Abstract
The flail mower is the machine that cuts and cracks the grass by the hinged flails in one operation with one power driven part. It is like the flail type forage harvester, however its rotor speed is lower than the forage harvester. Relations between the rotor speed and PTO torque, length of cut, height of cut were tested in the fields. And the drying rate of grass on the field by the use of flail mower was compared with the use of cutter-bar mower and hay conditioner. The cut width of the tested flail mower was 6ft. The results were as follows.
(1) Increasing the rotor speed and travel speed the PTO torque increased. The fluctuation of the torque was very intense. Tractor power required 40h. p. at travel speed 1.3m/s. Then the rate of working of this machine would be 0.6-0.8ha/hr.
(2) The length of cut was the longest at the rotor speed 700-900rpm and no significant difference of the length of cut between the use of flail mower and the hay conditioner was observed.
(3) The field curing period by the use of flail mower was shorter than by the use of hay conditioner.
