At Go-Sammelan, a fair held at Shimoga in Karnataka last month, among the hundreds of cattle, Puneite Chandrakant Pathak’s bullock cart, complete with two gleaming headlamps, an amplifier and a battery charger, stood out.

This latest version from Pathak’s Modern Technical Centre, known for its innovations that run on human and animal power rather than conventional energy sources, was put together by the mechanical engineer four months ago and exhibited for the first time at Shimoga.

“I did design a bullock cart with headlamps, tail lights and brakes earlier after seeing the accidents involving the carts at night. It worked with a simple bicycle dynamo fitted to the wheel. This one has a jeep’s differential gear box,” said Pathak. He is now working on half a dozen such carts, having received orders from the Ramchandrapura Math in Shimoga, the National Engineering Institute Mysore and the Karnataka Renewable Agency Development Ltd. The cart also has an automatic battery charger, an amplifier and is capable of multi-dimensional functions. It is based on simple improvisations like installing a jeep’s differential gear box with tyres and axle to replace the original wooden axle. Pathak has thus managed to convert the 38-40 RMP of the bullock cart to about 200 RMP.

By adding another pulley this was further increased to 2,000 RMP, with which he was able to run the alternator that generated 4-6 ampere of electricity, enough to charge the battery. “With this battery, it is possible to run a loudspeaker and an amplifier for rural propaganda, a fridge that can hold medicines and injections that can reach remote areas and even a television, an oven or a computer,” says Pathak.