Genesis Sukhranjan’s father wanted toreconstruct their old house. But theproblem was lack of money to constructthe roof of the building. Sukhranjan triedto construct the tiles from cement insteadof clay. But due to a problem with thesalting of the tiles, he was not able tomaintain the quality of all the tiles. So hedropped the idea of making tiles fromcement. Then one day on a visit to a town,he saw people working on a cold mixturein making roads and bridges. There henoticed that a device known as an agitatorhad a great role in making all kinds ofcement based technologies. So he triedto establish a link between the roadagitator and an agitator mechanism fortiles and came up with the idea of a tablewhich has an agitating platform on itssurface. He consulted his father and bothof them worked hard in designing anagitating table. They used an old cycle tyrerim and two sticks in making this table.One very important thing is the frameused in making the tiles. It took 15 to 20days to finalize the design of the frame.Sukhranjan has made one unit and is usingit successfully. There is large scalenationwide need for such a cheapeffective foot operated device.

Foot operated roof tile making machine50

CONSOLATION

Sukhranjan Mistry (32) is a native of Shakti Farm, Udham Singh Nagar, Uttaranchal. He

completed his B.A. from Rudrapur College. Sukhranjan takes after his father, Meghnath Mistry, in

his keen desire to simplify complex technologies. Sukhranjan is actively involved in farming and

also serves as the village doctor and runs his own clinic. With a keen interest in social work, he

spends his spare time in the Vivekanand educational institute, a social service organisation. He is

married and has a son. He earns Rs. 20,000 per annum.

The innovationThe device is a manual /pedal operatedtile making machine. It is an ergonomicand efficient mechanical device for makingtiles which is based on the principle ofmechanical vibrations. The ti les somanufactured are useful to construct theroof of the building or like purposes.

The unit comprises of a bicycle wheel,crank, rope-link, pinion, oscil latingstriking link, polyethylene sheet andsupporting frame. A vibrating platform ismoved with the help of a cycle wheel,powered by pedaling. A polythene sheetis spread over the platform pressed byan iron frame. A mortar mixture is madeusing river sand and cement in the ratioof 7:1. This mixture is spread over thesheet. Then it is stirred over the vibratingplatform till air bubbles ooze out. Oncethe cements set in properly, the frame islifted and the sheet with mixture is putover the existing made tile. The new tilethus gets made. It is dried and thensoaked in water for two days. The machinecosts Rs.7500.

AdvantagesThis device is not like other tile making

AddressDev NagarShakti Farm No. 3, ShaktiFarm Bazaar, UdhamsinghNagar, Uttranchal

Scouted bySRISTI GYAN Kendra

(Annexure I, 50)50 130 Sukhranjan Mistry Foot operated roof tile making machine

machines available in the markets, which are costlyand not affordable to the general public. This machinewill be most useful in preparing roof tiles at a very fastpace as a number of tiles can be made at a time. It ispossible to make 300 tiles per day. In addition tiles canalso be made in multiple designs. The operation of themachine is not dependent on electricity and no heatingis required to prepare the tile. The cost of preparing atile is two rupees and it can be sold up to five rupees.The tile made using Sukhranjan’s machine lasts forabout sixty years compared to twenty years for theclay tile. This machine has a high self-employmentpotential in rural areas and an added benefit is thatwomen can also operate it. The machine is simple inconfiguration and operation and can be made with locally

third national technological innovations & traditional knowledge awards 131

available materials by local artisans. There are norunning costs or maintenance costs.

Current statusCurrent and future application areas of this deviceinclude in agitation of various liquids and semi-solidentities in chemical and food processing industries. NIFhas sanctioned Sukhranjan, a sum of Rs.5625 from theMicro Venture Innovation Fund for product developmentand demand estimation of the tile-making machine. NIFhas also filed a patent application for this innovation(995/Del/2004, 31/05/2004). Sukhranjan wishes to start abusiness with this innovation. Apart from this, he is alsoworking on a kerosene incubator.