DEVELOPMENT OF CHINESE-CABBAGE HARVESTER

Chinese cabbage harvester was developed and tested to save time and la bor for harvesting. The machine is a once-over harvester for one row. To meet the functional requirements of the machine and design specific machine components, the physical properties of the plant were analyze d. After obtaining the information on the physical properties of Chine se cabbage, the pulling mechanism and cutting mechanism were developed . The pulling mechanism consists of a set of biaxial screw augers and a set of feed belts. Chinese cabbages were pulled off from the ground and transported by the pulling mechanism. When the heads are transport ed by the pulling mechanism, the wrapper leaves are removed by the cut ting mechanism that consists of a rotating disk-cutter. A one-row walk ing prototype of harvester with the pulling and cutting mechanisms was constructed and tested in the field. The machine worked continuously for pulling Chinese cabbages, cutting the wrapper leaves and leaving t he heads in the field. After evaluation of the performance of the walk ing-type harvester, a tractor-mounted-type harvester was constructed a nd improved by the addition of an elevator, a bulk bin and a height co ntroller system. This machine was operated at a harvest rate of 2 a/h. Two men are required for the harvesting operation. Heads were not los t and were shipped to the market by hand retrimming. Total harvesting work rate including retrimming by hand was about 30 man-h/10 a.