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Horse-Powered
Hay Press to Be Demonstrated by
Pasto Agricultural Museum at Ag Progress Days
A 1905 stationary hay press powered by a mule
will be demonstrated at Ag Progress Days. Each day at 12:00
p.m. this rare piece from Penn State's Pasto Agricultural
Museum will show how loose hay was pressed (baled) into rectangular
blocks weighing 100 to 120 pounds.
Manufactured by the Panama Hay Press Company,
Kansas City, Missouri, this machine is 26 feet long. One or
two horses or mules hitched to a 12 foot pipe sweep arm walk
in a circle to provide power to drive a 16 foot long wooden
plunger which compresses the hay in a metal chamber. As the
compressed hay emerges long wires are placed around the bale
by hand to hold it together.
The bale chamber has the significant title
of "O.K." stenciled on each side. Early history
from the manufacturers say that means "all right"
which it undoubtedly was. This might have been the beginning
of today's use of this "seal of approval".
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Horse Powered Hay Press Demonstration
at Ag Progress Days.
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Hay press hopper and emerging compressed
hay bales
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Mule hitched to sweep arm
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Hay press and mule providing power to
produce hay bales
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Donated to the museum in 1998 by Dr. Robert
L. Cowan, professor emeritus of animal nutrition, the baler
was completely restored in early 1999. It was demonstrated
at the 2000 Ag Progress Days.
Dr. Cowan, now eighty-two years old, and his
sons, who have operated the baler many times, will conduct
the demonstration.
Darwin Braund can be contacted at 814-863-1383
or dgb12@psu.edu.
The Pasto Agricultural Museum collection has
more than 850 antique implements used for farming and rural
life. Visitors can tour the museum by appointment. Groups
of 10 or more can schedule tours from April 15 through Oct.
15 by calling 814-863-1383, sending an e-mail to pastoagmuseum@psu.edu,
or registering through http://www.pasto.cas.psu.edu.
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