The New Holland 1880 is one of the big hay and harvest machines sold under the Sperry New Holland name. The film below shows an example in work, towed or followed by a Ford 5000 and a County tractor. The sources used for this page describe the company and its machines in general, not this model.
New Holland 1880 at a glance
| Maker | Sperry New Holland, Pennsylvania, United States |
|---|---|
| Period | the Sperry New Holland years, 1947–1986 |
| Class | large hay and harvest machine |
| Seen in the film | working alongside a Ford 5000 and a County tractor |
| Company founded | 1895, in New Holland, Pennsylvania |
| Company from 1947 | Sperry New Holland, after the Sperry Rand takeover |
| Hay milestone | the haybine mower conditioner, 1947 |
| Combine milestone | the first twin-rotor combine, 1975 |
| Owner from 1986 | Ford New Holland |
| Technical data | not given in the sources used here |
The sources describe the company and its hay programme, not the 1880; the model’s technical data is left out because it is not in them.
History of the New Holland 1880
A company built on hay
The New Holland Machine Company started in 1895 in a horse barn in its home town in Pennsylvania, building equipment for local farmers, and was incorporated in 1903. In 1947 the Sperry Rand corporation took it over and the firm became Sperry New Holland. That same year it introduced the haybine mower conditioner, which cut and crimped hay in a single pass and remained in production until 2023 — the single product that did most to make the name famous among livestock farmers.
The machine and its period
The 1880 belongs to the wide Sperry New Holland range that grew from that hay business and from the purchase, in 1964, of a major interest in the Belgian combine maker Claeys, followed in 1975 by the first twin-rotor combine. Large trailed and self-propelled harvest machines were part of this programme. The sources used here do not set out the 1880’s engine, working width or production years, and this page does not replace that gap with guesses; what they do record is the company it came from.
The machine in the film
The film below shows a 1880 at work with a Ford 5000 and a County tractor nearby. Tractors of that age being used with it fits the Sperry New Holland years, when the company’s hay machines were pulled and fed by tractors of every make — New Holland did not build tractors at all until Ford bought it in 1986.
Design and features
- Hay and harvest work: a large machine of the Sperry New Holland agricultural range.
- Company of the haybine: built by the firm that introduced the mower conditioner in 1947.
- Pre-tractor era: made when New Holland sold implements and harvesters but no tractors of its own.
- Working survivor: the example in the film is still in use on a farm.
New Holland 1880 versions
- New Holland 1880: the machine described here.
- Other Sperry New Holland harvest machines: the rest of the range sold alongside it.
- Later New Holland harvesters: machines sold after Ford bought the company in 1986 and after the Fiat merger.
Another hay machine of the same period is on the page for the New Holland 1049 bale wagon; combines of the brand are on the New Holland 66 page. More machines are in the New Holland section.
Video: Sperry New Holland 1880 met Ford 5000 en County
Video by nagd2010 on YouTube.
Sources
- New Holland Agriculture, English Wikipedia: founding, Sperry years, haybine, Claeys, twin-rotor combine
- New Holland, Dutch Wikipedia: Sperry takeover, later ownership
