The CASE IH models 1822 and 1844 cotton pickers are totally new machines and a different approach to harvesting cotton with a spindle type machine. The main objective that established the design criteria and directed the entire development program was: increased productivity of harvesting and handling cotton by a spindle picker. As with any development program, the cotton grower or consumer will have the ultimate judgement of our success or failure to achieve our objective.

THE PURPOSE of this paper is to identify events and rationale which led to the introduction and acceptance of the new 2 and 4 row cotton pickers being offered for sale by CASE IH. The offer an insight of how the design objectives were established and field testing was conducted and how all disciplines within a company were organized to insure a successful new product launch.