Environmental Engineering Reference
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invention, of the first straw-bale homes in Nebraska; and the history of the
contemporary straw-bale building movement which started in Arizona and
New Mexico in the 1980s, with its own distinct phases.
A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE HAY PRESS OR HAY BALER
The earliest hay balers, then called hay presses, were developed from cotton
press technology as early as the late 1850s. These large, upright, horse-
powered, stationary presses produced bales weighing up to 200 pounds. For
this reason they were not especially successful; the large bales were difficult
to transport. Between 1854 and 1870, P. K. Dederick developed various
models of horse- and hand-powered hay presses from his Columbia Prize-
winning design for a cotton press. In 1872 he patented a smaller horse-
drawn and horse-powered portable press with a horizontal ram rather than
a vertical one (figures 1, 2). It produced bales of dimensions close to those
of contemporary balers: 18-24 inches in width and 36-48 inches in length.
This technology was successful for a number of reasons. Not only could the
finished bales be more easily manipulated (even though they were heavier
than today's bales, because side tension as well as vertical pressure was
FIGURE 1
Dederick's Standard Bale Columbian Cotton Press. (Smithsonian Institution)
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