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riday, december 14, 1979
daily nebraskan
page 15
Students' tractor plan
lifts' farmer's spirits
By Tom Prentiss
Thanks to two UNL mechanical engin
orinc students, a paranalecic Nebraska
armer will continue his life-long goal of
arming.
Senior Marian Henke. 24. and craduate
Robert Mav field were responsible for de-
signing ah apparatus that uses a hydraulic
lift to hoist Scribner farmer Norman
Wegner up to the tractor cab.
Controls on the Jractor also have been
daptcd to fit Wegner, I lenke said.
Henke of Falls City said Mayficld, cur
ently employed in Tulsa, Okla., became
nvolved in the project' as part of their
inachine design class.
May field could not be reached for com
ment. .
The two were awarded $250 for placing
burth in the 1979 Student Kneineerine
Design Competition, said Henke.
THE NATIONAL award is from the
James F. Lincoln Arc Welding Foundation
of Cleveland, Ohio and was presented to
the pair tor designing the lilt and braking
tractor modifications for Wegner.
Wegner, 37, was paralyzed from the,
waist down after the tractor he was driving
was struck by a truck in August, 1976.
The accident left Weencr. who is
married and has five children, without a
way of making a living, Wegner said.
"Alter the accident I realized might
not be able to farm, but I still wanted to."
he said, didn't give up hope though."
During rehabilitation training, the State
Division of Rehabilitation Services tried to
find a way to allow Wegner to continue
farming, according to an employee of the
division,
Otto Link said that after consulting
with local mechanics in Omaha, the
Division decided to see if UNL's College of
Engineering and Technology could be of
any help.
UNL ENGINEERING officials were
interested and work on the project began
in the fall of 1978, Link said.
"The people at the university were
happy to take it on as a class project," he
said.
Henke said the project took "quite a bit
of time" but the result was worth it.
Henke said both he and May field visit
ed the Wegner farm south of Snyder several
times to check measurements on the
tractor,
Wegner had to bring his tractor down to
Lincoln so adaptations could be made. He
said he got his tractor back in April 1979.
Cost of the project totaled about
$1,200, Henke said. He said $800 was for
the hydraulic life system and about $400
for hand control adaptations.
Reaction from those involved in the
project has been positive.
Wegner described Henke and Mayfield
as "two good boys who really knew what
they were doing."
"I really appreciate everything they've
done because it means so much to me,
Wegner said. -
Henke said it was personally rewarding
to be involved in a project that benefited
someone so much,
"From an engineering standpoint, it was
great to take this from the concept stage,
through the design process and to the con
struction process," Henke said,
"We did everything from A to Z and
learned all the aspects of it," he added,
Link said he was pleased at the univer
sity's willingness to help out, He said there
was a "big potential" for the rehabilitation
service using the university to seek answers
for many rehabilitation problems.
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