This Minneapolis baler is a real jewel, and the owner keeps it in operating condition. Taking the baler to the hay or straw was a great advancement in farm technology, and it is amusing to watch machines such as this one at Boonville, Indiana being used as stationary balers to process the straw from threshing.
I did not realize that Minneapolis made a baler like this, powered by a V-4 Wisconsin engine, but it did not surprise me. It was kind of like running into a brother of an old friend.
My parents had a Minneapolis combine of the same vintage as the baler when I was just a little kid. It too was powered by a Wisconsin engine rather than a power take-off shaft from the tractor. I don't know for sure, but I think that these machines hit the market while there were still many tractors in the fields without a power take-off. The big problem Dad had with his machine was that chaff would collect under the metal shrouds around the air-cooled cylinders. The chaff had to be cleaned out on a daily basis when using these machines or the engine would overheat, and possibly catch fire.
That's Dad on the combine, my sister in front of it, and myself on the tractor seat. I ran a forage harvester for a major seed company every summer during my college years. It was a small custom built machine for harvesting alfalfa and clover research plots, and it was powered by a Wisconsin V-4. Every morning my routine included pulling the shrouds off the engine and cleaning out the chaff. It's funny how a lesson I learned before I was five years old stuck with me and came in handy many years later.
This Minneapolis baler is a real jewel, and the owner keeps it in operating condition. Taking the baler to the hay or straw was a great advancement in farm technology, and it is amusing to watch machines such as this one at Boonville, Indiana being used as stationary balers to process the straw from threshing.
I did not realize that Minneapolis made a baler like this, powered by a V-4 Wisconsin engine, but it did not surprise me. It was kind of like running into a brother of an old friend.
My parents had a Minneapolis combine of the same vintage as the baler when I was just a little kid. It too was powered by a Wisconsin engine rather than a power take-off shaft from the tractor. I don't know for sure, but I think that these machines hit the market while there were still many tractors in the fields without a power take-off. The big problem Dad had with his machine was that chaff would collect under the metal shrouds around the air-cooled cylinders. The chaff had to be cleaned out on a daily basis when using these machines or the engine would overheat, and possibly catch fire.
That's Dad on the combine, my sister in front of it, and myself on the tractor seat. I ran a forage harvester for a major seed company every summer during my college years. It was a small custom built machine for harvesting alfalfa and clover research plots, and it was powered by a Wisconsin V-4. Every morning my routine included pulling the shrouds off the engine and cleaning out the chaff. It's funny how a lesson I learned before I was five years old stuck with me and came in handy many years later.
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