O/T Small square baler history

J. Schwiebert · May 31, 2020

The wife and I watched a John Wayne rerun> The movie was to be from 1909. It was a western and in several scenes there were nice small square straw bales. I can remember Case hand tie balers and the 116 John Deere balers around here after the war but when was the "modern" small square baler first on the market?

Mark-Ia · May 31, 2020

From Google; 1936
In 1936 a baler with a self-tie system was invented. The first attempt was made by a Davenport, Iowa, man named Innes who built a baler that automatically tied bales with binder twine using Appleby-type knotters from a John Deere grain binder.

Mark-Ia · May 31, 2020

The 1st Hay Press was made in the late 1800's. They were hand tied with blocks and wire.

Traditional Farmer · May 31, 2020

I see in old westerns set in the 1870's and 1880's that have baled hay in them.

jal-SD · May 31, 2020

Our tractor club has a hay press that originally used a "horsepower" to operate it. We have the metal gears of the original horsepower, but the wood rotted away years before we acquired it & we've not put that together. (We do not have any other horse equipment.) It was converted to use a stationary engine & we press hay with it to demonstrate how to do it.

fastfarmall · May 31, 2020

I seen some old IH movies, or a documentry, and this was a automatic tie baler, but instead of the cross auger to feed the bale chamber, two men stood there with pitchforks to fork the hay over to the plunger, but when that took place i have no idea, but it looked like hard, dusty work ! But i never seen bales of straw on Gunsmoke, but wouldn't wanted to, i would of known that was fake !

TomA in CA · May 31, 2020

Early hay balers used horse power and made a 5 wire bale. I am certain they were tied by hand. One brand was a Petaluma Press. I can't recall the other make I knew. They used a man packing the hay in the chamber with his feet hence the term "Chinaman"

quefan · May 31, 2020

Net search found this from Farm Collector Magazine
Hay Press

37 chief · May 31, 2020

I can remember Dad pitching hay into the plunger area of the stationary baler(some called it a chainman). I still have the fork with the times cut half off to the keep the plunger from grabbing it. The bales were three wire hand tied. One person poking the wire through, the other person tying it on the other side. Real dusty for both. I poked wires one time, until I poked the wire on the wrong side of the divider, and tied it to the bale. Every thing shut down while the divider was removed from the bale. No one was happy about that. don't think I poked wires after that.This was in the early 50's. Stan

Mike(NEOhio) · May 31, 2020

Keep in mind guys this is Hollywood. Historical accuracy is not their strong suit.

Tom OConnor · May 31, 2020

Dad had a 50T International that was the first one around our area in central Michigan and it had a nose wheel on it and was driven with a cub engine. Dad died in 1951 and he had it for several years before so I would say about 1946 was when he bought it. Before that everything was tied up because of the war. I remember that it was nasty to back up and always pulled the pin on it and hitched it to the front of the M to back it in the barn at night. I used that baler till it caught on fire baling straw one summer and replaced it with a model 55T. This would have been in the late 1950's and by then I had a model 300 tractor with live power which I thought was the greatest thing since sliced bread.

Mike(NEOhio) · May 31, 2020

My father in law had one too, but I think it was a 52T, 1948 model. He converted it to drawbar pull.

TomA in CA · May 31, 2020

I remembered the name of the other hay press, it was the NewWay. I remember seeing a bale of straw baled by one of those old hay presses. It was about 4' x 4' x 2'. They said a bale would weigh about 250 lbs, you didn't pick one up, you rolled them.

Olliejunkie · Jun 1, 2020

I have seen a few westerns with baled hay. Never was sure if it was era correct. I figured it wasnt but maybe it was.

O/T Small square baler history

J. Schwiebert

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Mark-Ia

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Mark-Ia

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Traditional Farmer

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jal-SD

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fastfarmall

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TomA in CA

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quefan

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37 chief

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Mike(NEOhio)

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Tom OConnor

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Mike(NEOhio)

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TomA in CA

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Olliejunkie

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