Husking pedal was an useful device in country life. It was an icon of country-culture in Bangladesh. It is called 'Dheki' in Bangla. It is a wooden device for husking paddy, pulse and some other types of grain. It is also used to grind grains.
Dheki consists a wooden lever. It moves on a small bolt passing through it and two cheeks, which are driven into the ground. Under one end of the lever is fastened a cylindrical piece of wood, about 18 inches in length and 6 inches in diameter, the lower end of which is surrounded by an iron hoop. This serves as a pestle, that is raised by the lever, and that falls down by its own weight. The power is increased by the bolt that serves as a fulcrum. It is placed at five-eighths of the whole length of the lever from the pestle.
Usually, 2-3 women work with this device, 1-2 alternatively press down the end of the lever with their feet to raise the pestle, and then by removing their feet allow the pestle to fall. One of them removes the beaten grain, and puts a fresh supply into the device which just is a circular hollow in the ground with a piece of wood in the bottom to receive the blow. The work of women who move the lever is laborious. In Bangladesh 'Dheki' is being replaced by rice mills.
Dheki consists a wooden lever. It moves on a small bolt passing through it and two cheeks, which are driven into the ground. Under one end of the lever is fastened a cylindrical piece of wood, about 18 inches in length and 6 inches in diameter, the lower end of which is surrounded by an iron hoop. This serves as a pestle, that is raised by the lever, and that falls down by its own weight. The power is increased by the bolt that serves as a fulcrum. It is placed at five-eighths of the whole length of the lever from the pestle.
Usually, 2-3 women work with this device, 1-2 alternatively press down the end of the lever with their feet to raise the pestle, and then by removing their feet allow the pestle to fall. One of them removes the beaten grain, and puts a fresh supply into the device which just is a circular hollow in the ground with a piece of wood in the bottom to receive the blow. The work of women who move the lever is laborious. In Bangladesh 'Dheki' is being replaced by rice mills.
Reference collected from Banglapedia)
This is a praising work. we need this kind of blog to reunite our culture which is dissolving each moment. Loved it.
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