“In Bolivia’s jungles and steep cliffs the Yungas people do not walk. They fly. On ropes. Like birds. Faster than astronauts. These ‘birds’ are known as cocaleros, or coca harvesters. They use ropes to swing across the narrow valleys, suspended from ancient rusting pulleys.” Watch the video. Jerry, thanks for the link. Previously: Aerial ropeways: automatic cargo transport for a bargain.
The Flying Men of Yungas Valley
July 10, 2011 by Filed Under: Aviation, Bridges, Mountains, Public transport, Random, Ropeways, South America, Travel, Trees
Covered Bridges: How to Build and Rebuild Them
July 3, 2011 by Filed Under: Bridges, Civil engineering, Obsolete technology, Random, Wood
“This manual is intended to provide comprehensive support to those involved with maintaining, assessing, strengthening, or rehabilitating covered bridges, especially heavy timber truss bridges. At one time, the United States reportedly had 14,000 of these unique bridges dotting the countryside over a surprisingly large area. Now, fewer than 900 of the historic structures survive.
Timber bridges initially were built without coverings and failed in just a few years because of rot and deterioration, because chemical wood preservatives were not available or used. Builders familiar with the construction of houses, barns, and large community structures naturally added siding and roofs to help protect the bridge. They understood that the covering would soon pay for itself.
They believed that regular maintenance and occasional replacement of the light covering was far easier and cheaper than building an entirely new bridge. North American covered bridges still serve after nearly 200 years, due in part to the continued soundness of the trusses, which was possible only with these protective coverings.”
“Covered Bridge Manual“, 327 pages, US Department of Transportation, 2005. Via Arquitectura y madera. Previously: wooden bridges / wooden pipelines. Picture by Rainer Ebert.
Fences of Fruit Trees
“Almost anyone who has a backyard or garden would do well to plant fruit trees for the years ahead. Most fruit trees, though, take more years to mature than most of us have to prepare, and take up more space than most of us have in cities or suburbs. Luckily, only a few centuries ago master gardeners developed a way to cultivate fruit in narrow spaces – one that yields more fruit, more quickly, and with a longer growing season.
Espalier is a method of growing a dwarf fruit tree along a wall or fence, binding it for support, and bending the branches to follow certain lines, as Japanese artists do with bonsai trees. Most gardeners started espaliers with a “maiden,” a one-year-old sapling that had not yet forked, and tied it to a staff of wood to keep it straight. Then they tied the desired branches to the fence or wall as they emerged, bending and pruning aggressively as the tree grew.
With the tree’s natural growth concentrated into only two dimensions, it creates many spurs looking for a chance to spread, creating more flowers and fruit than their conventional counterparts, and earlier in the trees’ life. The fruit can be picked casually while standing or sitting, with no need for the ladders or devices needed to pick many other fruit trees, and no risk of injury. Growing a tree against a south-facing wall has another advantage; not only does the tree receive maximum light and heat, but the thermal mass of the wall absorbs the heat and provides shelter from the wind. In this way trees get a longer growing season, and can grow in cooler climates than they would ordinarily tolerate.”
Read more: Fences of fruit trees. Related: Irish hedgerows.
Window Orientation and Shading
June 28, 2011 by Filed Under: Air conditioning, Architecture, Cooling, DIY, Random, Shading, Solar, Windows
“In sunny southern locations, protecting your windows from the sun is an important component of good window management. The first step is to know how the sun moves through the sky and to orient the building and place the windows in it so as to minimize direct solar admission through your windows.” Read more.
“Sustainable By Design provides a suite of shareware design tools to calculate the right dimensions and placing for your specific location, wherever you are.
- SunAngle: our premier tool for solar angle calculations.
- SunPosition: calculates a time series of basic solar angle data.
- Sol Path: visualization of the path of the sun across the sky.
- Window Overhang Design: visualization of the shade provided by a window overhang at a given time.
- Window Overhang Annual Analysis: visualization of window overhang shading performance for an entire year.
- Overhang Recommendations: suggested climate-specific dimensions for south-facing window overhangs
- Light penetration: visualization of the penetration of sunlight into a room
- Louver Shading: visualization of louvered shading system performance for an entire year.
- Vertical Fin Shading: visualization of a vertical fin shading system performance for an entire year
- Window Heat Gain: calculation of monthly heat gain through windows.
- Panel Shading: visualization of the shading of rows of flat panel collectors throughout the year.”
Interesting follow-up at Treehugger.
How to Build a Spiral Pump
June 26, 2011 by Filed Under: DIY, Random, Water, Water management, Water powered machines, Water pumps, Water wheels
“A spiral pump, first invented in 1746, has been recreated and tested at Windfarm Museum using lightweight and inexpensive modern materials. A 6 foot diameter wheel with 160 feet of 1-1/4 inch inside diameter flexible polyethylene pipe is able to pump 3,900 gallons of water per day to a 40 foot head with a peripheral speed of 3 feet per second.
With its low torque requirements, the pump is particularly suited to be mounted on and driven by a paddle wheel in a current of two feet per second or greater. This easily built, low maintenance spiral pump can be used to provide water without the need for fuel wherever there is a flowing stream or river. It can also be hand turned or otherwise driven to provide a low cost, efficient pump.”
Read more: 1 / 2 / 3 / 4. Thanks to Paul Nash.
See also:
Low-tech Vertical Garden in Ibiza, Spain
June 1, 2011 by Filed Under: Architecture, Gardening, Random, Roofs, Walls
“Jardín vertical low-tech en Ibiza” by Spanish architects Urbanarbolismo. The garden acts as a sound barrier between a club’s outdoor central courtyard and nearby appartments. The ceramic elements – used as a planting medium – are placed so that irrigation water can easily enter from above. No automated irrigation systems are required. Urbanarbolismo makes use of local plant varieties.
