Thursday, July 22, 2010

Machinery Evolution

GSC, out in California sent this photo to us a couple years ago. It is a stationary baler his grandfather rigged up to bale on the move. At the time I wished I could see the other side to figure out how the machine worked. I got lucky while flipping through some old Engineer and Engines magazines recently, and the mystery is now solved.

Here are the components used to invent the modern baler, so many years ago. 1: Stationary Hay Baler;

2: Hay loader and hay rack

Hitch them together, add a power source and a flunky to feed the baler, and you are in business! This photo was in the September-October 1967 issue of Engineers and Engines Magazine.
It's just a short step forward for an engineer to dream up a ready made baler after seeing the combinations being built on farms.




1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I think you're on the mark! It would explain the diagonal bars or rods behind the head of the fellow standing on the baler in the top picture (corresponding to the top portion of the type of pickup device seen in the third picture). I would have expected to see a pickup mechanism mounted to the fore of the baler rather than at the rear, so I'm surprised! -gsc1039