HAY BALER? NO, A HAY PRESS

The Sandwich hay press, made in Sandwich, Illinos, the Dain and the John Deere both made in Ottumwa, Iowa, all had variations of eccentric gears to drive the main plunger as did the Rumely hay press owned by my grandfather. This eccentric mounting of gears made the outer teeth appear to move erratically or to orbit as if they were out of balance. The actual effect is a change of plunger speed during operation. The motion of the gears is timed to allow a slow, powerful plunger compression stroke and a fast return stroke with a relative pause at the bottom of the stroke. A pause at the return creates extra time to pitch in more hay before the plunger returns for another compression stroke. The changing speeds reduced power surge requirements and allowed a smaller flywheel. I am told that a stationary six horse power John Deere gas engine was mounted on many of these units. How far will six horses go on a baler today?

To an average Old Threshers Reunion goer, the threshing demonstration is a lot of mystery and a little magic. Few people quite know just what happens. A wagon load of grain bundles is pitched in one end, straw flies out the other end, and somewhere in between the two ends of this four wheel threshing box, the separated grain falls into a wagon. So much for the science of threshing grain. Baling the straw stack, which is produced by grain threshing, is simpler to understand. The gaudy motions of the hay press itself, plus the excessive manual activity around it tell most of the story.

The size and shape of the straw stack determines how many workers will be necessary to move the straw onto the feed platform of the hay press. The feed operator slides straw from the platform into the chamber when it is open. To make a uniform bale, the chamber must be filled full or else all the straw will lay only in the bottom of the press chamber and the finished bale would not be of uniform density. The bottom side, having more straw, would be curved or rainbow shaped around the lighter compacted side, so the operator must feed it to capacity without slugging the machine. After each charge of straw, if pitched into the top of the chamber, the (mechanical) vertical feeder stuffs it into place just before the plunger moves rearward compressing the charge against the straw already in the chute. At this time, the eccentric gear design is valuable. The eye appeal of the big open three foot tall gears orbitting instead of spinning is only incidental to the main purpose as was explained earlier.