History of the Barber-Colman Company

 

Historically one of Rockford’s largest manufacturers.

 

Began with the founding of the Barber & Colman Company in 1894 – partnership between Howard Colman, an inventor and entrepreneur, and W. A. Barber, an investor. [Today he would probably be considered a venture capitalist.] Colman’s first patent and marketable invention was the Creamery Check Pump used to separate buttermilk and dispense skimmed milk.

 

Colman’s textile production inventions led the company on its rapid rise as a worldwide leader in the design and manufacture of diversified products. Specific items designed for the textile industry included the Hand Knotter and the Warp Tying Machine. Through these innovations, Barber & Colman was able to build its first plant on Rock Street in Rockford’s Water Power District, and to establish branch offices in Boston MA and Manchester, England.

 

Incorporated as Barber-Colman in 1904 and built 5 new major structures on their site by 1907.

 

Later innovations for the textile industry included an Automatic Winder, High Speed Warper and Automatic Spoolers. By 1931, the textile machinery division had branch production facilities in Framingham MA; Greenville SC; Munich, Germany; and Manchester. This part of the business flourished through the mid-1960s but then declined as other divisions expanded.

 

Branched out from the textile industry into machine tools in 1908 with Milling Cutters. Barber-Colman created machines used at the Fiat plant in Italy (1927) and the Royal Typewriter Co. outside Hartford CT. By 1931, the Machine Tool and Small Tool Division of Barber-Colman listed branch offices in Chicago, Cincinnati and Rochester NY.

 

As part of its commitment to developing a skilled work force, Barber-Colman began the Barber-Colman Continuation School for boys 16 and older shortly after the company was founded. It was a 3-year apprentice program that trained them for manufacturing jobs at Barber-Colman and paid them hourly for their work at rate that increased as their proficiency improved. The program was operated in conjunction with the Rockford Vocational School.

 

To foster continued inventions, an Experimental Department was established with the responsibility of continually developing new machines. A lab was first installed in 1914 and was divided into two parts – a chemistry lab to provide thorough analysis of all metals and their component properties, and a metallurgical lab to test the effectiveness of heat treatment for hardening materials. Innovations in the Experimental Department laid the groundwork for the company’s movement into the design and development of electrical and electronic products, and energy management controls.

 

BARBER-COLMAN became involved in the electrical and electronics industry in 1924 with the founding of the Electrical Division. First product was a radio operated electric garage door opener controlled from the dashboard of a car. Unfortunately, it was too expensive to be practical at the time. The division’s major product in its early years was Barcol OVERdoors, a paneled wood garage door that opened on an overhead track. Several designs were offered in 1931, some of which had the appearance of wood hinged doors. This division eventually expanded into four separate ones that designed and produced electronic control instruments and systems for manufacturing processes; small motors and gear motors used in products such as vending machines, antennas and X-ray machines; electronic and pneumatic controls for aircraft and marine operations; and electrical and electronic controls for engine-powered systems.

 

In the late 1920s, the Experimental Department began conducting experiments with temperature control instruments to be used in homes and other buildings and the Temperature Control Division was born. Over time, BARBER-COLMAN became known worldwide leader in electronic controls for heating, ventilating and air conditioning. These are the products that continue its name and reputation today.

 

The death of founder Howard Colman in 1942 was sudden but the company continued to expand its operations under changing leadership. Ground was broken in 1953 for a manufacturing building in neighboring Loves Park IL to house the overhead door division and the Uni-Flow division. Three later additions were made to that plant.

 

The divestiture of BARBER-COLMAN divisions began in 1984 with the sale of the textile division to Reed-Chatwood Inc which remained at BARBER-COLMAN’s original site on Rock Street until 2001. The machine tooldivision, the company’s second oldest unit, was spun off in 1985 to Bourn and Koch, another Rockfordcompany. At that time, it was announced that the remaining divisions of the BARBER-COLMAN Company would concentrate their efforts on process controls and cutting tools. These moves reduced local employment at BARBER-COLMAN’s several locations to about 2200. The remaining divisions were eventually sold as well, but the BARBER-COLMAN Company name continues to exist today as one of five subsidiaries of Eurotherm Controls Inc whose worldwide headquarters are in Leesburg VA. The Aerospace Division and the Industrial Instruments Division still operate at the Loves Park plant, employing 1100 workers in 2000. The historic complex on Rock Street was vacated in 2001 and the property purchased by the City of Rockford in 2002.

 

Extensive documentation from the Experimental Department was left at the Rock Street plant when the company moved out and was still there when the site was purchased by the City of Rockford. These documents are now housed at the Midway Village Museum.

Welding is a manufacturing process that joins two separate sections of material together. There are various welding methods being used to construct the Orion spacecraft, such as friction stir welding, which was used to assemble the crew module pressure vessel, and orbital tube welding, which is used to weld the propellant and life support system lines. Friction stir welding is not the same standard welding that you see on bridges and buildings, but rather looks more like blending the metals.

 

(En) Founded in 1906, the Coking Plant of Anderlues was specialized in the production of coke for industrial use.

 

Coke was obtained by distillation of coal in furnaces and, thanks to its superior fuel coal properties, it was used afterwards to feed the blast furnaces in the steel manufacturing process.

 

Closed and abandoned since 2002, the site has since undergone many losses and damages, not including an important pollution. While some buildings have now been demolished, there are however still some important parts of the former coking plant.

 

Among them, the former coal tower, next to the imposing "battery" of 38 furnaces, where the coke was produced. Besides them, we still can see the administrative buildings, the power station with its cooling tower, and buildings for the by-products, which were obtained by recovering the tar and coal gas. There are also a gasometer north side, the coal tip east side and a settling basin south side.

 

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(Fr) Fondées en 1906, les Cokeries d'Anderlues étaient spécialisées dans la fabrication de coke à usage industriel.

 

Le coke était obtenu par distillation de la houille dans des fours et, grâce à ses propriétés combustibles supérieures au charbon, il servait par après à alimenter les hauts-fourneaux dans le processus de fabrication de l'acier.

 

Fermé et laissé à l'abandon depuis 2002, le site a depuis lors subi de nombreuses pertes et dégradations, sans compter la pollution qui y règne. Si certains bâtiments (comme l'ancien lavoir à charbon) ont aujourd'hui été démolis, on retrouve encore toutefois certaines parties importantes de cette ancienne cokerie.

 

Parmi celles-ci, l'ancienne tour à charbon suivie de près par l'imposante "batterie" de 38 fours, où était produit le coke. A côté d'eux, on découvre également les bâtiments administratifs, la centrale électrique avec sa tour de refroidissement, ainsi que les bâtiments des sous-produits, lesquels étaient obtenus par récupération du goudron et du gaz de houille. Et en périphérie, on retrouve un gazomètre côté nord, le terril à l'est et un bassin de décantation côté sud.

At Sau Hoai's Rice Noodle Factory near Can Tho on the Mekong Delta, you can see every step of the noodle manufacturing process. These noodles are all hand-made, via a method that has not changed in decades - if not centuries! You can try making a batch yourself. This family-run business also includes an open-air restaurant where you can taste freshly-made noodles: they were outstanding!

Seat Badge

AUTOMOTIVE BADGES ALBUM

www.flickr.com/photos/45676495@N05/albums/72157631048301272

 

Seat is a Spanish automobile manufacturer with its head office in Martorell, Spain It was founded on May 9, 1950, by the Instituto Nacional de Industria (INI), a Spanish state-owned industrial holding company. Following the ravages of the Spannish Civil War (1936-39) Spain's economy was relatively underdeveloped compared to most other Western European countries and had a limited automobile market with production limited to a few small motor manufacturers, the largest of which was Hispano-Suiza producing vehicles for the high end of the market. with the supply of most mass market vehicles imported or vehicles imported in CKD form, to a weak market. SEAT dates its origins back to June 22, 1940 when the Spanish bank 'Banco Urquijo', with the support of a group of industrial companies, with the aim of not to be only another licensee car maker assembling foreign designs and parts in Spain, but of developing the whole manufacturing process from design to assembly. But first an overseas partner was required that would contribute technically and with its own models in the early years. Other European countries manufacturing plants and economies had also suffered the cost and effect of World War II and the project was shelved for time being.SEAT under its current name was founded on May 9, 1950, under the denomination 'Sociedad Española de Automóviles de Turismo, S.A.' was founded with a capital of 600 million pesetas and an alliance was announced with Fiat. along the same model as Fiat existing alliance with Simca in France. The manufacturing plant opened in 1953, by which time and almost from scratch a local supplier metwork was established

 

The first car in the marque's history to be produced was a SEAT 1400 model that came off the production line on November 13, 1953, growth was rapid aided by a protectionist policy of the Franco Government. By 1954 Spannish components made up almost 93 per cent of parts During these early years the model range consisted of rebadged or restyled models from the Fiat range until the launch of the the SEAT 1200 Sport in 1975 the first example of a SEAT-exclusive derivative would arrive on September 1963 with the launch of the SEAT 800, a car developed in-house by SEAT with no equivalent model in Fiat's range on the basis of the SEAT 600, as Fiats stake increased the banks became less involved. In 1970s the two companies agreed that Seat would start building separate infrastructures aimed at developing new technologies

 

In the early 1980 and with Seats growth slowing due in part to the oil crisis but largely due to the earlier protectionist policies being lifted, and Seat sought major capital investment from Fiat who were reluctant to oblige. The long term agreement was terminated in 1982. The end of the co-operation with the Italian firm was marked by a change in SEAT's logo in 1982, and the first car under the new SEAT logo the SEAT Ronda appeared later that year, which sparked litigation from Fiat claiming the new car was to close to their Ritmo model, the case went to litigation which found sufficient differances between the two cars to warrant the Ronda a seperate model.

 

Later in 1982 the VAG came courting and an agreement was struck to begin Spannish production of the Volkswagen Passat-Santana and Polo-Derby models in SEAT's Zona Franca and Landaben factories with Seat holding the distribuition rights.

 

In 1984 Seat launched the Giugiaro-styled Ibiza and Malaga beginig exports to the UK and other markets.

 

In June 1986 VAG became majorty shareholders, first with a stake of 51 per cent increasing to 70 and by December 18, 1990, the Volkswagen Group acquired 99.99% ownership of the company, thus making SEAT the first non-German wholly owned subsidiary of the group. In February 1993 the Martprell plant was opened becoming one of the most modern and efficient car plants in Europe initially building the new e SEAT Ibiza Mk2 and its saloon version, the SEAT Córdoba Mk1 which greatly expanding its market share, particularly on export markets. From 2011 onwards, this plant also produces the Audi Q3 small SUV

 

Many thanks for a fantabulous

47,310,221 views

 

Shot at Weston Park Classic Car Show 27.03.2016 - Ref 111-642

 

The Whitechapel Bell Foundry was famous for, well, casting church bells. However, it closed in 2017 after nearly 450 years of bell-making and 250 years at its Whitechapel site, with the final bell cast given to the Museum of London along with other artefacts used in the manufacturing process.

  

Beautifully cast Matchbox Porsche 910 which again first appeared in the 1970's as a regular Superfast release before ending its days as a budget Super GT. Although I suspect all the Super GT survivors donated to me got some play wear, as they were designed to of course, I also think their large paint loss was due to the manufacturing process at the time.

The image on Flickr is NOT "true" high dynamic range. The youtube video youtu.be/1dVNZY_p96w contains a still of this image in "true" HDR, which is not the same thing as photography's definition of HDR. (You need to view the YouTube video on an HDR TV/monitor in order to see the proper colors for the wide color gamut and contrast)

This YouTube video is unlike HDR in normal photography where wide colors and highlights are compressed into an SDR image, instead in true HDR the large ranges are kept.

This still image was created as a YouTube video due to many HDR TVs not supporting any HDR image formats but most smart TVs support YouTube with its HDR video content...

Raw DNG image from the camera to the processed HDR conversion was performed using DaVinci Resolve color grading software.

  

The R|Z568M Nixie Tube is a revival of an antique technology: rediscovered, hand crafted, and made brand new by Dalibor Farny. Previously, no one was making any nixie tubes and the process was becoming a lost art. Thankfully due to much interest by hobbyists and enthusiasts both with and without technical knowledge of high voltage electronics, the nixie tube has made a comeback due to it's beautiful aesthetics and the fun of learning the design of power electronics. One can be a teenager or even an adult with an interest and buy a premade kit, or one can be an expert at electronics and design their own clock circuit & power supply from scratch. That is the beauty of such a simple yet complex device. Nowadays most use micro-controllers to run such nixie tube clocks allowing for people to learn programming too and for more features to be packed into such displays.

 

The R|Z568M Nixie Tube is one of the largest known nixie tubes measuring in at a symbol height of 50 mm (2 inches) and a glass diameter of 50 mm (2 inches). The total height including the glass and the base is 125 mm (4.9 inches) and the total diameter is 53 mm (2.1 inches). This is a huge beast of a nixie tube: both suitably bright and large enough for someone like me to read it across their room without their glasses on. The pleasant orange glow of the neon dimly lights a small room at night in darkness. There is a beautiful halo of blue almost bordering on purple violet light around each lit digit. This is from the mercury vapors being excited by the high voltage which helps ignite the neon around the metal digits. The mercury allows the nixie tube to last a long life: over 20 years or 200.000 hours running 24/7. To see the manufacturing process watch it here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=wxL4ElboiuA Also visit Dalibor Farny's website (which is a work of art in and of itself with it's animated nixie tubes as you scroll to read): www.daliborfarny.com/

 

This nixie tube is being used in a single digit Nixie Tube clock and being run at just under 1 watt. It works by cycling through the tens place of the hours, then then ones place of the hours, then the tens place of the minutes, and finally the ones place of the minutes. There is a brief pause between the start and end of the cycle allowing you to tell which numbers are at the beginning. The use of the single digit nixie tube clock is twofold: mostly to save money (the R|Z568M costs €135.00 without shipping or taxes!) and because it allows for more thorough cycling through all the available digits within the bulb thereby reducing the risk of cathode poisoning. In a multiple digit nixie tube clock, the tens place for the hours only alternates between the numbers 0, 1, and 2 leading to much higher uneven wear and tear on the device.

  

This photo is in 3D crossview. You cross your eyes while keeping the screen centered and it should become one image at the center in 3D. More Instructions for viewing 3D images: www.3dphoto.net/text/viewing/technique.html

 

Stereo Viewer for all my photos: jongames.com/stereophoto/

May 2009

I have dog gone done and bought a 1000 UK pound / 2000 USD bicycle. It weighs 7.9 Kg apparently. From my research it seems to be one of the cheapest, and yet not so different from the most expensive, carbon monocoque bicycles around.

 

But what does "monocoque" mean? Monocoque refers to the fact that the whole frame is built as one piece in a carbon fibre composite mold, rather than from many "coques" or tubes of carbon fibre bonded together at the joints in the manner of a steel tube bicycle. "Coque" is French for "shell".

 

The manufacturing process uses air pressure to blow the monocoque onto the inside of the mold.

 

Here the first carbon bike builder explains:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=M3-5L6Rluiw

 

The Azzurri brand seems to use top notch OEM parts (Taiwanese made frame*, Shimano Ultegra) to produce bikes that are almost the same as the famous brands, who, since they sponsor the likes of Lance Armstrong, have much higher marketing costs.

 

*Addendum (with apologies to Azzurri, a wonderful company in my view)

Azzurri owns the molds for their frames, so their frames are not OEM. However, there is rumour that

1) The frames bear considerable resemblance to famous brand frames (perhaps a previous year's model with some modification)

2) It may be the case that most of the design was curtesy of the Taiwanese manufacturer

but

3) Many famous brands may likewise rely on the Taiwanese manufacturers for frame design and are a sense equally "OEM" brands themselves. Perhaps only the really big companies like TREK do their own in-house frame design?

  

But then again, how different is it from the 350 UK pound, 700 dollar bicycle that I am riding? Only about 4 Kg.

 

It has arrived. The bicycle does not turn me into Lance but it is very light. Also, I was reading about the shock absorbing properties of carbon fibre, but coming from a bike with big slick tires, I thought that the shock absorption provided by the tires on my old bike would be greater than that by the carbon frame, and that the new Azzuri ride would be bumpier by virtue of the thin high pressure tires. Not so. The road in front of my house is half concrete and on the aluminium framed bouncy-tired Trek, the concrete was unpleasant since all the shakes are transmitted to the arms. I feel like I am riding on smooth Tarmac on the Azzuri.

 

So the pros of the Azzurri are...

Very light at 7.9 Kg without pedals.

This means that it accelerates very well. My 12Kg Trek bike took a while to get up steam. Stopping at traffic lights was a little depressing since I knew it would be a while before I could get back up to the 30-34 Khm that I cruise at. Traffic lights will be less of a downer now. There is a sort of motorbike like feeling of acceleration on the Azzurri. By that I mean...when you press the accelerator on a car you have to wait till the car speeds up. But when you are on a goodly motorbike the throttle can feel like a speed control. Want to go faster? Turn up the speed. Likewise, on this bicycle, when I stand on the pedals there is a feeling of instantaneous speed.

 

Less small bumps. Honestly, carbon fibre really does iron out the bumps. Not the big bumps. At about 1cm, this Azzurri tells me about the 1 cm bump in the road more than my chunky big-tired aluminium Trek. But when the bumps are road surface irregularities, such as the the roughness of a concrete road or old tarmac, the Azzurri glides over these like I am cycling on a smooth cycle track. Quite amazing. For the most part I ride on roads with no 1cm bumps so....groovy.

 

One of my problems with my Trek bike was that, in top gears, when attempting to accelerate (see above) I found that my fat, fairly powerful thighs seemed to be deforming the cranks, or the frame, enough so that the chain chaffed against the front dérailleur gears. This is only when I was really pumping hard mind you. On the Azzurri, even when putting my foot down, there seems to be no deformation. I am not sure whether it is the superior stiffness of the "Shimano Ultegra SL" cranks (the bits onto which the pedals are attached) or the stiffness of the frame. I am not sure how a bike frame can be both stiff and absorb bumps but somehow this bike manages it.

 

The brakes though smaller have more braking power. I am not sure why. The brake pads on my Trek FX 7.3 are much bigger, and I did not find them to be weak. But the stopping power of the breaks on this bike are better. So much better that I have to remind myself not to break so hard.

 

The spokes are aerodynamically flattened. Not sure that this makes any difference or not.

 

The wheels are thin. Thin wheels are good. I guess that if I mounted a curb at speed I could buckle them but I have never had that problem. They look like they should cause problems. Okay they are not without their problems, but is amazing how little a fat wheel helps. Despite the fearsome appearance of thin wheels, they do not present a nearly so much of a problem as one might expect. This commentary is not for hard core bicyclist who know why road bikes are called road bikes. But for the average-joe-novice, the thinness of thin wheels looks like it is going to make the ride bumpy, or that even on tarmac you will loose traction, or deform, or break. Well, in my experience, thin wheels are surprising UN-problematic. They accelerate faster, the do not deform, they have almost as much traction on tarmac.

 

If you hit a stone the size of a marble, or ride over gravel/sand on tarmac, then the thin wheels are less able to cope. If you are riding off road then of course fat wheels are good. But on most roads, thin wheels are fine. They look a lot more precarious than they are. If you have not tried thin wheels, please do.

 

The Cons

The carbon frame of this Azzurri bike is thick, really thick. The tubes are chunky. Even more chunky, and fat that my aluminium (aluminium) bike. I suppose that there is a aerodynamic loss. Compared to my thighs and the wind resistance on my torso I don't think that it makes a lot of difference but the pipe with the word "Azzurri" on it is a hell of a thick, wide diameter tube. UPDATE. I read somewhere that cyclists are more aerodynamic when they have a drink bottle on the front tube, and that the latest Trek Madone has a massive tube diameter of 8cm (The front tube on the Azzurri is only 5 cm). Taken together, I guess that having a wided front tube does NOT represent a aerodynamic loss, but rather perhaps the tube size acts as a sort of fairing or cowling for probably the most un-aerodynamic part of a bike plus cyclist - the spinning pedal and legs portion. Incidentally, the UCI rules state that fairings are prohibited ("1.3.024 Any device, added or blended into the structure, that is destined to decrease, or which has the effect of decreasing, resistance to air penetration or artificially to accelerate propulsion, such as a protective screen, fuselage form of fairing or the like, shall be prohibited.") Having a massive down-tube or just carrying a drink bottle, may be a way of having getting around the "anti fairing" rule.

 

The fit. This is not a problem of the bike. People rave about the fit of bikes. The late great Sheldon has pages of advice on the fitting of bikes. The biggest problem about buying a cheap bike over the internet is that one does not know whether or not the bike will fit you. If buy a bike from your local bike shop then they should be able to fit the bike to your size. However, in my case, my local bike shop equipped me with a bike that is clearly too big. I feel strung out on my aluminium Trek. I can't sit on the wide part of the saddle, but rather find myself being sliced in half sitting supporting my weight on my crotch on the thin part of the saddle. I think that my local bike shop is a good bike shop, but I don't think that they got the fit right. Local bike shops are good, but fitting is difficult even for local bike shops.

 

This bike is far more likely to get stolen. If someone were to feel its weight, or realise that is is made of carbon fibre, then they might think it is worth even more than it is. I am not going to park it in situations where someone might walk off with it. It looks even more expensive than it is.

 

The front wheel was slightly buckled upon delivery. The bike was packed in a cardboard box. I guess that a lot of other heavy things were placed upon it in transit. I don't think that there was a fragile sticker on the box. My locall bike shop guy removed the the wobble of the front wheel, and tuned the gears for about 50 USD.

 

It is to early to say for sure but if you can get an Azzurri cheaply, as I have done, then I think that barring fitting problems (this is a big problem), then you can't go wrong. This is a lot of bike, or a very light weight, high performance bike for the money.

 

Update after my first ride.

 

Coming from a chunky aluminium bicycle, famed for being rigid, and bump transmitting, I was seriously impressed. The ride was silky, creamy smooth, providing a sense of bikelessness. If you move from an aluminium bike onto one of these, you will think you are riding a linear motor driven landspeeder.

 

Usually I ride to the coast (23Km) and put the bike on the roof of Yasuko's car and drive back. But today it was a pleasure to cycle both ways. I was riding into the landward, and seaward wind both ways but the low riding position made me forget about the wind. I need a little bit longer stem. The seat post is 2cm beyond the maximum extension. If I die impaled upon half a seat post you will know why.

 

The bike seems a little bit too small. But only a bit. A new (135mm?) stem (30 USD), and perhaps seat post (100 USD), should perfect the fit. I wish I could hire an adjustable stem to see what length of stem suits. I wonder if there is any disadvantage to a long stem.

 

ADDENDUM

I have had this bike for a few months. It is now 18th September. I have lost 7 Kg or a stone in weight. I am a paid member of the cult of the carbon bike. Getting on this bike is like creamy. It is a pleasure. It makes me smile. It makes me want to spin my legs as fast as I can and speed along at 40 Kmh or more. It allows me to enjoy speed, get places, climb mountains, and feel very alive.

 

Sometimes on bike forums I see comments like "The weight of the bike is not that important. Get on your heavy bike and you will loose more weight than you can ever loose by paying more for a light bike"

 

There is truth and falacy in this opinion. This bike is only 3 or 4 Kg lighter than my previous bike. I have lost 7Kg in weight since I bought it. That is a difference of about 10 Kg.

 

But if that matters, if getting thin and fit matters, then why not just pedal away on the heavy bike. The flab is much heavier than the bike. The flab lost makes a mockery of the weight difference. Who needs a light bike? Just pedal your current bike and you will loose far more weight than the light bike will loose for you, so they say.

 

Well, the thing is that it is really motivating to get on a light carbon bike. It just loves you. You love it. It speeds. It gives you thrills. It gives you speed. You want to get on it. You will want to get on it. I promise.

 

In theory the previous bike at only a few kilograms more should have given me the same thrills but, in reality, it did not.

 

Run, do not walk, to your bike shop or ebay to purchase a carbon bike. Once you get on one you will want to cycle your arse off, literally.

 

You can purchase OEM (not famous brand, Taiwan made, badged) Carbon bikes from companies such as

www.azzurribikes.com/ (mine)

www.kestrelbicycles.com/

pedalforce.com/

and even directly from Taiwanese manufacturers, but I am not sure how, or why I would bother.

 

Stop press NO THIS IS WRONG [[[KEEP YOUR CARBON BIKE STORED OUT OF THE SUN

Alas, I find that in the third year of owning the above bike I am loosing a little stiffness at the rear. It feels as if I have even more suspension (springs?) at the rear triangle. I blame myself, rather than Azzurri because these past few months I had left my bike outside, since the move to our new house were there is no appropriate place inside. This meant that sun fell on the bike in the late afternoon. I think that I will be able to use it for another year or two. But after that I may need to get a new frame. Fortunately frames can be had very cheaply now on-line from China and Taiwan.]]]

CORRECTION

The frame is still plenty stiff. I had read on-line two negative reviews claiming that Azzurri frames have a tendency to loose their stiffness after three years. After three and a half years I found the rear end of my bike to be loosing stiffness such that pedal push did not seem to be being converted to acceleration as quickly as when I purchased the bike. The frame did SEEM to be loosing stiffness. I found out however, that the problem was elsewhere. My Azzurri Primo came with Mavic Aksium wheels. These are a light but budget wheel and they have a known issue in that the free-wheel hub contains a plastic bush that gets worn down when free-wheeling, if you do not clean and lubricate the inside of your rear hub. I have never opened my rear hub. After 3.5 years, the rear hub was wobbly due to wear on this bush I believe. Since I like my wheels in other respects, and they can be had cheaply, I bought a new pair second hand for about 150USD and I am good to go for another 3 years. The lack of stiffness in the rear of my bike is now cured.

One could also purchase non-Mavic afterparts to replace the plastic bush. More on the mavic freehub problem here

nihonbunka.com/wiki/index.php?title=Mavic_Freehubs

 

The bike is still going strong starting my 5th season.

 

Thomas Foster Hamilton (July 28, 1894 – August 12, 1969) was a pioneering aviator and the founder of the Hamilton Standard Company.[1]

 

Since 1930, Hamilton Standard (now Hamilton Sundstrand) was involved with revolutionizing propulsion technology of propeller-driven aircraft, prior to World War II. The introduction of Frank Caldwell's variable-pitch propeller made Hamilton Standard one of the leading aerospace companies of today. But, there is little known about the first name sake of this company – Thomas Foster Hamilton. Hamilton contributed a great deal in shaping the aviation industry into what it is today. He was involved in the early beginnings of aviation inventions and development. Hamilton was gifted at an early age in the understanding of technical concepts and their application into aircraft designs and manufacturing. He was also a very good businessman and marketer, known in social and political settings, and a devoted family man.

 

Contents

 

1 Life

1.1 Early aircraft designs

1.2 Military interest

1.3 Propeller manufacturing

1.4 All-metal aircraft

1.5 Hamilton Metalplane H-18

1.6 Hamilton Metalplane H-18 Helicopter Experiment

1.7 Hamilton Metalplane H-45 and H-47

1.8 Consolidation

1.9 Build-up to war

1.10 Return to the US

2 Death

3 References

 

Life

 

Hamilton was born on July 28, 1894.[2] He spent most of his childhood in Seattle, Washington. He was the older of two boys (his brother, Edgar Charles Hamilton, born later) to his parents (Thomas Luther and Henrietta Hamilton). Hamilton's early interests in aviation began when he was around 10 years old. His mother had taken a trip to see the 1904 St. Louis Exposition, where there was a display of gliders organized by Octave Chanute and, somehow on her return, Hamilton became more focused on aeronautics. Mrs. Hamilton may have made a connection with Chanute at the fair since the young Tom Hamilton did not make the long trip with her. Because, some years later, Hamilton indicated that he often wrote to Chanute concerning technical matters related to his early aircraft. However, currently, no record has been found mentioning the young Hamilton in Chanute's letter collection currently located at the Library of Congress and more research is being conducted since the collection is so vast.

 

During the 1909 Alaskan-Yukon Exposition, held in Seattle (held on the site of the present-day University of Washington), the young Hamilton, now at the age of 14, had a job of repairing hot-air balloons. This job would also allow him to ride what he repaired (possibly a type of insurance policy to insure the balloons were fixed properly) which helped fuel his continuing interest in aviation.[3] Also, during this time, Hamilton and a school friend, Paul J. Palmer established a partnership and called their company “Hamilton and Palmer”. Their office and factory were located in their respective parents' garage and kitchen tables. The two built and experimented with various biplane glider designs of the time. The two quickly gained a better understanding of the principles of how aircraft worked and were put together. Three gliders were actually built and flown around the steep hills around their neighborhood in Seattle called Leschi which was on the west shores of Lake Washington. There was only one mishap. The second glider jerked out of the hands of Palmer and soared away and crashing into pieces blocks away. Many years later, Hamilton would recall that even though he got a scar on his left hand from one of the flights, he had learned how to fly from those tests.

 

In 1910, after finishing their experiments with the gliders they moved on to building propeller-driven aircraft. At this point, there was a disagreement between Palmer and Hamilton and the former was no longer involved with the company and was totally removed from the partnership. It seems this split was so severe that Hamilton changed the name of the company to the “Hamilton Aero Manufacturing Co”.

Early aircraft designs

 

In 1911, he teamed up with Ted Geary a young yacht designer to create a number of unique seaplane designs that were seen around Seattle's Lake Washington and various aerial demonstrations of the day. The total number of known aircraft built by Hamilton's Seattle Company is estimated to be around 10 to 25 aircraft. Yet more research is required to get a more accurate account of his aircraft built during the 1909 to 1914 period. His designs were a combination of other designs of the era and his own unique ideas incorporated into the aircraft. Those early years for Hamilton were very much building years for this remarkable individual. Even at an early age he was able to comprehend and build complicated flying machines. Although he dropped out of high school, and did not have any formal education after that, he was able to manufacture and sell these aircraft all before he was 16 years old. This was done prior to William E. Boeing taking his first flight and setting up his operation in Seattle, which is the Boeing Company of today. Incidentally, Hamilton and Boeing became friends during this time and their friendship lasted throughout the years both professionally and personally. It has been recorded that in 1914, Hamilton introduced Bill Boeing to Conrad Westervelt (a young Navy lieutenant commander) at a club in Seattle that was the start of the Boeing Company.

 

Also in 1914, a number of wealthy businessmen from Vancouver, British Columbia, approached Hamilton. They were looking for someone to build airplanes for the non-profit and private “BC Aviation School Ltd.” that would teach their Canadian sons to fly in the Great War being fought over in Europe. Hamilton accepted the invitation and immediately moved his whole operation up to Vancouver and established the “Hamilton Aero Manufacturing Ltd.”.[4] The contract was to build four planes to be used in training purposes for the school. However, only one airplane was ever completed. It was a biplane patterned after a Curtiss tractor design, with two seats, a six-cylinder engine, and a tricycle landing gear. Unfortunately, the aircraft was not successful because it crashed in a muddy field out side of Vancouver. Out of the 12 students, two were able to graduate and went on to fight in the War with the RFC (Royal Flying Corps – the precursor to the RAF). The rest were integrated into other aviation training programs and transferred to the war. In the mean time, Hamilton had become very interested in the physics of propellers and had started making inquires about his possible involvement in the war effort for the United States. This was around 1917; at this point the U.S. just entered the war and needed experienced people, especially in aviation to help the country establish an aviation industry in support of the war overseas in Europe.

Military interest

 

The US military was very interested in Hamilton's background and requested that he come out east. The military leaders at the time wanted to keep most of their aviation resources closer to Washington D.C., and not in the remote Pacific Northwest. A Milwaukee woodworking firm, the Matthews Brothers Furniture Company, needed an experienced person to run their new aviation division since a large military contract was signed to produce wood propellers for the Navy and Army. Hamilton became their director of aviation in 1918.[5] However, once the war ended Hamilton bought their entire inventory of wood propellers and again started his own company called the Hamilton Aero Manufacturing Company in Milwaukee. Around this time, Hamilton met and married Ethel Inez Hughes, from Milwaukee. The Hamiltons spent ten years in Milwaukee, where it was established as one of the nation's major aviation hubs in the 1920s.[6]

Propeller manufacturing

 

Propellers were the first to be manufactured by the “Hamilton Manufacturing Company” in Milwaukee. Hamilton and his company (as well as others) were aware of specific limitations using wood as a material for aircraft propellers. As the propeller revolutions increased, the wood and laminate would lose their bond at a certain speed and cause the propeller to disintegrate. Pontoons were the second product to be manufactured by the company. Again, wood was also used in the manufacturing of pontoons and again there were specific limitations to this material being used in pontoons as with propellers. The problem with wood and water is that it disintegrates faster even though it floats.[5] Even with all preservatives used to cover and protect the pontoon. It still had a tendency to rot because it attracted worms that would burrow into the wood, especially in the South American and Caribbean climates, and allowed the material to decay faster. It was understood throughout the industry and the scientific community that metal would soon be the choice for these devices. In the mid-1920s, metal was introduced into the manufacturing processes because the material was stronger but not yet lighter. This changed with the introduction of aluminum. Specifically, an aluminum alloy called Duralumin, which allowed for the material to be lighter and stronger. Duralumin was the biggest technological advantage of the time because it is a high strength aluminum forging alloy with 3.5% copper, 1.25% Iron, 1.25% silicon, and 1.25% manganese, which gave it high strength and a low weight ratio than aluminum.[7] It was also able to take the centrifugal forces a propeller would generate, withstand the strong impacts with landing on water and flying, and would be able to resist some of nature's pests which could destroy a wood float quickly.

All-metal aircraft

 

New processes and manufacturing techniques were devised at the factory for these new materials. For in the mid-1920s, the German company, Junkers Transport Company founded by Hugo Junkers, was the first to manufacture an all metal, mono wing, airplane called the Junkers F.13. In turn, William Bushnell Stout's (a pioneer builder of all-metal aircraft) company was bought by the Ford Motor Corporation, and developed a similar aircraft called the Ford tri-motor or as it was affectionately called the “Tin Goose”. Like the Junkers aircraft, it too had the same cantilevered high wing and corrugated metal skin design built with the focus of hauling mail and passengers. In response, Hamilton and a number of shareholders in the Milwaukee community decided to build an aircraft out of metal, too. The result was a new company called the “Hamilton Metalplane Company”.

Hamilton Metalplane H-18

 

And the first all-metal aircraft built by this company was the Hamilton Metalplane H-18 christened the “Maiden Milwaukee” in 1927. Its design came from the chief designer of the “Metalplane Company” of the time – James McDonnell. McDonnell had worked for Stout and Ford and incorporated similar features and new ideas into the construction of the metal “Maiden”. The Hamilton H-18 used a tubular frame with corrugated skin, a thick mono wing projecting out of the fuselage underneath the open cockpit, at the front was the 200 HP J-4 Wright Radial engine, and using a Hamilton propeller (metal) as a means of propulsion. The “Maiden Milwaukee” was the first plane produced by the Hamilton Metalplane Company and it achieved a number of awards. It first came in second during the Ford Air Tour of 1927 and it won the Spokane Air Races of the same year. It was also given the distinction of being the first US air certificate for an all-metal airplane in the United States. Specifically, it was a plane designed to haul mail with the passengers as an extra revenue bonus for the airline. The design reflects this for the wing root came right out of the center of the fuselage and hardly any passengers could fit.

Hamilton Metalplane H-18 Helicopter Experiment

 

One of the interesting concepts, was when the designers took the H-18 and fitted two large downward facing propellers (i.e. on under each wing at midpoint) driven by a small engine mounted in the fuselage. It was claimed that this conversion resulted in an aircraft that could take off in a very short distance. Very little else is known about the conversion of an H.18 to this mode.[8]

Hamilton Metalplane H-45 and H-47

 

The aircraft was redesigned and these modifications were introduced in the sequential new models of the Metalplane called the H-45 and H-47. The aircraft now could accommodate passengers and mail. But to do this, they had to specifically change the aircraft such as: moving the wing above the fuselage so six seats could be added; enclosing the cockpit and adding windows and leather padding the interior of the aircraft for the passengers' comfort. Offering different type of radial engines that could be incorporated per the customers' request (both Wright and Pratt & Whitney) and different types of landing gear that could be fitted too (such as skis, wheels and pontoons). Since most of the Hamilton Metalplanes used most of the products generated from the other Hamilton factory it was a cheaper than the Ford Tri-Motor.[9] The Hamilton Metalplane was definitely a plane of its time, for it was the era when airlines were being developed with cargo/mail in mind instead of passengers. Both the Hamilton Metalplane and the Ford tri-motors started to change this trend. Northwest Airlines started by purchasing a number of Hamiltons to be used in their first passenger run throughout their routes in the Northwest. Ralph Sexton bought a number of Hamiltons to be used for his Panamanian airline called Isthmian Airways. And a few went to Alaska and Canada for use in the Arctic. As with Hamilton's earlier aircraft in Seattle, it is not known the exact figure of how many Hamiltons were built but it is estimated to be between 27 to 40 aircraft. More research is currently being conducted to get an accurate count and history of each Hamilton Metalplane. Unfortunately, the Hamilton Metalplanes were not as successful as the Ford Tri-Motors. For Ford was successful at their marketing strategy of stating it is safer to fly on three engines than on one. For this reason, the Hamilton Metal plane struggled in the market, for it was a good airplane developed ahead of time and introduced too soon.

Consolidation

 

In 1929, a holding company called the “United Aircraft and Transport Company” incorporated a number of aviation companies under one control. This resulted in the “Metalplane Company” becoming part of the “Boeing Company” as a separate division for a short time. Eventually, it was absorbed into the “Boeing Company” with all its patents and other assets becoming a part of the Boeing enterprise. It has been suggested that Boeing used these items from the “Hamilton Metalplane Company” in the development of their Boeing 247 (Boeing's first all metal monoplane) but more research needs to be conducted on this subject.

 

In the meantime, Hamilton became president of United Airports (a division of UA&T) and he was in charge of building the new Burbank airport in California. He also moved some of his propeller operations out west and established a West Coast propeller factory at that Burbank site. Even his whole family moved to Beverly Hills and eventually built a house out at Lake Arrowhead, California, where he established a permanent residence. Meanwhile, the UA&T Company decided to merge the “Hamilton Aero Manufacturing Company” with the Pittsburgh propeller firm “Standard Steel Propeller Company” and the entire Milwaukee operation was moved to that location.[10] Both Hamilton and the owner of Standard Steel had been intense business rivals. According to Eugene Wilson (who took over the propeller operation for UA&T) the “Standard Steel Company” had the patent rights to the Reed propeller design and there was concern about a lawsuit. As a compromise, it was decided to move the propeller operation to Pittsburgh and combined the names of the companies to be called the Hamilton Standard Company. A year later, the propeller operation moved again to Connecticut and as been there since. Incidentally, Hamilton did not receive the news of the merger right away, which was a little unsettling to him. As a compromise, Hamilton agreed to the merger only if his name took precedence in the new trademark and was called Hamilton Standard.

Build-up to war

 

After the Burbank Airport opened with a big fanfare in 1930, Hamilton then became a foreign representative for the “United Aircraft Export Company” in Europe of which he would be come a leading individual for the survival of several aviation companies. In 1934, President Franklin D. Roosevelt and his New Deal policies started actively working on an anti-monopoly campaign against the aviation industry. This legislation resulted in the UA&T being reorganized into new companies: United Aircraft (later to be called United Technologies), United Airlines, and the Boeing Company. The timing of this governmental legislation was poor at best for most of the United States and the World was under the black cloud of the Great Depression. United Aircraft had to rely on foreign sales to survive as a company for the domestic market in the US was depressed. Hamilton started with the “United Aircraft Export Company” as a sales representative and was very successful and by 1936 he was president of that corporation. Eugene Wilson described Hamilton as the “Yankee Peddler” and felt that he was a man that was full of “ salesmanship” and was a “master-entertainer”. It was this kind of man they needed for the moment to help with the financial situation of the time. Hamilton had set up his headquarters in Paris' The George V Hotel and he represented companies like Hamilton Standard, Sikorsky Aviation, Chance Vought Aircraft, and Pratt & Whitney. During the time from 1936–1940, Hamilton was successful in getting licensing rights for foreign countries to build “Pratt & Whitney” engines and “Hamilton Standard” variable pitch propellers. According to Wilson, it was a fight for survival as an American company. He also mentioned there was a kind of naivete when it came to dealing with countries like Germany, Japan and Russia. For example, a deal was set up with BMW (Bavarian Motor Works) to license them to build a number of Pratt & Whitney engines and it was approved by the United States Congress. This was granted because neither the US businessmen nor governmental officials expect any war in Europe. Because of this thinking, Hamilton was able to successfully sell these wanted aviation goods at the high levels of business because no one expected war. Hamilton knew what was going on, as Wilson stated, “thanks to Mr. Thomas F. Hamilton moving around through these different ministries, could appraise this situation more clearly than most people. And he came back from one trip and in a meeting of the executive committee of our company he said, ‘Don't discount this fellow Hitler.’ ‘To you, he's got a Charlie Chaplin mustache, but whatever he may look on the outside, either he or somebody behind him has a strategic insight and a political foresight that is not available anywhere else in the world that I know of’ ”.[11] It has also been suggested that Hamilton also tried to convince the US congress of the seriousness of doing business with countries like Germany, Japan and Russia. More research is needed to verify some these suggestions. However, at the time business interests came first and Hamilton was asked to continue in his position until the fall of France in 1940. At which time, Hamilton and his staff had to make an unorthodox route out of Europe through Spain.

Return to the US

 

Once back in the United States, Hamilton found a different sort of career in the hotel and entertaining business. He started developing a resort on the coast of British Columbia, Canada, at the entrance of Princess Louisa Inlet, called the Malibu Club in Canada (named after his yacht that had been designed by Ted Geary). It officially opened in July 1941 and catered to yachters, the wealthy, and the Hollywood crowd.[12] However, the attack on Pearl Harbor changed Hamilton's plans and he again went back into the aviation industry to run Hardman aircraft (which made nacelles for the B-17 bombers) in Southern California during World War 2 for only a dollar a year. After the War, he reopened Malibu and also started an airline in support of the resort called “Malibu SeaAero” with a single war-surplus Grumman Goose. After a few years, the resort did not become a financial success. And Malibu was abandoned and sold. During his final years, he was involved with the Early Bird Organization where he would attend every function until his death. Hamilton also loved to paint and spent many years in Paris working on his craft. He was also the technical assistant to the 1966 movie “Those Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines”.

Wool is the textile fiber obtained from sheep and other animals, including cashmere and mohair from goats, qiviut from muskoxen, angora from rabbits, and other types of wool from camelids.

 

Wool has several qualities that distinguish it from hair or fur: it is crimped and elastic.

 

CHARACTERISTICS

Wool is produced by follicles which are small cells located in the skin. These follicles are located in the upper layer of the skin called the epidermis and push down into the second skin layer called the dermis as the wool fibers grow. Follicles can be classed as either primary or secondary follicles. Primary follicles produce three types of fiber, Kemp (wool), medullated fibers and true wool fibers. Secondary follicles only produce true wool fibers. Medullated fibers share nearly identical characteristics to hair and are long but lack crimp and elasticity. Kemp fibers are very coarse and shed out.

 

Wool's scaling and crimp make it easier to spin the fleece by helping the individual fibers attach to each other, so they stay together. Because of the crimp, wool fabrics have greater bulk than other textiles, and they hold air, which causes the fabric to retain heat. Wool has a high specific heat coefficient, so it impedes heat transfer in general. This effect has benefited desert peoples, as Bedouins and Tuaregs use wool clothes for insulation.

 

Felting of wool occurs upon hammering or other mechanical agitation as the microscopic barbs on the surface of wool fibers hook together.

 

The amount of crimp corresponds to the fineness of the wool fibers. A fine wool like Merino may have up to 100 crimps per inch, while coarser wool like karakul may have as few as one or two. In contrast, hair has little if any scale and no crimp, and little ability to bind into yarn. On sheep, the hair part of the fleece is called kemp. The relative amounts of kemp to wool vary from breed to breed and make some fleeces more desirable for spinning, felting, or carding into batts for quilts or other insulating products, including the famous tweed cloth of Scotland.

 

Wool fibers readily absorb moisture, but are not hollow. Wool can absorb almost one-third of its own weight in water. Wool absorbs sound like many other fabrics. It is generally a creamy white color, although some breeds of sheep produce natural colors, such as black, brown, silver, and random mixes.

 

Wool ignites at a higher temperature than cotton and some synthetic fibers. It has a lower rate of flame spread, a lower rate of heat release, a lower heat of combustion, and does not melt or drip; it forms a char which is insulating and self-extinguishing, and it contributes less to toxic gases and smoke than other flooring products when used in carpets. Wool carpets are specified for high safety environments, such as trains and aircraft. Wool is usually specified for garments for firefighters, soldiers, and others in occupations where they are exposed to the likelihood of fire.

 

Wool is considered by the medical profession to be allergenic.

 

PROCESSING

SHEARING

Sheep shearing is the process by which the woolen fleece of a sheep is cut off. After shearing, the wool is separated into four main categories: fleece (which makes up the vast bulk), broken, bellies, and locks. The quality of fleeces is determined by a technique known as wool classing, whereby a qualified person called a wool classer groups wools of similar gradings together to maximize the return for the farmer or sheep owner. In Australia before being auctioned, all Merino fleece wool is objectively measured for micron, yield (including the amount of vegetable matter), staple length, staple strength, and sometimes color and comfort factor.

 

SCOURING

Wool straight off a sheep, known as "greasy wool" or "wool in the grease", contains a high level of valuable lanolin, as well as the sheep's dead skin and sweat residue, and generally also contains pesticides and vegetable matter from the animal's environment. Before the wool can be used for commercial purposes, it must be scoured, a process of cleaning the greasy wool. Scouring may be as simple as a bath in warm water or as complicated as an industrial process using detergent and alkali in specialized equipment. In north west England, special potash pits were constructed to produce potash used in the manufacture of a soft soap for scouring locally produced white wool.

 

In commercial wool, vegetable matter is often removed by chemical carbonization. In less-processed wools, vegetable matter may be removed by hand and some of the lanolin left intact through the use of gentler detergents. This semigrease wool can be worked into yarn and knitted into particularly water-resistant mittens or sweaters, such as those of the Aran Island fishermen. Lanolin removed from wool is widely used in cosmetic products such as hand creams.

 

QUALITY

FINENESS AND YIELD

Raw wool has many impurities; vegetable matter, sand, dirt and yolk which is a mixture of suint (sweat), grease, urine stains and dung locks. The sheeps body yields many types of wool, with differing strengths, thicknesses, length of staple and impurities. The raw wool (greasy) is processed into 'top'. 'Worsted top' requires strong straight and parallel fibres.

 

The quality of wool is determined by its fiber diameter, crimp, yield, color, and staple strength. Fiber diameter is the single most important wool characteristic determining quality and price.

 

Merino wool is typically 3–5 inches in length and is very fine (between 12 and 24 microns). The finest and most valuable wool comes from Merino hoggets. Wool taken from sheep produced for meat is typically more coarse, and has fibers 1.5 to 6 in (38 to 152 mm) in length. Damage or breaks in the wool can occur if the sheep is stressed while it is growing its fleece, resulting in a thin spot where the fleece is likely to break.

 

Wool is also separated into grades based on the measurement of the wool's diameter in microns and also its style. These grades may vary depending on the breed or purpose of the wool.

 

Any wool finer than 25 microns can be used for garments, while coarser grades are used for outerwear or rugs. The finer the wool, the softer it is, while coarser grades are more durable and less prone to pilling.

 

The finest Australian and New Zealand Merino wools are known as 1PP, which is the industry benchmark of excellence for Merino wool 16.9 microns and finer. This style represents the top level of fineness, character, color, and style as determined on the basis of a series of parameters in accordance with the original dictates of British wool as applied today by the Australian Wool Exchange (AWEX) Council. Only a few dozen of the millions of bales auctioned every year can be classified and marked 1PP.

 

In the United States, three classifications of wool are named in the Wool Products Labeling Act of 1939. "Wool" is "the fiber from the fleece of the sheep or lamb or hair of the Angora or Cashmere goat (and may include the so-called specialty fibers from the hair of the camel, alpaca, llama, and vicuna) which has never been reclaimed from any woven or felted wool product". "Virgin wool" and "new wool" are also used to refer to such never used wool. There are two categories of recycled wool (also called reclaimed or shoddy wool). "Reprocessed wool" identifies "wool which has been woven or felted into a wool product and subsequently reduced to a fibrous state without having been used by the ultimate consumer". "Reused wool" refers to such wool that has been used by the ultimate consumer.

 

HISTORY

Wild sheep were more hairy than woolly. Although sheep were domesticated some 9,000 to 11,000 years ago, archaeological evidence from statuary found at sites in Iran suggests selection for woolly sheep may have begun around 6000 BC, with the earliest woven wool garments having only been dated to two to three thousand years later.[19] Woolly-sheep were introduced into Europe from the Near East in the early part of the 4th millennium BC. The oldest known European wool textile, ca. 1500 BC, was preserved in a Danish bog. Prior to invention of shears - probably in the Iron Age - the wool was plucked out by hand or by bronze combs. In Roman times, wool, linen, and leather clothed the European population; cotton from India was a curiosity of which only naturalists had heard, and silks, imported along the Silk Road from China, were extravagant luxury goods. Pliny the Elder records in his Natural History that the reputation for producing the finest wool was enjoyed by Tarentum, where selective breeding had produced sheep with superior fleeces, but which required special care.

 

In medieval times, as trade connections expanded, the Champagne fairs revolved around the production of wool cloth in small centers such as Provins. The network developed by the annual fairs meant the woolens of Provins might find their way to Naples, Sicily, Cyprus, Majorca, Spain, and even Constantinople. The wool trade developed into serious business, a generator of capital. In the 13th century, the wool trade became the economic engine of the Low Countries and central Italy. By the end of the 14th century, Italy predominated, though Italian production turned to silk in the 16th century. Both industries, based on the export of English raw wool, were rivaled only by the 15th-century sheepwalks of Castile and were a significant source of income to the English crown, which in 1275 had imposed an export tax on wool called the "Great Custom". The importance of wool to the English economy can be seen in the fact that since the 14th century, the presiding officer of the House of Lords has sat on the "Woolsack", a chair stuffed with wool.

 

Economies of scale were instituted in the Cistercian houses, which had accumulated great tracts of land during the 12th and early 13th centuries, when land prices were low and labor still scarce. Raw wool was baled and shipped from North Sea ports to the textile cities of Flanders, notably Ypres and Ghent, where it was dyed and worked up as cloth. At the time of the Black Death, English textile industries accounted for about 10% of English wool production; the English textile trade grew during the 15th century, to the point where export of wool was discouraged. Over the centuries, various British laws controlled the wool trade or required the use of wool even in burials. The smuggling of wool out of the country, known as owling, was at one time punishable by the cutting off of a hand. After the Restoration, fine English woolens began to compete with silks in the international market, partly aided by the Navigation Acts; in 1699, the English crown forbade its American colonies to trade wool with anyone but England herself.

 

A great deal of the value of woolen textiles was in the dyeing and finishing of the woven product. In each of the centers of the textile trade, the manufacturing process came to be subdivided into a collection of trades, overseen by an entrepreneur in a system called by the English the "putting-out" system, or "cottage industry", and the Verlagssystem by the Germans. In this system of producing wool cloth, until recently perpetuated in the production of Harris tweeds, the entrepreneur provides the raw materials and an advance, the remainder being paid upon delivery of the product. Written contracts bound the artisans to specified terms. Fernand Braudel traces the appearance of the system in the 13th-century economic boom, quoting a document of 1275. The system effectively bypassed the guilds' restrictions.

Before the flowering of the Renaissance, the Medici and other great banking houses of Florence had built their wealth and banking system on their textile industry based on wool, overseen by the Arte della Lana, the wool guild: wool textile interests guided Florentine policies. Francesco Datini, the "merchant of Prato", established in 1383 an Arte della Lana for that small Tuscan city. The sheepwalks of Castile shaped the landscape and the fortunes of the meseta that lies in the heart of the Iberian peninsula; in the 16th century, a unified Spain allowed export of Merino lambs only with royal permission. The German wool market – based on sheep of Spanish origin – did not overtake British wool until comparatively late. The Industrial Revolution introduced mass production technology into wool and wool cloth manufacturing. Australia's colonial economy was based on sheep raising, and the Australian wool trade eventually overtook that of the Germans by 1845, furnishing wool for Bradford, which developed as the heart of industrialized woolens production.

 

Due to decreasing demand with increased use of synthetic fibers, wool production is much less than what it was in the past. The collapse in the price of wool began in late 1966 with a 40% drop; with occasional interruptions, the price has tended down. The result has been sharply reduced production and movement of resources into production of other commodities, in the case of sheep growers, to production of meat.

 

Superwash wool (or washable wool) technology first appeared in the early 1970s to produce wool that has been specially treated so it is machine washable and may be tumble-dried. This wool is produced using an acid bath that removes the "scales" from the fiber, or by coating the fiber with a polymer that prevents the scales from attaching to each other and causing shrinkage. This process results in a fiber that holds longevity and durability over synthetic materials, while retaining its shape.

 

In December 2004, a bale of the then world's finest wool, averaging 11.8 microns, sold for AU$3,000 per kilogram at auction in Melbourne, Victoria. This fleece wool tested with an average yield of 74.5%, 68 mm long, and had 40 newtons per kilotex strength. The result was A$279,000 for the bale. The finest bale of wool ever auctioned was sold for a seasonal record of AU$2690 per kilo during June 2008. This bale was produced by the Hillcreston Pinehill Partnership and measured 11.6 microns, 72.1% yield, and had a 43 newtons per kilotex strength measurement. The bale realized $247,480 and was exported to India.

 

In 2007, a new wool suit was developed and sold in Japan that can be washed in the shower, and which dries off ready to wear within hours with no ironing required. The suit was developed using Australian Merino wool, and it enables woven products made from wool, such as suits, trousers, and skirts, to be cleaned using a domestic shower at home.

 

In December 2006, the General Assembly of the United Nations proclaimed 2009 to be the International Year of Natural Fibres, so as to raise the profile of wool and other natural fibers.

 

PRODUCTION

Global wool production is about 2 million tonnes per year, of which 60% goes into apparel. Australia is a leading producer of wool which is mostly from Merino sheep, but has recently been eclipsed by China in terms of total weight. New Zealand is now (2016) the third-largest producer of wool, and the largest producer of crossbred wool. Breeds such as Lincoln, Romney, Drysdale, and Elliotdale produce coarser fibers, and wool from these sheep is usually used for making carpets.

 

In the United States, Texas, New Mexico, and Colorado have large commercial sheep flocks and their mainstay is the Rambouillet (or French Merino). Also, a thriving home-flock contingent of small-scale farmers raise small hobby flocks of specialty sheep for the hand-spinning market. These small-scale farmers offer a wide selection of fleece.

 

Organic wool is becoming more and more popular. This wool is very limited in supply and much of it comes from New Zealand and Australia. It is becoming easier to find in clothing and other products, but these products often carry a higher price. Wool is environmentally preferable (as compared to petroleum-based nylon or polypropylene) as a material for carpets, as well, in particular when combined with a natural binding and the use of formaldehyde-free glues.

 

Animal rights groups have noted issues with the production of wool, such as mulesing.

 

MARKETING

AUSTRALIA

About 85% of wool sold in Australia is sold by open cry auction. "Sale by sample" is a method in which a mechanical claw takes a sample from each bale in a line or lot of wool. These grab samples are bulked, objectively measured, and a sample of not less than 4 kg is displayed in a box for the buyer to examine. The Australian Wool Exchange conducts sales primarily in Sydney, Melbourne, Newcastle, and Fremantle. About 80 brokers and agents work throughout Australia.

 

About 7% of Australian wool is sold by private treaty on farms or to local wool-handling facilities. This option gives wool growers benefit from reduced transport, warehousing, and selling costs. This method is preferred for small lots or mixed butts to make savings on reclassing and testing.

 

About 5% of Australian wool is sold over the internet on an electronic offer board. This option gives wool growers the ability to set firm price targets, reoffer passed-in wool, and offer lots to the market quickly and efficiently. This method works well for tested lots, as buyers use these results to make a purchase. About 97% of wool is sold without sample inspection; however, as of December 2009, 59% of wool listed had been passed in from auction. Growers through certain brokers can allocate their wool to a sale and at what price their wool will be reserved.

 

Sale by tender can achieve considerable cost savings on wool clips large enough to make it worthwhile for potential buyers to submit tenders. Some marketing firms sell wool on a consignment basis, obtaining a fixed percentage as commission.

 

Forward selling: Some buyers offer a secure price for forward delivery of wool based on estimated measurements or the results of previous clips. Prices are quoted at current market rates and are locked in for the season. Premiums and discounts are added to cover variations in micron, yield, tensile strength, etc., which are confirmed by actual test results when available.

 

Another method of selling wool includes sales direct to wool mills.

 

OTHER COUNTRIES

The British Wool Marketing Board operates a central marketing system for UK fleece wool with the aim of achieving the best possible net returns for farmers.

 

Less than half of New Zealand's wool is sold at auction, while around 45% of farmers sell wool directly to private buyers and end-users.

 

United States sheep producers market wool with private or cooperative wool warehouses, but wool pools are common in many states. In some cases, wool is pooled in a local market area, but sold through a wool warehouse. Wool offered with objective measurement test results is preferred. Imported apparel wool and carpet wool goes directly to central markets, where it is handled by the large merchants and manufacturers.

 

YARN

Shoddy or recycled wool is made by cutting or tearing apart existing wool fabric and respinning the resulting fibers. As this process makes the wool fibers shorter, the remanufactured fabric is inferior to the original. The recycled wool may be mixed with raw wool, wool noil, or another fiber such as cotton to increase the average fiber length. Such yarns are typically used as weft yarns with a cotton warp. This process was invented in the Heavy Woollen District of West Yorkshire and created a microeconomy in this area for many years.

 

Rag is a sturdy wool fiber made into yarn and used in many rugged applications such as gloves.

 

Worsted is a strong, long-staple, combed wool yarn with a hard surface.

 

Woolen is a soft, short-staple, carded wool yarn typically used for knitting. In traditional weaving, woolen weft yarn (for softness and warmth) is frequently combined with a worsted warp yarn for strength on the loom.

 

USES

In addition to clothing, wool has been used for blankets, horse rugs, saddle cloths, carpeting,insulation and upholstery. Wool felt covers piano hammers, and it is used to absorb odors and noise in heavy machinery and stereo speakers. Ancient Greeks lined their helmets with felt, and Roman legionnaires used breastplates made of wool felt.

 

Wool has also been traditionally used to cover cloth diapers.[citation needed] Wool fiber exteriors are hydrophobic (repel water) and the interior of the wool fiber is hygroscopic (attracts water); this makes a wool garment suitable cover for a wet diaper by inhibiting wicking, so outer garments remain dry. Wool felted and treated with lanolin is water resistant, air permeable, and slightly antibacterial, so it resists the buildup of odor. Some modern cloth diapers use felted wool fabric for covers, and there are several modern commercial knitting patterns for wool diaper covers.

 

Initial studies of woolen underwear have found it prevented heat and sweat rashes because it more readily absorbs the moisture than other fibers.

 

Merino wool has been used in baby sleep products such as swaddle baby wrap blankets and infant sleeping bags.

 

As an animal protein, wool can be used as a soil fertilizer, being a slow-release source of nitrogen.

 

Researchers at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology school of fashion and textiles have discovered a blend of wool and Kevlar, the synthetic fiber widely used in body armor, was lighter, cheaper and worked better in damp conditions than Kevlar alone. Kevlar, when used alone, loses about 20% of its effectiveness when wet, so required an expensive waterproofing process. Wool increased friction in a vest with 28–30 layers of fabric, to provide the same level of bullet resistance as 36 layers of Kevlar alone.

 

CARBON FOOTPRINT

The carbon footprint of woolen products is difficult to determine and varies considerably according to factors ranging from the conditions in which sheep are bred to the processes used to manufacture the products.

 

The average greenhouse gas footprint of wool in manufacturing carpets estimated at 5.48 kg CO2 equivalent per kg, when produced in Europe.

 

The carbon footprint of a 264.85g woolly jumper made from New Zealand merino wool averages about 1.667 kg CO2 equivalent at the point of purchase by a consumer, implying a carbon footprint of around 6 kg per kg of finished woolen product.

 

EVENTS

A buyer of Merino wool, Ermenegildo Zegna, has offered awards for Australian wool producers. In 1963, the first Ermenegildo Zegna Perpetual Trophy was presented in Tasmania for growers of "Superfine skirted Merino fleece". In 1980, a national award, the Ermenegildo Zegna Trophy for Extrafine Wool Production, was launched. In 2004, this award became known as the Ermenegildo Zegna Unprotected Wool Trophy. In 1998, an Ermenegildo Zegna Protected Wool Trophy was launched for fleece from sheep coated for around nine months of the year.

 

In 2002, the Ermenegildo Zegna Vellus Aureum Trophy was launched for wool that is 13.9 microns or finer. Wool from Australia, New Zealand, Argentina, and South Africa may enter, and a winner is named from each country. In April 2008, New Zealand won the Ermenegildo Zegna Vellus Aureum Trophy for the first time with a fleece that measured 10.8 microns. This contest awards the winning fleece weight with the same weight in gold as a prize, hence the name.

 

In 2010, an ultrafine, 10-micron fleece, from Windradeen, near Pyramul, New South Wales, won the Ermenegildo Zegna Vellus Aureum International Trophy.

 

Since 2000, Loro Piana has awarded a cup for the world's finest bale of wool that produces just enough fabric for 50 tailor-made suits. The prize is awarded to an Australian or New Zealand wool grower who produces the year's finest bale.

 

The New England Merino Field days which display local studs, wool, and sheep are held during January, in even numbered years around the Walcha, New South Wales district. The Annual Wool Fashion Awards, which showcase the use of Merino wool by fashion designers, are hosted by the city of Armidale, New South Wales, in March each year. This event encourages young and established fashion designers to display their talents. During each May, Armidale hosts the annual New England Wool Expo to display wool fashions, handicrafts, demonstrations, shearing competitions, yard dog trials, and more.

 

In July, the annual Australian Sheep and Wool Show is held in Bendigo, Victoria. This is the largest sheep and wool show in the world, with goats and alpacas, as well as woolcraft competitions and displays, fleece competitions, sheepdog trials, shearing, and wool handling. The largest competition in the world for objectively measured fleeces is the Australian Fleece Competition, which is held annually at Bendigo. In 2008, 475 entries came from all states of Australia, with first and second prizes going to the Northern Tablelands, New South Wales fleeces.

 

WIKIPEIDA

Sandia National Laboratories researcher Bradley Jared sits in front of a new selective laser melting machine at Sandia for metal additive manufacturing as he holds two prototype housings designed through a technology called topology optimization. Sandia researchers who are exploring additive manufacturing for nuclear weapons and other national security needs say they need to understand how additive manufacturing processes affect the properties of materials that are generated.

 

Read more at bit.ly/2Z3dvp5.

 

Photo by Randy Montoya.

Australia’s first shot tower, at Taroona, was built by Joseph Moir and is one of three still existing in the country, the others being in Melbourne. Joseph Moir's factory, which operated for 35 years from 1870, manufactured lead shot for contemporary muzzle loading sports guns. Although the factory struggled for most of its existence its most recognisable feature, the tallest stone shot tower in the southern hemisphere, has been a prominent landmark in the district for well over a century. Joseph Moir His Shot Tower on the Kingston Road is noted throughout the colonies, and Mr Moir’s enterprising spirit is there illustrated in a most remarkable manner. Though a speculation of a very hazardous kind, he had faith in its success, and his estimate, as was afterwards discovered, was not found on any erroneous basis. The manufacture of shot was a profitable venture under his management. Mercury 12 March 1874 Just twenty years old, Scotsman Joseph Moir arrived in Hobart in 1829, one of thousands of hopeful free immigrants who sailed to Van Diemen’s Land in the 1820s. By 1840 he had acquired several properties, government employment and a reputation as a builder of notable colonial buildings such as St Mark’s Anglican Church, Pontville. He returned briefly to Scotland in 1844 to marry Elizabeth Paxton with whom he had at least five children. A prominent businessman, Moir was active in Hobart’s civic affairs between 1846 and 1873, a year before his death. He revisited Britain in 1849 ‘to arrange to carry on an ironmonger’s business’, returning to Hobart with a stock of hardware items and opening a store with his brother at ‘Economy House’ in Murray Street. The business operated until sold by his son, Joseph in 1884. Moir purchased 39 acres on Brown’s River Rd in 1855 and moved to a new house at ‘Queenborough Glens’ (as he called the property) with his family in 1862. He then built the shot tower and its associated buildings and poured his first shot in 1870. When he died after a long illness in 1874 Moir left his major business concerns to his sons, James and Joseph. Together with Elizabeth (who only survived him by 15 months) and a daughter, Mary (who died in 1853 at the age of seven) Moir was encrypted in the family mausoleum on the cliffs below the shot tower. Their remains were later re-interred in unmarked graves at Queenborough Cemetery after Joseph relinquished the property in 1901. This cemetery’s graves were removed by Hobart Council in 1963 and Moir’s final resting place remains unknown. The Shot Tower This shot tower was built by the proprietor, Joseph Moir, in the year 1870. In its erection he acted as Engineer, Architect, Carpenter and Overseer. With merely the assistance of two masons it was completed in 8 months, when the secrets of shot-making had to be discovered. After many persevering efforts the first shot was dropped 8th September, 1870. Joseph Moir erected his shot making enterprise on 39 acres subdivided from an 1817 grant of 100 acres to John Williamson. He chose his site carefully. A road frontage facilitated straightforward transport of raw materials and product. A windmill pumped water from a reliable creek to a cistern on the site of the current overflow carpark and substantial timber reserves provided fuel for the furnaces and cauldrons. Sited far from residential neighbourhoods Moir could also relax in the knowledge that toxic fumes would blow safely out to sea or over forestland. Moir probably began building his shot making works after erecting the family home between 1855 and 1862. A stone building above the cliffs overlooking the River Derwent stored gun powder for his ironmongery as well as stores of arsenic and antimony. Another building south-west of the magazine contained the furnace for preparing lead with the arsenic and antimony. The tower was constructed of dressed curved sandstone blocks quarried at the nearby abandoned Brown’s River Convict Probation Station. A remarkable tapered structure 48m (157 feet 6 inches) tall it features an internal spiral staircase of pitsawn timber and an external gallery at its top which was probably used to store firewood for the upper cauldron. The staircase provided scaffolding during the construction of the tower and access to the upper cauldron and shot-making colanders. The tower is 10 metres in diameter at the base and tapers to 3.9 metres at the top . The walls are a metre thick at the bottom and thin out to .45 centimetres at the top. A three level stone factory abutting the tower was erected at the same time, then was extended soon after. The stone for the factory was probably recycled from the abandoned probation station. The Manufacturing Process The manufacture of shot is an industry which in England has always been conducted with the greatest secrecy, and consequently witnessed by very few except the initiated. This industry has recently been introduced in this colony by Mr Alderman Moir, and we learn that it is his intention to throw his Shot Tower open to the inspection of visitors on Monday and Tuesday next, when the process of shot making will be in operation, on which occasion we have no doubt many of our citizens will avail themselves of this opportunity of witnessing the interesting process. Mercury,10 March 1871. Shot manufacturing is thought to have been invented by Prince Rupert in the seventeenth century. It seems likely that Moir studied William Watts’ patented method of 1796 while in Britain in 1849- 50. Moir’s exact process is unknown — considerable experimentation was required by most manufacturers to perfect what is a very complex process requiring a detailed understanding of physics and metallurgy. Most of Moir’s raw materials would have been imported increasing his costs substantially Moir’s process was probably as follows: Lead was prepared in a furnace at the south-eastern corner of the property. Moir added 900g of arsenic (to decrease surface tension) and 6.35kg of antimony (to harden the shot) to every 45.35 kg of lead. The resultant ‘poisoned lead’ was cast into 7.7 kg ingots, conveyed to the factory, then remelted in cauldrons on the upper level of the factory for small shot and the top of the tower for larger shot. Firewood had to be winched to the upper cauldron. The molten lead was then poured through colanders, forming droplets which became spherical as they dropped. They fell into a tub of water at the base of the tower. The size of the shot depended on the amount of arsenic, the size of the holes in the colander and the height of the fall. Watts’ patent stipulated that large sized shot required a fall of 45.75m (150 feet), hence the height of Moir’s shot tower at 48m with the colander 46.36m above the base. The lead cooled partly while falling, then completely in the water. The antinomy hardener ensured that it maintained shape under the impact of the water. The cooled shot, green in colour, was winched to the factory’s upper floor where it was dried and run over inclined glass planes to separate out defective shot (which did not roll true). Imperfect shot was remelted and the process repeated. The shot was polished in a revolving drum (likened to a farmer’s barrel churn) using plumbago (graphite) then lowered through a trapdoor to the ground floor where it passed through ten sieves for grading into sizes ranging from fine birdshot to large balls. The graded shot was bagged into 12.7kg (28lb) handsewn linen bags stencilled with the manufacturer’s name and sent to market. At its peak the factory produced 100 tons of shot per annum. Working Conditions Little is known of working conditions in Joseph Moir’s shot tower. The work was highly skilled, noisy and almost certainly dangerous. That workers took great pride in their trade is indicated by an engraving in a window in the factory, reading, ‘George Matson Premier Shot Maker Tasmanian and Australian’. No further information about George Matson is known. The following descriptions of a contemporary works, Melbourne’s Coop shot tower (now incorporated in the Melbourne Central complex on Little Lonsdale St) provides some indication of the nature of the work involved. Pouring the lead was ‘an operation which needs great skill and constant watching. The man is used to his work but the novice would probably make a considerable bungle of it’. As the lead droplets fell there was ‘a sharp incessant shower of silvery rain . . . mak[ing] a noise very like that of an overflow waste pipe high up in one’s wall’. When shovelling shot from the water tub it was ‘quite certain that if the man who is so energetically shovelling . . . was to cease from his labours for any appreciable length of time the tank would be soon full of lead. . . . all the while the strange shower descends the man with the shovel is busily at work’. The noise of grading the shot through the sieves was ‘well nigh deafening’ while a woman sat with needle and thread sewing the 12.7kg linen bags for the finished shot. House and Garden Joseph Moir began building his residence soon after acquiring the property in 1855. Family lore suggests that he built the battlemented tower as practise before attempting the more substantial shot tower. By 1885 the property was well known for its gardens and orchards with its hot houses, summer houses and conservatories. "Mr [James] Moir has a prolific little orchard and kitchen garden, which latter, the flower garden and conservatories are watered from a considerable storage reservoir above. An amusing freak of the owner is to invite strangers into a summer house, and to be seated a moment or two out of the sun. He predicts rain shortly, however cloudless the sky — when hey presto: a shower immediately commences, a real earnest one. It is brought about by turning the tap of a pipe connecting with the circular piping on top of the summer house, the latter being perforated round its outside. A little defectiveness in the roof allowed of my receiving a slight baptism of spray, so I must be considered initiated." Tasmanian Mail,13 June 1885 Perhaps the youthful James Moir (he was 30 in 1885) had a better sense of fun than business sense. He had mortgaged the property the previous year and defaulted on his payments two years later. Later History Moir’s sons, James and Joseph, carried on the business after his death in 1874. Although James won merit certificates at the 1879 Sydney International Exhibition and the 1880-81 Melbourne Exhibition the business struggled and it was leased by the mortgagors to his brother, Joseph in 1887. Joseph found himself unable compete with mainland competitors when generous colonial tariffs were removed after Federation. He relinquished the lease to his brother-in-law, William Baynton who continued the business until closing its doors in 1905. During these years Baynton’s wife, Florence, operated a tea house in the residence. The property subsequently passed through several hands until 1956 when 3.24 hectares was purchased by the Tasmanian government and proclaimed a Scenery Reserve. Although it included the tower and residence, the reserve excluded the powder magazine, conservatory, antimony furnace and mausoleum. The reserve was gazetted as an historic site in 1971 under the National Parks and Wildlife Act. Since 1956 it has been leased to several concessionaires and has been open as a tourist site. Various conservation works have been conducted at the shot tower over the years to maintain its heritage significance.

 

Ref www.parks.tas.gov.au/index.aspx?base=2820

Image from an archived slide film showing production of molded asbestos-cement sections. The asbestos worker is shown placing a "wet' asbestos-cement sheet onto a metal-wood form for curing and drying. Yes, that is a real piece of cloth worn while handling asbestos material.

 

Asbestos corporations have a proven track record of ignoring the safety and health of their workers and even concealing workers' medical records, as well as lying about the dangerous properties of their defective products; they care only about profits, tragically, to the detriment of their workforce, customers, and the general public.

 

Generally thought to be a durable construction material, however asbestos-cement deteriorates and its inherent fibrous nature has been shown to release microscopic asbestos fibers into the surroundings, causing potential exposure hazards to people throughout the world.

 

For consideration, around the globe add up the total surface area of every asbestos-cement: roof, soffit, fascia board, window wall, transom panel, siding panel, wall panel, ceiling panel, shingle tile, pipe section, electrical component, duct housing, fence partition, countertop, tabletop, fume hood, oven wall, oven shelf, kiln shelf, heat shield, welding shield, arc shield, arc chute, cistern, flue vent, incinerator insulation, motor insulation, door insulation, and so on and so forth...and, according to the calculations, there is a bit of a problem.

 

By continuing to mine asbestos, manufacture, and import more asbestos products, this only worsens the problems; ultimately at the expense of human health and lives.

Some of you know that my real job is in designing and engineering real cars.

 

With that in mind, I thought it would be helpful to share some of the knowledge regarding the design, engineering and manufacturing processes involved in the creation of a new car.

 

A term that is frequently used within car companies, and which sometimes slips out into the media, but without much explanation, is the term 'Body-In-White'. The abbreviation of the term is BIW, though the full word usage occurs within companies when it is discussed.

 

So, what is the 'Body-In-White'?

 

Though the names says otherwise. It is not white. It does describe the stamped sheet metal of the body before it has been painted, had any trim attached, or any of the chassis and powertrain. It is frequently described as the 'body' of the car. And for a pickup, or similar vehicle, it will be the body prior to the attachment to the separate 'frame', which is attached underneath the car, and frequently attached by isolating mounts.

 

The BIW doesn't just include the main part of the monocoque (the 'stressed' load-bearing part of the car), but also the doors, bootlid (trunk), and bonnet (hood). All these parts usually get coated in protective coatings prior to the application of paint, together (though not always). Frequently, when the car is 'trimmed' - that is the addition of trim and interior - the doors are removed to make this easier, though they do travel along with the car that they were attached to during the paint process.

 

Stay tuned for further car-design, engineering and manufacturing information in the near future.

 

Regards,

 

lego911

 

These images are created for the first in a series of topics covering car design, engineering and manufacturing.

 

Body-In-White: www.flickr.com/groups/lugnuts/discuss/72157645669786809/

 

A central index will be created, over time, in this discussion thread: www.flickr.com/groups/lugnuts/discuss/72157646071614841/

The 4’x4’ acrylic print, ‘POWER & CONNECTIVITY’ features a photo collage of hardware remnants collected from the Madison Brass Works prior to its renovation into the Goodman Brassworks Facility.

 

These outlets, fuse boxes, and switches routed electricity throughout the building, enabling all of its manufacturing processes. The use of these on/off buttons and control dials spanned the first hundred years of the building’s history, when it functioned as a foundry where brass castings and fittings were made.

 

The work acknowledges the decades of industrial labor that took place at this historic site. The display also includes a didactic text panel and one of the original start/stop button boxes. A rich symbol of power and connectivity, the image serves as a reminder of how integral these two elements are to the continued success and vitality of our community.

 

On display as part of the GCC Brassworks permanent collection, this artwork communicates a piece of Madison’s history and helps beautify a highly-trafficked community space.

 

Created by Angela Richardson for the Goodman Community Center, Brassworks Facility, 214 Waubesa Street, Madison, Wisconsin, U.S.A. Permanently installed December 2018.

 

Funded by Schenk-Atwood-Starkweather-Yahara Neighborhood Association and a Madison Arts Commission 2017/2018 Individual Fellowship Award with additional funds from the Wisconsin Arts Board.

 

Thank you for leaving? No, I think it means "Thank you for Visiting."

 

Tlaquepaque is a charming and lovely art mall in Sedona, Arizona, USA

 

In English, it's pronounced Till ah-key pah-key. The name is that of a village in Mexico...

 

The beautiful Mexican tiles are known as Talavera tiles. I have some large Talavera flower pots. They are very beautiful...

 

By the way, this photo and our description are the fourth item down from the top on:

whotalking.com/flickr/Talavera

 

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talavera_(pottery)

 

Talavera is a type of majolica earthenware, distinguised by its white base glaze.[1] Authentic Talavera pottery only comes from the city of Puebla and the communities of Atlixco, Cholula and Tecali, as the clays needed and the history of this craft are both centered there. All pieces are hand-thrown on a potter's wheel and the glazes contain tin and lead, as they have since colonial times. This glaze must craze, be slightly porous and milky-white, but not pure white.

 

There are only six permitted colors: blue, yellow, black, green, orange and mauve, and these colors must be made from natural pigments. The painted designs have a blurred appearance as they fuse slightly into the glaze. The base, the part that touches the table, is not glazed but exposes the terra cotta underneath. An inscription is required on the bottom that contains the following information: the logo of the manufacturer, the initials of the artist and the location of the manufacturer in Puebla.[2][3][5]

 

The design of the pieces is highly regulated by tradition. The paint ends up slightly raised over the base. In the early days, only a cobalt blue was used, as this was the most expensive pigment, making it highly sought after not only for prestige but also because it ensured the quality of the entire piece.[6] Talavera is the most outstanding of Mexico’s pottery traditions.[5] Only natural clays are used, rather than chemically treated and dyed clays and the handcrafting process takes three to four months.

 

The process is risky because a piece can break at any point. This makes Talavera three times more costly than other types of pottery.[7] Because of this, Talavera manufacturers have been under pressure from imitations, commonly from China,[8] and similar ceramics from other parts of Mexico, especially Guanajuato. Guanajuato state petitioned the federal government for the right to share the Talavera demonimation with Puebla, but, since 1997, this has been denied and glazed ceramics from other parts of Mexico are called Maiolica or Mayolica.[3][4]

 

Today, only pieces made by designated areas and from workshops that have been certified are permitted to call their work "Talavera." [9] Certification is issued by the Consejo Regulador de la Talavera, a special regulatory body. Only nine workshops have so far been certified: Uriarte Talavera, Talavera La Reyna, Talavera Armando, Talavera Celia, Talavera Santa Catarina, Talavera de la Nueva Espana, Talavera de la Luz, Talavera de las Americas, and Talavera Virglio Perez. Each of these needs to pass a twice-yearly inspection of the manufacturing processes. Pieces are subject to sixteen laboratory tests with internationally certified labs.[2] In addition, there is a test done by the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Puebla to ensure that the glaze does not have lead content of more than 2.5 parts per million or cadmium content of more than 0.25 parts per million, as many of the pieces are used to serve food.[3][10] Only pieces from workshops that meet the standards are authorized to have the signature of the potter, the logo of the workshop and the special hologram that certifies the piece's authenticity.[8]

 

Production

 

The process to create Talavera pottery is elaborate and it has basically not changed since the early colonial period when the craft was first introduced.[1][6] The first step is to mix black sand from Amozoc and white sand from Tecali. It is then washed and filtered to keep only the finest particles. This can reduce the volume by fifty percent.[7] Next the piece is shaped by hand on a potter's wheel, then left to dry for a number of days.[6] Then comes the first firing, done at 850 °C (1,560 °F).[3] The piece is tested to see if there are any cracks in it. The initial glazing, which creates the milky-white background, is applied. After this, the design is hand painted.[6] Finally, a second firing is applied to harden the glaze.[3] This process takes about three months for most pieces,[8] but some pieces can take up to six months.[11]

This process is so complicated and plagued with the possibility of irreparable damage that during colonial times, artisans prayed special prayers, especially during the firing process.[12]

Some workshops in Puebla offer guided tours and explain the processes involved. The oldest certified, continuously operating workshop is in Uriarte.[11] It was founded in 1824 by Dimas Uriarte, and specialized in traditional colonial-era designs.[13] Another certified workshop, Talavera de la Reina, is known for revitalizing the decoration of the ceramics with the work of 1990s Mexican artists.[7]

[edit]Usage

   

The Casa de los Azulejos in Mexico City

Talavera ceramic is mostly used to make utilitarian items such as plates, bowls, jars, flowerpots, sinks, religious items and decorative figures. However, a significant use of the ceramic is for tiles, which are used to decorate both the inside and outside of buildings in Mexico, especially in the city of Puebla.[14]

 

The Puebla kitchen is one of the traditional environments of Talavera pottery, from the tiles that decorate the walls and counters to the dishes and other food containers. It is a very distinct style of kitchen. In monastery kitchens of the area, many of the designs also incorporate the emblem of the religious order.[15] Many of the facades in the historic center of Puebla are decorated with these tiles.[6][16]

 

These tiles are called azulejos and can be found on fountains, patios, the facades of homes, churches and other buildings, forming an important part of Puebla's Baroque architecture.[17] This use of azulejos attested to the family's or church's wealth. This led to a saying "to never be able to build a house with tiles", which meant to not amount to anything in life.[1]

 

Being able to show this kind of wealth was not restricted to Puebla. In Mexico City, the church of the Convent of La Encarnacion and the church of the Virgin of Valvanera both feature cupolas covered in Talavera.[18] The most famous example of Talavera in the capital city is the Casa de los Azulejos, or House of Tiles, which is an 18th-century palace built by the Count del Valle de Orizaba family. What makes this palace, in the City of Palaces, distinct is that its facade on three sides is completely covered in expensive, blue-and-white tile – sensational at the time the tiles were applied.[19][20]

 

History

 

Talavera bowl from the 16th or 17th century

Techniques and designs of Islamic pottery were brought to Spain by the Moors by the end of the 12th century as Hispano-Moresque ware. From there they influenced late medieval pottery in the rest of Spain and Europe, under the name majolica.[5][15] Spanish craftsmen from Talavera de la Reina (Castile, Spain) adopted and added to the art form. Further Italian influences were incorporated as the craft evolved in Spain, and guilds were formed to regulate the quality.[6]

 

During roughly the same time period, pre-Hispanic cultures had their own tradition of pottery and ceramics, but they did not involve a potter's wheel or glazing.[1][6] There are several theories as to how majolica pottery was introduced to Mexico.[1] The most common and accepted theory is that it was introduced by monks who either sent for artisans from Spain or knew how to produce the ceramics themselves. These monks wanted tiles and other objects to decorate their new monasteries, so to keep up with this demand, either Spanish artists or the monks taught indigenous artists to produce the glazed pottery.[1][5] A significant number of secular potters came to Mexico from Seville and Talavera de la Reina, Spain during the very early colonial period.[1][14] Later a notable potter by the name of Diego Gaytán, who was a native of Talavera, made an impact on pottery after he arrived in Puebla.[14]

 

From the time that the city of Puebla was founded in 1531, a large number of churches and monasteries were being built. The demand for tiles to decorate these buildings plus the availability of high-quality clay in the area gave rise to the ceramic industry. It was soon produced by indigenous people as well as Spanish craftsmen, which resulted in a mixture of influences, especially in decorative design. The new tradition came to be known as Talavera Poblana to distinguish it from that of Talavera pottery from Spain.[2][6] By 1550, the city of Puebla was producing high-quality Talavera wares and, by 1580, it had become the center of Talavera production in Mexico.[5]

 

From 1580 to the mid-17th century, the number of potters and workshops kept growing, each having their own designs and techniques. The colonial government decided to regulate the industry with guilds and standards. In 1653, the first ordinances were passed. These regulated who could be called a craftsman, the categories of product quality, and norms of decoration.[14] The effect was to standardize the production of ceramics and increase the quality of what was produced. Some of the rules established by the ordinances included the use of blue cobalt on only the finest, quality pieces, the marking of pieces by craftsmen to avoid counterfeits, the creation of categories of quality (fine, semi-fine and daily use), and yearly inspections and examination of master potters.[1]

 

The period between 1650 and 1750 was known as the Golden Age of Talavera.[2] Puebla became the most important earthenware center of New Spain.[1] Pieces were shipped all over the territory, and were sent to Guatemala, Cuba, Santo Domingo, Venezuela and Colombia.[14] During this time, the preferred use of blue on Talavera pottery was reinforced by the influence of China's Ming dynasty through imported Chinese ceramics that came to Mexico via the Manila galleons.[1] Italian influences in the 18th century introduced the use of other colors.[5]

 

During the Mexican War of Independence, the potters' guild and the ordinances of the 17th century were abolished. This allowed anyone to make the ceramic in any way, leading to a decline in quality.[2] The war disrupted trade among the Spanish colonies and cheaper English porcelain was being imported.[14] The Talavera market crashed. Out of the forty-six workshops that were producing in the 18th century, only seven remained after the war.[2]

 

In 1897, a Catalan by the name of Enrique Luis Ventosa arrived to Puebla. Ventosa was fascinated by the history of the craft which was unique from other art forms in Mexico. He studied the original processes and combined it with his knowledge of contemporary, Spanish work. He published articles and poems about the tradition and worked to decorate ceramic pieces. In 1922, he befriended Ysauro Uriarte Martinez, a young potter, who had inherited his grandfather's workshop. The two men collaborated to create new decorative designs, adding pre-Columbian and Art noveau influences to the Islamic, Chinese, Spanish and Italian influences that were already present. They also worked to restore the former levels of quality. Their timing was good as the Mexican Revolution had ended and the country was in a period of reconstruction.[2]

 

However, by the 1980s, there had been a further decline in the number of workshops until only four remained.[7] Talavera had been under pressure in the latter part of the 20th century because of competition from pottery made in other Mexican states, cheap imports and the lack of more modern and imaginative designs.[4] In the early 1990s, the Talavera de la Reina workshop began revitalizing the craft by inviting artists to work with their artisans to create new pieces and new decorative designs. Among the artists were Juan Soriano, Vicente Rojo Almazán, Javier Marín, Gustavo Pérez, Magali Lara and Francisco Toledo.[4][7][8] They did not change the ceramic processes, but added human forms, animals, other items and traditional images of flowers to the designs.[7]

  

Since then there has been some resurgence in the craft. In the 2000s, seventeen workshops were producing Talavera in the old tradition. Eight were in the process of becoming certified.[4][7] These workshops employed about 250 workers and exported their wares to the United States, Canada, South America and Europe.[14]

 

Although the Spaniards introduced this type of pottery, ironically the term Talavera is used much more in Mexico than in Talavera de la Reina, Spain, its namesake.[1] In 1997, the Denominación de Origin de la Talavera was established to regulate what pieces could be officially called Talavera. Requisites included the city of production, the clay that was used, and the manufacturing methods. These pieces now carry holograms.[4] One of the reasons the federal law was passed was that the remaining Talavera workshops had maintained the high quality and crafting process from the early colonial period, and the goal was to protect the tradition.[3]

 

However, the tradition still struggles. Angelica Moreno, owner of Talavera de la Reina, is concerned that the tradition of the craft is waning, despite her workshop's efforts. One problem the craft faces is the lack of young people who are interested in learning it. An artisan earns about 700 to 800 pesos a week, which is not enough to meet expenses.[7]

 

Museum exhibitions

 

In the early 20th century, interest developed in collecting the work. In 1904, an American by the name of Emily Johnston de Forrest discovered Talavera on a trip to Mexico. She became interested in collecting the works, so she consulted scholars, local collectors and dealers. Eventually, her collection became the base of what is currently exhibited in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Her enthusiasm was passed onto Edwin Atlee Barber, the curator of the Pennsylvania Museum of Art. He, too, spent time in Mexico and introduced Talavera into the Pennsylvania museum's collection. He studied the major stylistic periods and how to distinguish the best examples, publishing a guide in 1908 which is still considered authoritative.[2]

 

During this time period, important museum collections were being assembled in Mexico as well. One of the earliest and most important was the collection of Francisco Perez Salazer in Mexico City. A bit later, in the 1920s, Franz Mayer, a German-born stockbroker, started his collection. In Puebla, he was considered a bit crazy for buying all of the "old stuff" from the locals. In 1986, the Franz Mayer Museum opened in Mexico City with the largest collection of Talavera Poblana in the world – 726 pieces from the 17th through the 19th century, and some 20th-century pieces by Enrique Luis Ventosa. In Puebla, José Luis Bello y González and his son José Mariano Bello y Acedo sought the advice of Ventosa in starting their collection. They amassed the largest and most important collection in the city which now is housed in the José Luis Bello y González Museum (Bello Museum).[2]

 

More recently, the Museo de la Talavera (Talavera Museum) has been established in the city of Puebla, with an initial collection of 400 pieces. The museum is dedicated to recounting the origins, history, expansions and variations in the craft. Pieces include some of the simplest and most complex, as well as those representing different eras.[7][21]

 

Several temporary and travelling exhibits of certain themes have been created from these permanent collections. One of these was called "El Aguila en la Historia de Mexico" (The Eagle in the History of Mexico). The forty-two-piece exhibit was sponsored by the Senate of Mexico to show how the eagle symbol has been used in the country throughout its history. This exhibit was sponsored in honor of the Bicentennial of Independence in 2010. These ceramics were chosen because of their combination of art and utility. Eagles depicted include that of Mexico's coat of arms, as well as those of political figures such as José María Morelos y Pavón and Porfirio Díaz, and those used by institutions such as the Royal and Pontifical University of Mexico and the Mexican Senate itself.[22]

 

Another exhibit in Mexico centered on the creation of maps using Talavera tile. Most tiles during the colonial period were decorated with flowers and landscapes but a significant number were painted to create murals with maps. Those that survive show how a number of cities developed over the colonial period. Eight of the most representative 16th century Talavera tile maps were at the El Carmen Museum at an exhibit called "Cartografia: Una Vision en Talavera del Mexico Colonial" (Cartography: A Talavera Vision of Colonial Mexico). This exhibit was of reproductions of the originals created by the Talavera de la Luz workshop in Puebla. The chosen maps show the development of Mexico City as well as representations of the Acapulco, Puebla and the Tesuco regions during this time period.[17]

 

Exhibits have been held outside of Mexico as well. The Museum of the Americas in Spain held an exhibit called "Talaveras de Puebla, Cerámica colonial Mexicana. Siglos XVII a XXI" (Talavera Pottery of Puebla, Mexican colonial ceramics, XVII to 21st centuries). This was a temporary exhibit of 49 pieces, combined with pieces from Spain and China as references. The pieces were loaned by the Franz Mayer Museum and the Bello Museum.[23] [24]

 

IMG_0545 - Version 3

"Kendal, once Kirkby in Kendal or Kirkby Kendal, is a market town and civil parish in the South Lakeland District of Cumbria, England. Historically in Westmorland, it lies 8 miles (13 km) south-east of Windermere, 19 miles (31 km) north of Lancaster, 23 miles (37 km) north-east of Barrow-in-Furness and 38 miles (61 km) north-west of Skipton, in the dale of the River Kent, from which comes its name. The 2011 census found a population of 28,586. making it the third largest town in Cumbria after Carlisle and Barrow. It is known today mainly as a centre for tourism, as the home of Kendal mint cake, and as a producer of pipe tobacco and snuff. Its local grey limestone buildings have earned it the nickname "Auld Grey Town".

 

A chartered market town, the centre of Kendal has formed round a high street with fortified alleyways, known locally as yards, off to either side, which allowed local people to shelter from the Anglo-Scottish raiders known as Border Reivers. The main industry in those times was the manufacture of woollen goods, whose importance is reflected in the town's coat of arms and in its Latin motto Pannus mihi panis (Cloth is my bread.) "Kendal Green" was a hard-wearing, wool-based fabric specific to the local manufacturing process. It was supposedly sported by the Kendalian archers instrumental in the English victory over the French at the Battle of Agincourt. Kendal Green was also worn by slaves in the Americas and appears in songs and literature from that time. Shakespeare notes it as the colour of clothing worn by foresters (Henry IV, Part 1).

 

Kendal Castle has a long history as a stronghold, built on the site of several successive castles. The earliest was a Norman motte and bailey (now located on the west side of the town), when the settlement went under the name of Kirkbie Strickland. The most recent is from the late 12th century, as the castle of the Barony of Kendal, the part of Westmorland ruled from here. The castle is best known as the home of the Parr family, as heirs of these barons. They inherited it through marriage in the reign of Edward III of England. Rumours still circulate that King Henry VIII's sixth wife Catherine Parr was born at Kendal Castle, but the evidence available leaves this unlikely: by her time the castle was beyond repair and her father was already based in Blackfriars, London, at the court of King Henry VIII." - info from Wikipedia.

 

Summer 2019 I did a solo cycling tour across Europe through 12 countries over the course of 3 months. I began my adventure in Edinburgh, Scotland and finished in Florence, Italy cycling 8,816 km. During my trip I took 47,000 photos.

 

Now on Instagram.

 

Become a patron to my photography on Patreon.

As if, assisting those of the choir to ascend into heaven, this unique 'painterly' effect is a distorted reflection created by the very old rippled glass; the type of glass manufactured & used in buildings of this period.

 

This manufacturing process of 'rolled glass', would inherantly cause the glass to bunch up as it crossed the rollers, resulting in the distortions seen here. The process more commonly used today (since the sixties) is float glass, which became more favorable as it produces a flatter sheet of glass with very little distortion.

Wood Type Manufacture

 

The design section of this project was simplified by Mr. Walters’ input, who has redrawn the entire set of letters, punctuation and numbers. He provided them as .pdf files, that we used to design the program cutting patterns for the required sizes.

 

For this project, the typeface was cut in four sizes: 4, 5, 6, and 8 line. All sizes were made in a 6A Font Scheme, with a corresponding No.01 scheme each, the process resulting over 750 wood blocks.

 

The materials used were end-grain beech wood, at the .918” standard type high. The surface was finished using traditional french polish: shellac varnish, pumice powder and olive oil; resulting in three layers.

 

Carving of the letters was done using a CNC milling machine. Several other tools were involved in the manufacture process: circular saws, sanders, etc. , used for preparing the wood and cutting the final blocks to size.

 

The Ford Model T, affectionately nicknamed "Tin Lizzie," was a revolutionary automobile produced by the Ford Motor Company from 1908 to 1927. While not the first car ever made, it was the first mass-produced car that was truly affordable for the average person. Henry Ford's vision was to create a "universal car" that was durable, simple to operate, and accessible to the "great multitude." Its introduction marked a fundamental shift from cars being a luxury item for the wealthy to a practical tool for the middle class. By the 1920s, more than half of all cars on the road were Model Ts, solidifying its place as a transformative invention.

 

A key element of the Model T's success was its groundbreaking manufacturing process. To achieve his goal of affordability, Henry Ford pioneered the moving assembly line in 1913 at the Highland Park plant. This innovation dramatically reduced the time it took to build a car, from over 12 hours to just 93 minutes by 1914. Instead of workers moving around the car, the car chassis was pulled along a line, and each worker performed a single, specialized task. This method drastically cut production costs, allowing the price of a Model T to fall from $850 in 1908 to as low as $260 by 1925. This cost-saving efficiency became known as Fordism and was a model for mass production in many other industries.

 

The Model T's design emphasized simplicity and durability. It was built to withstand the often abysmal roads of the early 20th century. The car featured a 2.9-liter, 20-horsepower, four-cylinder engine with a top speed of around 45 mph. It used a rugged, lightweight vanadium steel chassis and a unique three-point suspension system that helped absorb road shocks. The steering wheel was placed on the left side, which became a standard for American cars. Its two-speed planetary transmission was designed to be easy for anyone to operate, with a foot pedal for speed control and a hand lever for reverse. Many early models had to be started with a hand crank, though a battery-powered starter was introduced as an option later on.

 

The Model T's impact on society was profound and far-reaching. By making car ownership accessible to millions, it revolutionized personal mobility and leisure. Families could now travel farther for work, social events, or vacations, leading to the growth of new businesses like gas stations, repair shops, and motels. It also played a significant role in the development of suburbs, as people were no longer confined to living within walking or public transit distance of their jobs. The demand for better roads spurred the creation of the modern highway system. Ford's high wages for assembly line workers (the "Five-Dollar Workday") helped create a thriving American middle class, who could now afford to buy the products they were building.

 

In its legacy, the Ford Model T is remembered as more than just a car; it's a symbol of American industrial innovation and modernity. It was named the "Car of the Century" in a 1999 international poll, a testament to its enduring influence. Its production run of over 15 million units was a record that stood for over 40 years. The principles of the Model T's mass production system laid the foundation for modern manufacturing, shaping the global economy and consumer culture. Its simple, robust design and accessible price point fulfilled Henry Ford's vision, truly putting the world on wheels and changing the way people lived and worked forever.

duration: 25 secs. - with audio

 

Jubilee Square.

 

Even on White Night, boring old "noise abatement" laws apply. After the InCANdescent event was smartly cleared away by the City's cleaning crew, this "proof of concept" kinetic light sculpture was installed in the early hours. The organisers were not keen on photography.

 

What is said in hotel bars should stay in hotel bars (especially when said over breakfast sake / nihonshu), but really - this is so interesting. Named after Alexander Calder, the inventor of the mobile, the structure follows similar dynamics - except upside down! Stability is of course aided by myriad gyroscopes embedded in the structure, and balance maintained by internal weights, continuously adjusted by stepper motors - hence the odd buzzing sounds. Each major component (arm or egg-flower) has a processor running a complete real time model of the structure. (This is done at a very sophisticated level. A library of air resistance and slight aerofoil lift behaviours for 58,000 different variations of petal positions is accessible by the software, for instance.) Accelerometers and accurate force measurement at the joints of the structure enable any deviation between predicted and actual behaviour to be instantly detected. Typically this will be caused by either wind currents, or incredulous drunk people poking the structure. The distributed processing enables near instantaneous compensatory correction for these events. (The stability is of course partially illusory. Designed to be displayed primarily in an indoor environment, a strong enough air current, or a hard enough shove will cause catastrophic failure, and collapse of the structure - in a manner perhaps analogous to ABS related accidents.) The project was created to showcase the video display panels, the product a secretive joint venture by a Consortium in response to (as generally perceived within the industry) an "over dominance" in the sector by a large South Korean manufacturer of OLED displays. Based also on OLED technolgy, there is no addressing matrix. Instead, video data "bumbles" or "pinballs" between pixel units using very high frequency, very short range radio - the data being stored or passed on as required. (The pixel units can also interpolate and extrapolate missing data - both spatially and temporally - but in practice, despite the haphazard data distribution method, there is a high level of reliability, and thus seldom the need for this function to be invoked.) Accordingly, the panels can be cut, and the edges planed and sanded to any shape, a boon to artists. Power is distributed via two fine fibrous conducting planes just below each surface. The material of the conductors is "self-healing". On exposure to both water vapour and oxygen in the air, the fibres react to become an insulator to prevent shorting and power leakage. The fibres also swell during the reaction, forming a seal, and preventing further ingress of water or oxygen molecules, and thus preventing deeper deterioration of the conducting layers from the cut edges. Intentional power connections - to transfer power between the light panels and also to power the electric motors - are made using vampire connectors that bite into opposites sides of the sheets, through to the conducting layers. A small amount of conductive hydrophobic gel must be used in these situations, to inhibit the self healing properties of the conducting layers, and to prevent the power connections thus failing. (This method is anticipated to ensure securely conductive connections "for at least 80 years", although with a material that has only been in production for 5 weeks, it is difficult to be sure for certain!) The cigar shaped pixel units are aligned at right angles to the surfaces (apparently by simple buoyancy during the manufacturing process when the resin substrate is still liquid and thinly spread horizontally by gravity), with the ends touching and drawing power from the embedded conducting fibrous mesh. The thermoplastic resin base can also be heated and then bent or moulded by presses into curved surfaces without affecting operation. Acoustic transducers in the pixel units automatically determine the geometry of the panels (including any curvature) and the placement of adjacent pixel units by generating and timing the travel time of a chatter of clicks, each time a panel is powered up. This information is used to assist in placing the projection of the video. (In the example above, the video images of "coloured walls of flame" are wrapped using a cylindrical projection around each of the egg-flowers in their closed positions.) Each pixel unit can generate colours using a palate of seven colours - as opposed to the usual (RGB) three. This provides an ultra rich gamut easily capable of accommodating tetrachromacy. Unfortunately this richness of colour is not reproduced in this set, because obviously standard bayer filtered CCD cameras were used, and so the colours appear blandly oversaturated. When the South Korean manufacturer eventually found out about the project, they got very cross and decided to throw a spanner in the works big time and in an act of monstrous hypocrisy they lodged an "anti-trust" complaint with the European Commission, and the Consortium was embarrassed into taking the route of scoundrels and bounders everywhere by filing for bankruptcy in a court in Texas on the weekend of the festival, to contain any contingent liabilities. (Hence the sudden reluctance to have the installation photographed.) This caused problems for the Installation Engineers, because their Hotel's hyper sharp credit agency service flagged up a problem. Fortunately the Hotel's manager was by then an ecstatic fan of the sculpture, even helping out with assembly and disassembly - a process that requires many hands. (Once powered up the structure is reasonably stable - but getting there is tricky - think about it.) In the best grand tradition of arts patronage the Hotel manager cheerily faxed off a Japanese Language Only Purchase Order to the Hotel group's Director of Finance to puzzle over when he eventually came back from holiday, and continued to buy everyone drinks. With high production investment and development costs, poor yield rates, low margins, near commodity prices and very short technology life cycles, who would get involved in electronic displays?

 

See also enhanced video details of the spherical fulcrum connectors and egg-flower petal mechanisms.

 

Part of a set / slideshow documenting in photographs and video the White Night / Nuit Blanche festival held in Brighton and Hove at the end of October 2010.

See also these related flickr galleries: White Night Brighton +Silhouettes +Light +Colours +People and from the sister festival in Picardie Nuit Blanche Amiens.

The set description contains additional related external links.

Made by the British maker Manhattan Windsor of Birmingham, this impressive cut out lapel badge was awarded to designated Coca Cola staff in 1997 after 15 years service. Also known by their other name, Manhattan Products (Birmingham Ltd), the company made the finest hard fired vitreous enamel lapel badges, award badges, name badges, key fobs and key chains. Although no longer in production, the company's manufacturing processes were all done in-house and in the UK (towards the end of the 20th Century it became increasingly popular for artwork to be shipped to the Far East, before returning as ready made badges).

 

The badge details the iconic contoured Coca Cola bottle, which has become a brand in its own right. The bottle's development is briefly summarised below:

 

In 1915, the Root Glass Company of Terre Haute, Idiana, was tasked with designing a new Coca Cola bottle. The resulting contour shaped bottle was released onto the market in 1916 and as the century unfolded, and subtle changes applied to the shape, it quickly established itself as a design classic.

 

Forty four years later in 1960, the US Patent and Trademark Office granted the Company its first trademark for the contour bottle and accompanying Coca Cola script. In 1977, the Company was granted a second trademark for just the contour shape itself, without any supporting lettering.

 

Many believe that Coca Cola fully embraces the spirit and soul of American culture unequalled by any other American product. The advertising fraternity frequently cite Coca Cola as a beacon of design excellence for its branding, advertising and longevity.

 

Photography, layout and design: Argy58

 

(This image also exists as a high resolution jpeg and tiff - ideal for a

variety of print sizes e.g. A4, A3, A2 and A1. The current uploaded

format is for screen based viewing only: 72pi)

History of the Barber-Colman Company

 

Historically one of Rockford’s largest manufacturers.

 

Began with the founding of the Barber & Colman Company in 1894 – partnership between Howard Colman, an inventor and entrepreneur, and W. A. Barber, an investor. [Today he would probably be considered a venture capitalist.] Colman’s first patent and marketable invention was the Creamery Check Pump used to separate buttermilk and dispense skimmed milk.

 

Colman’s textile production inventions led the company on its rapid rise as a worldwide leader in the design and manufacture of diversified products. Specific items designed for the textile industry included the Hand Knotter and the Warp Tying Machine. Through these innovations, Barber & Colman was able to build its first plant on Rock Street in Rockford’s Water Power District, and to establish branch offices in Boston MA and Manchester, England.

 

Incorporated as Barber-Colman in 1904 and built 5 new major structures on their site by 1907.

 

Later innovations for the textile industry included an Automatic Winder, High Speed Warper and Automatic Spoolers. By 1931, the textile machinery division had branch production facilities in Framingham MA; Greenville SC; Munich, Germany; and Manchester. This part of the business flourished through the mid-1960s but then declined as other divisions expanded.

 

Branched out from the textile industry into machine tools in 1908 with Milling Cutters. Barber-Colman created machines used at the Fiat plant in Italy (1927) and the Royal Typewriter Co. outside Hartford CT. By 1931, the Machine Tool and Small Tool Division of Barber-Colman listed branch offices in Chicago, Cincinnati and Rochester NY.

 

As part of its commitment to developing a skilled work force, Barber-Colman began the Barber-Colman Continuation School for boys 16 and older shortly after the company was founded. It was a 3-year apprentice program that trained them for manufacturing jobs at Barber-Colman and paid them hourly for their work at rate that increased as their proficiency improved. The program was operated in conjunction with the Rockford Vocational School.

 

To foster continued inventions, an Experimental Department was established with the responsibility of continually developing new machines. A lab was first installed in 1914 and was divided into two parts – a chemistry lab to provide thorough analysis of all metals and their component properties, and a metallurgical lab to test the effectiveness of heat treatment for hardening materials. Innovations in the Experimental Department laid the groundwork for the company’s movement into the design and development of electrical and electronic products, and energy management controls.

 

BARBER-COLMAN became involved in the electrical and electronics industry in 1924 with the founding of the Electrical Division. First product was a radio operated electric garage door opener controlled from the dashboard of a car. Unfortunately, it was too expensive to be practical at the time. The division’s major product in its early years was Barcol OVERdoors, a paneled wood garage door that opened on an overhead track. Several designs were offered in 1931, some of which had the appearance of wood hinged doors. This division eventually expanded into four separate ones that designed and produced electronic control instruments and systems for manufacturing processes; small motors and gear motors used in products such as vending machines, antennas and X-ray machines; electronic and pneumatic controls for aircraft and marine operations; and electrical and electronic controls for engine-powered systems.

 

In the late 1920s, the Experimental Department began conducting experiments with temperature control instruments to be used in homes and other buildings and the Temperature Control Division was born. Over time, BARBER-COLMAN became known worldwide leader in electronic controls for heating, ventilating and air conditioning. These are the products that continue its name and reputation today.

 

The death of founder Howard Colman in 1942 was sudden but the company continued to expand its

operations under changing leadership. Ground was broken in 1953 for a manufacturing building in

neighboring Loves Park IL to house the overhead door division and the Uni-Flow division. Three later additions

were made to that plant.

 

The divestiture of BARBER-COLMAN divisions began in 1984 with the sale of the textile division to Reed-

Chatwood Inc which remained at BARBER-COLMAN’s original site on Rock Street until 2001. The machine tool

division, the company’s second oldest unit, was spun off in 1985 to Bourn and Koch, another Rockford

company. At that time, it was announced that the remaining divisions of the BARBER-COLMAN Company

would concentrate their efforts on process controls and cutting tools. These moves reduced local

employment at BARBER-COLMAN’s several locations to about 2200. The remaining divisions were eventually

sold as well, but the BARBER-COLMAN Company name continues to exist today as one of five subsidiaries of

Eurotherm Controls Inc whose worldwide headquarters are in Leesburg VA. The Aerospace Division and the

Industrial Instruments Division still operate at the Loves Park plant, employing 1100 workers in 2000. The

historic complex on Rock Street was vacated in 2001 and the property purchased by the City of Rockford in

2002.

 

Extensive documentation from the Experimental Department was left at the Rock Street plant when the

company moved out and was still there when the site was purchased by the City of Rockford. These

documents are now housed at the Midway Village Museum.

History of the Barber-Colman Company

 

Historically one of Rockford’s largest manufacturers.

 

Began with the founding of the Barber & Colman Company in 1894 – partnership between Howard Colman, an inventor and entrepreneur, and W. A. Barber, an investor. [Today he would probably be considered a venture capitalist.] Colman’s first patent and marketable invention was the Creamery Check Pump used to separate buttermilk and dispense skimmed milk.

 

Colman’s textile production inventions led the company on its rapid rise as a worldwide leader in the design and manufacture of diversified products. Specific items designed for the textile industry included the Hand Knotter and the Warp Tying Machine. Through these innovations, Barber & Colman was able to build its first plant on Rock Street in Rockford’s Water Power District, and to establish branch offices in Boston MA and Manchester, England.

 

Incorporated as Barber-Colman in 1904 and built 5 new major structures on their site by 1907.

 

Later innovations for the textile industry included an Automatic Winder, High Speed Warper and Automatic Spoolers. By 1931, the textile machinery division had branch production facilities in Framingham MA; Greenville SC; Munich, Germany; and Manchester. This part of the business flourished through the mid-1960s but then declined as other divisions expanded.

 

Branched out from the textile industry into machine tools in 1908 with Milling Cutters. Barber-Colman created machines used at the Fiat plant in Italy (1927) and the Royal Typewriter Co. outside Hartford CT. By 1931, the Machine Tool and Small Tool Division of Barber-Colman listed branch offices in Chicago, Cincinnati and Rochester NY.

 

As part of its commitment to developing a skilled work force, Barber-Colman began the Barber-Colman Continuation School for boys 16 and older shortly after the company was founded. It was a 3-year apprentice program that trained them for manufacturing jobs at Barber-Colman and paid them hourly for their work at rate that increased as their proficiency improved. The program was operated in conjunction with the Rockford Vocational School.

 

To foster continued inventions, an Experimental Department was established with the responsibility of continually developing new machines. A lab was first installed in 1914 and was divided into two parts – a chemistry lab to provide thorough analysis of all metals and their component properties, and a metallurgical lab to test the effectiveness of heat treatment for hardening materials. Innovations in the Experimental Department laid the groundwork for the company’s movement into the design and development of electrical and electronic products, and energy management controls.

 

BARBER-COLMAN became involved in the electrical and electronics industry in 1924 with the founding of the Electrical Division. First product was a radio operated electric garage door opener controlled from the dashboard of a car. Unfortunately, it was too expensive to be practical at the time. The division’s major product in its early years was Barcol OVERdoors, a paneled wood garage door that opened on an overhead track. Several designs were offered in 1931, some of which had the appearance of wood hinged doors. This division eventually expanded into four separate ones that designed and produced electronic control instruments and systems for manufacturing processes; small motors and gear motors used in products such as vending machines, antennas and X-ray machines; electronic and pneumatic controls for aircraft and marine operations; and electrical and electronic controls for engine-powered systems.

 

In the late 1920s, the Experimental Department began conducting experiments with temperature control instruments to be used in homes and other buildings and the Temperature Control Division was born. Over time, BARBER-COLMAN became known worldwide leader in electronic controls for heating, ventilating and air conditioning. These are the products that continue its name and reputation today.

 

The death of founder Howard Colman in 1942 was sudden but the company continued to expand its operations under changing leadership. Ground was broken in 1953 for a manufacturing building in neighboring Loves Park IL to house the overhead door division and the Uni-Flow division. Three later additions were made to that plant.

 

The divestiture of BARBER-COLMAN divisions began in 1984 with the sale of the textile division to Reed-Chatwood Inc which remained at BARBER-COLMAN’s original site on Rock Street until 2001. The machine tooldivision, the company’s second oldest unit, was spun off in 1985 to Bourn and Koch, another Rockfordcompany. At that time, it was announced that the remaining divisions of the BARBER-COLMAN Company would concentrate their efforts on process controls and cutting tools. These moves reduced local employment at BARBER-COLMAN’s several locations to about 2200. The remaining divisions were eventually sold as well, but the BARBER-COLMAN Company name continues to exist today as one of five subsidiaries of Eurotherm Controls Inc whose worldwide headquarters are in Leesburg VA. The Aerospace Division and the Industrial Instruments Division still operate at the Loves Park plant, employing 1100 workers in 2000. The historic complex on Rock Street was vacated in 2001 and the property purchased by the City of Rockford in 2002.

 

Extensive documentation from the Experimental Department was left at the Rock Street plant when the company moved out and was still there when the site was purchased by the City of Rockford. These documents are now housed at the Midway Village Museum.

History of the Barber-Colman Company

 

Historically one of Rockford’s largest manufacturers.

 

Began with the founding of the Barber & Colman Company in 1894 – partnership between Howard Colman, an inventor and entrepreneur, and W. A. Barber, an investor. [Today he would probably be considered a venture capitalist.] Colman’s first patent and marketable invention was the Creamery Check Pump used to separate buttermilk and dispense skimmed milk.

 

Colman’s textile production inventions led the company on its rapid rise as a worldwide leader in the design and manufacture of diversified products. Specific items designed for the textile industry included the Hand Knotter and the Warp Tying Machine. Through these innovations, Barber & Colman was able to build its first plant on Rock Street in Rockford’s Water Power District, and to establish branch offices in Boston MA and Manchester, England.

 

Incorporated as Barber-Colman in 1904 and built 5 new major structures on their site by 1907.

 

Later innovations for the textile industry included an Automatic Winder, High Speed Warper and Automatic Spoolers. By 1931, the textile machinery division had branch production facilities in Framingham MA; Greenville SC; Munich, Germany; and Manchester. This part of the business flourished through the mid-1960s but then declined as other divisions expanded.

 

Branched out from the textile industry into machine tools in 1908 with Milling Cutters. Barber-Colman created machines used at the Fiat plant in Italy (1927) and the Royal Typewriter Co. outside Hartford CT. By 1931, the Machine Tool and Small Tool Division of Barber-Colman listed branch offices in Chicago, Cincinnati and Rochester NY.

 

As part of its commitment to developing a skilled work force, Barber-Colman began the Barber-Colman Continuation School for boys 16 and older shortly after the company was founded. It was a 3-year apprentice program that trained them for manufacturing jobs at Barber-Colman and paid them hourly for their work at rate that increased as their proficiency improved. The program was operated in conjunction with the Rockford Vocational School.

 

To foster continued inventions, an Experimental Department was established with the responsibility of continually developing new machines. A lab was first installed in 1914 and was divided into two parts – a chemistry lab to provide thorough analysis of all metals and their component properties, and a metallurgical lab to test the effectiveness of heat treatment for hardening materials. Innovations in the Experimental Department laid the groundwork for the company’s movement into the design and development of electrical and electronic products, and energy management controls.

 

BARBER-COLMAN became involved in the electrical and electronics industry in 1924 with the founding of the Electrical Division. First product was a radio operated electric garage door opener controlled from the dashboard of a car. Unfortunately, it was too expensive to be practical at the time. The division’s major product in its early years was Barcol OVERdoors, a paneled wood garage door that opened on an overhead track. Several designs were offered in 1931, some of which had the appearance of wood hinged doors. This division eventually expanded into four separate ones that designed and produced electronic control instruments and systems for manufacturing processes; small motors and gear motors used in products such as vending machines, antennas and X-ray machines; electronic and pneumatic controls for aircraft and marine operations; and electrical and electronic controls for engine-powered systems.

 

In the late 1920s, the Experimental Department began conducting experiments with temperature control instruments to be used in homes and other buildings and the Temperature Control Division was born. Over time, BARBER-COLMAN became known worldwide leader in electronic controls for heating, ventilating and air conditioning. These are the products that continue its name and reputation today.

 

The death of founder Howard Colman in 1942 was sudden but the company continued to expand its operations under changing leadership. Ground was broken in 1953 for a manufacturing building in neighboring Loves Park IL to house the overhead door division and the Uni-Flow division. Three later additions were made to that plant.

 

The divestiture of BARBER-COLMAN divisions began in 1984 with the sale of the textile division to Reed-Chatwood Inc which remained at BARBER-COLMAN’s original site on Rock Street until 2001. The machine tooldivision, the company’s second oldest unit, was spun off in 1985 to Bourn and Koch, another Rockfordcompany. At that time, it was announced that the remaining divisions of the BARBER-COLMAN Company would concentrate their efforts on process controls and cutting tools. These moves reduced local employment at BARBER-COLMAN’s several locations to about 2200. The remaining divisions were eventually sold as well, but the BARBER-COLMAN Company name continues to exist today as one of five subsidiaries of Eurotherm Controls Inc whose worldwide headquarters are in Leesburg VA. The Aerospace Division and the Industrial Instruments Division still operate at the Loves Park plant, employing 1100 workers in 2000. The historic complex on Rock Street was vacated in 2001 and the property purchased by the City of Rockford in 2002.

 

Extensive documentation from the Experimental Department was left at the Rock Street plant when the company moved out and was still there when the site was purchased by the City of Rockford. These documents are now housed at the Midway Village Museum.

The United States Astronaut Hall of Fame, located inside the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex Heroes & Legends building on Merritt Island, Florida, honors American astronauts and features the world's largest collection of their personal memorabilia, focusing on those astronauts who have been inducted into the Hall. Exhibits include Wally Schirra's Sigma 7 space capsule from the fifth crewed Mercury mission and the Gemini IX spacecraft flown by Gene Cernan and Thomas P. Stafford in 1966.

 

In the 1980s, the six then-surviving Mercury Seven astronauts conceived of establishing a place where US space travelers could be remembered and honored, along the lines of halls of fame for other fields. The Mercury Seven Foundation and Astronaut Scholarship Foundation were formed, and have a role in the ongoing operations of the Hall of Fame. The foundation's first executive director was former Associated Press space reporter Howard Benedict.

 

The Astronaut Hall of Fame was opened on October 29, 1990, by the U.S. Space Camp Foundation, which was the first owner of the facility. It was located next to the Florida branch of Space Camp.

 

The Hall of Fame closed for several months in 2002 when U.S. Space Camp Foundation's creditors foreclosed on the property due to low attendance and mounting debt. That September, an auction was held and the property was purchased by Delaware North Park Services on behalf of NASA and the property was added to the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex. The Hall of Fame re-opened December 14, 2002.

 

The Hall of Fame, which was originally located just west of the NASA Causeway, closed to the public on November 2, 2015, in preparation for its relocation to the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex 6 miles (9.7 km) to the east on Merritt Island. Outside of the original building was a full-scale replica of a Space Shuttle orbiter named Inspiration (originally named "Shuttle To Tomorrow" where visitors could enter and view a program). Inspiration served only as an outdoor, full scale, static display which visitors could not enter. After the Hall of Fame was transferred to the KSC Visitor Complex, Inspiration was acquired by LVX System and was placed in storage at the Shuttle Landing Facility at the Kennedy Space Center; in 2016, the shuttle was loaded on to a barge to be taken for refurbishment before going on an educational tour.

 

The building was purchased at auction by visitor complex operator Delaware North and renamed the ATX Center, and for a time housed educational programs including Camp Kennedy Space Center and the Astronaut Training Experience. Those programs have since been moved to the KSC Visitor Complex, and as of December 2019, the structure was being offered for lease. In July 2020, Lockheed Martin announced it would lease the building to support work on the NASA Orion crew capsule.

 

Inductees into the Hall of Fame are selected by a blue ribbon committee of former NASA officials and flight controllers, historians, journalists, and other space authorities (including former astronauts) based on their accomplishments in space or their contributions to the advancement of space exploration. Except for 2002, inductions have been held every year since 2001.

 

As its inaugural class in 1990, the Hall of Fame inducted the United States' original group of astronauts: the Mercury Seven. In addition to being the first American astronauts, they set several firsts in American spaceflight, both auspicious and tragic. Alan Shepard was the first American in space and later became one of the twelve people to walk on the Moon. John Glenn was the first American to orbit the Earth and after his induction went on, in 1998, to become the oldest man to fly in space, aged 77. Gus Grissom was the first American to fly in space twice and was the commander of the ill-fated Apollo 1, which resulted in the first astronaut deaths directly related to preparation for spaceflight.

 

Thirteen astronauts from the Gemini and Apollo programs were inducted in the second class of 1993. This class included the first and last humans to walk on the Moon, Neil Armstrong and Eugene Cernan; Ed White, the first American to walk in space (also killed in the Apollo 1 accident); Jim Lovell, commander of the famously near-tragic Apollo 13; and John Young, whose six flights included a moonwalk and command of the first Space Shuttle mission.

 

The third class was inducted in 1997 and consisted of the 24 additional Apollo, Skylab, and ASTP astronauts. Notable members of the class were Roger Chaffee, the third astronaut killed in the Apollo 1 fire and the only unflown astronaut in the Hall; Harrison Schmitt, the first scientist and next-to-last person to walk on the Moon; and Jack Swigert and Fred Haise, the Apollo 13 crewmembers not previously inducted.

 

The philosophy regarding the first three groups of inductees was that all astronauts who flew in NASA's "pioneering" programs (which would include Mercury, Gemini, Apollo, Apollo Applications Program (Skylab), and Apollo-Soyuz Test Project) would be included simply by virtue of their participation in a spaceflight in these early programs. The first group (the inaugural class of 1990) would only include the original Mercury astronauts (most of whom would go on to fly in later programs). The second group of inductees would include those astronauts who began their spaceflight careers during Gemini (all of whom would go on to fly in later programs). The third group of inductees would include those astronauts who began their spaceflight careers during Apollo, Skylab, and ASTP (some of whom would go on to fly in the Space Shuttle program). Since it would not be practical (or meaningful) to induct all astronauts who ever flew in space, all subsequent inductees (Space Shuttle program and beyond) are considered based on their accomplishments and contributions to the human spaceflight endeavor which would set them apart from their peers.

 

Over four dozen astronauts from the Space Shuttle program have been inducted since 2001. Among these are Sally Ride, the first American woman in space; Story Musgrave, who flew six missions in the 1980s and 90s; and Francis Scobee, commander of the ill-fated final Challenger mission.

 

The 2010 class consisted of Guion Bluford Jr., Kenneth Bowersox, Frank Culbertson and Kathryn Thornton. The 2011 inductees were Karol Bobko and Susan Helms. The 2012 inductees were Franklin Chang-Diaz, Kevin Chilton and Charles Precourt. Bonnie Dunbar, Curt Brown and Eileen Collins were inducted in 2013, and Shannon Lucid and Jerry Ross comprised the 2014 class.

 

Those inducted in 2015 were John Grunsfeld, Steven Lindsey, Kent Rominger, and Rhea Seddon. In 2016, inductees included Brian Duffy and Scott E. Parazynski. Ellen Ochoa and Michael Foale were announced as the 2017 class of the United States Astronaut Hall of Fame. Scott Altman and Thomas Jones followed in 2018. The 2019 inductees were James Buchli and Janet L. Kavandi.

 

Michael López-Alegría, Scott Kelly and Pamela Melroy were the 2020 inductees, inducted in a November 2021 ceremony. The 2022 inductees were Christopher Ferguson, David Leestma, and Sandra Magnus. Roy Bridges Jr. and Mark Kelly were the 2023 inductees.

 

The Hall of Heroes is composed of tributes to the inductees. Among the Hall of Fame's displays is Sigma 7, the Mercury spacecraft piloted by Wally Schirra which orbited the Earth six times in 1962, and the Gemini 9A capsule flown by Gene Cernan and Thomas P. Stafford in 1966. An Astronaut Adventure room includes simulators for use by children.

 

The spacesuit worn by Gus Grissom during his 1961 Liberty Bell 7 Mercury flight is on display and has been the subject of a dispute between NASA and Grissom's heirs and supporters since 2002. The spacesuit, along with other Grissom artifacts, were loaned to the original owners of the Hall of Fame by the Grissom family when it opened. After the Hall of Fame went into bankruptcy and was taken over by a NASA contractor in 2002, the family requested that all their items be returned. All of the items were returned to Grissom's family except the spacesuit, because both NASA and the Grissoms claim ownership of it. NASA claims Grissom checked out the spacesuit for a show and tell at his son's school, and then never returned it, while the Grissoms claim Gus rescued the spacesuit from a scrap heap.

 

The John F. Kennedy Space Center (KSC, originally known as the NASA Launch Operations Center), located on Merritt Island, Florida, is one of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) ten field centers. Since December 1968, KSC has been NASA's primary launch center of human spaceflight. Launch operations for the Apollo, Skylab and Space Shuttle programs were carried out from Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39 and managed by KSC.[4] Located on the east coast of Florida, KSC is adjacent to Cape Canaveral Space Force Station (CCSFS). The management of the two entities work very closely together, share resources and operate facilities on each other's property.

 

Though the first Apollo flights and all Project Mercury and Project Gemini flights took off from the then-Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, the launches were managed by KSC and its previous organization, the Launch Operations Directorate. Starting with the fourth Gemini mission, the NASA launch control center in Florida (Mercury Control Center, later the Launch Control Center) began handing off control of the vehicle to the Mission Control Center in Houston, shortly after liftoff; in prior missions it held control throughout the entire mission.

 

Additionally, the center manages launch of robotic and commercial crew missions and researches food production and In-Situ Resource Utilization for off-Earth exploration. Since 2010, the center has worked to become a multi-user spaceport through industry partnerships, even adding a new launch pad (LC-39C) in 2015.

 

There are about 700 facilities and buildings grouped across the center's 144,000 acres (580 km2). Among the unique facilities at KSC are the 525-foot (160 m) tall Vehicle Assembly Building for stacking NASA's largest rockets, the Launch Control Center, which conducts space launches at KSC, the Operations and Checkout Building, which houses the astronauts dormitories and suit-up area, a Space Station factory, and a 3-mile (4.8 km) long Shuttle Landing Facility. There is also a Visitor Complex open to the public on site.

 

Since 1949, the military had been performing launch operations at what would become Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. In December 1959, the Department of Defense transferred 5,000 personnel and the Missile Firing Laboratory to NASA to become the Launch Operations Directorate under NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center.

 

President John F. Kennedy's 1961 goal of a crewed lunar landing by 1970 required an expansion of launch operations. On July 1, 1962, the Launch Operations Directorate was separated from MSFC to become the Launch Operations Center (LOC). Also, Cape Canaveral was inadequate to host the new launch facility design required for the mammoth 363-foot (111 m) tall, 7,500,000-pound-force (33,000 kN) thrust Saturn V rocket, which would be assembled vertically in a large hangar and transported on a mobile platform to one of several launch pads. Therefore, the decision was made to build a new LOC site located adjacent to Cape Canaveral on Merritt Island.

 

NASA began land acquisition in 1962, buying title to 131 square miles (340 km2) and negotiating with the state of Florida for an additional 87 square miles (230 km2). The major buildings in KSC's Industrial Area were designed by architect Charles Luckman. Construction began in November 1962, and Kennedy visited the site twice in 1962, and again just a week before his assassination on November 22, 1963.

 

On November 29, 1963, the facility was given its current name by President Lyndon B. Johnson under Executive Order 11129. Johnson's order joined both the civilian LOC and the military Cape Canaveral station ("the facilities of Station No. 1 of the Atlantic Missile Range") under the designation "John F. Kennedy Space Center", spawning some confusion joining the two in the public mind. NASA Administrator James E. Webb clarified this by issuing a directive stating the Kennedy Space Center name applied only to the LOC, while the Air Force issued a general order renaming the military launch site Cape Kennedy Air Force Station.

 

Located on Merritt Island, Florida, the center is north-northwest of Cape Canaveral on the Atlantic Ocean, midway between Miami and Jacksonville on Florida's Space Coast, due east of Orlando. It is 34 miles (55 km) long and roughly six miles (9.7 km) wide, covering 219 square miles (570 km2). KSC is a major central Florida tourist destination and is approximately one hour's drive from the Orlando area. The Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex offers public tours of the center and Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.

 

The KSC Industrial Area, where many of the center's support facilities are located, is 5 miles (8 km) south of LC-39. It includes the Headquarters Building, the Operations and Checkout Building and the Central Instrumentation Facility. The astronaut crew quarters are in the O&C; before it was completed, the astronaut crew quarters were located in Hangar S[39] at the Cape Canaveral Missile Test Annex (now Cape Canaveral Space Force Station). Located at KSC was the Merritt Island Spaceflight Tracking and Data Network station (MILA), a key radio communications and spacecraft tracking complex.

 

Facilities at the Kennedy Space Center are directly related to its mission to launch and recover missions. Facilities are available to prepare and maintain spacecraft and payloads for flight. The Headquarters (HQ) Building houses offices for the Center Director, library, film and photo archives, a print shop and security. When the KSC Library first opened, it was part of the Army Ballistic Missile Agency. However, in 1965, the library moved into three separate sections in the newly opened NASA headquarters before eventually becoming a single unit in 1970. The library contains over four million items related to the history and the work at Kennedy. As one of ten NASA center libraries in the country, their collection focuses on engineering, science, and technology. The archives contain planning documents, film reels, and original photographs covering the history of KSC. The library is not open to the public but is available for KSC, Space Force, and Navy employees who work on site. Many of the media items from the collection are digitized and available through NASA's KSC Media Gallery or through their more up-to-date Flickr gallery.

 

A new Headquarters Building was completed in 2019 as part of the Central Campus consolidation. Groundbreaking began in 2014.

 

The center operated its own 17-mile (27 km) short-line railroad. This operation was discontinued in 2015, with the sale of its final two locomotives. A third had already been donated to a museum. The line was costing $1.3 million annually to maintain.

 

The Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex, operated by Delaware North since 1995, has a variety of exhibits, artifacts, displays and attractions on the history and future of human and robotic spaceflight. Bus tours of KSC originate from here. The complex also includes the separate Apollo/Saturn V Center, north of the VAB and the United States Astronaut Hall of Fame, six miles west near Titusville. There were 1.5 million visitors in 2009. It had some 700 employees.

 

It was announced on May 29, 2015, that the Astronaut Hall of Fame exhibit would be moved from its current location to another location within the Visitor Complex to make room for an upcoming high-tech attraction entitled "Heroes and Legends". The attraction, designed by Orlando-based design firm Falcon's Treehouse, opened November 11, 2016.

 

In March 2016, the visitor center unveiled the new location of the iconic countdown clock at the complex's entrance; previously, the clock was located with a flagpole at the press site. The clock was originally built and installed in 1969 and listed with the flagpole in the National Register of Historic Places in January 2000. In 2019, NASA celebrated the 50th anniversary of the Apollo program, and the launch of Apollo 10 on May 18. In summer of 2019, Lunar Module 9 (LM-9) was relocated to the Apollo/Saturn V Center as part of an initiative to rededicate the center and celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Apollo Program.

 

The John F. Kennedy Space Center (KSC, originally known as the NASA Launch Operations Center), located on Merritt Island, Florida, is one of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) ten field centers. Since December 1968, KSC has been NASA's primary launch center of American spaceflight, research, and technology. Launch operations for the Apollo, Skylab and Space Shuttle programs were carried out from Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39 and managed by KSC. Located on the east coast of Florida, KSC is adjacent to Cape Canaveral Space Force Station (CCSFS). The management of the two entities work very closely together, share resources and operate facilities on each other's property.

 

Though the first Apollo flights and all Project Mercury and Project Gemini flights took off from the then-Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, the launches were managed by KSC and its previous organization, the Launch Operations Directorate. Starting with the fourth Gemini mission, the NASA launch control center in Florida (Mercury Control Center, later the Launch Control Center) began handing off control of the vehicle to the Mission Control Center in Houston, shortly after liftoff; in prior missions it held control throughout the entire mission.

 

Additionally, the center manages launch of robotic and commercial crew missions and researches food production and in-situ resource utilization for off-Earth exploration. Since 2010, the center has worked to become a multi-user spaceport through industry partnerships, even adding a new launch pad (LC-39C) in 2015.

 

There are about 700 facilities and buildings grouped throughout the center's 144,000 acres (580 km2). Among the unique facilities at KSC are the 525-foot (160 m) tall Vehicle Assembly Building for stacking NASA's largest rockets, the Launch Control Center, which conducts space launches at KSC, the Operations and Checkout Building, which houses the astronauts dormitories and suit-up area, a Space Station factory, and a 3-mile (4.8 km) long Shuttle Landing Facility. There is also a Visitor Complex on site that is open to the public.

 

Since 1949, the military had been performing launch operations at what would become Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. In December 1959, the Department of Defense transferred 5,000 personnel and the Missile Firing Laboratory to NASA to become the Launch Operations Directorate under NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center.

 

President John F. Kennedy's 1961 goal of a crewed lunar landing by 1970 required an expansion of launch operations. On July 1, 1962, the Launch Operations Directorate was separated from MSFC to become the Launch Operations Center (LOC). Also, Cape Canaveral was inadequate to host the new launch facility design required for the mammoth 363-foot (111 m) tall, 7,500,000-pound-force (33,000 kN) thrust Saturn V rocket, which would be assembled vertically in a large hangar and transported on a mobile platform to one of several launch pads. Therefore, the decision was made to build a new LOC site located adjacent to Cape Canaveral on Merritt Island.

 

NASA began land acquisition in 1962, buying title to 131 square miles (340 km2) and negotiating with the state of Florida for an additional 87 square miles (230 km2). The major buildings in KSC's Industrial Area were designed by architect Charles Luckman. Construction began in November 1962, and Kennedy visited the site twice in 1962, and again just a week before his assassination on November 22, 1963.

 

On November 29, 1963, the facility was named by President Lyndon B. Johnson under Executive Order 11129. Johnson's order joined both the civilian LOC and the military Cape Canaveral station ("the facilities of Station No. 1 of the Atlantic Missile Range") under the designation "John F. Kennedy Space Center", spawning some confusion joining the two in the public mind. NASA Administrator James E. Webb clarified this by issuing a directive stating the Kennedy Space Center name applied only to the LOC, while the Air Force issued a general order renaming the military launch site Cape Kennedy Air Force Station.

 

Located on Merritt Island, Florida, the center is north-northwest of Cape Canaveral on the Atlantic Ocean, midway between Miami and Jacksonville on Florida's Space Coast, due east of Orlando. It is 34 miles (55 km) long and roughly six miles (9.7 km) wide, covering 219 square miles (570 km2). KSC is a major central Florida tourist destination and is approximately one hour's drive from the Orlando area. The Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex offers public tours of the center and Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.

 

From 1967 through 1973, there were 13 Saturn V launches, including the ten remaining Apollo missions after Apollo 7. The first of two uncrewed flights, Apollo 4 (Apollo-Saturn 501) on November 9, 1967, was also the first rocket launch from KSC. The Saturn V's first crewed launch on December 21, 1968, was Apollo 8's lunar orbiting mission. The next two missions tested the Lunar Module: Apollo 9 (Earth orbit) and Apollo 10 (lunar orbit). Apollo 11, launched from Pad A on July 16, 1969, made the first Moon landing on July 20. The Apollo 11 launch included crewmembers Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins, and Buzz Aldrin, and attracted a record-breaking 650 million television viewers. Apollo 12 followed four months later. From 1970 to 1972, the Apollo program concluded at KSC with the launches of missions 13 through 17.

 

On May 14, 1973, the last Saturn V launch put the Skylab space station in orbit from Pad 39A. By this time, the Cape Kennedy pads 34 and 37 used for the Saturn IB were decommissioned, so Pad 39B was modified to accommodate the Saturn IB, and used to launch three crewed missions to Skylab that year, as well as the final Apollo spacecraft for the Apollo–Soyuz Test Project in 1975.

 

As the Space Shuttle was being designed, NASA received proposals for building alternative launch-and-landing sites at locations other than KSC, which demanded study. KSC had important advantages, including its existing facilities; location on the Intracoastal Waterway; and its southern latitude, which gives a velocity advantage to missions launched in easterly near-equatorial orbits. Disadvantages included: its inability to safely launch military missions into polar orbit, since spent boosters would be likely to fall on the Carolinas or Cuba; corrosion from the salt air; and frequent cloudy or stormy weather. Although building a new site at White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico was seriously considered, NASA announced its decision in April 1972 to use KSC for the shuttle. Since the Shuttle could not be landed automatically or by remote control, the launch of Columbia on April 12, 1981 for its first orbital mission STS-1, was NASA's first crewed launch of a vehicle that had not been tested in prior uncrewed launches.

 

In 1976, the VAB's south parking area was the site of Third Century America, a science and technology display commemorating the U.S. Bicentennial. Concurrent with this event, the U.S. flag was painted on the south side of the VAB. During the late 1970s, LC-39 was reconfigured to support the Space Shuttle. Two Orbiter Processing Facilities were built near the VAB as hangars with a third added in the 1980s.

 

KSC's 2.9-mile (4.7 km) Shuttle Landing Facility (SLF) was the orbiters' primary end-of-mission landing site, although the first KSC landing did not take place until the tenth flight, when Challenger completed STS-41-B on February 11, 1984; the primary landing site until then was Edwards Air Force Base in California, subsequently used as a backup landing site. The SLF also provided a return-to-launch-site (RTLS) abort option, which was not utilized. The SLF is among the longest runways in the world.

 

On October 28, 2009, the Ares I-X launch from Pad 39B was the first uncrewed launch from KSC since the Skylab workshop in 1973.

 

Beginning in 1958, NASA and military worked side by side on robotic mission launches (previously referred to as unmanned), cooperating as they broke ground in the field. In the early 1960s, NASA had as many as two robotic mission launches a month. The frequent number of flights allowed for quick evolution of the vehicles, as engineers gathered data, learned from anomalies and implemented upgrades. In 1963, with the intent of KSC ELV work focusing on the ground support equipment and facilities, a separate Atlas/Centaur organization was formed under NASA's Lewis Center (now Glenn Research Center (GRC)), taking that responsibility from the Launch Operations Center (aka KSC).

 

Though almost all robotics missions launched from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station (CCSFS), KSC "oversaw the final assembly and testing of rockets as they arrived at the Cape." In 1965, KSC's Unmanned Launch Operations directorate became responsible for all NASA uncrewed launch operations, including those at Vandenberg Space Force Base. From the 1950s to 1978, KSC chose the rocket and payload processing facilities for all robotic missions launching in the U.S., overseeing their near launch processing and checkout. In addition to government missions, KSC performed this service for commercial and foreign missions also, though non-U.S. government entities provided reimbursement. NASA also funded Cape Canaveral Space Force Station launch pad maintenance and launch vehicle improvements.

 

All this changed with the Commercial Space Launch Act of 1984, after which NASA only coordinated its own and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) ELV launches. Companies were able to "operate their own launch vehicles" and utilize NASA's launch facilities. Payload processing handled by private firms also started to occur outside of KSC. Reagan's 1988 space policy furthered the movement of this work from KSC to commercial companies. That same year, launch complexes on Cape Canaveral Air Force Force Station started transferring from NASA to Air Force Space Command management.

 

In the 1990s, though KSC was not performing the hands-on ELV work, engineers still maintained an understanding of ELVs and had contracts allowing them insight into the vehicles so they could provide knowledgeable oversight. KSC also worked on ELV research and analysis and the contractors were able to utilize KSC personnel as a resource for technical issues. KSC, with the payload and launch vehicle industries, developed advances in automation of the ELV launch and ground operations to enable competitiveness of U.S. rockets against the global market.

 

In 1998, the Launch Services Program (LSP) formed at KSC, pulling together programs (and personnel) that already existed at KSC, GRC, Goddard Space Flight Center, and more to manage the launch of NASA and NOAA robotic missions. Cape Canaveral Space Force Station and VAFB are the primary launch sites for LSP missions, though other sites are occasionally used. LSP payloads such as the Mars Science Laboratory have been processed at KSC before being transferred to a launch pad on Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.

 

On 16 November 2022, at 06:47:44 UTC the Space Launch System (SLS) was launched from Complex 39B as part of the Artemis 1 mission.

 

As the International Space Station modules design began in the early 1990s, KSC began to work with other NASA centers and international partners to prepare for processing before launch onboard the Space Shuttles. KSC utilized its hands-on experience processing the 22 Spacelab missions in the Operations and Checkout Building to gather expectations of ISS processing. These experiences were incorporated into the design of the Space Station Processing Facility (SSPF), which began construction in 1991. The Space Station Directorate formed in 1996. KSC personnel were embedded at station module factories for insight into their processes.

 

From 1997 to 2007, KSC planned and performed on the ground integration tests and checkouts of station modules: three Multi-Element Integration Testing (MEIT) sessions and the Integration Systems Test (IST). Numerous issues were found and corrected that would have been difficult to nearly impossible to do on-orbit.

 

Today KSC continues to process ISS payloads from across the world before launch along with developing its experiments for on orbit. The proposed Lunar Gateway would be manufactured and processed at the Space Station Processing Facility.

 

The following are current programs and initiatives at Kennedy Space Center:

Commercial Crew Program

Exploration Ground Systems Program

NASA is currently designing the next heavy launch vehicle known as the Space Launch System (SLS) for continuation of human spaceflight.

On December 5, 2014, NASA launched the first uncrewed flight test of the Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle (MPCV), currently under development to facilitate human exploration of the Moon and Mars.

Launch Services Program

Educational Launch of Nanosatellites (ELaNa)

Research and Technology

Artemis program

Lunar Gateway

International Space Station Payloads

Camp KSC: educational camps for schoolchildren in spring and summer, with a focus on space, aviation and robotics.

 

The KSC Industrial Area, where many of the center's support facilities are located, is 5 miles (8 km) south of LC-39. It includes the Headquarters Building, the Operations and Checkout Building and the Central Instrumentation Facility. The astronaut crew quarters are in the O&C; before it was completed, the astronaut crew quarters were located in Hangar S at the Cape Canaveral Missile Test Annex (now Cape Canaveral Space Force Station). Located at KSC was the Merritt Island Spaceflight Tracking and Data Network station (MILA), a key radio communications and spacecraft tracking complex.

 

Facilities at the Kennedy Space Center are directly related to its mission to launch and recover missions. Facilities are available to prepare and maintain spacecraft and payloads for flight. The Headquarters (HQ) Building houses offices for the Center Director, library, film and photo archives, a print shop and security. When the KSC Library first opened, it was part of the Army Ballistic Missile Agency. However, in 1965, the library moved into three separate sections in the newly opened NASA headquarters before eventually becoming a single unit in 1970. The library contains over four million items related to the history and the work at Kennedy. As one of ten NASA center libraries in the country, their collection focuses on engineering, science, and technology. The archives contain planning documents, film reels, and original photographs covering the history of KSC. The library is not open to the public but is available for KSC, Space Force, and Navy employees who work on site. Many of the media items from the collection are digitized and available through NASA's KSC Media Gallery Archived December 6, 2020, at the Wayback Machine or through their more up-to-date Flickr gallery.

 

A new Headquarters Building was completed in 2019 as part of the Central Campus consolidation. Groundbreaking began in 2014.

 

The center operated its own 17-mile (27 km) short-line railroad. This operation was discontinued in 2015, with the sale of its final two locomotives. A third had already been donated to a museum. The line was costing $1.3 million annually to maintain.

 

The Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building (O&C) (previously known as the Manned Spacecraft Operations Building) is a historic site on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places dating back to the 1960s and was used to receive, process, and integrate payloads for the Gemini and Apollo programs, the Skylab program in the 1970s, and for initial segments of the International Space Station through the 1990s. The Apollo and Space Shuttle astronauts would board the astronaut transfer van to launch complex 39 from the O&C building.

The three-story, 457,000-square-foot (42,500 m2) Space Station Processing Facility (SSPF) consists of two enormous processing bays, an airlock, operational control rooms, laboratories, logistics areas and office space for support of non-hazardous Space Station and Shuttle payloads to ISO 14644-1 class 5 standards. Opened in 1994, it is the largest factory building in the KSC industrial area.

The Vertical Processing Facility (VPF) features a 71-by-38-foot (22 by 12 m) door where payloads that are processed in the vertical position are brought in and manipulated with two overhead cranes and a hoist capable of lifting up to 35 short tons (32 t).

The Hypergolic Maintenance and Checkout Area (HMCA) comprises three buildings that are isolated from the rest of the industrial area because of the hazardous materials handled there. Hypergolic-fueled modules that made up the Space Shuttle Orbiter's reaction control system, orbital maneuvering system and auxiliary power units were stored and serviced in the HMCF.

The Multi-Payload Processing Facility is a 19,647 square feet (1,825.3 m2) building used for Orion spacecraft and payload processing.

The Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility (PHSF) contains a 70-by-110-foot (21 by 34 m) service bay, with a 100,000-pound (45,000 kg), 85-foot (26 m) hook height. It also contains a 58-by-80-foot (18 by 24 m) payload airlock. Its temperature is maintained at 70 °F (21 °C).[55]

The Blue Origin rocket manufacturing facility is located immediately south of the KSC visitor complex. Completed in 2019, it serves as the company's factory for the manufacture of New Glenn orbital rockets.

 

Launch Complex 39 (LC-39) was originally built for the Saturn V, the largest and most powerful operational launch vehicle until the Space Launch System, for the Apollo crewed Moon landing program. Since the end of the Apollo program in 1972, LC-39 has been used to launch every NASA human space flight, including Skylab (1973), the Apollo–Soyuz Test Project (1975), and the Space Shuttle program (1981–2011).

 

Since December 1968, all launch operations have been conducted from launch pads A and B at LC-39. Both pads are on the ocean, 3 miles (4.8 km) east of the VAB. From 1969 to 1972, LC-39 was the "Moonport" for all six Apollo crewed Moon landing missions using the Saturn V, and was used from 1981 to 2011 for all Space Shuttle launches.

 

Human missions to the Moon required the large three-stage Saturn V rocket, which was 363 feet (111 meters) tall and 33 feet (10 meters) in diameter. At KSC, Launch Complex 39 was built on Merritt Island to accommodate the new rocket. Construction of the $800 million project began in November 1962. LC-39 pads A and B were completed by October 1965 (planned Pads C, D and E were canceled), the VAB was completed in June 1965, and the infrastructure by late 1966.

 

The complex includes: the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB), a 130,000,000 cubic feet (3,700,000 m3) hangar capable of holding four Saturn Vs. The VAB was the largest structure in the world by volume when completed in 1965.

a transporter capable of carrying 5,440 tons along a crawlerway to either of two launch pads;

a 446-foot (136 m) mobile service structure, with three Mobile Launcher Platforms, each containing a fixed launch umbilical tower;

the Launch Control Center; and

a news media facility.

 

Launch Complex 48 (LC-48) is a multi-user launch site under construction for small launchers and spacecraft. It will be located between Launch Complex 39A and Space Launch Complex 41, with LC-39A to the north and SLC-41 to the south. LC-48 will be constructed as a "clean pad" to support multiple launch systems with differing propellant needs. While initially only planned to have a single pad, the complex is capable of being expanded to two at a later date.

 

As a part of promoting commercial space industry growth in the area and the overall center as a multi-user spaceport, KSC leases some of its properties. Here are some major examples:

 

Exploration Park to multiple users (partnership with Space Florida)

Shuttle Landing Facility to Space Florida (who contracts use to private companies)

Orbiter Processing Facility (OPF)-3 to Boeing (for CST-100 Starliner)

Launch Complex 39A, Launch Control Center Firing Room 4 and land for SpaceX's Roberts Road facility (Hanger X) to SpaceX

O&C High Bay to Lockheed Martin (for Orion processing)

Land for FPL's Space Coast Next Generation Solar Energy Center to Florida Power and Light (FPL)

Hypergolic Maintenance Facility (HMF) to United Paradyne Corporation (UPC)

 

The Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex, operated by Delaware North since 1995, has a variety of exhibits, artifacts, displays and attractions on the history and future of human and robotic spaceflight. Bus tours of KSC originate from here. The complex also includes the separate Apollo/Saturn V Center, north of the VAB and the United States Astronaut Hall of Fame, six miles west near Titusville. There were 1.5 million visitors in 2009. It had some 700 employees.

 

It was announced on May 29, 2015, that the Astronaut Hall of Fame exhibit would be moved from its current location to another location within the Visitor Complex to make room for an upcoming high-tech attraction entitled "Heroes and Legends". The attraction, designed by Orlando-based design firm Falcon's Treehouse, opened November 11, 2016.

 

In March 2016, the visitor center unveiled the new location of the iconic countdown clock at the complex's entrance; previously, the clock was located with a flagpole at the press site. The clock was originally built and installed in 1969 and listed with the flagpole in the National Register of Historic Places in January 2000. In 2019, NASA celebrated the 50th anniversary of the Apollo program, and the launch of Apollo 10 on May 18. In summer of 2019, Lunar Module 9 (LM-9) was relocated to the Apollo/Saturn V Center as part of an initiative to rededicate the center and celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Apollo Program.

 

Historic locations

NASA lists the following Historic Districts at KSC; each district has multiple associated facilities:

 

Launch Complex 39: Pad A Historic District

Launch Complex 39: Pad B Historic District

Shuttle Landing Facility (SLF) Area Historic District

Orbiter Processing Historic District

Solid Rocket Booster (SRB) Disassembly and Refurbishment Complex Historic District

NASA KSC Railroad System Historic District

NASA-owned Cape Canaveral Space Force Station Industrial Area Historic District

There are 24 historic properties outside of these historic districts, including the Space Shuttle Atlantis, Vehicle Assembly Building, Crawlerway, and Operations and Checkout Building.[71] KSC has one National Historic Landmark, 78 National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) listed or eligible sites, and 100 Archaeological Sites.

 

Further information: John F. Kennedy Space Center MPS

Other facilities

The Rotation, Processing and Surge Facility (RPSF) is responsible for the preparation of solid rocket booster segments for transportation to the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB). The RPSF was built in 1984 to perform SRB operations that had previously been conducted in high bays 2 and 4 of the VAB at the beginning of the Space Shuttle program. It was used until the Space Shuttle's retirement, and will be used in the future by the Space Launch System[75] (SLS) and OmegA rockets.

Discovery STO - Single Stage to Orbit Heavy Lift, Hypersonic Aircraft - 70 TON Payload - IO Aircraft

 

IO Aircraft: www.ioaircraft.com

 

Discovery STO Specs

Length:197' 6" / Span: 93' / Palyload Bay: 61' L X 15" W X 15' H / Span: 70 Ton (140,000 LBS)

 

Engines: U-TBCC (Unified Turbined Based Combined Cycle) Inc/Zero Atmosphere

 

Inlets: Adaptive REST, Originally Hapb/Larc NASA

 

Fuel: 125,000 Gallons 12,000 PSI H2 / 90,000 Gallons 12,000 PSI O2

 

Fuel Weight: Apx 72,000 LBS Total / *If liquid, would be 1.4 Million LBS

 

Weight: Apx 325,000 LBS EOW/Dry Weight / Apx 537,000 T/O Weight, Max Payload

 

Airframe: 75+% Proprietary Advanced Composites, 400,000 PSI Tensile Strength Airframe / *NO Ceramic Tiles

 

Thermals: 6,000F Thermal Resistance

 

Estimated Cost: $750 Million Each (Fly Away Price)

 

Estimated Launch Cost: Apx $28 Million at 140,000 LBS, Including Maintenance Costs / Under $250 per pound at Maximum Paylaod Wieght *Could Drop to Below $50 per LBS

 

-----------------------------

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-----------------------------

 

Unified Turbine Based Combined Cycle. Current technologies and what Lockheed is trying to force on the Dept of Defense, for that low speed Mach 5 plane DOD gave them $1 billion to build and would disintegrate above Mach 5, is TBCC. 2 separate propulsion systems in the same airframe, which requires TWICE the airframe space to use.

 

Unified Turbine Based Combined Cycle is 1 propulsion system cutting that airframe deficit in half, and also able to operate above Mach 10 up to Mach 15 in atmosphere, and a simple nozzle modification allows for outside atmosphere rocket mode, ie orbital capable.

 

Additionally, Reaction Engines maximum air breather mode is Mach 4.5, above that it will explode in flight from internal pressures are too high to operate. Thus, must switch to non air breather rocket mode to operate in atmosphere in hypersonic velocities. Which as a result, makes it not feasible for anything practical. It also takes an immense amount of fuel to function.

 

-------------

 

Advanced Additive Manufacturing for Hypersonic Aircraft

 

Utilizing new methods of fabrication and construction, make it possible to use additive manufacturing, dramatically reducing the time and costs of producing hypersonic platforms from missiles, aircraft, and space capable craft. Instead of aircraft being produced in piece, then bolted together; small platforms can be produced as a single unit and large platforms can be produces in large section and mated without bolting. These techniques include using exotic materials and advanced assembly processes, with an end result of streamlining the production costs and time for hypersonic aircraft; reducing months of assembly to weeks. Overall, this process greatly reduced the cost for producing hypersonic platforms. Even to such an extent that a Hellfire missile costs apx $100,000 but by utilizing our technologies, replacing it with a Mach 8-10 hypersonic missile of our physics/engineering and that missile would cost roughly $75,000 each delivered.

 

Materials used for these manufacturing processes are not disclosed, but overall, provides a foundation for extremely high stresses and thermodynamics, ideal for hypersonic platforms. This specific methodology and materials applications is many decades ahead of all known programs. Even to the extend of normalized space flight and re-entry, without concern of thermodynamic failure.

 

*Note, most entities that are experimenting with additive manufacturing for hypersonic aircraft, this makes it mainstream and standardized processes, which also applies for mass production.

 

What would normally be measured in years and perhaps a decade to go from drawing board to test flights, is reduced to singular months and ready for production within a year maximum.

 

Unified Turbine Based Combined Cycle (U-TBCC)

 

To date, the closest that NASA and industry have achieved for turbine based aircraft to fly at hypersonic velocities is by mounting a turbine into an aircraft and sharing the inlet with a scramjet or rocket based motor. Reaction Engines Sabre is not able to achieve hypersonic velocities and can only transition into a non air breathing rocket for beyond Mach 4.5

 

However, utilizing Unified Turbine Based Combine Cycle also known as U-TBCC, the two separate platforms are able to share a common inlet and the dual mode ramjet/scramjet is contained within the engine itself, which allows for a much smaller airframe footprint, thus engingeers are able to then design much higher performance aerial platforms for hypersonic flight, including the ability for constructing true single stage to orbit aircraft by utilizing a modification/version that allows for transition to outside atmosphere propulsion without any other propulsion platforms within the aircraft. By transitioning and developing aircraft to use Unified Turbine Based Combined Cycle, this propulsion system opens up new options to replace that airframe deficit for increased fuel capacity and/or payload.

 

Enhanced Dynamic Cavitation

 

Dramatically Increasing the efficiency of fuel air mixture for combustion processes at hypersonic velocities within scramjet propulsion platforms. The aspects of these processes are non disclosable.

 

Dynamic Scramjet Ignition Processes

 

For optimal scramjet ignition, a process known as Self Start is sought after, but in many cases if the platform becomes out of attitude, the scramjet will ignite. We have already solved this problem which as a result, a scramjet propulsion system can ignite at lower velocities, high velocities, at optimal attitude or not optimal attitude. It doesn't matter, it will ignite anyways at the proper point for maximum thrust capabilities at hypersonic velocities.

 

Hydrogen vs Kerosene Fuel Sources

 

Kerosene is an easy fuel to work with, and most western nations developing scramjet platforms use Kerosene for that fact. However, while kerosene has better thermal properties then Hydrogen, Hydrogen is a far superior fuel source in scramjet propulsion flight, do it having a much higher efficiency capability. Because of this aspect, in conjunction with our developments, it allows for a MUCH increased fuel to air mixture, combustion, thrust; and ability for higher speeds; instead of very low hypersonic velocities in the Mach 5-6 range. Instead, Mach 8-10 range, while we have begun developing hypersonic capabilities to exceed 15 in atmosphere within less then 5 years.

 

Conforming High Pressure Tank Technology for CNG and H2.

 

As most know in hypersonics, Hydrogen is a superior fuel source, but due to the storage abilities, can only be stored in cylinders thus much less fuel supply. Not anymore, we developed conforming high pressure storage technology for use in aerospace, automotive sectors, maritime, etc; which means any overall shape required for 8,000+ PSI CNG or Hydrogen. For hypersonic platforms, this means the ability to store a much larger volume of hydrogen vs cylinders.

 

As an example, X-43 flown by Nasa which flew at Mach 9.97. The fuel source was Hydrogen, which is extremely more volatile and combustible then kerosene (JP-7), via a cylinder in the main body. If it had used our technology, that entire section of the airframe would had been an 8,000 PSI H2 tank, which would had yielded 5-6 times the capacity. While the X-43 flew 11 seconds under power at Mach 9.97, at 6 times the fuel capacity would had yielded apx 66 seconds of fuel under power at Mach 9.97. If it had flew slower, around Mach 6, same principles applied would had yielded apx 500 seconds of fuel supply under power (slower speeds required less energy to maintain).

 

Enhanced Fuel Mixture During Shock Train Interaction

 

Normally, fuel injection is conducted at the correct insertion point within the shock train for maximum burn/combustion. Our methodologies differ, since almost half the fuel injection is conducted PRE shock train within the isolator, so at the point of isolator injection the fuel enhances the combustion process, which then requires less fuel injection to reach the same level of thrust capabilities.

 

Improved Bow Shock Interaction

 

Smoother interaction at hypersonic velocities and mitigating heat/stresses for beyond Mach 6 thermodynamics, which extraordinarily improves Type 3, 4, and 5 shock interaction.

 

6,000+ Fahrenheit Thermal Resistance

 

To date, the maximum thermal resistance was tested at AFRL in the spring of 2018, which resulted in a 3,200F thermal resistance for a short duration. This technology, allows for normalized hypersonic thermal resistance of 3,000-3,500F sustained, and up to 6,500F resistance for short endurance, ie 90 seconds or less. 10-20 minute resistance estimate approximately 4,500F +/- 200F.

  

*** This technology advancement also applies to Aerospike rocket engines, in which it is common for Aerospike's to exceed 4,500-5,000F temperatures, which results in the melting of the reversed bell housing. That melting no longer ocurrs, providing for stable combustion to ocurr for the entire flight envelope

 

Scramjet Propulsion Side Wall Cooling

 

With old technologies, side wall cooling is required for hypersonic flight and scramjet propulsion systems, otherwise the isolator and combustion regions of a scramjet would melt, even using advanced ablatives and ceramics, due to their inability to cope with very high temperatures. Using technology we have developed for very high thermodynamics and high stresses, side wall cooling is no longer required, thus removing that variable from the design process and focusing on improved ignition processes and increasing net thrust values.

 

Lower Threshold for Hypersonic Ignition

 

Active and adaptive flight dynamics, resulting in the ability for scramjet ignition at a much lower velocity, ie within ramjet envelope, between Mach 2-4, and seamless transition from supersonic to hypersonic flight, ie supersonic ramjet (scramjet). This active and dynamic aspect, has a wide variety of parameters for many flight dynamics, velocities, and altitudes; which means platforms no longer need to be engineered for specific altitude ranges or preset velocities, but those parameters can then be selected during launch configuration and are able to adapt actively in flight.

 

Dramatically Improved Maneuvering Capabilities at Hypersonic Velocities

 

Hypersonic vehicles, like their less technologically advanced brethren, use large actuator and the developers hope those controls surfaces do not disintegrate in flight. In reality, it is like rolling the dice, they may or may not survive, hence another reason why the attempt to keep velocities to Mach 6 or below. We have shrunken down control actuators while almost doubling torque and response capabilities specifically for hypersonic dynamics and extreme stresses involved, which makes it possible for maximum input authority for Mach 10 and beyond.

 

Paradigm Shift in Control Surface Methodologies, Increasing Control Authority (Internal Mechanical Applications)

 

To date, most control surfaces for hypersonic missile platforms still use fins, similar to lower speed conventional missiles, and some using ducted fins. This is mostly due to lack of comprehension of hypersonic velocities in their own favor. Instead, the body itself incorporates those control surfaces, greatly enhancing the airframe strength, opening up more space for hardware and fuel capacity; while simultaneously enhancing the platforms maneuvering capabilities.

 

A scramjet missile can then fly like conventional missile platforms, and not straight and level at high altitudes, losing velocity on it's decent trajectory to target. Another added benefit to this aspect, is the ability to extend range greatly, so if anyone elses hypersonic missile platform were developed for 400 mile range, falling out of the sky due to lack of glide capabilities; our platforms can easily reach 600+ miles, with minimal glide deceleration.

We hold these truths to be self-evident:

www.ifixit.com/Manifesto

 

1. Repair is better than recycling

2. Repair saves the planet

3. Repair saves you money

4. Repair teaches engineering

5. It you can't fix it, you don't own it

 

Unsustainable Design: Apple's Perpetuation of "Throw-Away" Culture

www.youtube.com/watch?v=cGvijW0lmzo

 

In this video MJ talks iPad 3 design, sustainability, responsible consumption, and holding Apple accountable to higher design-standards.

 

For the complete teardown, visit: bit.ly/ipad3_teardown

 

Repair is better than Recycling: Making our things last longer is both More efficient and More cost- effective than Mining theM for raw Materials.

 

Repair Saves the planet. Earth has limited resources and we can’t run a linear manufacturing process forever. The best way to be efficient is to reuse what we already have!

 

Repair Saves you Money. Fixing things is often free, and usually cheaper than replacing them. doing the repair yourself saves serious dough.

 

Repair teaches engineering. The best way to find out how something works is to take it apart!

 

If you can’t fix it, you don’t own it. Repair connects people and devices, creating bonds that transcend consumption. self-repair is sustainable.

 

Repair connects you with your things

Repair empowers and emboldens individuals

Repair transforms consumers into contributors

Repair inspires pride in ownership

Repair injects soul and makes things unique

Repair is independence

Repair requires creativity

Repair is green

Repair is Joyful

Repair is necessary for understanding our things

Repair saves money and resources

 

We have the Right:

to open and repair our things—without voiding the warranty to devices that can be opened

to error codes and wiring diagrams to troubleshooting instructions and Flowcharts

to repair documentation For everything to choose our own repair technician

to remove ‘do not remove’ stickers to repair things in the privacy oF our own homes

to replace any and all consumables ourselves

to hardware that doesn’t require proprietary tools to repair

to available, reasonably priced service parts

 

inspired by Mister Jalopy’s maker’s bill of rights and platform 21’s repair manifesto

 

Join the repair revolution at www.iFixit.com

+++ DISCLAIMER +++

Nothing you see here is real, even though the conversion or the presented background story might be based historical facts. BEWARE!

  

Some background:

In the grand scope of World War 2 fighter aircraft there is a little-remembered French design designated the Arsenal "VG-33". The aircraft was born from a rather lengthy line of prototype developments put forth by the company in the years leading up to World War 2 and the VG-33 and its derivatives represented the culmination of this work before the German invasion rendered all further work moot.

 

The Arsenal de l'Aeronautique company was formed by the French government in 1936 ahead of World War 2. It began operations with dedicated design and development of a fast fighter type until the German conquer of France in 1940 after which the company then focused on engine production after 1945. Then followed a period of design and construction of gliders and missiles before being privatized in 1952 (as SFECMAS). The company then fell under the SNCAN brand label and became "Nord Aviation" in 1955.

 

The VG-33 was the result of the company's research. Work on a new fast fighter began by Arsenal engineers in 1936 and the line began with the original VG-30 prototype achieving first flight on October 1st, 1938. Named for engineer Vernisse (V) and designer Jean Gaultier (G), the VG-30 showcased a sound design with good performance and speed during the tests, certainly suitable for progression as a military fighter and with future potential.

 

Development continued into what became the VG-31 which incorporated smaller wings. The VG-32 then followed which returned to the full-sized wings and installed the American Allison V-1710-C15 inline supercharged engine of 1,054 horsepower. The VG-32 then formed the basis of the VG-33 which reverted to a Hispano-Suiza 12Y-31 engine and first flight was in early 1939, months ahead of the German invasion of Poland. Flight testing then spanned into August and serial production of this model was ordered.

 

The VG-33 was one of the more impressive prewar fighter ventures by the French that included the Dewoitine D.520, understood to be on par with the lead German fighter aircraft of the period - the famous Messerschmitt Bf 109.

 

Only about forty or so French Arsenal VG-33 fighters were completed before the Fall of France in 1940, with 160 more on order and in different states of completion. Despite the production contract, Arsenal' engineers continued work on the basic design for improved and specialized sub-types. The VG-34 appeared in early 1940 outfitted with the Hispano-Suiza 12Y-45 engine of 935 horsepower, which improved performance at altitude. An uprated engine was installed in VG-35 and VG-36, too. They utilized a Hispano-Suiza 12Y-51 engine of 1,000 horsepower with a revised undercarriage and radiator system.

 

VG-37 was a long-range version that was not furthered beyond the drawing board, but the VG-38 with a Hispano-Suiza 12Y-77 engine that featured two exhaust turbochargers for improved performance at high altitude, achived pre-production status with a series of about 10 aircraft. These were transferred to GC 1/3 for field trials in early 1940 and actively used in the defence against the German invasion.

 

The VG-39 ended the line as the last viable prototype model with its drive emerging from a Hispano-Suiza 12Z engine of 1,280 horsepower. A new three-machine-gun wing was installed for a formidable six-gun armament array. This model was also ordered into production as the VG-39bis and was to carry a 1,600 horsepower Hispano-Suiza 12Z-17 engine into service. However, the German invasion eliminated any further progress, and eventually any work on the Arsenal VG fighter family was abandoned, even though more designs were planned, e .g. the VG-40, which mounted a Rolls-Royce Merlin III, and the VG-50, featuring the newer Allison V-1710-39. Neither was built.

 

Anyway, the finalized VG-38 was an all-modern looking fighter design with elegant lines and a streamlined appearance. Its power came from an inline engine fitted to the front of the fuselage and headed by a large propeller spinner at the center of a three-bladed unit. The cockpit was held over midships with the fuselage tapering to become the tail unit.

 

The tail featured a rounded vertical tail fin and low-set horizontal planes in a traditional arrangement - all surfaces enlarged for improved high altitude performance.

The monoplane wing assemblies were at the center of the design in the usual way. The pilot's field of view was hampered by the long nose ahead, the wings below and the raised fuselage spine aft, even though the pilot sat under a largely unobstructed canopy utilizing light framing. The canopy opened to starboard.

 

A large air scoop for the radiator and air intercooler was mounted under the fuselage. As an unusual feature its outlet was located in a dorsal position, behind the cockpit. The undercarriage was of the typical tail-dragger arrangement of the period, retracting inwards. The tail wheel was retractable, too.

 

Construction was largely of wood which led to a very lightweight design that aided performance and the manufacture process. Unlike other fighters of the 1930s, the VG-38 was well-armed with a 20mm Hispano-Suiza cannon, firing through the propeller hub, complemented by 4 x 7.5mm MAC 1934 series machine guns in the wings, just like the VG-33.

 

The aircraft never saw combat action in the Battle of France. Its arrival was simply too late to have any effect on the outcome of the German plans. Therefore, with limited production and very limited combat service during the defence of Paris in May 1940, it largely fell into the pages of history with all completed models lost.

 

Specifications:

Crew: 1

Length: 28.05 ft (8.55 m)

Width: 35.43 ft (10.80 m)

Height: 10.83ft (3.30 m)

Weight: Empty 4,519 lb (2,050 kg), MTOW 5,853 lb (2,655 kg)

Maximum Speed: 398 mph (641 kmh at 10.000m)

Maximum Range: 746 miles (1,200 km)

Service Ceiling: 39,305 ft (12.000 m; 7.458 miles)

 

Powerplant:

1x Hispano-Suiza 12Y-77 V-12 liquid-cooled inline piston engine

with two Brown-Boveri exhaust turbochargers, developing 1,100 hp (820 kW).

 

Armament:

1x 20mm Hispano-Suiza HS.404 cannon, firing through the propeller hub

4x 7.5mm MAC 1934 machine guns in the outer wings

  

The kit and its assembly:

I found the VG-33 fascinating - an obscure and sleek fighter with lots of potential that suffered mainly from bad timing. There are actually VG-33 kits from Azur and Pegasus, but how much more fun is it to create your own interpretation of the historic events, esp. as a submission to a Battle of Britain Group Build at whatifmodelers.com?

 

I had this project on the whif agenda for a long time, and kept my eyes open for potential models. One day I encountered Amodel's Su-1 and Su-3 kits and was stunned by this aircraft's overall similarity to the VG-33. When I found the real VG-38 description I decided to convert the Su-3 into this elusive French fighter!

 

The Su-3 was built mainly OOB, it is a nice kit with much detail, even though it needs some work as a short run offering. I kept the odd radiator installation of the Suchoj aircraft, but changed the landing gear from a P-40 style design (retracting backwards and rotating 90°) into a conservative, inward retracting system. I even found forked gear struts in the spares box, from a Fiat G.50. The covers come from a Hawker Hurricane, and the wells were cut out from this pattern, while the rest of the old wells was filled with putty.

 

Further mods include the cleaned cowling (the Su-3's fuselage-mounted machine guns had to go), while machine guns in the wings were added. The flaps were lowered, too, and the small cockpit canopy cut in two pieces in, for an opened position - a shame you can hardly see anything from the neat interior. Two large antenna masts complete the French style.

  

Painting and markings:

Again, a rather conservative choice: typical French Air Force colors, in Khaki/Dark Brown/Blue Gray with light blue-gray undersides.

 

One very inspiring fact about the French tricolor-paint scheme is that no aircraft looked like the other – except for a few types, every aircraft had an individual scheme with more or less complexity or even artistic approach. Even the colors were only vaguely unified: Field mixes were common, as well as mods with other colors that were mixed into the basic three tones!

 

I settled for a scheme I found on a 1940 Curtiss 75, with clearly defined edges between the paint fields. Anything goes! I used French Khaki, Dark Blue Grey and Light Blue Grey (for the undersides) from Modelmaster's Authentic Enamels range, and Humbrol 170 (Brown Bess) for the Chestnut Brown. Interior surfaces were painted in dark grey (Humbrol 32) while the landing gear well parts of the wings were painted in Aluminum Dope (Humbrol 56).

The decals mainly come from a Hobby Boss Dewoitine D.520, but also from a PrintScale aftermarket sheet and the scrap box.

 

The kit was slightly weathered with a black ink wash and some dry-painting, more for a dramatic effect than simulating wear and tear, since any aircraft from the VG-33 family would only have had a very short service career.

  

Well, a travesty whif - and who would expect an obscure Soviet experimental fighter to perform as a lookalike for an even more obscure French experimental fighter? IMHO, it works pretty fine - conservative sould might fair over the spinal radiator outlet and open the dorsal installation, overall both aircraft are very similar in shape, size and layout. :D

 

1001v 4f 1/28/17

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Also known as McDonnell Douglas CF-18 Hornet.

 

McDonnell-Douglas F-18 Hornet CF-188B.

 

In the 1970s, the Air Force decided that a single multi-role fighter type would replace its CF-101 Voodoos , CF-104 Starfighters and CF-116 Freedom Fighters. The resulting New Fighter Aircraft competition culminated in the selection of the McDonnell-Douglas F/A-18 Hornet. Canada became the first export customer for the type in a contract worth $2.34 (Cdn) billion. A number of Canadian-unique modifications were incorporated into the aircraft design. These included changes for Canadian unique weapons, a 600,000 candle power searchlight in the starboard nose for night intercepts, a modified survival kit and a land based ILS system replacing the USN automatic carrier landing system. Deployed to Canadian air defence (NORAD) and NATO squadrons, the CF-18 Hornet has lived up to all expectations. The multi-role capability of the Hornet has been repeatedly proven in CF use and the aircraft have been operationally employed in the Gulf War and more recently, in the NATO campaign over Kosovo. In the Gulf War, the aircraft were employed in both CAP and conventional strikes. Flying from Aviano, Italy, in the skies over Kosovo and Serbia, the aircraft was primarily employed in the attack role dropping both conventional and precision guided munitions.

 

The need to upgrade the CF-18 was demonstrated during the Gulf War I deployment and during the 1998 Kosovo conflict as advances in technology had rendered some of the avionics on board the CF-18 obsolete and incompatible with NATO allies. In 2000, CF-18 upgrades became possible when the government increased the defence budget.

 

In 2001 the Incremental Modernization Project (IMP) was initiated. The project was broken into two phases over a period of eight years and was designed to improve air-to-air and air-to-ground combat capabilities, upgrade sensors and the defensive suite, and replace the datalinks and communications systems on board the CF-18 from the old F/A-18A and F/A-18B standard to the current F/A-18C and D standard. Boeing and L-3 Communications, was issued a contract for the modernization project starting in 2002. A total of 80 CF-18s, consisting of 62 single-seat and 18 dual-seat models were selected from the fleet for the upgrade program. The project along with the IMP II will extend the life of the CF-18 until around 2017 to 2020 when they are to be replaced by the F-35 Lightning II JSF.

  

Aircraft Specifications

 

CDN Reg: CF-188

US/NATO Reg.: F/A-18A

Manufacturer: McDonnell-Douglas Aircraft Corporation.

 

Crew / Passengers: 1 pilot (CF-18A) or 2 pilots (CF-18B).

 

Power Plant(s): 2 x General Electric F404-GE-400 low-bypass turbofans @ 16,000 lb (7,258 kg) thrust.

 

Performance: Max Speed: Mach 1.8 Service Ceiling: 49,000 ft (15,000 m) Unrefuelled Range: 2,300 mi (3,704 km) *(retractable air-to-air refueling probe fitted).

 

Weights: Empty: 23,400 lb (10,614 kg) Gross: 37,000 lb (16,783 kg) Maximum Take-off: 49,355 lb (22,387 kg).

 

Dimensions: Unfolded Span: 40 ft 5 in (12.32 m) (with missiles) Folded Span: 27 ft 6 in (8.38 m) Length: 56 ft 0 in (17.07 m) Height: 15 ft 3 in (4.66 m) Wing Area: 400 sq ft (37.16 sq m)

 

Armament: Internally mounted M61A1 20mm cannon & provisions for AIM9 Sidewinder and AIM7 Sparrow air-to-air missiles, Maverick air-to-ground missiles, conventional bombs and precision-guided bombs, unguided CRV7 rockets, fuel tanks etc.

 

Two CF-18 fighter squadrons are assigned the air defence role in North America. They maintain limited air-to-surface capability to provide support to maritime operations, as well as support to land operations in defence of Canada. They are also available for contingency operations anywhere in the world.

 

CFB Cold Lake - Cold lake, Alberta, Canada

■410 Cougar Tactical Fighter (Operational Training) Squadron

■409 Nighthawk Tactical Fighter Squadron*

 

CFB Bagotville - Bagotville, Quebec, Canada

■425 Alouétte Tactical Fighter Squadron**

 

*Detachment at CFB Comox, British Columbia, Canada

** Detachment at CFB Goosebay, Labrador, Canada

 

Note: Current operational aircraft strength is 60 aircraft with the additional 60 aircraft undergoing upgrading and rotation.

 

www.canadianwings.com/Aircraft/aircraftDetail.php?HORNET-37

 

www.aviation.technomuses.ca/collections/artifacts/aircraf...

 

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McDonnell_Douglas_CF-18_Hornet

 

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Dassault Falcon 50EX.

 

Dassault Aviation was the first to create a private jet with intercontinental range: the Falcon 50. Seventeen years later, they re-created it, keeping the features that made it such a success, while modifying others with more advanced technology. The result is a private jet that looks and feels like its predecessor, but easily supersedes it. The Falcon 50EX cruises faster at high altitudes; flies further; burns less fuel; and generally outperforms the Falcon 50 in every respect.

 

The cabin of the Falcon 50EX is perhaps the part of the jet that has changed the least. It still has a height and width of 5.9 and 6.1 feet, respectively. At 23.5 feet in length the Falcon 50EX features a total cabin volume of 700 cubic feet. 115 cubic feet of baggage storage is available in internal compartments. Three closets in the cabin provide space for coats, suits, and briefcases. All baggage compartments are fully pressurized. A total of 2,205 pounds of bags can be stored.

 

The nine-passenger seating configuration is generally laid out in one four-seat club arrangement, and a separate section of two facing seats and a three-seat divan. Work tables fold out between facing seats so work can be completed in-flight. Power plugs are available for laptops and office equipment. Temperature control is separate for the cockpit and the cabin, so both parties are comfortable in-flight. Space and equipment for hot and cold food preparation come standard, including an oven, ice chest, and coffee maker.

 

The Falcon 50EX uses three Honeywell TFE731-40 turbofan engines, the second generation of the TFE731 series. They provide more thrust at cruise speeds and burn less fuel than the Falcon 50’s TFE731-3-1C engines. Providing the same amount of thrust for a sea level takeoff as the -3-1C engines, the -40s have an increased ambient temperature, meaning that they perform nearly the same at high altitudes and temperatures as they do at sea level. At an elevation of 5,000 feet and a temperature of 77°F, the -40 engines produce 3,440 pounds of thrust – 93% of the thrust produced at standard sea level conditions.

 

Furthermore, the -40 engines are equipped with FADEC (Full Authority N1-reference Digital Electronic Engine Control) systems, which automatically start and restart the engines on the ground, reducing pilot workload and optimizing fuel burn and performance. The engine manufacturing process used on the -40 engines is more precise, resulting in higher tolerances and reduced leakage.

 

The Falcon 50EX, like the Falcon 50, has great runway performance. It can take off in 4,935 feet at sea level and in 7,247 at an elevation of 5,000 feet and a temperature of 77°F. Its maximum takeoff weight (MTOW) has increased from 38,800 pounds to 39,700 pounds – a 900 pound increase. The Falcon 50EX can climb directly to an altitude of 37,000 feet in 17 minutes (13 minutes more quickly than the Falcon 50). It can cruise at 417 knots at an altitude of 43,000 feet for long range trips, or at 481 knots and an altitude of 39,000 feet for optimum speed. The maximum flight ceiling for the Falcon 50 is 49,000 feet.

 

The Falcon 50EX was designed using computer-molded fluid dynamics software and lightweight materials. Its primary structures are made of aluminum monocoque, while composites are used for some secondary structures. The aerodynamic design and materials slightly decrease the sound produced by the Falcon 50EX on takeoff to 83.8 EPNdB.

 

The three fuel tanks for the Falcon 50EX are regulated by electrical transfer pumps. These pumps can be used as emergency backup systems if both of the hydraulic systems that power the avionics fail. As unlikely as it would be to have all three systems fail, a fourth option is still available – all flight controls can be operated manually.

 

The avionics suite of the Falcon 50EX is based on the Collins Pro Line 4 suite. Four 7.25×7.25 inch screens display flight information. Flight controls are located close to the corresponding displays in an intuitive cockpit layout. The cockpit comes standard with a dual Pro Line II radio system, dual digital air-computers, a TWR-850 Doppler turbulence detection radar, an AlliedSignal dual Global GNS-XMS Flight Management System, and several other flight control and environmental awareness systems.

 

The Falcon 50 was a successful and high-performing private jet, but the Falcon 50EX outdoes it in every way. Everything from its cabin to its engines has been improved, resulting in a decidedly better private jet.

 

www.jetadvisors.com/falcon-50ex-performance/

+++ DISCLAIMER +++

Nothing you see here is real, even though the conversion or the presented background story might be based historical facts. BEWARE!

  

Some background:

In the grand scope of World War 2 fighter aircraft there is a little-remembered French design designated the Arsenal "VG-33". The aircraft was born from a rather lengthy line of prototype developments put forth by the company in the years leading up to World War 2 and the VG-33 and its derivatives represented the culmination of this work before the German invasion rendered all further work moot.

 

The Arsenal de l'Aeronautique company was formed by the French government in 1936 ahead of World War 2. It began operations with dedicated design and development of a fast fighter type until the German conquer of France in 1940 after which the company then focused on engine production after 1945. Then followed a period of design and construction of gliders and missiles before being privatized in 1952 (as SFECMAS). The company then fell under the SNCAN brand label and became "Nord Aviation" in 1955.

 

The VG-33 was the result of the company's research. Work on a new fast fighter began by Arsenal engineers in 1936 and the line began with the original VG-30 prototype achieving first flight on October 1st, 1938. Named for engineer Vernisse (V) and designer Jean Gaultier (G), the VG-30 showcased a sound design with good performance and speed during the tests, certainly suitable for progression as a military fighter and with future potential.

 

Development continued into what became the VG-31 which incorporated smaller wings. The VG-32 then followed which returned to the full-sized wings and installed the American Allison V-1710-C15 inline supercharged engine of 1,054 horsepower. The VG-32 then formed the basis of the VG-33 which reverted to a Hispano-Suiza 12Y-31 engine and first flight was in early 1939, months ahead of the German invasion of Poland. Flight testing then spanned into August and serial production of this model was ordered.

 

The VG-33 was one of the more impressive prewar fighter ventures by the French that included the Dewoitine D.520, understood to be on par with the lead German fighter aircraft of the period - the famous Messerschmitt Bf 109.

 

Only about forty or so French Arsenal VG-33 fighters were completed before the Fall of France in 1940, with 160 more on order and in different states of completion. Despite the production contract, Arsenal' engineers continued work on the basic design for improved and specialized sub-types. The VG-34 appeared in early 1940 outfitted with the Hispano-Suiza 12Y-45 engine of 935 horsepower, which improved performance at altitude. An uprated engine was installed in VG-35 and VG-36, too. They utilized a Hispano-Suiza 12Y-51 engine of 1,000 horsepower with a revised undercarriage and radiator system.

 

VG-37 was a long-range version that was not furthered beyond the drawing board, but the VG-38 with a Hispano-Suiza 12Y-77 engine that featured two exhaust turbochargers for improved performance at high altitude, achived pre-production status with a series of about 10 aircraft. These were transferred to GC 1/3 for field trials in early 1940 and actively used in the defence against the German invasion.

 

The VG-39 ended the line as the last viable prototype model with its drive emerging from a Hispano-Suiza 12Z engine of 1,280 horsepower. A new three-machine-gun wing was installed for a formidable six-gun armament array. This model was also ordered into production as the VG-39bis and was to carry a 1,600 horsepower Hispano-Suiza 12Z-17 engine into service. However, the German invasion eliminated any further progress, and eventually any work on the Arsenal VG fighter family was abandoned, even though more designs were planned, e .g. the VG-40, which mounted a Rolls-Royce Merlin III, and the VG-50, featuring the newer Allison V-1710-39. Neither was built.

 

Anyway, the finalized VG-38 was an all-modern looking fighter design with elegant lines and a streamlined appearance. Its power came from an inline engine fitted to the front of the fuselage and headed by a large propeller spinner at the center of a three-bladed unit. The cockpit was held over midships with the fuselage tapering to become the tail unit.

 

The tail featured a rounded vertical tail fin and low-set horizontal planes in a traditional arrangement - all surfaces enlarged for improved high altitude performance.

The monoplane wing assemblies were at the center of the design in the usual way. The pilot's field of view was hampered by the long nose ahead, the wings below and the raised fuselage spine aft, even though the pilot sat under a largely unobstructed canopy utilizing light framing. The canopy opened to starboard.

 

A large air scoop for the radiator and air intercooler was mounted under the fuselage. As an unusual feature its outlet was located in a dorsal position, behind the cockpit. The undercarriage was of the typical tail-dragger arrangement of the period, retracting inwards. The tail wheel was retractable, too.

 

Construction was largely of wood which led to a very lightweight design that aided performance and the manufacture process. Unlike other fighters of the 1930s, the VG-38 was well-armed with a 20mm Hispano-Suiza cannon, firing through the propeller hub, complemented by 4 x 7.5mm MAC 1934 series machine guns in the wings, just like the VG-33.

 

The aircraft never saw combat action in the Battle of France. Its arrival was simply too late to have any effect on the outcome of the German plans. Therefore, with limited production and very limited combat service during the defence of Paris in May 1940, it largely fell into the pages of history with all completed models lost.

 

Specifications:

Crew: 1

Length: 28.05 ft (8.55 m)

Width: 35.43 ft (10.80 m)

Height: 10.83ft (3.30 m)

Weight: Empty 4,519 lb (2,050 kg), MTOW 5,853 lb (2,655 kg)

Maximum Speed: 398 mph (641 kmh at 10.000m)

Maximum Range: 746 miles (1,200 km)

Service Ceiling: 39,305 ft (12.000 m; 7.458 miles)

 

Powerplant:

1x Hispano-Suiza 12Y-77 V-12 liquid-cooled inline piston engine

with two Brown-Boveri exhaust turbochargers, developing 1,100 hp (820 kW).

 

Armament:

1x 20mm Hispano-Suiza HS.404 cannon, firing through the propeller hub

4x 7.5mm MAC 1934 machine guns in the outer wings

  

The kit and its assembly:

I found the VG-33 fascinating - an obscure and sleek fighter with lots of potential that suffered mainly from bad timing. There are actually VG-33 kits from Azur and Pegasus, but how much more fun is it to create your own interpretation of the historic events, esp. as a submission to a Battle of Britain Group Build at whatifmodelers.com?

 

I had this project on the whif agenda for a long time, and kept my eyes open for potential models. One day I encountered Amodel's Su-1 and Su-3 kits and was stunned by this aircraft's overall similarity to the VG-33. When I found the real VG-38 description I decided to convert the Su-3 into this elusive French fighter!

 

The Su-3 was built mainly OOB, it is a nice kit with much detail, even though it needs some work as a short run offering. I kept the odd radiator installation of the Suchoj aircraft, but changed the landing gear from a P-40 style design (retracting backwards and rotating 90°) into a conservative, inward retracting system. I even found forked gear struts in the spares box, from a Fiat G.50. The covers come from a Hawker Hurricane, and the wells were cut out from this pattern, while the rest of the old wells was filled with putty.

 

Further mods include the cleaned cowling (the Su-3's fuselage-mounted machine guns had to go), while machine guns in the wings were added. The flaps were lowered, too, and the small cockpit canopy cut in two pieces in, for an opened position - a shame you can hardly see anything from the neat interior. Two large antenna masts complete the French style.

  

Painting and markings:

Again, a rather conservative choice: typical French Air Force colors, in Khaki/Dark Brown/Blue Gray with light blue-gray undersides.

 

One very inspiring fact about the French tricolor-paint scheme is that no aircraft looked like the other – except for a few types, every aircraft had an individual scheme with more or less complexity or even artistic approach. Even the colors were only vaguely unified: Field mixes were common, as well as mods with other colors that were mixed into the basic three tones!

 

I settled for a scheme I found on a 1940 Curtiss 75, with clearly defined edges between the paint fields. Anything goes! I used French Khaki, Dark Blue Grey and Light Blue Grey (for the undersides) from Modelmaster's Authentic Enamels range, and Humbrol 170 (Brown Bess) for the Chestnut Brown. Interior surfaces were painted in dark grey (Humbrol 32) while the landing gear well parts of the wings were painted in Aluminum Dope (Humbrol 56).

The decals mainly come from a Hobby Boss Dewoitine D.520, but also from a PrintScale aftermarket sheet and the scrap box.

 

The kit was slightly weathered with a black ink wash and some dry-painting, more for a dramatic effect than simulating wear and tear, since any aircraft from the VG-33 family would only have had a very short service career.

  

Well, a travesty whif - and who would expect an obscure Soviet experimental fighter to perform as a lookalike for an even more obscure French experimental fighter? IMHO, it works pretty fine - conservative sould might fair over the spinal radiator outlet and open the dorsal installation, overall both aircraft are very similar in shape, size and layout. :D

 

Discovery STO - Single Stage to Orbit Heavy Lift, Hypersonic Aircraft - 70 TON Payload - IO Aircraft

 

IO Aircraft: www.ioaircraft.com

 

Discovery STO Specs

Length:197' 6" / Span: 93' / Palyload Bay: 61' L X 15" W X 15' H / Span: 70 Ton (140,000 LBS)

 

Engines: U-TBCC (Unified Turbined Based Combined Cycle) Inc/Zero Atmosphere

 

Inlets: Adaptive REST, Originally Hapb/Larc NASA

 

Fuel: 125,000 Gallons 12,000 PSI H2 / 90,000 Gallons 12,000 PSI O2

 

Fuel Weight: Apx 72,000 LBS Total / *If liquid, would be 1.4 Million LBS

 

Weight: Apx 325,000 LBS EOW/Dry Weight / Apx 537,000 T/O Weight, Max Payload

 

Airframe: 75+% Proprietary Advanced Composites, 400,000 PSI Tensile Strength Airframe / *NO Ceramic Tiles

 

Thermals: 6,000F Thermal Resistance

 

Estimated Cost: $750 Million Each (Fly Away Price)

 

Estimated Launch Cost: Apx $28 Million at 140,000 LBS, Including Maintenance Costs / Under $250 per pound at Maximum Paylaod Wieght *Could Drop to Below $50 per LBS

 

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single stage to orbit, sto, space plane, falcon heavy, delta iv, hypersonic commercial aircraft, hypersonic commercial plane, hypersonic aircraft, hypersonic plane, ICAO, International Civil Aviation Orginization, hypersonic airline, tbcc, glide breaker, fighter plane, hyperonic fighter, boeing phantom express, phantom works, boeing phantom works, lockheed skunk works, hypersonic weapon, hypersonic missile, scramjet engineering, scramjet physics, boost glide, tactical glide vehicle, scramjet, turbine based combined cycle, ramjet, dual mode ramjet, darpa, onr, navair, afrl, air force research lab, office of naval research, defense advanced research project agency, defense science, missile defense agency, aerospike, hydrogen fueled, hydrogen aircraft, virgin airlines, united airlines, sas, finnair ,emirates airlines, ANA, JAL, airlines, military, physics, airline, british airways, air france, aerion supersonic, aerion, spike aerospace, boom supersonic,

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Unified Turbine Based Combined Cycle. Current technologies and what Lockheed is trying to force on the Dept of Defense, for that low speed Mach 5 plane DOD gave them $1 billion to build and would disintegrate above Mach 5, is TBCC. 2 separate propulsion systems in the same airframe, which requires TWICE the airframe space to use.

 

Unified Turbine Based Combined Cycle is 1 propulsion system cutting that airframe deficit in half, and also able to operate above Mach 10 up to Mach 15 in atmosphere, and a simple nozzle modification allows for outside atmosphere rocket mode, ie orbital capable.

 

Additionally, Reaction Engines maximum air breather mode is Mach 4.5, above that it will explode in flight from internal pressures are too high to operate. Thus, must switch to non air breather rocket mode to operate in atmosphere in hypersonic velocities. Which as a result, makes it not feasible for anything practical. It also takes an immense amount of fuel to function.

 

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Advanced Additive Manufacturing for Hypersonic Aircraft

 

Utilizing new methods of fabrication and construction, make it possible to use additive manufacturing, dramatically reducing the time and costs of producing hypersonic platforms from missiles, aircraft, and space capable craft. Instead of aircraft being produced in piece, then bolted together; small platforms can be produced as a single unit and large platforms can be produces in large section and mated without bolting. These techniques include using exotic materials and advanced assembly processes, with an end result of streamlining the production costs and time for hypersonic aircraft; reducing months of assembly to weeks. Overall, this process greatly reduced the cost for producing hypersonic platforms. Even to such an extent that a Hellfire missile costs apx $100,000 but by utilizing our technologies, replacing it with a Mach 8-10 hypersonic missile of our physics/engineering and that missile would cost roughly $75,000 each delivered.

 

Materials used for these manufacturing processes are not disclosed, but overall, provides a foundation for extremely high stresses and thermodynamics, ideal for hypersonic platforms. This specific methodology and materials applications is many decades ahead of all known programs. Even to the extend of normalized space flight and re-entry, without concern of thermodynamic failure.

 

*Note, most entities that are experimenting with additive manufacturing for hypersonic aircraft, this makes it mainstream and standardized processes, which also applies for mass production.

 

What would normally be measured in years and perhaps a decade to go from drawing board to test flights, is reduced to singular months and ready for production within a year maximum.

 

Unified Turbine Based Combined Cycle (U-TBCC)

 

To date, the closest that NASA and industry have achieved for turbine based aircraft to fly at hypersonic velocities is by mounting a turbine into an aircraft and sharing the inlet with a scramjet or rocket based motor. Reaction Engines Sabre is not able to achieve hypersonic velocities and can only transition into a non air breathing rocket for beyond Mach 4.5

 

However, utilizing Unified Turbine Based Combine Cycle also known as U-TBCC, the two separate platforms are able to share a common inlet and the dual mode ramjet/scramjet is contained within the engine itself, which allows for a much smaller airframe footprint, thus engingeers are able to then design much higher performance aerial platforms for hypersonic flight, including the ability for constructing true single stage to orbit aircraft by utilizing a modification/version that allows for transition to outside atmosphere propulsion without any other propulsion platforms within the aircraft. By transitioning and developing aircraft to use Unified Turbine Based Combined Cycle, this propulsion system opens up new options to replace that airframe deficit for increased fuel capacity and/or payload.

 

Enhanced Dynamic Cavitation

 

Dramatically Increasing the efficiency of fuel air mixture for combustion processes at hypersonic velocities within scramjet propulsion platforms. The aspects of these processes are non disclosable.

 

Dynamic Scramjet Ignition Processes

 

For optimal scramjet ignition, a process known as Self Start is sought after, but in many cases if the platform becomes out of attitude, the scramjet will ignite. We have already solved this problem which as a result, a scramjet propulsion system can ignite at lower velocities, high velocities, at optimal attitude or not optimal attitude. It doesn't matter, it will ignite anyways at the proper point for maximum thrust capabilities at hypersonic velocities.

 

Hydrogen vs Kerosene Fuel Sources

 

Kerosene is an easy fuel to work with, and most western nations developing scramjet platforms use Kerosene for that fact. However, while kerosene has better thermal properties then Hydrogen, Hydrogen is a far superior fuel source in scramjet propulsion flight, do it having a much higher efficiency capability. Because of this aspect, in conjunction with our developments, it allows for a MUCH increased fuel to air mixture, combustion, thrust; and ability for higher speeds; instead of very low hypersonic velocities in the Mach 5-6 range. Instead, Mach 8-10 range, while we have begun developing hypersonic capabilities to exceed 15 in atmosphere within less then 5 years.

 

Conforming High Pressure Tank Technology for CNG and H2.

 

As most know in hypersonics, Hydrogen is a superior fuel source, but due to the storage abilities, can only be stored in cylinders thus much less fuel supply. Not anymore, we developed conforming high pressure storage technology for use in aerospace, automotive sectors, maritime, etc; which means any overall shape required for 8,000+ PSI CNG or Hydrogen. For hypersonic platforms, this means the ability to store a much larger volume of hydrogen vs cylinders.

 

As an example, X-43 flown by Nasa which flew at Mach 9.97. The fuel source was Hydrogen, which is extremely more volatile and combustible then kerosene (JP-7), via a cylinder in the main body. If it had used our technology, that entire section of the airframe would had been an 8,000 PSI H2 tank, which would had yielded 5-6 times the capacity. While the X-43 flew 11 seconds under power at Mach 9.97, at 6 times the fuel capacity would had yielded apx 66 seconds of fuel under power at Mach 9.97. If it had flew slower, around Mach 6, same principles applied would had yielded apx 500 seconds of fuel supply under power (slower speeds required less energy to maintain).

 

Enhanced Fuel Mixture During Shock Train Interaction

 

Normally, fuel injection is conducted at the correct insertion point within the shock train for maximum burn/combustion. Our methodologies differ, since almost half the fuel injection is conducted PRE shock train within the isolator, so at the point of isolator injection the fuel enhances the combustion process, which then requires less fuel injection to reach the same level of thrust capabilities.

 

Improved Bow Shock Interaction

 

Smoother interaction at hypersonic velocities and mitigating heat/stresses for beyond Mach 6 thermodynamics, which extraordinarily improves Type 3, 4, and 5 shock interaction.

 

6,000+ Fahrenheit Thermal Resistance

 

To date, the maximum thermal resistance was tested at AFRL in the spring of 2018, which resulted in a 3,200F thermal resistance for a short duration. This technology, allows for normalized hypersonic thermal resistance of 3,000-3,500F sustained, and up to 6,500F resistance for short endurance, ie 90 seconds or less. 10-20 minute resistance estimate approximately 4,500F +/- 200F.

  

*** This technology advancement also applies to Aerospike rocket engines, in which it is common for Aerospike's to exceed 4,500-5,000F temperatures, which results in the melting of the reversed bell housing. That melting no longer ocurrs, providing for stable combustion to ocurr for the entire flight envelope

 

Scramjet Propulsion Side Wall Cooling

 

With old technologies, side wall cooling is required for hypersonic flight and scramjet propulsion systems, otherwise the isolator and combustion regions of a scramjet would melt, even using advanced ablatives and ceramics, due to their inability to cope with very high temperatures. Using technology we have developed for very high thermodynamics and high stresses, side wall cooling is no longer required, thus removing that variable from the design process and focusing on improved ignition processes and increasing net thrust values.

 

Lower Threshold for Hypersonic Ignition

 

Active and adaptive flight dynamics, resulting in the ability for scramjet ignition at a much lower velocity, ie within ramjet envelope, between Mach 2-4, and seamless transition from supersonic to hypersonic flight, ie supersonic ramjet (scramjet). This active and dynamic aspect, has a wide variety of parameters for many flight dynamics, velocities, and altitudes; which means platforms no longer need to be engineered for specific altitude ranges or preset velocities, but those parameters can then be selected during launch configuration and are able to adapt actively in flight.

 

Dramatically Improved Maneuvering Capabilities at Hypersonic Velocities

 

Hypersonic vehicles, like their less technologically advanced brethren, use large actuator and the developers hope those controls surfaces do not disintegrate in flight. In reality, it is like rolling the dice, they may or may not survive, hence another reason why the attempt to keep velocities to Mach 6 or below. We have shrunken down control actuators while almost doubling torque and response capabilities specifically for hypersonic dynamics and extreme stresses involved, which makes it possible for maximum input authority for Mach 10 and beyond.

 

Paradigm Shift in Control Surface Methodologies, Increasing Control Authority (Internal Mechanical Applications)

 

To date, most control surfaces for hypersonic missile platforms still use fins, similar to lower speed conventional missiles, and some using ducted fins. This is mostly due to lack of comprehension of hypersonic velocities in their own favor. Instead, the body itself incorporates those control surfaces, greatly enhancing the airframe strength, opening up more space for hardware and fuel capacity; while simultaneously enhancing the platforms maneuvering capabilities.

 

A scramjet missile can then fly like conventional missile platforms, and not straight and level at high altitudes, losing velocity on it's decent trajectory to target. Another added benefit to this aspect, is the ability to extend range greatly, so if anyone elses hypersonic missile platform were developed for 400 mile range, falling out of the sky due to lack of glide capabilities; our platforms can easily reach 600+ miles, with minimal glide deceleration.

Focke-Achgelis Fa 330 A-1 Bachstelze (Water Wagtail)

  

Henrich Focke startled the aviation world when he flew his Focke-Wulf Fw 61 helicopter in 1937. It quickly shattered all records for helicopter speed, altitude, distance, and endurance. Thanks to Focke and fellow helicopter pioneer, Anton Flettner, Germany entered World War II as the leader in rotorcraft technology. By 1942, the German Navy was already testing Flettner's twin-rotor helicopter, the Fl 282. Navy leaders hoped to use this aircraft to hunt for enemy submarines and protect convoys. The tests convinced them to continue to develop rotary-winged aircraft for shipboard use.

 

During World War 2, German naval strategy and Britain's survival hinged on the success or failure of the U-boat service to interdict the flow of material from the United States. However, the U-boats depended primarily on visual acquisition of their targets. They rode low in the water and a lookout could not see vessels more than 8 km (5 miles) away, even when surfaced. Small, submarine-launched aircraft offered a novel solution in regions free of enemy patrol aircraft.

 

Beginning in World War I, several nations experimented with submarine-based observation aircraft with mediocre results and interest waned after the Armistice. The start of World War II renewed interest in Germany and Japan in developing this technology. The German Navy looked first at the Arado Ar 231 but this collapsible seaplane proved a failure. It handled poorly on the water and took too long to assemble and disassemble. As the sub's crew put the airplane together on the open deck, the submarine was extremely vulnerable. As a result, the German Navy quickly terminated the Ar 231 program.

 

By the spring of 1942, the Battle of the Atlantic was beginning to turn against Germany. The U. S. Navy was deploying increasing numbers of anti-submarine assets to protect the eastern seaboard, once a fertile hunting ground for prowling U-boats. The submarine commanders moved their patrols far out to sea to avoid Allied air cover and roaming destroyers. High sea states in these open waters restricted visibility to several kilometers or less, and U-boat commanders were hard-pressed to acquire targets. The expanse of the open ocean also worsened the target detection problem. Near the coast, Allied ships traveled in relatively narrow areas. A U-boat could wait, just beneath the waves in daylight or float on the surface at night, and expect with some certainty that a target would steam within detection range. Away from the coast, U-boats had to patrol much larger areas and this reduced the chances of detecting Allied ships. German sonar and radar technology lagged behind Allied developments and also made detection of the U-boats easier.

 

The navy asked Focke-Achgelis GmbH to build a rotorkite that a U-boat could tow aloft to search for targets. The aircraft had to fly high enough to substantially boost the scouting range, yet remain small, easy to store, and mechanically simple to maintain and operate. Focke-Achgelis proposed a clever design best characterized by simplicity. The Fa 330 was simple to fabricate, easy to assemble on deck for flight, and weighed so little that two men could comfortably hoist the entire machine. The Fa 330 needed no engine because the submarine towed the gyro kite through the air. Like a gyro plane, the rotorkite flew by autorotation, meaning that the movement of relative wind through the rotors caused them to turn with sufficient speed to generate lift.

 

The airframe consisted of two 6.35 cm (2.5 in) diameter steel tubes joined to form an inverted 'T.' One tube served as the fuselage of the aircraft, which mounted the pilot's seat and rear control surfaces. The other tube served as the rotor mast. A control stick hung from the blade hub atop the mast. The pilot moved the stick for direct (no intervening control linkage) pitch and roll control, and he used foot pedals to move the large rudder and control yaw. The horizontal stabilizer had no moving control surfaces. Weight was saved on the rotor hub by using steel cables to support the blades against blade droop when the aircraft was not flying. The cables also limited the blades' range of movement when during flight. Instrumentation consisted of an altimeter, airspeed indicator, and tachometer. Its landing gear consisted of two small skids.

 

The three-bladed rotor turned freely but was limited to 250 rpm. This limit was reached if the aircraft attained a never-exceed speed of 80 kph (50 mph). Normal flight rpm was about 205 at a standard towing airspeed of 40 km/h (25 mph). A minimum speed of 27 kph (17 mph) was required to maintain autorotation. Blade pitch could only be set before flight by turning adjustment screws. The blades used flapping and dragging hinges equipped with variable dampers. The rotor blades consisted of a 3.2 m (10 ft 4 in) steel spar that supported plywood ribs. The blades were 0.3 m (12 in) wide and skinned with fabric-covered plywood. The blade airfoil was almost symmetrical. The blades were precisely balanced during the manufacturing process, which eliminated the need for difficult and time-consuming manual balancing at sea.

 

The Fa-330 was stowed in two tubes of approximately 3.75 meters (12 ft 4in) length built vertically into the U-boat's conning tower. One tube contained the blades and tail and the other contained the fuselage. Four crewmen could assemble the entire structure in three minutes in calm conditions. Rotation of the blades in preparation for flight could be done by hand, but if a course pitch (which provided the best operating performance) was preset on the rotor blades this became extremely difficult. In that case, a rope wrapped around drum on the rotor hub was used to get the rotor turning. The Fa 330 took off from a small platform attached to the aft railing of the U-boat's conning tower. A towline extended from an electric winch to a quick release coupling on the Fa 330. Since the primary duty of the Fa 330 was to spot suitable targets, communication with the towing vessel was essential. The pilot used an interphone system that consisted of a telephone cable, which paralleled the towline. Upon landing a rotor brake was provided to quickly stop the rotor spinning. Disassembly time was not much greater than that required for assembly. If the U-boat came under attack and had to make a crash dive the pilot could pull a quick release lever above the seat, and the towline would separate from the aircraft in addition to releasing the rotor hub from the mast. As the rotors departed they pulled a line out, which deployed a parachute. Once the parachute opened, the pilot released his seat buckle, which allowed the remainder of the aircraft structure to fall away. Additionally, the towline quick release coupling could be manually operated without engaging the rotor release.

 

By early August 1942, Focke-Achgelis had completed the first prototype Fa 330 and had begun operational testing aboard U 523 in the Baltic Sea with positive results, though it clearly demonstrated that the Type VIIC U-boats were to slow to tow the aircraft successfully. A wind tunnel at Chalais-Meudon, France served as a simulator to train several crewmembers from each vessel that carried a Fa 330. Since very few of the prospective pilots had previous flight experience, and would have little opportunity to practice while on patrol, it was essential that the aircraft be easy to fly. The Fa 330 was stable enough that the pilot could release the stick for seconds at a time without a loss of control.

 

At the time the Fa 330 received clearance for deployment at the beginning of 1943, only the Type IX U-boat, with its surface speed of 18 knots, had sufficient speed to ensure the Fa 330 remained airborne in low wind conditions. The Fa 330 used a steel tow cable 300 meters (984 ft) in length, which allowed it to ascend to a maximum altitude of 220 meters (722 ft) when flying at the top speed of 80 km/h (50 mph). At that altitude, spotting distance was 53 kilometers (33 miles) in clear conditions. Like a kite, the maximum altitude attainable was dependent on airspeed. If the airspeed dropped to 50 km/h (31 mph), then the maximum altitude became 200 meters (656 ft) with a possible spotting distance of 50 kilometers (31 miles). If the speed dropped to the minimum safe towing speed of 35 km/h (22 mph) then the maximum altitude was only 100 meters (328 ft), with a possible spotting distance of 35 kilometers (22 miles).

 

Unfortunately, the Fa 330 possessed a large radar signature and because most of the Atlantic convoys employed numerous escort vessels for anti-submarine duty by the time the Fa 330 entered service, it was impractical to deploy the rotorkite in that ocean. However, in the Indian Ocean, merchantmen still plied the seas without benefit of the convoy system and the Fa 330 could serve the U-boat service to some effect. The U-boat service began committing its longest-range vessels - the Type IX D2, known as the Monsoon boats, to operate with the Fa 330 in the Indian Ocean, frequently operating out of bases borrowed from the Japanese. The first operational deployment of the type occurred in April 1943 aboard U 177, which managed to sink one vessel on August 5 with the aid of the Fa 330.

 

Operational details of the Fa 330's combat service are almost nonexistent after the U 177 deployment. This is undoubtedly because of the extremely high loss rate among U-boats, which has meant that very few ships' logs have survived. There were several concerns that prevented wider employment of the Fa 330. A U-boat commander was faced with a choice between risking his entire vessel and crew to recover the pilot, or to crash dive the submarine and leave the unfortunate individual to suffer an almost certain death, in the event that the submarine had been spotted, in addition to the fact that it gave away the U-boats primary advantage - stealth. It appears that some U-boat commanders who were not enamored with the Fa 330 took the opportunity to trade them to the Japanese in exchange for floatplanes to patrol around U-boat bases in Java and Malaya. The Japanese Navy enjoyed more success with submarine launched aircraft. They had several classes of large submarines that could carry, launch and recover seaplanes capable of carrying reasonable weapon loads and which would not give away the submarine's position.

 

Although Focke-Achgelis was responsible for the development of the Fa 330, Weser-Flugzeugbau in Hoyenkamp actually produced the aircraft with approximately 200 Fa 330s produced alongside Focke-Achgelis's most significant product - the Fa 223 helicopter, which was the largest rotary wing aircraft of the war. The only notable variation that occurred during Fa 330 production was increase in the span of the rotor blades to 3.79 meters (12 ft 5 in). Later production Fa 330s also had mountings for small wheels to be added to the skids to aid in moving the aircraft on the ground. A version of the Fa 330 was under consideration for surface vessels, which was actually a true helicopter that used a 200 lb, 60 horsepower engine, however this design did not progress much beyond the drawing board.

 

The Fa 330 was viewed with a great deal of interest by the Allies following its discovery on U-852 after it ran aground off the Somali coast during an air attack on May 3, 1944. The performance of the Fa 330 was not as interesting to Allied Intelligence as was the simplicity, ease of production, and speed with which it could be assembled. It was apparent that such a design allowed a significant increase in visual range at sea for very little effort.

 

After the war, the United States and Britain conducted extensive tests on the Fa 330 to evaluate this type of aircraft for observation purposes. Captured Fa 330s towed behind boats and even jeeps provided positive results, but the introduction of the helicopter into naval operations rendered such concepts obsolete. A number of these easily stored aircraft appeared on the collector's market, even occasionally showing up in Army-Navy surplus stores and a number survive in museums around the world.

 

The National Air and Space Museum fully restored its Fa 330 in 1975. It bears the captured aircraft registration number of T2-4618, but it appears likely that the museum's aircraft is actually T2-4616, which was in a display example of captured German technology at Freeman Field in 1946. The Army Air Force then loaned it to Eastern Rotor Craft of Pennsylvania in 1947 for an evaluation after which it into storage for the National Air Museum. T2-4618 conducted a number of flight tests at Wright Field in 1946, during which it was equipped with a wheeled landing gear and towed by a truck. However the relatively large landing gear upset the center-of-gravity and made the aircraft difficult to takeoff and land. After four successful flights the aircraft rolled on landing and sustained some damage. The aircraft was repaired and sent to MacDill Air Force Base for further testing in 1948. There it was towed behind a boat, minus the wheeled undercarriage, for consideration as an aid for U.S. Air Force small rescue boats in spotting downed airmen in the water. Unfortunately in August 1948 the towline broke and the aircraft sank in Tampa Bay, but pilot Capt. Raymond A. Popson managed to escape. The aircraft mysteriously disappeared from where it sank and rumors state that it may have turned up in an army surplus store over twenty years later.

 

The Fa 330 undoubtedly achieved its designed objectives, however by the time the aircraft entered service the tide had irreversibly turn against the U-boat service. If this simplest of aircraft had been available at the beginning of the war, then merchant shipping might have suffered significantly higher losses. The fact that this design was not used more extensively is more an acknowledgement of allied air and naval supremacy over the sea-lanes than any failure of the equipment to live up to its expectations.

 

Rotor Diameter:8.53 m (28 ft)

Length: 4.47 m (14 ft 8 in)

Height: 1.67 m (5 ft 6 in)

Weight: Empty, 75 kg (165 lb) [not including 10 kg (22 lb) parachute]

Gross, 175 kg (386 lb)

Serial Number:T2-4616

 

References and Further Reading:

 

Butler, Phil. War Prizes. Leicester, England: Midland Counties Publications, 1994.

 

Showell, Jak P. Mallman. U-Boats Under the Swastika. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval

Institute Press, 1987.

 

Smith, J.R. German Aircraft of the Second World War. London: Putnam, 1972.

 

Treadwell, Terry. Strike From Beneath the Sea: A History of Aircraft-carrying

Submarines. Charleston, South Carolina: Tempus Publishing Inc., 1999

 

Fa 330 curatorial file, Aeronautics Division, National Air and Space Museum.

 

Roger Connor, REL, 10-16-00

From Barfoot's series of coloured lithographs of 1840 depicting the cotton manufacturing process. Note scavenger under machinery.

 

Original text written to accompany Lithograph No.6:

 

"The picture before us shows a pair of Mule Spinning Wheels. The man is the Spinner, the two young women are his assistants, who are called Piecers, and the little girl under the Frame is the Scavenger. In very fine work, where the threads break more frequently, four or five Piecers are engaged. Boys and young men are often employed in this, and little girls in Scavenging. The Wooden Frame on the left, in which the Bobbins are placed upright, is the Creel; the threads from the Bobbins pass between the small iron rollers beneath, some of which are fluted, others covered with leather. Another, at the top, made of wood and covered with woollen cloth, clears away the Flyings. The ends are then fixed to the Spindles on the Wheel-Carriage, which moves to and fro along the Iron Slip or Railway. The roll of thread on the Spindles is called a Cop. Iron Warfs are fixed on the Spindles below the Cops, and a Cotton Band or String passing over two of these, and a Tin Drum under the Frame, gives them motion as the straps do to the heavy Drums and large Pulleys. The thread is twisted as the Carriage is drawn out, and is wound upon the Cop, when the Spinner puts the Carriage back again. When the threads break, the ends are twisted together by the Piecers. The little Scavenger wipes down the Frame to clear it of the dust and Flyings. The Mule is not the only Frame used for Spinning: Throstle, or Water-Twist, is spun upon what are called Throstles, and the coarser sort of yarn upon what are called Jennies."

History of the Barber-Colman Company

 

Historically one of Rockford’s largest manufacturers.

 

Began with the founding of the Barber & Colman Company in 1894 – partnership between Howard Colman, an inventor and entrepreneur, and W. A. Barber, an investor. [Today he would probably be considered a venture capitalist.] Colman’s first patent and marketable invention was the Creamery Check Pump used to separate buttermilk and dispense skimmed milk.

 

Colman’s textile production inventions led the company on its rapid rise as a worldwide leader in the design and manufacture of diversified products. Specific items designed for the textile industry included the Hand Knotter and the Warp Tying Machine. Through these innovations, Barber & Colman was able to build its first plant on Rock Street in Rockford’s Water Power District, and to establish branch offices in Boston MA and Manchester, England.

 

Incorporated as Barber-Colman in 1904 and built 5 new major structures on their site by 1907.

 

Later innovations for the textile industry included an Automatic Winder, High Speed Warper and Automatic Spoolers. By 1931, the textile machinery division had branch production facilities in Framingham MA; Greenville SC; Munich, Germany; and Manchester. This part of the business flourished through the mid-1960s but then declined as other divisions expanded.

 

Branched out from the textile industry into machine tools in 1908 with Milling Cutters. Barber-Colman created machines used at the Fiat plant in Italy (1927) and the Royal Typewriter Co. outside Hartford CT. By 1931, the Machine Tool and Small Tool Division of Barber-Colman listed branch offices in Chicago, Cincinnati and Rochester NY.

 

As part of its commitment to developing a skilled work force, Barber-Colman began the Barber-Colman Continuation School for boys 16 and older shortly after the company was founded. It was a 3-year apprentice program that trained them for manufacturing jobs at Barber-Colman and paid them hourly for their work at rate that increased as their proficiency improved. The program was operated in conjunction with the Rockford Vocational School.

 

To foster continued inventions, an Experimental Department was established with the responsibility of continually developing new machines. A lab was first installed in 1914 and was divided into two parts – a chemistry lab to provide thorough analysis of all metals and their component properties, and a metallurgical lab to test the effectiveness of heat treatment for hardening materials. Innovations in the Experimental Department laid the groundwork for the company’s movement into the design and development of electrical and electronic products, and energy management controls.

 

BARBER-COLMAN became involved in the electrical and electronics industry in 1924 with the founding of the Electrical Division. First product was a radio operated electric garage door opener controlled from the dashboard of a car. Unfortunately, it was too expensive to be practical at the time. The division’s major product in its early years was Barcol OVERdoors, a paneled wood garage door that opened on an overhead track. Several designs were offered in 1931, some of which had the appearance of wood hinged doors. This division eventually expanded into four separate ones that designed and produced electronic control instruments and systems for manufacturing processes; small motors and gear motors used in products such as vending machines, antennas and X-ray machines; electronic and pneumatic controls for aircraft and marine operations; and electrical and electronic controls for engine-powered systems.

 

In the late 1920s, the Experimental Department began conducting experiments with temperature control instruments to be used in homes and other buildings and the Temperature Control Division was born. Over time, BARBER-COLMAN became known worldwide leader in electronic controls for heating, ventilating and air conditioning. These are the products that continue its name and reputation today.

 

The death of founder Howard Colman in 1942 was sudden but the company continued to expand its

operations under changing leadership. Ground was broken in 1953 for a manufacturing building in

neighboring Loves Park IL to house the overhead door division and the Uni-Flow division. Three later additions

were made to that plant.

 

The divestiture of BARBER-COLMAN divisions began in 1984 with the sale of the textile division to Reed-

Chatwood Inc which remained at BARBER-COLMAN’s original site on Rock Street until 2001. The machine tool

division, the company’s second oldest unit, was spun off in 1985 to Bourn and Koch, another Rockford

company. At that time, it was announced that the remaining divisions of the BARBER-COLMAN Company

would concentrate their efforts on process controls and cutting tools. These moves reduced local

employment at BARBER-COLMAN’s several locations to about 2200. The remaining divisions were eventually

sold as well, but the BARBER-COLMAN Company name continues to exist today as one of five subsidiaries of

Eurotherm Controls Inc whose worldwide headquarters are in Leesburg VA. The Aerospace Division and the

Industrial Instruments Division still operate at the Loves Park plant, employing 1100 workers in 2000. The

historic complex on Rock Street was vacated in 2001 and the property purchased by the City of Rockford in

2002.

 

Extensive documentation from the Experimental Department was left at the Rock Street plant when the

company moved out and was still there when the site was purchased by the City of Rockford. These

documents are now housed at the Midway Village Museum.

(En) Founded in 1906, the Coking Plant of Anderlues was specialized in the production of coke for industrial use.

 

Coke was obtained by distillation of coal in furnaces and, thanks to its superior fuel coal properties, it was used afterwards to feed the blast furnaces in the steel manufacturing process.

 

Closed and abandoned since 2002, the site has since undergone many losses and damages, not including an important pollution. While some buildings have now been demolished, there are however still some important parts of the former coking plant.

 

Among them, the former coal tower, next to the imposing "battery" of 38 furnaces, where the coke was produced. Besides them, we still can see the administrative buildings, the power station with its cooling tower, and buildings for the by-products, which were obtained by recovering the tar and coal gas. There are also a gasometer north side, the coal tip east side and a settling basin south side.

 

-----------

 

(Fr) Fondées en 1906, les Cokeries d'Anderlues étaient spécialisées dans la fabrication de coke à usage industriel.

 

Le coke était obtenu par distillation de la houille dans des fours et, grâce à ses propriétés combustibles supérieures au charbon, il servait par après à alimenter les hauts-fourneaux dans le processus de fabrication de l'acier.

 

Fermé et laissé à l'abandon depuis 2002, le site a depuis lors subi de nombreuses pertes et dégradations, sans compter la pollution qui y règne. Si certains bâtiments (comme l'ancien lavoir à charbon) ont aujourd'hui été démolis, on retrouve encore toutefois certaines parties importantes de cette ancienne cokerie.

 

Parmi celles-ci, l'ancienne tour à charbon suivie de près par l'imposante "batterie" de 38 fours, où était produit le coke. A côté d'eux, on découvre également les bâtiments administratifs, la centrale électrique avec sa tour de refroidissement, ainsi que les bâtiments des sous-produits, lesquels étaient obtenus par récupération du goudron et du gaz de houille. Et en périphérie, on retrouve un gazomètre côté nord, le terril à l'est et un bassin de décantation côté sud.

Unedited window reflection of the American Apparel shop in Amsterdam. Taken with a Sony HX200V. No editing, no magic tricks, no Photoshop :)

  

Sex sells, so it only makes sense that our world is plastered with images of scantily clad people (mostly women) that try to make us consume products we don't need and that destroy the planet during their manufacturing process and after they've been disposed off to rot away in a landfill somewhere, but as long as we get to see sexiness while we're slowly killing our world, it's all good...the last thing we'll ever see will probably be some half-naked lady as the world explodes, burning one last hot image on our retinas as they shrink into our heads and our brains detonate with a final 'Boom'...could be worse :)

  

Amsterdam photos

 

Wicked reflections

 

www.amstersam.com

 

'Like' me on Facebook :)

Cloisonné is a magnificent and colorful handicraft article that is made within a complex manufacturing process, including inlaying thin gold threads or copper wires into various patterns, hammering the base, inlaying copper strips, soldering, filling with enamel, firing enamel, polishing, gilding and adhering enamels of various colors to copper molds.

 

Blue is the major color of cloisonné. The making of cloisonné can date back to the Ming Dynasty and became prosperous in the Qing Dynasty, a history of over 500 years. Cloisonné is deeply preferred by people in all ages for its dignified image, marvelous design, palatial appearance, crystal colored glaze, superior quality and bright contrasting colors.

Autumn leaf color is a phenomenon that affects the normally green leaves of many deciduous trees and shrubs by which they take on, during a few weeks in the autumn season, one or many colors that range from red to yellow. The phenomenon is commonly called fall colors and autumn colors, while the expression fall foliage usually connotes the viewing of a tree or forest whose leaves have undergone the change. In some areas of Europe, Canada and the United States, "leaf peeping" tourism between the beginning of color changes and the onset of leaf fall, or scheduled in hope of coinciding with that period, is a major contribution to economic activity.

 

** Chlorophyll and the green color

 

A green leaf is green because of the presence of a pigment known as chlorophyll. When they are abundant in the leaf's cells, as they are during the growing season, the chlorophyll's' green color dominates and masks out the colors of any other pigments that may be present in the leaf. Thus the leaves of summer are characteristically green.

 

Chlorophyll has a vital function: that of capturing solar rays and utilizing the resulting energy in the manufacture of the plant's food—simple sugars which are produced from water and carbon dioxide. These sugars are the basis of the plant's nourishment—the sole source of the carbohydrates needed for growth and development. In their food-manufacturing process, the chlorophylls themselves break down and thus are being continually "used up." During the growing season, however, the plant replenishes the chlorophyll so that the supply remains high and the leaves stay green.

A pile of autumn leaves.

 

In late summer, the veins that carry fluids into and out of the leaf are gradually closed off as a layer of special cork cells forms at the base of each leaf. As this cork layer develops, water and mineral intake into the leaf is reduced, slowly at first, and then more rapidly. It is during this time that the chlorophyll begins to decrease.

 

Often the veins will still be green after the tissues between them have almost completely changed color.

Catherine Barr, who died in 2008, left the money to fund a new lifeboat named in the memory of her late husband, Dr John Buchanan Barr MBE.

Dr Barr worked as a GP in Glasgow before World War II, during which he served with distinction with the Royal Army Medical Corps in North Africa, Sicily and Italy. After demobilising, he returned to general practice in Glasgow.

However, he and his wife often spent their holidays in Portpatrick and the lifeboat bequest was because of their fondness for the village.

The new boat is stationed in the Dumfries and Galloway village.

  

Tamar class lifeboats are all-weather lifeboats operated by the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) around the coasts of Great Britain and Ireland. The Tamar class is the replacement for the Tyne-class slipway launched All Weather Lifeboat (ALB).

 

The class name comes from the River Tamar in south west England which flows into the English Channel where they are manufactured by Babcock International Group.

 

Since 1982 the RNLI had deployed 17 knots (31 km/h) Tyne Class lifeboats at stations which launched their boats down slipways or needed to operate in shallow waters. The organisation desired to increase the speed and range of their operations so introduced 25 knots (46 km/h) Severn and Trent boats from 1994 where they could be moored afloat. They then needed to produce a boat with similar capabilities but with protected propellers and other modifications that would allow it to be launched on a slipway.

 

The prototype Tamar was built in 2000 and was used for trials until 2006. It was sold in December 2008 to Kent Police, becoming Princess Alexandra III, the force's permanent maritime vessel operating out of Sheerness. The first production boat, Haydn Miller entered service at Tenby in March 2006. A few of the early boats suffered problems such as fuel leaking under the floor of the engine control room around hydraulic lines. These boats were recalled and the problems rectified. There are very few reported problems associated with the vessel now as the design and manufacturing process is largely perfected.

 

The Tamar has a new design of crew workstation with seats that can move up and down 20 centimetres (7.9 in) as the boat passes through rough seas at high speed, and a networked computerised Systems and Information Management System (SIMS) which allows the crew to monitor and control the boat entirely from within the wheelhouse. The coxswain and helmsman have seat-mounted throttles, trackerball and joystick controls of the rudder. Alternatively the boat may be monitored and control by two controls on the bridge: Dual throttle controls and joystick on the left; dual throttle, wheel and control-screen on the right. All aspects of the vessel may also be controlled from this position.

 

The lifeboat is completely water-tight allowing it to self-right with up to 60 people on board. The boat has the potential to carry a maximum of 120 passengers on board, but without self righting capability. The Survivors Space has room for 10 sitting and 8 standing. The Survivors Space is accessed either through the Wheelhouse or the fore deck Emergency Escape Hatch.

 

Each Tamar carries a Y Class inflatable boat which can be deployed and recovered while at sea

 

A major maritime exercise, Exercise Diamond, which involved HM Coastguard, vessels, RNLI lifeboats, helicopters, search and rescue coordinators, Belfast Harbour, emergency services and local authorities was held on Sunday 23 September from 9.30 am. Exercise Diamond, a live large-scale incident exercise, was held within Belfast Lough, Northern Ireland and involved 365 people.

 

Exercise Diamond was designed to test the major incident plans for all of the organisations that would be involved should a major maritime incident happen in Northern Ireland.

 

Exercise Diamond was the largest live maritime exercise ever held in Northern Ireland.

 

An exercise held within the Titanic centenary, Olympic, & Diamond year involving Emergency Services, Agencies and Companies dedicated to saving lives and providing the best possible service.

 

The following organisations participated in the exercise:

 

HM Coastguard / Maritime and Coastguard Agency; Royal National Lifeboat Institution; Police Service of Northern Ireland; Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service; Northern Ireland Ambulance Service; Ministry of Defence (including Royal Airforce); Stena Line; RFD Survitec; Irish Coastguard; Northdown and Ards Borough Council; Belfast Harbour.

The cruiser/yacht Aloha was built by Alf Jahnsen and his son Harvey at their shipyard in Lake Street, Forster, NSW. Launched in 1963 she is now based in the Gippsland Lakes in Victoria and is essentially the same as the original. The legendary quality of Jahnsen built boats is epitomised in this vessel.

 

See all the images in the ALBUM ALOHA

 

Details

Name: ALOHA

Type: Cruiser/Yacht

Length: 36 ft

Beam: 12 ft

Draft: 3 ft 2 in.

Register tonnage: 12 (1 ton = 100 cu. ft.)

Engine: 100bhp TS3 Rootes Lister diesel

John Doherty - Naval Architects Eken and Doherty

 

Owners:

1963 Stanley Herbert Robinson, Bexley, NSW

1963 1966 A.E. Roberts, Newport, NSW

1966 - 1968 B. Bergrstom (name of owner uncertain) The Entrance, NSW

1968 - 1972 G. H. Tait Surfers Paradise Queensland

1972 - 1981 E. Walker & E. Von Nida, Southport, Queensland 1981- 1983 M. F. Edmiston, Hamilton Queensland

1983 - 1987 W. M. Laver, Mudgeeraba Queensland

1987 - 1996 C. Curtis, Runaway Bay, Queensland

1996 - 2000 G. Horne, Runaway Bay, Queensland

2000 - 2009 J. Rohrs, Runaway Bay, Queensland

2009 - 2017 S. Ross, Paynesville, Victoria

2017 - Stuart Howe, Paynesville, Victoria

 

Launch

Aloha was launched in Spring 1963 from the old ferry ramp in Tuncurry. She was aided by another Jahnsen built boat, the original ferry Alma G II that had been converted to a fishing boat Wesley Gregory by Alf and Harvey Jahnsen.

 

Description

When last sold she was described as follows: The Aloha is a classic timber motor-sailer, designed by Beacon & Doherty and built by Alf and Harvey Jahnsen in Forster, launched 1963. Featuring a bright, open layout, reminiscent of Halvorsen, with plenty of entertaining space in the generous saloon and cockpit, and lovely timberwork throughout. She sleeps six with a double vee berth forward, another slide-out double in the saloon, and 2 settee berths in the cockpit. All the foam mattresses are extra thick. The bathroom is spacious and has a vanity, hot shower and electric flush marine toilet. Opposite this is plenty of storage and hanging space.

The Galley is behind the helm portside, with a 2 burner gas stove/oven, Dometic fridge and pressurised water. Headroom is in excess of 6'. Wide side decks are a bonus.

Aloha is powered by it's original Rootes Lister 100 hp two stroke diesel, in well maintained condition, giving her 7 knots at an economical 8 litres/hr.

Inventory includes solar charging, Muir electric windlass, cockpit clears, cabin side brightwork covers, sturdy dinghy davits, sounder and marine radios. She has approx. 600 litres each of diesel and fresh water.

Her main and headsail sailing rig allows for silent cruising off the wind.

Aloha is beautiful yet practical, presented in excellent condition inside and out, and realistically priced for such an eye-catching vessel.

 

Engine

The Rootes TS3 - Two-stroke, Opposed piston, Diesel Engine that powers the Aloha has been proven to be a reliable, if rather noisy marine engine..

 

Number of cylinders .......…................3

Number of pistons …………………………6

Displacement ...............199 & 215 cu in (3.2 & 3.5 litre)

Performance ..........................70 - 165 hp @ 2,400 rpm

Torque .................................. 345 ft lb.'s @ 1,250 rpm

Manufacturer ......................Rootes Tillings-Stevens Ltd, UK.

Year of manufacture .................................... 1954 to 1974

Total TS3 engines built (all models) ............54,000 (approx)

TS3 designation .......................................Two Stroke, 3 cylinder

 

These highly advanced and unconventional design engines are characterized not only by their lengthy and highly detailed pre-production development, but also by the unusually high quality material specifications used for their engine components and very precise manufacturing processes and machining tolerances used in their production.

 

The Opposed Piston 2-stroke design provided much fewer points of failure than in a conventional engine design:

No cylinder head(s).

No cylinder head gasket(s).

No cam box / rocker cover gaskets

No valves.

No camshaft.

No valve gear (cam followers, push-rods, cam timing gears, valve springs, keepers and collets, cam bearings etc).

Six pistons, but only 3 cylinders and 3 diesel injectors.

 

The Opposed Piston, twin Rocker Lever architecture also provided less than 5 degree conrod angularity at the pistons, so there was virtually no side thrust generated on each firing stroke.

 

This meant the levels of cylinder bore and piston skirt wear, plus the related motoring losses (friction losses generated when the engine is running) were substantially less than all conventional design diesel engines.

 

These combined qualities produced:

High power density.

High levels of mechanical reliability under adverse / overload operating conditions.

Impressive engine life.

Very low fuel consumption (0.37 lbs per HP per hour).

Low overall operating costs.

 

Rootes financial troubles on the car side of their business resulted in Chrysler USA assuming full control of Rootes Group in 1967, which also included Rootes Diesel Engineering Division. By 1974, all TS3 engine production had ceased.

(Source: www.commer.co.nz/history)

 

Image Source - Stuart Howe, Paynesville

 

Enhancement: Philip Pope

 

Acknowledgements - The Owner of the Aloha, Stuart Howe, was able through his research to obtains a sound basis for the material presented.

 

All Images in this photostream are Copyright - Great Lakes Manning River Shipping and/or their individual owners as may be stated above and may not be downloaded, reproduced, or used in any way without prior written approval.

 

GREAT LAKES MANNING RIVER SHIPPING, NSW - Flickr Group --> Alphabetical Boat Index --> Boat builders Index --> Tags List

(En) Founded in 1906, the Coking Plant of Anderlues was specialized in the production of coke for industrial use.

 

Coke was obtained by distillation of coal in furnaces and, thanks to its superior fuel coal properties, it was used afterwards to feed the blast furnaces in the steel manufacturing process.

 

Closed and abandoned since 2002, the site has since undergone many losses and damages, not including an important pollution. While some buildings have now been demolished, there are however still some important parts of the former coking plant.

 

Among them, the former coal tower, next to the imposing "battery" of 38 furnaces, where the coke was produced. Besides them, we still can see the administrative buildings, the power station with its cooling tower, and buildings for the by-products, which were obtained by recovering the tar and coal gas. There are also a gasometer north side, the coal tip east side and a settling basin south side.

 

-----------

 

(Fr) Fondées en 1906, les Cokeries d'Anderlues étaient spécialisées dans la fabrication de coke à usage industriel.

 

Le coke était obtenu par distillation de la houille dans des fours et, grâce à ses propriétés combustibles supérieures au charbon, il servait par après à alimenter les hauts-fourneaux dans le processus de fabrication de l'acier.

 

Fermé et laissé à l'abandon depuis 2002, le site a depuis lors subi de nombreuses pertes et dégradations, sans compter la pollution qui y règne. Si certains bâtiments (comme l'ancien lavoir à charbon) ont aujourd'hui été démolis, on retrouve encore toutefois certaines parties importantes de cette ancienne cokerie.

 

Parmi celles-ci, l'ancienne tour à charbon suivie de près par l'imposante "batterie" de 38 fours, où était produit le coke. A côté d'eux, on découvre également les bâtiments administratifs, la centrale électrique avec sa tour de refroidissement, ainsi que les bâtiments des sous-produits, lesquels étaient obtenus par récupération du goudron et du gaz de houille. Et en périphérie, on retrouve un gazomètre côté nord, le terril à l'est et un bassin de décantation côté sud.

via

 

Vendor: Creative Wall Clock

Type:

Price: 39.90

 

Type:Wall Clocks;Style:Modern;Material:Bamboo & Wooden;Motivity Type:Quartz;Display Type:Needle;Shape:circular;Length:300 mm;Diameter:30 cm;Pattern:Abstract;Applicable Placement:Living Room;Feature:Antique Style;Combination:Separates;Brand Name:The Vinyl Clock;Width:30 cm;Form:Single Face;Model Number:MZGZ-012;Body Material:Wood;Body Material:Wood;Wall Clock Type:Wood;

 

Modern Spiral Wall Clock

   

Aren’t you tired of the same old, boring clocks? Would you like to decorate your room with a unique, wooden clock? This elegant, wooden clock can be placed anywhere in your home.

   

Unique wall clock designed for the modern times with sate of the art design and lasting quality. Fashionable and attractive, our wall clock will add a new and fascinating look to your home.

   

Clocks is crafted from quality materials that offer a lasting use.It will be a great mascot gift for wedding or housewarming.

   

Manufacturing process:

 

This model has been laser cut from birch plywood by 1/5" (5 mm) thick.

   

****BASIC INFORMATIONS****

 

Size -30cm (12") x 30 cm (12")

 

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Requires one AA battery (not included)

 

Please keep in your mind that wood is a natural material and therefore all wooden clocks are little bit different in color and wood pattern; each clock is a unique piece of wood.

Laser cutting the designs into the plywood give each piece an unique smoky smell!

   

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Important: this is a modified version of the original batik!

_______________________________________________

 

What do we see here?

First of all: this art looks like ordinary painting done with a brush. It is not. It is a totaly different and complicate process. If you don´t know already how to make batik, please read the article below to understand the difference to our thinking about painting. The batik-artist doesn´t draw with colours, he draws with wax and the colouring is done by dipping the whole batik into the desired colour. Then removing the wax in boiling water and starting new for the next colour. And this so many times as the different colours in the finished batik. This takes month o finish. And you have to think opposit: you don´t draw the painting - you draw what will not be the painting!

 

That´s why this thousands of years old technic is declared as a

UNESCO Heritage Of Human Art.

 

You can see in his Batik Paintings elements of islamic art

____________________________________________

 

BATIK

Batik is a technique of wax-resist dyeing applied to the whole cloth. This technique originated from the island of Java, Indonesia. Batik is made either by drawing dots and lines of the resist with a spouted tool called a canting, or by printing the resist with a copper stamp called a cap. The applied wax resists dyes and therefore allows the artisan to colour selectively by soaking the cloth in one colour, removing the wax with boiling water, and repeating if multiple colours are desired.

 

Batik is an ancient art form of Indonesia made with wax resistant dye on fabrics. Indonesian coastal batik (batik pesisir) made in the island of Java has a history of acculturation, a mixture of native and foreign cultures. It is a newer model compared to inland batik, and it uses more colors, though the patterns are a lot less intricate. This is because inland batik used to be made by select experts living in palace areas, while coastal batik can be made by anyone.

 

Batik is very important to Indonesians and many people would wear it to formal or casual events. Batik is commonly used by Indonesians in various rituals, ceremonies, traditions, celebrations, and even in daily uses.

 

On October 2, 2009, UNESCO officially recognized the batik (written batik (batik tulis) and stamped batik (batik cap)) as a Masterpiece of Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity from Indonesia, and encouraged the Indonesian people and the Indonesian government to safeguard, transmit, promote, and develop the craftsmanship of batik. Since then, Indonesia celebrates "the National Batik Day" (in Indonesian: Hari Batik Nasional) annually on October 2. Nowadays, Indonesians would wear batik in honor of this ancient tradition.

 

In the same year, UNESCO also recognized "Education and training in Indonesian Batik intangible cultural heritage for elementary, junior, senior, vocational school and polytechnic students, in collaboration with the Batik Museum in Pekalongan" as Masterpiece of Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity in Register of Good Safeguarding Practices List.

 

Batik is considered a cultural icon in modern Indonesia, where "National Batik Day" (in Indonesian: Hari Batik Nasional) is celebrated annually on October 2. Many Indonesians continue to wear batik on a daily basis for casual and formal occasions.

 

ETYMOLOY

The word batik is Javanese in origin. It comes from the Javanese ambatik that consist of amba means "wide" or "large", and tik or nitik means "dot" or "make a dot". The word bathikan also means "drawing" or "writing" in Javanese. When the word is absorbed to Malay (including both Indonesian and Malaysian standards), the "th-" sound is reduced to a "t-" sound more pronouncable to non-Javanese speakers.

 

The word batik is first recorded in English in the Encyclopædia Britannica of 1880, in which it is spelled as battik. It is attested in the Indonesian Archipelago during the Dutch colonial period in various forms such as mbatik, mbatek, batik and batek. Batik known as euyeuk in Sundanese, cloth can be processed into a form of batik by a pangeyeuk (batik maker).

 

HISTORY

Batik is an ancient fabric wax-resist dyeing tradition of Java, Indonesia. The art of batik is most highly developed and some of the best batiks in the world still made there. In Java, all the materials for the process are readily available – cotton and beeswax and plants from which different vegetable dyes are made. Indonesian batik predates written records: G. P. Rouffaer argues that the technique might have been introduced during the 6th or 7th century from India or Sri Lanka. On the other hand, the Dutch archaeologist J.L.A. Brandes and the Indonesian archaeologist F.A. Sutjipto believe Indonesian batik is a native tradition, since several regions in Indonesia such as Toraja, Flores, and Halmahera which were not directly influenced by Hinduism, have attested batik making tradition as well.

 

The existence of the oldest Batik activities came from Ponorogo which was still called Wengker before the 7th century, the Kingdom in Central Java learned batik from Ponorogo. Because of this, Ponorogo batik is somewhat similar to batik circulating in Central Java, except that the batik produced by Ponorogo is generally dark black or commonly called batik irengan because it is close to magical elements. so that it was developed by the kingdoms in Central Java and Yogyakarta.

 

Based on the contents of the Sundanese Manuscript, Sundanese people have known about Batik since the 12th century. Based on ancient Sundanese manuscript Sanghyang Siksa Kandang Karesian written 1518 AD, it is recorded that Sundanese having batik which is identical and representative of Sundanese culture in general. Several motif are even noted in the text, based on those data sources the process of Batik Sundanese creation begins step by step.

 

Rouffaer reported that the gringsing pattern was already known by the 12th century in Kediri, East Java. He concluded that this delicate pattern could be created only by using the canting, an etching tool that holds a small reservoir of hot wax invented in Java around that time. The carving details of clothes worn by East Javanese Prajnaparamita statues from around the 13th century show intricate floral patterns within rounded margins, similar to today's traditional Javanese jlamprang or ceplok batik motif. The motif is thought to represent the lotus, a sacred flower in Hindu-Buddhist beliefs. This evidence suggests that intricate batik fabric patterns applied with the canting existed in 13th-century Java or even earlier. By the last quarter of the 13th century, the batik cloth from Java has been exported to Karimata islands, Siam, even as far as Mosul.

 

In Europe, the technique was described for the first time in the "History of Java", published in London in 1817 by Stamford Raffles, who had been a British governor of Bengkulu, Sumatra. In 1873 the Dutch merchant Van Rijckevorsel gave the pieces he collected during a trip to Indonesia to the ethnographic museum in Rotterdam. Today the Tropenmuseum houses the biggest collection of Indonesian batik in the Netherlands. The Dutch and Chinese colonists were active in developing batik, particularly coastal batik, in the late colonial era. They introduced new patterns as well as the use of the cap (copper block stamps) to mass-produce batiks. Displayed at the Exposition Universelle at Paris in 1900, the Indonesian batik impressed the public and artists.

  

In the 1920s, Javanese batik makers migrating to Malay Peninsula (present-day Malaysia, South Thailand, and southern tip of Myanmar) introduced the use of wax and copper blocks to its east coast.

 

In Subsaharan Africa, Javanese batik was introduced in the 19th century by Dutch and English traders. The local people there adapted the Javanese batik, making larger motifs with thicker lines and more colours. In the 1970s, batik was introduced to Australia, where aboriginal artists at Erna Bella have developed it as their own craft.

 

In Africa, it was originally practised by the Yoruba tribe in Nigeria, Soninke and Wolof in Senegal.[20] This African version, however, uses cassava starch or rice paste, or mud as a resist instead of beeswax.

 

TECHNIQUES

Initially, batik making techniques only used "written batik" (batik tulis) techniques. This batik tulis is known as the original batik from generation to generation from the Indonesian nation's ancestors because the process and workmanship are still very traditional and manual. Then the technique developed with the discovery of the stamped batik (batik cap) technique which made batik work faster. The batik tulis and batik cap techniques are recognized by UNESCO as a Masterpiece of Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity from Indonesia because it still uses waxes in the making process.

 

WRITTEN BATIK (BATIK TULIS)

Written batik or batik tulis (Javanese script: ꦧꦠꦶꦏ꧀ꦠꦸꦭꦶꦱ꧀; Pegon: باتيق توليس) is made by writing wax liquid on the surface of the cloth with a tool called canting. Canting made of copper with a handle made of bamboo or wood. The making of hand-written batik takes approximately 1–3 months depending on the complexity and detail of batik. Because the working techniques are still traditional and manual, making hand-written batik takes longer and is more complicated than other batik techniques. In addition, the fundamental difference between written batik compared to other batik is that there are differences in each pattern, for example, a number of points or curved lines that are not the same because they are made manually by hand. This characteristic of hand-written batik makes hand-written batik more valuable and unique compared to other batiks.Written batik technique is the most complicated, smooth, and longest process to work with, so a piece of original batik tulis cloth is usually sold at a higher price. However, this is the advantage of batik with the written process, which is more exclusive because it is purely handmade. In Indonesia, premium hand-written batik clothes are usually only worn by certain people at special events, in the form of long-sleeved shirts or modern batik dresses. The batik motif in Indonesia has developed depending on its history and place of origin.

 

STAMPED BATIK (BATIK CAP)

Stamped batik or batik cap (Javanese script: ꦧꦠꦶꦏ꧀ꦕꦥ꧀; Pegon: باتيق چڤ) is batik whose manufacturing process uses a stamp tool. This stamp tool is made of copper plates which form a batik motif on one of its surfaces. Stamp tool or canting cap is made by people who are experts in that field. Making batik with cap works the same way as using a stamp, but using waxes, not ink. This experience process is not easy to do. To make one piece of batik cloth, the process of deepening is carried out several times depending on the number of colors desired. Cap is used to replacing the canting function so that it can shorten the manufacturing time. Batik cap is produced from the process of dyeing a tool made of copper which has been shaped in such a way on the cloth. The batik cap motif is considered to have less artistic value because all the motifs are exactly the same. The price of printed batik is cheaper than written batik because it can be made en masse. The distinctive feature of batik cap can be seen from the repeating pattern and/or ornament motif. Historically, this batik cap process was discovered and popularized by the brethren as a solution to the limited capacity of batik production if it was only processed with hand-written techniques (batik tulis). The process of making this type of batik takes approximately 2–3 days. The advantages of batik cap are easier, faster batik processing, and the most striking of which is the more neat and repetitive motifs. While the drawbacks of batik cap include the mainstream design because it usually goes into mass production, in terms of art it looks stiffer and the motifs are not too detailed, and what is certain is the possibility of having the same batik as other people is greater.

 

PAINTED BATIK (BATIK TULIS)

Painted batik, batik painting, or batik lukis (Javanese script: ꦧꦠꦶꦏ꧀ꦭꦸꦏꦶꦱ꧀; Pegon: باتيق لوكيس) is a technique of making batik by painting (with or without a pattern) on a white cloth using a medium or a combined medium like canting, brush, banana stalk, broomsticks, cotton, toothpicks, patchwork, or other media depending on the expression of a painter. Batik painting is the result of the development of batik art. The essence of batik painting is the process of making batik that does not use traditional motifs that are commonly found. The resulting motifs are the creation of the maker, usually producing contemporary (free) motifs or patterns with brighter, more striking colors, and more diverse color variations. The coloring in painted batik tends to be free and plays with many colors that are not often found in written batik (batik tulis). There are also gradation effects and other painting effects. The drawings are made as if painted batik is an ordinary painting poured on cloth using wax as the medium.

 

In principle, painted batik is almost the same way with written batik in the making process. Because of the development of classic written batik, painted batik still contains the same elements as written batik in the aspects of materials, processing, coloring, and highlighting (removing the wax). But there are also many differences due to the influence of modern painting, such as in terms of appearance, especially in motifs and colors. The most important thing in making painted batik is the combination of the batik work and coloring depending on the taste of the batik maker. Painted batik is popular because it has a very affordable price and a very creative manufacturing process. Painted batik can be used as decoration or ready-to-wear clothing (fashion). Painted batik which has human objects, landscapes, still objects, and other objects, are in high demand for display paintings.

 

MAKING PROCESS

The making of Indonesian batik is a labor-intensive process. The following are the stages in the process of making the original batik tulis cloth from the first steps to the last process: nyungging, njaplak, nglowong, ngiseni, nyolet, mopok, nembok, ngelir, nembok, the first nglorod, ngrentesi, nyumri, nyoja, and the second nglorod.

 

Firstly, a cloth is washed, soaked, and beaten with a large mallet. Patterns are drawn with pencil and later redrawn using hot wax, usually made from a mixture of paraffin or beeswax, sometimes mixed with plant resins, which functions as a dye-resist. The wax can be applied with a variety of tools. A pen-like instrument called a canting (Javanese pronunciation: [tʃantiŋ], sometimes spelled with old Dutch orthography tjanting) is the most common. A canting is made from a small copper reservoir with a spout on a wooden handle. The reservoir holds the resist which flows through the spout, creating dots and lines as it moves. For larger patterns, a stiff brush may be used.[38] Alternatively, a copper block stamp called a cap (Javanese pronunciation: [tʃap]; old spelling tjap) is used to cover large areas more efficiently.

 

After the cloth is dry, the resist is removed by boiling or scraping the cloth. The areas treated with resist keep their original colour; when the resist is removed the contrast between the dyed and undyed areas forms the pattern. This process is repeated as many times as the number of colours desired.

 

The most traditional type of batik, called written batik (batik tulis), is drawn using only the canting. The cloth needs to be drawn on both sides and dipped in a dye bath three to four times. The whole process may take up to a year; it yields considerably finer patterns than stamped batik (batik cap).

 

CULTURE

Batik is an ancient cultural element that is widespread in Indonesia. Making batik, in the sense of written batik, is not only a physical activity but has a deep dimension that contains prayer, hope, and lessons. Batik motifs in ancient Javanese society have a symbolic meaning and can be used as a means of communication for ancient Javanese people. The ancient Javanese community realized that through batik motifs the social stratification of society could be identified. Basically, the use of batik should not be arbitrary for both men and women because every element in Javanese clothing, especially batik, is always full of symbols and meanings.

 

Many Indonesian batik patterns are symbolic. Infants are carried in batik slings decorated with symbols designed to bring the child luck, and certain batik designs are reserved for brides and bridegrooms, as well as their families. Batik garments play a central role in certain Javanese rituals, such as the ceremonial casting of royal batik into a volcano. In the Javanese naloni mitoni ceremony, the mother-to-be is wrapped in seven layers of batik, wishing her good things. Batik is also prominent in the tedak siten ceremony when a child touches the earth for the first time. Specific pattern requirement are often reserved for traditional and ceremonial contexts.

 

TRADITIONAL COSTUME IN THE JAVANESE ROYAL PALACE

Batik is the traditional costume of the royal and aristocratic families in Java for many centuries until now. The use of batik is still sustainable and is a mandatory traditional dress in the rules of the Javanese palaces to this day. Initially, the tradition of making batik was considered a tradition that could only be practiced in the palace and was designated as the clothes of the king, family, and their followers, thus becoming a symbol of Javanese feudalism. Because many of the king's followers lived outside the palace, this batik art was brought by them outside the palace and carried out in their respective places. The batik motifs of each social class are differentiated according to social strata and nobility in the palace. The motifs of the Parang Rusak, semen gedhe, kawung, and udan riris are the batik motifs used by the aristocrats and courtiers in garebeg ceremonies, pasowanan, and welcoming honor guests. During the colonial era, Javanese courts issued decrees that dictated certain patterns to be worn according to a person's rank and class within the society. Sultan Hamengkubuwono VII, who ruled the Yogyakarta Sultanate from 1921 to 1939, reserved several patterns such as the Parang Rusak and Semen Agung for members of the Yogyakartan royalties and restricted commoners from wearing them.

 

TRADITIONAL DANCE COSTUMES

Batik is used for traditional dance performances in Java. Costume is one of the main things in presenting traditional Javanese dance. Kemben is a piece of cloth worn from the chest to the waist. Tapih is used to fasten the jarit of the dancers, it is decorated with a distinctive batik motif, and fastened with a stagen belt. Sampur is used by wrapping them around the dancer's body. This cloth is also known as Kancrik Prade which is usually dominated by yellow or red. Jarit is a subordinate, uses a long batik cloth. Some examples of Javanese dances include Bedhaya, Srimpi, Golek, Beksan, wayang wong, gambyong, and so on.

 

BIRTH CEREMONIES

In Javanese tradition, when a mother-to-be reaches her seventh month of pregnancy, a seven-month event or a mitoni ceremony will be held. One of the things that must be done in the ceremony is that the prospective mother must try on the seven kebayas and seven batik cloths. The batik used has rules and is not just any batik. Each batik cloth has a high philosophical value which is also a strand and hope for the Almighty so that the baby who is born has a good personality.

 

Prospective mothers must alternate wearing 6 batik cloths and 1 striated batik cloth. This batik substitution has a rule, that the last batik to be worn is the one with a simple motif. The motif rulers include:

 

Wahyu tumurun motif – This motif contains the hope that the baby will have a good position.

Cakar motif – This motif is expected to make the child diligent in seeking sustenance.

Udan liris motif – It is hoped that the child will have a tough character.

Kesatrian motif – It is hoped the child has a chivalrous nature.

Sidomukti motif – It is hoped that the child's life will be good and honorable.

Babon angrem motif – Motif depicting a hatchling hen, symbolizes the mother's love for her child.

Lurik lasem motif – The simplest motif. It has a philosophy that human life should be simple. There is also another philosophy, there are two lines in lurik lasem batik, namely the vertical line indicating the relationship between humans and God and the horizontal line indicating the relationship between humans and fellow humans.

 

WEDDING CEREMONIES

Every motif in classical Javanese batik always has its own meaning and philosophy, including for wedding ceremonies. Because each motif attached to Javanese batik has a different story and philosophy. In Javanese wedding ceremony, certain batik designs are reserved for brides and bridegrooms, as well as their families. Such as the truntum motif (flower motif in the shape of the sun) is used for midodareni ceremony (the procession of the night before the wedding ceremony, symbolizing the last night before the child separates from parents). This motif is also used during the panggih ceremony (the procession when the bride and groom meet after being secluded) by the parents of the bride and groom. The truntum motif means a symbol of love that never ends, when used by the parents of the bride and groom, it symbolizes the love of the parents for the child that never ends.

 

Some of the batik motifs that can be used for weddings are the grompol motif (hopefully the bride and groom will get a blessing and a bright future), Sidho asih motif (hopefully that the bride and groom will love each other), Sidho luhur motif (hopefully that the bride will have a noble and praiseworthy character), and ceker ayam motif (hopefully the bride and groom have the spirit of being married and given prosperity).

 

DEATH CEREMONIES (LURUB LAYON)

In Javanese society batik cloth is also used for death ceremonies, namely as a cover for the body or what is known as the lurub layon ceremony. The batik motif that symbolizes grief is the slobok motif. This batik motif symbolizes the hope that spirits will find it easy and smooth on their way to God. The word slobog is taken from the Javanese word lobok, which means loose. This motif is a geometric triangular shape that is usually black and white. The basic color of this batik is often black or brown with a natural dye which is often called soga.

 

In Madurese society, one of the batik motifs used for the cloth covering the corpse from generation to generation is the biren rice tompah motif. This biren leaf motif is filled with spilled rice using natural dyes. The washing also uses natural ingredients, squeezed papaya leaves.

 

FORMAL AND INFORMAL DAILY DRESS

Contemporary practice often allows people to pick any batik patterns according to one's taste and preference from casual to formal situations, and Batik makers often modify, combine, or invent new iterations of well-known patterns. Besides that, now batik has become a daily dress whether it is at work, school, or formal and non-formal events in Indonesia. Many young designers have started their fashion design work by taking batik as their inspiration for making clothes designs. The creativity of these young designers has given birth to various designs of batik clothes that are very elegant and meet the demands of a modern lifestyle.

 

In October 2009, UNESCO designated Indonesian batik as a Masterpiece of Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity. As part of the acknowledgment, UNESCO insisted that Indonesia preserve its heritage. The day, 2 October 2009 has been stated by Indonesian government as National Batik Day, as also at the time the map of Indonesian batik diversity by Hokky Situngkir was opened for public for the first time by the Indonesian Ministry of Research and Technology.

 

Study of the geometry of Indonesian batik has shown the applicability of fractal geometry in traditional designs.

 

PATTERNS AND MOTIVS

The popularity of batik in Indonesia has varied. Historically, it was essential for ceremonial costumes and it was worn as part of a kebaya dress, commonly worn every day. The use of batik was already recorded in the 12th century, and the textile has become a strong source of identity for Indonesians crossing religious, racial, and cultural boundaries. It is also believed the motif made the batik famous.

 

KAWUNG

The kawung motif originated in the city of Yogyakarta and comes in a variety of styles. The motif has a geometrically organized pattern of spheres that resembles the kawung fruit (palm fruit). This pattern is thought to also be a representation of a lotus flower with four blooming crown petals, representing purity. The geometrically organized kawung pattern is seen as a representation of authority in Javanese society. Power is symbolized by the dot in the center of the geometrically aligned ovals. This reflects the position of rulers being the center of authority, which may now be understood as a depiction of the relationship between the people and the government. Other kawung symbolisms are connected to wisdom, such as representing the ancient Javanese philosophy of life of sedulur papat lima pancer. As a result, it is intended signify human existence, in the hopes that a person would not forget their roots. The color scheme of the kawung batik pattern, which includes a combination of dark and bright hues represents human traits. As the kawung pattern is frequently regarded as a palm tree's fruit that is thought to be extremely beneficial for people, it is believed that whomever uses this motif would have a positive influence on the environment. Furthermore, the kawung batik motif is seen as a sign of power and justice. Since the Kawung motif is frequently associated with a symbolism of authority and has many philosophical meanings, it was formerly used only by the Javanese royal family. Over time, numerous influences such as colonization have influenced its exclusivity, enabling the kawung motif to be utilized by the general public.

 

PARANG

The word Parang comes from the word coral or rock. The motif depicts a diagonal line descending from high to low and has a slope of 45 degrees. The basic pattern is the letter S. The meaning of the parang motif can be interpreted in two ways. Some speculate this theme is derived from the pattern of the sword worn by knights and kings when fighting. Others say Panembahan Senapati designed the pattern while watching the South Sea waves crash against the beach's rocks, with the ocean waves symbolizing the center of natural energy, or the king. The parang motif's oblique construction is also a sign of strength, greatness, authority, and speed of movement. The parang motif, like the kawung design, is a batik larang as it is exclusively worn by the monarch and his relatives. The size of the parang motif also represents the wearer's position in the royal family's hierarchy.[68] The parang pattern has many variations, each of which has its own meaning and is allocated to a certain member of the royal family based on their rank. Barong, rusak, gendreh, and klithik are some variations of the parang motif. In general, the motif is meant to represent a person's strong will and determination. It also represents a strong relationship and bond, both in terms of efforts to improve oneself, efforts to fight for prosperity, as well as forms of family ties. Since members of the royal family are the only ones who may wear the parang motif, the parang batik is often passed down among generations.

 

MEGA MENDUNG

The mega mendung pattern has become a symbol of the city of its origin, Cirebon, due to its widespread popularity. The entrance of the Chinese traders is credited with the birth of the mega mendung motif. The motif is formed like a cloud, representing nirvana and the transcendental notion of divinity in Chinese culture. In another variant, the inspiration for this motif came from someone having seen a cloud reflected in a puddle of water while the weather was overcast. Mega mendung motifs must have a seven color gradations. The motif's name means "the sky will rain", and the motif's seven color gradations are supposed to represent the seven layers of the sky. The term mendung, which means "cloudy", is used in the pattern's name to represent patience. This means humans should not be quick to anger and should exercise patience even when confronted with emotional events. The cloud's structure should also be consistent, as the direction must be horizontal rather than vertical. The clouds must also be flat, as the cloud's purpose is to shield those beneath it from the scorching sun. As a result, the mega mendung design communicates that leaders must protect their people.

 

TUJUH RUPA

This pattern originates in Pekalongan and is the product of a fusion of Indonesian and Chinese cultures. Ceramic ornaments from China are frequently used in the Tujuh Rupa motif. However, the embellishments on these motifs sometimes include brilliantly colored ornaments of natural elements such as animals and plants. The Tujuh Rupa motifs signifies ancestral ties and to represent gentleness and compassion. The motifs portrayed frequently represent aspects of coastal people's life, such as their ability to adapt to other cultures.

 

TRUNTUM

The Truntum pattern was developed by Kanjeng Ratu Kencana (Queen Sunan Paku Buwana III) in the years 1749-1799 as a symbol of true, unconditional, and eternal love. It embodies a hope that as love becomes stronger, it will become more fruitful. Truntum comes from the word nuntun (guide). According to legend, Kanjeng Ratu Kencana's spouse disregarded her because he was preoccupied with his new concubine. She was inspired to design a batik with a truntum motif shaped like a star after looking up at the clear, star-studded sky. The king subsequently discovered the Queen creating the lovely pattern, and his feelings for her grew stronger with each passing day. Furthermore, the truntum pattern represents loyalty and devotion. The parents of the bride and groom usually use this motif on the wedding day. The hope is that the bride and groom would experience such steadfast love.

 

SOGAN

As the coloring technique of this Soga motif employs natural dyes extracted from the trunk of the soga tree, the batik motif is therefore known as Sogan. Traditional Sogan batik is a kind of batik unique to the Javanese Keraton, specifically Keraton Yogyakarta and Keraton Solo. The traditional Keraton patterns are generally followed by this Sogan motifs.The colors of Sogan Yogya and Solo are what differentiates the two Sogan motif variations from each other. Yogya sogan motifs are predominantly dark brown, black, and white, whereas Solo sogan motifs are often orange-brown and brown. The Sogan motif uses five primary colors to represent the human nature: black, red, yellow, white, and green are the five colors. The color black is used to represent worldliness, while red represents anger, yellow represents desire, and white represents righteousness. Brown, on the other hand, is a hue associated with solemnity and the distinctiveness of the Javanese culture, which places a strong emphasis on the inner self as a means of expression and impression. Furthermore, the color brown can be viewed as a symbol of modesty and humility, signifying a closeness to nature, which in turn implies a connection to the people.

 

LASEM

Lasem batik is a form of coastal batik that developed through a cross-cultural exchange between native Javanese batik that were influenced by the Keraton motif and the incorporation of foreign cultural aspects, particularly Chinese culture. Therefore, the Lasem Batik has a distinct look and is rich in Chinese and Javanese cultural subtleties. The Lasem motif is distinguished by its distinctive red hue, known as getih pitik or 'chicken blood'.[83] This is not to imply it is coloured with chicken blood, but in the past, the dye powder, which was generally imported from Europe, was combined with Lasem water to turn it crimson. Even if it is close to the traditional Lasem hue, the red colour is now a little different. The Lasem motif comes in many variations, but the most common is that of China's famed Hong bird. The origin of the motif started when Admiral Cheng Ho's crew member Bi Nang Un is reported to have moved to Central Java with his wife Na Li Ni, where she learnt to create batik motifs. Na Li Ni is credited as being the first to use dragon designs, hong birds, Chinese money, and the color red in batik. As a result, the Lasem patterns and colors have symbolic connotations linked to Chinese and Javanese philosophy, resulting in the motif carrying a meaning of unity and a representation of Chinese and Javanese acculturation.

 

SIDOMUKTI

The Sidomukti batik motif is a Surakarta, Central Java-based motif. The Sidomulyo motif has been developed into this motif, whereby Paku Buwono IV altered the backdrop of the white Sidomulyo batik motif to the ukel motif, which was eventually dubbed the Sidomukti batik motif. This batik design is a kind of Keraton batik produced using natural soga dyes. On Sidomukti batik cloth, the color of soga or brown is the traditional batik colour. The term Sidomukti comes from the word Sido, which means "to become" or "accepted", and "mukti", which means "noble", "happy", "powerful", "respected", and "prosperous". As a result, the Sidomukti motif represents the desire to achieve inner and external happiness, or for married couples, the hope of a bright and happy future for the bride and groom. The Sidomukti motifs are made up of various ornaments with different meanings and philosophies. A butterfly is the main ornament of this motif. Enlightenment, liberty, and perfection are all associated with this ornamentation. Furthermore, the butterfly represents beauty, great aspirations, and a brighter future. The Singgasana ornament, also known as the throne ornament, is the second ornament. This ornament is meant to important positions, implying that the person who wears it will ascend in rank and status. It is also envisioned that the individual would be recognized and appreciated by a large number of people. The Meru ornament, often known as mountain ornaments, is the third ornament. Meru is defined as a lofty mountain top where the gods live in Javanese Hindu tradition. Because the Meru ornament represents grandeur, magnificence, and firmness, it represents a want for the wearer to be successful. The flower ornament is the last ornament, and it is intended to represent beauty. This ornament represents the hope for something wonderful in life that is sturdy and substantial to hang on to, despite the numerous challenges that may arise.

 

SIDOMULYO

The Sidomulyo batik motif dates back to the Kartasura Mataram period, when Sultan Pakubuwono IV changed the pattern's base with isen-isen ukel. The Sidomulyo pattern is a type of Keraton batik, and originates from Surakarta, Central Java.[90] Sido means "to become" or "accepted" in Javanese, whereas mulyo means "noble”. During the wedding ceremony, a bride and groom generally wear a batik fabric with the Sidomulyo motif in the hope that the family would thrive in the future. Because the Sidomulyo and Sidolmukti batik motifs are essentially the same with the only difference being the minor color variations, the ornamentations and meanings of the two motifs are the same.

 

SEKAR JAGAD

The Sekar Jagad motif has been popular since the 18th century. The name Sekar Jagad is derived from the words kaart, meaning map in Dutch, and Jagad, meaning means world in Javanese, as the pattern resembles a map when viewed from above. As a result, Batik Sekar Jagad is intended to depict the beauty and diversity of the world's various ethnic groups. There are also others who claim that the Sekar Jagad motif is derived from the Javanese words sekar (flower) and jagad (world), as the motif could also symbolize the beauty of the flowers that are spread all over the world. The existence of curving lines matching the shape of islands that are adjacent to each other is one of the features of the Sekar Jagad motif, making it look like a map. This motif is distinct in that it is irregularly patterned, as opposed to other batik motifs that have a repeating pattern. The Sekar Jagad motif itself is also characterized by the presence of isen-isen in the island shaped lines of the motif that contains various motifs such as kawung, truntum, slopes, flora and fauna and others.

 

TERMINOLOGY

Batik is traditionally sold in 2.25-metre lengths used for kain panjang or sarong. It is worn by wrapping it around the hip, or made into a hat known as blangkon. The cloth can be filled continuously with a single pattern or divided into several sections.

 

Certain patterns are only used in certain sections of the cloth. For example, a row of isosceles triangles, forming the pasung motif, as well as diagonal floral motifs called dhlorong, are commonly used for the head. However, pasung and dhlorong are occasionally found in the body. Other motifs such as buketan (flower bouquet) and birds are commonly used in either the head or the body.

 

The head is a rectangular section of the cloth which is worn at the front. The head section can be at the middle of the cloth, or placed at one or both ends. The papan inside of the head can be used to determine whether the cloth is kain panjang or sarong.

The body is the main part of the cloth, and is filled with a wide variety of patterns. The body can be divided into two alternating patterns and colours called pagi-sore ('dawn-dusk'). Brighter patterns are shown during the day, while darker pattern are shown in the evening. The alternating colours give the impression of two batik sets.

Margins are often plain, but floral and lace-like patterns, as well as wavy lines described as a dragon, are common in the area beside seret.

 

TYPES

As each region has its own traditional pattern, batiks are commonly distinguished by the region they originated in, such as batik Solo, batik Yogyakarta, batik Pekalongan, and batik Madura. Batiks from Java can be distinguished by their general pattern and colours into batik pedalaman (inland batik) or batik pesisiran (coastal batik).[9] Batiks which do not fall neatly into one of these two categories are only referred to by their region. A mapping of batik designs from all places in Indonesia depicts the similarities and reflects cultural assimilation within batik designs.

 

JAVANESE BATIK

INLAND BATIK (BATIK PEDALAMAN)

Inland batik, batik pedalaman or batik kraton (Javanese court batik) is the oldest form of batik tradition known in Java. Inland batik has earthy colour[96] such as black, indigo, brown, and sogan (brown-yellow colour made from the tree Peltophorum pterocarpum), sometimes against a white background, with symbolic patterns that are mostly free from outside influence. Certain patterns are worn and preserved by the royal courts, while others are worn on specific occasions. At a Javanese wedding for example, the bride wears specific patterns at each stage of the ceremony. Noted inland batiks are produced in Solo and Jogjakarta, cities traditionally regarded as the centre of Javanese culture. Batik Solo typically has sogan background and is preserved by the Susuhunan and Mangkunegaran Court. Batik Jogja typically has white background and is preserved by the Yogyakarta Sultanate and Pakualaman Court.

 

COASTAL BATIK (BATIK PESISIRAN)

Coastal batik or batik pesisiran is produced in several areas of northern Java and Madura. In contrast to inland batik, coastal batiks have vibrant colours and patterns inspired by a wide range of cultures as a consequence of maritime trading.[96] Recurring motifs include European flower bouquets, Chinese phoenix, and Persian peacocks. Noted coastal batiks are produced in Pekalongan, Cirebon, Lasem, Tuban, and Madura. Pekalongan has the most active batik industry.

 

A notable sub-type of coastal batik called Jawa Hokoka is not attributed to a particular region. During the Japanese occupation of Indonesia in early 1940, the batik industry greatly declined due to material shortages. The workshops funded by the Japanese however were able to produce extremely fine batiks called Jawa Hokokai. Common motifs of Hokokai includes Japanese cherry blossoms, butterflies, and chrysanthemums.

 

Another coastal batik called tiga negeri (batik of three lands) is attributed to three regions: Lasem, Pekalongan, and Solo, where the batik would be dipped in red, blue, and sogan dyes respectively. As of 1980, batik tiga negeri was only produced in one city.

 

BLACKSTYLE BATIK (BATIK IRENGAN)

"Black-style Batik" or "Irengan batik" is batik with an average black background, this is because Ponorogo has always had activities that are close to magical practices, so most irengan batik from Ponorogo is used as a black magic ritual, Dutch people know batik irengan this with gothic batik.

 

SUNDANESE BATIK

There are several types of batik that come from Sundanese land.

 

PARAHYANGAN BATIK

Sundanese or Parahyangan Batik is the term for batik from the Parahyangan region of West Java and Banten. Although Parahyangan batiks can use a wide range of colours, a preference for indigo is seen in some of its variants. Natural indigo dye made from Indigofera is among the oldest known dyes in Java, and its local name tarum has lent its name to the Citarum river and the Tarumanagara kingdom, which suggests that ancient West Java was once a major producer of natural indigo. Noted Parahyangan batik is produced in Ciamis, Garut, and Tasikmalaya. Other traditions include Batik Kuningan influenced by batik Cirebon, batik Banten that developed quite independently, and an older tradition of batik Baduy.

 

BANTENESE BATIK

Bantenese batik employs bright pastel colours and represents a revival of a lost art from the Sultanate of Banten, rediscovered through archaeological work during 2002–2004. Twelve motifs from locations such as Surosowan and several other places have been identified. It is said that tribal people used to wear it.

 

BADUY BATIK

Baduy batik only employs indigo colour in shades ranged from bluish black to deep blue. It is traditionally worn as iket, a type of Sundanese headress similar to Balinese udeng, by Outer Baduy people of Lebak Regency, Banten.

 

MALAY BATIK

Trade relations between the Melayu Kingdom in Jambi and Javanese coastal cities have thrived since the 13th century. Therefore, coastal batik from northern Java probably influenced Jambi. In 1875, Haji Mahibat from Central Java revived the declining batik industry in Jambi. The village of Mudung Laut in Pelayangan district is known for producing batik Jambi. Batik Jambi, as well as Javanese batik, influenced the Malaysian batik.

 

The batik from Bengkulu, a city on west coast of Sumatra, is called batik besurek, which literary means "batik with letters" as they draw inspiration from Arabic calligraphy.

 

MINANGKABAU BATIK

The Minangkabau people also produce batik called batiak tanah liek (clay batik), which use clay as dye for the fabric. The fabric is immersed in clay for more than one day and later designed with motifs of animal and flora.

 

BALINESE BATIK

Batik making in the island of Bali is relatively new, but a fast-growing industry. Many patterns are inspired by local designs, which are favoured by the local Balinese and domestic tourists. Objects from nature such as frangipani and hibiscus flowers, birds or fishes, and daily activities such as Balinese dancer and ngaben processions or religious and mythological creatures such as barong, kala and winged lion are common. Modern batik artists express themselves freely in a wide range of subjects.

 

Contemporary batik is not limited to traditional or ritual wearing in Bali. Some designers promote Balinese batik as an elegant fabric that can be used to make casual or formal cloth. Using high class batik, like hand made batik tulis, can show social status.

 

POPULARITY

The batik industry of Java flourished from the late 1800s to the early 1900s, but declined during the Japanese occupation of Indonesia. With increasing preference of western clothing, the batik industry further declined following the Indonesian independence. Batik has somewhat revived at the turn of the 21st century, through the efforts of Indonesian fashion designers to innovate batik by incorporating new colors, fabrics, and patterns. Batik has become a fashion item for many Indonesians, and may be seen on shirts, dresses, or scarves for casual wear; it is a preferred replacement for jacket-and-tie at certain receptions. Traditional batik sarongs are still used in many occasions.

 

After the UNESCO recognition for Indonesian batik on 2 October 2009, the Indonesian administration asked Indonesians to wear batik on Fridays, and wearing batik every Friday has been encouraged in government offices and private companies ever since. 2 October is also celebrated as National Batik Day in Indonesia. Batik had helped improve the small business local economy, batik sales in Indonesia had reached Rp 3.9 trillion (US$436.8 million) in 2010, an increase from Rp 2.5 trillion in 2006. The value of batik exports, meanwhile, increased from $14.3 million in 2006 to $22.3 million in 2010.

 

Batik is popular in the neighboring countries of Singapore and Malaysia. It is produced in Malaysia with similar, but not identical, methods to those used in Indonesia. Batik is featured in the national airline uniforms of the three countries, represented by batik prints worn by flight attendants of Singapore Airlines, Garuda Indonesia and Malaysian Airlines. The female uniform of Garuda Indonesia flight attendants is a modern interpretation of the Kartini style kebaya with parang gondosuli motifs.

 

BATIK MUSEUMS

Indonesia as the origin and paradise of batik has several museums that store various types of batik cloth that are hundreds of years old and a collection of equipment for batik that is still well preserved and maintained. Here are some museums in Indonesia that hold various types of batik collections:

 

MUSEUM BATIK KERATON YOGYAKARTA

Museum Batik Keraton Yogyakarta is located inside the Palace of Yogyakarta Sultanate, Yogyakarta. The museum which was inaugurated by Sultan Hamengku Buwono X on 31 October 2005 has thousands of batik collections. Some of batik collections here include kawung, semen, gringsing, nitik, cuwiri, parang, barong, grompol, and other motifs.

 

These batik collections come from different eras, from the era of Sultan Hamengkubuwono VIII to Sultan Hamengkubuwono X. The batik collections come from gifts from sultans, batik entrepreneurs, and batik collectors. Not only batik, visitors can also see equipment for making batik, raw materials for dyes, irons, sculptures, paintings, and batik masks. Unlike other museums in the Yogyakarta Palace complex, the Batik Museum management does not allow visitors to bring in cameras. This is in order to protect the batik from being photographed by irresponsible people, to then imitate the motive. This museum is part of a tour package offered by the Yogyakarta Palace. Open every day from 08.00–13.30 WIB, on Fridays at 08.00–13.00 WIB, and closes at the palace ceremony day.

 

MUSEUM BATIK YOGYAKARTA

Museum Batik Yogyakarta is located at Jalan Dr. Sutomo 13A, Bausasran, Yogyakarta. This museum is managed by the married couple Hadi and Dewi Nugroho. On 12 May 1977, this museum was inaugurated by the Yogyakarta Special Region Regional Office of P&K. This museum occupies an area of 400 m2 and is also used as the owner's residence. In 2000, this museum received an award from MURI for the work 'The Biggest Embroidery', batik measuring 90 x 400 cm2. Then in 2001, this museum received another award from MURI as the initiator of the establishment of the first Embroidery Museum in Indonesia. This museum holds more than 1,200 batik collections consisting of 500 pieces of written batik, 560 stamped batik, 124 canting (batik tools), and 35 pans and coloring materials, including wax. Its excellent collection consists of various batik fabrics from the 18th to early 19th centuries in the form of long cloths and sarongs. Other collections include batik by Van Zuylen and Oey Soe Tjoen, as well as batik made in the 1700s. Yogyakarta Batik Museum also provides batik training for visitors who want to learn to make batik, which results can be taken home. The museum is open every Monday to Saturday at 09.00–15.00.

 

MUSEUM BATIK PEKALONGAN

Museum Batik Pekalongan is located at Jalan Jetayu No.1, Pekalongan, Central Java. This museum has 1.149 batik collections, including batik cloth, hundreds of years old of batik wayang beber, and traditional weaving tools. Museum Batik Pekalongan maintains a large collection of old to modern batik, both those from coastal areas, inland areas, other areas of Java, and batik from various regions in Nusantara such as from Sumatra, Kalimantan, Papua, and batik technique type fabrics from abroad.

 

Not only displaying batik collections, but Museum Batik Pekalongan is also a batik training center and a batik learning center. Students and general visitors can learn to make batik or do research on batik culture. The museum opens every day from 08.00 to 15.00.

Museum Batik Danar Hadi is located on Jalan Slamet Riyadi, Solo City (Surakarta), Central Java. The museum, which was founded in 1967, offers the best quality batik collections from various regions such as the original Javanese Batik Keraton, Javanese Hokokai batik (batik influenced by Japanese culture), coastal batik (Kudus, Lasem, and Pekalongan), Sumatran batik, and various types of batik. This museum has a collection of batik cloth reaching 1000 pieces and has been recognized by MURI (Indonesian Record Museum) as the museum with the largest collection of batik. Visitors can see the process of making batik and can even take part in batik making workshop in person. Museum Batik Danar Hadi is open every day from 09:00 WIB in the morning to 16:30 WIB in the afternoon.

 

MUSEUM BATIK INDONESIA

Museum Batik Indonesia which is located in Taman Mini Indonesia Indah (TMII), Cipayung, Jakarta is divided into six areas, namely the area of introduction, treasures, batik techniques, forms, and types of decoration, development of the batik world and the gallery of fame. Visitors can also enjoy the hundreds of batik motifs available in this place. The museum opens every day at 07.00 AM–10.00 PM.

 

MUSEUM TEKSTIL JAKARTA

Museum Tekstil Jakarta is located on Jalan KS Tubun No. 4, Petamburan, West Jakarta. On June 28, 1976, this building was inaugurated as a textile museum by Mrs. Tien Soeharto (First Lady at that time) witnessed by Mr. Ali Sadikin as the Governor of DKI Jakarta. The initial collections collected at the Textile Museum were obtained from donations from Wastraprema (about 500 collections), then further increased through purchases by the Museum and History Service, as well as donations from the community, both individually and in groups. Until now, the Textile Museum's collection was recorded at 1.914 collections.

 

The batik gallery is designed to showcase a number of ancient batik and batik developments (contemporary) from time to time. The batik gallery itself is the embryo of the National Batik Museum which is managed by the Indonesian Batik Foundation and the Jakarta Textile Museum. The museum opens on Tuesday–Sunday at 09.00–15.00.

Batik outside Indonesia

 

MALAYSIA

The origin of batik production in Malaysia it is known trade relations between the Melayu Kingdom in Jambi and Javanese coastal cities have thrived since the 13th century, the northern coastal batik producing areas of Java (Cirebon, Lasem, Tuban, and Madura) has influenced Jambi batik. This Jambi (Sumatran) batik, as well as Javanese batik, has influenced the batik craft in the Malay peninsula.

 

Dr. Fiona Kerlogue of the Horniman museum argued that the Malaysian printed wax textiles, made for about a century, are a different tradition from traditional Indonesian batik. The method of producing Malaysian batik is different, as the patterns are larger and simpler with only occasional use of the canting for intricate patterns. It relies heavily on brush painting to apply colours to fabrics. The colours also tend to be lighter and more vibrant than deep coloured Javanese batik. The most popular motifs are leaves and flowers. Malaysian batik often displays plants and flowers to avoid the interpretation of human and animal images as idolatry, in accordance with local Islamic doctrine.

 

INDIA

Indians are known to use resist method of printing designs on cotton fabrics, which can be traced back 2,000 years.[when?][citation needed] Initially, wax and even rice starch were used for printing on fabrics. Until recently batik was made only for dresses and tailored garments, but modern batik is applied in numerous items, such as murals, wall hangings, paintings, household linen, and scarves, with livelier and brighter patterns. Contemporary batik making in India is also done by the Deaf women of Delhi, these women are fluent in Indian Sign Language and also work in other vocational programs.

 

SRI LANKA

Over the past century, batik making in Sri Lanka has become firmly established. The batik industry in Sri Lanka is a small scale industry which can employ individual design talent and mainly deals with foreign customers for profit. It is now the most visible of the island's crafts with galleries and factories, large and small, having sprung up in many tourist areas. Rows of small stalls selling batiks can be found all along Hikkaduwa's Galle Road strip. Mahawewa, on the other hand, is famous for its batik factories.

 

CHINA

Batik is done by the ethnic people in the South-West of China. The Miao, Bouyei and Gejia people use a dye resist method for their traditional costumes. The traditional costumes are made up of decorative fabrics, which they achieve by pattern weaving and wax resist. Almost all the Miao decorate hemp and cotton by applying hot wax then dipping the cloth in an indigo dye. The cloth is then used for skirts, panels on jackets, aprons and baby carriers. Like the Javanese, their traditional patterns also contain symbolism, the patterns include the dragon, phoenix, and flowers.

 

AFRICA

Although modern history would suggest that the batik was introduced to Africa by the Dutch (especially in South Africa), the batik making process has been practiced in Africa long before the arrival of the colonial powers.[citation needed] One of the earlier sightings are to be found in Egypt, where batik-like material used in the embalming of mummies. The most developed resist-dyeing skills are to be found in Nigeria where the Yoruba make adire cloths. Two methods of resist are used: adire eleso which involves tied and stitched designs and adire eleko that uses starch paste. The paste is most often made from cassava starch, rice, and other ingredients boiled together to produce a smooth thick paste. The Yoruba of West Africa use cassava paste as a resist while the Soninke and Wolof people in Senegal uses rice paste. The Bamana people of Mali use mud as a resist. Batik was worn as a symbol of status, ethnic origin, marriage, cultural events, etc.

 

The African wax prints (Dutch wax prints) was introduced during the colonial era, through Dutch's textile industry's effort to imitate the batik making process. The imitation was not successful in Europe, but experienced a strong reception in Africa instead.  Nowadays batik is produced in many parts of Africa and it is worn by many Africans as one of the symbols of culture.

 

Nelson Mandela was a noted wearer of batik during his lifetime. Mandela regularly wore patterned loose-fitting shirt to many business and political meetings during 1994–1999 and after his tenure as President of South Africa, subsequently dubbed as a Madiba shirt based on Mandela's Xhosa clan name. There are many who claim the Madiba shirt's invention. But in fact, according to Yusuf Surtee, a clothing-store owner who supplied Mandela with outfits for decades, said the Madiba design is based on Mandela's request for a shirt similar to Indonesian president Suharto's batik attire.

 

WIKIPEDIA

When Salts Mill opened in 1853, it was the biggest factory in the world. 3000 workers toiled away at 1200 looms, producing 30,000 yards of cloth every single day.

 

This huge Mill was the key to Sir Titus Salt's vision to relocate all his textile mills from the city of Bradford to a healthier purpose-built site, along with a surrounding village where his workers could enjoy a good quality of life.

 

The first building to be constructed in Saltaire, Salts Mill was designed to manufacture textiles on a truly industrial scale. Titus Salt’s intention was to incorporate all elements of the manufacturing process under one roof, rather than each taking place at a separate location as his previous mills in Bradford required. Employing around 4000 workers, the Mill was the very heart of Saltaire.

 

Part of Salt’s motivation to build Saltaire was his concern over the pollution and living conditions in Bradford. To prevent Saltaire suffering the same issues, each of the chimneys was fitted with an early device to remove pollutants from smoke.

 

Saltaire is a Victorian model village. The Victorian era Salt's Mill and associated residential district located by the River Aire and Leeds and Liverpool Canal is a designated UNESCO World Heritage Site and an Anchor Point of the European Route of Industrial Heritage.

 

Saltaire was built in 1851 by Sir Titus Salt, a leading industrialist in the Yorkshire woollen industry. The name of the village is a combination of the founder's surname and the name of the river.

 

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Vendor: Creative Wall Clock

Type:

Price: 39.90

 

Type:Wall Clocks;Style:Modern;Material:Bamboo & Wooden;Motivity Type:Quartz;Display Type:Needle;Shape:circular;Length:300 mm;Diameter:30 cm;Pattern:Abstract;Applicable Placement:Living Room;Feature:Antique Style;Combination:Separates;Brand Name:The Vinyl Clock;Width:30 cm;Form:Single Face;Model Number:MZGZ-010;Body Material:Wood;Body Material:Wood;Wall Clock Type:Wood;

 

Honeycomb Wall Clock

   

Aren’t you tired of the same old, boring clocks? Would you like to decorate your room with a unique, wooden clock?

 

This elegant, wooden clock can be placed anywhere in your home.

   

This delicate wall clock in the form of honeycomb design would be a great decoration for your home or office and it also makes a wonderful housewarming gift! It is meant for the creative and inspired. It measures the time precisely while the hands flow continuously without making a sound. The natural wood color will give you comfort and warmth.

   

Manufacturing process:

 

This model has been laser cut from birch plywood by 1/5" (5 mm) thick.

   

****BASIC INFORMATIONS****

 

Size -30cm (12") x 30 cm (12")

 

Thickness - 5 mm (1/5 ")

 

Clock colour - natural wood

 

The movement: is silent (non-ticking)

 

Requires one AA battery (not included)

 

Please keep in your mind that wood is a natural material and therefore all wooden clocks are little bit different in color and wood pattern; each clock is a unique piece of wood.

Laser cutting the designs into the plywood give each piece an unique smoky smell!

   

Japanese Cat Wall Clock With Swishing Tail Silhouette Cat Wags Its Tail Fun Design Modern Wall Clock Wall Watch Cat Lovers Gift USD 19.99/piece

 

Cat And Mouse Pendulum Clock Cat and Mouse Game Wall Art Wall Clock Hunter Cat Modern Wall Decor Clock Watch Cat Pet Owners Gift USD 19.99/piece

 

Modern Jigsaw Wall Decor Falling Puzzle Wall Clock Puzzle Pendulum Vinyl Record Wall Clock Home Decor Steampunk Clock Watch USD 19.99/piece

 

Japanese Adorable Black Cat Pendulum Clock Funny Cat Fnny Cat Swinging Tail Wall Clock Kit Cat Wall Decor Kitten Lovers Gift USD 19.99/piece

 

Skull Wall Art Modern Wall Decor Wall Clock Funny Skull Wall Clock With Pendulum Decorative Skeleton Clock Halloween Ornament USD 19.99/piece

 

Ballroom Dancers Minimalist Design Wall Clock Latin Couple Dancers Wall Decor Dancing Studio Social Dancing Modern Wall Clock USD 14.99/piece

 

Baseball Time Wall Clock Baseball Players Different Poses Minimalist Design Home Decor Modern Wall Clock Baseball Lovers Gift USD 14.99/piece

 

Pole Dancers Minimalist Design Modern Wall Clock Night Club Wall Decor Sexy Chick Dancing Strippers Decorative Clock Watch Gift USD 14.99/piece

 

Ballet Time Wall Clock Ballerina Dancers Minimalist Design Dance Studio Wall Decor Modern Wall Clock Dancing Lovers Art Gift USD 14.99/piece

 

American Football Wall Clock Rugby Players Minimalist Design Sport Room Wall Decor Clock Watch American Football Enthusiast Gift USD 14.99/piece

 

African Animals Silhouette Wall Clock Safari Wild Animals Minimalist Design Modern Wall Clock Kid Room Nursery Wall Watch Clock USD 14.99/piece

 

Cats Meow Wall Clock Fuuny Kittens Different Poses Girls Room Wall Decor Black Cats Silhouette Kitty Lovers Modern Wall Clock USD 14.99/piece

 

Ocean Marine Species Animals Minimalist Design Modern Wall Clock Sea Animals Decorative Clock Watch Seaside Beach Wall Decor USD 14.99/piece

 

Guns Military Army Wall Clock Different Machine Guns Weapons Minimalist Design Modern Wall Clock Military Vintage Firearms Gift USD 14.99/piece

 

Different Pose Dogs Silhouette Wall Clock Puppy Pet Vet Clinic Wall Decor Minimalist Design Modern Wall Clock Dog Lovers Gift USD 14.99/piece

 

Bodybuilders Minimalist Design GYM Wall Clock Fitness Centre Prefessional Wall Decor Work Out Fitness Bodybuilding Handmade Gift USD 14.99/piece

 

T-Rex Minimalist Design Clock Dinosaurs Breeds Modern Wall Clock Nursery Kids Room Jurassic Wall Decor Dinosaur Interior Clock USD 14.99/piece

 

Hockey Minimalist Design Wall Clock Ice Hockey Field Hockey Sports Room Wall Decor Team Game Hockey Players Modern Wall Clock USD 14.99/piece

 

Boxing Minimalist Design Modern Wall Clock Boxing Fighters Decorative Prizefighting Wall Clock Boxing Boxers Wall Art Sport Gift USD 14.99/piece

 

Basketball Sport Game Wall Clock Basketball Players Minimalist Design Shooting Postures Salm Dunk Modern Clock Basketball Gift USD 14.99/piece

 

Safari Animals Wall Clock Woodland Adventure Wild Life Aniaml Handmade Exclusive Wall Clock Kid Room Nursery Jungle Wall Decor USD 14.99/piece

 

Yoga Positions Wall Clock Yoga Meditation Wall Decor Gift Yoga Hindu Philosophy Align Yourself Spiritual Yogi Modern Wall Clock USD 14.99/piece

 

Taekwondo Karate Wall Clock Martial Arts Karate Club Modern Wall Decor Fighting Sports Kung Fu Exclusive Wall Clock Watch USD 14.99/piece

 

Horse Silhouette Wall Clock Horse Training Minimalist Design Modern Decorative Wall Clock Equestrianism Wall Decor Horseman Gift USD 14.99/piece

 

Water Polo Minimalist Design Modern Wall Clock Sport Ball Competition Pool Game Team Play Swimming Water Polo Wall Watch Gift USD 14.99/piece

 

Naughty Rude Humor 24 Hours Sex Positions Wall Clock Karma Sutra Wall Clock Wedding Party Wall Decor Couple Valentines Gift USD 14.99/piece

 

3D Pi Symbol Geek Pi 3.14 Silhouette Wall Clock Mathematical Sign Pi 3.14 Life of Pi Minimalist Math Wall Clock Math Chic Gift USD 14.99/piece

 

12 hours 12 Christmas Vector Iconic Clock Merry Clockmas Merry Christmas Wall Clock 2018 Christmas Housewarming Family Gift USD 14.99/piece

 

USA Classic Movie Characters Silhouette Wall Clock Living Room Decorative Icon Roles Clock Wall Watch Home Decor Moive Fans Gift USD 14.99/piece

 

Sexual Positions Wall Clock Adult Sex Game 24 Hours Sex Dirty Smut Humor Wall Art Decorative Living Room Clock Bachelorette Gift USD 14.99/piece

 

3.14 Pi Wall Clock Mathematical Pi Classroom Wall Decor Black Acrylic Pop Quiz Wall Clock Home Decor Geek Nerd Math Chic Gift USD 12.99-14.99/piece

 

Whatever I'm Late Anyway Modern Wall Clock Whatever Inspirational Quote With Falling Numbers Wall Art Home Decor Wall Clock Gift USD 14.99/piece

 

Get Shit Done Wall Clock Decorative Timepiece For Your Walls Motivational Life Motto Wall Art Wall Watch Man Cave Office Clock USD 14.99/piece

 

Math Equation Wall Clock Home School Math Teaching Aid Math Class Wall Art Teachers Gift Science Equation Formula Wall Clock USD 14.99/piece

 

End Result Of Dating Decorative Wall Clock Wicked Wedding Mantra Wall Decor Wicked Wedding Mantra Marriage Clock Couple Gift USD 14.99/piece

 

DIY Large Wall Clock Modern Wall Art Home Decor Luxury Interior Design English Letters Frameless Wall Watch Clock DIY Enthusiast USD 9.99-12.99/piece

 

3D Large Wall Clock DIY Large Modern Frameless Home Decor Cat Big Clock Mirror For Bedroom Living Room Kittens Kitty Wall Decor USD 9.99-12.99/piece

 

Frameless DIY Wall Clock 3D Mirror Wall Clock Large Mute Wall Stickers for Living Room Bedroom Home Decorations Big Time Clock USD 9.99-12.99/piece

 

Frameless DIY Wall Clock 3D Mirror Butterflies Wall Watch Large Wall Clock For Living Room Bedroom Home Decor Big Time Clock USD 9.99-12.99/piece

 

Yoga Large Wall Clocks Mirror Effect Living Room DIY Wall Clock Meditation Zen Wall Art Home Decoration Frameless Clock Watch USD 9.99-12.99/piece

 

Musical Note Flew From The Clock Flying Music Notes Wall Art Music Studio Room Decorative Modern Wall Clock Rock n Roll Gift USD 19.99/piece

 

Flowing Ballerinas Wall Art Dancing Room Wall Decor Modern Clock Dancing Girls Decorative Wall Clocks Escape Girls Clock Watch USD 21.99/piece

 

A Bat Clock From The Escape Clock Halloween Bat Silhouette Wall Clock Scary Bat Symbols Home Decor Contemporary Black Wall Clock USD 19.99/piece

 

My Plane Flew Away Wall Art Home Decor Wall Clock Flying Plane Decorative Wall Clock Abstract Art Espcape DIY Clock Watch USD 19.99/piece

 

Fairy Angel Flew Away Wall Clock Modern Wall Art Home Decor Flying Butterflies Wall Clock Decorative Escape Clock Watch USD 19.99/piece

 

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Vendor: Creative Wall Clock

Type:

Price: 39.90

 

Type:Wall Clocks;Style:Modern;Material:Bamboo & Wooden;Motivity Type:Quartz;Display Type:Needle;Shape:circular;Length:300 mm;Diameter:30 cm;Pattern:Abstract;Applicable Placement:Living Room;Feature:Antique Style;Combination:Separates;Brand Name:The Vinyl Clock;Model Number:MZGZ-011;Width:30 cm;Form:Single Face;Body Material:Wood;Body Material:Wood;Wall Clock Type:Wood;

 

Dreamcatcher Wall Clock

   

Aren’t you tired of the same old, boring clocks? Would you like to decorate your room with a unique, wooden clock?

 

This elegant, wooden clock can be placed anywhere in your home. Unique, high quality handmade geometrical wooden wall clock, inspired by native American story about dream talisman, that helped suround themselves with supernatural spirits.

   

Each wall clock is unique because it is made of a natural wood-veneer panel. Unique natural shell pattern never repeats. Each laser-cut clock base is hand-polished to meet the highest quality requirements. It will be a great mascot gift for wedding or housewarming.

   

Manufacturing process:

 

This model has been laser cut from birch plywood by 1/5" (5 mm) thick.

   

****BASIC INFORMATIONS****

 

Size -30cm (12") x 30 cm (12")

 

Thickness - 5 mm (1/5 ")

 

Clock colour - natural wood

 

The movement: is silent (non-ticking)

 

Requires one AA battery (not included)

 

Please keep in your mind that wood is a natural material and therefore all wooden clocks are little bit different in color and wood pattern; each clock is a unique piece of wood.

Laser cutting the designs into the plywood give each piece an unique smoky smell!

   

Japanese Cat Wall Clock With Swishing Tail Silhouette Cat Wags Its Tail Fun Design Modern Wall Clock Wall Watch Cat Lovers Gift USD 19.99/piece

 

Cat And Mouse Pendulum Clock Cat and Mouse Game Wall Art Wall Clock Hunter Cat Modern Wall Decor Clock Watch Cat Pet Owners Gift USD 19.99/piece

 

Modern Jigsaw Wall Decor Falling Puzzle Wall Clock Puzzle Pendulum Vinyl Record Wall Clock Home Decor Steampunk Clock Watch USD 19.99/piece

 

Japanese Adorable Black Cat Pendulum Clock Funny Cat Fnny Cat Swinging Tail Wall Clock Kit Cat Wall Decor Kitten Lovers Gift USD 19.99/piece

 

Skull Wall Art Modern Wall Decor Wall Clock Funny Skull Wall Clock With Pendulum Decorative Skeleton Clock Halloween Ornament USD 19.99/piece

 

Ballroom Dancers Minimalist Design Wall Clock Latin Couple Dancers Wall Decor Dancing Studio Social Dancing Modern Wall Clock USD 14.99/piece

 

Baseball Time Wall Clock Baseball Players Different Poses Minimalist Design Home Decor Modern Wall Clock Baseball Lovers Gift USD 14.99/piece

 

Pole Dancers Minimalist Design Modern Wall Clock Night Club Wall Decor Sexy Chick Dancing Strippers Decorative Clock Watch Gift USD 14.99/piece

 

Ballet Time Wall Clock Ballerina Dancers Minimalist Design Dance Studio Wall Decor Modern Wall Clock Dancing Lovers Art Gift USD 14.99/piece

 

American Football Wall Clock Rugby Players Minimalist Design Sport Room Wall Decor Clock Watch American Football Enthusiast Gift USD 14.99/piece

 

African Animals Silhouette Wall Clock Safari Wild Animals Minimalist Design Modern Wall Clock Kid Room Nursery Wall Watch Clock USD 14.99/piece

 

Cats Meow Wall Clock Fuuny Kittens Different Poses Girls Room Wall Decor Black Cats Silhouette Kitty Lovers Modern Wall Clock USD 14.99/piece

 

Ocean Marine Species Animals Minimalist Design Modern Wall Clock Sea Animals Decorative Clock Watch Seaside Beach Wall Decor USD 14.99/piece

 

Guns Military Army Wall Clock Different Machine Guns Weapons Minimalist Design Modern Wall Clock Military Vintage Firearms Gift USD 14.99/piece

 

Different Pose Dogs Silhouette Wall Clock Puppy Pet Vet Clinic Wall Decor Minimalist Design Modern Wall Clock Dog Lovers Gift USD 14.99/piece

 

Bodybuilders Minimalist Design GYM Wall Clock Fitness Centre Prefessional Wall Decor Work Out Fitness Bodybuilding Handmade Gift USD 14.99/piece

 

T-Rex Minimalist Design Clock Dinosaurs Breeds Modern Wall Clock Nursery Kids Room Jurassic Wall Decor Dinosaur Interior Clock USD 14.99/piece

 

Hockey Minimalist Design Wall Clock Ice Hockey Field Hockey Sports Room Wall Decor Team Game Hockey Players Modern Wall Clock USD 14.99/piece

 

Boxing Minimalist Design Modern Wall Clock Boxing Fighters Decorative Prizefighting Wall Clock Boxing Boxers Wall Art Sport Gift USD 14.99/piece

 

Basketball Sport Game Wall Clock Basketball Players Minimalist Design Shooting Postures Salm Dunk Modern Clock Basketball Gift USD 14.99/piece

 

Safari Animals Wall Clock Woodland Adventure Wild Life Aniaml Handmade Exclusive Wall Clock Kid Room Nursery Jungle Wall Decor USD 14.99/piece

 

Yoga Positions Wall Clock Yoga Meditation Wall Decor Gift Yoga Hindu Philosophy Align Yourself Spiritual Yogi Modern Wall Clock USD 14.99/piece

 

Taekwondo Karate Wall Clock Martial Arts Karate Club Modern Wall Decor Fighting Sports Kung Fu Exclusive Wall Clock Watch USD 14.99/piece

 

Horse Silhouette Wall Clock Horse Training Minimalist Design Modern Decorative Wall Clock Equestrianism Wall Decor Horseman Gift USD 14.99/piece

 

Water Polo Minimalist Design Modern Wall Clock Sport Ball Competition Pool Game Team Play Swimming Water Polo Wall Watch Gift USD 14.99/piece

 

Naughty Rude Humor 24 Hours Sex Positions Wall Clock Karma Sutra Wall Clock Wedding Party Wall Decor Couple Valentines Gift USD 14.99/piece

 

3D Pi Symbol Geek Pi 3.14 Silhouette Wall Clock Mathematical Sign Pi 3.14 Life of Pi Minimalist Math Wall Clock Math Chic Gift USD 14.99/piece

 

12 hours 12 Christmas Vector Iconic Clock Merry Clockmas Merry Christmas Wall Clock 2018 Christmas Housewarming Family Gift USD 14.99/piece

 

USA Classic Movie Characters Silhouette Wall Clock Living Room Decorative Icon Roles Clock Wall Watch Home Decor Moive Fans Gift USD 14.99/piece

 

Sexual Positions Wall Clock Adult Sex Game 24 Hours Sex Dirty Smut Humor Wall Art Decorative Living Room Clock Bachelorette Gift USD 14.99/piece

 

3.14 Pi Wall Clock Mathematical Pi Classroom Wall Decor Black Acrylic Pop Quiz Wall Clock Home Decor Geek Nerd Math Chic Gift USD 12.99-14.99/piece

 

Whatever I'm Late Anyway Modern Wall Clock Whatever Inspirational Quote With Falling Numbers Wall Art Home Decor Wall Clock Gift USD 14.99/piece

 

Get Shit Done Wall Clock Decorative Timepiece For Your Walls Motivational Life Motto Wall Art Wall Watch Man Cave Office Clock USD 14.99/piece

 

Math Equation Wall Clock Home School Math Teaching Aid Math Class Wall Art Teachers Gift Science Equation Formula Wall Clock USD 14.99/piece

 

End Result Of Dating Decorative Wall Clock Wicked Wedding Mantra Wall Decor Wicked Wedding Mantra Marriage Clock Couple Gift USD 14.99/piece

 

DIY Large Wall Clock Modern Wall Art Home Decor Luxury Interior Design English Letters Frameless Wall Watch Clock DIY Enthusiast USD 9.99-12.99/piece

 

3D Large Wall Clock DIY Large Modern Frameless Home Decor Cat Big Clock Mirror For Bedroom Living Room Kittens Kitty Wall Decor USD 9.99-12.99/piece

 

Frameless DIY Wall Clock 3D Mirror Wall Clock Large Mute Wall Stickers for Living Room Bedroom Home Decorations Big Time Clock USD 9.99-12.99/piece

 

Frameless DIY Wall Clock 3D Mirror Butterflies Wall Watch Large Wall Clock For Living Room Bedroom Home Decor Big Time Clock USD 9.99-12.99/piece

 

Yoga Large Wall Clocks Mirror Effect Living Room DIY Wall Clock Meditation Zen Wall Art Home Decoration Frameless Clock Watch USD 9.99-12.99/piece

 

Musical Note Flew From The Clock Flying Music Notes Wall Art Music Studio Room Decorative Modern Wall Clock Rock n Roll Gift USD 19.99/piece

 

Flowing Ballerinas Wall Art Dancing Room Wall Decor Modern Clock Dancing Girls Decorative Wall Clocks Escape Girls Clock Watch USD 21.99/piece

 

A Bat Clock From The Escape Clock Halloween Bat Silhouette Wall Clock Scary Bat Symbols Home Decor Contemporary Black Wall Clock USD 19.99/piece

 

My Plane Flew Away Wall Art Home Decor Wall Clock Flying Plane Decorative Wall Clock Abstract Art Espcape DIY Clock Watch USD 19.99/piece

 

Fairy Angel Flew Away Wall Clock Modern Wall Art Home Decor Flying Butterflies Wall Clock Decorative Escape Clock Watch USD 19.99/piece

 

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The United States Astronaut Hall of Fame, located inside the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex Heroes & Legends building on Merritt Island, Florida, honors American astronauts and features the world's largest collection of their personal memorabilia, focusing on those astronauts who have been inducted into the Hall. Exhibits include Wally Schirra's Sigma 7 space capsule from the fifth crewed Mercury mission and the Gemini IX spacecraft flown by Gene Cernan and Thomas P. Stafford in 1966.

 

In the 1980s, the six then-surviving Mercury Seven astronauts conceived of establishing a place where US space travelers could be remembered and honored, along the lines of halls of fame for other fields. The Mercury Seven Foundation and Astronaut Scholarship Foundation were formed, and have a role in the ongoing operations of the Hall of Fame. The foundation's first executive director was former Associated Press space reporter Howard Benedict.

 

The Astronaut Hall of Fame was opened on October 29, 1990, by the U.S. Space Camp Foundation, which was the first owner of the facility. It was located next to the Florida branch of Space Camp.

 

The Hall of Fame closed for several months in 2002 when U.S. Space Camp Foundation's creditors foreclosed on the property due to low attendance and mounting debt. That September, an auction was held and the property was purchased by Delaware North Park Services on behalf of NASA and the property was added to the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex. The Hall of Fame re-opened December 14, 2002.

 

The Hall of Fame, which was originally located just west of the NASA Causeway, closed to the public on November 2, 2015, in preparation for its relocation to the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex 6 miles (9.7 km) to the east on Merritt Island. Outside of the original building was a full-scale replica of a Space Shuttle orbiter named Inspiration (originally named "Shuttle To Tomorrow" where visitors could enter and view a program). Inspiration served only as an outdoor, full scale, static display which visitors could not enter. After the Hall of Fame was transferred to the KSC Visitor Complex, Inspiration was acquired by LVX System and was placed in storage at the Shuttle Landing Facility at the Kennedy Space Center; in 2016, the shuttle was loaded on to a barge to be taken for refurbishment before going on an educational tour.

 

The building was purchased at auction by visitor complex operator Delaware North and renamed the ATX Center, and for a time housed educational programs including Camp Kennedy Space Center and the Astronaut Training Experience. Those programs have since been moved to the KSC Visitor Complex, and as of December 2019, the structure was being offered for lease. In July 2020, Lockheed Martin announced it would lease the building to support work on the NASA Orion crew capsule.

 

Inductees into the Hall of Fame are selected by a blue ribbon committee of former NASA officials and flight controllers, historians, journalists, and other space authorities (including former astronauts) based on their accomplishments in space or their contributions to the advancement of space exploration. Except for 2002, inductions have been held every year since 2001.

 

As its inaugural class in 1990, the Hall of Fame inducted the United States' original group of astronauts: the Mercury Seven. In addition to being the first American astronauts, they set several firsts in American spaceflight, both auspicious and tragic. Alan Shepard was the first American in space and later became one of the twelve people to walk on the Moon. John Glenn was the first American to orbit the Earth and after his induction went on, in 1998, to become the oldest man to fly in space, aged 77. Gus Grissom was the first American to fly in space twice and was the commander of the ill-fated Apollo 1, which resulted in the first astronaut deaths directly related to preparation for spaceflight.

 

Thirteen astronauts from the Gemini and Apollo programs were inducted in the second class of 1993. This class included the first and last humans to walk on the Moon, Neil Armstrong and Eugene Cernan; Ed White, the first American to walk in space (also killed in the Apollo 1 accident); Jim Lovell, commander of the famously near-tragic Apollo 13; and John Young, whose six flights included a moonwalk and command of the first Space Shuttle mission.

 

The third class was inducted in 1997 and consisted of the 24 additional Apollo, Skylab, and ASTP astronauts. Notable members of the class were Roger Chaffee, the third astronaut killed in the Apollo 1 fire and the only unflown astronaut in the Hall; Harrison Schmitt, the first scientist and next-to-last person to walk on the Moon; and Jack Swigert and Fred Haise, the Apollo 13 crewmembers not previously inducted.

 

The philosophy regarding the first three groups of inductees was that all astronauts who flew in NASA's "pioneering" programs (which would include Mercury, Gemini, Apollo, Apollo Applications Program (Skylab), and Apollo-Soyuz Test Project) would be included simply by virtue of their participation in a spaceflight in these early programs. The first group (the inaugural class of 1990) would only include the original Mercury astronauts (most of whom would go on to fly in later programs). The second group of inductees would include those astronauts who began their spaceflight careers during Gemini (all of whom would go on to fly in later programs). The third group of inductees would include those astronauts who began their spaceflight careers during Apollo, Skylab, and ASTP (some of whom would go on to fly in the Space Shuttle program). Since it would not be practical (or meaningful) to induct all astronauts who ever flew in space, all subsequent inductees (Space Shuttle program and beyond) are considered based on their accomplishments and contributions to the human spaceflight endeavor which would set them apart from their peers.

 

Over four dozen astronauts from the Space Shuttle program have been inducted since 2001. Among these are Sally Ride, the first American woman in space; Story Musgrave, who flew six missions in the 1980s and 90s; and Francis Scobee, commander of the ill-fated final Challenger mission.

 

The 2010 class consisted of Guion Bluford Jr., Kenneth Bowersox, Frank Culbertson and Kathryn Thornton. The 2011 inductees were Karol Bobko and Susan Helms. The 2012 inductees were Franklin Chang-Diaz, Kevin Chilton and Charles Precourt. Bonnie Dunbar, Curt Brown and Eileen Collins were inducted in 2013, and Shannon Lucid and Jerry Ross comprised the 2014 class.

 

Those inducted in 2015 were John Grunsfeld, Steven Lindsey, Kent Rominger, and Rhea Seddon. In 2016, inductees included Brian Duffy and Scott E. Parazynski. Ellen Ochoa and Michael Foale were announced as the 2017 class of the United States Astronaut Hall of Fame. Scott Altman and Thomas Jones followed in 2018. The 2019 inductees were James Buchli and Janet L. Kavandi.

 

Michael López-Alegría, Scott Kelly and Pamela Melroy were the 2020 inductees, inducted in a November 2021 ceremony. The 2022 inductees were Christopher Ferguson, David Leestma, and Sandra Magnus. Roy Bridges Jr. and Mark Kelly were the 2023 inductees.

 

The Hall of Heroes is composed of tributes to the inductees. Among the Hall of Fame's displays is Sigma 7, the Mercury spacecraft piloted by Wally Schirra which orbited the Earth six times in 1962, and the Gemini 9A capsule flown by Gene Cernan and Thomas P. Stafford in 1966. An Astronaut Adventure room includes simulators for use by children.

 

The spacesuit worn by Gus Grissom during his 1961 Liberty Bell 7 Mercury flight is on display and has been the subject of a dispute between NASA and Grissom's heirs and supporters since 2002. The spacesuit, along with other Grissom artifacts, were loaned to the original owners of the Hall of Fame by the Grissom family when it opened. After the Hall of Fame went into bankruptcy and was taken over by a NASA contractor in 2002, the family requested that all their items be returned. All of the items were returned to Grissom's family except the spacesuit, because both NASA and the Grissoms claim ownership of it. NASA claims Grissom checked out the spacesuit for a show and tell at his son's school, and then never returned it, while the Grissoms claim Gus rescued the spacesuit from a scrap heap.

 

The John F. Kennedy Space Center (KSC, originally known as the NASA Launch Operations Center), located on Merritt Island, Florida, is one of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) ten field centers. Since December 1968, KSC has been NASA's primary launch center of human spaceflight. Launch operations for the Apollo, Skylab and Space Shuttle programs were carried out from Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39 and managed by KSC.[4] Located on the east coast of Florida, KSC is adjacent to Cape Canaveral Space Force Station (CCSFS). The management of the two entities work very closely together, share resources and operate facilities on each other's property.

 

Though the first Apollo flights and all Project Mercury and Project Gemini flights took off from the then-Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, the launches were managed by KSC and its previous organization, the Launch Operations Directorate. Starting with the fourth Gemini mission, the NASA launch control center in Florida (Mercury Control Center, later the Launch Control Center) began handing off control of the vehicle to the Mission Control Center in Houston, shortly after liftoff; in prior missions it held control throughout the entire mission.

 

Additionally, the center manages launch of robotic and commercial crew missions and researches food production and In-Situ Resource Utilization for off-Earth exploration. Since 2010, the center has worked to become a multi-user spaceport through industry partnerships, even adding a new launch pad (LC-39C) in 2015.

 

There are about 700 facilities and buildings grouped across the center's 144,000 acres (580 km2). Among the unique facilities at KSC are the 525-foot (160 m) tall Vehicle Assembly Building for stacking NASA's largest rockets, the Launch Control Center, which conducts space launches at KSC, the Operations and Checkout Building, which houses the astronauts dormitories and suit-up area, a Space Station factory, and a 3-mile (4.8 km) long Shuttle Landing Facility. There is also a Visitor Complex open to the public on site.

 

Since 1949, the military had been performing launch operations at what would become Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. In December 1959, the Department of Defense transferred 5,000 personnel and the Missile Firing Laboratory to NASA to become the Launch Operations Directorate under NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center.

 

President John F. Kennedy's 1961 goal of a crewed lunar landing by 1970 required an expansion of launch operations. On July 1, 1962, the Launch Operations Directorate was separated from MSFC to become the Launch Operations Center (LOC). Also, Cape Canaveral was inadequate to host the new launch facility design required for the mammoth 363-foot (111 m) tall, 7,500,000-pound-force (33,000 kN) thrust Saturn V rocket, which would be assembled vertically in a large hangar and transported on a mobile platform to one of several launch pads. Therefore, the decision was made to build a new LOC site located adjacent to Cape Canaveral on Merritt Island.

 

NASA began land acquisition in 1962, buying title to 131 square miles (340 km2) and negotiating with the state of Florida for an additional 87 square miles (230 km2). The major buildings in KSC's Industrial Area were designed by architect Charles Luckman. Construction began in November 1962, and Kennedy visited the site twice in 1962, and again just a week before his assassination on November 22, 1963.

 

On November 29, 1963, the facility was given its current name by President Lyndon B. Johnson under Executive Order 11129. Johnson's order joined both the civilian LOC and the military Cape Canaveral station ("the facilities of Station No. 1 of the Atlantic Missile Range") under the designation "John F. Kennedy Space Center", spawning some confusion joining the two in the public mind. NASA Administrator James E. Webb clarified this by issuing a directive stating the Kennedy Space Center name applied only to the LOC, while the Air Force issued a general order renaming the military launch site Cape Kennedy Air Force Station.

 

Located on Merritt Island, Florida, the center is north-northwest of Cape Canaveral on the Atlantic Ocean, midway between Miami and Jacksonville on Florida's Space Coast, due east of Orlando. It is 34 miles (55 km) long and roughly six miles (9.7 km) wide, covering 219 square miles (570 km2). KSC is a major central Florida tourist destination and is approximately one hour's drive from the Orlando area. The Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex offers public tours of the center and Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.

 

The KSC Industrial Area, where many of the center's support facilities are located, is 5 miles (8 km) south of LC-39. It includes the Headquarters Building, the Operations and Checkout Building and the Central Instrumentation Facility. The astronaut crew quarters are in the O&C; before it was completed, the astronaut crew quarters were located in Hangar S[39] at the Cape Canaveral Missile Test Annex (now Cape Canaveral Space Force Station). Located at KSC was the Merritt Island Spaceflight Tracking and Data Network station (MILA), a key radio communications and spacecraft tracking complex.

 

Facilities at the Kennedy Space Center are directly related to its mission to launch and recover missions. Facilities are available to prepare and maintain spacecraft and payloads for flight. The Headquarters (HQ) Building houses offices for the Center Director, library, film and photo archives, a print shop and security. When the KSC Library first opened, it was part of the Army Ballistic Missile Agency. However, in 1965, the library moved into three separate sections in the newly opened NASA headquarters before eventually becoming a single unit in 1970. The library contains over four million items related to the history and the work at Kennedy. As one of ten NASA center libraries in the country, their collection focuses on engineering, science, and technology. The archives contain planning documents, film reels, and original photographs covering the history of KSC. The library is not open to the public but is available for KSC, Space Force, and Navy employees who work on site. Many of the media items from the collection are digitized and available through NASA's KSC Media Gallery or through their more up-to-date Flickr gallery.

 

A new Headquarters Building was completed in 2019 as part of the Central Campus consolidation. Groundbreaking began in 2014.

 

The center operated its own 17-mile (27 km) short-line railroad. This operation was discontinued in 2015, with the sale of its final two locomotives. A third had already been donated to a museum. The line was costing $1.3 million annually to maintain.

 

The Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex, operated by Delaware North since 1995, has a variety of exhibits, artifacts, displays and attractions on the history and future of human and robotic spaceflight. Bus tours of KSC originate from here. The complex also includes the separate Apollo/Saturn V Center, north of the VAB and the United States Astronaut Hall of Fame, six miles west near Titusville. There were 1.5 million visitors in 2009. It had some 700 employees.

 

It was announced on May 29, 2015, that the Astronaut Hall of Fame exhibit would be moved from its current location to another location within the Visitor Complex to make room for an upcoming high-tech attraction entitled "Heroes and Legends". The attraction, designed by Orlando-based design firm Falcon's Treehouse, opened November 11, 2016.

 

In March 2016, the visitor center unveiled the new location of the iconic countdown clock at the complex's entrance; previously, the clock was located with a flagpole at the press site. The clock was originally built and installed in 1969 and listed with the flagpole in the National Register of Historic Places in January 2000. In 2019, NASA celebrated the 50th anniversary of the Apollo program, and the launch of Apollo 10 on May 18. In summer of 2019, Lunar Module 9 (LM-9) was relocated to the Apollo/Saturn V Center as part of an initiative to rededicate the center and celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Apollo Program.

 

The John F. Kennedy Space Center (KSC, originally known as the NASA Launch Operations Center), located on Merritt Island, Florida, is one of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) ten field centers. Since December 1968, KSC has been NASA's primary launch center of American spaceflight, research, and technology. Launch operations for the Apollo, Skylab and Space Shuttle programs were carried out from Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39 and managed by KSC. Located on the east coast of Florida, KSC is adjacent to Cape Canaveral Space Force Station (CCSFS). The management of the two entities work very closely together, share resources and operate facilities on each other's property.

 

Though the first Apollo flights and all Project Mercury and Project Gemini flights took off from the then-Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, the launches were managed by KSC and its previous organization, the Launch Operations Directorate. Starting with the fourth Gemini mission, the NASA launch control center in Florida (Mercury Control Center, later the Launch Control Center) began handing off control of the vehicle to the Mission Control Center in Houston, shortly after liftoff; in prior missions it held control throughout the entire mission.

 

Additionally, the center manages launch of robotic and commercial crew missions and researches food production and in-situ resource utilization for off-Earth exploration. Since 2010, the center has worked to become a multi-user spaceport through industry partnerships, even adding a new launch pad (LC-39C) in 2015.

 

There are about 700 facilities and buildings grouped throughout the center's 144,000 acres (580 km2). Among the unique facilities at KSC are the 525-foot (160 m) tall Vehicle Assembly Building for stacking NASA's largest rockets, the Launch Control Center, which conducts space launches at KSC, the Operations and Checkout Building, which houses the astronauts dormitories and suit-up area, a Space Station factory, and a 3-mile (4.8 km) long Shuttle Landing Facility. There is also a Visitor Complex on site that is open to the public.

 

Since 1949, the military had been performing launch operations at what would become Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. In December 1959, the Department of Defense transferred 5,000 personnel and the Missile Firing Laboratory to NASA to become the Launch Operations Directorate under NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center.

 

President John F. Kennedy's 1961 goal of a crewed lunar landing by 1970 required an expansion of launch operations. On July 1, 1962, the Launch Operations Directorate was separated from MSFC to become the Launch Operations Center (LOC). Also, Cape Canaveral was inadequate to host the new launch facility design required for the mammoth 363-foot (111 m) tall, 7,500,000-pound-force (33,000 kN) thrust Saturn V rocket, which would be assembled vertically in a large hangar and transported on a mobile platform to one of several launch pads. Therefore, the decision was made to build a new LOC site located adjacent to Cape Canaveral on Merritt Island.

 

NASA began land acquisition in 1962, buying title to 131 square miles (340 km2) and negotiating with the state of Florida for an additional 87 square miles (230 km2). The major buildings in KSC's Industrial Area were designed by architect Charles Luckman. Construction began in November 1962, and Kennedy visited the site twice in 1962, and again just a week before his assassination on November 22, 1963.

 

On November 29, 1963, the facility was named by President Lyndon B. Johnson under Executive Order 11129. Johnson's order joined both the civilian LOC and the military Cape Canaveral station ("the facilities of Station No. 1 of the Atlantic Missile Range") under the designation "John F. Kennedy Space Center", spawning some confusion joining the two in the public mind. NASA Administrator James E. Webb clarified this by issuing a directive stating the Kennedy Space Center name applied only to the LOC, while the Air Force issued a general order renaming the military launch site Cape Kennedy Air Force Station.

 

Located on Merritt Island, Florida, the center is north-northwest of Cape Canaveral on the Atlantic Ocean, midway between Miami and Jacksonville on Florida's Space Coast, due east of Orlando. It is 34 miles (55 km) long and roughly six miles (9.7 km) wide, covering 219 square miles (570 km2). KSC is a major central Florida tourist destination and is approximately one hour's drive from the Orlando area. The Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex offers public tours of the center and Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.

 

From 1967 through 1973, there were 13 Saturn V launches, including the ten remaining Apollo missions after Apollo 7. The first of two uncrewed flights, Apollo 4 (Apollo-Saturn 501) on November 9, 1967, was also the first rocket launch from KSC. The Saturn V's first crewed launch on December 21, 1968, was Apollo 8's lunar orbiting mission. The next two missions tested the Lunar Module: Apollo 9 (Earth orbit) and Apollo 10 (lunar orbit). Apollo 11, launched from Pad A on July 16, 1969, made the first Moon landing on July 20. The Apollo 11 launch included crewmembers Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins, and Buzz Aldrin, and attracted a record-breaking 650 million television viewers. Apollo 12 followed four months later. From 1970 to 1972, the Apollo program concluded at KSC with the launches of missions 13 through 17.

 

On May 14, 1973, the last Saturn V launch put the Skylab space station in orbit from Pad 39A. By this time, the Cape Kennedy pads 34 and 37 used for the Saturn IB were decommissioned, so Pad 39B was modified to accommodate the Saturn IB, and used to launch three crewed missions to Skylab that year, as well as the final Apollo spacecraft for the Apollo–Soyuz Test Project in 1975.

 

As the Space Shuttle was being designed, NASA received proposals for building alternative launch-and-landing sites at locations other than KSC, which demanded study. KSC had important advantages, including its existing facilities; location on the Intracoastal Waterway; and its southern latitude, which gives a velocity advantage to missions launched in easterly near-equatorial orbits. Disadvantages included: its inability to safely launch military missions into polar orbit, since spent boosters would be likely to fall on the Carolinas or Cuba; corrosion from the salt air; and frequent cloudy or stormy weather. Although building a new site at White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico was seriously considered, NASA announced its decision in April 1972 to use KSC for the shuttle. Since the Shuttle could not be landed automatically or by remote control, the launch of Columbia on April 12, 1981 for its first orbital mission STS-1, was NASA's first crewed launch of a vehicle that had not been tested in prior uncrewed launches.

 

In 1976, the VAB's south parking area was the site of Third Century America, a science and technology display commemorating the U.S. Bicentennial. Concurrent with this event, the U.S. flag was painted on the south side of the VAB. During the late 1970s, LC-39 was reconfigured to support the Space Shuttle. Two Orbiter Processing Facilities were built near the VAB as hangars with a third added in the 1980s.

 

KSC's 2.9-mile (4.7 km) Shuttle Landing Facility (SLF) was the orbiters' primary end-of-mission landing site, although the first KSC landing did not take place until the tenth flight, when Challenger completed STS-41-B on February 11, 1984; the primary landing site until then was Edwards Air Force Base in California, subsequently used as a backup landing site. The SLF also provided a return-to-launch-site (RTLS) abort option, which was not utilized. The SLF is among the longest runways in the world.

 

On October 28, 2009, the Ares I-X launch from Pad 39B was the first uncrewed launch from KSC since the Skylab workshop in 1973.

 

Beginning in 1958, NASA and military worked side by side on robotic mission launches (previously referred to as unmanned), cooperating as they broke ground in the field. In the early 1960s, NASA had as many as two robotic mission launches a month. The frequent number of flights allowed for quick evolution of the vehicles, as engineers gathered data, learned from anomalies and implemented upgrades. In 1963, with the intent of KSC ELV work focusing on the ground support equipment and facilities, a separate Atlas/Centaur organization was formed under NASA's Lewis Center (now Glenn Research Center (GRC)), taking that responsibility from the Launch Operations Center (aka KSC).

 

Though almost all robotics missions launched from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station (CCSFS), KSC "oversaw the final assembly and testing of rockets as they arrived at the Cape." In 1965, KSC's Unmanned Launch Operations directorate became responsible for all NASA uncrewed launch operations, including those at Vandenberg Space Force Base. From the 1950s to 1978, KSC chose the rocket and payload processing facilities for all robotic missions launching in the U.S., overseeing their near launch processing and checkout. In addition to government missions, KSC performed this service for commercial and foreign missions also, though non-U.S. government entities provided reimbursement. NASA also funded Cape Canaveral Space Force Station launch pad maintenance and launch vehicle improvements.

 

All this changed with the Commercial Space Launch Act of 1984, after which NASA only coordinated its own and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) ELV launches. Companies were able to "operate their own launch vehicles" and utilize NASA's launch facilities. Payload processing handled by private firms also started to occur outside of KSC. Reagan's 1988 space policy furthered the movement of this work from KSC to commercial companies. That same year, launch complexes on Cape Canaveral Air Force Force Station started transferring from NASA to Air Force Space Command management.

 

In the 1990s, though KSC was not performing the hands-on ELV work, engineers still maintained an understanding of ELVs and had contracts allowing them insight into the vehicles so they could provide knowledgeable oversight. KSC also worked on ELV research and analysis and the contractors were able to utilize KSC personnel as a resource for technical issues. KSC, with the payload and launch vehicle industries, developed advances in automation of the ELV launch and ground operations to enable competitiveness of U.S. rockets against the global market.

 

In 1998, the Launch Services Program (LSP) formed at KSC, pulling together programs (and personnel) that already existed at KSC, GRC, Goddard Space Flight Center, and more to manage the launch of NASA and NOAA robotic missions. Cape Canaveral Space Force Station and VAFB are the primary launch sites for LSP missions, though other sites are occasionally used. LSP payloads such as the Mars Science Laboratory have been processed at KSC before being transferred to a launch pad on Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.

 

On 16 November 2022, at 06:47:44 UTC the Space Launch System (SLS) was launched from Complex 39B as part of the Artemis 1 mission.

 

As the International Space Station modules design began in the early 1990s, KSC began to work with other NASA centers and international partners to prepare for processing before launch onboard the Space Shuttles. KSC utilized its hands-on experience processing the 22 Spacelab missions in the Operations and Checkout Building to gather expectations of ISS processing. These experiences were incorporated into the design of the Space Station Processing Facility (SSPF), which began construction in 1991. The Space Station Directorate formed in 1996. KSC personnel were embedded at station module factories for insight into their processes.

 

From 1997 to 2007, KSC planned and performed on the ground integration tests and checkouts of station modules: three Multi-Element Integration Testing (MEIT) sessions and the Integration Systems Test (IST). Numerous issues were found and corrected that would have been difficult to nearly impossible to do on-orbit.

 

Today KSC continues to process ISS payloads from across the world before launch along with developing its experiments for on orbit. The proposed Lunar Gateway would be manufactured and processed at the Space Station Processing Facility.

 

The following are current programs and initiatives at Kennedy Space Center:

Commercial Crew Program

Exploration Ground Systems Program

NASA is currently designing the next heavy launch vehicle known as the Space Launch System (SLS) for continuation of human spaceflight.

On December 5, 2014, NASA launched the first uncrewed flight test of the Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle (MPCV), currently under development to facilitate human exploration of the Moon and Mars.

Launch Services Program

Educational Launch of Nanosatellites (ELaNa)

Research and Technology

Artemis program

Lunar Gateway

International Space Station Payloads

Camp KSC: educational camps for schoolchildren in spring and summer, with a focus on space, aviation and robotics.

 

The KSC Industrial Area, where many of the center's support facilities are located, is 5 miles (8 km) south of LC-39. It includes the Headquarters Building, the Operations and Checkout Building and the Central Instrumentation Facility. The astronaut crew quarters are in the O&C; before it was completed, the astronaut crew quarters were located in Hangar S at the Cape Canaveral Missile Test Annex (now Cape Canaveral Space Force Station). Located at KSC was the Merritt Island Spaceflight Tracking and Data Network station (MILA), a key radio communications and spacecraft tracking complex.

 

Facilities at the Kennedy Space Center are directly related to its mission to launch and recover missions. Facilities are available to prepare and maintain spacecraft and payloads for flight. The Headquarters (HQ) Building houses offices for the Center Director, library, film and photo archives, a print shop and security. When the KSC Library first opened, it was part of the Army Ballistic Missile Agency. However, in 1965, the library moved into three separate sections in the newly opened NASA headquarters before eventually becoming a single unit in 1970. The library contains over four million items related to the history and the work at Kennedy. As one of ten NASA center libraries in the country, their collection focuses on engineering, science, and technology. The archives contain planning documents, film reels, and original photographs covering the history of KSC. The library is not open to the public but is available for KSC, Space Force, and Navy employees who work on site. Many of the media items from the collection are digitized and available through NASA's KSC Media Gallery Archived December 6, 2020, at the Wayback Machine or through their more up-to-date Flickr gallery.

 

A new Headquarters Building was completed in 2019 as part of the Central Campus consolidation. Groundbreaking began in 2014.

 

The center operated its own 17-mile (27 km) short-line railroad. This operation was discontinued in 2015, with the sale of its final two locomotives. A third had already been donated to a museum. The line was costing $1.3 million annually to maintain.

 

The Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building (O&C) (previously known as the Manned Spacecraft Operations Building) is a historic site on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places dating back to the 1960s and was used to receive, process, and integrate payloads for the Gemini and Apollo programs, the Skylab program in the 1970s, and for initial segments of the International Space Station through the 1990s. The Apollo and Space Shuttle astronauts would board the astronaut transfer van to launch complex 39 from the O&C building.

The three-story, 457,000-square-foot (42,500 m2) Space Station Processing Facility (SSPF) consists of two enormous processing bays, an airlock, operational control rooms, laboratories, logistics areas and office space for support of non-hazardous Space Station and Shuttle payloads to ISO 14644-1 class 5 standards. Opened in 1994, it is the largest factory building in the KSC industrial area.

The Vertical Processing Facility (VPF) features a 71-by-38-foot (22 by 12 m) door where payloads that are processed in the vertical position are brought in and manipulated with two overhead cranes and a hoist capable of lifting up to 35 short tons (32 t).

The Hypergolic Maintenance and Checkout Area (HMCA) comprises three buildings that are isolated from the rest of the industrial area because of the hazardous materials handled there. Hypergolic-fueled modules that made up the Space Shuttle Orbiter's reaction control system, orbital maneuvering system and auxiliary power units were stored and serviced in the HMCF.

The Multi-Payload Processing Facility is a 19,647 square feet (1,825.3 m2) building used for Orion spacecraft and payload processing.

The Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility (PHSF) contains a 70-by-110-foot (21 by 34 m) service bay, with a 100,000-pound (45,000 kg), 85-foot (26 m) hook height. It also contains a 58-by-80-foot (18 by 24 m) payload airlock. Its temperature is maintained at 70 °F (21 °C).[55]

The Blue Origin rocket manufacturing facility is located immediately south of the KSC visitor complex. Completed in 2019, it serves as the company's factory for the manufacture of New Glenn orbital rockets.

 

Launch Complex 39 (LC-39) was originally built for the Saturn V, the largest and most powerful operational launch vehicle until the Space Launch System, for the Apollo crewed Moon landing program. Since the end of the Apollo program in 1972, LC-39 has been used to launch every NASA human space flight, including Skylab (1973), the Apollo–Soyuz Test Project (1975), and the Space Shuttle program (1981–2011).

 

Since December 1968, all launch operations have been conducted from launch pads A and B at LC-39. Both pads are on the ocean, 3 miles (4.8 km) east of the VAB. From 1969 to 1972, LC-39 was the "Moonport" for all six Apollo crewed Moon landing missions using the Saturn V, and was used from 1981 to 2011 for all Space Shuttle launches.

 

Human missions to the Moon required the large three-stage Saturn V rocket, which was 363 feet (111 meters) tall and 33 feet (10 meters) in diameter. At KSC, Launch Complex 39 was built on Merritt Island to accommodate the new rocket. Construction of the $800 million project began in November 1962. LC-39 pads A and B were completed by October 1965 (planned Pads C, D and E were canceled), the VAB was completed in June 1965, and the infrastructure by late 1966.

 

The complex includes: the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB), a 130,000,000 cubic feet (3,700,000 m3) hangar capable of holding four Saturn Vs. The VAB was the largest structure in the world by volume when completed in 1965.

a transporter capable of carrying 5,440 tons along a crawlerway to either of two launch pads;

a 446-foot (136 m) mobile service structure, with three Mobile Launcher Platforms, each containing a fixed launch umbilical tower;

the Launch Control Center; and

a news media facility.

 

Launch Complex 48 (LC-48) is a multi-user launch site under construction for small launchers and spacecraft. It will be located between Launch Complex 39A and Space Launch Complex 41, with LC-39A to the north and SLC-41 to the south. LC-48 will be constructed as a "clean pad" to support multiple launch systems with differing propellant needs. While initially only planned to have a single pad, the complex is capable of being expanded to two at a later date.

 

As a part of promoting commercial space industry growth in the area and the overall center as a multi-user spaceport, KSC leases some of its properties. Here are some major examples:

 

Exploration Park to multiple users (partnership with Space Florida)

Shuttle Landing Facility to Space Florida (who contracts use to private companies)

Orbiter Processing Facility (OPF)-3 to Boeing (for CST-100 Starliner)

Launch Complex 39A, Launch Control Center Firing Room 4 and land for SpaceX's Roberts Road facility (Hanger X) to SpaceX

O&C High Bay to Lockheed Martin (for Orion processing)

Land for FPL's Space Coast Next Generation Solar Energy Center to Florida Power and Light (FPL)

Hypergolic Maintenance Facility (HMF) to United Paradyne Corporation (UPC)

 

The Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex, operated by Delaware North since 1995, has a variety of exhibits, artifacts, displays and attractions on the history and future of human and robotic spaceflight. Bus tours of KSC originate from here. The complex also includes the separate Apollo/Saturn V Center, north of the VAB and the United States Astronaut Hall of Fame, six miles west near Titusville. There were 1.5 million visitors in 2009. It had some 700 employees.

 

It was announced on May 29, 2015, that the Astronaut Hall of Fame exhibit would be moved from its current location to another location within the Visitor Complex to make room for an upcoming high-tech attraction entitled "Heroes and Legends". The attraction, designed by Orlando-based design firm Falcon's Treehouse, opened November 11, 2016.

 

In March 2016, the visitor center unveiled the new location of the iconic countdown clock at the complex's entrance; previously, the clock was located with a flagpole at the press site. The clock was originally built and installed in 1969 and listed with the flagpole in the National Register of Historic Places in January 2000. In 2019, NASA celebrated the 50th anniversary of the Apollo program, and the launch of Apollo 10 on May 18. In summer of 2019, Lunar Module 9 (LM-9) was relocated to the Apollo/Saturn V Center as part of an initiative to rededicate the center and celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Apollo Program.

 

Historic locations

NASA lists the following Historic Districts at KSC; each district has multiple associated facilities:

 

Launch Complex 39: Pad A Historic District

Launch Complex 39: Pad B Historic District

Shuttle Landing Facility (SLF) Area Historic District

Orbiter Processing Historic District

Solid Rocket Booster (SRB) Disassembly and Refurbishment Complex Historic District

NASA KSC Railroad System Historic District

NASA-owned Cape Canaveral Space Force Station Industrial Area Historic District

There are 24 historic properties outside of these historic districts, including the Space Shuttle Atlantis, Vehicle Assembly Building, Crawlerway, and Operations and Checkout Building.[71] KSC has one National Historic Landmark, 78 National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) listed or eligible sites, and 100 Archaeological Sites.

 

Further information: John F. Kennedy Space Center MPS

Other facilities

The Rotation, Processing and Surge Facility (RPSF) is responsible for the preparation of solid rocket booster segments for transportation to the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB). The RPSF was built in 1984 to perform SRB operations that had previously been conducted in high bays 2 and 4 of the VAB at the beginning of the Space Shuttle program. It was used until the Space Shuttle's retirement, and will be used in the future by the Space Launch System[75] (SLS) and OmegA rockets.

So, let's get this party going! The top-level page for this project is here, and a painfully detailed discussion of the inner workings of the manufacturing process are in this doc.

 

A snapshot of the early design process for a planetary gearbox for the custom drivetrain I am hoping to build. This stage involves calculating and arranging 2D gear profiles in a CAD application.

 

Tooth size is under 0.5 mm. To ensure proper meshing and power transfer, a very specific geometry needs to be used.