Mbale NGO invents wooden hand-press machine
THE Uganda Gender Rights Foundation, a community-based organisation in Mbale, has invented a wooden compound-lever-hand-press machine. The machine is made from timber and each unit costs sh200,000.
By John Kasozi
THE Uganda Gender Rights Foundation, a community-based organisation in Mbale, has invented a wooden compound-lever-hand-press machine. The machine is made from timber and each unit costs sh200,000.
“The compound-lever-hand-press was first developed in the University of Washington, USA, in search of a machine that could mould wastes like wood chips into briquettes,†says Richard Stanley of Legacy Foundation, a US-based organisation with branches in East Africa. Briquettes are used as a substitute for firewood.
“In Indonesia and Haiti, the machines are made from concrete and in Nepal, metal,†says Stanley.
He adds that they use timber because it is available in abundance.
“The wooden model is simple, easy to operate and mend.â€
The press has accessories like a perforated 10cm diametre hard plastic kit and a piston. The hard plastic moulds the briquettes.
“As the mixture of hard plastic is compressed and de-watered, the matrix forms into a solid cake (briquette), which is pushed out by the eject clip on the press device.
“About 150 briquettes can be made in a day,†Stanley explains.
In 2004, Dr. Charles Kwesiga and the Uganda Industrial Research Institute, Nakawa, invented the manual thresher-masher-chopper, which complements briquette-making.
The machine threshes 15kg of waste paper, dry leaves, twigs and straws in 30 minutes. It costs about sh700,000.
They borrowed the technology from the groundnut and peanut shellers.
THE Uganda Gender Rights Foundation, a community-based organisation in Mbale, has invented a wooden compound-lever-hand-press machine. The machine is made from timber and each unit costs sh200,000.
“The compound-lever-hand-press was first developed in the University of Washington, USA, in search of a machine that could mould wastes like wood chips into briquettes,†says Richard Stanley of Legacy Foundation, a US-based organisation with branches in East Africa. Briquettes are used as a substitute for firewood.
“In Indonesia and Haiti, the machines are made from concrete and in Nepal, metal,†says Stanley.
He adds that they use timber because it is available in abundance.
“The wooden model is simple, easy to operate and mend.â€
The press has accessories like a perforated 10cm diametre hard plastic kit and a piston. The hard plastic moulds the briquettes.
“As the mixture of hard plastic is compressed and de-watered, the matrix forms into a solid cake (briquette), which is pushed out by the eject clip on the press device.
“About 150 briquettes can be made in a day,†Stanley explains.
In 2004, Dr. Charles Kwesiga and the Uganda Industrial Research Institute, Nakawa, invented the manual thresher-masher-chopper, which complements briquette-making.
The machine threshes 15kg of waste paper, dry leaves, twigs and straws in 30 minutes. It costs about sh700,000.
They borrowed the technology from the groundnut and peanut shellers.