Safety Uppermost In Mind Than Patenting

Safety Uppermost
In Mind
Than Patenting ​

The Volvo Car Company invented the Three Points Seat Belt System that we use in our cars today, but they did not patent it.

When asked why they did not, the answer put us in contemplation. "If we get the patent, no other car company can design seat belts using our method unless they pay royalty to use our design. People's safety is far more important to us than money. That's why we haven't registered the patent..."

Similarly, there is a company that has invented an even more amazing thing, yet acted very generously, saying that the safety of the people is far more important to them than money and so they did not go for patent.

This company is located in Tamil Nadu South India.

Today, all over the world pressure cooker is a widely used item for easy cooking. There is hardly a kitchen in the world that does not have it. A pressure cooker works because of certain level of pressure created inside it.

In the beginning of its intro in market, pressure cookers exploded often in kitchens of many places due to excess pressure developed in it .
when it was first manufactured without giving thought to this issue, the cookers often exploded causing huge damage to the surroundings and person at close proximity to gas stove and hot pressure cooker.

Due to this fear, the use of cookers among the people started to dwindle. People then were scared to use cookers. Many cooker manufactures in India were splitting hairs on how to fix this issue.
With the goal of creating a safe cooker uppermost in mind, Tamil Nadu-based manufacturer of cooker and allied cooking appliances, TTK entered the field in the aforementioned research.
It was a time when the company was struggling to survive and financially hamstrung. It was at this juncture, Narasimhan, the then chairman of TTK, brought his son into his business, who after studying engineering at IIT Chennai and pursued research in the United States with the dream of becoming a professor returned to India.
At the time this son entered the family business, their company was in serious financial doldrum. Along with this, the cooker problem too posed a great challenge.
This foreign returned son gave thought to this mind boggling issue & determined to find a way out and succeeded in regaining lost market.
He combined his engineering knowledge and research experience and found a solution.
That's the Gasket Release System.
He did not patent the gasket release system he had invented.
When asked why,
"If I had patented this safety feature that I invented, our company would hv reaped enormous profit. But this would discourage other pressure cooker manufacturers from using this method unless they pay me royalty. So if any other manufacturers' cooker explodes, it would hv caused entire cooker manufacturing industry in poor light. That's why I didn't go for PATENTING my invention" he replied.
Take a look at the pressure cooker lid at home. There will be a small round soft metal plug inserted in a tiny hole on the lid midway between nozzle and the rim. . That is the gasket release system. This addition on cooker lid is what made the cooker more safe. This small yet significant revision in lid design as additional feature saved the TTK company and users of their pressure cooker.
The sales zoomed up and so too the revenue and profit.
The inventor is known as
Shri T.T. K. Jagannathan...
This noble hearted great man who had pioneered safe cooking using pressure cooker in millions of homes today, expired on 11-10-25 in Bengaluru at the age of 84.

Let his soul reach the Lotus Feet of the Almighty. Om Shanthi.

 

Hi dear madam @umaakumar glad you read this post and granted a 'like' followed by FB.

A friend with his family residing in opposite flat in then Bombay got a free gift during deepavali. It was a pressure cooker not prestige but another popular brand and the lady of the home unpacked the carton and assembled the handles and began using it.

Her hubby was away on tour. She with her toddler alone .

My daughter of 4 years old desired to play with toddler in opposite flat. My spouse & she rang the door chime . When the door was ajar, they exchanged greetings, “ Haapy Deepavali”.

Then they heard an explosion and the toddler baby in that lady’s waist gripped in fear and cried full throated. My daughter too got frightened and cried embracing her beloved mother.

Hearing the explosion, I too from watching TV channel rushed out and seen the site of explosion. I quickly closed the LPG cylinder as I felt the smell of leaking domestic gas. The entire stove broke into two pieces lying apart and the pressure cooker lid and weight thrown off with contents sticking to the roof over the counter and running in rivulets .

It was most unforgettable painful scene. The lady hugged my daughter with jerking tears running over her cheeks. She thanked immensely my child spouse & I . She was our guest for the festival feast.