India is a developing country. Her economic conditions are typical, as are her culture and the mode of living of her people. The country's per capita GNP is Rs 650 per annum. This also implies that only three million people in the country, or about five percent of the total population, earn more than Rs 5,000, and only six million earn more than Rs 3,000 per year. People in the uppermost income bracket are the owners of the 10 lakh motor cars that are on Indian roads. A lower section of this income bracket, earning between Rs 6,000 and Rs 12,000 per annum, can also afford some kind of motorised vehicle. However, this group cannot ever hope to buy a motor car, which costs around Rs 20,000. As a result, they must either forego the great conveniences provided by a family vehicle such as a car or opt for a secondary mode of transportation. The only substitute vehicle that also has a lower price and is suitable for family use would be some kind of two-wheeler, such as a motorcycle, scooter, or moped, all of which are poor substitutes for a regular family vehicle.

It is in this analytical framework that the three wheeled autorickshaw could fulfil a pressing transportation need for the average Indian. Being a small vehicle with a simple structural design and sufficient power (7 horse power), it is probably the closest reality to the concept of a people’s car. However, the autorickshaw is not accepted today as a family vehicle, despite its tremendous versatility and potential. The cost of the autorickshaw, at about Rs 8,000, is quite reasonable during the lifetime of the middle income group. This can be understood in its true perspective when the cost of the autorickshaw is compared to the cost of the existing motor cars, which cost two to three times as much. Despite these factors that position the autorickshaw as the ideal vehicle, it must now be noted that it severely lacks in several critical functional aspects, rendering it unsuitable for use as a family vehicle.

The primary aim of this project is to redesign the existing autorickshaw with a view to eliminating all these inherent defects and initiating the genesis of a far superior design specifically meant to provide all the functions of a family vehicle, unlike the existing multipurpose vehicle, which is modified to serve the purpose in a limited way.

Such an approach to the problem should give birth to a singularly unique design that would, in effect, be a substitute family vehicle for that large section of the population that cannot afford a motor car but does feel the need for one. It cannot be stressed enough here how significant such a solution would be for the immediate and substantial improvement in the standard and quality of living of the Indian people.

Designers everywhere must be aware of the great changes taking place in the drawing office. Drafting is rapidly becoming a new technology. The drawing office environment, which has hardly changed in the past half century, is undergoing a revolution. The employment of advanced electronic equipment and automated drafting machines within the drawing office has given rise to the creation of an atmosphere much more in keeping with the draftman’s important role in industry today.

Quality and reliability standards of products have become more rigorous, and manufacturers have been faced with the problem of needing to reduce overhead costs. Lowering standards of accommodation in the drawing office, coupled with the feeling of not being paid a salary proportional to the importance of their contribution to the company’s success, have resulted in trained drafttsmen leaving the drawing office for other related fields. These factors gave rise to the need to automate the traditionally manual methods of drawing offices in order to reduce to a minimum the lead time required between the conception of an idea and its production reality. And the drafting machine, as a device, is central to this.

The fuller utilisation of the higher abilities of draftsmen is a  major challenge today. To meet this challenge, ways and means of reducing the time and effort required to make drawings are needed. Among these ways and means are the use of simplified drafting machines and methods, the elimination of non-essential and exclusive use of drafting aids, and time savers.

Unlike in foreign countries, India cannot go for computer-aided drafting machines because of the high capital costs involved in it. The majority of drawings required by industries today in India are still produced by manual methods, and this situation is likely to continue for some time.

Most of the drawing machines manufactured in India today are so expensive that an ordinary designer can never afford them. Furthermore, in the available drafting machines, no human consideration has been taken into account, resulting in user fatigue. The unnecessary floor area taken up by its bulkiness and complicated operational sequences make the product still worse. After studying the aforesaid problems, the redesigning of the drafting table was felt to be long overdue.

Every industrial establishment, small and large, is now equipped with welding appliances. Welding has become one of the principal means of fabricating and repairing metal products. Modern welding has become one of the principal means of fabricating and repairing metal products. Modern welding methods date from the discovery of electric current by Davey in 1912. In 1881, electric welding was first brought into use. The first practical torch having an oxy-acetylene flame for welding was used by Fouche and Picard in 1901. This method was first applied in 1903.

The vast expansion of welding processes used in industry can be judged by the amount of welding material used every year. In the U.S.A. in 1937, five billion cubic feet of oxygen and two billion cubic feet of acetylene were used for welding. In the same year, 155,310,000 pounds of welding wire were also used. Welding finds extensive use in the following industries: aerospace and rocketry, automotive, railroad, shipbuilding, containers, furniture and fixtures, industry machinery, personal service machinery, building and bridge construction, maintenance, etc.

Welding is subject to greater hazards than any other manual or manufacturing activity, and these may lead to serious accidents not only for the workman himself but also for those in his vicinity. For this reason, safety regulations for welding have been framed by all the countries in the world.

Due to the nature of the process, the welder’s body and clothing must also be protected from radiation and burns caused by flying globules of molten metal. The arc, in addition to being very bright, is a source of infrared and ultraviolet light, which are harmful to the eyes and skin. The fumes also cause some problems.

The importance of cloth is indicated by the fact that it satisfies man's second, but not secondary, economic need after food. The textile industry is the world's second-largest industry, consuming 10% of global energy and playing a significant role in the global economy.

At the retail level, millions of metres of cloth produced by global industry are measured manually with a measuring stick or tape. The process of cloth measurement at retail level is the most habitual, oldest, and most universal.

The idea behind taking up the project is to design an intermediate link between customer and salesman that will make retail cloth measuring more convenient and faster. Such a design can become a boon for the salesman at the time of stock checking, particularly for the mill’s retail shops.

Considering the present case of industrial and technological development, fashions, and a competitive market, it is found that the major factor governing the production of cloth in industry is the feedback that the sales department obtains from the sales of the cloth at retail level. Bearing all these factors in mind, I feel that my attempt at designing such a device will be justified.

Man is the kind of animal that must have adventure, excitement, and romance. The pursuit of happiness, the love of adventure, and the desire for achievement are great motivating forces, which are realised most fully in recreation play.

Universally, play is the chief occupation of the young child during his waking hours. Through play, the child attains growth and experience, it is the major business of life for him. It is nature’s way of affording outlets for the great biological urge for activity and the means of acquiring skills. A playground is an area designed to afford a wide range of enjoyable and desirable activities for children of elementary school age, youth, adults, and families. Equipment is provided in the playground to provide opportunities for play.

The report refers to the work carried out for the design of playground equipment for children in the age groups of 5–6 years and 12–14 years. The work starts with the facts regarding play, its psychological understanding; social and other relevance. This leads to the formation of concepts and ideas. The designer then proceeds with the development of the idea. The last section leads to the proposal for the equipment. The proposals are not solutions in and of themselves, but rather a first step toward the change-oriented organisation of space and theme for one of the environments that the child encounters. The proposals suggested are experiments outlined that may lead to the solution.

Miss. B. Sampat's sincere efforts to expose her knowledge, time, and experience for the design are heartily acknowledged, and the Industrial Design Center's efforts to convert this work into a play are beyond words.

Escape from poverty is the problem of the poor. Attempts have always been made to solve this. The poor try everything, including begging the resourceful, before taking up the trade of vending their wares. This is only a small area of self-employment available to them. But still, they cannot afford regular shops because of their low finances. Then they have to find the market. In addition to this, they have a day-to-day economy and cannot be sure of the continuous supply of commodities. The mobile shop is the basic equipment for selling their wares. It transports the commodity to the market; the source may be far from market locations, so it lets him choose his own market at times. The existing mobile shops concentrate mainly on food items with little or no preparation. They are good to start with, since they require minimum know and do not require a large financial investment; otherwise, the number of items can be limited to the financial capability.

Sometimes the whole family helps prepare the items. Also, food items are easier to sell. The mobile shops also sell small articles when they are handicrafts or are cheaply available. They may have to change locations according to market conditions, seasons, trends, or personal difficulties. Sometimes even the commodity is changed depending on availability, changes in resources, seasons, markets, etc. The mobile shop owner faces a number of operational challenges, such as finding resources and continuously feeding them, transporting commodities, being unaware of market conditions and an unstable economy, and dealing with legal restrictions regarding selling on the sidewalk, such as licenses, etc.

The problems are complex when the mobile shop cannot find a suitable market for its commodities and wandering becomes a daily routine. The shop suffers losses if perishables are not sold in a timely manner. The mobile shop is a convenient arrangement for city dwellers. The general atmosphere of hurry and the need for fast service almost induce the common man to use these shops. Also, mobile shops are found to be very suitable for recreational environments. The sale of goods on the streets is prohibited by city authorities due to health concerns. The mobile shops also tend to use the pavement and sidewalks and get in the way of people. This creates issues with traffic and pedestrian movements.

Toasting is the process of dehydrating bread. Toasting is primarily done to make the bread more tasty. Simple bread slice cannot be eaten without either butter or jam but a toast can be eaten independently. An oven-hot toast tastes better than an ordinary bread slice or a cold toast. In the case of toaster heat is given by means of radiation.

In these fast-moving days, bread has become one of the most important food items. It is a ready-made food item that does not require much further preparation and is cheap. The busy housewife of today or the working lady finds it suitable to serve bread either at breakfast or during the meals. So it is time-saving as well as cheap. However in India the bread has remained as a secondary article and not the main one. Therefore it can be seen that there is a heavy demand for a toaster which can serve the need of a restaurant or a hostel mess.

At present, a person has to wait for quite a long time to get a hot toast in the restaurants as well as in the hostel mess. This has been seen by myself and also has been head from many people. The reason behind this waiting is the non-availability of suitable toasters for such catering establishments. Hence I have chosen this problem. With the increase of hotel going people and the increase in hostel messes, the demand for such a toaster will be always on the increase. Hence I think this attempt in designing such a toaster will get a warm welcome.

Drying of foods in order to preserve them during the seasons of abundance for the consumption during the season of shortage is an old art. In India this technique was much widely used in olden days. The traditional dry fruits like kokam ‘Ambapoli’, Manuka and dried mushrooms are eloquent testimony of our ancestors knowledge of dehydration technology. The word dryer, evaporator and dehydrator are at present used as if synonymous therefore at this stage it is essential to clarify the difference between those terminologies. To dehydrate means to remove water by any means, squeezing centrifuging or evaporating. Drying means removal of all possible liquids, water, ether, alcohol etc. from the solids. Evaporation is drying not under well controlled conditions of temperature, humidity and air flow, whereas dehydrator ensures much controlled conditions. In this discussion it is too early to say what degree of controlled conditions.

We are aiming at, hence it is preferred to call the machine a drier rather than a dehydrator or an evaporator. Just as the civil war stimulated the canning industry the Boer War and the First World War stimulated the dehydration industry. To conserve the cargo space enormous amounts of foods were dehydrated during the two world wars. In Germany in 1898 there were 3 drying plants and in 1917 there were 1900. It is this that increased her ability to maintain her food supply during 1939 to 1944. To give an idea of the space conservation may I illustrate with an example. A tonne of apricot in canned form weighs 2800 lbs and in dried form only 400 lbs leaving aside advantages due to the less costly and light packaging. The most economical method of drying is by sundrying and a majority of dried fruits today are sundried.

Raw materials often occur in sizes that are too large for the user, and therefore, they must be reduced in size. Depending on whether the material is a solid or a liquid, this size reduction operation can be divided into two major categories. If it is a solid, the operations are known as grinding and cutting; if it is a liquid, the operations are known as emulsification or automization. Grinding and cutting reduce the size of solid materials by mechanical action, dividing them into smaller particles. Perhaps the most extensive application of grinding in the food industry is in the milling of wheat grains to flour, but it is used on many other occasions, such as in the grinding of corn for the manufacture of corn starch, the grinding of sugar, and the milling of dried foods.

More than 6000 years ago, people ceased to eat grain in its wild state and began to break it up with a rude kind of pestle and mortar. Later, a primitive hand mill came into use. This consisted of two stones with roughened surfaces between which the grain was ground. The quern, the next mill to emerge, was made of two circular stones, the upper one rotating around the lower, to which it was attached by a metal or wooden pin. The corn was introduced between the stones by means of a funnel in the upper stone, which also had a small hole near its edge into which a stick was inserted to serve as a handle. The quern is still used by semi-civilised people, and in remote parts of Ireland, the Hebrides, and the Shetlands. Down to 1874, the grindstone remained the basis of the flour mill, but the power was supplied by animal labour, wind, and water. In smaller mills, grind stones are still used, and certain types of flour are produced. They are made of ‘buhr’, a very hard silicate. They are from 4 to 6 ft. in diameter, and their surfaces are grooved or furrowed from the centre to the circumference. The ‘hopper’ supplies the grain through the centre of the upper stone; the wheat is pushed along the grooves and broken upon the ridges.

Modern method: In modern flour mills, chilled iron rollers have taken the place of grind stones. The first successful steam mill was erected in London in 1784, and iron rollers were first used in 1840, following their introduction in Budapest. Hungary became the world centre for flour mills on account of this improvement. Minneapolis soon adopted it, becoming the most important flour mill centre in the world. It remains one of the most important centres today. Since 1880, the system of roller milling has been in operation in all large mills. As a source of motive power, steam has largely been replaced by electricity.

A domestic flour mill is a smaller version of a commercial flour mill. The traditional pair of stone wheels is driven by an electric motor. The other main parts of the mill are the hopper and the drawer for collecting the flour. It has been found out that mostly housewives operate the flour mill, and as it is, no ergonomic 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 so that its services could be extended to a larger number of people.

Long before history began, a monkey relaxing on a tree twig with its back against a vertical branch may have inspired man to create furniture. Many episodes in the Ramayana and Pre-Ramayana revolve around a throne, an ornamental piece of furniture in the centre of the room. Wood and metals have been involved in this business since then. Today, furniture has become an expression of style. With a wide variety of materials, many forms, feelings, and facilities are possible. Cost is the chief criteria. Unfortunately, one cannot sit in some chairs that are attempts to express and combine the character of hard plastic with good design. A few of them have sculptural values but less mobility and comfort. Furthermore, they frequently restrict our human freedom of movement. Whatever the material and the form of the furniture, it must be ergonomic and economical. In these years, furniture has become a concept in practically all urban hostels. This does not imply that the application was correct or that it met the requirements.

The age of technology offers us advantages that should be expressed in our surroundings; so that experiments with form and construction are adjusted to contemporary technical and social realities. The careless and rough handling of furniture by students at their school-homes, the average standard of living of our average society, and simple expectations about comfort and beauty call for extremely studied, economic, functional, and ergonomic sets of furniture, respectively. The design also depends on the environment. In remote rural areas, schools can afford to have spacious rooms for hostels, but then they may face the problem of having the skills to convert the available raw materials into the necessary set of furniture. In this context, my design is based on standard industrial inputs.

Wood has always been one of man's most important resources. Directly and indirectly, in fact, it has been one of his basic necessities. For example, primitive man used wood to make fires and to make the clubs with which he could protect himself and hunt. His wooden hunting weapon brought meat to his fire and fur clothing for his body. Besides clothing himself with skins, he used them again with wood to make crude shelters. He made the shelters he didn't make from wood and skins by weaving three branches together.But it was not until thousands of years later that he learned to make wooden houses. During these years, he used wood for his tool handles and for his first machines, the lever and the wheel. Wood also provided his first means of transportation when he learned to make crafts, wagons, and ships.

Throughout history, man has perfected ways to bend, carve, smooth, polish, stain, and paint wood, as well as change its size, shape, and appearance to suit his needs and his ideas of beauty. One of the most widely used and oldest known machines for woodworking is the circular saw. Circular saws are defined as machines in which the working tool takes the form of a steel disc equipped with teeth on its periphery. This disc, usually known as the circular saw blade, is mounted on an arbour in the case of bench saws or on a spindle in portable saws, from which it derives a circular motion.

The various types of circular saws are grouped in the following categories:
- Ordinary table saws.
- Rip saws, including travelling carriage saws.
- Automatic edgers with one or more saw blades.
- Cross-cut saws.
- Firewood saws.
- Portable electric hand saws.

The preceding sections of this report primarily address the portable electric saw, which is widely used for cross-cutting and ripping sawing of wood.

India is primarily an agricultural country, and nearly three-quarters of its population depends directly on agriculture for a living. Therefore, agricultural development is intimately connected with the joy and happiness of the people in this country. Total grain production in India could be around 106 million tonnes per year, with a safe five percent increase if bird damage could be avoided. Numerous efforts are made to eliminate this loss, but they are never completely successful.

The first attempt, still used in most parts of our country, was the use of a sling, which has its own drawbacks and limitations, the main one being the unsatisfactory short range it covers. Another method widely practised is to hang a dead bird or to make human figures in the field. The fact that birds are afraid of irritating noises led to the development of many bird scaring devices, which used sounds of various frequencies and a few that sounded like predatory bird voices. These have been found to be successful only for a very short period of time before birds get habituated to them. Plastic nettings stand as an alternative and reliable solution, but they are too costly for a poor country like ours. The use of plastic and paper bags is also in practice, but they too are costly and prove to be detrimental for the growth of crops. This project deals with the fabrication of some simple, but reliable, bird scaring devices.

"A little fire is quickly trodden out, which rivers cannot quench when suffered." - Shakespeare.

When we examine the foregoing chapter, we find that a domestic fire extinguisher is a basic need. A design so contemplated shall fulfil those needs and, at the same time, allow itself to be easily manufactured on a mass scale and also be available at moderate prices. The percentage of accidents caused by fires in the home, as well as the resulting burns and fatalities, is much higher than the percentage caused by public fires. In the case of a public fire, there is a great loss to the property as a result of a sweeping open fire, whereas in the case of fires in homes, the great loss is more to the lives than to the property. In view of the serious loss of life and disability resulting from home accidents, there exists a pressing demand for the design of equipment to lend a helping hand in putting off the fire. The main reasons for the deaths that occur in our homes each year are the poor design or bad planning of the houses in which we live, the faulty design of the equipment we use or the careless way in which we use it, and the human element, which falls under two headings: mental and physical.

There are so many new designs of school bags on the market these days, and old designs are quickly falling out of favor. This clearly shows that a new design is really necessary for school bags, which will satisfy users' and producers' needs perfectly well.

The school bag issue did not arise until the last 50 years. In the past, the education system was different, and students were not required to carry a large number of books and, in some cases, a lunch box and water bottle too. Hence, in the past, an ordinary bag was used as a school bag, but in big cities like Bombay, the problem of a school bag becomes acute. Students in large cities travel to school from distant locations via local trains and buses. These local trains and buses are always crowded, and in such crowded places, a school bag obstructs free body movement. It has become very troublesome to travel through these vehicles.

Every student has to carry a large number of text books and exercise books. The number of books cannot be reduced because these are the minimum necessary books. The weight can be reduced only with school cooperation, i.e., by providing special lockers to students so that they can keep some of their things there. But all schools cannot do this, and so we have to think of a new system that will make students carry the books easily. We cannot reduce the weight, but we can make it easier to carry. From this point of view, various school bags are introduced to the market.

But most of the bags are not convenient. Some are heavy, and some are light. The light bags are flexible and spoil the books. Some bags are not water-proof and cannot be used in the rainy season. Most of the bags are costly. Cheap bags last for six months, while costlier bags last for 2-3 years, but their size is not suitable. Thus, not even a single bag in the market satisfies customers' needs, and hence, redesigning a school bag is very essential.

Learning makes little sense. For a boy or a girl, learning is quite a separate experience from playing. Learning is an experience that forces students to be restrained, strained, and grave. Textbooks, exercises, and exams are all part of the learning process. It is a bleak world; on the contrary, play is enjoyable, exciting, and stimulating; it is fantastic while also being involved. So the modern method of teaching tries to combine the two, and as a result, learning becomes another game, a play. It makes learning as enjoyable as playing.

Man has always sought assistance with menial tasks. One such is in computation, where a Chinese merchant using an abacus or a merchant using a cash register are all using computational aids. Today, the computer has taken over as the main computational aid, but a computer is much more than that. Today's computer, a far cry from Charles Babbage’s analytical engine, does practically all mathematical computations and takes decisions, whether it be in launching a man to the moon or in assisting the scientist in his laboratory in breaking the genetic code.

The computer as we know it today is making the second industrial revolution take place. The effect of computers on our society is phenomenal. The development of computers is so rapid that the computer will be an inevitable tool for the management executive, the scientist, the teacher, etc.; the list is never complete. We will also see a new generation that takes computers for granted because it learned about the binary system in elementary school and boolean algebra in high school. As such, there is an immense need for this coming generation of educational aids and toys for the kids of the next generation that teach the principles of computer.

Any container that is used for carrying food can be called a food carrier. There can be various types of food boxes depending on their size, compartmentalization, and mode of carrying. Under this project, the food box, which is used for carrying food for industrial and office workers, has been redesigned. A third party transports these boxes from the kitchen to the office or industry site. Since the industrial revolution, the problem of food transportation has become more serious in society. In Bombay city itself, it is more than 30 years old. More than 2 lakh luch boxes are transported daily in Bombay alone. Lunch should be available to men at their place of work during lunch hours. As many industrial sites are away from the main city, good hotels or canteens are not situated near the place of work. This necessitates that the worker arrange for his own food, thus giving rise to the evolution of the food carrier. It is difficult to prepare the food very early in the morning, and it is also inconvenient for the worker to carry the food box early in the morning. This brings about the existence of a third force that transports these boxes from the kitchen to the site.

There are numerous food box manufacturers on the market. However, the one shown in the photograph is the most commonly used. It has an outside container of G.I. sheeting, and inside it contains four compartments of aluminium. This is taken for analysis. Recently, one better food box has come on the market that has the same aluminium containers inside and an outside container made of double-walled, high-density polyethylene. There is thermocol packing inside the double wall. This box keeps food hot for 5 hours.

Using hot water is probably as old as human civilization itself. We get evidence of the use of hot water for baths in the "hamamas," or the public baths of old civilizations. Since then, hot water has been accepted as a "preferred luxury" for men. In the present, an electric geyser has become a "fair necessity," mainly because of the odd hours for a bath or wash, which are quite common for urban men. Also, the use of showers is so widely accepted for its function and economy that the old time consuming method of heating water first and then mixing it with cold water to a proper temperature for a bath is done away with, wherever it has become possible.

Now there are two types of geysers available, that have the possibility of shower connections. First is the storage type, which has the advantages of a proper shower connection, multiple taps, low wattage, and higher safety. But it is gradually becoming prohibitive because of its high cost, difficult maintenance, large area requirements, and difficulty in installation. The second is called the instant type electric geyser. This is getting wide acceptance primarily for its low price, small space requirement, and ease of installation. But it has the drawbacks of lesser electrical and mechanical safety and a difficult shower connection. Naturally, a product is needed that can have most of the advantages of both, mainly electrical and mechanical safety, shower connection, low price, lesser space requirement, and easy maintenance.

We learn mostly through our eyes, and the approximate contributions of our sensory organs are given below:

-1% through taste

-2% through touch

-4% through smell

-10% through hearing

-83% through sight

This reveals that learning through sight so much overshadows learning through any and all other senses that no adjustment for error or incidents of exception could lessen the impact of sight on the process of learning. So it is vision that is the main avenue of perception, the eyes carry the burden of learning.

How much do we retain? The figure on the left shows the retention rate of read material. The term "reinforcement" in the second figure refers to a relearning of original learning in which the student spent additional time. The result is that the student's rate of retention was raised to about 50%.

But if the conceptual reinforcement was accomplished by the addition of visuals rather than by the repetition of reading, the retention rate of 50% could very well be more than coincidental. We do not think in words; our mind thinks in pictures. To communicate facts, figures, and ideas, visual presentation is more effective.

Good amount of work has already been done to improve passenger comfort in aircraft during flight. For improved passenger comfort, besides providing comfortable seats and a good environment and entertainment, the services inside aircraft have improved and should keep improving because of the newer problems creeping up daily in the air transportation of passengers. Services inside the aircraft include:

- Looking after passengers-old people, and children
- Keeping passengers informed and giving instructions from time to time audio and printed communication
- offering pillows and blankets
- Showing seats
- Various services and ensuring that there is no possibility of a complaint
- The distribution of food articles onto individual plates
- The serving of breakfast, lunch, tea, dinner, coffee, cigarettes, and drinks
- collection of these utensils back from the passengers
- storing them when they are filled or empty
- Storage of left-overs and disposable items like empty tin cans, bottles, etc.
- When the flight is long and nonstop, cleaning part or all of the cutlery for reuse during the flight is recommended.
- Heating or keeping food articles cool

Nowadays, it is clear that all international airline corporations are competing fiercely with one another and are essentially fighting for survival. With the introduction of Jumbos, the problem has become even more critical. For profitable operation of these aircraft, it is necessary that aircraft take off with a certain minimum percentage of the total capacity (breakeven point), depending on operation cost, fare structure, overheads, etc. Various airlines have already taken steps to attract passengers, such as slashing round-trip air fares. But there are limitations to it.

Electronics has come a long way in the last 25 years. It has helped man land on the moon, communicate over large distances in a fraction of a second, and be entertained by radio and television. Behind these visible and glamorous facades of electronics, but unknown to many, exist the drab and uninteresting laboratories where the marvels of electronics are born. And the core of these laboratories is the very vast array of electronic instruments that they possess.

Though very large amounts of money are spent to develop and perfect these instruments electronically, scant attention is paid to their construction. For example, not much effort has been put into making the fabrication of the instrument housings easier or cheaper. Then again, very little attention has been paid to the plight of the instrument repairers who have to dismantle the instruments.

Some of these difficulties have been corrected to some extent abroad, especially in the United States, England, and Germany, through standardization. This has been made possible principally because of the large size of the companies (General Radio, Hewlett-Packard, Marconi, and Siemens) and the resources at their disposal.

The discovery of coffee is quite generally accredited to Africa, although the earliest cultivation is traced to southern Arabia. Coffee grew in Africa only in a wild state until fairly modern times, when it began to be developed there on a production basis. Coffee probably derives its name from the original Arabic Qahwah, indirectly through its Turkish form Kahveh, although some etymologists connect it with the name Kaffa, a town in southwest Ethiopia reputed to be the birthplace of coffee.

The origin of coffee is vague and obscure, but its history is rich in legend. One of the most accepted tales surrounding the discovery of coffee about 850 AD is that of Kaldi, an Arabian goat herder. Bewildered by the queer antics of his flocks, Kaldi is supposed to have eaten berries from the evergreen bush on which the goats were feeding and, overjoyed at the feeling of exhilaration that he experienced, has been pictured in legend as dashing off in excitement to proclaim his great find to the world. The physiological action of coffee in dissipating drowsiness was soon discovered and taken advantage of in connection with religious services of the Mohammedans, but the strictly orthodox or conservative section of the priesthood claimed that it was an intoxicating beverage and therefore prohibited by the Koran.

In recent years, oxy-cutting has come to the fore, consuming a lion’s share of all the oxygen used by the welding and cutting industries. Among the processes for preparing plate material for welded fabrication, flame cutting takes a prominent role in almost any engineering industry, including metal making, shipbuilding, boiler making, locomotive building, building construction, etc.

Based on semi-automatic and automatic machines, it has brought with it unprecedented production rates. The basic trend in today’s flame technology is towards the ultimate in process mechanisation: the use of special-purpose equipment of high efficiency and automatic process monitoring and control. In India today, numerous types of cutting machines are available, ranging from simple hand-steered blowpipes to the most sophisticated, special-purpose profile cutting machines using photoelectric cells.

Packaging may be defined as a means of protecting the product to ensure the safe delivery of a product to the consumer in a sound condition at a minimum cost incurred in production. The type of packaging of the pharmaceuticals depends upon the properties of the substance and the manner and condition in which they are conveyed, stored, and used.

Containers of medicine, above all others, are important parts of a product themselves and require rigorous testing in order that containers may not be found wanting. A failure of a pharmaceutical container may mean contamination of the product, not merely dissatisfaction of the customer or economic loss, but can be a threat to his health, and thus the basic purpose of packaging is loss.

Pharmaceutical products may be roughly divided into three categories according to their physical state, i.e., liquid, solid, semisolid, or semiliquid. Moisture, heat, light, and oxygen have adverse influences on pharmaceutical products, and packaging is expected to prevent these influences.

The title exploration of potentials of corrugated board can be defined as the ways of building up its properties that the variety of end uses might demand. The property of the ultimate product is the combined result of the basic property of the material itself and the property achieved by cutting,bending,folding, taping, etc. The later area is where contributions can be made. Taking into consideration the existing limited use and the limited ways in which corrugated board is being used, it is felt that the new methods of using the material will widen the range of end uses and suggest more economic solutions to the present methods.

The aim of the project is to discover new ways in which corrugated can be used. The new way of using will in turn suggest different end uses. Existing data on corrugated board is assumed since it was not possible to make experiments to generate such data.

There have been many new developments and changes in operation theatre methods and surgical techniques over the years. With these changes, it is necessary to develop and redesign hospital furniture and equipment. Hospital furniture is an area in which there is a lot of scope for development. The functional and user requirements in hospitals are unique. There is a need to create a particular designed environment in various hospital areas, e.g. An operation theatre requires a sterile environment. These special needs make design more complex.

A survey of the large hospitals in Bombay was taken, followed by discussions with surgeons and nurses. This threw light on their problems. The list of hospital equipment and furniture where the need for redesign is felt is endless. It was found that hospital trolleys form quite an important part of hospital furniture. The existing designs of trolleys leave a lot to be desired. It was decided to study hospital trolleys in general and take up the development and design of instrument trolleys used within the operating theatre.

There are a number of Indian and foreign incubators that are now available in India. Still, I feel that there is a need for a redesign. Initially, let us try to understand what an incubator is and why it is used in the case of a premature baby. As the name suggests, an incubator is essentially a space enclosed with the facility of maintaining the desired artificial environment inside that enclosure.

A premature baby incubator artificially maintains womb temperature and provides safety from infection to a prematurely born infant. In the last few years, manufacturers in foreign countries have produced more and more sophisticated and advanced products, but in India, the first incubator was produced about five years ago, and all other Indian manufacturers copied the same design. There is no further development that has been done, nor has a study been done on an incubator to make it most suitable for the Indian climate and situation. This incubator at present costs a lot and is beyond the reach of the majority of hospitals. Recently, Dr. S.N. Deshpande, a civil surgeon from Kolhapur, studied this problem and developed an economical incubator.

Eddy current tests provide a very important testing technique for metals. The technique is based on the principle that when a coil carrying A.C. is brought near or made to surround a metallic specimen, eddy currents are induced in that component, the magnitude and distribution of which depend on the geometry of the system and the conductivity of the specimen.

The coil impedence is affected by the presence of eddy currents. The impedence change is resolvable to an inductive component, which depends on the space relationship between the coil and specimen, and a resistive component, depending on the conductivity of the specimen.

Conductivity is closely related to the metallurgical structure of the specimen and its state of heat treatment. Thus, a separation of these two effects gives a sensitive testing technique for the metals. The use of eddy currents for nondestructive testing was pioneered by F. Forster and his associates in Germany, and further development was made in Britain by E.G. Stanford and in the USA by R. Hoschild and others.

The dawn of modern civilization was characterised by the electronic industry. During the last few decades, electronics have made tremendous advances. Electronics did not spare to enter any of the human environments like laboratories, houses, etc. The majority of the laboratory instruments are mostly electronic in nature.

The pH metre is one such instrument among the vast array of electronic instruments. The adherence and determination of certain pH values are very important, particularly in catalytic processes. pH metres have varied applications, and the determination of the pH value of solutions is very important. Man always seeks ease and comfort and does not want to waste time and energy. Quick and accurate operation and reading of an instrument are essential for him.

In the last couple of years, electronics in general and medical electronics in particular have made fantastic progress. Progress, which even a few years ago would have been unthinkable.

Miniaturisation has made it possible to bring under control a tremendous amount of power, computation, and highly complex controls to one’s fingertips in a package that may occupy only a portion of an ordinary desktop. A single operator can now control an atomic reactor, the production of a steel plant, and literally monitor the life of a human being in its physical aspects. The degree of complexity and compactness of medical electronic equipment has resulted in its wide use in hospitals today. An operation theatre, for example, is nowadays crammed with extremely sophisticated instruments, each of which performs a vital function.

The side rule is an extremely useful instrument for making various kinds of calculations, especially multiplication and division. Its use in India is, however, restricted to technical colleges and, in some cases, to science students. The speed and accuracy with which these calculations can be done should lead to a much wider range of uses.

There are two factors that have probably prevented the use of the slide rule on a large scale.

1) The complexity of the slide rule scales. The errors that a learner makes might easily discourage him from using it.

2) The prohibitive cost of the instrument reduces its potential for widespread use.

The need, then, is to design a slide rule that is simple to use, has a few but easily understandable scales, and does not cost much. Such a slide rule, it is hoped, will be adopted in schools. With new and slightly complex courses being introduced at the school level (especially in higher secondary schools), there is an increasing need to make quick calculations. As it is, in the higher classes, students use log tables, which is quite a laborious process.

We learn mostly through our eyes. Every properly functioning human being transforms the visual signals that he receives from the outside into meaningful entities. Without the perceptual ordering of his sense responses into the image of things in space, man cannot orient himself, and without shaping his physical environment in accordance with these images, he cannot survive.

1% through taste

2% through touch

4% through smell

10% through hearing

83% through sight

This reveals that learning through sight overshadows learning through any and all other senses, so no adjustment for error, incidents, or exceptions could lessen the impact of sight on the process of learning.

We do not think in words or numbers, but our mind thinks in pictures or natural forms and shapes present in the surrounding environment. To communicate facts, figures, and ideas, visual presentation is the most effective medium.

A handicap is a defect representing a decrease in or loss of ability to perform various functions, particularly those of the musculoskeletal system and sense organs. An external aid or device is essential for the mobility of a lame person. This would help him acquire more personal freedom and improve his physical functions. The number of lame people exceeds 7 million in our country. This denotes the gravity of the situation. The majority of these disabled people come from severely poor economic conditions. Hence, what they can afford to invest in and maintain as an external device is also the bare minimum.

Many parts of our man-made environment were not designed for any person at all but merely engineered down through time by new materials and methods. Architects, designers, and planners have taken advantage of the apparently unlimited ability of the human being to tolerate discomfort and inconvenience. The concept of fitting the activity of the equipment to meet the needs of the human being rather than vice versa is not very much applied anywhere, particularly in India.

Keeping the home fires burning these days is no simple task, specifically when the housewife is at the mercy of our cooking gas suppliers. It is hard to fathom how the time taken to deliver a fresh cylinder ranges from a few hours to even a few days. Sometimes the agents are known to tell the customer that they could get their cylinder if they could collect it themselves.

Some consumers complain that their cylinders are underfilled. This can happen if there is connivance between the consumers and the delivery boys. These boys can take a cylinder used by a conniving customer for, say, 5 days and deliver it to another unsuspecting customer as "full." Meanwhile, the conniving customer gets another full cylinder (meant for someone else) for consideration, and this can continue depending on the degree of connivance. Hence, there is a need to develop an indicating device that will:

Give an indication (warning) about the quantity of gas left in the cylinder.

Check the quantity of gas in the cylinder when it is supplied.

It is believed that the gas companies have received several samples of pressure gauges or some other devices to ascertain when the gas is getting over, but none of these are said to be accurate. Certain electronic devices are said to help in this matter but are beyond the reach of the average customer. Hence, there is a pressing need to design an accurate and cheap indicating device to ascertain the quantity of gas in the cylinder.

Shelter ranks among the three basic needs of a human being. Although architects have tried to improve the living conditions in buildings and houses for the last few centuries, few attempts were made to improve the conditions of smaller houses or huts, or those of instant shelters, or rescue shelters, as they are sometimes called. Instant shelters are needed for construction workers (such as those working on big dams, telephone lines, and high-tension lines), for military purposes where they can serve as semi-permanent posts (instead of the usual tents), or for refugees fleeing flood havoc, earthquakes, etc.

The attempt therefore is to design a shelter that can be used for a period of more than one year, which can be erected very easily with better living conditions (e.g., improved ventilation) than the usual huts, or design a system for building a better shelter complex.

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.