DEVELOPMENT OF STRIPPER HARVESTERS - A REVIEW

Stripping is a very old harvesting concept that continues to challenge designers through the centuries. The most promising stripping system at present is the stripper header developed at Silsoe Research Institu te, UK and commercially produced by Shelbourne Reynolds Engineering, L td. The Shelbourne Reynolds stripper header increases combine capacity by 50-100% at a lower power requirement through the reduced amount of straw passing through the threshing and separating systems of the com bine. In fact, the highest reported output of 59.6 t/h was achieved by a stripper combine harvesting rice in Australia. However, the increas ed capacity with the stripper is achieved at the cost of more lost gra ins at the front, at least 1% higher than the cutterbar. High front-en d losses in thin and tangled crops and its inability to harvest certai n crops such as rape and rye limits its adoption by farmers. Good perf ormance of the stripper in rice presents a bright potential for small stripper harvesters in Asia where most of the world's rice is grown. F urther research is needed in understanding the stripping process to fu lly exploit its potential. (C) 1998 Silsoe Research Institute.