HARMONIC COMPLEX

Crusty, cold-bath-and-calisthenics-loving James Oliver perfected the "Oliver Chilled Plow" in 1868. Although the first metal plow had been made in 1837, Oliver's chilled cast-iron model was such an improvement that he has been regarded ever since as the father of the modern plow. Last week Oliver Farm Equipment Co. of South Bend, Ind. proudly announced the "Raydex" base and point, "greatest advance in plow-making" since 1868--the first entirely machine-made plow base.

Base of the conventional plowshare is an harmonic complex of two curves blending into one another. Because no machine could fit the contour exactly, these bases always had to be hand-polished. The "general-purpose bottom" of Oliver's new Raydex has a simple cylindrical curve which can be polished by machine, making production some 46 times faster and correspondingly cheaper. The conventional plowshare costs $4.25, will stand three resharpenings (about 75-c- apiece). Four Raydex points cost only $3.40, can be thrown away like razor blades and still save the farmer money as well as the trouble of finding a smithy in these horseless days.

Having been stuck with a $16,600,000 debt as the result of overexpansion in 1930, Oliver Farm Equipment Co. has moved cautiously with Raydex, testing it quietly for three years. But word of its merit spread so fast among farmers that Oliver had orders for 7,000 even before it formally announced Raydex to its dealers last week. It expects to sell 150,000 by autumn.

Oliver Farm Equipment Co. (plows, tractors, seeders, threshers) was formed in 1929 by the merger of four small farm-implement concerns. That year it had assets of $46,000,000, sales of $27,400,000. In 1932 sales collapsed to $4,400,000 and the deficit amounted to $4,164,974.61. But by thriftily plowing back its earnings, Oliver finally emerged from debt last October after a 1937 profit of $2,182,763.36 (it fell to $60,749.66 in 1938).

The Oliver family, whose fortune once totted up to $40,000,000, is still the biggest individual owner of the company, but management has passed to more adept hands. President now is red-cheeked, husky Cal Sivright, who helped Oliver beat Depression by developing the first streamlined tractor. Well liked--except for a habit of asking to see employes' work sheets--he drives points home by banging on the arm of his chair. So characteristic is the gesture that the firm has taken pictures of it for posterity.

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