2019 Volume 2019 Issue 128 Pages 9-21
The roads leading to tea plantations in mountainous areas are usually narrow. Thus, only light trucks can enter the fields, making it impossible for tea farmers to use riding-type tea-managing machines. We invented a lightweight tea-field managing machine that can be carried by light trucks and only needs one person to operate it. It can work in contour hedgerows (1,600 to 1,800 mm), with a maximum tilt angle of 15°. To use this machine, tea fields need to have 1) a 2 m aisle on the machine moving side, 2) a 0.5 m aisle on the blade reverse side, and 3) an area of 2 m × 3 m for alighting and dismounting on the light truck cargo side. Compared with the control machines, the new machine helps 1) reduce effort, labor cost, and number of workers required, 2) shorten the total working time, and 3) improve work accuracy in the flat fields. The difference between the new and a control machine was unclear in terms of yield; however, the quality of unrefined tea obtained was almost the same.
