A Newsletter for the Neighbors of the University of California, Berkeley

The professor and the Brushmobile

Where children are concerned, sometimes flexibility is more important than toughness. That was the good advice of UC Berkeley mechanical engineering professor Dennis Lieu, who was called in by the Berkeley Public Library after the windshield of its much-loved Brushmobile was broken, not once but twice, by exuberant tikes.

The giant 12-foot-long paintbrush is based on a vehicle driven by the title character in the picture book “Art Dog” by local author Thatcher Hurd. The model was built by John LaTronica, husband of former Berkeley children’s librarian Starr LaTronica. Shortly after the model was installed in the new library and the windshield damage occurred, the library called on the university for help. To the rescue came Lieu, whose research in biomechanics includes developing  safety equipment for contact sports.

“We thought [the windshield] needed to be made of tougher material,” said senior children’s librarian Elizabeth Overmyer, “but his advice was that it should be constructed from a more flexible plastic that would respond to the stress caused by enthusiastic small children.” Lieu not only redesigned the windshield, but he carefully inspected the “paint-powered” vehicle before giving the city’s children the go-ahead to enjoy it.

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