J&M Manufacturing wins international design award

J&M Manufacturing, in Mercer County, is proud to announce the Para-Linkage coulter design on their NitroGro applicators has won the 2023 Gold manus award. The design beat out 480 entries across 36 countries. The Para-Linkage design is the first U.S. design to win a manus award. The biannual award recognizes outstanding examples of plastic bearings being used in real-world applications. J&M accepted the award on Wednesday, April 19, 2023, at the Hannover Messe, one of the world’s largest industrial trade fairs, in Hannover, Germany.

The Para-Linkage coulter is designed to keep the applicator knives consistently in the ground while going over rocks and hard soil. As the Para-Linkage coulter rises, the knives rise at the same rate as the disc to ensure the liquid fertilizer is consistently being applied at the desired depth. On traditional coulters, as the disc moves over an obstacle the knives swing up at an arc. This causes the knife depth and the fertilizer application to be inconsistent. 

J&M’s Para-Linkage coulters feature greaseless poly-bushings at all pivot locations to reduce maintenance and fatigue. Similar coulters with traditional bushings require daily greasing of 55 to 222 grease zerks per applicator. Applying grease to a 25-coulter applicator with 2 to 6 zerks per row can add up to 52 minutes of downtime every day. Since the application window for nitrogen fertilizer is so tight, any slowdown reduces yields and profits. 

Poly-bushings are also more durable than traditional bushings, saving farmers time and money. Other coulters use grease on two of the five pivots. One of the remaining pivots has a bronze bushing, while the last two are just metal on metal. This creates more wear and slop in the coulter which leads to a premature and costly repair.

“It does not take long to convince customers of the savings. Poly and greaseless bearings are becoming more common in the agricultural field. Farmers understand how much savings are involved in reduced time and maintenance. We have had no problems selling these. This is the second full year of offering them, and over 95% of the coulters we sold are the Para-Linkage coulter,” said Austin Franz, engineer of the Para-Linkage coulter.

The manus competition is a joint initiative by polymer researcher and manufacturer igus, the technical publication Industrieanzeiger, the University of Applied Science Cologne in Germany, U.S. publishing company WTWH Media and the Aachener Werkzeugbau Akademie in Germany. J&M’s Para-Linkage coulters are optional on all 5000 and 6000 Series NitroGro Nitrogen Applicators. For more information, visit jm-inc.com /nitrogen-applicators.html.

J&M Manufacturing Co., Inc. has been a leading manufacturer of agricultural equipment for over 60 years. Located in the agricultural community of Fort Recovery, Ohio, J&M has consistently provided innovative, dependable, and high-quality products to farmers throughout the United States and Canada, as well as overseas. For more information on J&M, visit jm-inc.com.