enginsoc

Making a Difference (Emily Cummins)
When I was four, my granddad gave me a hammer and began to teach me how to make toys
from leftover materials in his garden shed. I loved the fact that we could make something
useful out of scraps, and my interest in sustainable design was born. My granddad ignited my
creativity, and this is something I will never lose.
As I got older, I learnt about the properties of different materials and became more
experienced in using a range of tools. At secondary school I began to win awards for my
design projects, beginning with a toothpaste dispenser for arthritis sufferers - such as my
other granddad, who found it difficult to squeeze tubes. The design incorporated levers that
changed the required squeezing action into a pushing one: this simple innovation meant that
not only could my granddad use it when cleaning his teeth, but that anyone struggling to
squeeze pretty much any tube could benefit. A device that began life as a toothpaste dispenser
for my arthritic granddad became multi-functional and useful to a diverse range of people.
On the back of this project my school, South Craven School in West Yorkshire, put me
forward for a national engineering competition, where I was lucky to be one of the winners.
Unfortunately, however, I didn’t acquire a patent on my product and so lost all rights to it.