DESIGN OF A MULTIPURPOSE HANGING HANDGRIP FOR RAPID TRANSIT SYSTEMS

Abstract

Transit while standing is already an inconvenience for passengers, couple that with luggage and it just compounds the problem even more. Metro trains have rules about how the passengers that are standing should carry their luggage if they don‟t want to rest it on the floor, so that they don‟t block the way of passengers that are moving towards the gates. But sometimes following those rules is not possible out of tiredness, forgetfulness of the rule or travelling with a lot of luggage; and that inevitably leads to less space for other passengers to move around. I wish to tackle this problem with the infrastructure of hanging handgrips. Hanging handgrip is a vehicle accessory that functions as a grip for passengers who do not get a seat to maintain their balance while the metro is in transit. And to implement that, the metro trains have established a remarkable infrastructure of overhead rails and poles that are attached with these handgrips that the passengers can hold and reliably support their weight on. Therefore, my aim is to design a multipurpose handgrip that makes use of this existing infrastructure to also carry their luggage without any hindrance to the movement of other passengers. After going through many reference images of products that achieve individual solutions for all the aspects involved in this problem, as well as many design ideations of my own as initial attempts at a solution- I settled on a novel design for a handgrip system that allows passengers to hang their luggage on a hook and carry it in front of them, close to their body. It consists of a hook that is designed to be easy to hang onto, easy to come off from and is un-hinderingly wide enough to support straps and handles of different dimensions. It consists of a handle for the passengers to hold and an additional short arm protruding from the handle that has the hook hanging from it, and to balance the weight it will be offset from its usual center and act like a tower crane. And, it consists of a collar with a click mechanism that will hold the hook out of the way when not in use. Implementing the final design in use would yield many advantages like opening up the scope for people to uphold their clean habits. It would allow the passenger to support their weight on the strap/rope of the hook and maintain their balance when a crowded commute keeps them from having a grip on the handle and, when the metro is not crowded it would compel the passengers to move closer towards handgrips, which are strategically hung out of the walking area, which would inadvertently clear the space for moving passengers. And it allows the passengers to easily carry their luggage in front of them which is useful in a crowded commute.