Simple Product Design- Dustpan

Introduction

Hi, my name is Pradnya Hire, and currently, I am an industrial design student at NID Andhra Pradesh. Owing to COVID-19, the lock-down is still on and along with the entire country, all educational institutes are closed too.

To make up for a lost time, my institute is conducting online classes. Our current course is SPD-simple product design.

For this course, we were first supposed to choose a simple product and then redesign it based on certain factors. Initially, I chose a walking stick but because I did not have one with me at home, I had to change my product.

During this lock-down, household chores have been divided amongst all my family members and, I was assigned the duty of sweeping and mopping the whole house — daily, owing to which, I decided to choose a dustpan as my second option.

Dustpans are found in almost every household. They may vary in size and color but almost every dustpan has a very similar form. A dustpan is often accompanied by a broom. Its primary function is to collect the dust/waste that is swept in it with the help of a broom.

Here are a few sketches that I did of a regular dustpan-

Storyboarding

For the next step, we were asked to make storyboards around our chosen products. Through the storyboards, we are supposed to illustrate the various scenarios our chosen products are usually used in and the associated problems.

Here are a few storyboards that I did for the same-

Through the help of these storyboards, I tried to illustrate certain problems usually associated with a dustpan.

Design brief

Moving on, we were supposed to state a design brief around our chosen product to narrow down the area we want to focus upon.

For this, I first swept my entire house (daily chores coming to the rescue, yey) to observe the process and state down my observations. Next, I searched online for some of the common problems faced by people while using a dustpan.

While doing so, I even found some memes about dustpans!

okay so coming back to the point, I found that-

• it’s hard to sweep in all the dust onto the dustpan
• you have to keep changing the direction of the dustpan to get most of the dust in
• dustpans are usually kinda flimsy made out of cheap plastic
• easily breakable
• there is no proper assigned place to store them
• they are hard to find at times when you need them the most
• one has to bend down to sweep in the dust
• a broom is necessary to sweep the dust in

So for the time being, my design brief is broad and not exactly focusing upon one particular problem but the most important problem. My design brief is to design a dustpan that is compact, easily storable and, can sweep in the last bit of dust.

Task analysis

Having stated down the design brief, the next step was to break down the process into various steps, required to achieve a particular task.

Breaking down a certain process into various steps is an extremely important part of any research as it helps one to understand the various steps required to achieve a certain task.

Moreover, it even helps you in recognizing certain patterns and unnecessary steps which could be common to a certain user group. It makes you question the process as a whole.

Below I have tried to break down the act of sweeping into various parts-

While breaking down the act of sweeping into various steps, there were a few questions that came up. Some of them are mentioned below-

• is it necessary for the broom and the dustpan to be two different products?
• can they be merged into one?
• does the dust get swept onto the dustpan in one go itself?
• what is the case when the floor is wet?
• how does one dispose of the waste if the dustpan is wet?
• how does one keep light waste particles like hair strands, onion peels, etc from flying away from the dustpan
• how does one ensure that all the dust is transferred upon the dustpan?
• where is a dustpan stored?
• is there an assigned place for it?
• what is the age group of the users?
• does it have only one purpose?

There are several more such questions for which I’ll have to research to get answers and find possible solutions.

History and Parallel Products

To look at the history of the dustpan, one has to first go through the history of waste management since ancient times. Throughout most of history, the amount of waste generated by humans was insignificant due to low levels of population density and exploitation of natural resources. Common waste produced during pre-modern times was mainly ashes and human biodegradable waste, and these were released back into the ground locally, with minimum environmental impact. Tools made out of wood or metal were generally reused or passed down through the generations.

However, some civilizations do seem to have been more systematic and organized in their waste output than others. In particular, the Maya of Central America had a fixed monthly ritual, in which the people of the village would gather together and burn their rubbish in large dumps.

one man’s trash is another man’s treasure

It was a common practice to sweep the house with twigs gathered together to make a bunch and sweep the dust and waste from the house directly outside the house and into the backyard. Waste like vegetable peels, leftovers were usually fed to the cattle while the rest of the biodegradable waste was put into the ground as manure or it was burnt. This was a pre-plastic and pre-industrialization era with little to no toxic waste.

Since brooms and dustpan are often used in a pair, it would only be logical to look at both of their histories. The first proper broom was invented in 1797 by a farmer named Levi Dickenson. He made the broom for his wife, using tassels of sorghum, a grain he was growing for the seeds. His wife then spread a good word about the broom throughout their town, which then led to popular demand for his broom. The invention of the broom, and it being easily available to many, led sweeping to become a common practice in every house.

Somewhere along the line, people started to pick up the swept waste with huge leaves and/or scrap pieces of wood to not dirty their hands. People made modifications to these makeshift dustpans to meet their needs.

The initial form for the dustpan was inspired by already existing products like the crumb collector, silent butler (used for collecting cigarette butts and ash), pans, etc which had enough holding/storage capacity which existed in various cultures.

The first dustpan to receive a United States Patent was invented in 1858 by an American inventor- T. E. McNeill. Except for his name and the year he was granted the patent, there isn’t much information about him or the dustpan that he invented.

Almost 40 years later, Lloyd P. Ray- an African American, made certain improvements to the existing design of the dustpan. His modified dustpan got patented in 1897.

Below are some of the sketches of Lloyd P. Ray’s improved version of the then existing dustpan design.

Lloyd P. Ray made improvements to the dustpan by the addition of a short wooden handle, which was removable, and a collection plate made of metal. Up till Ray’s invention, the dustpans didn’t have a handle. Ray also added a spring fastening device which would hold the handle at an angle to the pan when the pan is in use and which would permit the handle to be carried to a parallel position with the pan and would serve, furthermore, as a means for suspending the pan and handle from convenient support.

In 1949, Mearns Myrtle invented a miniature dustpan. This dustpan set came with a small dustpan and a small broom. It was designed for use in places that are generally inaccessible to the conventional type of dustpan and the brushes used in conjunction therewith.

After these inventions, there were a series of similar products designed by various inventors but the major changes in the overall form of the dustpan came much later in the 90s.

Research Goals

• to take a look at alternative methods and parallel products to carry out the same task which may or may not have similar features
• to narrow down on a user group and design a product suited to them
• to make it more interactive with the user
• to make it a part of the house as opposed to being abandoned in a corner of the house
• could be multipurpose/and or could be easily made by one without any prior experience with easily available items

Alternate methods and parallel products-

I started the research by first taking a look at the alternate methods and the parallel products, existing side by side, used for waste collection. Below I have mentioned a few of those alternate methods used at a household level-

After looking at the alternate methods to clean dust, I wanted to take a look at some of the already existing dustpans in the market. The objective of this is to analyze these existing products and to understand the various problems tackled by these particular dustpans-

This dustpan and brush set has been designed by Ariel Anisfeld. It is a sensible solution made of industrial fabric that ensures the dirt collected won’t move even if you do. Better yet, it’s collapsible to save space when storing.

Sweeper and Dustpan by Jan Kochanski. This particular set of dustpan and brush is compact and makes the disposal of dust an easier process. The circular hollow handle of the dustpan also acts as a storage space for the brush.

Foot dustpan by Matthias Lange. The Foot-dustpan adds a practical extra feature to existing dustpans. While sweeping with a broom, the Foot-dustpan can be easily fixed or moved with the foot. Due to that dust and dirt can be collected without permanently bending down.

The 3 in 1 Bin by Yoon So Young. It combines a broom and a dustpan with a dustbin to achieve a more comfortable and systematic way to clean. The broom is given a designated mounting slot on the side of the bin and can be easily dismounted and reattached. Similarly, the lid of the 3 in 1 Bin can be detached and used as a dustbin. The design is tailored not only for convenience but also encourages more efficient use of space.