CHENNAI: A 16-year-old girl from Namakkal district in Tamil Nadu has come out with an invention which, if implemented, could be good news for government officials, especially those entrusted with the duty of sealing confidential documents and others using lac.

K Masha Nazeem, a XI standard student of the Vidya Vikas school, has designed a "flameless sealmaker" that promises to not only eliminate the use of fire to melt lac for sealing purposes, but also ensures "perfect shape."

There are very little chances of sustaining burns as is the case with the present seal making system which uses inflammable materials such as match box, sealing wax, candle and kerosene lamp, she said.

According to Masha, who already has quite a number of inventions to her credit, including a transparent test tool kit for students during exams, all that the sealmaker requires is energy, either from a battery or the Alternating Current (AC).

"This device works on the principle of heating element through electricity and one has to just put the lac inside, plug it to power, and the lac flows like paste," she said while demonstrating her innovation which is awaiting a patent.

As a user, one can even control the flow of the hot lac. Claiming that the seal would be "minus any distortions" since the lac is heated in a controlled environment inside a piston, Masha said this would ensure the "perfect shape".

Among the advantages, there was little possibility of a short circuit and a lesser power consumption, she said.

Masha said her invention would help affix seals on confidential documents and ballot boxes. She also claimed that the 'flameless sealmaker' was designed conforming to government norms and said anybody could operate the device with ease.

Masha had earlier designed a gadget to keep rail tracks clean, drawing praise from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Minister of State for Railways R Velu.