A rare gentle-man who embraced
'innovation' as his livelihood
Most of his contributions are to the following fields :
- Imitation (Rolled-gold) Jewellery Making, which is the occupation of many people in Machilipatnam, Andhra Pradesh
- Food Processing, which helped many factory owners to meet the production demand
- Incense Sticks, Dhoop Sticks, and Cup-type Dhoops Manufacturing
- As well as a few other domains where manpower shortages have caused issues
In
spite of dropping out of school, his persistence and self-confidence led him to
victory. He began his career as an assistant to a Mechanical Engineer, became
an expert in the Mechanical field, and eventually attained the level of
designing the machines on his own, entirely from scratch. Mr. Krishna Bhagavan
Thota is who he is.
His Childhood
Mr. Krishna Bhagavan Thota was born in 1946 to Mr. Venkayya
and Mrs. Anuvayamma, who hailed from Polavaram, a village in the Krishna
District of Andhra Pradesh. When he was seven years old, his family moved
to Machilipatnam for their livelihood. He studied in Ramji High
School until the seventh standard and quit there.
Start of his Career in the Mechanical
Field
Under the guidance of Mr. Hanumantha Rao
Kollipara, he learned working on a lathe machine. He was always appreciated for
his grasping power. In 1958, he
joined Mr. Narasimha Murthy R.D.L’s scientific company and worked there for a
year. Then with that experience, he joined in Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL).
There he was involved in the manufacture of microscope metal bodies and its
components on a milling machine. While at BEL, an Engineer named Mr. Narayana
Rao Chilamkurti noticed his quest and encouraged him. He worked there for ten
years with a mere monthly salary of one hundred and fifty rupees. While doing
that, to withstand his economic situation, he had woven the plastic cane wire
for the chairs, beds and bicycle baskets in various wonderful designs.
His
wife, Mrs. Venkata Ramana stood along with him, in all obstacles and
difficulties. They have two sons: Mr. Vasudeva Rao, Mr. Chandra Mouli and one
daughter, late Miss. Bharathi. Both the sons walked in his footsteps and worked
very hard along with him to come up with many more mechanical machines.
Establishing his own Workshop
His
brother, Mr. Ramachandra Rao (Uma Gold Covering Works) encouraged him in each
of his endeavors. He started his own workshop in 1969, together along with another
brother Mr. Tulasi Ram. They bought a drilling machine, lathe machine, and
welding machine with an investment of five thousand rupees. He was set ready to
do all kinds of repair work related to the mechanical field. Back then, his
workshop specialized in making tractor spare parts that were hard to find
outside in the market. When the transformer winding of the welding machine he
bought had burned out, and as he came to know that the repair would cost three
thousand rupees which he could not afford, he observed and learned the winding,
bought the copper wire, and re-wound it on his own. Similarly, windings on a
fan, single-phase, and three-phase motors were also learned and repaired.
The manufacture
of Milk-Cream Separator
The
milk-cream separators are machines that can separate butter from raw-milk. The
people of Andhra Pradesh used to import them from Europe. Unfortunately, there
were no technicians available to repair them, at that time. In 1969, people
heard about him from one another and sought his repair services. The income
that was earned from repair work didn't suffice to overcome his financial
difficulties. He tried to get out of his trouble. In 1972, he was the first in
the state, to manufacture a milk-cream separator machine with the intention of
making it in India.
Reassemble and Renovation of the 1951
model England Motorcycle "Velocette LE Mk II"
In 1974, he needed a bike, but his budget did not
allow him to buy even a second-hand one. Once, when he went to Rajahmundry, he
saw the Velocette bike that was dismantled into pieces, and thrown away in
scrap. He bought those pieces and rebuilt the motorcycle by making few parts on
his own, which could not be found in the market. This bike has a hand gear, radiator, and
hand-operated start rod similar to that of a Car/Auto. In 2020, he further
renovated the same motorcycle to be battery operated to make it more
comfortable. New viewers are amazed to see this bike.
Inventing
and Manufacturing of Machines, Chosen as Profession
He started a
business to manufacture the detergent soaps, and sold them to the market. But
he was unable to
continue the business due to the lack of manpower. Later. He tried to make and sell
the papads to the market. Unfortunately, again because of a lack of manpower,
he could not meet the market's demand and even this business was stopped. He also learned
that many people are having difficulties finding manpower for their business.
He then realized that machines would solve this problem. Since then he has decided
to make a living by helping people with his innovative machines rather than
selling the products derived from them. He
shaped his ideas. His life took a turn with this. From there, he grew step by
step and has created opportunities for unemployed people. And was further
engaged in innovation of other machines.
Innovative Tools to Facilitate his Work
He
spent several nights and days manufacturing a hydraulic machine required for
his workshop. Despite failing multiple times, he was ultimately successful. These
hydraulic machines are used to bend thin iron rods and iron sheets. Machines were also made
to easily bend iron sheets into cylindrical and conical shapes. He developed a set of accessories (lathe
attachments) in order to get more features out of a basic lathe machine and
produce parts for manufacturing machines without any hassle and quickly. These lathe attachments
can be used to do things like milling and grinding on the lathe machine itself.
His Innovations for the Field of
Rolled Gold Jewellery
Making Rolled-gold Jewellery is an occupation for many people in
Machilipatnam. He made various machines and rollers for carving various designs
on metal strings, which are used for making bangles, earrings, ornamental belt
(Vaddanam) and armlets. The design was easily
engraved on rollers using the lathe attachments he made. Various machines and
tools were innovated for outline cutting of bangles, to make Palakasarulu,
Chain-Kondilu and many other items required for Rolled-gold Jewellery. These
machines helped many unemployed women to work and earn from their homes.
Palakasarulu has fourteen faces (palakalu), like cuboid has six. To make
these by hand, a needle is inserted into a hole of a small metal piece. This
metal piece will be hammered with fourteen strokes while twisting the needle in
360degrees. People working for these used to feel the shoulder pain, as well as
it used to take time. For this, he had designed a hand-operated machine, which
can make Palakasarulu just by four strokes. These machines has greatly reduced the
people effort and saved their time. Moreover, helped in expanding their
business.
The two ends of
the metal string are soldered using a metal piece, to make a bangle. A machine
was designed to cut a plain sheet into metal pieces, required for soldering.
In 1998, he invented the machine that
could carve five diamond-shaped patterns around a thin metal wire of 1.5 to 3.5
mm in diameter. After carving, this metal wire is cut into small pieces and
used to make earrings. These earrings are popularly known as "Diamond Earrings"
in Machilipatnam.
An
Alternatives to Manpower, for Helping the Common Man
Many
people approach him to avoid human effort and he does his level best to reduce
the burden. His techniques and
ideas are always appreciated for simplifying any task. Customer satisfaction
and machine efficiency are given the highest priority over making money. He
ensures that all his machines consume less area and electric power. Several
people have been inspired by his work ethic and discipline.
Ø Once a timber depot proprietor expressed his
difficulty, that manforce is not willing to handle the hard-work of rupturing
the fire-wood continously. Bhagavan, then came up with a machine to make their
job easy. The proprietor appreciated his innovation. Also expressed happily
that manforce is enjoying the work and they could complete a weeks task in two
days.
Ø Machines were also made for the domain of
offset printing in the year 1992.
Ø Once, he went to
a hospital and he observed the difficulty of the dentist in making a product.
He made a vibrator and presented it to the dentist. Dentist was astonished for Bhagavan’s
presence of mind and his innovative thoughts.
Ø Instead of
boiling water on a gas stove, with the thought that it would be nice to have a
gas geyser like an electric geyser, he made a gas geyser that served the
purpose perfectly. He supplied these units at a reasonably low cost to all friends
and relatives, who liked these.
Ø Once, a hotel owner approached him for a mixer/grinder
that can help prepare Coconut/Ground-nut Chutneys, Ginger-Garlic paste, and
Chilli Powder. Realizing that the coupler had a problem with the mixer
available on the market, he developed a high-speed mixer with a large jar,
addressing the coupler issue. It is easier and more convenient to use than
small mixers at home. These mixers are now used in many hotels at
Machilipatnam.
Ø Badam (Almond) milk and Badam ice cream are very
famous in Machilipatnam. Badam milk is stirred (by hand earlier,) at a
temperature of -20OC to make Badam Ice Cream. He designed a machine
to stir Badam milk for its merchants. Furthermore, at their request, he added a
motor to the hand-operated Pista/Almond Slicer to reduce human involvement.
Ø He made a machine to make Dhoop sticks using
Cow Dung, upon a request from an entrepreneur.
Ø He also invented many other machines for the
common man.
Technical Expertise for Ambica Agarbathies & Aroma Industries, Eluru
During
1994, he invented innovative machines used for the production of incense
sticks, dhoop sticks, and cup/cone dhoops, for Ambica Agarbathies & Aroma
Industries Ltd., in Eluru. Initially, he has designed semi-automatic incense-stick-making machine. Eventually, he made it
fully-automatic, which significantly improved production capacity and reduced
human intervention. This machine is unique in that it can apply greasy
substance (cooked form of natural herbs) to wooden sticks. Furthermore, he
developed a simple, inexpensive machine (also available in the market made by
other Engineers) that can coat only dry (non-oily) powder to wooden sticks.
Design of
Machines for Processing Food and Making Confectionery
A
factory that makes sweets and snacks approached him to provide affordable
food-processing equipment in 2014. He came up with machines to make a variety
of Namkeen/Karappusa (gram-flour sticks), Boondi (gram-flour mini balls) and
Motichoor-boondi (micro balls). These machines are mounted directly on
stove-bench or trolley (as per customer need), such that dough is directly fed
into pan on stove. Height of the trolley is customized as per Stove at
Customer’s location.
The
four kinds of laddu making machines have been innovated; the machine can be
selected according to the type and flour used: hard, soft or caramel. These
machines can produce Sunnundalu (Black gram laddu), Sadha (Bandar) laddu, Coconut
balls, Peanut/sesame balls, Boondi laddu and many other laddus. By using the
right technology and formula, he ensures that the product will have the same
size, shape, taste, and texture as a handcrafted product. Rollers are used to
make few kind of laddus spherical. The alignment of the rollers and the helical
structure on top of them play a key role in the design of this machine. The
rollers can be changed according to the desired laddu size.
The
machine was designed to make Chakodi (Rice-Flour Rings) and Chekkalu
(Rice-Flour Crackers). The product from these machines is more crunchy than
that from other machines available in the market. The die of Chakodi making
machine, can be changed according to the desired size and shape of the Chakodi.
He also invented machines to choke the rice flour, to make cylindrical bars of
choked rice flour, and to cut cylindrical bars into pieces. These pieces are
placed on the conveyor of Chekkalu making machine and it presses to make it
flat. Synchronizing the conveyor movement and pressing time is crucial, while
manufacturing this machine.
Maida
flour dough pieces are used to make Badusha Sweets. A machine was made to
deliver these pieces uniformly. In this machine, the weight of the piece can be
changed by making small adjustments. This machine can provide equal-sized
pieces of any material that is sticky like Maida Flour.
The
machine was invented to grate the jaggery needed for the peanut/sesame balls.
Jaggery grated on this machine turns into a caramel very quickly when put on
the stove. Its tub is capable of carrying and processing 20kg of jaggery
block/bar at a time. Consumers
say that the machines available in the market can make Jaggery into small
pieces but this machine is unique in grating Jaggery.
He
designed a low-cost and fully-automatic machine, that can separate the seed
from Amla and further can cut Amla into five pieces. The other machines serving
this purpose, available in the market are either expensive or semi-automatic.
Apart from these, machines were also designed for filtering ghee from its
residue, and those needed in the process of making Khaja Sweets.
To
make the machine more affordable, Iron is used for the machine frame and
stainless steel for parts, that are in close contact with food. The machines he
does, are customized
based on the customer's needs. Also these machines sparked the idea for others to
start the business, using these machines. His perseverance in making even more
new machinery keeps him still active. He has strong determination to continue
these innovative thinking and apply for the benefit of the people.
Here
are a few of his words …
I
follow my father's principle that "One must always strive with their level
best, to find a solution to any kind of problem". Our future will be
always fruitful if we believe in our efforts. Anyone with constant thinking, a quest to achieve, and
self-confidence can achieve success. I often had trouble running a home while
working as an assistant (coolie). Nevertheless Now, I'm happy to say
that I have created jobs for few people. Working enthusiastically is the only principle I know.
Technical Details
of Few Machines Innovated by him:
|
Food Processing
(Sweets and Snacks making) Machinery |
|||
|
Innovation/Machine |
Production Capacity |
Motor Capacity |
Area occupied |
|
Boondi
& Motichoor Boondi |
50-60 Kg/Hr |
½ HP |
2’ x 2’ with
trolley |
|
Variety of
Snack Namkeen (Karappusa) |
40-50 Kg/Hr |
½ HP |
2’ x 3’
with trolley |
|
Sweet Sunnunda |
80 Kg/Hr |
1 HP |
3’ x 2.5’ Each
roller: 2’ x 2.5’ |
|
Sadha
(Bandar) laddu, Coconut-laddu |
35g laddu
- 100 Kg/Hr |
Two ¼ HPs
& Two ½ HPs |
8’ x 2.5’ |
|
Peanut/seasame
laddu |
40 Kg/Hr |
½ HP |
3’ x 3’ |
|
Boondi
laddu |
35g ladoo
- 90 Kg/Hr |
Two ½ HPs |
3’ x 4’ Each
roller: 2’ x 2.5’ |
|
Snack Chakodi |
60-65 Kg/Hr |
1 HP |
2’ x 3’ |
|
Snack Chekkalu |
80 Kg/Hr |
½ HP |
2’ x 5’ |
|
Badusha |
35g piece
- 70 Kg/Hr |
¼ HP +
½ HP |
3’ x 3’ |
|
Sweet Khaja |
450 pieces/minute (3 Rows) |
½ HP |
2’ x 8’ |
|
Jaggery
slicer |
70 Kg/Hr |
1 HP |
3’ x 4’ |
|
Ghee
Filter |
15Kg/Press
(10 minutes) |
1 HP |
4’ x 2.5’ |
|
For Amla seed
separation |
30-35 Kg/Hr |
½ HP |
2’ x 3’ |
|
For
choking dough |
Pan
capacity: 15Kgs |
½ HP |
3’ x 5’ |
|
Machines for
the field of Rolled-Gold Jewellery |
|||
|
Innovation/Machine |
Production Capacity |
Motor Capacity |
Area occupied |
|
Design
Embossing machine |
2400
bangles/hour |
2 HP |
2’ x 4’ |
|
Five-Diamond
design carving machine |
1200
ear-rings/hour |
1 HP |
2’ x 3’ |
|
Palakasarulu
making machine |
4 strokes
instead of 14 strokes |
Hand
operated |
2’ x 2’ |
|
Kondilu
related tools |
200
kondilu/minute |
1/2 HP |
2’ x 3’ |
|
Machine to
cut metal pieces for soldering |
180
pieces/minute |
1/4 HP |
2’ x 2’ |
|
Few other
machines developed |
|||
|
Innovation/Machine |
Production Capacity |
Motor Capacity |
Area occupied |
|
Machine to
rupture the fire-wood |
1Weeks
task in 2days |
2 HP |
2.5’ x 10’ |
|
Badam-Milk
stirrer |
Double
jar, 40 liters each |
½ HP |
2.5’ x
2.5’ |
|
Hotel High
Capacity Mixer |
3Kgs /
3minutes |
2200 W |
1’ x 2’ |
|
Vibrator |
-- |
1/4 HP |
1.5’ x
1.5’ |
|
Spiral making with steel
pipe (For Towel hangers) |
-- |
1 HP |
2’ x 3’ |
|
Dhoops
with Cow Dung |
250 dhoops/minute |
1 HP |
2’ x 3’ |
|
Machine to
paste non-oily (dry) powder on a stick (Insense stick) |
150 sticks/minute |
1/4 HP |
2’ x 3’ |
|
Machine to
paste oily substance on a stick (Incense sticks) |
60 sticks/minute |
1/4 HP |
8’ x 4’ |
|
Cup-shaped
dhoops making machine |
85 cups/minute |
2 HP |
4’ x 4’ |
|
Cylindrical
dhoops making machine |
2400 dhoops/minute |
5 HP |
6’ x 4’
& 10’ long conveyor |