Question: What inspired you to create your most recent piece of work?

Ivan Merrick answered on 11 Mar 2019:

Most of the time my engineering do not require creating pieces of work. Certain engineers like architects do require inspiration to dream up a design for a bridge or a skyscraper, for example. In my work it is more like thinking differently. For example I was approached by a county council who whaned to pump the liquid that gathers at the bottom of thier landfill site to a treatment plant which would remove the toxins. They had no electricity and would not permit engine pumps as they feared they would be stolen. The answer to the problem that came to me was to use a windmill pump. Now windmill pump have been used for centuries in place like Holland. As my sister is married to a Dutchman I called him and ask him to put me in touch with a company in Holland who makes windmill pumps. He came back a few days later to say there were no makers of windmill pumps left in Holland. It was like saying there were no farmers left in Ireland.
I did not give up and eventually found a maker of windmill pump in Australia and it solved the County Council’s problem.