dain proved his confidence in the future of his stacker and sweep rake by selling out his furniture business in order to devote his full time and attention to improved haymaking methods.
The period from 1882, when Mr. Dain received his first patent, to 1890, saw steady growth of his company and increasing acceptance of his tools. A seed and implement wholesale firm in Kansas City, Mo., sold part of his1882 production, and the rest he sold himself, often only by personal guarantee that the machinery would not spoil the hay.
In 1893, when it was located at Carrollton, Missouri, the company faced a severe test, for a serious depression shook the country. But the company survived, and two years later took a significant forward step by giving exclusive right to the John Deere Plow Co. of Kansas City (a Deere & Company branch house) to sell Dain tools in that territory. By the end of 1899, Dain implements also were being sold by John Deere dealers in the Minneapolis and Portland territories, and great manufacturing expansion was necessary.
Consequently, in 1900, the Dain plant was moved to Ottumwa, Iowa, which offered important manufacturing advantages. By the end of 1906, John Deere dealers of six other branch house territories were selling Dain tools. With Dain leadership so firmly established, it was inevitable that the Dain Manufacturing Company should become a part of the John Deere organization in the merger of 1911.
Progress and growth of the Dain Manufacturing Company continued to be steady and constructive, the history making side-deliver rake only one of the important developments it pioneered. Other products included side-delivery and sweep rakes, hay loaders, hay stackers, stationary and automatic windrow pick-up presses, hay choppers, field ensilage harvesters and blowers, and pump jacks.
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