About Garrett Jones

Hello, I am Nicholas Garrett Jones, and I am from Mooresville, North Carolina. Everyone calls me by my middle name, so “Nicholas” will not be seen much on this page. I am studying Mechanical Engineering at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. This direction of study was a long time in the making as I have had a growing interest in race cars and anything with a mechanism since I was about five years old.

As I advance through my undergraduate curriculum, I am excited to learn about 3D modeling and the design process. At the current moment, I believe I want to take a career path leaning heavily towards design once I graduate. I can tell I am in the right major due to the anticipation and love I have for my Engineering classes. It is a new concept to be excited about classes to me! I am also super excited about doing an internship for a race team as soon as this coming summer break. I have also been working for two separate lower-level race teams over the weekends, to stay up to date with everything in the world of motorsports.

With my interest so obviously skewed towards motorsports and race cars, one design that has absolutely changed the history of mankind is the television. The easy and live access to news, sports, and a countless number of other things has resulted in a more informed public. It has transformed sports into a relaxing pastime for most, but also a billion-dollar market for advertising companies. The world of motorsports thrives on sponsorship dollars and viewing audiences. Thanks to the television the reach for viewership has grown exponentially.

Another invention that today’s society runs on basically every day is the smartphone. An idea that started in 1992 and pioneered by Steve Jobs who took and ran with the idea. The implementation of simple user-friendly touch screen phones with limitless uses undoubtedly changed mankind. Smartphones meshed the internet, email, pagers, phones, and a host of other devices into one, while also being easy to navigate. Unfortunately, we have all had to help someone struggling with their phone at one time or another! This invention will be taught about in history books one day to a bunch of kids with “Apple” products in their very own pockets.

One invention that I took some time to research as it was not one I thought of right away, was the modern cement truck. The idea originated in 1916, and Stephen Stephanian was not given a patent due to “trucks not being able to support the weight of a mixer.” This idea was later expanded upon and patented forming a modern-day concrete mixer. This idea expedites the job site process for laying concrete and allows for premixed, ready-to-use concrete at any given time. This has created a profitable business and a variety of new uses for the very concrete we walk and drive on to this day.

The toothbrush is a rather simple but effective household item. A toothbrush for those who use them regularly promotes a healthy germ/bacteria-free environment in your mouth. I found the original patent dating back to November 18th, 1941, was granted to a Frank E. Wolcott. While the original product has been changed and manipulated many times since then, the basic concept has stayed the same. A handle long enough to allow for your hands to control the brush while not being inside your mouth, and the set of bristles which do all the cleaning on your teeth.

This handle’s shape is arched and varies in thickness, along with the addition of a soft rubber grip. These additions help keep the toothbrush firmly placed in the user’s hand once any moisture finds its way between the user and the handle.

The bristles on this toothbrush are placed in groupings of different shapes and sizes, along with the addition of three clusters of rubber strips cut into 4 slices. The groupings of bristles are designed to touch the entirety of a tooth within a person’s mouth. The rubber slices are placed towards the center to discard any stuck food particles that require more attention than the bristles can give. This design provides an excellent cleaning!

There have been many designs for a toothbrush, even ones that expand on the original idea, so speculating on materials and ideas is not something new for this product. However, with this exact toothbrush I think the bristles could be made from a material that is less fine. This is due to how they lose shape and fold over after a few weeks of use. I would suggest trying bamboo as an alternative, as it is sturdier and better for the environment than the current nylon bristles.

A problem I would like to solve for my 2156 project is one I constantly deal with when I travel. I am always annoyed by how long it takes to get my shampoo and body wash unpacked, as I double or triple bag each item to guarantee my other items do not get spilled onto. This process takes time, in both the unpacking and packing process, and sometimes after a long day I just do not want to fool with it.

This assignment took around 4.5 hours to complete. This may be long as my webpage was not working initially, and I had to email the professor and call the IT tech support desk.

You can contact me at my email by clicking this link.