17 June 1994 Lincoln Students Design Tap for Third World Use

A gravity tap designed for use in third world countries by a group of Lincoln University students has won a $500 merit prize in the annual BHP New Zealand Steel Universities Design Competition run jointly with The Institution of Professional Engineers New Zealand.

The competition aims to attract bright ideas from engineering and technology students and it set the maximum material costs of each entry at $100. Judging criteria included originality, innovative use of steel products and functional suitability.

Inspiration for the gravity tap came to Bachelor of Engineering student Rob Wayne, one of the four members of the group, when he was doing voluntary work installing water supplies in Ethiopian villages.

A British model, similar to the group's design, had been used in some gravity fed water supply systems but proved inappropriate because of cost and the unavailability of parts. The materials for the Lincoln University students' tap cost $13.27.

"The British ones which I saw were mainly broken. They were made by a company aiming to make sales overseas but once they broke down they were useless because parts to fix them were impossible to get," says Rob, who comes from Tai Tapu, near Christchurch.

"In Ethiopia screw-on household taps are used extensively and these were also very prone to breaking down. I thought a tap like the British one would be excellent if it worked and could be made out of parts available in developing countries.

"It was also important that the tap had automatic closing, which is essential in systems where water conservation is required."

This is to prevent abuse of the system by powerful villagers. Rob had observed that a channel would often be dug from tap stands to the fields of nearby farmers and the tap would be left running to irrigate the crops, at the expense of drinking water for the rest of the villagers.

The automatic shut-off valve discourages this as does the streamlined shape of the apparatus which makes it more difficult to fix open. An outer sleeve on the tap directs any leakage to the storage vessel and provides a barrier to contact with dirty hands.

In addition to Rob, the members of the Lincoln University tap team were Philip Cook of Whangarei, Philip Wong Too of Wellington and Andrew Roozen of Christchurch. All are studying for Bachelor of Engineering (Natural Resources) degrees.

The competition judges said the Lincoln students' tap entry won a merit prize because it met the needs of a developing nation through a very simple yet highly functional design.

"The standard of the report and the prototype were excellent and the students showed they had a good understanding of the market," said the judging panel.

The four students also won another merit prize, for a bicycle joint, and a second Lincoln team won a merit prize for a double hinge adaptor.

Lincoln's sweep of the merit prizes led The Institution of Professional Engineers to comment that the University “certainly had an impact on this year's competition".

All designs submitted in the competition remain the property of BHP New Zealand Steel. However, Rob Wayne said a covering note was sent with the tap entry stating that it had been prepared with the intention of making the design and product readily available to people in developing countries at cost.

The product was not aimed at generating profits and it was suggested that the idea might present an opportunity for the steel company to assist in donating resources to developing countries.

If the company wished to use the design in any other way than intended, the students asked for their entry to be withdrawn from the competition.

They said that manufacture of the product could be carried out in the developing country, thus generating jobs and promoting the development of skills, as well as ensuring that the value added to the raw materials benefitted the developing country.

Community Relations Centre, Lincoln University, Canterbury, New Zealand.