Tuesday, February 19, 2019

Made in India Recliner is a perfect guillotine for a curious cat/kitten or a toddler!

The bottom view of a made in India Recliner, the folding mechanism from right to left can cause serious accident for a cat/kitten or even a toddler drawn into it out of curiosity
I almost killed our kitten today, while trying to fold the stretched recliner. I dint know that our kitten was under it, it got choked in the process, fortunately I had the presence of mind to quickly reopen the folded portion, the kitten was struggling to breathe and had vomit all over. It was a miracle that it survived.

When I reversed the recliner, it was a nightmare scene. All the mechanism meant to fold, open and stretch is totally exposed and can easily hurt any being who accidentally come in between these while using, it could be a cat or kitten or a puppy or even a curious toddler.

I sacrificed a good lungi to cover the exposed area below
 I am used to give a low tech ugly finish to any high tech gadget made in India, as the safety factors are quite rare. So, I decided to sacrifice a old but still quite useful lungi for the sfety measure operation. I am not patient to sew the cloth all around, so quickly placed the cloth, ensured stretchability of the cloth for expansion, taped the whole thing at all openings. Had to cut the lungi at the four pivots where the weight of the recliner transfers to the ground.
Made holes for the four corners, kept the lungi in place with safety pins, kept front portion bit lose to allow folding and stretching, taped all the sides to close

Had to use the recliner couple of times, struggled to close it or stretch it couple of times, had to patch up the new openings resulting, and finally it was all done.
Used couple of times and closed the residual openings below with tape, the accident survivor is back on the seat, can not go under the seat until the tapes hold.
In the mean time, the kitten seem to have forgotten the ugly accident, returned to the favorite spot, so I assume it has minimal internal injuries to endure, touch woood, hope no complication in the days ahead.

This blog is a safety warning for all the recliners out there, primarily to safeguard cat/kitten, puppies and toddlers.

Thank you!