New invention:

A staircase which doesn’t waste space

Do you remember us keeping you updated about the Junior Inventors competition which has been happening from last year? We even featured the three genius junior inventors who got the opportunity to represent Sri Lanka at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair in Atlanta, USA.

The young geniuses are back in Sri Lanka now. So, starting this week, we will feature their inventions on this page.

For a start, we spoke to Yasith Kanchana Lokuge from Ananda College, Colombo who secured the first place and title award at the Sri Lanka Science and Engineering Fair organised by the Institution of Engineers Sri Lanka.

When you hear that his invention was a spiral staircase, the first question that pops into your mind would be, ‘What is new about a spiral staircase? It is readily available today. How can it be an invention?’

Well, Yasith’s invention is not an ordinary spiral staircase; it is a collapsible staircase! You can fold this staircase and keep it aside when you don’t want it.

“During the construction of our house, my father faced numerous difficulties in building a staircase within a limited space. That led me to think about this invention,” says Yasith.

“Many people face this problem when building houses. The large space which is normally required to construct a conventional staircase cannot be made use of for anything else. A staircase eats up a lot of space in a house; it’s a waste,” he added.

Finally, Yasith’s father decided to build a conventional staircase as he could not find an alternative solution. Yasith has now been able to find a solution to the problem that his father and many other people all over the world had faced.

The objective of his mission was to construct a staircase which utilised minimum space, leaving the remaining space to be used for other purposes. The staircase is movable around the axis. Pins and groves are attached to all the steps in the staircase to make it easier to fold and unfold.

A programmed micro-controller controls the movement of the staircase through an electronic circuit. The power supply of the motor is controlled by a security password and an alarm indicates the folding and unfolding of the staircase.

This password helps prevent any unknown person or child from operating the staircase. If an incorrect password is typed three times, the system would need to be reset.

When the correct password has been input, a signal is passed to the motor driver IC(Integrated Circuit), which then turns to the side where it opens. Power from the motor (installed at floor level) moves the first step of the staircase by means of a belt.

The clockwise and anticlockwise movement of the motor turns the first step, which in turn draws the others to completely unfold the staircase. The first step where the motor is connected to has a rubber plate.

There are switches indicating the limit in the first and last step to show that the staircase is fully unfolded or folded. The power of the motor reaches the first step, then the second step and likewise all the steps, using the pins and groves.

When the first step starts unfolding, it pulls the second step and likewise, the whole staircase is unfolded. When it is fully unfolded, the upper limit switch gets the signal and the motor stops.

To fold the staircase too, the password has to be typed. Then, the staircase can be folded the same way it was unfolded, and when it is fully folded, the lower limit switch gets the signal and the motor stops.

The use of rubber plates here is very important. If someone was standing close to the staircase when the stairs were unfolding and if a step touched his/her leg, the staircase would stop the unfolding process.

However, the motor would continue to work during this time without the staircase being unfolded, which might damage the limit switches. The rubber plates are used here to avoid such damage.

Yasith is hoping to further improve this staircase by adding sensors to every step. The sensors will realise if someone is on a step, preventing accidents that may occur due to the stairs folding or unfolding while someone is halfway up or down the staircase.

Yasith has already won many awards for this invention. Apart from the title Junior Inventor of the Year - 2007, he also won a gold medal at the All Island Inventions Competition - 2007 organised by the Department of Physics, University of Colombo in collaboration with the Institute of Physics.

He won a merit award in the Western Province Inventions Competition which was organised by the Sri Lanka Inventors Commission. He also won an international award, the Herbert Hoover Young Engineer Award - 2008 for the novel item.

However, the collapsible spiral staircase is not Yasith’s only invention. He had earlier invented a device which indicates the arrival of the school bus; this brought him a merit award at a competition organised by the Science Union of Ananda College. We wish young Yasith the best of luck!

- Janani Amarasekara