SUPREMOS!
OUR 1997 WORKSHOP
SUPREMOS!
Inventions galore as
Andrew Pearce and
David Cousins bring in the
results of this years
Barclays Bank/
farmers weekly
inventions competition
WELL, our 7th farm inventions jamboree has come and gone. And again readers excelled themselves, giving us more than 80 entries to sift through and pore over. Eventually that was whittled down to 25, leaving the judges – Surrey farmer/contractor Chris Martin, Hants farmer Bob Ives, Dr Andrew Scarlett from Silsoe Research Institute and FARMERS WEEKLY writers Andrew Pearce and David Cousins. – the not-so-small task of picking some winners.
As usual the entry was split into simple, intermediate and complex categories. Results follow, with prizewinners first then a round-up of all the finalists. Over the coming year Power Farming will be looking at some of the entries in more depth. Thanks to all who made this years event possible!
A thought to finish. While youre out in the workshop, burning that midnight oil towards an entry for 1998, spare a thought for the wife and family. If only a brief one.
JUDGING THE JUDGES
Each entry is judged against four criteria – inventiveness, safety, originality and usefulness to others. Inventivness is vital: The entry must show a spark, a definite step that marks it out. Safety is self-explanatory, and where safety is not an issue or not positively boosted, the entry had a neutral mark. The yardstick of originality separates out those devices which no matter how cleverly done, are copies of equipment that could be bought. The last point -usefulness to others – only marks down a device if the invention helps just its builder, rather than being potentially useful to others in the same branch of farming.
Thats how we do it. If you have any suggestions to broaden or improve the system, please let us know!