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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858 |
If the Colossus of Rhodes were still standing astride the entrance to harbor of Rhodes,(which it never did)and the Stutue of Liberty was put on a barge and towed into the harbor of Rhodes, what would the Colossus say?
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Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 2,204
Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 2,204 |
"Baskets on poles" - if fixed in position, are usually called "Beacons" over here. If they are the sort that you can carry around with you, then I think we would probably call them torches. A lot depends on what they are being used for - torches to give light, beacons to give a signal of some sort.
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858 |
Dear RC: in my cranesfoot I have a line of Bicknell(s) who were so named because they lived on Beacon Hill, where bonfires were lit at night to guide fishermen home.
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Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,439
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,439 |
my acquisition of the world's coolest flashlight/torch ... which never needs batteries (one shakes a magnet back and forth through a coil to generate electricity which is stored in a capacitor) and never needs a new light bulb (it has an LED instead). Like I said, totally cool!
OK, Father Steve, how about sharing the trade name and manufacturer? Sounds like just the ticket for my part of the country where storms often kibosh the electricity when winter storms hit.
Please? Oh, and if you feel you can, the price?
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858 |
Dear wow: Radio Shack used to sell a rechargeable flashlight
that was mounted on a fixture that could be fastened to wall near an outlet. Only cost about ten bucks and last several years, always ready to use, and where you can find it in the dark.
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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 1,981
Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 1,981 |
>how about sharing the trade name and manufacturer? Ah yes, an invention much admired by Nelson Mandela. The inventor saw a programme about the need to spread information about HIV in Africa and came up with the idea of a wind up radio, to conquer the problem of the cost of batteries in hard to reach areas, the flashlight/torch was designed along the same principles. Google "wind up flashlight" for local supppliers. The power of an idea. Award-winning British inventor Trevor Baylis took the concept behind the common windup clock and applied it to radio technology, inventing the “clockwork radio.”
His goal was to provide a cheap, and accessible means of communication to people in Africa, where radios are the primary means of information distribution but electricity is scarce and batteries expensive. By making radio technology independent of electricity yet still reliable, the people in Africa would have access to information on preventive health care, relief and AIDS.
A South African company, BayGen, bought into the idea, but found the cost of the radio was too high for the African market. End of story? Hardly. BayGen began to build on Baylis’ idea, looking beyond radios, and beyond Africa.
In addition to the radio, BayGen developed a windup flashlight. Thirty seconds of cranking buys you seven minutes of light, courtesy of the same Baylis generator that powered the clockwork radio. BayGen found a market for its products under the “Freeplay” brand — mainly in developed countries, where the technology suits emergency preparedness kits, survivalist groups and a host of outdoor activities. Companies such as Innovative Technologies, a small Victoria, British Columbia, firm, have found markets for windup devices in North America.
Power to Change Lives
The windup radio’s low-tech look is deceptive. The crank and the spring it’s connected to are simple enough; but there are a few high-tech bits that have transformed the basic idea into something that people would actually buy.
There’s a solar panel for sunny days, and electronics that store power and regulate the spring so that it only unwinds when necessary, preserving energy. The new radio plays for an hour, twice as long as the original model.
In 1996, BayGen began selling the windup radios worldwide; aid organizations like the Red Cross and the United Nations have also begun distributing them.
The Freeplay radio has been awarded the BBC Design Award for Best Product and Best Design. It’s no wonder: A windup generator that could connect to and power any battery operated device, anywhere, could significantly change the lives of many people who don’t have ready access to even simple technology. It also has far-reaching implications for technological development. There are plans to include windup technology in landmine detectors, talking books and even the upcoming Apple eMate 300 computer. “The technology is there and can be adapted to any product,” says Philip Goodwin, an industrial designer at BayGen.
The more of the radios built and sold in the developed world, the cheaper they become for the Third World. And that would be the realization of a simple idea that has since spun off into an industry.http://abcnews.go.com/sections/tech/CuttingEdge/cuttingedge990107.html
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858 |
Dear sjm: you reminded me of the little generator on my beloved Raleigh bike, how little drag it caused when riding at night with it on. And the same technology over fifty years ago made possible a real "flash" light that I saw one night down on the Cape Cod canal, where I was fishing. A guy came along with a hand held light, that when he squeezed the handle turned a tiny generator with enough flywheel effect to give three of four seconds of bright light, and only a little longer wait before he could squeeze the handle again. I didn't get a chance to ask him the name of the manufacturer. I have never seen one since.
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Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 171
member
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member
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 171 |
I have one of those flashlights you describe. Prolonged use can be demanding on the forearm. I also have a small radio that runs on the energy (kinetic?) stored by winding a small handle on the front. I saw a TV special a while back about the guy who invented this type of apparatus(or more probably improved on the technology). His motivation was to provide remote African villages with radio reception.
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Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 2,788
Carpal Tunnel
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OP
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 2,788 |
OK, Father Steve, how about sharing the trade name and manufacturer? Sounds like just the ticket for my part of the country where storms often kibosh the electricity when winter storms hit.
Please? Oh, and if you feel you can, the price?
The brand I got is called NightStar and it cost me about forty bucks. I just got back from a week at camp and can attest that it functioned as advertised -- and also amazed the little campers who saw me "shaking my flashlight" before heading up the trail each night.
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Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 2,788
Carpal Tunnel
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OP
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 2,788 |
It used to be common for flashlights to have a button that, when depressed, would temporarily light the bulb. It wouldn't click into an "on" position, so when you released your thumb the light would go out. Presumably this was for signalling with morse code. I suppose the military still uses this feature, but most flashlights I see now are simply on/off and have no signalling button.
For no good reason, I saved the several "official" Boy Scout flashlights which I used when I was a lad. All of them have this "Morse" feature ... because we were all supposed to learn the code and use it.
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