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| Josekutty, Jeerakam, Karayathum Chal, Kannur |
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Like many others in the upland areas, the problem faced by Josekutty, Jeerakam, Karayathum Chal, Kannur was the difficulty in transporting things to and from the sloping farm. The solution he has devised is a simple ropeway that has been successfully implemented for the last 1 year in his farm.
With a level difference of 100 ft between house and the highest point in the cultivated area, Josekutty was incurring a major expense in transportion by headload. The ropeway he has designed has already returned the investment by saving more amount in labour charges in 1 year than the total expenses of Rs.5000 incurred for its installation.
There is no complicated design involved in this scheme of things. 1000 ft of 6mm wire rope, 14 nos of 6inch diameter pulleys, 2 fabricated buckets for storing counter weights and 1000 ft of nylon rope are the parts of the ropeway system.
At the top, across a teak tree, a GI pipe is fixed. On both its ends, 2 wire ropes are tied. The other ends of these ropes pass over another GI pipe at the bottom level and are always kept under tension by hanging 2 counter weights. For this the buckets are tied to the lower end of the wire ropes and filled with 300 kg stones each.
On each wire rope there is 1 bucket for transporting goods. These are hooked to the wire rope by means of pulleys hanging upside down. Connecting both buckets is a continuous nylon rope that doubles as brake for the system.
The operation is simple. When one bucket filled with items comes down, the endless chain of nylon rope ensures that the other bucket goes up.
Now in Josekutty’s farm, even tea for the labourers is supplied using the ropeway. And it is a measure of its user-friendliness that even his wife Jaisamma or his children Soumya, Sam and Sen can operate the system.
The ropeway in operation
Courtesy: Staff Reporter (text), Lean Thobias (Photo), Karshakashree, October 2003
Contributed by: Administrator
