The screenless hammer mill, like regular
hammer mill
A hammer mill, hammer forge or hammer works was a workshop in the pre- industrial era that was typically used to manufacture semi-finished, wrought iron products or, sometimes, finished agricultural or mining tools, or military weapons. The feat ...
s, is used to pound grain. However, rather than a screen, it uses air flow to separate small particles from larger ones.
Conventional hammer mills in poor and remote areas, such as many parts of Africa, suffer from the problem that screens break easily, and cannot be easily bought, made or repaired. Thus regular hammer mills break down and fall into disuse. The screenless hammer mill uses air flow to separate small particles from larger ones, rather than a screen, and is thus more reliable.
The screenless hammer mill is claimed to be 25% cheaper
Design That Matters: Notes, 2001-02-20
- saved by archive.org and much more energy efficient than regular hammer mills, as well as more reliable.
It was designed by Amy Smith of MIT
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the m ...
.
See also
* Appropriate technology
Appropriate technology is a movement (and its manifestations) encompassing technological choice and application that is small-scale, affordable by locals, decentralized, labor-intensive, energy-efficient, environmentally sustainable, and loca ...
External links
Mill Field Testing in Senegal
References
Appropriate technology
American inventions
Grinding mills