Automatic tobacco harvester and defoliator assembly therefor

摘要

The present invention relates to an automatic tobacco harvester and to a defoliator assembly therefor, the tobacco harvester being of the type that is readily adaptable to connect directly to a conventional three point hitch of a farm tractor. The automatic tobacco harvester and defoliator assembly therefor is of the "multi-pass" type in that the defoliator assembly of the harvester can be used to prime or defoliate only a certain level of leaves from the stalks during tobacco harvesting operation while leaving unripened leaves on the stalks. As the lower priming are removed from the stalks, the defoliator assembly is accordingly moved upwardly to accommodate other priming levels during the course of the tobacco harvesting season. The defoliation of the tobacco leaves is accomplished by a pair of defoliator units or assemblies carried by a frame structure in lateral spaced apart relationship in order that a tobacco stalk row may pass therebetween. Each defoliator unit or assembly carries a series of defoliator fingers that move into the plane of the stalk row and adjacent respective stalks during what is referred to as the defoliating cycle, and the same fingers are retracted from the plane of the stalk row during at least a portion of the non-defoliating cycle in order that the fingers may return to the beginning point of the defoliating cycle without interfering with the tobacco stalks passing therebetween.