No.15 baler makes full pack for collector
No.15 baler makes full pack for collector
International Harvesters
McCormick-Deering No.15
baler was central to the
development of modern
pickup balers, having made
the transition from
stationary model to pickup-
type baler during the 1940s.
Geoff Ashcroft reports
FOR Ron Knight, the addition of an IH McCormick-Deering No.15 baler to his vintage machinery collection is like having a full deck of playing cards.
"You cant run vintage combines and threshing equipment without a baler," says the vintage machinery enthusiast from Church Farm, Great Casterton near Stamford, Lincs. "And this one in particular is a fundamental development by anyones imagination."
Built in 1940, the baler was one of the first to offer a detachable pickup which enabled it to be used in-field or stationary with a thresher.
Mr Knight has owned the baler for about 10 years and while it was acquired in good working order, it has been kept maintained for working demonstrations ever since. And he suspects this version to be the only working model in the country.
"I use the baler every September at the Little Casterton working weekend," he says. "Whats the point of owning such machinery if you cant see it perform as it was intended? I usually match the baler to an International 31T combine."
Power for the baler – an International F12 or F14 tractor of the same era is merely a means to tow – comes from either an International LB engine with 3hp or 5hp, or a Continental engine offering 14hp. Mr Knights version uses the more powerful Continental engine.
"The larger engine offered much better output," he says. "It was geared to run the baler at between 20 and 30 presses/minute with an adjustable engine speed governor."
According to manufacturers data, the Continental engine offered the potential to handle between 1.5t-2t/hour of material, which compared favourably to the LB powered models 1t-1.5t/hour potential.
"Whichever way you choose to use a No.15 baler, you will still need a team of men to operate it properly," he says. "While it revolutionised the way haymaking progressed in the early 1940s, the introduction of a feed auger, needles and automated knotters was still some way off."
As the baler is towed, its land-wheel driven pickup feeds material up on to a feed table for an operator to fork it manually into a hopper. Once in the hopper, a powered feeding fork pushes the material down into the bale chamber each time the ram pulls back.
Like modern-day conventional balers, the ram compresses material to form the bale in the chamber, but where it differs is in the level of automation – bale length and tying were determined by two operators who sat on either side of the bale chamber while the machine was working.
"At the chosen moment, one of the operators would insert a bale follower block into a block setter, then pull a lever to move the block setter into the path of the feeder fork," he says. "The fork would take the block down into the chamber and the ram would pack it against the back of the bale, to enable each bale to be tied off."
Mr Knight points out that at this point, it becomes crucial that the man on the pitchfork stops feeding the baler. Any material still in the chamber will prevent the block from sitting on the base of the bale chamber, as the ram will smash a block that does not sit flat on the chamber floor.
Each block is of timber construction and has a clear purpose in life. It carries two sets of triangular grooves, through which wire could be passed and then fed manually around the bale before being tied off as the desired bale length was reached.
"I have seen blocks tied to bales when operators fed the wire through the wrong side of the block," he says. "It is important to have a good supply of bale follower blocks at our disposal when we demonstrate the machine." *
BALER DEVELOPMENT HISTORY
International Harvester became involved with hay presses – or balers – in 1907, when it developed a horse driven, stationary machine. Belt-powered models followed in 1909, along with several other versions and in 1913, IH introduced the Type C motor baling press with an all-steel frame and its own Mogul engine. But these were all stationary machines.
In 1937, the company developed the No.15 baling press, which could be belt driven or supplied with its own engine and this was one of the last stationary presses produced.
The basic No.15 pickup baler of 1940 materialised from this machine and its introduction revolutionised haymaking. No longer was it necessary to handle loose hay, as the baler could pickup windrowed material.
Instead of a belt drive, the No.15 was offered with a 14hp Continental or LB 3hp or 5hp engines. It needed one man to feed hay from the pickup into the self-feeding hopper and two others to tie the bale. With the 14hp engine, throughput could reach two tons/hour.
Four years later, the firm developed the 50-T up to 1952, producing 8000 models in eight years. It became one of the first all-in-one automatic balers, with knotters. T-spec models used twine, while W-spec balers used wire. And in 1954, the company introduced its No.45 baler designed to take a pto input from tractors.