engineering – Tacky Raccoons

Indiana Bell Building 1930

“In 1930 the Indiana Bell Building was rotated 90°. Over a month, the 22-million-pound structure was moved 15 inches/hour, all while 600 employees still worked there. There was no interruption to gas, heat, electricity, water, sewage, or the telephone service they provided. No one inside felt it move.”

Built in 1907, the 8-story, 11,000-ton building was moved to provide room for a larger facility, all while providing uninterrupted telephone service to the State of Indiana. It was relocated 52 feet (16 m) to the south and 100 feet (30 m) west of its original location. The move began 14 October and was complete on 12 November 1930.

Most of the power needed to move the building was provided by hand-operated jacks assisted by a steam engine. Each time the jacks were pumped, the house moved 3/8ths of an inch.

[Animation and caption found here; more here.]

Ancient Engineering – Yellow Dragon Cave Water Mill

Wooden waterwheel in front of Huanglong Cave (Yellow Dragon Cave) is a karst cave located near the Wulingyuan District of Zhangjiajie City, Hunan, China.

“Turns out the area that these wheels were traditionally in was flooded as part of the 3 gorges dam, so this is a reconstruction for people to see what they would have looked like.” -comment on Reddit

Everything ancient in China is almost always a reproduction, including this. It’s an elaborate kinetic sculpture – the water mill doesn’t appear to mill anything. China lets you look around the cave a bit on Google Maps street view: 29°22’1.62″N 110°36’47.79″E

[Video found here; a longer version without music here.]

The Fife Cantilever

‘The Fife cantilever’, c 1880s.

Photograph of the construction of the Forth Railway Bridge in Scotland. Undoubtedly Britain’s most famous railway landmark, The Forth Bridge was opened by HRH The Prince of Wales in March 1890 following eight years of building, and completed the east coast railway route between London and Aberdeen. It spans the Firth of Forth, joining the city of Edinburgh and Fife in Scotland. The bridge was designed by Sir John Fowler and Sir Benjamin Baker, and built by engineer Sir William Arrol. It contains almost 54,000 tons of steel and when completed, the 1.5 mile long bridge was the biggest in the world. It is the world’s oldest cantilever railway bridge and remains in use to this day.

[Image from Feral Irishman‘s awesome rotating banner. Description from here.]

A Da Vinci Bridge – 15th Century Engineering

Okay 1502 AD is technically the 16th Century, but the engineering was already in existence.

VERY cool – You can build it on the spot if there’s available timber, no connectors required, and you can knock it down and take it with you once your army has crossed the stream, arroyo, ravine or ditch. Here’s one in use (with planks installed):

This kid constructed one without notches or connectors, using friction and compression only.

[Top image from Da Vinci. 2nd image from here, video from here, links found in here.]

Paratripper

“Don’t worry Ma’am, I’m from the Internet.”

It’s brilliant. I’m guessing it’s a methane collector connected to a burner to provide lift to the parachute. I’d name the single-user gas-fired flying machine “Jack The Ripper.”

[Image w/caption found here.]

Tension and Compression

A demonstration of the mathematical principles of the original Forth Bridge in Scotland performed at Imperial College in 1887. The central ‘weight’ is Kaichi Watanabe, one of the first Japanese engineers to study in the UK, while Sir John Fowler and Benjamin Baker provide the supports.

Long-span structural engineering illustrated. Note that weight is not the problem with this truss, but uplift is, hence the weights at the extreme ends of the truss. Tension is transferred from the exterior weights through the arms of the two men near the ends of the span, while compression struts keep this structure from collapsing under the dead weight of Mr. Watanabe. Note also that without the weight provided by Mr. Watanabe, this structure collapses (unless Messrs. Fowler and Baker scooch over and hold hands).

[Found here.]

Tinius No. 23

Tinius the Cybernetic Turtle c1950 – An engineering student takes a robot through its paces, 1950. [RH-2013- Although looking like a turtle (tortoise) which suggests being a Grey Walter-inspired machines, With it two “eyes” appearing as though it is fixed to the steering, suggests more that it is just phototropic i.e. it is attracted to and will follow a light source as per Norbert Wiener’s Moth.]