Trial manufacture of the reaper “Mie Univ. type No. 2” and some results obtained through field tests

Abstract

The reaping machine for harvesting rice, barley and wheat named “Mie Univ. type No. 2” has been designed and made for trial at Mie University in 1955, aiming at to improve its stalk gathering apparatus so as to make adaptable to our field operations.
The reaper was experimentally operated attaching A- or B-type stalk gathering apparatus for harvesting lowland rice, barley and wheat. The results are summalized as follows:
a. Driving the reaper attached A-type stalk gathering apparatus, consisting of a reel, guide plates and a stem divider, barley and wheat are reaped and gathered with success.
b. The result is not always satisfactory, varying widely with the mode of cultivation, for harvesting lowland rice with the reaper attached either A-or B-type stalk gathering apparatus.
Refering to the results obtained through field tests, the following points should be taken into account for invention of a new type stalk gathering apparatus, with which a Japanese type reaper be equipped.
1. It is impossible to divide stalks of lowland rice into bundle with rotatory apparatus, which rotate to the same direction even if it was in an intermitted motion.
2. Stalks of lowland rice can not be divided into bundle as far as they are floating in air. Thereby, a part of the stalks must be perfectly separated from the remaining part, holding it on the cutter bar.