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Standen Six Row Harvesters |
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The first six row harvesters appeared in the UK in the early 1970's Franquet 6-Row sugar beet harvesterThe first 6-row harvesters appeared in the UK in the early 1970's. They were primarily of French origin, being either of trailed two and three stage concept, or self-propelled single stage machines. The reason that the French were the first to produce such large machines was that their harvesting operation was mostly undertaken by contractors, who wanted the biggest tackle available so that they could clear as much crop as possible in the working day.
Whilst the harvesters did indeed achieve formidable daily performances, their drawback was that the quality of the work they produced left a lot to be desired by British standards. In France the independent sugar factories bought the grower's crop in the field, so the grower was little concerned if roots were broken, or tops were present in the load delivered to the factory, or if the load contained soil.
In the UK, where growers were, (and still are), paid by the quality of what was delivered, the high deductions levied by the British Sugar Corporation on such loads meant that the uptake on these high output six row machines was very limited.
As time passed however they gradually became more accepted, in particular the self-propelled versions. This was for the double reason that their ability to produce an acceptable sample gradually improved, and equally helpful, that some of the quality requirements from the processing factories were relaxed.
Standen entered the market in the mid-'80's with a six row trailed harvester imported from France, manufactured by the Franquet company at Guignicourt, near Rheims.
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Called the Super Six, this excellent machine was trailed, but Standen developed their Turbotopper as six row model so that it could mount on the front of the tractor, thereby achieving one-pass harvesting. Although without the output of a self-propelled harvester, in reasonable conditions it could clear over 20 acres a day. It required a tractor with at least 100 HP available at the PTO, which was a slight drawback, in that such tractors in those days were often allocated to autumn field cultivations, but nonetheless sales of several a year were achieved.
During this period an uncertain start had been made at developing Standen's own six row harvester. In fact back in 1978 a local engineering development company had been tasked with developing a six row self propelled harvester, and whilst this did eventually see the light of day it manifold shortcomings were such that it was rightly consigned to the scrap-heap. In fact it was sold to a Norfolk farmer for £1000, because he wanted the powerful Ford engine with which it was fitted. As memory serves the author the best feature of this ungainly machine was its ability to achieve thirty miles per hour on the road!
Anyway, undeterred by this expensive fiasco, a more serious plan was developed, this being a trailed six row harvester with what was felt would be significant advantages in terms of cleaning over the by now well-established French competition. This machine when finally ready for the field as a prototype was however equally out of step with what was required, and was dropped.
By now most companies would have given up and simply located an overseas supplier, but that was not an option as far as Standen was concerned, and a more radical approach was adopted.
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The first machine down the line was sold to a Norfolk farming group, and in the following year three more machines were manufactured, these being powered by 340HP Rolls-Royce engines. |
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Standen Challenger |
It was decided to build a test lifting rig which would break down the development process into two distinct phases. The digging unit featured the well-proven lifter-wheel fitted to all Standen harvesters, and centreing-roll to bring the crop to the middle of the machine, from where it would be ingested by the harvester. In fact the prototype rig simply left the beet on the ground, where it was picked up by a loading unit. A Turbo-topper was fitted to the front of the tractor which powered the unit.
The testing was successful, and a decision was taken to proceed with phase two, that of developing the main self-propelled element.
The specification had already been laid out after meetings with large beet growers, and this included a 2-tonne holding tank, four-wheel drive with a hydrostatic transmission, and for good manoeuvering a four-wheel steer system. Additional cleaning was also incorporated, in that the Sceptre rollers, modified to run across the harvester, were fitted. The name given to this harvester was Challenger.
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Challengers lined up for customers |
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The driver's view from the cab was unique, in that he could see all the lifting components at a glance. |
After two more years the model was discontinued, although the company noted that as time passed the specifications of those competitors machines that came after, by and large emulated the principle of the Challenger. We were right, but too early. Some of those early machines are however still at work 15 years later.
To complete the story it should be noted that in 1996 Standen became responsible through their daughter company Standen-Reflex for the importation of the Holmer 6-row beet harvester, which is manufactured in Germany. Holmer are by far and away the largest and most successful beet harvester manufacturer in the world.
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