Sunday, July 13, 2025

Deciphering a hay tedder - Meccano double puzzle

This one image with a parts list is the instructions for a Hooi Keer Machine, or a hay tedder. Here shown in a 1924 Dutch edition of the Meccano Book 1 of instructions. This model first appeared in 1916 and was replaced by an improved, updated model in 1928.

In style it's a typical early Meccano model; very spidery and 'schematic'. And of course a very period subject, modern horse-drawn farm machinery. Not really knowing offhand in 2025 what a real 1916 hay tedder looked like makes such a small model even more of a puzzle.


It turns out that the right-most (in picture) pulleys are not wheels, but merely end-pieces to hold the axle in. It's a two-wheel contraption (as most tedders of the period were), where one wheel drives a rotary 'rake'-wheel on the right-most rod via a driving band (red). When moving the model the rotary 'rake' really does turn faster than the wheel, actually gives a good illustration of the working principle of a (rotary) hay tedder.

The two bars could suggest a push-cart, but the seat on top I think makes it clear this was meant as a model of a horse-drawn machine.

After 100+ years these small relaxing puzzles have gained an extra dimension; not only how-to-construct, but also 'what-is-it?' :-)

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