Talk:Joseph Oppenheim

Joseph Oppenheim - some corrections

Joseph Oppenheim article as posted December 25, 2010:

I do not know who does the editing or who is responsible for the changes, but here are a few suggestions for the Joseph Oppenheim article.

1. Immediately after the footnotes and prior to "List of References" the words "Joseph Oppenheim, Educator and Inventory" appear. That word should be "Inventor".

2. Footnote 16 states "For other photographs of Oppenheim's 'widespread' new idea see:...." Those words originally appeared after the now deleted picture of Oppenheim's original spreader. Since the deleted picture no longer exists, the reference to "other photographs" is inappropriate. At least the word "other" should be deleted from that footnote. The rest of the language should be retained because it does refer the reader to pictures of the original spreader that more clearly show the beaters Oppenheim added than does the picture of the current generic modern manure spreader now in the article. Better still would be to restore the original picture of Oppenheim's invention.

3. I think that since the focus of the article is the invention of the manure spreader, it might be best to leave out the reference to "Educator" and go back to the first sentence I proposed, i.e.

"Joseph Oppenheim, an honoree in the Ohio Agricultural Hall of Fame in Columbus, Ohio,was the inventor of the modern manure spreader that greatly added to the efficiency of farming in the early 20th Century."

Or in the alternative,

"Joseph Oppenheim, inventor of the modern manure spreader that greatly added to the efficiency of farming in the early 20th Century, is  an honoree in the Ohio Agricultural Hall of Fame in Columbus, Ohio."

4.Re footnote 7: Although I have not seen the Kramer patent, information provided to me by the 85 year old grandson of Joseph Oppenheim (T.V. Oppenheim of San Jose, CA) about the Kramer patent could add some information to the sentence supported by footnote 7 so that it would read: "The unloader that Kramer built used a drag chain at the bottom of the wagon to pull the load of manure to the rear where it was shredded by a pair of beaters and deposited directly behind the machine, but with very little spreading to the sides."

Thank you for your attention. Jjdilen (talk) 19:21, 3 January 2011 (UTC)

Here are the reasons that on February 7, 2011 I inserted new material into the Joseph Oppenheim article that I originally posted in mid-December 2010. All new material is supported by books and articles from the NY Times.

Since posting article on Joseph Oppenheim in December 2010 I have found new material published contemporaneously with the lives of the persons involved, namely, a 1917 book with articles on Oppenheim, his son, the company, and Henry Synck and I have incorporated those materials. I also found a 1939 pamphlet by one of the inventors of the earlier “manure unloader” questioning who owned the patent to it, and new government material from 1918 and from the New York Times in 1937 regarding ownership as well as material in the Times in 1945 regarding the sale of the company.

I think these references and additions add authority to the article.

Because the last section describes first the invention, then second, the growth of the company, and then third, the ownership and sale, for a logical sequence I moved the sentences describing the invention forward, and moved to later in the article the sentences describing company ownership separating them from the material describing the growth of the company

Since the article progresses from Oppenheim to the invention and then to the description of the rapid success of the company, its ownership, and its sale, I thought that, when the article returned to Oppenheim, it would be logical to have a new paragraph.

I added the new sources to the list of references and deleted from that list references to photos I submitted in December 2010 that were not included in the original as it appeared in Wikipedia.

I hope these changes are acceptable. Jjdilen (talk) 22:43, 7 February 2011 (UTC)

Modifications of May 10, 2011

Revision of first paragraph and new footnote to indicate that all twentieth century sources (from 1899 through 1999)show that only Oppenheim invented the widespread manure spreader. Although Nevin O. Winter's 1917 book, History of Northwest Ohio, states that Henry Synck owned one of the most imposing houses in Coldwater, Ohio,(and indeed, Synck's momument is one of the largest in the Coldwater Cemetery - so he must have been an important citizen) neither Winter in his book, nor at any time in the twentieth century does any article about the company in the local paper (Mercer County Chronicle, sometimes Coldwater Chronicle) or the county-wide paper (Celina Daily Standard)or any of the many company publications ever mention Synck as a co-inventor or as helping invent the spreader as does the undocumented article on Henry Synck in Wikipedia posted in 2006. One would think that if Synck co-invented, or helped invent the spreader, it might have been mentioned at least once in a hundred years. The history should be accurate, and I have not edited the Synck article because I do not want to disturb the Synck family members who apparently are promulgating a family legend.

The antepenultimate paragraph is revised to indicate that it was the family who owned the company and that it was the family who sold the company to AVCO. Henry Synck did not sell the company as stated in the Wikipedia article on Synck. Synck just happened to be president at the time.

Also changed two headings and added one.

I apologise for not initially stating a reason for these edits. I pushed the save page button too soon. Jjdilen (talk) 18:15, 10 May 2011 (UTC)

reasons for corrections to Part 3

The edits I made on February 8, 2011 to the Joseph Oppenheim article (I originally posted that article on December 18, 2010 and updated with new material on February 8, 2011) are spelling (the name Wilhelmina was misspelled) and punctuation, mostly in footnotes.

But I want to call attention to the fact that I did make a small change regarding Henry Synck in the text in the antepenultimate paragraph. And this is why. My original posting said that Synck “was instrumental in the production of the first spreader.” That statement was based on the lightly documented article on Synck already in Wikepedia stating that Synck “helped his father-in-law, Joseph Oppenheim, develop the spreader,” that Oppenheim “with the help of Synck invented the spreader” and that Synck “worked with him (Oppenheim) to perfect the invention” None of those statements in the Synck article is supported by authority. The US patent office shows that Oppenheim was awarded the patent for his invention in February 1900 and two sources (Winter in 1917 and Birt in 1974) say Oppenheim hired Synck in mid-October 1899. So given the time to file and process the patent it is unlikely Synck would have helped “invent” the spreader. Sources I have examined indicate that Synck was one of Oppenheim’s first hires, but say nothing about his role in the development (and much less the invention) of the spreader. The long article on “Henry Synck” on page 874 in volume 2 of Winter’s 1917 History of Northwest Ohio says that he was hired by Oppenheim and “gradually” learned the business. (see footnote 23). The 1974 comprehensive article by Birt, “New Idea: Its start and the the First 75 Years” (footnote 21) merely indicates that Synck was one of Oppenheim’s first hires. Winter’s 1917 article on “New Idea Spreader Company”( p. 1672 of volume 3 of History of Northwest Ohio) states only that after Oppenheim’s death in 1901, B.C. Oppenheim and Henry Synck managed the company (p.1672). Nothing specific about Synck having a role in invention or development of the spreader. Nor is there any such information in Winter’s article on “Joseph Oppenheim” (vol 3, p. 1670), nor in any of the newspapers or magazines cited in my original posting. One would think that if Synck was a co-inventor or developer, some book, magazine or newspaper recounting the history of New Idea would have mentioned it. Also, the citation by the Ohio Agricultural Hall of Fame credits only Oppenheim with the invention. So, relying on those verifiable sources. I changed the words, “who was instrumental in the production of the first spreader” to “who was one of Oppenheim’s first employees.”

The US Patent office does show that Synck holds patents issued in the mid-`1920s on New Idea manure spreaders. But those were issued 25 years after Oppenheim died, hardly indicating that Synck invented or worked with Oppenheim on the development of the spreader. Jjdilen (talk) 23:04, 8 February 2011 (UTC)

Modifications of May 10, 2011 First paragraph changed to be less choppy and footnoted added to note that no twentieth century sources credit anyone other than Oppenheim with the invention of the widespread. Antepenultimate paragraph changed to show that it was the Oppenheim family that sold the company to AVCO, not Henry Synck (as stated in the undocumented Wikipedia article on Synck). Synck just happened to be president at the time. Some small material added to footnotes and headings changed to be more accurate. For some reason, no doubt my computer ineptness, I was not able to give a reason for the edits. I think I pushed the "save" button before noting these reasons. Jjdilen (talk) 18:25, 10 May 2011 (UTC)