APPENDIX 189 



a good sheaf can be made of it. In order to ac- 

 complish this, each slat of the reel must be par- 

 allel to the platform; that is both ends must be 

 parallel to the platform. Also one end must not 

 be ahead of the other. 



We now have everything ready to start. The 

 horses are hitched on and away we go to the field. 

 Well, the sheaves are considered too small; we 

 must make them larger. I think I have heard 

 about a dozen different ways to accomplish this, 

 and there are but three. The simplest way is to 

 tighten up the screw on the trip. If this is not 

 enough, lower the trip; and still another way is 

 to slide the sheaf holder in towards the binder. 

 This gives the grain less leverage on the trip, 

 and thus makes a larger bundle. These methods 

 apply to one of our own best known makes of 

 binders. 



Now that we have the sheaf adjusted to the 

 required size, everything ought to go lovely. 

 But troubles never come singly. The binder is 

 missing sheaves. What now? Get a monkey 

 wrench and tighten or loosen something on the 

 knotter mechanism? No, certainly not; not 

 until we find what the trouble is. First go to the 

 twine box; ascertain if the twine is running freely. 

 If all is well here, follow up the twine and see if 

 the binder is threaded rightly. "Next try the ten- 

 sion. If the tension is too tight, this will make 

 the knotter miss, as it is liable to pull the twine 

 out of the twine holder or disk. If not tight 

 enough, the machine will also miss. If the twine 

 is running right, the tension right, the binder 



