Snow Manufacturing Bale Loader

[tssharratt]

I recently bought a farm in SW Wisconsin that included a Snow Manufacturing Company Bale Loader. I found a bit of history about the company and think that it went out of the ag business in the late 1950s. The bale loader appears to be complete and the previous owner thought it still worked, although I have not tested it.

Is there a group of collectors of Snow Manufacturing equipment? If so, how do I contact them?

I would like to sell this piece of equipment - certainly it is worth preserving rather than heading for the junk yard. How would I advertise it, and what might it be worth? I'm not looking for a lot of money, just a good home for it.

THANKS!

Tom

 

[DeltaSteve]

Is it the one that picks up the the bale and 'throws' it?A pic would help. Old bale loaders like that aren't worth much these days.They bring almost nothing at auctions.Might be worth more to you
as yard art.

 

[paul]

Oh my gosh, I’ve never seen anything like that, but found a YouTube video from what you said!

Wow!

That might be a great tax deduction as a donation to an antique tractor club. I’d sure hate to see it cut up, but man I’d hate to want to spies something like that.

Paul
Bale chucking machine

 

[fastfarmall]

Is that the kind, that use's a flat steel chain with a tang on it to grab the bale, and lift it off the ground,i often wandered who made that, if thats what u got,i don't want to buy it, just curious about it,Like Steve said, it would be good yard art!

 

[DeltaSteve]

That's the one I'm talking about. A neighbor has one in the weeds Never moved since I've known him. Kind of cool to acctually see one work.

 

[Bruce from Can.]

What drives the machine to make it lift the bale?

 

[Willow Lane]

It's fairly simple, when the bale hits the the arm, it engages a drum on the backside of the big wheel and a cable starts winding around the drum. The cable first pulls the front arm down to grab the bale and then continues pulling to lift the main arm up and slightly over center. At that point a stop clamped to the cable disengages the drum, a spring pulls the front arm away and momentum carries the bale onto the truck or trailer. The weight and spacing of the bales matters, to light and the drum won't engage, to heavy and the wheel will just slide, to close together and the arm will not have time to fully cycle and grab the next bale, And don't try to stop as the arm hits the top or you will drop the bale between the loader and the truck or trailer. Also, they need to add a bale on the carrier over the outer wheel to keep it on the ground. Kind of a Rube Goldberg contraption but they did work, I piled a lot of hay loaded with one many years ago.

 

[Case Nutty 1660]

I have one of them and sales lit I will see if I can find and post they worked pretty darn good really

 

[Bruce from Can.]

Thanks for the explanation, I now understand how it worked

 

[fordhead1983]

I'd be interested in your bale loader. I'm
in northern Illinois and have a small scale
baling operation that your bale loader would
make more efficient.

 

[tssharratt]

(quoted from post at 05:01:56 10/16/20) I'd be interested in your bale loader. I'm
in northern Illinois and have a small scale
baling operation that your bale loader would
make more efficient.

Sorry I haven't looked at the website since I joined and made my post.

I can send pictures in an email to anyone interested in seeing or acquiring this piece of equipment. I cannot verify that it works, only that the previous owner said that he "thought it worked." The descriptions of the loader in earlier posts are accurate to the best of my understanding about how it works. Send me an email address or phone number and I'll send photos/answer questions. My email is: [email protected], 608 634 2118.

I don't want to cut it up for scrap, so if you have a good home we can come to terms.

I live 25 miles SE of LaCrosse WI.

 

[Gumby]

Used to help my uncle and grandfather pick up small round bakes with this type of loader about 50 years ago. Need to be careful about where the
bales are landing...hopefully not on you!