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A rice huller or rice husker is an agricultural machine used to automate the process of removing the chaff (the outer husks) of grains of
A rice huller or rice husker is an agricultural machine used to automate the process of removing the chaff (the outer husks) of grains of rice
Rice is a cereal grain and in its Domestication, domesticated form is the staple food of over half of the world's population, particularly in Asia and Africa. Rice is the seed of the grass species ''Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice)—or, much l ...
. Throughout history, there have been numerous techniques to hull rice. Traditionally, it would be pounded using some form of mortar and pestle
A mortar and pestle is a set of two simple tools used to prepare ingredients or substances by compression (physics), crushing and shear force, grinding them into a fine Paste (rheology), paste or powder in the kitchen, laboratory, and pharmacy. ...
. An early simple machine to do this is a rice pounder. Later even more efficient machinery was developed to hull and polish rice. These machines are most widely developed and used throughout Asia
Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...
, the most popular modern type in use today is the Engelberg huller designed by German Brazilian engineer Evaristo Conrado Engelberg
Evaristo Conrado Engelberg (26 October 1853–1932) was a Brazilian mechanical engineer and inventor. He is the inventor of the Engelberg huller, a machine used to strip the husks from rice and coffee during harvest. He was born to German im ...
in Brazil and first patented in 1885.
The Engelberg huller uses steel rollers to remove the husk. Other types of huller include the disk or ''cono'' huller which uses an abrasive rotating disk to first remove the husk before passing the grain to conical rollers which polish it to make white rice
White rice is milled rice that has had the husk, bran, and germ removed. This alters the flavor, texture and appearance of the seed; helps prevent spoilage (extends its storage life); and makes it easier to digest. After brown rice is milled ...
; this is done repeatedly since other sides of circular side of rice are not husked. Rubber rollers may be used to reduce the amount of breakage of the grains, so increasing the yield of the best quality ''head rice'', but the rubber rollers tend to require frequent replacement, which can be a significant drawback.
Sample mechanism for the husk
See also
* Rice hulls * Rice polisher * Rice pounder, an earlier simple tool to dehull rice *Threshing machine
A threshing machine or a thresher is a piece of agricultural machinery, farm equipment that separates grain seed from the plant stem, stalks and husks. It does so by beating the plant to make the seeds fall out. Before such machines were developed ...
, a general machine to remove the grains from the straw or panicles
* Winnowing barn, a previous method of hulling in commercial rice growing
References
{{Portal bar, Agriculture, Food, Technology Agricultural machinery