weighted 0.71 pounds and was loaded to 3550 pounds for a S/W ratio of 5000.
Concrete Planters
These are pictures of the concrete planters I built for the City of
Stillwater. They can be seen on the corner along South Main street.
The city was having a hard time finding planters for their
beautification project. Their best option at the time (as I understand
it) was a supplier in California and it would take several weeks to get
them. The trucking charges for shipping to Stillwater, not to mention
the actual cost, was more than I charged for the planters. I think they
were happy with the results and there was a small write-up in the
NewsPress. The hardest part of the project was the mold design,
determining the concrete ratios, and set time so that the pea gravel
would show through but not loosen and fall off.
Tennis Ball Cannon
This design was entered in a catapult contest sponsored by the OSU
Mechanical Engineering Dept. I used compressed air to project the
tennis ball (or anything you can shove down the barrel). The contest
was judged in two phases; distance and accuracy. I took second in this
contest because during the accuracy portion of the contest the ball
traveled so fast the judges could not tell where it hit. I won the
distance phase with no problem. The contest was held on the west end of
Lewis Field. The second place finisher shot his tennis ball about 110
yards and landed in the stands on the east end of the field. I was the
last to shoot for distance. The tennis ball left Lewis field, traveled
over Galleger-Iba arena, over the east football practice field, over
Duck street, over the Bye and Bye station and landed in someones
backyard east of the Bye and Bye station. My catapult and I were then
banned from any other catapult contests. The operating mechanism is a
quick release plunger that operates on a differential pressure principal.
South Pointing Chariot
This chariot was given as a retirement gift to R. L .Lowery, professor MAE.
The concept as the legend goes, was invented by the Chinese Army in 2600 B.C.
The heart of the design is the peg gears in a spider arrangement. This project took
master machinist Rod Brakhage and myself about 40 hours to build. He
did most of the manual machining and I programmed and cut the wheels and
gears using a CNC mill.
Air Cannon
