Design of a tree moving and planting device

Planting trees that weigh over 200 pounds normally requires three or more able persons. Therefore, a device that allows a single person to easily and efficiently plant such trees possible by one person is highly desirable. During a Product Design class in the Mechanical Engineering Department at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, a group of 14 students developed a series of four concept models which culminated in a Final Prototype of such a product that can successfully lift, move and plant trees of over 200 pounds. This paper is aimed at documenting this series of designs and analyzing, testing and further developing the Final Prototype built in the course in order to make it marketable. Based on customer feedback, testing results, and user interaction, revisions to the next prototype of this device are proposed. Testing with trees of 170 and 370 lbs determined that the current outrigger stabilizing mechanism needs modification. The current outriggers, which are stored inside the frame, sustained maximum loads of 29 lbs for the 170 lbs tree, and 46 lbs for the 370 lbs tree. A sketch model built to simulate the outrigger mechanism suggests that the outriggers should be attached outside the base frame of the device rather than stored inside.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Mechanical Engineering.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2006

Authors dc:creator

• Nabar, Sean J
• Pallante, Salvatore B

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• David R. Wallace.

• Mechanical Engineering.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/36752

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/36752