Axial-Flow 1440

The story

International Harvester introduced the Axial-Flow 1440 and 1460 in North America in 1977 after more than twenty years of development, followed by the bigger 1480 in 1978 and the small 1420 in 1980. The design threw out the conventional drum, concave and straw walkers and did all threshing and separating with one long rotor turning inside a sectional concave.

It was the first rotary combine to be mass produced, and IH patents kept rivals at a distance for years. Europe saw the 1440 and 1460 at the Paris SIMA show in 1979, where the design won a gold medal for technical innovation, after two seasons of testing in wetter, heavier crops.

The single rotor layout still underpins Case IH combines today.