The problems facing petroleum products, in terms of cost and availability, coupled with difficulty and time involve in the conventional methods of maize shelling the need for an efficient hand operated maize sheller is paramount to an agricultural growth of developing nations. A highly efficient modified hand operated maize sheller was designed, developed, and evaluated for its performance in comparison to hand operated rotary maize sheller. The developed mechanisms such as gear system, flywheel, thresh discs and a chain drive system was incorporated into a hand operated rotary maize sheller. The results indicated a significant increase in output capacity of the machine (282.7 kg/h versus 144.42 kg/h) with a significant reduction in threshing torque 12.36N/m versus 18N/m) as well as reciprocating force and energy requirements (412 kN versus 518.88 kN). It was concluded that the rotary maize sheller should be incorporated with such mechanisms for the rapid operation, low human-energy expenditure, low breakage-factor for the grains, and reduction in drudgery. Its wider use is therefore recommended for developing economy like Nigeria where farmers have little money for investment.
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Volume 2 No 1