Learning Through Re-Engineering Historic Machinery

Final Paper pdf 517KB

A common complaint of both graduating mechanical engineering students and their employers is that the graduates do not have a good understanding of actual machines and how they work. Another complaint is that, despite laboratories to study such concepts as material properties or fluid flow basics, the students do not have “hands-on” experience with complex integrated machines. A new three-credit elective course allows students to perform a complete machine disassembly and reassembly. The students determined whether the components need to be replaced to best perform their function. During this disassembly and reassembly, faculty judiciously interrupt to ask guiding questions. A once-a-week lecture provided background concepts and prepares the students for the design project part of the course. For example, when first offered in Summer 2016 the machine was a 1950 Ford 8N tractor. Unlike modern tractors, the drive, PTO, and hydraulics are all driven through one clutch. The design project for the students was to design a practical modification to the tractor so that the hydraulics were powered independently of the PTO. Faculty perceptions are that students who took this course increased their appreciation of the many implications of design choices and understanding of how machines work.

Author(s):

Bruce Carroll    
Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering
University of Florida
United States

John Abbitt    
Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering
University of Florida
United States

John Schueller    
Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering
University of Florida
United States