[img_inline align=”right” src=”http://padnws01.mcmaster.ca/images/stair-climber.jpg” caption=”Fourth-year mechanical engineering students Jonathan (Kwok Kin) Ho, Jonathan (Chin Hung) Lo and Stephen Niedojadlo pictured with a scaled-down version of their industrial stair-climber delivery device for which they received the Minerva Canada James Ham Safe Design Award. “]It reads like a Mensa IQ question: How can one person transport a 250 lb (114 kg) compressed gas cylinder safely up a flight of stairs when an elevator is not available? For three fourth-year mechanical engineering students, the solution was worth $3,500 and the Minerva Canada James Ham Safe Design Award.

Stephen Niedojadlo, Jonathan (Kwok Kin) Ho, and Jonathan (Chin Hung) Lo, under the supervision of mechanical engineering associate professor Mateusz Sklad, won the award for inventing a stair-climbing delivery device that can transport industrial gas cylinders, and potentially other objects, safely up flights of stairs with minimum effort.

The three students were presented with their award on Monday, April 16 at the Health and Safety Conference organized by the Industrial Accident Prevention Association at the Toronto Convention Centre. They will also be demonstrating a scaled-down prototype of the stair-climber at the event on Tuesday, April 17 from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m.

The stair climber looks similar in concept to a heavy-duty, two-wheel dolly but with a mechanical system that vertically lifts the whole device up stairways one step at a time. The mechanism is set to climb at a rate of two minutes per story (based on a 7.5 inch high tread), or just under six seconds per step.

Created to meet their fourth-year engineering design project requirement, the students chose this particular challenge inspired by a delivery process in one of the engineering buildings. A compressed gas cylinder delivered to the building is currently carried by four people to the second floor since a service elevator is not available. While safety precautions are in place, the stair-climber device would almost eliminate potential hazards while improving productivity.

The device itself is simple to use. It is pulled backwards towards the step, a button is pressed, and the stair climbing pad rises up. Once the pad is raised, the cart can be pulled backwards onto the next step, which it uses for support on its travel up. The process is repeated for each step.

The students spent more than 600 hours combined designing, building the prototype, and presenting the project. They hope to produce at least one full-scale model for use by the Faculty of Engineering.

The Minerva Canada James Ham Safe Design Award was established to recognize an Ontario engineering student or team making an original and unique contribution to integrating safety into engineering design.

The award is sponsored by Minerva Canada Safety Management Education Inc., with funding from the Ontario Workplace Safety and Insurance Board. It was created to honour James Ham whose Royal Commission Report on Health and Safety led to the creation of Ontario's Occupational Health and Safety Act. James Ham trained as an engineer with a secondary field of study in sociology.