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Details Of Innovation
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The mini-tractor is seen as the ideal substitute for bullocks and other drought animals. The reason for this shift in the attitude of the farmer stems from the fact that these machines do not cost anything when idle, while bullocks need upkeep even when there is no work. Also small families find it difficult to spend time in attending to the bullocks. A mix of these difficult questions spurred Mulubhai Senjaliya, an innovative farmer of Junagadh district, to design a 5.5hp mini-tractor. Background Small traction machine is seeing as the ideal substitute for the bullocks and other draught animal. The reason for this shift in the attitude of the farmer stems from the fact that these machines do not cost anything when idle, while the bullocks need upkeep even if there is no work. Also small families find it difficult to spend time in tending the bullocks. A mix of these difficult questions spurred on Mulubhai Senjalia to design a 5.5 H.P. driven small traction machine. The details about the innovation may be gathered by following the likes. Idea of Innovation The increasing cost of maintaining the bullocks and the risk of untimely death associated with them has drawn the farmers toward machines. The machines in the market are expensive, highly inefficient in fuel consumption and are out of the reach of the poor farmers. Mulubhai,a small farmer, could not find a readymade alternative to his problem and set himself the target of designing a small 5.5 H.P. tractor that would be ideal for replacing his bullocks. Mulubhai used the locally made 5.5 H.P. engine and has employed the gearbox of a power tiller. During a recent visit to Mulubhai's residence, GIAN team got the tractor evaluated from other innovators working on the traction machine. The group felt that the tractor has been designed very well, as the size has been kept small by having the differential and the gearbox together. The tractor has a wheelbase of four tyres and can pull approximately two M.T. of load. The tractor also has very high fuel efficiency, which is claimed to be one liter of diesel per hectare of cultivation. Features: Engine : Runs on 5.5 H.P oil engine Tyres - four wheel Starting - hand franking Gears - Four High & One Reverse; Pulley based gears system which makes efficient use of energy Capacity - 2 tonnes Diesel consumption - 1 lit / hac. cultivation It has three point linkage system to join trailer and all types of implements for agricultural operation Very low diesel consumption It can fulfill the requirement of small farmers Current Status: The farmers have received the tractor developed by Mulubhai very well and he has been able to sell five such tractors. GIAN team has visited the site and inspected the tractor. The prominent weaknesses that were noticed in the current prototype includes the lack of standardization of spares, absence of a variable speed engine (that starts at a lower rpm and can be accelerated to higher rpm throttle) and perfection of the design. These improvements would be required in the tractor before it could be taken to Budhni for further testing. Currently the innovator has a rudimentary tractor design that needs to be tested and standardized. The prototype that has been developed by him is made of second hand material bought from the open market. The tractor has performed all kind of inter culturing function and has pulled the load in the trying conditions. The tractor has been, manufactured and designed by the innovator in a small workshop in his village. Most of the activities are fabrication activities and the design developed by the farmer is quite robust.
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