Bale spike win for Skibb teens
Michael O’Connor and Patrick Collins from Rossa College, Skibbereen were congratulated by Education Minister Mary Hanafin, and were also visited by Agriculture Minister Mary Coughlan at the exhibition, to see their project. The teenagers had written to Minister Coughlan to seek support in setting an equipment safety standard across the farming sector.
Michael and Patrick believe many farmers are opting for ‘risk taking’ rather than ‘accident prevention’, by using outdated unsafe equipment, and their Young Scientist project was to adapt a bale spike to make it safer for bale transport and storage.
On their improved bale spike, the spikes can be flipped upright into a safe housing by the farmer activating a linkage from the tractor cab.
Their teacher, Tom Foley, said they received immense attention throughout the exhibition, as many people were fascinated by the simplicity and effectiveness of their adapted spike. Members of the farming community, who were very impressed by their invention, had stories to tell of people they knew or animals which had been injured by bale spikes.
Having won the Patents Office Award for the project which best demonstrates use of technology in new or improved applications, enhanced efficiencies, or novel innovations, Michael and Patrick have now filed an application to patent their idea, which if successful will exclude others from making, using, selling, or importing the device.
The bale spike was one of 500 projects chosen to go into the final stages of the BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition, from the 1,278 projects submitted.
Michael O’Connor and Patrick Collins were among 1,145 students competing at the RDS in Dublin.
The BT Young Scientist of the Year was Somalian born Abdusalam Abubakar, for a project entitled, “An Extension of Wiener’s Attack on RSA”.
Ciara Murphy from Beara Community School won the individual runner-up prize for her project, “Hearing Loss in Teenagers”.
