Combine Harvester Tracks

You Reap What You Sow:

Scottish inventor Patrick Bell invented a machine he called The Reaper in 1826, It used a bull-wheel as the prime-mover, powered by animals; this was the birth of the machinery that helps deliver us our daily bread today. There are three processes that constitute combined harvesting: reaping, threshing and cleaning. Bell’s reaper mechanism was the first step. Around 1800 in the United States, almost 90% of people were employed harvesting, working the land or in agriculture-related vocations. After technological and mechanical advances two hundred years later this figure is now 2%. Today, the most productive of these labor-saving devices run on McLaren FieldMaster™ Multi-Season tracks.

The first combine – the machine that mechanically completed all three harvesting processes – is credited to the American, Hiram Moore in 1834. A year later he built a full-scale version that was pulled by teams of mules. By the 1860’s harvesters were reaping widths of several meters. The first commercial combine was developed by Hugh McKay in Australia in 1885, called the Sunshine Harvester. The next big step was the U.S in 1911 – a self-propelled harvester by the Holt Manufacturing Company, California. 1923 was a busy year with the Sunshine Auto Header patented in Australia and Gleaner Manufacturing Company patenting their self-propelled model for the U.S. 1937 – 1940 saw a self-propulsion model lightened and perfected by the Massey-Harris Company in Canada, just in time for the extreme labor shortages that World War Two would bring in the agricultural sectors of many countries. Amongst other mechanical innovations that shape today’s harvester technology, Lyle Yost’s 1947 lifting auger was an important step forward in efficiency. Another innovation was the self-cleaning rotary screen introduced in the mid-1960’s – this prevented chaff causing engines to overheat (which had previously caused engine wear, work delay and many vehicle fires).

Another advance – dating back to the aforementioned Holt Company in 1891 – was a leveling system to allow the cultivation of hillsides that contain extremely fertile soil. This was updated by Hanson Industries in the 1940’s, permitting a harvester to work on gradients of up to an amazing 50%, like area in the Pacific Northwest regions of the U.S. Such operations constantly change a machine’s center of gravity and make overturning is a real possibility. To carry out such work safely and efficiently, you need the grounding that only the toughest steel, the most reliable rubber and the best design can provide.

Reap the benefits of McLaren steel and rubber on your harvester:

The FieldMaster™Multi-Season series rubber tracks for harvesters by McLaren Industries have been upgraded with new forgings that withstand 50% more wear. This new alloy for the components can be repaired using hard-surface welding wire so simplifying maintenance and the occasional repair. Proprietary SpoolRite Belting™ technology is a joint-less belt system which increases the tensile strength of the FieldMaster™ by 30%. The McLaren Extra Wide Forging™ (EWF) technology allows wider steel belting to increase track strength and also significantly improves the footprint, providing ultimate stability when working on gradients, as well as an increased area and so a lower impact footprint that’s beneficial on finer soils.

The high quality rubber that the new FieldMaster™Multi-Season series uses is an improved compound, for the manufacture of both the rolling areas and tread to ensure the tracks will now endure for even more fruitful seasons of continuous productivity. To further maximize track performance and operational life at optimum work capacity, McLaren rubber employs High-Performance Rolling Area Track™ (HRAT) compound. The addition of 5-RT Compound gives the FieldMaster™ series the greatest cut and tear resistance as well as superb UV protection to prevent any cracking.