Bina Bijli Khud Khulne Wale Gates! (1903 Pune)

In 1903, Sir M. Visvesvaraya's patented automatic gates were first installed on the Lake Fife (Khadakwasla) waste weir near Pune: 11 sets of 8 gates, 88 in all, each 10 ft × 8 ft, working with no motors, no electricity and no operators. In the documented KRS layout, each set is a float-and-balance-weight machine. When the reservoir reaches its maximum level, water enters a masonry well through a 1 ft inlet pipe, the float rises, the balance weight swings down and chains over pulleys lift the gates. When the level falls, the well drains through an exit pipe, the float sinks and the gates close again, so the cycle resets itself. Counterweighted automatic gates hold the upstream level in a narrow band by balancing the opening moment of water pressure against a closing moment. That is pure hydrostatics (free-surface equalisation, buoyancy and a lever balance), and it lets floods pass with little surcharge rise. The 1904–05 Bombay Presidency administration report records about 362 million cubic feet of added storage compared with the earlier temporary plank weir. The same design was later fitted at Tigra Dam (Gwalior) and at KRS Dam, where 48 cast-iron gates in 6 sets of 8 work on a gravity wall of stone masonry with lime-pozzolan surki mortar. In that mortar, burnt-brick powder reacts with lime to form a binder that hardens even under water, an answer to the shortage and high cost of imported cement. (M. Visvesvaraya +8) Empirical References: Report on the Administration of the Bombay Presidency 1904–05 (British Library, via Qatar Digital Library); M. Visvesvaraya, Memoirs of My Working Life (1951); Who's Who in Engineering 1922 (Grace's Guide); A. Williams, Engineering Wonders of the World, Vol. III; Belaud et al. (2005), ASCE Journal of Irrigation and Drainage Engineering; Central Water Commission (CWC), India; IC-IMPACTS KRS masonry repair study. Visvesvaraya automatic gates, Khadakwasla dam history, KRS dam secret, self opening floodgates, automatic sluice gates 1903, Lake Fife Pune, surkhi mortar dam, lime surkhi mortar, Sir M Visvesvaraya engineering, float and balance weight gate, hydrostatic pressure explained, Indian dam engineering, KRS dam Mysore, no electricity floodgate, 3D engineering explained India #Visvesvaraya #KRSDam #Khadakwasla #IndianEngineering #AspirantsHub3D Technical Disclaimer: Educational 3D architectural reconstruction. The float-and-balance-weight layout follows the documented KRS configuration of the same patented system, and the Lake Fife gate counts and sizes come from the 1904–05 Bombay Presidency report. The ≈ 9 tf per-gate load is a calculated estimate for a fully submerged 10 × 8 ft vertical gate at 8 ft head. Scenes show the system as designed, not the present-day condition of any gate, and the original Khadakwasla dam failed in July 1961 and was later rebuilt.