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.

Equestrian Travel

August 8, 2016 by kris de decker Filed Under: Horses, Travel

horse travel

The Long Riders’ Guild is the world’s first international association of equestrian explorers and long distance travellers. [Read more…]

Slow Farming Tools

August 3, 2015 by kris de decker Filed Under: Farming, Horses, Random, Tractors

slow tools 1

As a result of the industrial revolution and the subsequent development of “big agriculture,” small-scale farming tools have become almost obsolete. In order to fulfill the demand created by a burgeoning community of small-scale farmers, Stone Barns Center has partnered with Barry Griffin, a design engineer, to develop farming equipment and tools. Called the Slow Tools Project, this partnership brings together leading engineers and farmers to design and build appropriately scaled tools that are lightweight, affordable and open-source. [Read more…]

Horse-Drawn Public Transportation

November 19, 2010 by kris de decker Filed Under: Animal power, History, Horses, Obsolete technology, Public transport, Travel

“For a hundred years, from the early 1800s to the early 1900s, Europe and America had cities of at least a million people that ran on a massive, sophisticated network of carriages and streetcars. By 1880, according to historian John H. White, Jr., US cities had 415 horse-drawn railways running, with 18,000 cars on 3,000 miles of track, carrying 1.2 billion passengers a year. Most of these lines continued decades into the age of electricity and coal, simply because the horses worked better than any other option.” Read: Horse-drawn public tranportation. Thanks, Johan. Previously: Bring back the horses.

French Towns Swap Rubbish Trucks for Horse-Drawn Carts

October 5, 2010 by kris de decker Filed Under: Horses, Recycling, Trash, Travel

Horse-and-cart-recycling-005 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.

Hoisting Coal from Canal Boats with Dederick Machines

July 8, 2010 by kris de decker Filed Under: Animal power, Boats, Canals, Cranes & lifting devices, Horses

Hoisting coal from canal boats 2

“An improvement made by Mr. P. K. Dederick, of Albany, N.Y., was a horse-hoisting machine that very materially reduced the labor of the horse in hoisting. Previous to this, the horse walked forward to hoist a full bucket, and was obliged to back to lower the empty bucket into the hold of the vessel. With most horses, this latter was harder work than hoisting the loaded bucket, while the Dederick machine increased the speed of unloading but little, it reduced the labor of the horse about one-half.”

Quoted from: “Coal handling machinery“, C.W.Hunt Company, 1893.