The proverb; “necessity is the mother of all inventions”, stands absolutely right in the case of Sukhranjan Mistry who after facing certain limitations has had invented a foot operated tile making machine. People like Sukhranjan are creative and innovative they very well know how to utilize the limited resources in a prolific way. He is a 32 years old man belongs to Udham Singh Nagar, Uttaranchal and works in Shakti Farm. His whole childhood was spent in Shakti farms where he was involved in farming along with his father. He also completed his graduation from Rudrapur College, he had been very keen in doing studies and like his father Megnath Mistry he also showed his keen interest in making the complex technologies; simplified for themselves as well as for others.
Origin of the Idea of Tile Machine
Megnath Mistry; father of Sukhranjan wanted to reconstruct his old house but due to lack of funds and resources he was unable to accomplish this desire. Sukhranjan also tried his best to construct the tiles from cement but the major problem that he faced was the salting of the tiles, due to improper salting the tiles did not have the adequate strength. But one day while visiting a nearby town Sukhranjan saw, people using a cold mixture for making roads and bridges and he also noticed a device known as an Agitator that was the key role player in making all types of cement based products. This was a spark of invention in his mind he then tried to incorporate the mechanism of that agitator in constructing the cement tiles. He discussed the idea with his father and came up with a model of a table that had an agitating platform on its surface. The design of the table was yet to be finalized he and his father used an old cycle tyre rim and two sticks in making that table model. It took them 15-20 days to actually come up with the final design of ‘agitating table’ that was similar to the agitation platform used in constructing roads. And finally after putting in much of hard work Sukhranjan was able to resonate; a cheap, effective and beneficial foot operated tile making machine.
This agitation table is not as expensive as the other tile making machines available in the market; in fact it is cheaper and easily affordable for the general people. The process of tile making in this device is very less for about just one minute and also the tiles produced by it cost just Rs. 3/- that is less than the amount of Rs. 6/- against the conventional tiles available in the market. The device is based on the principle of mechanical vibrations and is a manual operated machine. The tiles are produced by using the mixture of cement and stone sand and are useful to construct the roof of the buildings or for similar purposes. The device comprised of a bicycle wheel, rope-link, oscillating striking link, crank, pinion, polyethylene sheet and a supporting frame. With this tile making machine it is possible to construct about 300 tiles per day and the unique feature about it; is that the tiles can also be made in multiple designs.
This invention of Sukhranjan has been proved to be a highly useful and advantageous potential for self-employment source for the rural people in rural areas, one more special feature of the device is that it does not require electricity or heating to construct the tiles it is so easily operated that even the women can easily handle the machine. There is no maintenance cost of the machine and the tiles can be made with locally available material within few minutes.
For this invention, Sukhranjan was awarded by NIF-India in 2005; NIF sanctioned him an amount of Rs.5625 from Micro Venture Innovation Fund for any further development of the device and also for demand estimation of the machine. No matter out of a necessity but this tile making machine is indeed a good invention accomplished by Sukhranjan, there is no doubt that if he incorporates further developments in the machine and when it is used to its maximum potency it would certainly become a source of self-employment for thousands of people residing in rural areas and villages.
Sukhranjan is also working upon Kerosene Incubator he believes in social working and perhaps his humble intentions led him to create a thing that is beneficial for the human race in some way. If person like Sukhranjan who had very limited resources available with him could invent a useful device, then why cannot the educated youth introduce something new and beneficial for the welfare of the society and its people? It is just the matter of realizing and using one’s capacities, imagination and creativity for the betterment of one’s own and other’s lives. Inventions are always beneficial in some or other way we just need the inspired individuals who are ready to take the responsibility of bringing betterment in their surroundings.
When a debate was heated up lately on the topic of intolerance, an effort was made to challenge the idea of India. When we talk about India, it is not just what you witness around the Rajpath. My India is not only the sky heights of Mumbai or corporate India but it is more about people like Sukhranjan Mistry. Each and every nationalist is an asset to this country and people like him prove this point very well! Hats off.