HOW YAM POUNDERS ARE DESIGNED TO WORK... WITH IMAGES!!

Today on my ‘Engineering photography series’ we are going to be looking at a technology that has proved important and very handy especially here in Nigeria where traditional meals are still much the delicacies. If you have an African eatery you should take note of this!

The yam pounder

The yam pounder is a mechanical device that can pound and also cook yam. It does the cooking with an electric cooking bowl in it and the pounding is done using a rotating arm called pounding blades. The yam pounder works on 220 AC voltage.

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Yam pounder

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Though I'll be talking more on the design, I will just tell you the recommended yam size that needs to be put in yam pounder. Too big may damage your pounder and too small may not give you the required yam texture you need. At least a 10cm by 3cm yam won’t be too stressful for the pounder to start off with.

So, let’s see how the yam pounder is designed

First, the slit cover

The slit cover of the yam pounder is designed for quick and easy removal. It has an anchor on one side and a little clip on the other side. There are other cover designs but the major is that it is mostly designed to aid fast removal.

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Sometimes heavy lumps of yam may not allow the motor turn. In such cases, a quick switching off and removal of the lumps becomes very necessary.

The Bowl

The bowl has two functions. It acts as the reservoir of the yam during pounding and also serves the purpose of cooking the yam. The heating effect from electricity is transferred to the yam by the bowl for cooking.

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The bowl with the pounding blade attached

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You have to take note of the 'lock and remove' direction of the bowl. While removing your yam after pounding is done, it is advisable to remove the bowl alongside. The yam mostly sticks to the pounder blades. Removal of the pan first, gives a little more flexibility.

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Still wondering if the you can use the yam pounder to cook?

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Here is a little proof that you can.

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The indicator light by the top tight corner stays on while pounding. It comes on when switched to cook and goes off when cooking is done. Although the cooking is not as efficient as using gas.

The pounder blades

The pounder blade is designed with a material that doesn’t react with food. Though it looks metallic, it isn’t. It is ceramic. Take note of the groove while fixing it to the motor end.

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Incase you are wondering what the motor end is! You can clearly see the groove.

The caution on the instruction manual

Off course the instructions in caution is also part of the design.
The operation instructions on the instruction manual are pretty much easy to understand. Do well to also go through them before you operate.

There is one instruction in the caution segment that is very important you know. My mum had some troubles with it. I think knowledge of this will help you prevent such troubles. Even if not with a yam pounder but with any other operational machine.

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After pounding for 10minutes straight, the machine will suddenly stop working. Before you begin to worry,
Take a closer look at the caution NO 2. It says

When pounding is done for more than 10minutes, the protector may stop the motor

When this happens, turn the switch to the off position and allow the machine rest for about 10minutes, then switch on again. It was designed that way to protect the motor from damaging due to overheating from continuous working.

As simply as it is, not knowing can cause panic.

I guess next time you see a yam pounder, you would know it’s a simple and efficient design. Got a traditional eatery here in Nigeria? you could get a pounder and cut down the cost of buying yam flour!

This will be all for now!

The images here are my original works

Thanks for reading.
Resteem to enlighten.

Here’s a previous post I also did on ‘Engineering photography’.
HOW TO CHARGE YOUR DC AUTOMOBILE BATTERY EXPLAINED WITH IMAGES!!!!
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