Abstract
It is desirable to increase the diameter of rice bundle harvested by Japanese reaper binder recently introduced into Korean farmers , since it is too small for stalking in the field for preliminary drying prior to threshing operation which is dominant procedure in rice harvesting . Accordingly, this study was conducted to analyze the effect of the size of rice-bundle on the performance of binder and self-feeding thresher. The results are summarized as follows : 1. The diameter of rice-bundle could be increased from $\phi$80-98 to $\phi$105.0-125.4 while the number of rice bundles per 10 a were reduced to 1200 from 1600. The time required for harvesting 10 a of rice was 81 minutes in small size bundles and 84 minutes in large size bundles and no statistical difference was obtained. 2 .The grain loss due to discharge and cutting were slightly increased with large size bundle compared to the small size but no statistical difference was obtained. The precision of operation and drying rate was not significantly different between small and large size bundles. 3. The unthreshed losses were the same between large and small sizes of rice bundles when self-feeding thresher was used. When 8 PS engine was used , continuous operation was possible for small size bundles , but 1.5seconds of time interval was necessary for large size buldles. 4. The consumption of binding twine was reduced to 603 from 820 meters with the larger bundles , and the labour requirement for stalking rice bundles in the field was also reduced to 1.83 form 2.50 man-hour per 10 a Therefore, harvesting cost can be reduced up to 26.5 percent by increasing the bundle size.