A list of early automatic balers 1938-1955

Evan350

Member
A few years ago I posted a list of the earliest automatic balers (where I'm defining it as both automatic pickup and automatic tying). Since then when I bump into information for another baler I've been adding it to my list. Here is what I have so far, stopping at 1955. If you see errors or omissions, please comment!

Some of these models appear to be quite rare, due to some combination of low production numbers, unreliable design, or as in the case of the Ferguson Tractor-Mate, it was recalled.

I haven't compiled the manufactured quantities but I'd guess the top four selling models in this list were the NH S77, NH S66, IH 45 and JD 14T.


1938-1940 Arthur Young baler
1940-1943 New Holland 73
1944-1945 New Holland 75
1944-1952 IH McCormick 50-T, 50-W
1945-1953 Minneapolis-Moline Bale-O-Matic
1945?-? Massey Harris 1 (701 in UK, 801 in France)
1946-1948 New Holland 76
1946-1956 John Deere 116w
1949-1953 New Holland 77
1949-1952 Oliver 8 (and model 16?)
1950-? John Deere 114w
1952-1954 New Holland 66
1952? New Idea W-5
1953 Case NT
1953? New Idea T-6, W-6
1953-1959 IH McCormick 55
1953-1957 New Holland S77
1953-1958 Oliver 100
1954-1958 Case 140
1954 Ferguson Tractor-Mate side-mount)
1954-1957 IH McCormick 45
1954-1961 John Deere 14T
1954-1956 Oliver 50
1955-? Massey Ferguson 3 (703 in UK, 803 in France)
1955-1957 New Holland S66
1955-1957 New Holland 87
 
We had a new Turner twine tie with 2 cyl Wisconsin in the middle fifties.
I can't remember if it was after 1955 tho.
 
The Turner Twinematic. I haven't found any dates for it yet.
Turner-s-repair-parts-ctlg-price-list-for-hay-baler-provided_image.jpg
 

GUESS we all have a "quest" but yours seems particularly WEIRD. Stuff like that can be regional within the USA, or are you gonna include any aberration of a baler that may have been made in the entire world?

And WHY?
 
Not all of the tractor-mate were recalled. Friend has one and attimes takes it to shows. Has it mounted a a Ferguson 40 trysicle tractor.
 
LOTS of Case balers out here nothing wrong with their design,, the NT came out before your dates also,, fun fact was Case had the hand-tie baler market sewn up big time before auto ties came out,, but then then Pres of Case knew what Farmers needed more than they did and would not put it on till NH had taken the market away with auto tie balers,, I still use Case balers today for the small amount of squares I do these days,, 300-1000 a year. Case 130-230 balers were made for the small family farm and were not meant to be super capacity balers but ones that the small farmer could buy to do his own and maybe the neighbors crops, I knew dealers around me who sold many train car loads of 200 series balers every year
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a281431.jpg
 
I have a Turner sawmill made by the same company.
Statesville is about 2 1/2 hours from here. I think it was built in the mid to late 50's.
Richard in NW SC
 
CNT - it looks like that 140 baler discharges the hay cut side up - does it make the bale in that position, or turn it?
The father of a girl I knew in high school had what I believe was a late 60's or early 70's vintage Case baler with a thrower. The thrower operation was different than any I had seen. If I remember right, it used a large spring connected to a cable. The spring would wind up and when tripped would pull the cable, which would spin the thrower chain.
Pete
 
Can't argue with it if it's in writing. LOL

I read a few articles on the Ann Arbor. I must be remembering something about the first model of baler that they produced with a pickup.
 
My understanding is the Ann Arbor had the first automatic pickup, but not automatic tying. Was there an Ann Arbor that tied too?
 
I remember my Grandmother talking about that they owned an Ann Arbor baler. Not sure if it had knotters or not? She talked about ridding on a baler poking wires but not sure if it was the Ann Arbor or something else. Tom
 
I did a search of them and found this vid indeed it sounds like they were the first by a number of years,, odd they did not carry the market sales Case did with a early unit release as stated in this vid if its correct that is and I am betting it is, Case was also making stationary balers very early thanks for the correction, it is also interesting to me these were sold to Oliver Corp
cnt
ann arbor baler history link
 
If you can find a reference that the Case NT was earlier let me know. It seems to me it was a gap-filler between the NCM (still manual tie, still produced into the early 1950's) and the 140.
 
Yes the 130 and 140 are side knotter machines the thrower you speak of was powered like you say by the plunger and was used on the 200,220,230 and 330 balers
cnt
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all data I have says the NCM was the first with factory equipped auto tie, they did make a retro kit for the hand tie pickup balers and that may be what you saw,, they were all field installed
cnt
 
Certainly when a product is recalled not all come back. Does anyone know if the Tractor-Mate recall was only in the United States, or did it extend world-wide? I found one mention of the reason for the recall being the knotter wasn't properly licensed from IH. (yes it was IH's knotter Ferguson used, not the Appleby based one everyone else used)
 
(quoted from post at 08:33:12 10/01/18) all data I have says the NCM was the first with factory equipped auto tie, they did make a retro kit for the hand tie pickup balers and that may be what you saw,, they were all field installed
cnt

OK, I see mentions of the knotter model NCM-T in 1951.
 
(quoted from post at 00:54:14 10/01/18)
GUESS we all have a "quest" but yours seems particularly WEIRD. Stuff like that can be regional within the USA, or are you gonna include any aberration of a baler that may have been made in the entire world?

And WHY?

There are people out there that collect beer can and match books. Lets not judge something as "weird" in an age of people getting se x changes and cutting off their eyelids and noses in an attempt to be "unique". It's ag history!
 
Regarding production years for IHC 45 I found this in the archives that seems to confirm my suspicions that IHC 45 was produced earlier than what you show.
posted by oldfarmall : I was surfing the web tonight and came across the IHC Mccormick collection on the Wisconsin Historical Society website. Has a page of machinery lists with production dates, number produced, and which plant made them.

According to this document, the IH Mccormick 45 baler was built from 1946-1958 at the Memphis works and 1954-1957 at another plant with designation letters HAM. At the Memphis works from 1946-1957 they produced 102,488 units and the other plant from 1954-1957, 9,704 units. That is one hell of alot of Mccormick 45 balers!

The 50T was made from 1944-1952 (8144 units), and the 55T (13,337 units), and 55W (15,842 units) was made from 1953-1959. The 50W or 50AW was listed as 1944-1947 only, with no production numbers for this baler.
 
I found at least 3 ads for Turner Twinematic from early fifties. I took at screen shot of one of the ads but it would not post in modern view , did not like my file extension. I see the is a Twinematic 52 with 2 cyl Wisconsin engine mounted higher behind the flywheels from the same era.
 

Admittedly this is a US centric list, because the Edwin Nolt patent applied for 1938, issued 1941, is considered the birth of the modern square baler in the US. Europe actually had a head-start, with the likes of the CLAAS Pick Up baler of 1934.
 
Ive got a 140 W Case with a duel on the flywheel side, and has a Case 4 cyl air cooled engine set sideways. Engine runs great. Cant get it to tie.
 
I don't see a Minneapolis Moline Bale-O-Matic listed. Supposedly they were made from 1945 until 1953 and were all wire tie equipped with their own engine. Minneapolis Moline also made the model 760 balor which was originally built for on the Uni Tractor then mounted on a cart to be a pull type PTO driven unit. They were a little different in that the hay was cut on top instead of on the side but they still had the knotters mounted above the bales. This caused problems with tying in long hay or straw if the knife didn't cut all of it. Moline put out a kit that raised the knotters up about 1-1/2 inches and helped with tying. Being cut on top where the strings were made the bales rough on your hands without gloves.
 
How about Roanoke Hay Balers? I remember a neighbor having one sitting in a shed that was falling down. He offered to sell the baler to my dad, but dad just sort of laughed. From the comments in the post below, it must have been a pretty good baler.
Roanoke Baler
 
I have a NH magazine that details the history of the company going up to the late 90s. In it, it states Edwin Nolt started working on a self tying baler after he had bought an Innes baler that was a self tying baler but didn't work worth a hoot. Check out the link.
Innes self tying baler
 

There don't seem to be any pictures of a Roanoke baler on the 'net. Any more information on these?
 
(quoted from post at 18:31:27 10/01/18) I have a NH magazine that details the history of the company going up to the late 90s. In it, it states Edwin Nolt started working on a self tying baler after he had bought an Innes baler that was a self tying baler but didn't work worth a hoot. Check out the link.
Innes self tying baler

Interesting. The Innes baler uses an auger to compress the hay. I can see why it didn't work well. How many of these were sold?
 
(quoted from post at 21:54:43 10/01/18)
There don't seem to be any pictures of a Roanoke baler on the 'net. Any more information on these?

Apparently the Cockshutt 350 was built by Harrington Mfg, makers of the Roanoke baler.

53834679_934.jpg
 
(quoted from post at 18:57:33 09/30/18) A few years ago I posted a list of the earliest automatic balers (where I'm defining it as both automatic pickup and automatic tying). Since then when I bump into information for another baler I've been adding it to my list. Here is what I have so far, stopping at 1955. If you see errors or omissions, please comment!

Some of these models appear to be quite rare, due to some combination of low production numbers, unreliable design, or as in the case of the Ferguson Tractor-Mate, it was recalled.

I haven't compiled the manufactured quantities but I'd guess the top four selling models in this list were the NH S77, NH S66, IH 45 and JD 14T.


1938-1940 Arthur Young baler
1940-1943 New Holland 73
1944-1945 New Holland 75
1944-1952 IH McCormick 50-T, 50-W
1945-1953 Minneapolis-Moline Bale-O-Matic
1945?-? Massey Harris 1 (701 in UK, 801 in France)
1946-1948 New Holland 76
1946-1956 John Deere 116w
1949-1953 New Holland 77
1949-1952 Oliver 8 (and model 16?)
1950-? John Deere 114w
1952-1954 New Holland 66
1952? New Idea W-5
1953 Case NT
1953? New Idea T-6, W-6
1953-1959 IH McCormick 55
1953-1957 New Holland S77
1953-1958 Oliver 100
1954-1958 Case 140
1954 Ferguson Tractor-Mate side-mount)
1954-1957 IH McCormick 45
1954-1961 John Deere 14T
1954-1956 Oliver 50
1955-? Massey Ferguson 3 (703 in UK, 803 in France)
1955-1957 New Holland S66
1955-1957 New Holland 87
my neighbor was using a Case model 133 baler with the big packer that went up and down. Always knew when they were baling from the sound it made.
 
The knotter on that baler was made by a company called Pope Automatic Attachment Corp. Have a manual here showing how to attach the set-up to
the NCM baler. Looks like the knotters used on the 140 baler so I assume Case bought the patent and made the equipment for their balers later
on.
 
sorry hard to tell whats wrong if I am not there to see it work,, might check around with the papers sellers as there is a service manual for them,,
 
Seems to me a Nebraska farmer named Ummo Luebben invented the first baler in 1910. And sold the patent to Allis Chalmers, and they called it the Toto baler. It was an automatic baler that picked up the hay, and put a string around it, and ejected the bale in the field. A round baler, not square, no knotter, but a bale just the same.
 
I learned to tie a square knot riding the twine box on a 45 IH baler. About 11 or 12 years old. I had to pull both strings to make sure they tied . If one missed I had to tie it before the slack ran out. Daddy taught me to tie a square knot and no granny knot. I breathed thru a bandana tied around my face. Never picked up any breathing problem from it. I don't miss that old baler. Tommy
 
Any idea why it was called the Roanoke Baler? I live near Roanoke, VA, but I doubt that was where it got its name. Where was Harrington Mfg. located?
 
I wonder if any 45 IH baler would tie. I drove the SC Case tractor, Grandpa sat on the twine box and tied the twine and Dad stacked on the trailer. In 58 Dad bought a brand new Case 133 baler...that thing never missed. Neighbors would come and watch it bale. Great baler that later got traded for a 220 Case with less capacity. Dad was sorry he traded and finally went to New Holland.
 
Why would it be only the tractor mounted baler when the pull type looks the same except for the way it is mounted or an axle frame under it?
 
I enjoyed reading your list. I know binders employed knotters first but what I didn’t know was when the knotter was first adapted to a baler. My first memories of a baler go to a Case manual wire tie from the early 50’s.
 
So what was the Ferguson pull behind baler called equivalent to the Tractor Mate? Was that the model 3?
 

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