A NEW FLOATING SPEAR MECHANISM FOR IMPALING BURLEY TOBACCO PLANTS ONTO A WOODEN STICK

A unique floating spear mechanism has been developed to mechanically impale and convey harvested burley plants onto a conventional wooden stick. The mechanism alleviates the tedious human task of manually impaling fresh cut plants onto standing sticks. The mechanism utilizes three sets of opposed arms. The arms are in a common vertical plane with a longitudinal metal bar and at a 45° angle to the bar to engage and firmly hold it. One end of the bar is pointed to spear the plants as they are conveyed by parallel chains and centered on the point by a pair of small interconnected wheels with guide belts. The hydraulically activated arms open and close in sequence to allow the plant to move along the spear-bar at the rate of one plant per two seconds and be deposited at the opposite end onto a wooden stick nested in a holder. The mechanism has been incorporated into a self-propelled prototype harvester that has undergone two years of field testing and refinement.