|
|
Honey bee publish details |
| More
Information |
|
|
| Name |
NIF |
|
|
| Category |
NIF 5th Competition |
|
|
| Title |
Fireflies of Creativity (Part-II) |
|
|
| Details |
Automatic Watering in Flower Pot, Mosquito Repelling Ceramic Pot and others (National-2, joint)
Uttar Pradesh: Abdul Kaleem (21, student) was more interested in electronics than conventional studies as a child and developed a number of innovative projects in school and as college student. Interesting among these are: automatic watering system in flower pots, short-circuit alarm, GSM based burglar system, overhead tank monitoring and regulating system amongst others. At present he is working on a street-light controller device, a project of NEDA (Non-Conventional Energy Development Agency)
His moisture sensor based controller ensures that whenever moisture content in the flower pot goes below the preset value, the controller automatically starts the pump to replenish water in the flower pot to the decided level. After that, it automatically switches off the pump. Abdul has filed a patent through NIF for this automatic watering system for flower pots. He received Navanveshak Samman on 21st February, 2009 from Uttar Pradesh government for his work in science and technology area. Abdul says: “Kshamataon ka vikas vyakti ko pratibhawan banata hai. Iske liye gyan, dhairrya thata sahayog awashyak hai.” (Improvization of skills makes a person talented; to be a person of talents one needs to have knowledge, patience, and support of people.)
Cob-Web Cleaner and Pocket Alarm (National-3, joint)
Jharkhand: Ankush (17, 11th standard student) always had the habit of playing with electronic items. How many times have we frowned at the irritating sight of the cob webs in the corners of our rooms, which refuse to go away completely with the traditional cleaners? A possible solution comes from a young boy Ankush, who has developed a battery operated cob web cleaner, which rotates the head to shed the cob web till its last strand. He has also developed a device which he has named ‘pocket police alarm’. It is a simple circuit which will set a siren whenever someone tries to take away something from your pocket; and if you miss the alarm, a light will blink in your goggles. Another idea from the young mind! He has also come up with an innovation named ‘child tracker’, to assist mothers in tracking their hyper active toddlers (hope toddlers will not mind that!).
Economical Ways to Control Water Pollution (National-3, joint)
Assam: Nikhilesh Das and Debajan Mukherjee (9th standard students) are very concerned about environmental pollution. Using human hair, saw dust and straw they have come up with a filtering system that can purify water by soaking away the oil, grease and other dirt from the waste water.
A simple prototype was also showcased at children state level science fair, 2005, Guwahati.
Self-Dispensing Apparatus for Liquid: Idea in Search of an Entrepreneur (National -3, joint)
West Bengal: Sukomal Basak (36, high school) runs a grocery shop. When Sukomal went to a ration shop to purchase kerosene, he observed how the helper in the kerosene shop transferred kerosene from a larger container to a smaller one by sucking the end of the pipe using the principle of siphon. This triggered an idea of a container pouring liquid as soon as a glass is kept below the dispenser. The main container with four dispensers (on four sides) is kept on a stainless steel base. Below each dispenser, on the platform, there are four switches. These switches are connected to valves, which open when the switch gets pressed due to the weight of the glass placed on it. Initially, his innovation was in the form of an illustrated idea which later received NIF’s support for product development after feasibility evaluation. Such an automatic liquid dispensing jug can be used in restaurants, homes, public water facilities and even in ration shops or chemical industry to dispense liquids and chemicals.
Herbal Medication to Cure Bloat in Animals
Gujarat: Sakrabhai (72) and Kapuriben (60) are eminent animal health practitioners in their region. Sakrabhai started treating animals very young, when he was just 18 years old using easily available herbs. In his childhood he usually went to forest with his grandfather as a child, and learned the way to identify and use various herbs for treatment of animals.
Sakrabhai and Kapuriben hail from two small economically backward villages of Dahod district in Gujarat. They have developed independently a herbal formulation to prevent and cure bloat in animal using a local herb. NIF facilitated the validation of the practice at Bombay Veterinary College, where the dosage standardization was also carried out. Subsequently, a product was developed under the brand name Blotomin.
Sakrabhai distinctly remembers the very first case of curing prolapse, where he failed and the guilt made him work harder and gain social recognition as a result of which now villagers say, “Janavar ne kai pan bimari thay, ena par Sakrabhai hath muki de to janavar saju thayi jay” (No matter what ailment an animal has; if its touched by Sakrabhai, it will be cured). Bombay Veterinary College report has established the efficacy of the formulation.
State Awards
Hand pump with Modified Plunger
Bihar: Ramashankar Sharma (57, high school pass, Bihar) worked with his uncle in his formative years and acquired skills and practical skills in metallurgy.
The innovator observed that the cast iron body and components are amenable to rusting and enhanced wear and tear through repeated use. This affected the service life of the pump adversely and also contaminated water. He decided to redesign the hand pump using stronger but lighter mild steel components. The modified plunger resulted in substantial increase in the efficiency. The change in material also helped reduce the cost and weight. BIT Mesra, Ranchi tested the same at NIF’s instance and found that the modified plunger gives 69 percent more discharge than conventional plunger for the same number of strokes and head. He says: “Life in itself is a challenge and it keeps testing us. Hence, it is necessary that we change our thoughts and habits according to times.”
A Life Dedicated to Innovations: Coming to Light so Late!
West Bengal: Nitai Das Gupta (78, primary school pass) has developed a series of innovative applications all through his life and at present, spends his time guiding workers in his fabrication workshop. One of his many talents is ambidexterity. In 1954, he developed Waland, an amphibious cycle rickshaw, with a capacity of four persons at an estimated speed of 8 km and 30 km per hour on water and land respectively. The direction of this rickshaw is controlled by a handle attached to the front wheel. In 1958, he developed an innovative five-gear bicycle out of which two are specially incorporated to enable a comfortable ride on hilly terrains. To facilitate access to healthcare centres in rural areas, the innovator came up with a motorcycle driven ambulance in the 1970s. The ambulance, which has all conventional facilities, can be easily detached from the motorcycle. Nitai also developed a four wheeler vehicle driven by four people for a road show in South India. All his innovations have stood feasible in practical tests. His amphibious bicycle was covered by local television channels as well as by many local and national dailies.
Extra- Weft Insertion for Frugal Handloom Design
Assam: Deepak Bharali (33, graduate) has had an eye for detail since his childhood days. He is a role model in his locality and for all neighbouring loom owners as he started out from his home with one loom and presently runs 19 looms successfully.
Conventionally, the task of the insertion of weft threads needed to make a variety of designs is done manually by tying knots, which is cumbersome and time consuming. The thread is also wasted in connecting one motif to another. Deepak’s innovative device makes designs in one third of the time required by the traditional way of making designs. The device consists of three components; base frame, magnet-bearing shaft and a specially designed URE %s bobbin. These components can be fitted to any handloom Jacquard machine. The attachment facilitates the Jacquard loom to perform automatic selection and lifting of warp threads for design making. IIT Guwahati has been looking into the design of this technology and it is likely to make a major impact on similar looms in coming years.
Solar Mosquito Destroyer
Kerala: Mathew K Mathews (45, graduate) has been a keen lover of nature since childhood days. Soon after completing his studies, he started working on his dream, of developing an environment-friendly mosquito destroyer. It took him more than a decade to come up with the solar mosquito trapper cum destroyer. This device makes use of the smell from the septic tank to attract the mosquitoes, which get trapped in the device. Heat builds up inside the device as a result of direct sunlight exposure. The trapped mosquitoes, thus, get killed due to the accumulated heat. He has commercialized his product, on a small scale and will love to have partners who will scale it up.
Cost-Effective Tyre Re-treading
Kerala: Thomas Augustine (53, high school) took up agriculture to support his family after his father’s death. Then, he decided to start a rubber treading unit in which his brothers also joined him.
Over the years, he had observed many problems in existing steam based units like variations in temperature, leakages in boilers, recurring maintenance and reduction in service life of tyres. He also felt that the bulky units required lot of space and manpower, lacked operational precision and depleted natural resources. A unique combination of parts has been designed to use heating coils to heat up a thermally insulated mould, while maintaining uniform temperature and curing time to deliver high quality. The improvised technology saves on labour, time and raw material and the tyre gives about 30 percent increase in mileage. He reflects: “It is ironical that in some instances, I was called to replace the tread machines of those local businesses who had tried unsuccessfully to copy my machine.” Thomas displayed the first prototype in a local trade fair and a provisional patent was filed in the year 1989.
Advanced Toothbrush
Delhi: Agastya Narayan Shukla (38, primary school pass) has varied interests. From childhood days, he assisted his father at his factory. At an early age of 12, he started his own workshop for making spare parts. He continues to learn from relevant technology books, programmes, events and experts even after dropping out of school.
In the year 2002, he developed an arrangement for combining toothbrush and paste in a single assembly. The user can choose the hard, medium or soft variants of bristles as required. Any commercial toothpaste can be filled in and used. The entire unit can be cleaned easily to retain efficacy and maintain hygiene. After a lot of efforts, he could make the toothpaste retain its character and flow on demand though the passage in the handle, the neck; and populate the tip of the bristles. He could refine the technology and develop commercial samples after three years of struggle.
The innovator has received support under MVIF and has been granted a patent for this device in the year 2007. He has also developed a valve for kerosene pressure stove and numerous other ideas.
Cracking Tough Problems: Portable Tree/Pole Climber and Walnut Cracker
Jammu & Kashmir: Mushtaq is a school drop out, concerned with asking questions not just about movements of earth but also about unsolved problems in day to day life. His tree/pole climber is a small portable device that makes climbing trees/poles simple and easy. What is remarkable about this innovation is that it uses body weight to lock the climbing steps and is very light, low cost and easy to maintain. NIF has provided incubation assistance through the GIAN Cell, J&K at Kashmir University. The technology was also licensed to an entrepreneur in Ahmedabad (India Innovatix), who has come up with an improved version of the climber in consultation with the innovator. This product will soon be launched in the market. Manual cracking of walnuts involves a lot of time and drudgery. Mushtaq has come up with a walnut cracking machine which can process dry walnuts of various sizes, shapes and thickness to crack them open without damaging the fruit inside. NIF mobilized support from TePP for value addition. Mushtaq was also provided an Innovation Fellowship for a year under the CSIR-NIF MoU.
Aloe Vera Gel Extractor
Haryana: Dharamveer Kamboj (42, school dropout) is an agriculturist who has always displayed a keen interest in discovering novel uses of various herbs. He has developed an effective multipurpose unit capable of pulverizing and extracting oil from various herbs. He has designed the device in such a way that it can also be used as a big pressure cooker or sterilizer. He also devised a method of making cosmetic and healthcare products out of essence and juices of Aloe vera and amla, using the machine. The present machine has a capacity to process 100 kg of Aloe vera per hour. The innovator was supported for production and commercialization by NIF through GIAN North. One unit was sent to Kenya on a pilot basis for application feasibility study in the country. Honey Bee Network had invited him in an MIT sponsored EMTECH conference on emerging technologies. Read the inspiring story of Dharamveer in HB 20(1):10-11, 2009.
Herbal Medication for Curing Mastitis in Animals
Gujarat: Ukhardiyabhai (55, pre primary school) is a farmer who cultivates finger millet, paddy, black gram, pigeon pea and groundnut on his five acres land and practices a unique medication made out of the bark of a local tree to cure inflammatory conditions along with bacterial infection in animals. The Prior Art Search of the formulation indicates that it possesses strong anti-inflammatory properties. The antibacterial properties against the disease causing bacteria were studied at Sadbhav-SRISTI Sanshodhan Laboratory. The drug was found to give satisfactory result on clinical sample administration even in highly fibrosed disease condition. The condition of animals reportedly started improving from second day of administration. The clinical efficacy of unique formulation was tested against subclinical, clinical and chronic mastitis. The isolated bacterial organism Staphylococcus aureus found resistant in field to conventional drugs was reported to have responded positively.
Root Wilt and Drought Tolerant Pepper Variety
Karnataka: Ravishankar (46, high school), farmer, by chance found Hippali, a wild long pepper variety, which smelled like pepper fruit and the roots of which were resistant to wilt. Root wilt leads to severe loss in production of pepper. He experimented by grafting Hippali as scion, on the stock of local cultivators viz. Panniyur in the year 2001-02. The newly developed variety is reported to be tolerant to wilt disease and drought, and matures in comparatively lesser time (within two years) with 30 to 40 spikes. The average dry pepper yield is one and a half kg per year per vine. In addition to this, he has developed a method of cooking by using Petromax light, bee keeping hives using cement, gas operated scooter, etc.
Posthumous Award: Ribbed Tawa / Pan and others
Gujarat: Always concerned with finding solutions to social problems, Late Ravjibhai Savaliya showed signs of creativity from an early age. The story of his achievements and early failures in market place and his deep human values remind us of the need to see grassroots innovators not just as tinkerers/mechanics but also as philosophers emerging from ground.
With the increase in the LPG prices, reducing the energy consumption is quite a challenge while cooking. Ravjibhai developed ‘Ribbed tawa’, which is made of alumininum and has ribs on its bottom to overcome this challenge. This design allows the enhanced flow of heat from the bottom due to increased surface area. Ravjibhai developed many more innovations such as a foot pump twenty-five years ago for which he got a President’s Award, butter churning machine, wheat thresher, electronic furnace type wood based crematorium, diamond polishing lathe, agate grinding mill among others. Read the detailed account of the struggleful but principled life of Ravjibhai, who was not only a social innovator, but also a philanthropic rationalist in HB 19(4), 4-7, 2008.
|
|
|
| Volume No. |
Honey Bee 20(3); 14-19,2009 |
|
 
|
|
