Elongated hand tool, with end points, to actuate out of reach device
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing elongated hand tools for reaching and actuating buttons on ceiling or wall-mounted fire alarms and detectors are often heavy, costly, prone to breakage, and do not effectively fit various button shapes and sizes, limiting their usability and accessibility.
Innovation Solution
A lightweight, cost-effective elongated hand tool with interchangeable PVC piping extensions and distinctively shaped attachable points, including conical and angled tips, designed to fit various button sizes and locations, providing improved reach and ease of use.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Length of moving object
If metal telescoping segments are used to achieve extendable reach, then the tool can reach higher devices, but the tool becomes heavy and prone to breakage
Solution Approach 1:
The tool shaft is divided into multiple telescoping sections that can extend and retract. Each section is a separate segment that slides within the previous section, allowing the tool to achieve extended reach while maintaining a compact storage size and reducing overall weight compared to a single solid shaft of equivalent length.
Solution Approach 2:
The tool employs a hollow cylindrical shaft structure with thin-walled construction. This hollow design reduces the weight of the shaft while maintaining sufficient structural strength, and the thin-walled sections can telescope smoothly within each other to provide extendable reach without adding significant weight.
2Adaptability or versatility
If a single fixed tip design is used, then the tool structure is simple, but it cannot fit various button shapes and sizes on different devices
Solution Approach 1:
The tool incorporates interchangeable tip attachments that can be swapped to match different button types and device configurations. The universal attachment mechanism allows a single tool body to perform multiple functions by accepting various specialized tips, providing adaptability without requiring multiple separate tools.
Solution Approach 2:
The tool features a rotatable distal end section that can rotate independently to orient the tip at different angles. This dynamic rotation capability allows the tip to be positioned perpendicular to buttons on ceiling-mounted devices or at various angles for wall-mounted devices, enhancing versatility without adding multiple fixed-orientation tips.
3Ease of operation
If perpendicular pressing motion is used for ceiling devices, then the button actuation is effective, but the user cannot see the button clearly due to head position obstruction
Solution Approach 1:
The tool introduces angular orientation as an additional degree of freedom through the rotatable distal end. Instead of requiring the user to position their head directly below the ceiling device for perpendicular pressing, the user can maintain a comfortable viewing position while the distal end rotates to achieve the perpendicular pressing angle, separating the viewing dimension from the pressing dimension.
Data Source
AI summary
In most homes and other buildings, on ceiling or wall near ceiling are alarm and detectors. A person can push their button with subject tool. The subject includes distinctly-shaped attachments, of the same plastic, all of four types and joining methods. First type, body of 2.16 cm (0.85″) diameter, hollow black plastic piping, proximal looped cap for hanging, and distal inside threading for joining second or third types. Second type, two extensions of same body features, and a proximal connector instead of cap for joining first and second types. Third type, five attachments of two segments, proximal threaded portion for joining first or second types, and purposefully distinctly-shaped portion for different alarm or detector situations. Fourth type, twenty-one other attachments of said segments, the five shapes with either solid, hollow, or screw (fourth joining method) threaded portion for joining either distal hollow or projected part respectively on further-reaching pole.