Electric powered Shipping!

 Underway?

Norway is leading the way in electric engine power for vehicle  roll on/off ferries and smaller shipping from Rhine type barges to coasters and there is a demand that other vessels in the oil industry and up-lifting vessels along with cruise liners are the next in line for these conversions.

There are many concerns in relation to breaking down in rough seas and drifting on to rocks, if not colliding with other vessels, but so far many vessels will still have their tradition fossil fuel burning engines as back-up?

The future does look bright and with the advancement in theology and the options of already entering hydrogen powered vessels conversions and new ship design can only make things better to cut the horrid carbon emissions world wide!

Classic and Vintage Vehicles. Part-Two.

The Easter Weekend?

This weekend will be marked by a host if not plethora of fairs, shows and galas covering every form of old machinery from ships, to locomotives, cars, to farm implements, steam engines to even early computing?

This will be the world over and their is so much to see, more so outside the U.K. and the U.S. Many countries have developed this own industries and some of their old stuff is much better than ours?

Maintaining them is a love and their is no end of collectors and people wanting to get involved in restoration and may it long continue? If you have the opportunity please visit and don't mind the cost, enjoy teach both the young and old?

Because we do  not know what our little ones one day might invent, get an idea to go with in another direction and come up with something completely different?

Space now is too becoming vintage, one knows that both in Russia and the United States there are some great collections in museums to be seen of the early space race from 1957 to 1971 worth investigating!

Engines. Part-Two.

New propulsion, materials and Fuels.

Metal has been the main key component in engines for the past two hundred years, but now that most machines are becoming lighter in their construction and the demand for polymer plastics is on the rise. The aviation industry has developed stronger aluminium and other light metals to incorporate in overall design.

Lighter means more fuel efficiency, while engines no longer have to rely on the need for petroleum!

Hydrogen fusion, water and gasses work better with these newer materials. There is not worry about rust or engines dying so quickly. The newer materials and these new engines will last much longer and probably never really run out because of replacement parts.

The first commercial electric cars are now entering the European market en-mass and they will be followed by many other new innovations. Airbus has broken the market in alternative fuels, while new Russian commercial jets such as the Sukhoi super Jet will take the market. 

The one time business jets are now replacing the low capacity market with Mitsubishi, Bombardier, Embraer and Fairchild-Dornier offering layouts for between 20-30 seating.

This will undermine the Boeing 737-600/700 and the Airbus A319-100, who have tried to compete with Embraer E-Jet success.
 
Many machines such as locomotives are cutting down on the need for large body shells, some are aero-dynamic for extra speed.

Rockets such as SpaceX if combined with the Progress modules could lead to some interesting space developments along with improved nuclear engines for faster space flight?

Engines. Part-One.

The heart of every Machine.

If one visits the Science Museum in London, U.K. or nearly every country in the world, you are confronted by the engines of all the great machines that have ever been built. For mechanics this is a day out, for others perhaps after looking at a couple one can get bored easily?

But it is the engine from the petrol to the hydro-electric fusion that has been the heart of motive power this last 125 years. Engines have helped in the development of getting into space, going to the depths of our oceans, building all forms of structures and tunnels.

 Ford T-Model car, Mark 1 tank, Holland Submarine, Sputnik, Ferrari, Porche,Apollo Rockets, Queen Mary, Spitfire, Volkswagen Beetle, Drones, Hydro Power, Trains, Mustang P-51, Rolls-Royce, MiG-15, SR-71, Bullet train, Antonov 225 Mirya, X-Planes, Mars Rovers,

Steam was one thing, Diesel another, fusion is something else and nuclear elctro fusion will take us out of our solar system?

Mercedez.

Jeeps and four-wheel drive.

For a long time the British landrover series has been seen as ruling the world market in the four by four. Nearly every country in the world produces their own versions of this type of essential off road vehicle and it is the German Mercedez company that over the last thirty years or so have taken the market of many other well know names.

This week we will just have this introduction to the German manufacturer and its other famous off road type the Unimog truck. Please check previous articles on Unimog and 4X4 for further references.

The four by four is used for all off road traffic from farming, search and rescue, police and fire services to ambulances and military activities. Reliable engines and gradient capability along with hauling heavy loads must be the essential elements over that of immediate comfort. Here we are not really dealing with a civilian vehicle like others. many other 4X4 contain many gimmicks to sell them to the general public.

Easter Weekend Attractions.

Steam fairs to Vintage displays.

Many people around the globe this weekend are going to perhaps attend some kind of event, which has been laid on for the Easter holidays. From vintage trains, specials, fairs, displays, regattas and so the lists can go on and on.

I wonder what we are going out to see may be the best of that has survived time or the rare, the one offs. What ever it is, I hope you have a good time and enjoy riding, filming, photographing or just watching.

Tomorrows classics today are already being marked out for the collectors clubs and collections and their are still many types of machines that await restoration or to be purchased. But what was not able to be saved and what has been lost, perhaps due to lack of part?

The reason for these biog posts are to encourage anyone out their to do something, even if it is just maintaining your lawnmower, and any other machine. But it is also to come up with new ideas or adaptions of older one. 

Many Thanks and a Happy Easter.

Narrow Gauge Railways. Part-One.

Easy to Manage.

It was during World-War 1 (1914-18) that the British army discovered that the Narrow Gauge rail system was easy to manage over a conventional railway. This meant that if the lines where bombed, they could quickly be replaced.

It has traditionally been the quarry that narrow gauge is most suited for, but by the 1960's in the UK this was coming to an end. Most of the types of engines used had small weights of between 4-15 tonnes. Narrow gauge railways were designed for mountain workings and they take narrow corners also.

Wales was I suppose the home of these engines and trains, but today narrow gauge engines still work the Board na Mona bog lands across Ireland and also the Preypet marches of southern Belarus and the northern Ukraine.

Fire Engines. Part-One.

Water Carriers.

Humanity has developed because it has been able to harness fire, to make it and to use it in daily survival. But at times fire can attack us, with devastating consequences. The construction of large villages, towns and cities has lead to the development of mobile water carriers.

The river and bucket system will not work in a large city, so the concept of the first fire carts came with the invention of the pump. London, New York, Paris all developed their take on this horse drawn water tank. Each vehicle had place for water, ropes, ladders and sand. The crew sat on an open cab or hung on to the sides.

Even with the development of the engine this outlay continued, right up to the 1940's era.

The Tractor.

The tractor was probably the first replacement for the horse, oxen drawn plow (plough) on the farm. Before that man had to open the earth literally by hand, but now there was a machine that could do it without him having to push. 

The threshing of cerials was already established through the use of the steam engine, but those heavy engines were not able to go over heavy soils.

Massey Ferguson reveloutionised farming with his tractor machines and nothing much has change since in the design shape. 

In Russia and the United states, the tractor machines are a different in shape and tracked versions have been produced.They of course are also much larger. 

Modern machines meanwhile have all the latest comforts from heating to swivel chairs and double driving cabs, lighting inside and out. Meaning that the machines can work day and night.

But it was the Chinese who came up with the mechanicle plough. In a basic 3-wheel design based on the movement of artillery pieces in Vietnam in the 1970's and since then this simple machine has been mass produced.

Trucks....

They come in all shapes and sizes and we can't really do without them?


The truck, Juggernaut, lorry is truly a most invaluable machine for the movement of all types of goods, from small loads in a local vicinity to big loads across vast distances. No matter where in the world you go, you will find them at work. 


Monster carriers are used in modern quarrying and in similar heavy construction sites. In Australia cattle, sheep are moved across distances in road trains. But it is probably ore that is one of the commonest uses found for trucks. 


Shipping and trains also play their part for the very vast distances, but otherwise it will be a truck of some description in the local area. With the development of newer types, new engines and better cab design, trucks have come a long way. 


But the future for them will be the development of improved fuel, re-performance and new sources of power, instead of diesel, petrol?

New Year 2012/13.

New Year 2012/13.

I wonder what new innovations in the world of machines will be revealed to us this year? 

Perhaps if the price of oil and other fuels continues to increase, we may have to turn back to steam trains, trucks, engines and airships? 

Is there still a viable future for such machines again? 

Hopefully engineers will be using alternative energy sources to power their new ideas and concepts.