The Oil Drum

263 comments on DrumBeat: May 12, 2007

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jokuhl on May 12, 2007 - 6:30pm

Thanks for remembering that one, Bob. I kind of liked the notion.

Here's today's wildly-impractical supplementary notion, or TWISN. I envision this with bike riders on some 'big hill' in a newly renovated, bike friendly town.. but it could work equally well with wheelbarrows, also! If there was an 'up' track and a 'down' track, with a looped Tow-Rope between them, then the ones going downhill could latch on and help the climbers ascend. This would/could even spare the descenders some of the strains of an unregulated descent.. (or in the case of bikers, the wasting of their height potential into the friction-wear on brake pads. A variation would be some kind of Linked Funicular Railcar, like a paralleled pair of escalators. There would be friction losses to consider, as well as the inertia of system equipment (making that rope look better and better), but such details, while devilish are not automatically dealkillers.. as much as we want things to be devilishly simple!

Regards,
Bob Fiske

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totoneila on May 12, 2007 - 7:11pm

Hello Greg in MO & Jokuhl,

Thxs for responding. Yep, we need lots of simple tools improved for the postPeak era.

I think spiderwebriding is best, but I was thinking about ways to improve the uphill & downhill use of rubber-tired wheelbarrows & bicycles for ice & snow because safe footing will be next to impossible.

Perhaps the rope-tow used on beginning skier bunny slopes. The safest way I have seen is where the novice sits inside a inflated tube to be dragged up the slope-- no way for them to fall. It also greatly reduces weight/sq. foot; it takes tremendous advantage of sliding across the top of the snow [no snow removal required].

Therefore if a wheelbarrow or bicycle needs to go up a snow-covered hill--just have them flop down onto the tube or some kind of sled--simple and safe. Since the rope or cable is circular-looping, the other side of the mechanism can be used for those wishing to get a load down the slope.

Same principle could be used on frozen canals or across lakes.

Bob Shaw in Phx,Az Are Humans Smarter than Yeast?

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