Mumbai: The coronavirus pandemic has thrown a spanner in the works of mankind, globally. But some have tried to put this forced downtime to constructive use. Like Rajendra Jadhav, 62, from Dhule.
For the last few months, the farmer-cum-self-taught engineer had been avidly following the news, learning every minute detail about the virus, realising the utmost need for sanitation. So Jadhav decided to design his own disinfectant sprayer. What started as an experiment, turned out to be an innovation and he ended up with an innovative disinfectant sprayer, that can be hitched to a tractor.
A resident of Satana in Nashik district, Jadhav has used his interest in mechanics to devise some 'tools of the trade' for himself. With some help from his two sons Dhananjay,38 and Mangesh, 40, he has designed a sprayer that can sanitise roads, societies, wells, industrial compounds and fields.
It took Jadhav 25 days to manufacture the first unit, which he has named 'Yashwant' (successful). The sprayer consists of two radial aluminium fans moving in opposite directions. Each of the fans sucks air from the opposite direction which is released through nozzles at high pressure with minute droplets of the disinfectants.
The unit has a tank with a storage capacity of 600 litres, in which disinfectant mixed with water can be filled. The sprayer can be hitched to a tractor and a person driving the tractor can simultaneously operate the sprayer.
"Day after day, there was news of corona taking a toll on lives. We were wondering what we could do to contribute in driving away the virus," said Dhananjay.
"We realised the need for mass sanitation and also that in our district, we don't have mass disinfection equipment, so we decided to make our own," he added.
The Jadhavs assembled all the raw materials and manufactured the machine in their village workshop incurring an expense of Rs 1.75 lakh. Currently, the sprayer is being used by the Satana Nagar Nigam to cleanse and disinfectant the 30sq kilometres of Satana regularly.
The Jadhavs also manufactured a second unit, which they have given to a friend of theirs in Dhule, who also has put the machine to similar use.
"We have voluntarily given the machines to Satana Nagar Nigam and our friend in Dhule. We did not intend to profit from this but just wanted to do our part in the war against the pandemic," says Dhananjay.
While Jadhav has applied for a patent for his unique sprayer, his product has also been acknowledged as a potential innovative solution in India's fight against COVID-19 by the National Innovation Foundation (NIF).
