Anteneh’s Jerry Can

Water scarcity, which is broadly understood as the lack of access to adequate quantities of water for human and environmental uses, is considered to be one of the most important global risks for society. Global water demands are expected to increase in the future because of increasing populations, urbanization, and industrialization. In addition, aspects of climate change and anticipated increases in extreme weather events are expected to contribute to increases in the frequency, severity, and duration of droughts, which can exacerbate water availability problems. 

This project is about building a new kind of Jerry can for water transport for rural areas that ease the pain for the person carrying the load with lower cost. Instead of the standard shape of the 25 litter Jerry Can, Anteneh’s Jerry Can has a torus shape with the same volume as the standard jerry can.

Do you know that people in many part of the world travel many kilometers carrying water jerry can every day to bring water for many other reasons? If you are not aware, well you are about to. 

In an area where there is lack of water supply at home, people travel very far to fetch water. In almost all society this task falls under the women. It is very common to see women carrying 25 liter Jerry Can on their back or on their head and travel many kilometers from the source like river, lake or well to their homes. Describing how challenging it is can only be achieved if you try it yourself but to give you an idea on the challenge,

The first problem is the concentrated weight of the 25 litter jerry can which will force you to use only one or two part of your body for support which requires enormous amount of force to overcome the high pressure.

The second problem is the distance they have to travel in a very rough terrain full of mountains, muddy ground during rain, hole and sloppy ground, which is impossible even for a wheel aid transport. 

Distributed force generates less pressure or impact than concentrated force. Instead of standard shape of the 25 litter Jerry Can, Anteneh’s Jerry Can has torus shape with same volume as the standard jerry can. For prototyping simplicity, the shape of torus is made square with center to center length of 66cm with pipe diameter of 11cm. At two opposite side of the pipes there are two attached lathers that are used to hold the Anetenh’s Jerry can on your shoulder. This will reduce the pressure of the water by distributing the weight and utilize all part of our body for support. To maintain the load close to center of gravity which is the person carrying it, the diameter of the pipe can be varied and the length of the pipe will be varied depending upon the amount variation of the diameter based on the size model of the user. Which means for thin peoples the diameter is increased and length will be decreased and for plus size people the diameter is decreased and the length will be increased. Both lathers are attached to eachother with a lather for hand grab incase two peoples want to transport one Anteneh’s Jerry Can. 

According to reports some 2.2 billion people around the world do not have safely managed  drinking water services, 1.1 billion people lack access to water and 2.7 billion experience water scarcity at least one month a year. By 2025, two-thirds of the world’s population may be facing water shortages and countries with the highest percentage of the population lacking basic access to water are in great risk like Eritrea (80.7% lack basic water services), Papua New Guinea (63.4% lack basic water services), Uganda (61.1% lack basic water services), Ethiopia (60.9% lack basic water services), Somalia (60% lack basic water services), Angola (59% lack basic water services), Democratic Republic of the Congo (58.2% lack basic water services), Chad (57.5% lack basic water services), Niger (54.2% lack basic water services), Mozambique (52.7% lack basic water services) and so on. Therefore it is inevitable that people living in these zones will have to go to places where there is water source to fetch water. The location of the water is usually in places where there is no accessibility for wheel aid transportation and even if there is one the majority of the people do not afford it. So the peoples will have to use a Jerry Can to collect and transport the water just like they are doing to the current times.

This project does not completely solve their water need problem but it will ease their pain on the process of water fetching big time by providing a means to transport water with lower physical and mental energy expenditure, better comfort, better safety of physical health and lower cost. Lower physical and mental energy expenditure means the reduction in the amount of physical energy generation to overcome the concentrated weight which also leads to reduction in mental exhaustion because as the body gets tired so does the mind. Meaning imagine carrying x weight material on either left side or right side of your body. What will happen if you then carry x/2 weight of the same material on each side of your body? It will definitely add more stability because of the balance which leads to less effort to overcome the weight. This system will distribute not only on two side but also 360 degree equally. Currently when people carry the Jerry Can either on their back or their head they always lift their hands upward to support the Jerry Can. This hand elevation crates discomfort when walking in rough train but with this design there will not be any need of hand upward elevation beyond the chest area. The maximum hand lift they will make is only to support either the front part of the structure or the sides which has maximum elevation in the chest area. There have been many studies concerning effect of head load, hand load, single side shoulder loads on the spinal chord and lower back disorder. In the study of impact of load carriage on lumbar spine mobility among Indian workers during load carriage there has been found alterations in posture, gait, trunk and spine activity, which could be linked to lower back problem as seen in the following pictures. 

The connection between water scarcity and economic opportunity is very strong. Water is an economically strategic resource and a core element of natural capital underpinning many business activities. Water risks cut across all industry sectors including energy and extractives, manufacturing, agriculture, tourism, pharmaceuticals, food and apparel. In the recent World Economic Forum Global Risks 2014 report, Chief Executives said the regarded water-related issues as one of the top five global risks to business. That is why in an area where there is water scarcity people travel many kilometers to fetch water for their business beside home use. 

I have built the prototype and done the first test on my self and two other person. As you can see via Hackaday blog scientist and technology writers have called it "an absolute genius by our book" on the product. Besides the blogs publication on hackaday, Anteneh's Jerry Can is also published in hackaday newsletter as you can see below.

This can be taken as first market validation. The next step is site testing to improve some concerns about the product.  

There has been some development to solve this problem and the only other solution the world has come up with is rolling jerry can that avoids carrying the water. This is great invention but there is no way people like in the video can utilize that because for one the obstacles of the rough landscape, the holes, stairs and the slops will not allow them especially in muddy ground during rainy season and it is just easy to carry the jerry can than rolling.

The other reason is the price of the rolling jerry can. In Kenya the rolling jerry can is sold at 60 US dollars and in India 30 US dollars and if you convert it in to our currency it reaches more than 2000 and 1000 Ethiopian birr respectively. And rural communities are complaining the normal jerry cans are becoming expensive which is sold from 250 to 300 Ethiopian birr. 

This version of Anteneh Jerry Can cost 295 Ethiopian birr. This cost will be reduced once we start manufacturing the Anteneh’s Jerry Can using mold without any fitting in mass.   

It is not hard to see the level of innovation for this product because there is no similar product up to date and no one has ever thought of distributing the weight of jerry can to minimize its pressure impact on the body of the carrier. This design is very innovative in its core idea and approach to solve the problem.        

Currently this project has zero impact because I have not started supplying to end users.  

My goal is to distribute the product on a large scale but it is important to start with a small margins to 10,000 - 20,000 customers in the first year of launch. This will enable us to test the market and get feedback to improve any potential problems from the end users from all topography usage. 

On the second year of the product launch, we will progress to delivering 100,000 - 200,000 product per year. On the third year of the product launch, we will progress to delivering 300,000 - 400,000 product per year. On the fourth year of the product launch, we will progress to delivering 400,000 - 500,000 product per year. On the fifth year of the product launch, we will progress to delivering 600,000 - 1,000,000 product per year. In five years we will deliver 2,100,000‬ products at or maximum capacity.     

The main measurement that is used to indicate the importance of implementing this solution is the reduction of health risk it creates for the society especially the women by providing a means to solve their water and sanitation problem leading to no poverty and no hunger. It is one of the very important measuring indicators in the 17 UN sustainable development goals which is Good Health and Well-being, no poverty, no hunger, clean water and sanitation, decent work and economic growth in sustainable cities and communities with industry, innovation and infrastructure. 

currently I am the only person who is running the project.

I have dedicated my life for invention and research because not only I have big dreams but also it is my only way out of poverty. We all have a talent we know or did not find out yet. Mine happens to be inventing.  So, until now I have invented more than 70 inventions. 

https://hackaday.io/projects/hacker/856765 https://contest.techbriefs.com/profile?user=89682  https://www.herox.com/crowdsourcing-community/antenehgashaw-123126   https://desall.com/User/AntenehGashaw/Portfolio  https://challenges.openideo.com/profiles/antenh.g/contributions#recent-contributions

international honors

• Winner of Mechanical maker challenge by NASA/ JPL- 2019 with my design invention “Mechanical eye”
• Finalist in the TIC AMERICAS 2020 contest with my project “Caribbean Sargassum Problem”
• Finalist in TKF plastic innovation challenge 2019 with my invention “Smart green washer”
• Top 100 inventions of 2019 by create the future contest  by tech briefs with my project “Cone solar panel”
• Top 10 winner of TIA challenge 2019 with my multiple unique solutions and invention  
• Finalist in Enel challenge on MV & LV distribution challenge 2019 with my invention “Turbine for avoiding birds in MV & LV distribution lines”
• In the recent Hawaii natural problem challenge which is the saving the Ohi’a challenge (https://conservationx.com/challenge/invasives/ohia), I submitted more than 30 possible solution which you can see via https://conservationx.com/challenge/invasives/ohia/projects
• I have developed more that 20 inventions for solution, management and prevention of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) which you can see via https://solve.mit.edu/challenges/health-security-pandemics/solutions/22229  or https://contest.techbriefs.com/profile?user=89682
• In 2020 I have invented more than 15 technologies related to increasing efficiency of energy generation, transmission and utilization through a clean environmentally friendly way which you can see via https://hackaday.io/projects/hacker/856765

The  level of harm it causes from excluding a person based on the skin of their color or race, gender, sexual preference, disability, socioeconomic status and other factors has a very big negative impact not just on the person who is being excluded but also on the excluding party as well. So I always believe in giving fair and equal opportunity for all kind of people irrespective of their identity. And I can assure you that all opportunity from the employee of this project to vendors are selected based on their ability to deliver their skill and commitment they will show for the project.  

Funding oopportunities and potential partnership are the two main reasons for me. This two key components are the only things holding me back from success. 

The main support I need at this time is capital funding to progress my self from struggling inventor to a start up company with some budget.

Any big company with an appreciation for invention will do.

It has direct connection with the funder goal.

It has direct connection with the funder goal. 

It has direct connection with the funder goal.

It has  indirect connection with the funder goal.

It has direct connection with the funder goal.

It has  indirect connection with the funder goal.

It has direct connection with the funder goal.