Sources of Information

Look at competing products (hand carts already designed) for comparison. Are you on the right track with your design ideas? Visit:

Local Hardware Stores: (i.e., Lowe's, Houts, Sears)
Office Depot (furniture)
Meyer Material Handling Products, Inc (steel hand trucks)
Control Company Scientific Products Selection Index (carts)
MatWeb Material Property Data

It's a good time to consider your materials. You're going to need to know some numbers for your calculations. Decide what you need to look for, for example, do you need to know the tensile yield strength? In this example you will also need densities. You can find these properties and more information on products, like the cart, on the Industrial Catalogs and Product Information Page. Further information can be found in print media like handbooks and material selection guides. However, it will take some legwork. Try these places:

Engineering Library, 3rd floor Hammond
Earth and Mineral Science Library, Deike Building
Architectural Library, Engineering Unit C

Some good sources of information for any topic:

Penn State Library
The internet (search engines for the internet)
Our Links and Resourses Page on this website.

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This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 0633602. Any opinions, findings and conclusions or recomendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation (NSF).

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