Pea Sheller Makes Fast Work Of Tedious Job

Pea Sheller Makes Fast Work Of Tedious Job FARM HOME Food 23-6-32 Leopold Valcourt built a small-scale homemade pea sheller that can process 1 1/2 gallons of peas at a time and cost him very little to make. "I had seen a picture of a pea sheller and decided to make my own," Valcourt explains. "Instead of sitting down for hours to shell peas by hand every time, I thought it was well worth a few hours to build a machine that could do the job quickly on an on-going basis." Valcourt's pea sheller cost him under $20, since he was able to use scrap plywood and an old washing machine motor. The only parts he had to purchase were a belt, some electric wiring, and a small piece of 1/2-in. galvanized mesh wire. The pea-shelling drum is enclosed in a six-sided wooden case that stands on four legs and has a hinged door at the back that can be locked closed with a hook and eye. The motor sits on the edge of a shelf on front of the machine. A belt runs from the motor to a pulley located on the side. This pulley turns a wooden axle with four offset plywood paddles centered inside. The pea drum itself consists of a round wooden frame covered with wire mesh. A section of the frame can be removed to load peas or unload empty shells. While the motor is running and the paddles are turning, the operator slowly turns a handle on the opposite side from the pulley. This rotates the mesh drum, keeping the peas falling against the spinning paddles. As the paddles beat the pods and break them open, the peas drop out and fall to the bottom of the drum, eventually falling through the wire mesh. They then roll down an angled plywood board and fall into a collection box on the ground in front of the machine. It takes only a few minutes to shell a drum-full of peas and it does a clean job as long as the peas aren't over-ripe. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Leopold Valcourt, RR 1, Pickardville, Alberta, Canada, T0G 1W0 (ph 780 349-2349).

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