Mowing machine for harvesting long stem textile fiber plants

A mowing and sheaves-picking machine particularly adapted for use in harvesting long stem textile fiber plants such as kenaf (Hibiscus cannabinus), jute, hemp, and roselle, comprising:

• a lower cutting unit provided with counter-rotating cutting discs for cutting the stems, said discs mounted on a wheeled frame, a sheaves-forming magazine and insertion members located rearwardly of said wheeled frame, said sheaves-forming magazine and insertion members being operatively associated with and positioned relative to the said lower cutting unit to guide and convey the cut stems into the said magazine in an array formation and standing in a substantially upright position;
• the said magazine having at least one yielding wall, a sensor means for continuously sensing the size of a sheaf being formed in the magazine, and a sheaves-expeller means operatively associated with said magazine for intermittent operation, upon control from said sensor means sensing when the sheaf being formed has reached a predetermined size, to automatically expel or discharge the said sheaf, said sensor means comprising a sheaf lever system having at one end a feeling lever and at the other end a locking and unlocking member, said sheaf lever system mounted such that it swings in response to the degree of formation of a sheaf in the magazine by means of contact of the feeling lever with a part of the sheaf, a trip device operatively associated with the said lever system to be tripped by the locking and unlocking member for cyclically activating the sheaves-expeller means, for the period of one discharge cycle of a sheaf from the magazine, said trip device comprising a lug and notch coupling between a shaft which is driven in continuous rotation and an actuating wheel which actuates said sheaf-expeller means, and which wheel is mounted on said shaft so as to normally stay idle thereon, said lug and notch coupling being operatively connected to said sheaf lever system to engage the coupling between said shaft and the said wheel every time the sensor means senses that a sheaf has been formed according to a predetermined size, and to automatically reset the lug and notch coupling to the disconnected condition upon completion of the expelling cycle, and a return means associated with the lever system to return the sensor means, when free from engagement with the discharged sheaf to its waiting position.