Abstract: The present invention pertains to the problem of chopping, drying and compressing into pellets--which shall be used especially as a fuel--freshly harvested biomass, especially cereal plants, in one operation. The chopped stalk material is moved forward for this purpose according to the present invention over a broad surface in a thin layer (32) in the manner of an accordion, while a warm air flow passes through it, before the stalk material is fed into the intake wedge of a pelletizing device (15). Screw conveyor groups (11, 12, 13) arranged at different levels are preferably used as the conveying means, and their direction of conveyance (23) is at right angles to the direction of travel (24) of the harvester (1), whereas the gaseous heating medium flows through the layers (32) being conveyed vertically (29) from bottom to top.

Abstract: The multi-coordinate sensing gauge of the invention comprises a sensing arm 7 displaceable relative to a housing 3 in the direction of a main coordinate axis 5 and guided on the housing 3 to be omnidirectionally pivotable about a first pivot point 19 located on the said main coordinate axis 5 by means of a first universal joint 13. A linkage arm 23 is coaxially connected to the sensing arm 7 and the end of said linkage arm which is away from the first universal joint 13 is omnidirectionally pivotable by a second universal joint 25 about a second pivot point 27 and is connected to a drive element 29. The drive element 29 in turn is guided on the housing 3 so as to be omnidirectionally pivotable about a third pivot point 33 by a third universal joint 31 displaceable along the main coordinate axis 5.