Baler - Wire Balers

Wire Balers

Bales prior to 1937 were manually wire-tied with two baling wires. Even earlier, the baler was a stationary implement, driven with a tractor or stationary engine using a belt on a belt pulley, with the hay being brought to the baler and fed in by hand. Later, balers were made mobile, with a 'pickup' to gather up the hay and feed it into the chamber. These often used air cooled gasoline engines mounted on the baler for power. The biggest change to this type of baler since 1940 is being powered by the tractor through its power take-off (PTO), instead of by a built-in internal combustion engine.

In present day production, small square balers can be ordered with twine knotters or wire tie knotters.

Not all stationary wire tying balers used 2 wires. It was not uncommon for the larger bale size (usually 17" x 22") machines to use 'boards' that had three slots for wires and hence tied three wires per bale. Most North American manufacturers produced these machines as either regular models or as size options. 'Small square' three wire tying pick-up balers were available from the early 1930s, principally from J. I. Case & Co. and Ann Arbor. These machines were hand tying and hand threading machines. Although New Holland credits itself with inventing the 'successful small square twine tying baler', it produced such machines for the first time in 1940 after acquiring Ed Nolte and his baler. This baler baled successfully from 1937 onwards. Certainly the quality of the New Holland machines, popularised twine tying hay balers. In Europe, in as early as 1939, both Claas of Germany and Rousseau SA of France had automatic twine tying pick-up balers. Most of these produced low density bales though. The first successful pick-up balers were made by the Ann Arbor Company in 1929. Ann Arbor were acquired by the Oliver Farm Equipment Company in 1943. Despite their head start on the rest of the field, no Ann Arbor balers carried automatic knotters or twisters. Oliver introduced these in 1949.