The Pipe Wrench 2.0!!

Dictionary.com says that design is an outline, sketch, or plan, as of the form and structure of a work of art, an edifice, or a machine to be executed or constructed. In our steam course, Design And Engineering, we decided to take a separate view of the definition of design. Sure design requires that we sketch and make plans, but there's more to it. We realized that designs need empathetic ideas embedded in them; otherwise, they're just another idea for a product that can't ever cater to the needs of everyone, thus making the design a failure. For this unit, we looked at designing gardening tools that would eliminate problems that everyone had. We interview gardeners to get their perspective, talked to employees at home depot, and even received help from a design director from Dyson. With this help, many of my classmates chose to re-innovate hedge clippers or sprinkler systems, but I went a different route.

I chose to re-innovate the pipe wrench. A lot of people wonder what could a pipe wrench possibly do in a garden? Well, lots of people's gardens have pipe systems that allow for easier distribution of water and fertilizer. Not only that but for less sophisticated gardens it can be difficult to unscrew hoses and screw them in places, securely. When interviewing my neighbor who is a gardener, he said some pretty interesting things about hoses and sprinklers that got me going on the pipe Wrench 2.0. " The sprinkler system I have in my garden is jacked up so I find myself having to fix the main control panel for it. That's usually the most difficult part because I'm old. I can't hold up that huge wrench to the thing all day, I get tired...". This got me thinking, what If I could make a pipe wrench that was lighter, smaller, and had a better grip so people wouldn't get tired while holding it? 

JH, Pipe Wrench 2.0, 2020

Here, I have attached an image of my design. It features a thin, metal base for the structure. This ensures that it stays light but durable as well. The handle is supposed to made of a plastic/ rubber grip which makes it easier to hold while adding depth that makes it easier to hold. In the middle of the object, there are two nubs of the same material that come into contact with whatever pipe is being worked on. This ensures that there's double the grip. Some for your hands to hold it better and some for the pipe that provides extra traction making it easier to tighten or loosen and pipes or hoses.

I also made a storyboard that accurately depicts the entire process of how the tool would be used from start to finish.

JH, Story Board, 2020

In this first unit, we also discussed different physics concepts. My design for the pipe wrench falls into the category of lever and fulcrum. A lever is a type of physics category where there are two separate parts that are conjoined by a middle point that is often the fulcrum. The lever had an input at the handles and an output at the knobs at the top that added traction to the object the tool was being used on. Here's a diagram.

 The last thing we discussed were the calculations of the tool we designed. For my tool, I designed it to be smaller and lighter than your average pipe wrench. That meant that I had to make the grips a certain size so I determined the surface area and volume of them using dimensions that were ideal for the design I wanted.

JH, Calculations, 2020

CITATIONS:

“Definition of Design | Dictionary.Com.” Www.Dictionary.Com, 2020, www.dictionary.com/browse/design?s=t. Accessed 9 Oct. 2020.

‌