The Vintage Italian Racing Bicycle Pool on Flickr has more than 1,000 pictures. Above: De Rosa, 1973, by classic8tubes. Related: Cars, out of the way.
Classic Italian Racing Bicycles
January 29, 2013 by Filed Under: Bicycles, Bikes, Pedal power, Travel
Sand-Powered Water Wheel
January 27, 2013 by Filed Under: Energy storage, Water powered machines, Water wheels
“Out in the Bodie mining district, California, they have a peculiar motor in use. It is called an arastra, and consists of an overshot wheel operated by sand instead of water. A windmill runs a belt containing buckets, which carry the sand up to a big tank, just as grain elevators carry wheat in a flouring mill. A stream of sand is let out upon the overshot wheel and it revolves just as it would under the weight of a stream of water. The arastras move steadily at their work. When there is much wind, sand is stored up for use when calm weather prevails, so the arastras are never idle. It is perhaps needless to say that the sand is used because water is scarce. The arastra is an invention of a miner named Townsend.”
Quoted from: The Manufacturer and Builder, Volume 0016 Issue 2 (February 1884).
Micromachines: Decentralized Urban Services in South-Asia
January 23, 2013 by Filed Under: Architecture, Cities, Civil engineering, Low-tech cars, Low-tech solutions, Streets, Travel, Tricycles, Trucks, Water powered machines, Water wheels
Architects Damien Antoni and Lydia Blasco have compiled an interesting document that focuses on small-scale technology in countries like India, Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand. They photographed, and made technical drawings of miniature taxi’s, family run water turbines, domestic rain harvesting systems, pedal powered kitchens, home digesters, and the like.
The architects consider their work to be a toolbox, a starting point for thinking outside the conventional norms and recepies. They argue that decentralized services are more flexible, provide more autonomy, and are more efficient in space, energy and materials.
Antoni and Blasco present, in their own words, an equivalent to Neufert’s “Architect’s data“, the book for architects that records standardized dimensions for centralized systems. “Micromachins” is written in French but the visuals dominate.
“Micromachins”, Damien Antoni and Lydia Blasco, 2011 [download the page to get the high resolution PDF-document]. Thanks to Yann Philippe Tastevin. Update: the architects have added a new link with colour pictures and English translation.
Gas Bag Buses in Shawan, China
January 22, 2013 by Filed Under: Low-tech cars, Random, Tractors, Travel
This photo shows at least six operating gas bag buses in Shawan (“Sandy Bay”), Shandong, China, in 1965. I have added the picture to the article on gas bag vehicles. Cars and buses powered by uncompressed gas in large bags were used in many European countries in World War One and Two, and remained in use in some regions of China and other Asian countries until the 1990s. They are more than a historic curiosity, however. In a comment on our earlier article, Paul Nash notes:
“On further reflection, I think the best application for this system, and certainly the one with the least government regulations to hinder the process, would be for powering of farm equipment.
- The gas bag could be installed on a frame on top of the tractor, or on a trailer behind, or a carrier in front or to the side, or some combination of these.
- Aerodynamics are a non issue, and neither is the height of the bag.
- There are no road safety rules to be dealt with.
- The short range is often not an issue, the refueling station is never far away and the diesel engines can still operate on diesel alone if need be.
- The gas bag system also eliminates the $4000 home compressor station needed to fill car CNG tanks from home.
And, of course, the farmer can produce the fuel himself, from waste material – manure, straw, even wood chips, instead of using the harvested grain for ethanol or biodiesel. A wood gasifier could also do this, but needs a warm up and cool down period – the gas bag can be used instantly and for short duration running – a common situation on farms.”
Read more about Gas Bag Vehicles and Wood Gas Cars (another answer to the limited supply of gasoline in World War One and Two).
Picture credit: Ray-Wu.
Poop by the Bucket: A Sewer Catastrophe Companion
January 21, 2013 by Filed Under: Humanure
“This illustrated guide presents a series of graduated responses you can do to keep yourself and your community safe from disease during the short term and long term disruption of sewer services. It’s a solution for managing excreta that’s not excreting problems later. This flexible system is built around ubiquitous and freely available 5-gallon buckets and based on World Health Organization guidelines for excreta reuse. On two occasions it has been successfully deployed from available resources with little pre-planning.”
Previously:
