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Profile |
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The Saga of Forgotten Innovator, Poonamchand Lakhaji Mistry |
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Shri Lakhaji Suthar of Takhatgarh, Pali district of Rajasthan, was an ordinary carpenter and could not afford to educate his son, Poonamchand, beyond the fifth class. But he encouraged his son to tinker with various mechanical things right from his childhood. Poonamchand, at the age of 17, developed a safe which could handcuff a person trying a wrong key.
Shri Poonamchand Lakhaji Mistry was honoured posthumously by the Hon’ble President of India, Dr. A P J Abdul Kalam on behalf of National Innovation Foundation (NIF). Here, we recount the story of his life.
A person of independent personality, Shri Mistry is said to have refused an award of Rs 1 lakh and a large tract of land that the then king of Jodhpur wanted to bestow. The king had wanted him to set up a mechanical workshop near the Falna railway station. Shri Mistry was on friendly terms with the king and felt that accepting this grant might affect his friendship. However, at the insistence of the king, he was awarded a 32 bore pistol and a Rolls Royce motor car.
In all, Shri Mistry, worked on 52 ideas including some that represented very successful machines. However, he was betrayed by the licensees of some of his inventions as well as by many others who promised support which never materialized. However, he bounced back from every setback. He even filed 17 patents in pre-independence India when awareness about the intellectual property rights system was very low. It would be worthwhile to consider how this inventor developed so many machines and other ideas (some of which may have been utopian) in a remote town of Rajasthan without formal education and/or institutional support?
Like many innovators, he had worked on many ideas, not all of which were equally feasible or practical. Nonetheless, his life story needs to get included in the syllabus of primary education so that many more children can draw inspiration and embark upon similar innovative trails. Obviously, science and technology policy planners never cared to highlight the role of grassroots innovations. The story of P L Mistry is also important because it demonstrates the power of imagination that unschooled minds of India can demonstrate, if only nurtured by caring families and compassionate institutions.
Shri Mistry had developed a small steam engine for the railways, which when shown to the District Collector during British period attracted appreciation and also cautious advice. He was told that he should not publicize this innovation, lest he attracted the ire of the British government which was obviously interested in promoting its own technologies in India. Reluctantly, he kept the invention aside and finally he dismantled it.
Once he had to go to Ahmedabad. On the way to the Eranpura railway station, his cycle got punctured. By the time he reached the station, the train had left. He had to wait for the next train. But this wait proved to be propitious. He started thinking of a new invention. Within a fortnight of his return, he had developed a pump which could fill air in a cycle (which is in motion) within about twenty seconds by pressing a button. This was patented in India and England. He licensed the rights of this pump to Bansi and Company of Mumbai which somehow never paid sufficient compensation to the innovator.
Recognised by the rulers: a British officer certifies his innovation
Shri Mistry had the uncanny ability of spotting an opportunity for innovation and invention in any problem faced by him or others, including public service providers. Once he observed that people were using counterfeit/worn out coins in a platform ticket machine at the Mumbai Central railway station. He talked to the Chief Traffic Manager and offered to develop a machine which would reject fake coins. Initially, the Traffic Manager was skeptical about the ability of a native inventor to develop a machine which even the British company had not been able to build. However, the Traffic Manager later allowed Shri Mistry to install his machine in 1941 at some of the stations. The machine not only embossed the date, but also rang an alarm when only 25 blank tickets were left in the dispenser. The results were extremely encouraging. After the successful test of the first machine and installment of three machines, he got an order for another three more machines and a certificate to the effect that his machines indeed rejected counterfeit coins (vide letter of Mr W J Mdous, Chief Traffic Manager, B B & I Railway, Bombay, No. 577/11 dated January 24, 1942).
When Mahatma Gandhi had been preparing to give a call for the Quit India movement, a silent call for recognizing native, inventive genius had already been given, so to say, by Shri P L Mistry. The difference was that while Gandhi succeeded in getting the British out of India, the Indian rulers themselves have not succeeded in decolonizing the mind despite valiant attempts by people like Mistry.
Range of creativity, examples of his inventions
One of his notable innovations was a water lift pump which used cylinders of old aeroplane engines and worked on the energy generated by the movement of a single bullock on a platform. The weight of the animal on a tilted platform around a well, drove six plunger pumps which, in turn, helped in lifting water. It worked on the spring balance principle. Mr A K Kaul, scientist from Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi, evaluated the pump and recommended that this be replicated so that it could be evaluated further and also greater social benefit could be derived for a larger population.
This pump would cost about Rs.2500. An ordinary, wooden Persian wheel costs Rs.590. However, Mr. Kaul felt that the difference in the cost could be justified as Mistry’s pump has higher output and also required only one bullock. This technology was also assessed by Assistant Director, Agricultural Engineering, Junagadh, Gujarat.
As mentioned earlier, Shri Mistry had several patents to his name. It may, however, be kept in mind that issuance of a patent does not imply functional validity of a technology. Many technologies for which Shri Mistry got patents may actually have not been backed by working models. In some cases, like the automatic hydraulic water turbine pump (patent No.103769/1966), the machine could only operate on a short term basis and was not feasible for long term operation. Mistry had also claimed that the pump could lift water without any external power. These apart, several of his ideas were practical and innovative. For instance, a mechanism triggered by the pressure exerted by a person sitting on a bed translated into the switching on of the lights and the fan in a room. Another innovation was a robot fitted at the entrance of a gate that could automatically open the gate, whistle, salute and indicate the side.
He also developed a tea making machine (patent No.56755/1957) which made it possible to get either only tea water or tea water with milk at different dilutions. For instance, if the control knob, which looked like a clock, was set at 12 ‘O clock, one would get only tea water. Such machines are still not available and a recent entry at NIF with some of these options is an attempt to realize some of Shri Mistry's ideas after 47 years. He patented a pedal operated flour mill in 1964. A poori processing machine was patented in 1965 (patent No.98930/1965). One of his innovations — a folding chair and table and a swinging bed or cradle — are currently manufactured by P L Mistry and Brothers Company in Takhatgarh.
It is not very often that one comes across an innovator who has applied his mind in so many different fields of industrial application. If creativity of this kind can ignite the spark of experimentation, innovation and perseverance in the minds of the youth, then the saga of Shri P L Mistry would have served some purpose. |
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| Volume No. |
Honey Bee, 14(4) & 15 (1): 2-3, 2003 |
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