Numerous projects completed with NDAs in place -
here's a few that can be presented:
The best single illustration may be this patented noise maker for household air filters - Andrew Taft conceived, designed, created and perfected this item; including the method of assembly, as a solo project. The item as produced in our shop included two sonic seals, the second of which had to seal the housing together, without affecting the movement of the 'slider.'
Beyond that, the next challenge for the design of this noise maker is that - the hole in the noise maker has to be blocked (kept closed), until the filter is sufficiently restricted/dirty, and only allowed to open and 'whistle' at that instant - PLUS, household filters may be mounted vertical or horizontal; and this noise maker had to perform exactly the same in either configuration. How to accomplish that?
A "quadruple inline dog clutch" setup - that allows for 'multiple choice' mechanical selection of bidirectional braking, applied to a rotating shaft.
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This setup uses compressed air to actuate four "PAMs" (pneumatic artificial muscles) to compress a series of discs. The objective was to generate a very high amount of resistance torque, using nothing more than a bicycle air pump as the input device; and keep the overall dimensions and assembled weight within predefined limits.
And here is the prototype as assembled.
A "one way gear & pawl" set up - as needed for a proprietary application. There are stepper motor actuators at the top, to lift or lower the sprockets against the Hub. One sprocket only turns CW and the other only turns CCW; thus, by lowering both sprockets or by lowering just one or the other - the Hub will either be locked in position, or allowed to turn CCW only or allowed to turn CW only. This was needed to create a braking force that could act in both directions, OR just in the CW direction, OR just in the CCW direction; and that could be 'shifted' in a split second by the actuators.
And this is the (almost complete) assembly where the above concept is utilized.
Here's a very simple device, that provided an exceptional solution - our permanent air filter product would vibrate and rattle when in use, as the filter had an aluminum frame. Andrew's solution was a semi-flexible profile extrusion that would serve as a "spacer tab" - to keep the filter frame pressed into position in the filter housing. This item cost just pennies to include with the product, and was a huge hit with consumers.
Hand sketch of an aluminum profile extrusion for an HVAC air filter frame.
The client had an "egg white separator spoon" that was too large to produce economically and did not work very well - the revised product as re-designed was much smaller, worked great, and had patentable features.
An air flow regulator for a commercial oven - the item as received from
the client shown on the left, which was barely performing.
At right is the item as modified, which performed exceptionally well in rigorous testing, and had patentable features.
Invented and patented an interlocking handle for our insulated tote bags. The novel feature was the tab and slot configuration - which enabled the bag to hold up to 35 pounds with the handle remaining fully closed.
U.S. Patent # 4,707,883
