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The feasibility study of using machine vision technology to locate corn plants was conducted to determine its potential in the development of an intelligent detasseling machine. A corn plant feature, the main vein of leaf, was used and the method of feature detection was developed for corn plant identification. Experimental results showed that the leaf feature and the center of the plant can be detected and located using image processing techniques when an image is taken from above of a plant. This research showed that it is possible to identify and locate the corn plant using machine vision technology.

Financial planners are always anxious to assist engineers and scientists in making retirement decisions. Many engineers, especially Industrial Engineers (IE), have had courses that provide the knowledge to make these retirement financial plans themselves. This paper will provide a method of estimating retirement needs utilizing Excel software and IE college coursework.

Towed vibratory rollers are still commonly used for many soil compaction projects. Pneumatic tire vibration dampers are used for isolating vibration excited by drum frequency generation devices. Static stiffness of these air vibration dampers is different from standard tires. The configuration of the tire shell is an important influence upon damper stiffness. The vibration transmissibility can be changed by adjusting tire pressure to obtain the isolation effect desired within a small range.

The dynamic behavior of a towed vibratory roller has been studied through modal testing techniques. Physical mass changes of the frame of the roller have been made to avoid resonance problems and the predicted behavior improvement of the roller is collaborated in the experiments.

Farmers are a small group, mostly college educated who run multi-million dollar yearly operations. Recent favorable economics has allowed this sector to look at new technology and determine the best way to invest in it. New considerations in the last few years have led to minimum/alternative tillage and planting, site specific farming decisions and small technology groups of farmers. The authors have put together their thoughts and wants which should be evaluated by future suppliers of technology and farm machinery.

Various techniques are presented and evaluated for their ability to forecast equipment sales in the agricultural industry. The forecasting methods discussed include trend approximation, time series moving averages, exponential smoothing, Delphi Method, buyer intentions and econometric models. A model that predicts future sales for industrial tractors was presented including a 1978 forecast. Leading indicators for Industrial Tractor Sales were GNP construction dollars, index of prices of construction machinery and new housing starts. Also, a farm tractor sales model and the resulting difficulty in finding leading indicators were discussed. Statistical methods required for econometric forecasting and model validity testing are given.

Fluid power is used extensively in forestry equipment with some novel applications of hydraulics to fell, move and process logs and trees. Hydraulic components undergo rugged use under severe conditions, over long periods of minimal maintenance. Selected hydraulic designs are illustrated and discussed. Design features for service requirements on forestry equipment are detailed.

During the next ten years the United States will experience a change in farm structure. A smaller number of farms will be producing more food. Both very small and very large farms will increase in numbers. They will change to be more diversified in production, utilize on-farm processing of consumer products, and apply advances in automation. These changes are needed to provide consumers food that is cost and quality competitive in worldwide markets. This paper is intended to instill the reader into becoming aware of the changes in technology, marketing, banking, labor and population interests. These trends will direct new farm mechanization towards intelligent machines capable of doing a multitude of tasks. Advances in vision systems, lasers, speech recognition, and bubble memory will be incorporated into mechanized robots and controlled traffic systems. In no way is this paper to be construde as a forecast because the direction of technology can not be forecasted.

The new design for a diesel engine chassis mount bracket was fitted with strain gages and placed in a test vehicle instrumented with an on-board data acquisition system to find stress levels under actual service conditions. All experimental stresses were smaller than endurance limit of the part, so the bracket was predicted to have infinite life. In addition, a finite element model of the chassis mount bracket was optimized. The solution suggested removal of three portions of the bracket, reducing the weight by 13.49% and saving some manufacturing costs.

Forecasting the sales of combines and tractors in today's ever changing and volatile marketplace is a difficult task; moreover, it is becoming increasingly important to manufacturers whose goal is to maximize profits with just-in-time policies. Farmers are independent business managers who react to a variety of factors and a unique set of circumstances. Predicting how these individuals will respond to changes in the economic atmosphere is an even more perplexing task than forecasting their business environment. Individually, some farmers may choose to postpone machinery purchases when their cashflow is reduced. Collectively, farmers react to certain factors in a more cohesive manner. For example, if farm commodity prices rise and interest rates are relaxed the agricultural sector will undoubtably increase machinery purchases. Therefore, Federal government policies and also fiscal and monetary policies affect both the farmer's income and the associated agricultural industries sales.

A multi-sensing device with a piezoresistive pressure sensor for hydraulic system control was developed, applied to a hydraulic belt conveyor and tested. One single pressure sensor was installed inside a hydraulic motor. By analyzing the output signals, the following engineering variables were measured and could be analyzed: running speed, torque, absolute displacement, horsepower, pressure, mass flow rate of conveyed materials and even malfunction diagnosis. High speed resolution, torque and mass flow rate measurements are focused on in this paper. Based on data sampling rates and windows, high resolution speed data from a hydraulic motor sensor was measured. Relationships between mass flow rates on the conveyor belt and torques due to loading under various situations are presented.

A rule-based expert system for forecasting combine sales in U.S.A. was developed and coupled with an econometric simulation model. The expert rules were built based on domain human experts' knowledges and experiences. The econometric forecasting model was developed based on economic data, statistics and analysis. This combination of simulation and expert system should increase the reliability of a combine sales forecast.

A servovalve - controlled hydraulic motor - driven positioning system was built. The hydraulic system was modeled and simulated using EASY5 software which had predefined hydraulic components models in addition to the ability of defining new ones. EASY5 model made it possible to study the dynamic behavior of the system under varied conditions of entrained air, motor displacement, motor leakage, and mass changes. Different systems components were tested in order to have the required data needed to build the final model. Pump flow rate, motor leakage, servovalve leakage, and slide table friction were experimentally measured. The slide table dynamic model was proposed and the performance data was measured. Eigenvalue sensitivity analysis showed that fluid line between the hydraulic motor and the servovalve is the most influential factor on system stability.