A Better Jack

[ABetterJack]

Hello everyone, I'm a new member to this forum. I am a senior at Kent Island High School and as a capstone project for my engineering course, I am required to invent something, or improve on a current product. I myself am in my garage working on restoring my 1976 Ford Bronco almost every day. Naturally, I wanted to improve on a garage tool, so the first thing that came to my mind was a safer jack stand. The majority of jack stand failure is due to human error, in many cases due to not using wheel chocks.

My design would feature a square base plate, to eliminate the jack sinking on soft surfaces and asphalt. I would do away with the cheap cast ratcheting mechanism, and use a safer screw system similar to those seen on an under hoist safety stand. Lastly, to encourage people to use wheel chocks, the stand would come with one that attaches to the side for safe keeping via a pin. This pin would extend through the screw shaft at the bottom, which prevents it from being raised until the pin is removed, and the wheel chock is, hopefully, installed.

The link for my short survey is below, if you have time, please take it, it will help me determine if this is a viable project. If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions, feel free to post them or message me. We have received multiple great responses in other forums and would love to hear from you all as well.

Thanks everyone.

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...-C_Xg/viewform