Knigga's 1853 Haypress Demonstration!
Saturday October 15, 2011 @ 1:00
Directions to the event:
Take Route 50 to Route 262 in Dillsboro
Turn left onto 262 (flashing yellow light) and continue straight (going down a winding hill and crossing a bridge into a small town called Milton)
Stay on 262 until you come upon Downey Ridge Rd
Travel for approximately 6 or 7 minutes on Downey Ridge until you come upon South Fork Rd. Turn Rt. onto South Fork and go down a steep hill. Turn left on to Kirkpatrick Rd. at base of the hill and go to the end of gravel lane to Knigga Property & Haypress Barn. Call Casey at 513-256-0394 for further directions or questions.
Click the PDF below to load our flyer!
Inspiration Behind The Haypress Barn
In 2003 I had been looking for a log house and ran across a fellow who knew of a hay press barn. Even though it didn’t spark much interest at the time, I decided to go ahead and take a look at it. All I could think was “Wow!” I took some pictures and I was definitely intrigued. When I showed the pictures to other people, it seemed as if they had never seen such a thing. This proved to me that not only was the structure unique in character, but was rare, which only made me even more interested.The property was located on Pleasant Ridge in Ohio Co. about 10 minutes from our farm. A guy named Jack Wetterick from Ohio owned the 80 acre property where the barn was located. He owned the property for an investment and decided he wanted to sell the dilapidated barn because the barn sat on a ridge where potential development could eventually occur. Soon we negotiated a deal which included clean up of the site, and the barn was mine!
It took about 2 weeks to take down, including the stone foundation. I stored the barn for nearly 2 years before I had a reconstruction plan and exact location determined. Groundbreaking started in the fall of 2006 and was 90% finished by the spring of 2007.
Working with Mother Nature through the winter months did not make the process any easier. Efficiency is a key component of mine in the business world, so not only is having the right tools and equipment a necessity, but also a good plan of attack. The barn raising, from the footers to the gutters ended up taking approximately 30 days over a 3 month period of time. We all know that taking something apart is the easy part, however putting it back together is a whole different story. Thorough documentation was taken by tagging every piece which consisted of over 200 tags. Along with the tags, taking pictures, videotaping and blueprinting was a must. Notes were made during documentation to determine what pieces needed to be replaced.
I am still continuing to add and tweak small details with the barn every time I am at the farm. Now I am working on a layout for a whole village that I plan to build some day. I am always looking and collecting props to add to the buildings to create as surreal of an environment as possible.
How the Haypress Works
A hay press is a three story stationary hay baling mechanism called the Hewitt, Beater and Mormon Press. It was invented by Samuel Hewitt of Switzerland County in 1843 to be an improvement of other presses at the time. To operate the press, it took two or three attendants and an animal such as a mule. It took approximately 10 – 15 minutes to make each 300 lb bale. The bales were made to ship on the Ohio River to growing urban areas where local hay was unavailable.At one time records show there were between 200 and 300 presses throughout Ohio and Switzerland Counties. To the best of my knowledge there are now only 6 remaining.
On the ground level, a mule is attached to the sweep at the bottom of the press. The mule is then led counter clockwise one revolution, which allows for a pulley to lift a 1000 lb wooden weight up to the 3rd floor level.
On the 2nd story, the attendants fork loose hay into the baling compartment where a counter weighted hinged door opens on the north side of the press. Once the compartment is filled with hay, the door is closed by counter weights. The attendant then pulls the trip lever, which allows the weight to drop back down to the baling compartment on the second floor and compresses the hay.
The process is repeated 6-7 times until a full bale is made. The jackscrew (which you can see from the ground floor) rotates, which pushes the baling compartment floor downwards when the mule is being led counter clockwise. Then the mule is led clockwise 6 times which allows the jackscrew to rotate and bring the bottom of the bale level with the 2nd floor again. One more clockwise rotation then finishes the compression of the bale.
On the second floor the doors to the baling compartment are opened and the attendant laces each bale with twine. The mule is then led counter clockwise again to raise the weight off of the bale. The attendant then uses hand held hay hooks to pull the bale out of the compartment. The door then closes and the process is started over to make bale number 2!