Man Finds A Way To Fix A Broken Wheelchair Lift, But Another Engineer Takes Credit For His Solution
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Imagine working really hard to come up with a solution for a problem at work. Through a lot of trial and error, you eventually find the problem and find a solution that works even if the solution is less than ideal. What would you do if someone else was given credit for fixing the problem?
In this story, one man is in this exact situation, and I think it’s pretty safe to say that he was really annoyed by the whole situation. However, he just sat back and listened. It was another coworker who spoke up and eventually revealed who really solved the problem.
Let’s read all about it.
Useless “Engineer” takes all the credit for first half of project. Then needs help on second.
I worked for an elevator co. They made residential elevators,stair climbers,and wheelchair lifts.
They had been struggling with reliability on one wheelchairlift model for a couple years. It was a good seller, but two big problems:
1- the gear box would strip.
2- it drew too much current and would trip the 30 AMP breaker.
OP was tasked with fixing it.
They cut corners on their product development testing, and it showed.
So I get given this project. Created a Cut Away of the gearbox, to show why it failed. Adapted a gearbox from a better manufacturer, that also cost less. Set up durability testing: Max length track, max angle, 110% max load.
Needed 5000 cycles, by a certain deadline. Not enough hours in the day, I start pushing it faster. Add a fan, and a larger battery charger.
Because the motor was rated for “intermittent use”, 3 minutes on, 10 minutes off, it ran HOT. Get a bigger fan. Had it running 3 minutes ON, 30 seconds OFF. Almost non stop. Torturing it pretty hard, zero problems with the gear box.
Sometimes guessing at a solution actually fixes the problem.
At some point, a bearing in the drive failed, from the abuse. This was heat related, they never fail in the field.
While it is apart for repair, I change one dimension on the rack and pinion drive mechanism. Moved the pinion away from the rack by .020″ (.5mm)
This was an experiment. Basically a guess.
It worked.
Success!
Instead of drawing 25-28 Amps going up, it was 15-18 Amps. Going down 2-7 amps, instead of 13-15 Amps.
Problem found. Success.
Yes, it was a little “too free”, but I found the problem and proved it.
A little trial and error would make it perfect.———-
This is crazy!
New president calls an employee meeting, to bore us with the sound of his voice. Plans of how he is going to turn the company around, bla bla bla. Whatever.
During this brilliant presentation, he starts talking about this wheelchair lift,and how the reliability problems had been solved. Cool.
Then he credits ALL this to a useless “Engineer” who had NOTHING to do with the project,and calls him up to say a few words.
At this point the “Engineer” could, and should, have given credit to those who actually did the work. Of course he did not.
At least someone eventually spoke up.
He documented the gear box mount that I made. Just cleaned up one of my drawings. After the fact.
Then someone told him that I changed the rack and pinion engagement.
He looks for me.
Here’s how the conversation went…
Useless Engineer: “You moved the rack and pinion ?”
Toolmaker: “Yes”
Useless Engineer: “You moved it .020″ ?”
Toolmaker: “Yes”
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But the engineer seems concerned.
Useless Engineer: “That is too much”
Toolmaker: “Yes”
Useless Engineer: “What should it be ?”
“You are the Engineer, Figure it out.”
Give credit where credit is due. It’s ridiculous for the engineer to take credit but then complain about the solution when everyone realizes he had nothing to do with fixing the problem.
Let’s see how Reddit responded.
Apparently, a lot of engineers steal credit.
Here’s a dad joke.
If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a person who changed their minds about donated items, only to return to the shop to find them all sold.
Another person shares their thoughts on engineers.
Here’s another perspective on engineering.
Give credit where credit is due. Don’t take credit for something you didn’t do. Could we make that an engineering motto to prevent situations like this from happening in the future?
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