Developing the Innovative Tiller a Decade Ahead of its Time
The F150 tiller was so revolutionary that people said “The Honda whirlwind filled the fields with red.”
In the mid-1950s, as a result of Japan’s rapid economic growth, people in their 20s and 30s left their farming villages for the cities. Women and the elderly became the main farm workers. Under these circumstances, Honda set about developing a tiller that “even women and the elderly can handle.” Based on the idea of creating something innovative that does not yet exist, and is 10 years ahead of its time, Honda developed its first tiller, the F150, which was launched in 1959.
The F150, designed to be easy and safe for women and the elderly to handle, was distinctly different from conventional tillers in size, operability, and exterior design. At the time, other companies’ products were large, had no covers (if they did, they were simply bent or welded on), the pulleys, belts, and other rotating parts were exposed, and the engine was started by wrapping a rope around the starter and pulling. In contrast, the F150’s smaller size, centralized controls, and centrifugal clutch (also used in the Super Cub) made it easier to operate. The engine could be started simply by operating a lever on the handlebars, no longer requiring experience. Vibration was reduced by installing shock absorbers on the handlebar attachments. In addition, the engine and moving parts were integrated into a single unit, and the mechanical parts were concealed, not only contributing to improved safety but also creating a sleek look. The new F150 decimated the image of conventional tillers and raised the image of agricultural work.
The F150 aimed to realize easy operation and maneuvering through innovations such as central controls placement.
The cooling air intake, a byproduct of the inverted engine placement, made the F150 highly resistant to paddy field operations.
In addition, the engine was placed in an inverted position to achieve a lower center of gravity. As the inverted engine also has a cooling air intake located at the top, it had an added advantage for paddy field work, resulting in a multi-purpose tiller that could operate as a small, lightweight American-made pull behind tiller and as a heavy-duty powered rotary tiller suited for paddy field cultivation in Japan. Another important feature of the F150 was that it could also be used as a towing vehicle in place of a truck, which was very convenient at the time as automobiles were not widely used in Japan.
The F150 recorded explosive sales upon its launch. While the market for tillers at the time was only a few thousand units per year, the F150 sold 20,000 units per year. Its popularity was so great that people said, “the Honda whirlwind filled the fields with red.” The F150 was improved as the F190 and F80 which were sold for thirteen years, becoming revolutionary agricultural machinery that transformed the working environment for farmers who were suffering from labor shortages.
To France, the Home of Tillers
The compact F60 tiller equipped with an OHV engine derived from the Super Cub.
The F190, along with the F60, was exhibited at the Salon International de l´Agriculture in an effort to enter the European market.
In 1961, after the successor to the F150, the F190 was launched, Honda began selling the F60, a smaller pull behind tiller. The F60 was developed to be more robust and easier to use than the F150, Honda’s first multi-purpose tiller. The F60 was also designed to lower costs by reducing the number of parts, making it a “true masterpiece” among Honda’s first generation of tillers that used purpose-designed engines.
The OHV engine borrowed from the Super Cub had a cast iron head and cylinders instead of aluminum, durability was as important as weight reduction for a tiller. Based on experience with developing the F150, torque was prioritized over horsepower, and output of the 81.4 cc engine was set to 4.0 PS at 6,000 rpm (the Super Cub’s had a 50 cc high-revving engine with 4.5 PS at 9,500 rpm).
Honda’s resolve to enter Europe, the home of tillers at the time, was firm and in March 1963, it exhibited the F60 and F190 at the Salon International de l´Agriculture in Paris, where 29 countries participated. The F60 and F190 were highly acclaimed for their maneuverability in tight spaces, chrome-plated rotating handle with high quality finish, headlight for night use, and excellent design, and Honda was inundated with applications to become a distributor. This became the foothold for Honda to enter the French market.
Developing the Market for Home Vegetable Gardens
In the 1970s, farmers’ needs diversified, and demand grew for tillers for differing cultivation areas and types of work. In addition to the all-purpose F190, Honda responded to such diverse needs by introducing the F60, a compact, lightweight, inexpensive, and robust tiller specialized for cultivation work, the F90, a large 9-horsepower tiller equipped with Honda’s first air-cooled diesel engine that greatly increased cultivation capacity, the F25, a compact tiller weighing only 37 kg with a foldable handle, and the F26, a versatile portable tiller with a detachable engine that could be used to power a pump or thresher.
F90
F25
In the late 1970s as Japan was recovering from the oil crisis, there were signs that people were looking for a more relaxed lifestyle, and in urban areas, small vegetable gardens as a hobby using abandoned land were becoming popular. The need for small tillers for home vegetable gardens was already apparent in France and other European markets, and in response to this change in agricultural structure, Honda took on the challenge of a small tiller based on the concept of an “entry-level tiller for amateur and hobby gardeners,” aiming to attract new users, targeting those who were transitioning from shovels and hoes.
In developing this tiller, Honda conducted preliminary research aimed at overseas markets. Honda began with France, a major agricultural country, and expanded the scope of its research to various parts of Europe, and to the United States. France was deeply related to Honda’s tiller business, and there was no shortage of information to be gathered there. Honda visited dealers to understand the market, especially for compact products, and gained valuable hints about vertical engines at the Paris agricultural show. It was in the U.S., however, that Honda was convinced of the market potential for small tillers.
In the eastern states, Honda confirmed that there is a market for small tillers to cultivate flower beds. However, lawnmowers and snowplows were the mainstream of the power products market, and small tillers were only displayed in the corners of dealerships, with little attention paid to them. Honda’s answer for a small tiller that would be accepted by such a market was to develop an entry-level tiller for hobbyists, which was capable enough to be used for serious farming.
Succeeding in Size and Weight Reduction
Using Latest Motorcycle and Automobile
Production Technologies
A small, yet full-featured mini-tiller. To achieve this, simply reducing the size of the basic structure of a conventional tiller was not enough to make it acceptable for use in home vegetable gardens. The tiller had to be designed to give the feel of a household appliance, and a vertical layout with the transmission and rotor tines located under the engine was decided upon. The overall goal was to achieve a cute, compact styling unlike large tillers.
To achieve this, a conventional reduction mechanism that connects the engine and transmission with a belt could not be used. The team turned to planetary gears, but precision was a problem. Increasing precision would inevitably increase costs. The Motorcycle R&D had already faced the same problem of using planetary gears in a derivative model of the Road Pal, but instead of using costly machine tools to cut the gears, they used a press instead. The team also worked on new mechanisms taking advantage of new motorcycle and automobile technologies: With the bevel gears to enable reverse rotation of the axle (tine axle), the team used precision forging technology developed by the Automobile division, and applied a motorcycle brake system to the clutch mechanism.
New deceleration mechanism developed using Honda’s latest motorcycle and automobile technologies.
The Comame F200 realized its goal as a small, yet proficient mini-tiller through Honda’s know-how.
Efforts were also made in the body design. The engine cover was made of resin instead of steel plates. The contrasting colors of red and white were emphasized to make the tiller look as good as a motorcycle or car. The tiller’s attachments were also designed differently. The new tiller was a complete product with attachments that were conventionally optional parts. This mini-tiller had met its requirements of being used by the amateur user, it had a single function (digging up soil), and it solved the problem of managing troublesome attachments.
The completed Comame F200 weighed only 25.5 kg, was easy to carry, and could be stored in the trunk of a car thanks to its foldable handle. As for ease of use, the recoil starter with a light pull load made it easy to start the engine and operate the machine by simply squeezing the hand lever. Despite its cute appearance, the Comame was capable of serious farm work, realized by Honda’s accumulated know-how on tillers.
Sales Soar Beyond All Expectations
There was some concern over how well the Comame would do in the market. When local compatibility tests and market research was conducted in the late stages of development, the team was bombarded with comments from all directions that there were no vegetable gardens in Japan that would use tillers, and no farmers would use such small tillers. In the minds of the majority at the time, tillers were all about agricultural machinery, and the market for home gardeners was not yet a consideration. In March 1980, the Comame F200 mini-tiller went on sale, but domestically only in the form of trial sales. At the time, sales targets for new products were generally several tens of thousands of units, but for the Comame, the initial sales target was a very modest 2,000 units.
Comame’s sales, however, began to rise shortly after its launch to users at general agricultural farms, rather than the intended home market. The machine was perfect for elderly people tending a small garden at the back of the farm, or for the landowner who wanted to rid their property of weeds. By April and May, Comame’s sales were soaring. Then in June, having been astonished by the results, Honda associates conducted a survey of retailers, but the store-owners were just as confused. The cute and appealing nickname was one reason, as was the second year’s TV commercial and marketing campaign using the slogan, “Weekend Gardening.” As a result, sales in the home gardening market, Comame’s initial target, also grew.
Comame pamphlet at the time of launch
Comame was well accepted for its ease of use and ease of transport, making it ideal for use in fields and orchards in mountainous areas where large machines could not go. Above all, the core of its popularity was the fact that it could do more serious work than its appearance suggested, the highest priority in its development. The engine could rotate the tines at high speeds because the center of gravity was directly above the tiller unit, making Comame a very efficient machine, allowing the user to seed a plot of earth immediately after the soil was tilled. These were precisely the benefits for which Comame was created.
The Comame F200, which created new demand for a hobby tiller suitable for home vegetable gardening, became synonymous with small tillers to the extent that tother manufacturers began including “Comame” in their model names in 2001 the third generation model, the Comame F220, was released, and in 2016 the fourth generation arrived. The Comame became a big hit, with cumulative sales exceeding 500,000 units (as of February 2020) in Japan alone.
A Wide Range of Mini-Tillers
Entry-level Mini-Comame F110 mini-tiller
Salad FF300 with rotating tines positioned at the front
The hobby gardening market created by the Comame F200 was subsequently revitalized with other manufacturers following suit. Needs diversified for smaller, lighter and cheaper tillers, and high-quality yet easy to use tillers. In 1993, Honda launched the entry-level Mini-Comame F110, smaller and lighter than the Comame F200, and the concept was carried over to the Putina FG201 released in 2002. In 1998, Honda introduced the Super Punch FG400 / FG500 equipped with powerful 135 cc / 160 cc engines, making cultivation even easier.
In 2003, Honda released the high-grade Salad FF300, with rotating tines located at the front of the tiller to achieve superior straight-line stability. Equipped with Honda’s unique ARS (Active Rotary System), the Salad could maintain consistent tilling at a fixed depth.
The Salad was highly regarded by amateurs and farmers alike as a revolutionary tiller that required no effort or skills to handle.
Originality Unseen in Agriculture Manufacturers
Since the 1970s when tillers became widely available, Japanese agriculture had undergone a major transition. At that time, Japan’s rapid economic growth transformed the country from an agricultural to an industrial nation. The agricultural population declined significantly, and farming shifted from small-scale family farming to large-scale farming with large machinery. Along with this shift, agricultural machinery shifted to large, highly specialized machines.
In 1980, once its development of walk-behind tillers and tractors had completed, Honda decided to take on the challenge of developing compact tractors, which had been a long-held dream. Major agricultural machinery manufacturers, however, already had a series of tractors, and it was considered risky for Honda, which had no experience in the field, to enter an established market with the same type of product. This led Honda to begin development of a cheap and convenient compact tractor that farmers could easily use in place of walk-behind tractors, rather than pursue ordinary tractors.
The main requirements for the compact tractor included not disturbing the soil after tillage, the ability to make small turns, and not trampling on the soil to inhibit the growth of the planted crops. A technical method to halve the weight of conventional tractors while enabling small turns without unnecessary soil compaction was required.
Mighty 11 compact tractor was equipped with unique four-wheel steering.
First, frame weight was cut down to the limit, and an air-cooled OHV gasoline engine with 11 horsepower, the highest output at the time, was mounted on the frame. The hydraulic pump had a built-in transmission to save weight. Full-time four-wheel drive was adopted to ensure rotary performance despite its light weight, and a four-wheel steering system was adopted to enable turning without earth compacting.
The Mighty 11, launched in 1985, was well received as a versatile and agile compact tractor that could be used for everything from conventional tractor work to paddy field tillage and raking (to stir up and level the soil in rice paddies).
After the launch of the Mighty 11, Honda realized that a tractor product lineup was essential for full-scale entry into the agricultural machinery industry and establishment of Honda agricultural machinery dealers. Honda decided to begin development of its long-awaited diesel tractor. In 1989, Honda launched the stylish and compact TX20 diesel tractor.
Biggest Hit Since the Comame
Although Honda entered the tractor market with the goal of becoming an agricultural machinery manufacturer that could compete with the top makers, competition was stiff, and with the bursting of the bubble economy in Japan, Honda focused on its own small products.
Around 1990, Honda considered a lightweight, compact and easy-to-use compact tiller which combined the Comame’s ease of use with a rear tine layout. The product that embodied this idea, the Lucky FU650, was launched in 1993. With its low center of gravity and simple operation, the Lucky was easy to handle, and even the elderly, women, and beginners could use it with ease and confidence. This was made possible by the world’s first rotary system with coaxial rotating tines. The rotary shafts rotate on the same axis, with the inside rotating forward and the outside rotating in reverse, offsetting the tillage reaction force on the shaft, enabling stable tillage at all times, even with changes in soil hardness and tillage depth. This mechanism was named the Active Rotary System (ARS).
The Lucky FU650 became Honda’s first hit agricultural product in more than a decade since the Comame, and had a strong impact on the competition. Initially sold only in Japan, the Lucky was later exported to Europe and North America, becoming a global product.
Bringing the Joy of Tilling Closer
With the increase in the population of vegetable and home gardeners, enjoying soil to enrich their daily lives, the need for easy fuel handling, ease of storage and transporting the tiller, and consideration for the surrounding environment grew in addition to tilling performance. In response, Honda considered familiar power products to meet these new needs, and focused on butane gas for stoves, widely used in homes, as the fuel. Honda developed and launched in 2009 the Pianta FV200 mini-tiller, powered by home-use butane gas canisters which were easier to purchase, use, and store than gasoline.
The Pianta FV200 allows simple refueling by inserting the butane canister into a special, easily removable canister case. The engine was developed based on the small FG201 Putina tiller’s gasoline engine. The Pianta was also equipped with unique safety mechanisms such as a pressure detection valve that stops the engine if the pressure in the piping rises abnormally, and a shut-off valve that automatically cuts fuel supply when the engine is stopped.
In consideration of outdoor temperatures during periods when tillers are often used for seeding, the Pianta was equipped with new features such as a gaseous fuel vaporizer using exhaust gas heat. In addition, the Pianta came standard with a carrying stand with built-in wheels for easy transportation, which with the carry box could be easily loaded into the trunk of a car or placed indoors. The Pianta realized easy fueling, easy transportation, and easy storage, prerequisites for hobby use.
The Pianta FV200 succeeded in stimulating new demand, with 90 percent of purchases coming from first-time tiller customers,
The Salad FF500, launched in 2022, was equipped with a self-starter and auto-choke system for ease of use, allowing the engine to be started easily with a single button push. Honda’s tillers continue to evolve to bring the “Joy of tilling” to as many people as possible, thanks to its flexible ideas and technologies that only Honda, a company that does not specialize in agricultural machinery, could offer.
The Pianta FV200, fueled by home-use butane gas canisters, succeeded in stimulating new demand, with 90% of buyers being first time tiller buyers.
