The aim of this research is to study some physical and mechanical properties of cucumber fruits for seed production, to help the design of handling machines. The physical and mechanical properties are incorporated in the development of the seedextraction machine as a case study.The main results in this study can be summarized as follows: Physical properties of cucumber fruits: diameter = 52.15 -229.5 mm, length = 52.15 -68.87 mm, mass = 273.8 -470.4 g, volume = 380 -860 cm 3 , projected area = 250 -500 cm 2 , real density = 0.94 -1.10 g/cm 3 , bulk density = 0.41 g/cm 3 , sphericity = 3.13 -3.77.Mechanical properties: cucumber-fruit firmness = 64 -100.9 N/cm 2 , the axial cutting-force = 30 -70 N.The physical and mechanical properties are incorporated in the design of seedextraction machine is given also in the paper as a case study.

This study aims to develop, construct and field evaluate small-scale mower for grass harvesting. The mower machine is fabricated from local materials which redesign and modify the cutting drum. The results indicated, reducing friction and improved the mower performance, reduce noise, maximize cutting efficiency and minimize energy requirements. The results can be summarized as follows: Maximum effective field capacity of 587.4 m 2 /h was obtained with forward speed of 2.16 km/h, cutting height of 2 cm and cutting speed of 6 m/s, the maximum cutting-efficiency of 98.8 % was obtained at forward speed of 0.84 km/h, cutting height of 2 cm and cutting speed of 6 m/s, and the maximum specific energy of 11.27 kW.h/fed. was obtained at forward speed of 0.84 km/h, cutting height of 5 cm and cutting speed of 6 m/s.

The research aims producing fire-resistant particle boards using different types of highly combustible agricultural residues. The some mechanical properties parameters included modulus of rupture and modulus of elasticity while physical properties were water absorption, swelling thickness, mass loss, ignition, glowing time, width and length of the burnt area. Particleboards variables were adhesives (urea formaldehyde ratio of 10%, sodium silicates and paraffin wax ratio of 5%, hardener (ammonium chloride) and fire-retardant (a mixture of diammonium phosphate and boric acid is nontoxic ratio of 0, 5, 10, 15 and 20 %. All above carried out under four press temperature (100,120,140,160 C°), four thicknesses of 14,16,18 and 20mm and four agricultural residues cotton stalks, corn stalks, rice straw and sawdust. The manufactured boards were tested according to TS-EN standards. The results recorded that the maximum modulus of elasticity and modulus of rupture of 4750 and 28.5 N/mm 2 respectively were obtained using cotton-stalk particle boards, pressing temperature of 140 °C and particle board thickness of 14 mm. The maximum averages water absorption percentage after 2 and 24 h was 28 and 73% respectively and the maximum averages swelling percentage after 2 and 24 h was 22.3 and 33.7 % respectively, were obtained using rice-straw particle boards under pressing temperature of 100 °C and particle board thickness of 20 mm. The most fire-retarding properties were improved with the increase in fire-retarding-content up-to 15 %. Higher amounts resulted in decreasing of the fire-retarding properties.

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The aim of this research is to design a grading machine according to the physical and mechanical properties of lemon fruits. The main results in this study can be summarized in the following points: The maximum fruit damage of 4.7, 4.1and 8.9 % for fruit sizes 35, 40 mm and total count, respectively were obtained with grading speed of 8 rpm (0.08 m/s) and fruit batch of 20 kg. Meanwhile, the minimum fruitdamage of zero % for all fruit sizes was obtained with grading speed of 11-14 rpm (0.12-0.15 m/s) and fruit batch of 5 kg. The maximum range of grading-machine productivity for lemon fruits of 220.7-760.9 kg/h was obtained with grading speed range of 5-14 rpm (0.05-0.15 m/s) and fruit batch of 20 kg. Meanwhile, the minimum range of gradingmachine productivity for lemon fruits of 142.8-492.3 kg/h was obtained with grading speed range of 5-14 rpm (0.05-0.15 m/s) and fruit batch of 5 kg. The operation and production costs were 7.37 L.E./h and 64.84, 19.8 L.E./ton at optimum conditions (grading speed of 11 rpm or 0.12 m/s and fruit batch of 10 kg). 1. INTRODUCTION ost harvest sorting and grading of fruits is a difficult and labour intensive component of the commercial fresh fruit market. Citrus are the major horticultural crops in Egypt. The cultivated area of citrus is 346.24 thousand feddans (145.42 thousand hectare) in 2002. The areas of orange, tangerine and lemon are about 210, 94 and 38 thousand feddans (88.2, 39.48 and 15.96 thousand hectare), respectively. The total annual production of citrus in Egypt is about 2.8 million ton, in 2002. The productions of orange, mandarin (Citrus deliciosa. Blanco) and lemon are about 181, 602 and 334 thousand tons respectively. (1) ,(2) and (3) Chief Res. and Res., Ag. Eng. Res. Inst. Respectively.