Small and useful innovations like "LPG fuelled Iron" take shape when common people try to improve their efficiency and productivity at work and also start thinking out of the box to solve their daily problems.

In small cities and towns of many developing countries, one can easily find some small street shops, outlets or mobile carts for pressing cloths. Generally, washer men own these shops and they don't use the electric press that we use at our homes. They have two quite common old techniques to choose from. In one of the two, a set of flat irons are heated alternatively from a single heating source to press cloths. The heating source can be a tailor's stove. In the other technique, iron box is used which has hot charcoal burning inside the box to heat the iron. Both of these types have their own limitations and are not so efficient to work with. Now, K Linga Brahmam of India has presented these washer men and shop owners with a third alternative - LPG (gas) fuelled iron.

He has modified the Iron box so that it can run on gas fuels like LPG. The LPG gas from the cylinder goes to the iron box through by a copper pipe. The iron box has a filament and an automatic lighter to ignite it. It also has a knob attached to regulate the gas flow.

Advantages of the LPG fuelled iron

The iron uses a clean fuel LPG in place of charcoal for heating and so is more eco-friendly.This gas fuelled iron is cost effective as it can be used for 24 hours with 1 kg of LPG gas.Unlike the two conventional techniques, it doesn't need long set up timeSince this iron doesn't use electricity it can be used anywhere especially in rural areas where electricity is not available.Many a times washer men in sub-urban areas keep mobile carts which can't have the power supply and so electric iron is out of the picture for them. Being portable, this LPG fuelled iron is very useful innovation for them.With this grassroots innovation there is no fear of cloths getting burned by the charcoal sparks.This gas fuelled iron is simple in design and so has no maintenance cost.

Recognition and support of the grassroots innovation

National Innovation Foundation, India (NIF) has recognized and awarded this grassroots innovation and has supported Linga Brahmam in its development. The product is in ready to market status and has also become popular among washer men in and around Linga's village.

Ashish Kumar D is a student at Indian Institute of Management, India. He likes to write articles on grassroots innovations and other related topics. To know about LPG fuelled iron's feature in detail, please visit http://www.nif.org.in/bd/flexinode/print/1/15384

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