The failed farmers became the inventors of textile machines

After more than 10 years of growing ideas and nearly 5 years of hard working, welding, assembling, cutting, removing, finally, Mr. Nguyen Van Long's mat weaving machine won the creative gold cup at Techmart Fair. Vietnam 2005.

Ms. Na, his wife, a reluctant weaver, Nguyen Van Long (Ba Long), is an "orthodox" weaver who knows how to make mats since childhood. And Ba Long was a teacher from Rach Gia (Kien Giang). They knew each other in this country and fell in love and family. In 1977, he and his wife followed the " new economic household " to receive 42 fields in Hon Dat (Kien Giang).

As a urban student, the small physique makes farming difficult for Ba Long. More new land reclaimed, do not know how to plant, so the rice keeps falling. In 1981, Ba Long brought his family to Ben Tre (An Hiep commune where his house is located today) to find another plan to earn a living. Thanks to a bit of talent, he made a living by many jobs: from wood carving, processing mounds to making zippo caskets to making coconut shells and fine arts . In the afternoon, he and his wife woven mats.

At that time, the processing fee for a pair of mats bought about 2 or 3 liters of rice. Ba Long contemplated that his work was "sober" too. His family came to four, five mouths to eat, how much time to spare? "So weaving is woven but the belly is not happy, and the mind is always thinking about how to make dozens of pairs of mats a day? There must be a machine!". Ba Long recalled. "But I have not imagined it to be like this. Every night is awake, sleepless."

In 2000, Ba Long started assembling the machine. The small corner in the penthouse, where he lined up the boards as a backrest at this time, turned into a cold " workshop ". But miserably, there was not enough money, so one year later (in 2001), he assembled a new transmission part. In 2002, assembling motor dynamics. The machine does not go as it wants: the cake does not "agree" with each other, the hand grip is not yet beating the rhythm . The three days of the night kept scratching the hair, collecting the knowledge of mechanics 30 years ago. It was about 1972-1973, when the Ba Long youth was studying mechanical engineering.

At the end of 2003, the child projection weaving machine ( square model of about one cubic meter ) was completed. But how to turn it into a big machine, weave 1.60m-sized mats? After many days of questioning, Ba Long went to Ben Tre Department of Science and Technology to present his wishes. Department agrees to grant VND 16 million to make machines.

After the winning day, Ba Long's machine tried a smooth machining mat. The smoothness of the finish and almost no errors only. According to the design, the machine only needs one " feeding " (vertical projection) when operating. Weaving weaving standard size 1.6 m. There are 3 speeds of weaving: Number 1 is for new apprentices, speed of 5 leaves (piece) / day; No. 2 for workers familiar with hands, weaving 10 leaves / day; No. 3 for skilled workers, weaving 15-16 leaves / day.