The self-taught blacksmith whose inventions changed how America plants and harvests, from a shop in Williamsburg.
Jon Kinzenbaw opened a one-man welding and repair shop in Williamsburg, Iowa, in 1965. A relentless inventor, he built the first commercially successful grain cart and pioneered folding, front-fold, and twin-line planters that let farmers cover far more ground.
His inventions, protected by dozens of patents, grew Kinze Manufacturing into a major farm-equipment company that remains family-owned.
Kinze's planters and grain carts became fixtures across the Corn Belt, and Jon Kinzenbaw's story, a farm kid with a welder who built a global company, is an Iowa classic. He was inducted into industry halls of fame for his inventions.
The company remains one of the largest employers in Iowa County.
Kinze is based in Williamsburg, Iowa. A leading family-owned maker of planters and grain carts, still based in Williamsburg
1965.
Jon Kinzenbaw: founder and inventor (1965); pioneer of the grain cart and folding planter
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