Document Type

Dissertation/Thesis

Date of Degree Completion

Summer 2017

Department

Mechanical Engineering Technology

Committee Chair

Charles Pringle

Second Committee Member

Roger Beardsley

Third Committee Member

Craig Johnson

Abstract

Watching grandparents and parents get older, the struggle of day-to-day activities generally increases. One of the most recurring issues the older generation experiences nearly daily is their inability to reach dishes, glassware, and other things on the topmost shelves of a kitchen. Not only is it difficult for them to use things such as stepstools, it also becomes increasingly dangerous. With age, a fall from any height could be catastrophic. With this scenario in mind, a user-friendly cabinet insert would be a very effective way to combat this issue. However, many existing models of cabinet designed to fit these requirements operate using two linkage arms, and thus, have a higher material and manufacturing cost. One of the goals of this project is to reduce the overall cost and time to manufacture for a device that would be as effective as other benchmarked devices. This called for a design with only a single linkage arm. The device must also reduce the amount of force required to lift the nominal load by 50%. The insert, consisting of gas spring-assisted lowering shelf, will allow the user to “pull” items at a significant height down to a more reasonable level. The completed shelf does function as designed, however, the challenge of maintaining structural integrity with only one link arm was a large roadblock throughout this project.

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