GUWAHATI, Dec 26 - For the first time, a buta (ornamental design) making mechanical device � �Multi Buta Weaving Sley�, known among Assam weavers as Chanekee � has been designed by an Assam youth for weaving various types of ornamental designs in handloom fabrics. Already, the device has been accepted as an innovation by the Union Government and its Patent Office has granted the patent right to Dipak Bharali, the architect of this device by issuing a patent certificate.
Bharali, a resident of Sualkuchi Adaboi, is a BSc in industrial fish and fisheries. The Patent Office has granted him the patent for his device with the patent number � 302890.
With the support of the Jacquard machine, the device can help in weaving innumerable ornamental designs in the handloom fabrics with the required time reduced by three times compared to the traditional manual method.
The core of the device developed by Bharali is heavily dependent on magnet. It has a�frame�for holding the magnet bearing shaft, a�magnet bearing shaft and the specially designed bobbins. The gadget helps in automatically inserting the extra weft threads required for the desired buta weaving.
Born in a family of traditional handloom owners, Bharali conceived the device in 2006, following problems constantly faced by his weavers and the time they consumed in weaving�butas in the handloom fabrics, which affected their skills and thus adversely impacted the quality of the fabric they produced.
Bharali told this newspaper that the prototype of the device was ready by 2008 and its first market model was launched in November, 2012. The cost of production of the device is tried to be kept low taking into consideration the condition of the handloom owners.
So far, over 4,000 pieces of the device have been sold to fabric producers from across the country and to the Union Ministry of Textiles. In Sualkuchi alone, 1,500 to 1,800 pieces of the device are in use right at this moment. The figure is gradually increasing, he informed.
A piece of the device costs between Rs 7,000 and Rs 20,000, depending on the numbers of�buta�they are made to weave and also on their size.
The Union Ministry of Textiles has incorporated the device in its Cluster Development Programme and also in its handloom development schemes. Bharali has so far supplied over 1,000 pieces of the device to the Union Ministry for the purpose and over 3,000 pieces of the device have been sold to individual fabric manufacturers.
It needs mention here that Bharali was rewarded by the National Innovation Foundation, India with a state award in 2009, for this innovation of extra weft insertion in handloom.
The General Electric India rewarded Bharali for this buta weaving device in 2011. While presenting the award, the GE India said that the invention ��is not only economical to construct but pays for itself by increasing margin of profit, it saves time and also allows access of less skilled workers into the field.�
Apart from helping the handloom owners in enhancing their income, this device is also helping the weavers to multiply their income by over three times, said Bharali. This assertion of Bharali has been supported by Arup Choudhury, who owns 19 handlooms and is using the device in all his looms.
Bharali received the technical help of the IIT Guwahati in matters of determining the technique and design of the device. He has outsourced production of the parts of the device and he himself assembles theses parts to prepare the individual pieces of the device for the market sitting at his Sualkuchi factory. The installed capacity of his factory is such that Bharali can now produce 3,000 pieces of the device in a month.