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Turkey
Carnival this weekend
Pipe installation smooth; online in
December
Council grants Meredith waiver
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Chuckin' Pun'kins |
GFU engineering students build a catapult to pitch
pumpkins |
By David Sale, Newberg Graphic
reporter
E-mail David at
dsale@eaglenewspapers.com
|
What to
do with those leftover Halloween pumpkins? The answer is obvious, if
you’re a George Fox University engineering student: launch them into
the gray November sky.
The George Fox chapter of the American Society of Mechanical
Engineers (ASME) met Saturday at Mustard Seed Farm east of St. Paul
for the third annual Pumpkin Chunkin’ competition.
Three teams of students designed and built catapults, with a $120
budget each, to hurl a 5-7 pound pumpkin the farthest distance
across farm owner Dave Brown’s pumpkin patch.
“I have a son in the engineering program at GFU, so it’s kind of a
family affair,” Brown said.
A crowd of dozens of students, parents and passersby gathered in
the muddy field as the catapults were assembled and tested. One
suffered a critical failure before the competition began; its
throwing arm snapped in half under the load.
The competition was then between tradition and innovation. On the
one hand, a trebuchet (pronounced “tray-boo-shay”): a historically
popular type of catapult that uses a free-swinging counterweight and
a rope sling to hold its projectile, to generate a long and
efficient throwing arc.
On the other hand, a giant slingshot powered by dozens of bungee
cords, drawn by what appeared to be a boat winch. This design, built
by a team of freshman, used donated materials from Lumbermen’s,
Wilco and Newberg Hardware.
“It was a group decision,” freshman Justin Callistini said of his
group’s choice of design. “We’d contrasted all the design options,
and decided this was the most efficient.”
Despite a testing accident when a bungee cord snapped at full
tension, the slingshot design proved the most powerful, recording a
throw of 580 feet, versus the trebuchet’s 360 feet. Each team made
three competition shots, and the spectacular flights — and messy
landings — of each pumpkin drew cheers from the audience.
“This is our biggest year by far,” said ASME club chair Ben Dolt, a
GFU senior. “It’s the first year that we’ve had more than one entry
that made some good throws.”
The Pumpkin Chunkin’ event is carried out by ASME chapters
nationwide, using a standardized set of guidelines. |
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From
Nov. 4,
2006, Newberg Graphic
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