During the process of design, my group and I neglected to spent enough time designing. Everything went well, till it was time to make the water wheel. In all the design pictures, we drew a water wheel

but did not plan on how to build one. This is because it seemed like such a simple idea that we skipped over designing the water wheel and work on the other portions of the mechanism that needed to be designed. To fix this, each group should have had to plan out how each piece of the system would have to be obtained or build. This would have made us pay more attention to detail.

 

 

To help the future students of the core get more out of this project, I would suggest having each group analyze whether there machine would have been practical for the people of early America. In their videos, have them discuss this topic and decide how it could have been even more manageable for the people then.

Technical Drawings

Energy being harnessed.

Energy being transferred.

Energy being applied.

Design Brief

The dairy farmers of the early American period needed to be able to churn milk. Milk churning requires a lot of energy, which these farms did not have to waste. This is why the milk churner must be able to function by harnessing the energy from water.

This milk churner must be able to accomplish harness, and transfer this energy to accomplish the task of butter churning. Since supplies will not be provided, the project materials are limited to what my group members and I already have.

Mechanical Component Ideas:

• water wheel
• gear train to enhance MA
• gear and lever

 

Early American Butter Churner

http://i.ytimg.com/vi/TyrBtSp2mq0/maxresdefault.jpg

     My groups task is to create a machine that can churn butter. This butter churner must harness the energy from water to function. This is an example of one of the simple tasks that creameries have to accomplish daily that, during the early Americas, was not so simple.

     My role in the group is the industrial designer.

The Early American Energy Design

http://goo.gl/eFy5Mb

     So, we have been assigned a project in our U.S. History class. We were assigned an early power source (either water, wind or animal power) and a task to complete. Our group received the task of creating a butter churner that is powered by water. As an additional task, we decided that we would try to actually make butter with our machine, once we complete it.

     The roles of our group are as follows: Dylan Buren is our Project Manager, Bella Medina is our Industrial Designer, and William McTaggart is the Mechanical Engineer.