Ideas for Projects in Design of Machine Elements Course, Fall 2007

1. Mechanisms to Entice Recycling in Cafeterias.

The Lowell National Park and Tsongas History Center in an effort to be more “green” want to help encourage the middle school kids who eat lunch there (all 60,000 of them over one year) to recycle as much of their “waste” as possible. Of course, we must keep in the mind the labor cost involvedin such endeavors.A few approaches involving machines that would collect and perhaps process things like plastic bottles, metal cans (e.g., crush them to reduce handling expense) include:

--mechanisms that create a little amusement (and enticement) like a Rube Goldberg type device that would go through some complicated routine before shredding a plastic bottle,

--a brief video game or mechanical game activated by a recyclable placed in the device,

--a video display activated by a recyclable placed in the device, giving information about the savings from recycling...

  1. Playground Rides for Children with Disabilities.

Children with disabilities could use devices to help them get exercises while perhaps having fun in the process. Last spring some ME seniors designed and built a swing activitated by arm movement through four-bar linkages to move the feet of kids who can't move their feet on their own. We installed the swing in a town in Peru last June next toa special needs school and a volunteer physical therapy (PT) clinic (photo below). We worked with Deirdra Murphy of the PT Dept. here at UML. She went down to Peru with us last June andisinterested incontinuing to get her students involvedin suitable PTS-L projects with us. There is potentially a whole host of different types of playground rides that could be adapted to children with various disabilities. Morebackground information is available at:

3. GUINESS BOOK OF WORLD RECORDS LARGEST BOOK PAGE TURNER

The Groton-Dunstable Regional Middle School (GDRMS) has a docket number with the Guinness Book of World Records to break the record by creating the world’s largest book: 10 ft high by 8 ft wide when closed. They have asked Francis College of Engineering for help on the actual construction of the book, which will travel to various museums. A mechanism for turning the 250 pages, which will likely be made out of Tyvek, needs to be developed. (The book is to be a collection of letters by famous people, including Green Day, describing their views on world peace, which the GDRMS students have already received.) A page turner for normal-sized books was designed and built by a capstone team last spring and could be used as a starting point. Teacher Betsy Sawyer and Dean John Ting began this collaboration and will serve as resources. Some prior work has been done on the page turner (Contact ).

4. VILLAGE EMPOWERMENT PERU PROJECT WATER PUMPS

Innovative engineering systems for villages in the remote Peruvian Andes are designed and then installed by UML students twice a year; these systems are requested by local folks to improve their quality of life. See website: for more information. As the region is very dry, moving water to where it is needed is a major obstacle. Pumping systems that run off of photovoltaic (PV) panels have been designed and installed by previous classes (photo right) and have proved successfulbut are expensive, and others need to be developed. Simple inexpensive pumping devices that are hand or foot operated would be more appropriate in other locations and as backups to the PV systems. Water sources are generally streams, irrigation canals, or shallow wells.

5. UML COSTELLO GYM RUNNING MAT ROLLER DEVICE

The UML Costello Gym has 4 heavy rolls of rubber mat that were purchased for the runners to use in the Costello Gym. However, it did not take them long to realize that they were just too heavy to set up and break down for each practice. Each roll of ¾” thick rubber mat is approximately 3’ wide x 150’ long and weighs between 800 and 1000 lbs. We need to devise a system to move each mat in place, unroll it for practice and the roll the mat and move it back to storage on a daily basis. Given that the entire length is needed for sprinting practice and the width is needed for safety, they may not beable to cut the mat up into smaller pieces. The mats are currently stored in the Costello Gym Closet.The on-site contact is Jean Robinson x 4545.

6. PAWTUCKET CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH COMMUNITY RAMP

Design a curved ramp for wheelchair and other handicapaccess to rooms used by the community at large. The complex is located at the corner of Mammoth Road and Veteran's Parkway--rightacross fromthe O'Donnell Bridge and the McDonald's. The ramp would probably be designed for the side toward Veteran’s Parkwayand will have to withstand heavy use. This project would be a feasibility study, but a capstone project could develop from it. On-site Contact: Judith Thurlow <>

UML contact: John Duffy has visited the site.

7. ASSISTIVE TECHNOLOGY

  • Create a mechanical thumb, or like device, for gripping for a man with only 4 fingers on each hand.
  • Design specialized bed rails for special needs clients (5) – must be higher and sturdier than usual, but be able to swing completely out of the way.
  • Add a mechanism to a practice artificial limb for PT students to simulate spastic resistance.

UML contact: Linda Barrington, Eng. Service-Learning Coordinator, x 2627,

8. CANAL CLEANER

Canal cleaners for Lowell. Trash blows into the canals and is difficult to remove. Automated devices would help the city and National Park folks keep the surface of the canals clean would help all of us. Carlos Johnson has done some preliminary work on such a device. Analysis of stresses could be pursued for his basic device, or completely new ideas followed.