Engineer designs wonder rickshaw to lessen the burden of rickshaw-pullers in our country

16 June, 2012

A Kolkata-based engineer has re-devised the cycle rickshaw. Though he has not brought in any drastic change, yet with few critical improvement, here and there, he has managed to lessen the physical burden of the drivers of cycle rickshaws, the few that remain in the city.

THE CITY of Joy, Kolkata, brings to mind Rosogolla, Howrah Bridge and also Durga Puja. However, the list doesn't stop there as Kolkata also brings to mind poverty, slums and hand-pulled rickshaws. Although now the conventional and the yesteryear generation of hand-pulled rickshaw is not that visible in the city, yet there is a substantial number who still make their living by pulling cycle rickshaws. However, to reduce their and other rickshaw-pullers' suffering, a Kolkata engineer has come up with a wonder rickshaw that uses passengers' load to push the vehicle. and reduces the puller's effort as well as uses bumpers as propellers for the vehicle.

Pratik Kumar Ghosh wants to make the lives of rickshaw pullers easy and cheap. He won the prestigious union government innovation award for his rickshaw that can be made using all the usual rickshaw parts. He says, “No parts needed to be redesigned. The design of the rickshaw is very simple and its manufacture will be equally easy. The cost of production will be close to the existing ones,” reported NDTV. He also explained that the history of the rickshaw shows that no fundamental changes were ever made to make the vehicle less painful for the pullers but they have only undergone design changes. Thus, through his design the main aim is to reduce the drudgery of the puller.

The wonder rickshaw is slightly different from the normal conventional rickshaws. While the present rickshaws have a chassis that is horizontal, and acts as a load to the puller, the wonder rickshaw chassis is 10 degrees to the ground leaning to the front. Thus any load would actually act as the propulsion and all the forces combined would require less power from the puller when the vehicle starts moving. The current chassis is fixed in all the three points with a triangular fame but with the new vehicle, the chassis is hinged at the pedal hub and the two other points are fixed with the frame. Explaining, Ghosh said, “Since the hinged point acts as pivot, the shock generated by the road is transmitted as a force to the frame and makes the hostile road favorable to the puller.”

The weight of the passenger in the current rickshaw falls directly on the axle but in the wonder vehicle the seat frame will be tubular and the rear two legs will not swing and remain pressed to the bearing box horizontally, converting the downward passenger load to horizontal forward propulsive force, as reported by NDTV. This means, more the passenger weight, more is the push.

Ghosh, who currently works as an assistant general manager with Shriram EPC Ltd, said that he is an innovator and not an entrepreneur. He has invented a good machine but he cannot replace the existing million rickshaws or manufacture any, and would require the help of a good cycle and rickshaw manufacturer to do the honours. He is hoping that his design would be looked into by the state government so as to decrease the plight of the rickshaw pullers of our country.