Plant topping apparatus

Claim 1

In a machine for removing the tops of leaf-bearing plants in which the machine includes a groundengaging supporting member, a frame member mounted above the ground-engaging member and supported thereby for forward movement along a path spaced above the ground and corresponding to a row of such plants, and at least one cutting blade rotatably supported with respect to the frame member for rotation of the blade in a cutting plane extending transversely above such a row and inclined forwardly and downwardly at approximately 30* from the vertical, said blade being mounted on the frame member at a location spaced above the ground at a height adapted to sever only the uppermost portions of the plants, the improvement comprising, in combination with such blade location and cutting plane orientation, a guide housing extending forwardly from said cutting plane above said row, the guide housing comprising a top wall extending forwardly and transversely above said row and inclined forwardly and upwardly from the blade and cutting plane at an angle in the range from 10* to 20* above the horizontal, and transversely spaced side walls extending downwardly from said top wall along opposite sides of said row and diverging forwardly from the cutting plane, said top and side walls defining an open-bottomed, rearwardly converging and downwardly inclined channel spaced above the ground at a height where it engages only the uppermost portions of the plant tops and leaves for preliminary engagement and foward bending of the plant tops to an angular cutting position at the cutting plane for cutting engagement by the blade and removal of only predetermined portions from the plant tops while the remaining portion of each plant and most of the leaves are left for growth in such row, said machine having a plantengaging crossbar extending transversely above said row within the guide housing, and manually adjustable supporting means holding the crossbar within the housing, the adjustable supporting means providing selective adjustment of the crossbar position within the housing in at least one direction below the top wall and forwardly of the cutting plane.