In order to solve the problems such as easy winding and hanging of the reel of rape windrower, a double crank plane five-bar reel mechanism was proposed, and the kinematic analysis model of the reel mechanism was established. According to the constraints of the double crank plane five-bar mechanism, based on the compiled reel finger movement analysis program, a set of structural parameter combinations of the reel mechanism meeting the requirements of rape cutting reel was obtained by human-computer interaction. The movement requirements of the reel’s finger for low-speed entry, accelerated push, fast delivery and finger upturned was realized. Compared with the eccentric reel, the dynamic trajectory of the reel was increased at the same turning radius and revolving speed. Height and width of the reel buckle of the reel finger dynamic trajectory were increased. The influence of the initial structure angle of the reel and the advancement speed of the machine on the motion state, speed, acceleration and trajectory of the reel finger was analyzed. The analysis showed that the speed of the reel finger was changed at a non-uniform speed during a rotation period, the reel finger speed was changed slowly during the reeling process, and there was no sudden change in acceleration. By reasonably matching the reel rotation speed and the forward speed of the machine, zero-speed lifting of the grains could be realized, the impact on the rape head was small, and the twine was reduced. The comparative analysis showed that the ratio of the reel linear velocity of the double crank plane five-bar mechanism reel can be obtained by approximately calculating the circumferential linear velocity of the finger tip static trajectory with the reel axis as the center and the minimum inscribed circle radius as the length at a constant rotated speed. A comparative test of double crank plane five-bar mechanism reel and cam-action reel for rape swathing was carried out. Field experiments showed that the laying angle and angle difference was respectively less than or equal to 25°and 8°of the windrower with double crank planar five-bar mechanism reel under the same test conditions. The effect of the reel speed on the laying angle was not significant （P=0.165>0.1), and the difference of the reel type had an extremely significant effect on the laying angle （P=0.002<0.05). The reel speed had no significant influence on the laying angle difference （P=0.750>0.1), the reel difference had a significant influence on the laying angle difference（P=0.015＜0.1). There was no hanging and entanglement of the double crank plane five-bar mechanism reel in the whole test. The research result can provide the basis for the improvement of swathing laying regularity and reducing entanglement and hanging of rape windrower.