AC Roto Baler photo

[Windy in Kansas]

By accident I came across a really good photo of an Allis Chalmers Roto Baler at: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...Rotobaler2.jpg

Thought some of you might enjoy seeing what an early day round baler looked like. They produced small round bales which shed water easily while exposed and still laying in the field.

[clovis]

Windy-

Lots of people still use Allis Roto-balers.

They are a popular topic on http://allischalmers.com

Just this week, someone posted pics of their hay harvest....all neatly stacked on wagons using a roto-baler. I'll try to find a link.

There are tons of guys that can give you whatever advice that is needed of how to adjust or repair a Roto-baler. There are guys that sell parts, belts and the like for those machines.

The 'white top' models are pretty desirable with the Allis crowd.

[clovis]

Lets try this as a link:

http://www.allischalmers.com/forum/f...&mnext=1148155

Shows a picture of an Allis white top...and the bales it can produce.

[HermitJohn]

Dad had one for a while. Those bales were royal pain to manhandle, had to use hooks and then keeping them stacked on conventional hayrack pulled over rough ground not easiest thing. I also vaguely remember the belts being rather pricey.

Think back at the time they sold them with idea you could leave round bales out in weather longer with less spoilage. May work with modern big round bales, not so much with the little ones.

[michiganfarmer]

Originally Posted by clovis

Lets try this as a link:

http://www.allischalmers.com/forum/f...&mnext=1148155

Shows a picture of an Allis white top...and the bales it can produce.

I have a D-19 too

[DaleK]

A few years back we bought about 1200 bales of straw that had been baled with one in the early 80s. Got it REAL cheap because the roof had just come off the barn in a storm and they needed the straw out to finish the demo. Plus... well...

The knife must not have been working when they baled it because the twine just ran continuously from one bale to the next. 100s of bales, all strung together. Don't know how they ever got them stacked in the barn like that, or why they wouldn't use a jacknife at some point, but they didn't.

[Windy in Kansas]

Thanks for the additional input everyone. Allis Chalmers never did get much of a foothold in western KS like other tractor companies, at least not until the 1970s or so. AC combines seemed the main focus of AC dealers.

There was only one Roto baler in the area I grew up in. Don't recall anyone running an AC tractor until the 1970s. Plenty of Gleaners though almost as many as MH and ahead of Deeres.

[clovis]

Originally Posted by michiganfarmer

I have a D-19 too

You lucky dog!!!! I would love to have a D-series Allis. Those are probably my faves out of the whole AC line.

Do you have an Allis crawler too?

If so, you are double dog lucky!!!!

The site in the link is a very good site for asking questions, buying parts, finding vendors, or just sharing something about Allis. I post there from time to time.

[jirwin]

We have a neighbor that uses one.

[haypoint]

DaleK wrote:" A few years back we bought about 1200 bales of straw that had been baled with one in the early 80s. Got it REAL cheap because the roof had just come off the barn in a storm and they needed the straw out to finish the demo. Plus... well...

The knife must not have been working when they baled it because the twine just ran continuously from one bale to the next. 100s of bales, all strung together. Don't know how they ever got them stacked in the barn like that, or why they wouldn't use a jacknife at some point, but they didn't."

For that to happen, the baler would have to be dragging all the bales as it went through the field. It would look like sausage links all hooked together. Since none of the twine is actually knotted, seems they would unwrap instead of being pulled along.

Since it is straw, it is possible they used a threshing machine up by the barn and baled the straw with the baler in a stationary position. But the bales would still have to go up the elevator linked together. Then, the bales would have to be stacked in the same order they came out of the baler. You are right, it doesn't make sense.

[haypoint]

The AC Roto baler makes tight bales that do shed water much better than the modern big round bales.

The disadvantage is they are difficult to handle and hard to stack in the barn without pushing the barn apart.

The advantages are that they save a lot more leaf than a square baler does. Simply cut the binder twine (lighter than baler twine) and unroll the bale like a chunk of carpet. All the leaf is securely locked inside.

You can make hay with less help. One person can bale alone. Then there is a hay bale elevator that hooked to your wagon. It picks up the bales, lifting them to chest heigth on the wagon. A small child can drive the tractor to pick up bales, while a single person can ride the wagon, stacking bales as they are lifted to him.

Around here we all use hay hooks anyway, so they aren't much harder to handle than a square bale.

[DaleK]

Haypoint, the twine kept feeding between bales as they went over the field. So you'd have a bale, then 20-30' of twine before you got to the next bale. Don't know how they ever got finished baling without realizing how much twine they were wasting.

[Windy in Kansas]

Some people operating tractors never look back. I've seen wheat fields with skips in them for several rounds before the plugged shoe was finally discovered and cleared.
Generally it was only with the older drills that plugged.

My uncle found his one-way wheel at the end of a round. Said he thought the one-way had begun pulling hard but had a stiff neck from tending unruly horses so never bothered to look around to see about it.

Me, I can't drive a straight furrow at all because I do look behind me so much.

Had a good friend roll almost an entire ball of twine up in a round bale the first day he used his baler. Not sure what he ever did with the bale.