Business

MGIRI Develops Low Maintenance, Portable And Eco-friendly Desi Wool Roving Machine Suitable For Rural And Hilly Area Based Artisans

Large quantity of Raw Desi (Indian) wool is being produced in Northern states like Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Punjab and Rajasthan. Major quantities of the wools are used for making carpets and blankets in states other than the mother states [1]. Very small quantity of this wool is used in hilly areas and rural sector for spinning on traditional equipments in which can make coarse yarn for blankets only. Though hilly state like Himachal Pradesh is producing about 1500 metric tons of raw wool annually [2], its value addition is not being done locally and the same is exported to other states.

Hand spinning using Amber charkha and handloom weaving has considerable potentiality for employment generation in these areas. In fact, spinning on 6 spindles New Model Charkha can be carried out as a household activity even in remote areas by using this roving making machine developed at MGIRI.

Technology gap and need of Intervention

Any wool fibre, finer than 25 microns, can be used for garments, while coarser grades are used for outerwear like rugs. Finer the wool, the softer it is, while coarser grades are more durable & less prone to pilling [3]. Desi wool fibre, courser than 33-35 microns and fibre length of 1.5 inch to 4 inches are presently having limitations in terms of drudgery, output etc. while processing it for roving making. The traditional means of spinning such wools are Takli & to some extent Bageshwar charkha. The promotion of industries based on local resources and skills are the vital components of planning for employment and income distribution. In the context of local resources and needs on one hand and poor infrastructural facilities on the other, woollen textile manufacturing in the cottage sector appears to be an important industry for hill area development [4]. R&D inputs in the direction of value added products using locally available wool in the hill/rural regions are a priority area at present and MGIRI have felt necessary to develop and establish a low cost, eco-friendly intermediate machine for making of Desi wool roving.

Response:

As per interest of Institutions carrying out desi woollen activities in H.P., Uttrakhand, J&K etc. regarding development of intermediate process equipment for conversion woollen carded sliver into roving on bobbin, an initiative has been taken up by developing a proto type desi wool roving machine at MGIRI, Wardha.

Machine Description:

The system developed is simple and require less maintenance. The major components are wood and cast iron. It is portable and price would be affordable to rural artisans and also eco-friendly in nature. Drafting zone set up, Roving guide ring, Horizontal Roving spindle, Roving bobbin, Drive mechanism of roving guide (disc & lever attachment), Drive mechanism for rotation of roving spindle are novelty of this machine. By introduction of 3/3 drafting rolls along with one pair of delivery rolls (one rubber & one G.S.), doubling and drafting of carded slivers are carried out. There are provisions for adjustment of gear settings for draft changing and roll gauge for various lengths of desi wool fibres.

Spring type roller pressure has been applied. In the base of drafting zone there are fabric sheets which could guide flow of fibres without lapping. Delivery roll provided to avoid electrostatic problem, fly generation and lapping in rolls. There is a provision for adjustment of drafting pressure.

Tapper type roving guide suitable for wool fibres has been designed specially and applied. It prevents generation of electrostatic forces and hence avoids fly generation. The diameter is bigger in size so that it helps in producing minimal amount of twist in roving.

A disc with lever attachment is used for horizontal movement of roving guide ring so that roving may be wound on full length of roving bobbin. The drive mechanism is light weighed and only one gear has been used to drive it through a groove pulley so that minimum manual force is required for horizontal movement of roving guide. The spindle is light weight, easy to operate manual drive and require low maintenance. Spindle tapper is very much suitable for gripping the wooden bobbin on it and avoids slippage and fitted in horizontal direction. Wooden bobbin is used for wrapping of roving to make a roving package. The bobbin is used on horizontal roving spindle. The inner diameter of bobbin hole is so adjusted that it may easily rotate with the same rpm as of roving spindle without slippage and can be removed easily. This bobbin can be used in spinning machine like charkha as input.

Cotton thread has been used to drive the spindle pulley through main shaft handle attached to the pulley. The pulleys have V shaped groove to avoid slippage and to minimize the friction and keep the applied driving force to minimum.

Benefits and Advantage:

This system is suitable for producing roving on bobbins which can be carried easily to wool charkha spinning clusters or may be fed directly on NMC charkha which would eliminate manual handling of material and minimize the drudgery and ultimately improve the quality of spun yarn. Roving from 0.40 Nm to 1.0 Nm hank may be produced by minor adjustments through gear setting and hence Increase in the Desi wool yarn spun count from 4-6 to 8-12 and rendering possible new designs. The major parts are made of wood, manually driven and easy to be maintained by a semi skill artisan and are eco-friendly in nature. It is easy to install and imparting training and does not require electric power.

Results and Evidences:

The machine has been demonstrated in presence of representatives of various wool producing centers like Sindh Valley khadi Gramodyog Ashram, Srinagar; Kashmir Khadi Sangh, Srinagar; Shri Gandhi Seva Sadan, Jammu; Himachal Khadi Ashram, Shimla and other members who visited MGIRI, Wardha.

References:

1. India wool Industry

2. State/UT Animal Husbandry Departments; kashvet.uni.cc

3. Wikipedia-the free encyclopedia: For wool fibre length & mission details.

4. Woolen textile production and KVIC for hill area development: Mr. Frances Sinha, Mr. Sanjay Sinha

Note: The machine is under patent process in the name of MGIRI, Wardha