I’ve stood on a hayrack wagon watching an old new holland hayliner tying knots a bazillion gazillion times! How they figured out that would work must’ve taken a few tries. You can look at almost every single machine and they pretty much use the same thing. And that hayliner hardly ever missed
I drive tractors for a living doing mainly cultivation and drilling. But square bailers take the cake for the most complex things in agriculture I reckon. Maybe tied with combines, but it's amazing how someone came up with this idea and made it work
that tech is older than from 70's , bcoz when i was a kid, and now im 36, we had a machine that would tie straw, it did look almost exactly the same, except there was no edge on that 'finger' thing that grabs the knot, maybe it was used up, bcoz that machine at my grandfathers farm was there for at least 15~20 already. Would be interesting to know how it's called, then we could look up in which year the patent was made. I am pretty sure that Industry had used it first, and then a mobile version made it to farming machines. Forgot to add, we did not have the nylon string back then, there was something else, i may be wrong but it did feel like it had some wood component in the fibers , or the fibers were actually made of wood.
Before poly the twine was sisal, similar to Hessian sacks, jute. An American called John Appleby developed the twine knotter, he should be up there with Harry Ferguson, Cyrus McCormick and Henry Ford for the contribution he made to agriculture but he is all but forgotten 😢
I'm pretty sure this is effectively the same knotter invented by Cyrus McCormick for the first binder he invented. No one has come up with a different or better solution.
As a kid I was fascinated by the baling machines on the farm especially the knot tying mechanisms and wire twisting on balers that used wire. The whole machine worked in unison and when it didn't I knew why. I studied the dang things. Along with all the others we operated. I still like farm equipment. Combines of all types are the most fun. Am I weird?
Yes, you are very weird, but as a fellow Cook, I can confirm that it is to be expected. Have fun with your weird live Mr. Cook. Go study some farm equipment.
No Darrell, you're not weird. I too love machinery and all sorts of mechanisms, whether simple or super complex. I absolutely love to take something apart that I've never seen before, to figure out how it works, and or how to fix it.
I guess what this shows is the ingenuity that’s common in mass manufacturing. They’ve taken a relatively simple manufacturing process and placed it on a portable machine.
How did you set up to tie with the chamber empty. I'm going to go through my knotters this winter and I want to get them adjusted long before mowing hay.
What are you using to maintain tension on the twine as you test this? I've been trying a tarp strap holding the twine towards the end of the bale case. My knots get tied but stuck on billhook and do not release cleanly like this video shows.
I went to school for New Holland balers. I could diagnose most knotter issues with a quick glance. The owners ma use gave great examples of what to look for and what to adjust.
Good plastic twine is stronger than sisal, allowing for heavier, more tightly packed bales with less breakage. The downside is it doesn't decompose so dispose of it carefully, lest it wind up in manure spreader beaters, lawn mower blades and other places where it will cause problems.
