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| 08-23-2002 | Previous edition: 08-22-2002 |
        
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Printer-friendly version Fishing fanatics team up on design
Staff Writer The professor and his student went to the lake to work on a project, but ended up fishing instead. Gary Krutz, professor of agricultural and biological engineering, and Matt Martin, a former student and current engineering project manager at Turblex Inc., went to the lake to work on Martin's senior class project — building a pneumatic pump boat lift. The project was for ABE 485, "Agriculture, Biology and Engineering Design," which requires that each student creates an well-engineered device. "In this class everyone must do something practical. It is a place for ingenious design projects," Krutz said as the sound of a fishing bobber hitting the water can be heard throughout his small office. "Ignore that; that's just my fishing clock," said Krutz of the clock mounted on the wall behind his desk. Krutz suggested that Martin make an alternative to the electronic boat lift for his project, so Martin decided to make a pneumatic pump boat lift, which uses air rather than electricity to lift and lower the boat from the water. Considering that Krutz and Martin share a love for fishing, the pneumatic boat lift project was a perfect choice. Getting the project done, however, proved to be difficult when the two men went to Lake Freeman to work on the project and instead pulled their fishing rods out of their vehicles and spent the day casting their lines. Once they finally overcame their urge to fish, Martin and Krutz began work on their original task. Martin said, "We had to do a senior design project, so might as well make it be fun. (Krutz and I) both like fishing. So it was a great chance to go do work and fish at the same time." After completing the lift, which can also be used to help clean boats and other alternative uses, Martin did research to determine whether there were patents on a similar idea already. He found that the pump itself is an original innovation and no one else has patented a similar design. Krutz suggested that the pump could be mass produced and sold on the market as an alternative to the electric motors. "But that wasn't the original reason for making it. It was just to help us go fish," Martin said. Printer-friendly version |
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