Automatic Sari Border Weft Insertion

The automated system is somewhat similar based to the ?Catch Cord Technique drawing device for looms? (United States Patent 4616680, 1984 )though he was not aware of it. No assistant is In this technique, ?Multi Catch Cords? are used to make ?Temple Borders?. The number of catch cords is equal to the number of steps required in the Temple borders. Each step in the Temple Border is controlled by a separate Catch Cord and is individually operated by Dobby or Jacquard. In this technique, the picks per inch and the weave in temple border and the body of the sari are equal. This technique does not employ the ?Three/two cut shuttle? style and thereby eliminates an additional manpower requirement. The steps of temple border are formed automatically by the operation of catchcompared to the traditional three cut shuttleweaving.Bhanumurthi has installed one such device in Ramanathpuram village of Madurai district and trained about fifteen women weavers with the helpof SEVA. A couple of years ago there were about 300 families involved in handloom weaving in this village but due to the inadequate income, about200 families migrated to nearby Tirupur Banian (vest) Factory for labour.After the installation of this device, response from people has been very good and they are hopeful that those who left the village would be willing to return and take up again, their traditional occupation. Indian Institute of Handloom Technology has commended this technique and suggested that it may be well adopted in handloom clusters, where Temple Borders are produced. GIAN Cell (Karnataka) is planning to conduct a training programme for handloom weavers in Karnataka region under Technical Education Quality Improvement Programme (TEQIP) of SSIT, Tumkur.Banumurthi was earlier felicitated with the SRISTI samman in 2006 for his innovation and contributions to the weaving society.