Coimbatore man develops fibre-peeling machine

Coimbatore, Oct.18 (ANI): A man in Coimbatore has developed a coconut fibre-peeling machine, which can peel off over 500 coconuts within an hour.

According to Marimuthu, the innovative man, his machine can help farmers avoid the risks involved in peeling off fibres by iron rods and can be performed by any abled body.

The machine weighs around 100 kilograms and has been fitted with wheels to make it portable. It runs on two-horse power electricity and is likely to be quite affordable for people engaged in peeling work. The machine is yet to be released in market, as it is to be sent for approval, which would determine its cost.

"Peeling coconuts manually is a tough task for coconut growers and finding labourers has become difficult these days. Peeling coconuts with iron rods causes injury to labourers especially during rainy seasons. Keeping this in mind we have created a machine than can peel over 500 coconuts in one hour and in eight hours it can peel over 4000 coconuts. It runs on a 2HP (horse-power) motor and the electricity cost is just only 48 rupees (approx. a dollar) for eight hours and doesn't require much of manpower. It can be performed by women also," said Marimuthu, designer of the coconut-peeling machine.

Some of the local coconut peelers say the machine could help them in performing tedious task manually.

"I am engaged in this coconut peeling work for the past 25 years and everyday we peel over 500 coconuts in eight hours. Many a times we get injured while peeling. I have heard about a coconut peeling machine that has been developed," said Krishnaswamy. By Jehovah G (ANI)