In the spring of 1976, Bourgault Industries recruited Richard Coquet, Frank’s nephew, from B.C. Hydro. Rick was a Civil Engineering graduate from the University of Saskatchewan, earning his degree with honors. By the spring of 1977, the design team, comprised of Frank, Paul, Gerry and Rick, had developed the agricultural industry’s most advanced and durable cultivator, the Bourgault Vibra-Master. From 1976 to 1979, nearly 1,000 cultivators were manufactured, keeping the staff, now numbering approximately 100, extremely busy. More cultivator designs evolved during this period to expand the tillage line from a width of 36 feet to include models with widths of 40 and 50 feet.

Air Seeder Carts Added to the Product Line Up
In 1978, Frank acquired the rights to manufacture a unique seed metering system from Jerome Bechard, a well known Saskatchewan inventor. The Bechard Seeding System became the heart of the new Bourgault air seeder. After a two year design and development effort, the Bourgault Model 138 Air Seeder was introduced. The first 7 air seeders were manufactured in the fall of 1980 followed by a production run of 40 more units in the winter and spring of 1981.

The Model 138 was the first air seeder to be towed behind the cultivator, giving the operator an unobstructed view of all of the shanks. The Model 138 Air Seeder could quickly be disconnected, freeing the cultivator for other fieldwork. This concept of a tow-behind unit has served as the model for virtually all of the air seeders currently being produced throughout the world.
In 1982, Bourgault introduced the first five-row, dual-purpose cultivator design which provided residue clearance on a narrow spaced cultivator that even exceeded that of a chisel plow. In the spring of 1984, a quick-change mounted packer system was introduced to the market. This innovative design allowed farmers to interchange harrows and packers on their seeding unit, depending on the farmer’s seeding requirements. A four wheel model air seeder cart, the Model 180, was developed and went into production in the fall of 1984. This 180 bushel unit was designed for the largest farming operations of that time. When the unit was first introduced, many farmers commented that nobody would ever have a need for a unit this large! The Model 135, with the same frame as the Model 180 was later released, replacing the three-wheeled Model 138. A new and innovative air seeder option was introduced, which allowed farmers to load and unload their air seeder tanks without having to drag an auger to the field. A full floating hitch, five-row cultivator was also released for production in 1984. The unique design increased the cultivator’s contour following capabilities and produced more uniform opener penetration. Bourgault’s floating hitch design basically ushered in a new era in cultivator design where cultivators were no longer primarily designed to till the soil and kill weeds, but rather to accurately and uniformly deposit seed.

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