Recently, there was a big hullabaloo in my neighborhood regarding the swings in the park maintained by our HOA.  Someone posted a picture on our neighborhood Facebook page showing two of the swings hanging by only one chain. As you might imagine, the neighborhood...

While going to college I had a professor who liked to reference the Zeno paradox. “That which is in locomotion must arrive at the half-way stage before it arrives at the goal.”  He would make this point with an analogy. An engineer and a mathematician are in a bar. ...

Warning Signs to be Aware of in Machinery and Maintenance The old adage: “Red sky at night sailor’s delight, Red sky in the morning sailor take warning.” has been around in one form or another for thousands of years (Matthew 16:2-3).  This was a well understood sign...

Congratulations!  You think you came up with a new, multi million-dollar idea... But you want to be sure... I met with an inventor not too long ago, who told me about his idea for a new gardening tool that he was really excited about. We went over what he had done,...

Introduction to Fatigue Analysis Engineering calculations come in many flavors and must be carried out in a way that accurately describes the real-world situation. Mechanical structures can fail for a variety of reasons, one of which is by “fatiguing” which is what...

Hopefully this article will be helpful to product liability and personal injury attorneys; both plaintiff and defendant. I am a mechanical engineer and an expert witness.  I have worked on many product liability and personal injury cases over the years.  In some of...

Finding Your Expert Witness Finding an Expert Witness can be difficult. They don't teach a class on it in law school. It is no secret that the expert witness that you choose to work with can have a huge impact on the outcome of your case. When looking for an expert...

If you are reading this article, there is a good chance you know what a Provisional Patent Application is and is not. Let me start with a little background about Alpine Engineering and Design. We are a mechanical engineering firm who has become extremely...