Who was ‘India’s Edison’? Built first electric motor, invented hundreds of items, including razor blades, his name was…, was from….

• Home
• Viral
• Who was ‘India’s Edison’? Built first electric motor, invented hundreds of items, including razor blades, his name was…, was from….

Some famous inventions by Gopalaswamy Doraiswamy Naidu included super-thin shaving blades, a distance adjuster for film cameras, a fruit juice extractor, a tamper-proof vote-recording machine and a kerosene-run fan.

GD Naidu (File)

While American inventors like Thomas Edison, Alexander Graham Bell, Henry Ford, and others, have become household names, there are dozens of Indian geniuses, whose names have been lost in history, who have made immense contributions in the world of science and beyond.

One such personality was Gopalaswamy Doraiswamy Naidu (G.D Naidu), a 19th century Indian inventor, nicknamed the ‘Edison of India’, who built the country’s first electric motor, besides inventing hundreds items of everyday use such as razor blades, among other things.

Who was Gopalaswamy Doraiswamy Naidu?

Born in Kalangal, Coimbatore on March 23 1893 in Madras Presidency in erstwhile British India, G.D Naidu was born in a farming family, who constantly got in trouble at school during his childhood because he hated attending classes.  In Naidu’s biography, ‘Appa’, penned by Tamil writer Shivshankar, it is revealed that when GDN was in Class 3, he ran away from school after hurling sand in his teacher’s face

Uninterested in studies, GDN began working odd jobs, including working as a server at a restaurant, and also worked in the family’s agricultural fields. Naidu’s life took a turn when he witnessed British officer riding motorcycle, the naive young man was shocked to see a “cart” moving on its own without being pulled by any external force like bullocks or horses, the book reveals.

The incident piqued his interest and Naidu started saving money to buy a motorcycle, and ultimately, after around three years, he had saved about Rs 400, and managed to purchase one.

However, besides riding the two-wheeler, Naidu, who always had an inquisitive and curious mind, decided to take the automobile apart to find out how the machine worked. Soon, Naidu began working as a self-taught mechanic, and saved enough money to move to Bombay (now Mumbai), to start a cotton business.

However, GDN had to return to his hometown after his venture failed to take off, and began working for a British businessman named Robert Staines.

Staines was quite taken with young’s Naidu inquisitive nature, helped him learn English, and start his own business. In 1920, Naidu bought a bus which plied between Pollachi and Palani, and by 1933 he had established a major transport company called the ‘United Motor Service (UMS)’, which boasted a fleet of 280 buses.

UMS operated the most efficient fleet of public transport vehicles in British India, and known for its neat and tidy bus stands and terminals.

After establishing a successful business, Naidu went on business trips to England and the United States, and during his travels, was exposed to whole new world on gadgets and inventions, which inspired to make his own inventions back home in India.

GDN Naidu famous inventions

In 1937, the first election motor to be produced in India was manufactured G. D. Naidu’s factory – NEW (National Electric Works) at Peelamedu, Coimbatore. The motor was developed by G.D. Naidu and D. Balasundaram Naidu, and resulted in the founding of Textool (popularly known as Textool Balasundaram) and, later, Lakshmi Machine Works (LMW).

Other famous inventions by Naidu included super-thin shaving blades, a distance adjuster for film cameras, a fruit juice extractor, a tamper-proof vote-recording machine and a kerosene-run fan.

In 1941, Naidu announced that he can build five-valve radio sets in India for a mere Rs 70 per set, and in 1952, rolled out a two-seater petrol engine car priced at Rs 2,000. However, production was stopped as GDN could not acquire the necessary license from the government .

Besides his inventions in the field of machinery, GD Naidu was also an accomplished scientific researcher who discovered new varieties of cotton, maize, and papaya. The genius inventor also reportedly built a house within a mere 11 hours, from laying the foundation at 6 AM to finishing the entire construction by 5 PM.

In 1935, Naidu personally filmed the funeral of King George V in London, and his camera has captured prominent Indian leaders such as Mahatma Gandhi, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru and Subhas Chandra Bose, among others.

Gopalaswamy Doraiswamy Naidu passed away on January 4, 1974, at the age of 80, leaving behind a legacy that would be remembered for eons to come.

Now, GD Naidu is set be immortalized on the silver screen with veteran actor R. Madhavan set to portray the iconic inventor in the upcoming biopic GDN.

_{Images are for reference only.Images and contents gathered automatic from google or 3rd party sources.All rights on the images and contents are with their legal original owners.}