October 4 - The Inspiration for Invention Is Either Necessity or Bob

The Invention -
The way I heard the story, Bob asked Ken before church for a better way to raise the Sheetrock up for installation on the firewall. By the end of the sermon, Ken had sketched out the design on the back of his child's Sunday school worksheet. It is possible that I misunderstood some detail point, but that is of little consequence. There is still a bunch of Sheetrock to hang so let us now innovate to make the job more manageable. Ken's design, using exotic materials like boat anchor rope, a ratcheting pulley and a tow strap was built with one trip to Home Depot. I saw the thing in operation and it actually worked quite well and has a simple elegance, but lacking either a blinking light or a beeper, it is definitely not high tech. I asked Ken what he named the thing and he offered three choices. S.P.E.E.D.Y., SWOOPER and WHISTLER. Each will be discussed in this blog post, but first, some pictures of the device in operation.

Andy attaches the ratcheting pulley to a brace attached to the firewall. The rope is long, perhaps thirty or forty feet in length.

















On the end of the rope is a ring, which is apparently how boat anchor rope is sold. The ring can be seen just to Sam's left on the face of the panel. The rope going up to the pulley is hanging down from above across the face of the panel.  You can also see a loop of rope that is threaded through the ring and then wrapped around the bottom corners of the panel. The free end of the rope is off to the left of the panel and on down to the floor.

Getting the picture? Pull on the free end of the rope and the panel will rise into the upper regions. The ratchet on the pulley assures that the panel will not fall back towards the earth. Some additional stabilizing is required to keep the panel from just tipping backwards or off to either side.

 The tow strap also has a ratchet so it can be tightened around the panel and the rope that will raise it. The rope is threaded through the fastener on the tow strap so that the panel cannot tip too far either to the right or the left.

All that remains now is to add the motive force to raise the panel.

A couple of good tugs on the free end of the rope and the panel begins its upwards journey.

Now for the names and Ken's explanation -

S.P.E.E.D.Y.
single. panel. easy. elevation. device...Yep.

SWOOPER
single wheeled object or panel elevating rig


Andy, on the top of the wall needs to properly position the panel and secure it with nails or screws near the top. Pete and Tom are helping to maintain the position while Andy applies the fasteners.

WHISTLER
wery handy, individually staffed, thing lifting easily rig
Or that may be the sound heard from the operator while using it.

The original sketch depicted an operator whistling while using the device.


The inventor of the pulley is apparently lost in antiquity but Archimedes is credited with adding some sophistication and developing the block and tackle.










Cutting Room -

The street light was hauled inside the building so the panel cutting became a bit more convenient.















Sam and Tom measured twice and cut once.


















Through Bolts on the Girder Trusses - 
Just in case the twelve-hundred-eighty-seven or so nails pounded and shot into the four ply girder trusses during assembly are inadequate to prevent ply separation, every four feet a carriage bolt is run through the whole mass and a nut is securely tightened on the end of it. I am not sure what might cause the individual plies to want to divorce its neighbor, but the bolts will likely reduce the urge.
Randy scoots along the adjoining trusses first boring a hole through.

Then pushing the bolt through said boring.

Finally, tightening the nut on the threaded end.

I am not keen on the aesthetics of a bolt every four feet, but if the design engineer puts it in the plan, then let us be bolted.