Innovation Description
Profile:Innovator Mr. Prafulla Kumar Meher hails from the Bargah district of Orissa. He is a weaver and textile machine manufacturer. He left his studies due to a financial crisis and joined his family business of weaving Sambalpuri Sarees. He visited numerous NGOs for gathering knowledge about weaving and started his own workshop named Artisan’s workshop in the year 2008. Weaving a 6 feet saree requires 8 kg of cotton and three processes viz. spinning, winding, and threading is involved. Spinning is done for the purpose of dying and making designs in sarees, and winding is done to make a suitable package for both woven and knitted fabric production. He used to engage labourers for the winding of the cotton thread. This process required two tree trunks for winding operation. However, gradually the number of labourers decreased due to the involvement of tedious work in the manual winding, lesser wages, and better opportunities. Prafulla then started designing a machine for this process and nearly after 6 months he was able to develop his first prototype, which is a self-propelled machine that facilitates the winding of cotton thread for the weaving of sarees. The innovator has sold over 110 units of the machine to date.
Purpose
This machine basically uniformly distributes the thread along the longitudinal axis of the drum which was very tiresome work previously. Later the winded weft is transferred to the tie and dye frame where the designing work (especially for IKAT) is being performed.
Technical Details
The drum receives power directly from a 0.25hp electric motor and this can be operated manually as well. Weft winding work is carried out over the entire length of the drum. Prafullahas developed the Purra bed (uniform thread distribution system), which automatically changes its direction of movement. This Purra bed has two cycle hubs for easy movement over the frame track. There is a small vertically placed thin rod attached with the chain loop and the Purra bed is placed over this rod. So when it makes a U-turn after completing half cycle, the Purra bed automatically changes its direction of motion. The second Purra bed travels on other ends of this drum as both Purra beds are connected by means of a straight square pipe. In this way, both the thread distribution systems work automatically and help in improving productivity.
Performance
The machine has the capacity of winding 10 bundles (10000 meters) of yarn over the drum within an hour.
Benefits
Many local weavers and SHGs have already benefited as it saves their both time and labour cost. It is easy to use and economically viable.
Suggested reading(s):
