FIELD OF INVENTION
The invention relates to Sabai Grass Rope polishing machine. More particularly the invention relates to development of an improved Sabai Grass Rope Polishing machine which is used for polishing of ropes formed by twisting of thread from dried Sabai Grass leaves either by manually or by pedal operated machine.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Various kinds of ropes are produced from materials of plant origin- coir rope, Manila rope and jute rope etc. Ropes are also made of many other materials. Sabai grass is less popular. Sabai grass is a locally available and widely grown plant in most parts of India. A type of rope known as Sabai grass rope is prepared from the leaves of this plant in states of Orissa, West Bengal and Jharkhand. Sabai grass rope is used for many purposes like weaving cots and for tying various objects like logs of wood and straw on the roof. Sabai grass grows to a height of 1 to 1.5 meters. The leaves are cut and dried on the sun. The dried leaves are twisted either manually or in a pedal operated small machine to produce the rope.
This is an age old tradition being practiced for more than two centuries. The rope needs polishing before it is sold in the market. Traditional method of polishing involves scratching on the tree trunk by the rope, and then being pulled by the people standing around the trunk. This is a tedious and poorly effective method, which require a lot of efforts and time and add substantially to the cost of production.
OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION
It is therefore an object of the invention to propose an improved Sabai Grass Rope Polishing machine which is easy to operate and overcome the earlier tedious and poorly effective method.

Another object of the invention is to propose Sabai Grass Rope Polishing machine
which is very fast and increases the yield.
A further object of the invention is to propose Sabai Grass Rope Polishing
machine which produces grass rope of quality having good acceptance in the
market.
A still further object of the invention is to propose Sabai Grass Rope Polishing machine which reduces the cost of production substantially.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE ACCOMPANYING DRAWINGS:
Fig 1- Isometric view of the improved Sabai grass rope polishing machine.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF A PREFERRED EMBODIMENT OF THE INVENTION
Sabai grass leaves are cut and dried in the Sun. The dried leaves are fed into a pedal operated machine for twisting of the leaves and forming the thread. The rope made of the machine as described above has small fibers protruding all around it. This has to be removed by polishing the rope. Conventional method of polishing is very primitive and involves rubbing the rope on tree trunks or stones. It consumes lot of time. On the other hands, without polishing the rope do not find acceptance in the market.
A new device is developed for polishing the rope in order to remove the protruding fiber segments. A piece of coir rope (1) is wound in a coil form (2). Sabai grass rope (1) is passed through the coil and the coil is rotated. Due to the rubbing action the Sabai grass rope gets polished during the process. The pressure exerted by the coir coil on the grass rope can be adjusted. The polishing takes place when the pressure is appropriate. The coil is kept inside a

wooden cylinder with some holes for allowing the debris to fall out. The Sabai grass rope is wound on a bobbin (2). The rope is unwound and passed through the polisher assembly (3) and get wound again on another bobbin (4). The speed of the bobbins is maintained by driving them from a motor (5) through pulleys having suitable velocity ratios. The bobbin (2) containing unpolished rope is rotated and it releases unpolished rope which is wound on bobbin (4) after getting polished. In between these two bobbins the rope passes through the polisher (3) and gets polished.
Details of the machine are given below. A sketch of the Sabai grass polishing is given in Figure 1.
Main components of machine are:
a) Rough rope bobbin (2)
b) Polisher (3)
c) Polished rope bobbin (4)
d) Power transmission
e) Motor (5)
f) intermediate shaft 1 (6)
g) intermediate shaft 2 (7) . h) Frame (8)

a) Rough rope bobbin (2): It has a diameter of 15 cm and length of 33.5 cm approximately and is made of mild steel rod. One kg rope can be wound on the bobbin at a time. Length of this rope would be 1.33 km around.
b) Polisher (3): Rough rope (1) from rough bobbin (2) passes through the coir coil (3). The coir rope polishes the Sabai grass rope. Proper pressure has to be applied on the coil in order to carry out the polishing properly. The proper

pressure is ensured by splitting the polish cylinder in two haves and putting a rubber band or spring over them. By changing the rubber band or by adjusting the spring the pressure between the coir can be changed and thus effectiveness of polishing can be ensured. The polishing cylinder rotates at 150 rpm approximately.
c) Polished rope bobbin (4): Polished rope bobbin, is powered by the motor. It pulls the Sabai grass rope and winds over the bobbin. It is mounted on a frame, which rotates on an axis coaxial to the direction of the rope. This rotation is to ensure that the Sabai grass rope do not unwind the polishing process.
d) Power transmission: The electric motor (5) drives the intermediate shaft 6. The intermediate shaft (6) drives rough rope bobbin (2) and polisher (3) through a pair of pulleys each. Intermediate shaft (7) is driven by intermediate shaft (6) through a pair of pulleys. The intermediate shaft (7) drives polished rope bobbin (4) through a pair of pulleys at a 90° crossed belt drive.
e) Motor: 1 hp, 1440 rpm electric motor is used to give power to the polisher as well as polished rope bobbin and rough rope bobbin.
f) Frame (8): Frame is constructed of angle iron and has a height of 75 cm, width of 45 cm and length 90 cm. Motor is placed at the lower side of the frame. Frame is used for mounting all components of machine.