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New device to stop theft of paintings wins Euro prize

October 3, 2005

A University of Bath student has taken a prize in a prestigious European
scientific and engineering award for designing a locking system to stop the
theft of valuable paintings.

Tom Howard, a student in Mechanical Engineering, won third prize in the
Scientific Award BMW Group 2005 prize for his design of an anti-theft device
for art galleries. He was one of only six students out of 230 entrants from
26 countries to receive a prize, and he will share part of the 70,000 Euros
(£47,700) prize money. Tom, who graduated last year with an MEng in
Innovation and Engineering Design, was awarded the prize recently at a
ceremony in the BMW plant in Leipzig.

His “ArtSmart” dissertation investigated various ways of stopping thieves
from stealing paintings from the walls of art galleries. He eventually
selected one using a novel locking system using a mechanically coded plastic
chip as a key.

The advantages of his system are that the paintings can be unlocked quickly
by the card holder if there is a fire, and the system is flexible enough to
allow each museum and gallery to have its own specially coded card. The
system is designed so that the entire mechanism can be placed inside the
paintings’ frames so that visitors’ visual appreciation is not disturbed.

The system is now being tested in two galleries and is at final prototype
stage for mass production.

Tom is now working on his PhD at Bath, and his thesis is entitled: “The role
of information, knowledge and creativity in the design process.” “It’s a
very exciting time because the system is now actually being used,” said Tom.
“Although it’s hard work producing the final product and doing a doctorate
at the same time, it’s well worth the effort to see something that will be
of practical use for galleries being developed.” 

http://www.securitypark.co.uk/
 

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