By DEBORAH BEHRENDS Illinois Correspondent
STERLING, Colo. — With five locations serving customers worldwide, Nichols Tillage Tools, Inc. will display products and meet customers at the National Farm Machinery Show Feb. 11-15, in Louisville, Ky. “Since 1957, Nichols Tillage Tools, Inc. has focused on the most important aspect of any business: quality,” states the company website. “Our products have proven time and time again to be the longest-lasting, best-performing tillage tools on the market. “We continue to be the worldwide innovator of new concepts in the industry. In fact, our ideas have been so successful that they have been adopted as standard features in cultivation tools.” As for the company’s display at the Louisville show, Rob Nichols said he leaves it to the individual branches to make their own arrangements. “They make decisions on which show they feel provide the most benefit,” he said. “We look at the audience the show caters to and participate in those that are geared to the products we sell.” Those products include a wide variety of tillage tools interchangeable with the Nichols Quick Change system, a universal mounting system that can be used on almost any machine. By simply mounting a bracket and keeper spring, one can work with more than 80 different sweeps and spikes without involving a single additional nut or bolt. Using only a hammer, 60 sweeps can be changed out in just over 30 minutes. First, attach the Nichols Quick Change bracket to the shank with two plow bolts, then snap the retainer spring in place. Next, slide the Quick Change sweep onto the mounted bracket. Once the sweep is in place, gently tap the nose of the piece with a hammer while bracing against the top of the mounted bracket using another hammer in order to stop the spring action of the shank. Continue tapping until the retainer spring’s round button pops into place within the hole on the sweep’s shank. To remove the sweep, simply tap the face of the sweep’s shank to release the tension in the retainer spring. Just a few of the tools offered include disc blades, coulter blades, vertical tillage tools, chisels, furrowers, fertilizer knives, chain harrows, bean knives, aerator tines and more. Although the company was incorporated in 1957, Nichols said it actually was established in the 1930s by his grandfather. The main office, and the location of the lion’s share of the manufacturing facilities, are in Sterling, Colo. Wholesale and warehouse facilities are located in Bloomington, Ill.; Lubbock, Texas; Memphis, Tenn.; and Grand Forks and Donnybrook, N.D. “From those locations, we pretty well cover the country,” Nichols pointed out. The company also has independent distribution arrangements and distribution in Europe, the Baltics, Scandinavia and Australia. “I’m not sure what my grandfather would have foreseen, but I think he would be proud to know that the company he started has grown and flourished,” Nichols added. For more information on Nicholas Tillage Tools, visit with representatives at the National Farm Machinery Show or find the company online at www. nicholstillagetools.com |