Schiller Grounds Care Broom Attachment for the Mantis Tiller Sponsor Business Background: Schiller Grounds Care - located in Southampton, PA is a global marketer and manufacturer of ―Mantis‖ Tillers/Cultivators which are used around the home and in commercial applications. Schiller has a number of other companies in its portfolio which manufacture consumer and commercial landscaping, gardening & ground care equipment. The company has established its reputation for product innovation, quality, design, and value. ―Mantis‖ tiller/cultivator was the first light weight tiller on the market and has a worldwide recognition as the leader in the market place. Our line of tillers offers a choice of power and sizes; all lightweight and versatile. The ―Mantis‖ tiller can be converted into a Plow, Planter/Furrower, Lawn Dethatcher, Lawn Aerator, Border Edger, and Crevice Cleaner. Primary Project Goal: Design, develop, and fabricate a cost effective novel Broom attachment to the Mantis Tiller that needs to rotate in a direction that is opposite of the tine rotation direction in order to throw debris away from the user. New attachment can be purchased separately, and should fit all Mantis tiller models. Tine shaft can be used as an input shaft for added reverse mechanism. Deliverables: drawings, speed torque curves, gearing components, linkages, BOM, cost evaluation and working concept model. In the future the design concept will be further developed for a snow thrower application. Project Framework/Scope: Schiller Grounds Care is developing the next generation of tiller attachments for debris cleaning. Current transmission design does not offer the ability to reverse therefore all current attachments are rotating one direction. An envisioned improvement would be to use some kind of additional gearing employing reverse drives that could be attached to the current transmission allowing the tine shaft to be used as an input shaft. Broom attachment should be built as independent assembly that can be shipped via UPS to any of the existing customers. After researching, the team should develop solutions which can be built into a concept model for evaluation. Benefits to Schiller Grounds Care: New attachments are added value for the customers, and should increase versatility of the tiller -- machine can be used all year round. Broom attachment should generate additional after market sales. Follow – on plans: The concept will be considered for development of the next generation of tiller attachments based on functionality and costs for 2012. .