In 1987 Tony Mitchell a farmer from Harrow in Western Victoria Australia,
developed and trialled the first Mitchtips, the points with the Gap in the
leading edge. The concept was patented and with assistance from the
Victorian Innovation Centre, was further developed. Draught force trials
were also conducted by the University of South Australia on their test
track. Following these results significant trialling on wear rates was
commenced across Australia with the assistance of 80 progressive
farmers. The Trangie Research Institute then carried out trials on draught
force requirements in the field.As a result of these promising findings it was decided to go into the market place and Mitchtip Agriculture was formed. The product with the gap in the leading edge was launched in 1995 at the Wimmera Machinery Field Days, Horsham, Victoria. The launch coincided with the recognition that affixing Tungsten to the leading edge of tillage points would significantly enhance wear rates. Mitchtip recognised this however went a step further. |
Mitchtip decided that in theory it should be possible to cast solid Tungsten into
the product at the point of actually pouring the molten metal. This technology
was developed with the assistance of Sandvik Hard Materials, Trigg Bros.
Foundry in Adelaide and the Vulcan Foundry in Horsham. The technology
employs state of the art casting and tooling techniques and is a world first in
agriculture. Products are now made in Adelaide and then shipped to
Dandenong in Victoria to the Steele and Lincoln Foundry where they are heat
treated with the ADI process. This is a state of the art process, which results
in an extremley tough cast product. The company now manufactures a range of high quality bolt on + knock on points and adaptors, and markets them in all Australian states. Points are also in North America. The company is constantly working with the farmer base and its suppliers to meet the ever-changing requirements that the market place exposes. The product with the cast in Tungsten is marketed as Acre*Mate. The original gap concept is marketed as Mitchtip. |
