Utensil Adapter

The eNable Lowell chapter recently assembled two hands for a young girl, Emily who was born with a congenital limb difference. Both of Emily's hands are partially formed, leaving her dependent on her family for simple tasks like eating. Enabling her to eat on her own not only makes her more independent, it also frees up her caretakers. Further, the ability to use simply utensils like crayons and pencils gives Emily a new creative outlet. Her parents asked our team if we would be able to design a device to help Emily hold a utensil for eating or drawing. The result of this design effort is the Utensil Adapter. The recipient slides his or her palm into the slot in front of the handle. Foam padding provides enough friction to prevent the Adapter from easily slipping off of the recipient. The desired utensil is then placed in the “mouth” of the Adapter, and a thumbscrew is tightened to secure the utensil in place. This design has two purchased parts, the heat set insert that has threads and a screw to fit in the insert. The screw is easily available from any hardware store, and the heat set inserts are readily available from McMaster-Carr. Click here for more information on heat set inserts and how to install them, thanks to Matterhackers. A full design history file can be found here that outlines the design decisions behind each revision of the Adapter. The final revision of the Adapter was dimensioned to fit Emily. The original Inventor file, as well as the STL file can be found here. If you have any questions or comments, feel free to contact us at [email protected].