History Metz
CLAAS patent - knotter
At the beginning of the company history, efforts at CLAAS were focused on installing knotters on hay balers of third party manufactures. The operational reliability of these knotters dropped with the continually deteriorating twine quality in the 1st World War. August Claas succeeded in improving the existing knotters in such a way that they could cope even with this twine.
Hay balers
As early as 1896 in Clarholz, Franz Claas built the first hay baler in Germany. These hay balers were situated behind the stationary threshing machines and bundled the straw, which fell out of the straw walkers into manageable bunches. Starting in 1920, hay balers were industrially manufactured in Harsewinkel. The highest annual number of units was reached in 1929 with 2,960 hay balers produced.
The knotter
The CLAAS company receives the first patent on a knotter apparatus, which works in an operationally reliable manner. Additional patents followed. Many hay balers of third party manufactures were equipped with CLAAS knotters.
Mounted straw press
Starting in 1931, the demand for higher bale densities and exactly formed bales led to the design of mounted straw presses. First, like the hay balers, they were situated behind the threshing units. Later they were attached to the threshing machines. There were attachable hay balers in a lighter version later also in the combine harvester. Production was stopped due to a lack of demand toward the end of the 1960's.
Pick-up balers
With the construction of the first pick-up and loading baler "Pick-Up", CLAAS in 1934 introduced a new method for the harvesting of feed crops. A tine drum picked up the hay in the swath and a conveyor canvas fed it to the bale chamber. The baler had two knotters. The bales went directly onto the wagon via a loading chute.
