The Ivan L. Collins Collection of Historic Vehicles in Miniature

September 6, 2024 by kris de decker Filed Under: Animal power, Horses, Low-tech cars, Random, Scale models, Travel

Ivan L. Collins created historically accurate models of horse-drawn vehicles using painstaking research to ensure that every detail was authentic. Built at one-eighth scale, these models represent transportation technology before the automobile. Collins saw this work as more than a hobby; his models were a way to preserve history for future generations.

See and read more:

https://www.ohs.org/museum/exhibits/models-in-motion-ivan-collins-miniature-vehicles.cfm
http://www.scalemodelhorsedrawnvehicle.co.uk/(Ivan%20Collins).htm

Thanks to David Barnes.

Image: Oregon Historical Society.

Slow Travel: Crossing Europe with a Giant Land Ship

November 28, 2017 by kris de decker Filed Under: Animal power, Art, Chariots, Human power, Public transport, Random, Travel, Walking, Wheelbarrows

Belgian art collective Time Circus built their first prototype of a giant Land Ship that will travel through Europe. Like a modern-day galley, the land ship will be propelled by the muscle power of the participating travelers. The journey is understood as a 21st century pilgrimage and will take an estimated 10 years. [Read more…]

The Amish Horse-Drawn Buggy Is More Tech-Forward Than You Think

January 13, 2017 by kris de decker Filed Under: Amish, Animal power, Low-tech cars

Despite what you heard, the Amish aren’t against technology. Communities adopt new gadgets such as fax machines and business-use cell phones all the time—so long as the local church approves each one ahead of time, determining that it won’t drastically change their way of life.

So it is with the Amish horse-drawn buggy. You might have thought the technology inside this 1800s method of transportation stopped progressing right around then. Instead, buggy tech keeps advancing, and buggy makers have become electricians and metalworkers to build in all the new tech you can’t see under the traditional black paint.

Read more at Popular Mechanics. Via Amish America.

Animals as the Answer to Recycling Food waste

July 7, 2014 by kris de decker Filed Under: Animal power, Composting, Farming, Food, Low-tech solutions, Meat, Random, Recycling, Trash

Mountains of food scraps end up in landfills every day. While northern countries glorify attempts to facilitate this trash-to-treasure process using state-of-the-art technologies, Bobbili, a town in Northeast India, adopts a tech-free solution – a park using animals for solid waste management.

animals recycling food waste

Livestock at waste management park in Bobbili, India

[Read more…]

The Limits of Animal Powered Transportation: Table Top Wool Wagons

April 11, 2013 by kris de decker Filed Under: Animal power, Random

table top wool waggon 8The Table Top Wool Wagon is among the largest animal-drawn road vehicles ever built. It was a unique Australian invention, built to transport wool from sheep farms to train stations and harbours.

As many as forty bullocks, or thirty horses, pulled the vehicles over distances of up to 1600 km.

Table Top Wool Wagons (also known as “jinkers” or “ships of the desert”) appeared at the end of the nineteenth century and remained in use until the 1920s, when they were replaced by trucks.

[Read more…]

Dog Sulkies: Pet Powered Mobility

March 8, 2012 by kris de decker Filed Under: Animal power, Cargo, Dogs, Random, Travel

dog sulkies

Dog owners looking for a more sustainable means of personal transportation should not look any further: the dog sulky is the answer. Dog powered vehicles have been used for the transport of goods and passengers in some European countries during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Compared to those vehicles, the modern dogcarts offered by ChaloSulky promise to deliver a much smoother ride. The carts benefit greatly from the use of bicycle wheels, suspension and brakes. Moreover, the dogs are not confined between two shafts. Instead, only one shaft goes over the animals’ back, making the vehicle lighter and giving the dogs more freedom of movement.

[Read more…]