Arlington Wins Pumpkin’ Chunkin’

(Rhinebeck) - The Arlington High School team took the top prize at Dutchess Community College’s Ninth Annual Punkin’ Chunkin’ held Sunday, October 22 at the Dutchess County Fairgrounds. The team scored 345 points with its floating arm trebuchet named the Arlington Assassin in a pumpkin hurling competition where accuracy counted above all else. Students built the machine in their Principles of Engineering class, coached by teacher Dan Listemann.

From the Wappinger’s Central School District, John Jay High School’s machine The Patriot came in second with 290 points. DCC’s entry Star of Dutchess came in third with 222 points, just edging out last year’s winner Newburgh Free Academy, which had 218 points. Teams from Wappinger’s Roy C. Ketcham High School, Brewster High School, Marlboro High School, and Ulster County Community College also participated.

DCC’s Punkin’ Chunkin’ Competition provides students in physics, engineering, and technology classes and clubs the opportunity to design, build, and operate a sophisticated mechanical device, usually something that harkens back to the siege engines of Medieval warfare. The machines must be able to be armed and loaded with no more than two students working together. Absolutely no explosives or compressed gases are allowed in this competition. Accuracy and strategy, rather than brute force, are the most important factors. In fact, any shot longer than 400 feet is disqualified for safety reasons.

Teams were able to locate their targets at any distance between 50 feet and 400 feet from their machine and within one of three target zones. The judges used a scoring formula based on the machine’s distance to the target and how close the pumpkins landed to the target. Any shot that hit its target would receive 1000 points. Each team was judged on three official throws.

With the emphasis on accuracy rather than power, most teams brought scaled down and streamlined machines to the 2006 competition. Variations on the trebuchet, which includes an arm that whips around and flings the pumpkin, remained the most popular entry, but DCC brought a sling-shot design this year, and UCCC brought a traditional catapult.

Arlington’s floating arm trebuchet included an important innovation, according to engineering student Nick Ugarte. “For a counter weight, we used springs – the biggest, baddest garage door springs we could find.” Beyond mechanics, the project took teamwork and commitment. “We created this by working hard,” Ugarte said. “We didn’t have a life for three weeks. We stayed after every day until 7:00 p.m. We also wouldn’t have gotten any of this done if Mr. Listemann hadn’t sacrificed his time for us.”

The Punkin’ Chunkin’ is coordinated by DCC’s Assistant Professor and Engineering Program Chair Mark Courtney and DCC Architecture Instructor Paul Newsome, whose architecture class designed and built the targets. The event received financial and in-kind support from the Dutchess County Fair. DCC was able to provide $200 grants to competing teams to help teams buy building materials and pumpkins, and provide transportation. Pictured Above: Arlington High School team took the top prize at Dutchess Community College’s Ninth Annual Punkin’ Chunkin’ that was held at the Dutchess County Fairgrounds.