Rake is a machine used to gather mowed hay and place it in long piles called windrows. The windrows are then gathered by a hay loader or baler. The first rakes were wooden hand rakes. People still use hand rakes to rake leaves from lawns. Modern rakes are usually pulled by, or mounted on, a tractor. Rakes can also be used to gather straw, green forage, and seed crops.
The dump rake
consists of curved steel teeth mounted on an axle between two wheels. The teeth slide over the ground and rake hay as the machine moves forward. The operator dumps the hay in a windrow by pulling a lever that causes the teeth to lift from the ground.
The side-delivery rake
leaves the hay in a continuous windrow at the side of the vehicle carrying the rake. In one type of side-delivery rake, the teeth are attached to cylinders that roll along at an angle to the direction traveled. The teeth just clear the ground as the cylinder rotates. As the machine moves ahead, the teeth brush the hay to the side, leaving it in a windrow. A dual rake consists of two side-delivery rakes, which deposit two windrows together at one time.
The finger-wheel rake consists of several wheels with spikes on the rim. The wheels are set at an angle to the direction traveled, and move the hay sideways to form a windrow. The drag-type rake has no moving parts. It has curved fingers that move the hay to one side, much as a snowplow moves snow.
