January 2000

NEW PATENT :
Toying with invention

If you have ever tried Double Dutch jump roping, you know it takes three people—two to turn the ropes and one to do the jumping. But what if you didn’t have two other friends who wanted to play?

That was the problem Tahira Reid, a senior mechanical engineering major at Rensselaer Polytechnictechnic Institute faced when she was young.

Reid solved the problem by building the Automatic Double Dutch Turner, which uses four mechanical arms to move two ropes in syncopated rhythm.

Reid is the first undergraduate student at Rensselaer to receive a patent, with help from a $10,000 grant from the National Collegiate Inventors and Innovators Alliance (NCIIA).

She brought her concept to life through Introduction to Engineering Design (IED), a sophomore design course where students work together on interdisciplinary teams to design and build new inventions.

Reid currently is enrolled in Inventor’s Studio, a course that helps students shape their projects into commercial products. Reid and her mechanical engineering teammates are currently exploring design options that will lower manufacturing costs for the Automatic Double Dutch Turner.

They then hope to license and sell the design, according to Burt Swersey, lecturer in mechanical engineering, aeronautical engineering, and mechanics. Swersey also is a faculty coordinator for Inventor’s Studio.

CONTACT: Theresa Bourgeois, (518) 276-2840, bourgt@rpi.edu

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