Abstract: In order to harvest winter rape ahead of time and prepare the field for rice planting, a rape baling device, which was assembled on the left side of the cutting table of 4SY-2.2 horizontal rape swather, was designed. Thus the whole machine could complete the cutting and baling two processes and turned into a rape binder. The baling device was mainly composed of a frame, a gathering-compression mechanism, a rope sending mechanism, a knotter, a tying clutch and a pushing mechanism. According to the theoretical calculation of rope sending mechanism, gathering mechanism and unloading bales mechanism, the main parameters of the rape baling device were determined. Then a virtual prototype simulation research was conducted and the results showed that the movements of rope sending mechanism, knotter and unloading bales mechanism coordinate with each other well, and it took 8.95 seconds to complete a work cycle. The baling experiments were conducted by using the test machine and the results showed that the successfully baling rate of 95%, the average bale diameter of 382mm, the average weight per bale of 5.08kg (moisture content of rape material was 67.5%). This research provides a new method and supporting equipment for the sectionalized harvesting of rape.