In the present age, paper is used extensively in every sphere of life. Paper is defined as “all kinds of matted or felted sheet of fibre formed on wire screen from water suspension." It includes all types of papers, ranging from the thinnest tissue paper to the heaviest board. The papers and paperboats coming out of the paper mills have to be further cut for everyone’s requirements. Much of the further cutting work is done in printing presses. But many times people in design offices, drawing offices, colleges, stationary marts, etc. feel the need for a paper-cutting machine to meet their individual variant requirements. The guillotine press used in printing presses is too costly and too bulky to be used in design offices. Moreover, guillotine machines are large-capacity machines suitable for mass production. At present, ordinary knives, razor blades, Stanley knives, or Kilburn cutters are being used in design offices and paper stationary marts. But these instruments are insufficient to fulfil the purpose.

Redesign of Domestic Electrical Hardware- elaborating the title the first word that comes up is redesign. Redesign because a number of designs exist. Domestic implies that it is to be used exclusively at places of domicile or residency. Electrical means pertaining to electricity. Hardware originally meant “Ironmongers” products. Now they mean all products sold by a ‘Hardware’ merchant. So the problem is one of redesigning electrical equipment such as wiring equipment, plugs, sockets etc. Even a superficial examination of existing products reveals many flows which quite inexplicably exist in almost all the designs presently in the market. As the product itself exists and is extremely common place past experience reveals that the existing designs have many times failed to perform the function due to defects in design.

Industrial design, relatively new discipline is often misunderstood as a decorative design imparting importance only to the visual and formal qualities of a product. In fact, it is not merely a formal conception but rather the solution of a more complex problem. It does not accept the structure and mechanism as limits within which its solution must be developed. An industrial designer’s background in engineering, ergonomics, innovation, economy and aesthetics enables him to design a product which is most acceptable to the user as well as the producer. In the design of heavy machineries and scientific equipments like vaccum coating plant, the innovative and human engineering aspects of industrial design can play a very significant role. In other words, it works with an intuitive sense of materials, for structure: for the economics of product use maintenance and replacement: and for the organization of elements into significant sensory patterns.

The sugarcane crusher being considered as it exists today is used for extracting sugarcane juice, which is a popular drink both in urban and rural areas. In rural areas, bullock-driven, engine-driven, and electric motor-driven crushers are used as the scale is much larger. There it is basically used for the manufacture of raw sugar and jiggery. The drink is not the basic aim. It is a tool that provides a very low investment mode of self-employment to people and is quite profitable, though it is limited to the uneducated class only. The problem of redesigning occurs because it is felt that the present system is chaotically complex. It presents a very complicated and mechanical impression. From the looks of it, it appears unhygienic. No ergonomical factors have been considered in the present design. It is also felt necessary to increase the aesthetic value, reduce the cost, and make its operation easier.

Children’s early years are vitally important, and in these years they need maximum comforts, attention, and plenty of things and people to play with. Some experts even go as far as to insist that a child’s essential characteristics are irrevocably formed by the time he is five. Young parents of today are well aware of these needs. In every growing family, from which ever income group, one could always find some form of equipment for the comfort of the young children and along with that some playthings too. The type of equipment or toys may differ from one income group to another. Choice is often limited by the family resources and space in or around home.

The economic condition of an average family in India, as it is today, limits the parents ability to buy what they consider most essential for them and for their children. So buying of toys is most affected as most parents tend to give more importance to the physical comfort that they or their children can get rather than to buy toys for their children, more so as children lose interest in a toy very soon. Most often, the attempt is to improvise or make toys at home.

Indian society accepts barbers as a class, and their traditional profession still exists, with an exception that may be urban cities. The pattern of this profession is totally traditional in rural areas and thus differs from cities, where it becomes either self-involved or essentially business-oriented. In spite of the fact that the fashion of sporting long hairs has caught up with men, this hasn’t in any way reduced the barber’s job potential. In fact, his work has become more specialised as a hairdresser. The barber wants his livelihood and to keep up his traditional profession. Customer pays more and demands comfort. No more, he can ask his customer to sit on the roadside. He wants a decent and clean saloon with necessary gadgets—a saloon chair, mirrors, instruments, aprons, a waste box, a waiting bench, and a few magazines.

In every engineering, medical, chemical, or textile industry, the goods are packed to transport them from industry to consumer. Packaging of wooden cases involves nailing. In all the industries, nailing is done manually by hammer. Generally, for the other operations and processes, some kind of machine or instrument is used to improve speed and operating convenience. The nailers in the packaging section of the industry are nailing constantly for eight hours, which causes strain to their hands. So there is a need to make the nailing operation easy by some means. There are some automatic nailing machines, but the rate of making boxes is higher, which is not needed. Secondly, its cost is high, which an average industry cannot afford just for nailing.

Today the need for first aid is greater than ever. Populations are growing throughout the world, and the increased use of mechanical and electrical appliances in everyday use at home, at work, and at play places puts more and more people at risk of injury. Aims of first aid, especially in the industries, are to ensure as rapid and complete a return of function as possible and to reduce to a minimum unavoidable period of absence from the work due to injury. First aid is emergency treatment of the casualty provided immediately after the injury. But most of the industries do not satisfy this basic requirement of the temporary, immediate, and efficient treatment. The fault lies with the inadequate training as well as with the unhygienic first aid box. Coupled with this is the mentality of the society, which is not conducive to proper hygienic treatment. It was felt that to a certain extent, a hygienic attitude could be developed and proper treatment encouraged by a well-designed first aid kit.

Transportation and travel are the set of activities involved with the movement of passengers and goods into, out of, and within rural and urban areas. Travelling is an essential ingredient in the functioning of our society, which has a great variety of functions with social, cultural, political, and military repercussions. India, being a vast country, has seven different zonal railways, and all of them cover a long range of distances, requiring two or more nights for travel. Basically, however, the problem is a lack of a well-equipped transit system and availability of accommodation for the common people. The present system neither functions properly nor operates at the expected level. Railways being the major source of revenue, there exists a need for regional arrangements and planning to bring innovative improvements in moving people and goods within our technological capabilities.

Man is envolved in environment from the most basic expression of the family unit, a shelter, through the educational process with its structure and facility to services that have evolved for his care in times of sickness, even to the places in which he seeks entertainment. Home, school, hospital, museum, factory, and office are integral parts of man’s environment. Environment either adds or detracts from man’s dignity. The office is the most important environment in which one works because it is one of the largest expressions of the human organization. It is in the office that the acceleration of change is most dynamic. For most of us, office environment is a fact and not a matter of individual choice. Therefore, it is the responsibility of management to create the environment necessary to fulfil not only the role of the organisation but also the bio/socio needs of the individual.

Climbing in the Himalayas is a challenge for a mountaineer. A visit to the Indian mountains is the ultimate aim in his mountaineering career. Every year, hundreds of foreigners visit India for mountaineering. Even in India, hiking and mountaineering are very popular sports. There are three mountaineering institutes and a number of registered mountaineering clubs. In colleges, there are hiking clubs. Even then, India is still the least developed of all gear used in the mountains. Why this anomaly? First, mountaineering equipment manufacturers tend to be rather small firms with few or no research facilities. Second, there is a lack of feedback from research organisations to these firms. Third, there are little or no research organisations for these firms. Third, there is little or no research with respect to the Indian environment to suit the Indian climate, structure, and capacity of an Indian mountaineer. There is some research done by the Indian army, but the outcome of the research is not made available to common people. Carrying the load on the back, or “backpacking,” is the most important phase for a hiker or a mountaineer. The comfort, safety, and convenience of equipment are his main concerns.

The standing cooking platform is not very new concept in India today. Though it has become very common in upper-class people and new housing projects do plan a standing worktop, the old style of cooking is as common as before in the lower middle class. The standing cooking platform has very many advantages. The main advantage is safety. There was a survey carried out by a hospital group in Bombay a few years ago to find out the causes of accidents in the kitchen. The results showed that the majority of accidents occur where there are no cooking platforms but cooking is done on the ground. Cooking on the ground is not safe for the housewife, who has to bend and reach over the stove for shelves. On the other hand, it is not safe for young children either. Besides safety, the standing-type kitchen platform is found more convenient; the movements are faster and easier. It does not occupy large space, which is very important in a city like Bombay where the houses are far too overcrowded.