binder, machine for cutting grain and binding it into bundles, once widely used to cut small grain such as wheat. The first patent was issued on a self-tie binder in 1850. The horse-drawn twine binder, first marketed in 1880, remained the chief method of harvesting small grain during the early decades of the 20th century. The mechanical twine knotter was patented in 1892 in the United States. Along with the header, which cut off the heads of grain and elevated them into a wagon for later threshing, the binder was standard harvesting equipment in the wheat-producing areas of the United States and Canada until the grain combine was adopted in the 1930s. Binders, using twine, not wire, were still used in the late 20th century to a limited extent on small farms.