YOUNGSTERS at a primary school are setting the engineering world alight with their new invention – a rubbish bin which will extinguish itself if set on fire.

YOUNGSTERS at a primary school are setting the engineering world alight with their new invention – a rubbish bin which will extinguish itself if set on fire.

The pupils from Trimley St Martin Prmary's Young Engineers Club were challenged to design a bin which could be used in a public place and withstand an attack by vandals or accidentally being set alight.

The club was formed last autumn to promote engineering knowledge and skills beyond that normally achieved through schoolwork.

Earlier this year, the members decided to enter a team for the national Young Engineers BAA Challenge.

This required research into fire safety and to design a self-extinguishing waste bin, involving many hours at after-school meetings and several lunchtimes working on the project and to finish on time.

Teachers said the group had lots of fun and learned new skills, using computer facilities for research and also to produce a slide presentation, carrying out experiments, and building a small model and a full-size working prototype bin– tested at Felixstowe Fire Station – to test their ideas.

The successful design is based on the idea of holding the upper part above a container using a wax nut. If a fire starts, the wax nut melts and the upper part drops to contain the fire and prevent further use of the bin.

They won through to the finals held at Heathrow Airport visitor centre, where they faced seven junior teams of youngsters aged nine to 13, and four senior teams of 13s and over from all over Britain. They had to set up a display stand and give a presentation on the work in front of a panel of judges comprising BAA senior managers.

The team won first prize for their age group – £750 for the club plus a very special day out to the Fire Training College in Gloucestershire.