“Engineering for the ecological age: lessons from history” (video) by John Ochsendorf. Skip the extremely irritating introduction to the speaker and start at 10:50. Via Ecodemica. Related: Tiles as a substitute for steel: the art of the timbrel vault & Timbrel vaulting in South Africa. Photo: Michael Ramage.
Engineering for the Ecological Age: Lessons from History
October 22, 2010 by Filed Under: Architecture, Civil engineering, Construction, Video
Bicycles & tricycles; an elementary treatise on their design and construction
“Bicycles & tricycles; an elementary treatise on their design and construction, with examples and tables“, Archibald Sharp (1896).
French Towns Swap Rubbish Trucks for Horse-Drawn Carts
Perpignan is one of 60 French towns that have struck upon a cheaper and greener way to collect household waste – ditching the dustbin lorry in favour of a horse and cart. Read. Thanks, Johan.
Phillips, Decker and Canadian Pack Saddles
October 4, 2010 by Filed Under: Cargo, Knots, Pack animals, Pack horses, Random, Travel
Reader BG Hearns writes: “While your link to the 1916 pack manual is of historical interest, what you ought to know is that low-tech packing has advanced considerably over that publication and anyone who wishes to pack with animals should know that there are much superior options available today. The manual describes a very difficult to use piece of equipment that is so easy to get wrong that only a few experts could ever use it properly.
What your readers ought to know is that in 1924, the US army adopted the Phillips Pack Saddle which was much simpler and easier to use. Other advances in pack saddles since then are the Decker style (more) and the Canadian saddle pack, neither of which require complex knots, both of which incorporate simple, effective new design ideas, and both of which could be easily made in a small shop. Perfect for low-tech affictionados.”
Thanks for the note, BG. I have added some more links to your comment.
Water Powered Rope Making Machine
October 2, 2010 by Filed Under: Ropes, Water powered machines, Water wheels
Drawing of a water powered wire mill, taken from “The Pirotechnia” by Vannoccio Biringuccio (1540). Illustration credit. For the hand powered method, see: Lost knowledge: ropes and knots.
Update January 2015: Kurt B. writes us to say that “what you are looking at is a wire drawing machine, not a rope making machine. That is, taking a large wire and drawing it through a series of ever decreasing dies (holes in the die plate) to make the wire smaller. It is powered by water. The fellow with the rope in his hands is taking up the slack on the tongs which grip the wire. Every stroke of the wheel crank pulls the wire through the die just that amount and he takes up the slack each stroke, or tries to. Here is a guy drawing wire on a much smaller scale Home made electric jeweller wire puller https://www.youtube.com/watch?
Workers of the World Relax !
We work too hard. Thanks to Leah Temper.
