Mechanical engineers host first-ever pumpkin launch
Pumpkins, squashes and other unlucky gourds found formidable fates Saturday in North Logan’s Elk Ridge Park, as USU mechanical engineering students provided the main attraction for the first-ever Pumpkin Toss.
Alan Luce, the director of Public Works for North Logan, said he approached faculty of USU’s department of mechanical engineering to ask if they had any ideas for how to get rid of a few hundred pumpkins, which were left over from the annual Pumpkin Walk.
“We’re just involved in sort of a recreation event here,” Luce said. “What we’re doing is — North Logan City, the recreation department — is trying to create a Pumpkin Days, to build around Pumpkin Walk.”
Dallin Jackson, president of USU’s American Society of Mechanical Engineers, said Luce contacted Prof. Byard Wood, the department head for mechanical and aerospace engineering, and proposed organizing a pumpkin toss.
Luce said for the past few years residents have requested a pumpkin tossing event similar to those popping up around the country. He said Pumpkin Walk committee members agreed it would be a good idea to host one in North Logan.
“Alan Luce, he talked to Dr. Wood, and he said that they have requests every year to have trebuchets,” Jackson said. “Dr. Wood came to me, because I’m the president of ASME. So then we advertised it to everybody and got a bunch of people that were interested in doing it.”
A trebuchet is a medieval invention similar to a catapult that was used to bombard castles with large, stone projectiles. Jackson said the event, which was organized as a competition between three different teams of mechanical engineering students, attracted sponsorships from area businesses such as Golden Corral, Best Buy and Walmart.
Mechanical engineers and backyard building enthusiasts over past years have become part of the growing sensation called “pumpkin chunkin’,” which essentially involves formulating the best way to launch a pumpkin over the longest distance.
“This here is a floating-arm trebuchet,” Trevor Irish, freshman mechanical and aerospace engineering major, said of his team’s machine. “We suspend the weights in the air, approximately 14 feet. Right now we’re working on 265 pounds, and then we have a 20-foot throwing arm.”
Irish, team leader for Team Frankie, said the counterweights propel the arm, and subsequently the pumpkin, skyward.
“The students here are all on board,” Luce said. “They wanted to compete, they wanted to go out. We set some rules so we didn’t have them crushing the surrounding homes around here. We set the axle at about 10 feet so they couldn’t launch them too far.”
According to the Pumpkin Launch Rules and Regulations sheet devised by ASME, the launchers could not exceed 10 feet, by 10 feet, by 10 feet, and each of the three teams received a budget of $100 to construct its device. Each machine was limited to “simple mechanics — no chemicals, combustibles or electronics.”
“It’s a giant slingshot,” Rob Neibaur, member of Team Legit, said about his team’s creation. “We got the idea, there was another university that did one — George Fox University — we just saw it on YouTube. This one just seemed to fit within our $100 budget.”
Colin Martin, another member of Team Legit, said the group wanted to create something “simple” and “effective.” He said with trebuchets there can be difficulties calculating the launch angle. He also said there is the risk of launching backward, which Team Frankie experienced while practicing before the competition.
“Teams must bring launcher to the field no later than 11 a.m.,” the rules stated. But the third and final team to transport its machinery to the field did not show up until minutes before the competition was set to begin at 1 p.m. The third team’s leader, who was unavailable for interviewing, announced that his team was called The Butternut Bouncers.
Each team experienced technical difficulties of some sort. The slingshot required multiple modifications due to a couple of faulty hair-trigger release mechanisms, which led to premature launches. The two trebuchet teams both had issues with vertical launches that had team members ducking for cover.
The Bouncers also had to deal with a couple of misfires because the pumpkin would roll out of the firing pouch before it was launched. But eventually, ASME Secretary Shaun Hawley said The Butternut Bouncers won first place for best distance, with a shot that went 165 feet.
“What we did is we have one that’s most accurate,” Jackson said, “and that’s going to be (Team Frankie), because they pretty much hit the same spot. (Butternut Bouncers) are the farthest one because they chucked theirs the farthest and then (Team Legit) are creative, because they have the most unique design.”
Gift cards, candy, cookies and electronics were awarded to participants from all three teams. Jackson said he was pleased with the way the event came off. He said he’s hopeful the Pumpkin Toss will become a yearly tradition in North Logan. Next time, teams should have a whole year to develop ideas and work out all the bugs, instead of just a few months, he added.
“This is the first year we’ve tried (the Pumpkin Toss),” Luce said. “A lot of people just started talking about
different things we could do, and we’re still going to try other events in the future, but this is one that sounded really fun to a lot of the people that are involved in the Pumpkin Walk.”
– dan.whitney.smith@aggiemail.usu.edu