First Selectman Herbst Views 3D Printer Demo

Trumbull First Selectman Tim Herbst took time out today from a busy schedule to view a demo of Fairchild Branch Library's 3D printer.

3D printers have become the year's hot technology item. They are software driven, much like a standard desktop or office printer - but with a few important differences. The printer passes a fine plastic filament through a heating unit and deposits layer upon layer to create a object. The pattern is provided by Computer Assisted Design software, typically an open source program available to users at no cost.

The printer can draw on libraries of items that include simple shapes like chess pieces, iPhone cases and clips or buckles to replace broken pieces on a backpack or baby carrier. It can also make complex pieces such as an interlocked chain and a police whistle with the ball printed inside the unit.

Sitting in front of the newly acquired printer, the First Selectman listened as technologist and Trumbull resident Anand Katragadda and Trumbull Library System Director Sue Horton explained its operation to him and some 15 others  who had come to look, listen and learn.

As he watched, the printer was creating a small elephant. Horton gave to him, Herbst called it "a good luck charm" and used it to make a point - that embracing such leading edge technology enhances our community. He called the printer another example of a small thing that makes Trumbull a more attractive place in which to live and work.

Herbst also commended Katragadda for developing PingTown! a utility that delivers information about non-emergency events in Trumbull to smartphone, cell phone, land line and e-mail users. Responding to Herbst's question, Katragadda said the app is quite new, yet already reaches about 4,000 homes in town - about 30 percent of residences.

Today's demo was the third such weekly event held at the Branch Library as a part of the town's One Book One Town program.  The next will be held on Wednesday, March 27 at the Branch at 3:00 p.m.

The program, based around the Walter Isaacson book Steve Jobs, is entitled "How Technology Has Changed Our Lives." Two events yet to be held are a talk by Sarah Darer Littman this Sunday at the main library. It will be teens and their parents, and will be about making teens safer on the Internet. Littman is the author of Want to Go Private? a young adult story about what can happen when a teenage girl gets involved in a social media conversation with a predator. The second will be next Wednesday, a debate between Trumbull High School and St. Joseph's High School - "Should the government censor the Internet?"

Among the visitors today was Dr. Linda Paslov, Trumbull schools' Curriculum Director. She, too, came to learn about the printer. She talked with Horton about how equipment like a 3D printer might be used in a STEM curriculum (Science Technology Engineering and Math) in our schools. Ideas for such a program are being discussed as this already widely adopted format is seen as an efficient and effective way to prepare students for careers in these high paying and rapidly expanding fields.

Slowly the room cleared and Katragadda began a tutorial for about six people - from middle school age to senior citizen. They will soon start to teach others to use the printer.

Trumbull is the second library in Connecticut to purchase a 3D printer. Plans are being developed to make it a central element in a broader program at the branch to make Trumbull an innovation and a magnet for makers (http://makezine.com/), DIYers and?