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6" in diameter with 0.25" rim, 1 3/8" tall, slanted profile inside and outside, base is 3.25" wide, yellow color on the outside.
Stepping Out Rug
Designed by Isabelle Wolters
This quick-to-stitch rug radiates color from the center out!
Experience Level
Easy
Size
34 inches in diameter, excluding fringe
Materials
4-ply yarn
42 oz assorted scrap colors
Crochet hook size Q
Yarn needle
Gauge
Rnds 1-3 = 6 inches
Pattern Notes
Weave in loose ends as work progresses.
Work with 5 strands of yarn held tog throughout.
To change yarn color, simply cut old color and tie on new color, working over yarn ends as much as possible.
Rug
Rnd 1: With 5 strands of yarn, ch 2, 8 sc in 2nd ch from hook, sl st to join in beg sc. (8)
Rnd 2: Ch 2 (first hdc), hdc in same st as beg ch-2, 2 hdc in each sc around, sl st to join in top of beg ch-2. (16)
Note: Ch 2 at beg of each rnd is first hdc. Sl st to join each rnd in top of beg ch-2.
Rnd 3: Ch 2, hdc in same st as beg ch-2, hdc in next st, [2 hdc in next st, hdc in next st] rep around. (24)
Rnd 4: Ch 2, 2 hdc in same st as beg ch-2, hdc in next 2 sts, [3 hdc in next st, hdc in each next 2 sts] rep around. (40)
Rnd 5: Ch 2, 3 hdc in next st, [hdc in each next 4 sts, 3 hdc in next st] rep around, ending with hdc in last 3 sts. (56)
Rnd 6: Ch 2, hdc in next st, 2 hdc in next st, [hdc in next 6 sts, 2 hdc in next st] rep around, ending with hdc in last 4 sts. (64)
Rnd 7: Ch 2, hdc in next 2 sts, 2 hdc in next st, [hdc in next 7 sts, 2 hdc in next st] rep around, ending with hdc in last 4 sts. (72)
Rnd 8: Ch 2, hdc in next 3 sts, 2 hdc in next st, [hdc in next 8 sts, 2 hdc in next st] rep around, ending with hdc in last 4 sts. (80)
Rnd 9: Ch 2, hdc in next 4 sts, 2 hdc in next st, [hdc in next 9 sts, 2 hdc in next st] rep around, ending with hdc in last 4 sts. (88)
Rnd 10: Ch 2, hdc in next 5 sts, 2 hdc in next st, [hdc in next 10 sts, 2 hdc in next st] rep around, ending with hdc in last 4 sts. (96)
Rnd 11: Ch 2, hdc in next 6 sts, 2 hdc in next st, [hdc in next 11 sts, 2 hdc in next st] rep around, ending with hdc in last 4 sts. (104)
Rnd 12: Ch 2, hdc in next 7 sts, 2 hdc in next st, [hdc in next 12 sts, 2 hdc in next st] rep around, ending with hdc in last 4 sts. (112)
Rnd 13: Ch 2, hdc in next 8 sts, 2 hdc in next st, [hdc in next 13 sts, 2 hdc in next st] rep around, ending with hdc in last 4 sts. (120)
Rnd 14: Ch 2, hdc in next 9 sts, 2 hdc in next st, [hdc in next 14 sts, 2 hdc in next st] rep around, ending with hdc in last 4 sts. (128)
Rnd 15: Ch 2, hdc in next 10 sts, 2 hdc in next st, [hdc in next 15 sts, 2 hdc in next st] rep around, ending with hdc in last 4 sts. (136)
Rnd 16: Ch 2, hdc in next 11 sts, 2 hdc in next st, [hdc in next 16 sts, 2 hdc in next st] rep around, ending with hdc in last 4 sts. (144)
Rnd 17: Ch 2, hdc in next 12 sts, 2 hdc in next st, [hdc in next 17 sts, 2 hdc in next st] rep around, ending with hdc in last 4 sts. (152)
Rnd 18: Ch 2, hdc in next 13 sts, 2 hdc in next st, [hdc in next 18 sts, 2 hdc in next st] rep around, ending with hdc in last 4 sts. (160)
Rnd 19: Ch 2, hdc in next 14 sts, 3 hdc in next st, [hdc in next 19 sts, 3 hdc in next st] rep around, ending with hdc in last 4 sts, fasten off. (176)
Fringe
[Cut 5 strands of assorted colors each 6 inches in length. Holding strands tog, fold at center, insert hook into hdc of last rnd, draw fold through to form a lp on hook, draw cut end through lp on hook, pull to secure] rep in each st around. Trim ends evenly.
Copyright © 1996. Scrap Happy Rugs. All rights reserved.
Genghis Khan's bronze statue, Baotou, Inner Mongolia, China
Genghis Khan's bronze statue which is 6,6 m in height, stands in the center of the square, which is 66 m in diameter, overlooking this land and as if saying, this is the place where deer inhabits themselves, bird nurtures their young, dynasties rise up into their strength and old people enjoy their lives.
"Soon it will collapse, ones you do not guard carefully with what you established. " Ghengis Khan
The Mausoleum of Genghis Khan, Baotou, Inner Mongolia, China,
The Mausoleum of Genghis Khan is a temple devoted to the worship of Genghis Khan. It is located along a river in Kandehuo Enclosure, Xinjie Town, Ejen Khoruu Banner, Ordos Prefecture-Level City , Inner Mongolia, People's Republic of China.
Genghis Khan worship is a religion popular among Mongolians, with ties to traditional Mongolian shamanism. There are other temples of this worship culture in Inner Mongolia and Northern China.
The mausoleum is a cenotaph, where the coffin contains no body but only headdresses and accessories, because the actual Tomb of Genghis Khan has never been discovered. It was built between 1954 and 1956 by the government of the PRC in the traditional Mongol style. The mausoleum is located in the town of Ejin Horo Qi, 115 kilometers north of Yulin, and 55 kilometers south of Dongsheng.
After Genghis Khan died around Gansu, his coffin was carried to central Mongolia. According to his will, he was buried without any markings. The burial place is unknown. Instead of the real tomb, portable mausoleums called naiman tsagaan ger (eight white yurts) enshrined him. They were originally palaces where Genghis Khan lived, but were altered to mausoleums by Ögedei Khan. They settled at the base of the Khentii Mountains. The site, located in Delgerkhaan Sum, Khentii Aimag, Mongolia, is called the Avraga site.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mausoleum_of_Genghis_Khan
Genghis Khan's Mausoleum
Statue of Genghis Khan, Baotou
Statue of Genghis Khan, BaotouGenghis Khan is a Mongolian hero. He reunified the chaotic Inner Mongolia prairie and led his people to be a great civilization. He made great contributions to the founding of the powerful Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368) and the unification of China which enhanced greatly the interactions of the peoples of China. Due to this great feat, he was named 'Genghis Khan' by Mongolian tribes, meaning 'powerful king' in Mongolian. Today, Genghis Khan is still worshipped and remembered by his people.
www.travelchinaguide.com/attraction/inner_mongolia/baotou...
+++ DISCLAIMER +++
Nothing you see here is real, even though the conversion or the presented background story might be based on historical facts. BEWARE!
Some background:
The Gotha 146 was a fast reconnaissance aircraft that was used throughout WWII by the German Luftwaffe, and one of the results of a mutual technology exchange program with Japan. The Go 146 was actually a license-built, but modified variant of the excellent Mitsubishi Ki-46. The latter type's career started in late 1937, when the Imperial Japanese Army Air Force issued a specification to Mitsubishi for a long-range strategic reconnaissance aircraft to replace the Mitsubishi Ki-15. The specification demanded an endurance of six hours and sufficient speed to evade interception by any fighter in existence or development at that time, but otherwise did not constrain the design by a team led by Tomio Kubo.
The resulting design was a twin-engine, low-winged monoplane with a retractable tailwheel undercarriage. It had a small diameter oval fuselage with the pilot and observer situated in individual cockpits separated by a large fuel tank. The engines, two Mitsubishi Ha-26 radials, were housed in close-fitting cowlings to reduce drag and improve pilot view.
The first prototype aircraft, flew in November 1939 from the Mitsubishi factory at Kakamigahara, Gifu. Tests showed that the Ki-46 was underpowered and slower than required, only reaching 540 km/h (336 mph) rather than the specified 600 km/h (373 mph), but, otherwise, the aircraft tests were successful. As the type was still faster than the Army's latest fighter, the Nakajima Ki-43, as well as the Navy's new A6M2, an initial production batch was ordered. To solve the performance problems, Mitsubishi switched to Ha-102 engines, which were Ha-26s fitted with a two-stage supercharger, while increasing fuel capacity and reducing empty weight. This became the Ki-46-II, and this type was also demonstrated to German officials who immediately noticed its potential.
Knowing that the German Luftwaffe lacked this specialized, fast type of aircraft (German reconnaissance aircraft of that time were either slow artillery observation types, or variants of bombers or heavy fighters), the RLM immediately asked for a batch of airframe kits to adapt it to the European theatre and test its capabilities. Seven engine-less airframe kits were delivered to Germany in early 1940. In the meantime, with the help of blueprints and other documentations, an alternative engine installation had been devised: the “Germanized” aircraft was to be powered by liquid-cooled DB 601 engines, which delivered more power than the Ha-102 and offered improved aerodynamics, despite the necessity to add radiators under the outer wings. Many stock parts from the contemporary Messerschmitt Bf 110 heavy fighter were incorporated, so that the development time was very short, and the commonality of mechanical parts eased logistics and maintenance.
In May 1940 the first batch of the Gotha 146 A-0 pre-production aircraft (which had officially been described as a further development of a four seat, twin-engine transport aircraft from the 1930s to cloud its origins and mission) was ready. They were immediately transferred to the Western Front for field tests, and the specialized Go 146 became quickly popular among its crews. It was fast, agile and easy to fly – almost on par with state-of-the-art fighters like the Bf 109. During the test phase in summer 1940 the Go 146 proved to be slightly faster than its Japanese Ki-46 ancestor, and with a top speed of more than 375 mph (600 km/h) it was hard to intercept by any British or French fighter of the time. The results were so convincing that the type was ordered into serial production, and from October 1940 on the Go 146 A-1 was produced in limited numbers at the Gothaer Waggonfabrik in Thuringia. Even though production only ran at small scale, it was continuous, and the Go 146 was steadily developed further, including the change of the nose section that came with the Ki-46-III, stronger engines and an improved defensive armament.
This evolution led to the Go 146 B, which had the traditional stepped windshield replaced with a smooth, curved, glazed panel extended over the pilot's seat. It not only gave a more aerodynamic nose profile, the re-shaped nose also offered room for an extra fuel tank. The space between the two crewmen, connected with a crawl tunnel, held another fuel tank, the radio equipment (a Sprechfunkgerät FuG 16 ZY and a FuG 25a „Erstling“ IFF beacon), as well as a compartment for up to three cameras with several ventral windows, which could take Rb (“Reihenbildner” = serial picture device) 20/30, 50/30 and 75/30 devices that could be mounted in different combinations and angles as needed.
Power came now from a pair of new Daimler-Benz DB 603A liquid-cooled piston engines, which offered 1,290 kW (1,750 hp) each for take-off. Since the engine mounts had to be re-designed for the DB603s (the Go 146 A had used adapters to attach its shorter DB 601s to the original Ha-102 radials’ hardpoints), German engineers used the opportunity to redesign the complete engine nacelles. As a result, their diameter and “wet” surface was reduced, so much that the landing gear had to be modified, too. It now rotated 90° upon retraction, so that the main wheels were lying in shallow wells within the wing structure. Beyond better aerodynamics, structural measures saved almost 250 kg (550 lb).
Instead of the Go 146 A’s single 7.92 mm (.312 in) MG 17 machine gun in the observer's cabin, facing rearwards, the defensive armament was improved and consisted of a pair of 13 mm (0.51 in) MG 131 machine guns, firing rearward from FDSL 131/1B remotely-operated barbettes, one per side. This rather complex installation had become possible (and in part necessary) due to a center of gravity shift from the modified engines and their empennage. The weapons were aimed by the rear crewman through a periscope that covered both the upper and lower rear hemisphere. The control unit had a rotating transverse crossbar with a sideways-pivoting handgun-style grip and trigger at its center, "forked" at its forward pivoting end to fit around the crossbar, with the upper fork extended beyond the rotating crossbar to mount the gunsight. This unique aiming and control scheme rotated the crossbar axially, when the handgrip was elevated or depressed, to aim the guns vertically by rotating both turrets together, and a sideways movement of the handgrip would pivot either one of the guns outwards from the fuselage-mounted turrets for diagonal firing. The guns were electrically fired, and an electrical contact breaker prevented the gunner from shooting off the aircraft’s tailplane. When not in use, the guns would return to a neutral position that would allow to fire directly backwards with both guns.
Furthermore, plumbed hardpoints were added to the inner wings, just inside of the engines. These could carry a 300 l drop tank each for an extended range and loiter time. Single bombs of up to 250 kg or racks with four 50 kg bombs each were theoretically possible too, but the aircraft lacked any bomb aiming support. Crew protection was slightly improved, too, but the airframe was overall kept as light as possible. Despite these efforts, however, MTOW rose to 6,500 kg (14,317 lb), but this was still relatively light in comparison with the similar contemporary Me 410 multi-purpose aircraft, which weighed more than 9 tons and was powered by similar engines. Consequently, and thanks to its clean lines, the G 146 B had a top speed of almost 700 km/h (434 mph) at ideal altitude and the aircraft retained its excellent handling, even though its structure was rather fragile and could not take much stress and punishment.
Two versions of the Go 146 B were produced, steadily but only at a low rate because the aircraft received, due to its highly specialized role and limited offensive capabilities, only a low priority. The B-1 was the main variant and kept the A version’s standard wing, a total of 54 were produced between 1943 and 1945. Additionally, the B-2 was produced between late 1943 and early 1944 as a dedicated high altitude photo reconnaissance aircraft. This sub-variant had an extended wingspan of 16.00 m (52 ft 5 in) instead of the standard 14.70 m (48 ft 2¾ in) and an improved oxygen system, even though the cabin was not pressurized. Its maximum service ceiling was almost 12.000 m (39.305 ft), with a maximum speed of 415 mph (668 km/h), a cruise speed of 250 mph (400 km/h) and a range of 3,200 km (1,987 nmi). Only twelve of these machines were produced and put into service, primarily for flights over Southern Great Britain. When the Arado Ar 234 became available from September 1944 on, though, this new, jet-powered type immediately replaced the Go 146 B-2 because it offered even better performance. Therefore, the B-3, a planned version with a fully pressurized cabin and an even bigger wingspan of 19.00 m, never left the drawing board.
Furthermore, the RLM had idea to convert the fast Go 146 into a fighter amd even a night fighter in mid-1944 as the “C” series. But these plans were not executed because the light airframe could hardly be adapted to heavy weapons or equipment like a radar set, and it was unsuited for vigorous dogfighting. The type’s poor climbing rate made it ineffective as an interceptor, too. There were, nevertheless, tests with at least one Go 146 B-1 that carried four Werfer-Granate 21 rocket launchers under the outer wings, as a fast bomber interceptor esp. against the high-flying B-29, which was expected to appear over continental Europe soon. But this kind of weaponry never reached frontline units and the Go 146 was never operated as a fighter of any kind.
There were, however, other uses: in 1944 the Go 146 was enlisted as a fast liaison aircraft for the RLM (Ministry of Aviation) in Berlin. Stripped off of any armament and cameras and outfitted with two passenger seats in the rear cabin, at least one Go 146 B (with the confirmed registration “ST+ZA”, others in similar configuration may have existed, too) was operated by the RLM’s Zentralabteilung (central command) from Tempelhof airfield for top brass officials between Luftwaffe locations on German terrain. ST+ZA’s fate after January 1945 is uncertain, though.
Specifications:
Crew: two (pilot and observer)
Length: 11.00 m (36 ft 1 in)
Wingspan: 14.70 m (48 ft 2¾ in)
Height: 3.88 m (12 ft 8¾ in)
Wing area: 32.0 m² (344 ft²)
Empty weight: 3,830 kg (8,436 lb)
Loaded weight: 5,661 kg (12,480 lb)
Max. takeoff weight: 6,500 kg (14,317 lb)
Powerplant:
2× Daimler-Benz DB 603A V-12 inverted liquid-cooled piston engines, rated at:
- 1,290 kW (1,750 hp) each for take-off
- 1,360 kW (1,850 PS) at 2,100 m (6,890 ft)
- 1,195 kW (1,625 PS) at 5,700 m (18,700 ft)
- 1,162 kW (1580 PS) combat power at 2500 rpm at sea level
Performance:
Maximum speed: 695 km/h (377 knots, 430 mph) at 5,800 m (19,000 ft)
Cruise speed: 450 km/h (245 knots, 280 mph)
Range: 2,800 km (1,522 nmi, 1,740 mi) with internal fuel
Service ceiling: 11,250 m (36,850 ft)
Wing loading: 157.8 kg/m² (32.3 lb/ft²)
Climb rate: 14.7 m/sec (2,900 feet per minute)
Climb to 8,000 m (26,250 ft): 15 min 20 sec
Armament:
2× 13 mm (0.51 in) defensive MG 131 machine guns with 500 RPG,
each firing rearward from FDSL 131/1B remote-operated turret, one per side
2× underwing hardpoints under the inner wings for 250 kg (550 lb) each,
typically occupied by 300 l drop tanks
The kit and its assembly:
This is a déjà vu build: I already did a “Germanized” Ki-46 in 2015, it was an Airfix Ki-46-II outfitted with DB 601s from a Bf 110 as a pre-series Gotha Go 146 A-0, an aircraft that (naturally) never existed but appeared plausible, since German military hardware including aircraft had been evaluated by Japanese forces. And why should this exchange not have worked the other way around, too? However, as I built this modified Dinah for the first time, I already thought that the basic idea had more potential than just one model, and the streamlined Ki-46-III just lent itself for an updated, later version.
This B-2 variant of the Go 146 was based on the LS Models/ARII Ki-46-III. Like the Airfix kit (its molds are from 1965, and that’s just what the kit feels, looks and builds like…), it’s a rather vintage offering, but it is in many aspects markedly ahead, with fine surfaces, recessed details, 3D engines and clear parts that actually fit into their intended places. The LS Models kit’s 10 years less of age are recognizable, and there are three boxings around with different versions of the aircraft (a Ki-46-II, a -III and a trainer with a raised tutor cockpit), differing in small extra sprues for the respective fuselage parts, but they all share a common sprue with the clear parts for all three versions.
The Ki-46-III kit was taken OOB, with just some minor mods. The most obvious change concerns the engines: they were transplanted from a Bilek Me 210, together with the underwing radiators outside of the nacelles. The Me 210, even though it’s from 1997, is a rather mediocre model with some dubious solutions, therefore earmarked for a conversion and ready to donor some body parts… The engine switch was insofar easy because the Ki-46 kit comes with completely separate parts for the engines and their fairings which also contain the main landing gear wells.
Because of this “clean” basis I decided to cut the nacelles out from the Me 210 and attach them to the Ki-46 wings, so that the DB 603 engines would have perfect attachment points. While this was a bigger overall surgery stunt than on the earlier Airfix Dinah, this was easier than expected and resulted in a cleaner solution that also underlines the Ki-46’s clean and slender shape. The modified nacelles were much smaller than the Dinah’s, though. The main wheels were replaced with slightly smaller and narrower ones from the scrap box.
Inside of the cockpit, I implanted a dashboard. In the rear cabin the seat was reversed and moved further forward. In the cabin’s rear a scratched targeting scope/weapon control column for the FDSL 131 installation was added. Since I left the single-part canopies (which are quite thick but very clear) closed I outfitted the model with a crew. The Ki-46 III kit comes with a pair of figures, but they are very small (H0 scale, at best!) and look goofy, so that I exchanged them with Matchbox WWII pilots, which had their legs bent and their bottoms cut away to make them fit into the tight fuselage and under the canopies.
Unfortunately, the Me 210 kit had already donated its machine gun barbettes (they had gone onto an upgraded Heinkel He 115 floatplane), so that I scratched them for the Go 146. WWII bombs became the fairings, some leftover landing gear struts were used as gun barrels, and round styrene bases were used as mounts that also lift the fairings slightly off the hull. The barbettes as such look a little superficial on the slender Dinah, but they are a nice, typically German detail, über-complicated for this type of fast aircraft that probably would have more benefited from leaving them away altogether to save weight and drag.
The (typically German) 300 l drop tanks come from Hobby Boss Bf 109s and each received four short attachment struts, made from styrene profile material, so that they could be stuck under the inner wings.
Painting and markings:
This was more complicated than expected. I wanted to apply a plausible, late German WWII livery with typical colors, but finding something that would be suited for high-altitude operations and not copy anything I had already done turned out to be challenging.
The paint scheme would be very light, with only low-contrast camouflage added on top. Therefore, the basis became an overall coat with RLM 76 (I used Tamiya XF-23, Light Blue, which is an excellent option). Inspired by He 177 bombers I found in literature, large blotches of a rather obscure and uncommon tone, RLM 77 “Hellgrau” were added to the flanks of fuselage, fin and engine nacelles. RLM 77 is/was a very light grey, and it was primarily used for markings like code letters on night fighters and not for camouflage. AFAIK it would later become the RAL 7035 (Lichtgrau) tone that still exists today. Humbrol 196 would have been an authentic option, but to keep the contrast to the underlying RLM 76 low I rather used XF-19 (Sky Grey) and extended the blotches under the fuselage and the nacelles, for a semi-wraparound scheme.
Then came the upper surfaces, everything was painted with brushes and without masks, with an intentional uneven finish. The wings and stabilizers were to receive a slightly darker camouflage in the form of RLM 02 and 75 splotches (with Tamiya XF-22 and XF-XX as proxies) over the uniform RLM 76 base, so that the aircraft’s outlines would be broken up from above. However, after first tests I found this did not look convincing, the RLM 76 was very prominent and bluish, so that I rather gave the upper wings and the spine a semi-translucent but continuous coat of paint, with the underlying RLM 76 just showing through here and there – much better. At this stage I added the decals (see below), but now found the upper surfaces to look too uniform and somewhat dark, so that, as a final measure, I added a meander pattern with RLM 77 (again XF-19) to the wings. This not only looked good and very “German”, it lightened the cammo and also helped to break the aircraft’s lines up. Some light panel shading to the uniform undersides, black ink and grinded graphite were used for weathering, but the effects are very soft.
Interior surfaces (cockpit and landing gear wells) became late-war style RAL 7021 Schwarzgrau (Humbrol 67), the landing gear struts were painted in RLM 02, this time Revell 45 was used. The propeller blades were painted in a very dark mix of green and black, the spinners became black with simple white spirals – the only detail with a high contrast on this aircraft.
The markings of this aircraft are minimal. Balkenkreuz markings only consisting of outlines were used, another typical late-war practice and for a low-visibility look/effect. They were taken from an Academy Fw 190 D. On the fuselage, the gun barbettes caused some headaches, because they take up a lot of space and made the application of a standard Luftwaffe code almost impossible. Consequently, the fuselage Balkenkreuze were placed ahead of the barbettes, partly disrupted by the observer’s lower side windows, while the tactical code became separated by the guns. At starboard the code even had to be reversed - not correct, but a pragmatic solution.
The model/aircraft belongs to a fictional unit, its code “P3” in front of the fuselage Balkenkreuz has no real-world reference and was executed in small letters, a typical late WWII measure. This part of the code was done with small, black 2 mm letters. A fictional unit badge, depicting a running greyhound, was added under the cockpit. It actually belongs to a German tank unit.
The “KN” part of the code, including the Ks on the nose, came from an Airfix Ju 87 B sheet. As an aircraft belonging to the 5th squadron within the unit’s 2nd group, the 4th letter in the code became “N”, while the 3rd letter “K” denotes the individual aircraft. The color code associated with a 5th squadron was red, incorporated on the aircraft as a thin red outline around the individual aircraft letter (another late-war low-contrast measure). To provide a little visual excitement, small red Ks were added to the nose, too, to make thew aircraft easy to identify when parked at the flight line.
Since this aircraft would operate over the Western front from German home ground, no further ID/theatre markings like fuselage or wing bands or wingtips in yellow or white, etc. were added. This, together with the lack of visible red as squadron code, results in a rather dry look, but that’s intentional.
After some exhaust and oil stains with graphite and Tamiya “Smoke”, a coat of acrylic matt varnish finally sealed the model and a wire antenna, made from heated sprue material, was added.
Well, an exotic what-if idea, but I really like how this conversion turned out, even though the livery evolved in a different way from what I had initially in mind. The Ki-46 was already an elegant aircraft, especially the Ki-46-III with its teardrop-shaped nose section. But, with the smaller, streamlined inline engines instead of the radials, this iteration looks even better and faster. It reminds a little of the D.H. Hornet? The gun barbettes are a nice “German” detail, and the makeshift high-altitude paint scheme adds to the obscure impression of the model. A really nice sister ship for the Go 146 A-0 build from 2015.
via
Vendor: Creative Wall Clock
Type:
Price: 39.90
Type:Wall Clocks;Style:Modern;Material:Bamboo & Wooden;Model Number:MZGZ-004;Width:33 cm;Motivity Type:Quartz;Display Type:Needle;Length:300 mm;Diameter:33 cm;Pattern:Abstract;Applicable Placement:Living Room;Feature:Antique Style;Combination:Separates;Shape:Geometric;Brand Name:The Vinyl Clock;Form:Single Face;Body Material:Wood;Body Material:Wood;Wall Clock Type:Wood;
Spider Web Wall Clock
The wooden clock "Spider Web" is an absolute eyecatcher on any wall.Combines the geometric beauty of spider web with the human innovation of laser-cutting technology. The delicate, hexagonal lattice is created by precision-cutting decorative plywood
To activate the clockwork you need a 1,5V AA-battery. This battery is not enclosed in the delivery.
****BASIC INFORMATIONS****
Size -33cm (13") x 30 cm (12")
Thickness - 5 mm (1/5 ")
Clock colour - natural wood
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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* This data was exported from the Dayton Audio WT3 Woofer Tester
*
* Manufacturer:
Fisher
* Model:
102
* Piston Diameter = 165.1 mm
* f(s)= 34.99 Hz
* R(e)= 6.50 Ohms
* Z(max)= 67.96 Ohms
* Q(ms)= 4.890
* Q(es)= 0.517
* Q(ts)= 0.468
* V(as)= 113.600 liters (4.013 cubic feet)
* L(e)= 1.85 mH
* n(0)= 0.90 %
* SPL= 91.63 1W/1m
* M(ms)= 11.72 grams
* C(ms)= 1.77 mm/N
* BL= 5.69
*
*
Freq Impedance Phase
1.029 6.524 2.493
1.059 6.524 2.493
1.091 6.524 2.493
1.122 6.524 2.493
1.155 6.524 2.493
1.189 6.524 2.493
1.224 6.524 2.493
1.260 6.524 2.493
1.297 6.524 2.493
1.335 6.523 4.880
1.374 6.523 4.880
1.414 6.523 4.880
1.456 6.523 4.880
1.498 6.523 4.880
1.542 6.523 4.880
1.587 6.523 4.880
1.634 6.523 4.880
1.682 6.523 4.880
1.731 6.523 4.880
1.782 6.523 4.880
1.834 6.523 4.880
1.888 6.523 4.880
1.943 6.523 4.880
2.000 6.549 7.087
2.059 6.549 7.087
2.119 6.549 7.087
2.181 6.549 7.087
2.245 6.549 7.087
2.311 6.549 7.087
2.378 6.549 7.087
2.448 6.549 7.087
2.520 6.549 7.087
2.594 6.549 7.087
2.670 6.609 9.559
2.748 6.609 9.559
2.828 6.609 9.559
2.911 6.609 9.559
2.997 6.609 9.559
3.084 6.609 9.559
3.175 6.609 9.559
3.268 6.609 9.559
3.364 6.707 11.797
3.462 6.707 11.797
3.564 6.707 11.797
3.668 6.707 11.797
3.775 6.707 11.797
3.886 6.707 11.797
4.000 6.823 13.821
4.117 6.823 13.821
4.238 6.823 13.821
4.362 6.823 13.821
4.490 6.823 13.821
4.621 6.823 13.821
4.757 6.942 15.757
4.896 6.942 15.757
5.040 6.942 15.757
5.187 6.942 15.757
5.339 7.063 17.631
5.496 7.063 17.631
5.657 7.063 17.631
5.823 7.063 17.631
5.993 7.184 19.500
6.169 7.184 19.500
6.350 7.184 19.500
6.536 7.184 19.500
6.727 7.312 21.421
6.924 7.312 21.421
7.127 7.312 21.421
7.336 7.450 23.427
7.551 7.450 23.427
7.772 7.450 23.427
8.000 7.608 25.487
8.234 7.608 25.487
8.476 7.608 25.487
8.724 7.791 27.477
8.980 7.791 27.477
9.243 7.791 27.477
9.514 7.994 29.399
9.792 7.994 29.399
10.079 8.227 31.131
10.375 8.227 31.131
10.679 8.487 32.677
10.992 8.487 32.677
11.314 8.762 34.080
11.645 8.762 34.080
11.986 9.058 35.366
12.338 9.058 35.366
12.699 9.360 36.636
13.071 9.360 36.636
13.454 9.662 37.866
13.849 9.662 37.866
14.254 9.981 39.196
14.672 10.309 40.618
15.102 10.309 40.618
15.545 10.648 41.995
16.000 11.000 43.421
16.469 11.000 43.421
16.951 11.395 44.823
17.448 11.853 46.203
17.959 12.343 47.567
18.486 12.343 47.567
19.027 12.907 48.929
19.585 13.880 50.743
20.159 14.269 51.243
20.749 15.055 52.151
21.357 15.901 52.877
21.983 16.844 53.579
22.627 17.928 54.057
23.290 19.106 54.263
23.973 20.392 54.419
24.675 21.892 54.405
25.398 23.580 53.949
26.143 25.431 53.293
26.909 27.528 52.532
27.697 29.941 51.229
28.509 32.535 49.515
29.344 37.162 46.398
30.204 42.530 41.958
31.089 46.442 38.264
32.000 53.389 31.120
32.938 60.037 21.720
33.903 65.391 10.223
34.896 67.965 -3.127
35.919 66.043 -16.221
36.971 61.317 -28.395
38.055 53.340 -38.510
39.170 44.783 -46.519
40.317 40.199 -49.783
41.499 35.651 -52.536
42.715 30.844 -54.856
43.967 27.241 -56.011
45.255 24.457 -56.501
46.581 22.252 -56.480
47.946 20.432 -56.100
49.351 18.922 -55.436
50.797 17.630 -54.570
52.285 16.523 -53.649
53.817 15.357 -52.487
55.394 14.371 -51.346
57.018 13.735 -50.513
58.688 12.988 -49.301
60.408 12.498 -48.471
62.178 12.080 -47.675
64.000 11.691 -46.974
65.875 11.252 -46.038
67.806 10.814 -44.910
69.792 10.429 -43.651
71.838 10.091 -42.370
73.943 9.809 -41.155
76.109 9.549 -39.887
78.339 9.297 -38.334
80.635 9.108 -36.891
82.998 8.906 -35.206
85.430 8.706 -33.560
87.933 8.511 -32.145
90.510 8.322 -30.647
93.162 8.164 -29.267
95.892 8.026 -27.713
98.701 7.914 -26.423
101.594 7.805 -25.029
104.571 7.695 -23.716
107.635 7.598 -22.501
110.789 7.515 -21.246
114.035 7.458 -20.039
117.377 7.405 -18.762
120.816 7.353 -17.338
124.356 7.293 -15.832
128.000 7.240 -14.560
131.751 7.195 -13.398
135.611 7.170 -12.040
139.585 7.156 -10.790
143.675 7.132 -9.453
147.885 7.104 -8.225
152.219 7.084 -7.011
156.679 7.085 -5.788
161.270 7.100 -4.660
165.995 7.115 -3.500
170.860 7.129 -2.417
175.866 7.144 -1.343
181.019 7.159 -0.376
186.324 7.184 0.667
191.783 7.222 1.750
197.403 7.241 2.576
203.187 7.244 3.425
209.141 7.253 4.525
215.269 7.275 5.653
221.577 7.305 6.652
228.070 7.344 7.625
234.753 7.386 8.576
241.632 7.429 9.512
248.712 7.476 10.432
256.000 7.523 11.318
263.501 7.572 12.249
271.223 7.627 13.203
279.170 7.683 14.059
287.350 7.747 15.001
295.770 7.810 15.882
304.437 7.874 16.726
313.358 7.947 17.623
322.540 8.021 18.473
331.991 8.099 19.328
341.719 8.178 20.142
351.732 8.263 20.976
362.039 8.347 21.767
372.647 8.437 22.579
383.567 8.538 23.397
394.806 8.645 24.194
406.375 8.757 24.938
418.282 8.865 25.637
430.539 8.980 26.357
443.155 9.093 27.087
456.140 9.206 27.829
469.506 9.329 28.610
483.264 9.473 29.420
497.424 9.631 30.184
512.000 9.805 30.910
527.003 10.002 31.603
542.445 10.230 32.226
558.340 10.497 32.632
574.701 10.783 32.574
591.541 10.987 32.051
608.874 11.077 31.620
626.715 11.119 31.587
645.080 11.178 31.799
663.982 11.253 32.122
683.438 11.348 32.454
703.464 11.440 32.660
724.077 11.480 32.849
745.294 11.479 33.356
767.133 11.507 34.237
789.612 11.601 35.275
812.749 11.747 36.276
836.565 11.943 37.158
861.078 12.154 37.823
886.309 12.351 38.379
912.280 12.545 38.944
939.012 12.744 39.466
966.527 12.936 39.971
994.849 13.137 40.527
1024.000 13.353 41.042
1054.005 13.567 41.538
1084.890 13.783 42.040
1116.680 14.010 42.507
1149.401 14.230 42.955
1183.081 14.454 43.454
1217.748 14.692 43.969
1253.431 14.947 44.470
1290.159 15.212 44.942
1327.964 15.480 45.387
1366.876 15.748 45.849
1406.929 16.035 46.301
1448.155 16.336 46.735
1490.589 16.642 47.148
1534.266 16.957 47.534
1579.224 17.278 47.889
1625.499 17.612 48.211
1673.129 17.951 48.502
1722.156 18.284 48.764
1772.619 18.612 49.013
1824.561 18.926 49.252
1878.024 19.223 49.554
1933.055 19.529 49.971
1989.697 19.876 50.452
2048.000 20.263 50.900
2108.011 20.671 51.294
2169.780 21.091 51.647
2233.360 21.522 51.970
2298.802 21.958 52.275
2366.162 22.404 52.568
2435.496 22.865 52.851
2506.862 23.338 53.123
2580.318 23.832 53.393
2655.927 24.347 53.632
2733.752 24.879 53.815
2813.857 25.418 53.932
2896.309 25.949 53.989
2981.178 26.449 54.017
3068.533 26.923 54.052
3158.448 27.353 54.154
3250.997 27.788 54.414
3346.259 28.293 54.800
3444.312 28.886 55.133
3545.238 29.505 55.357
3649.121 30.120 55.523
3756.049 30.728 55.680
3866.109 31.340 55.851
3979.395 31.972 56.045
4096.000 32.641 56.232
4216.022 33.340 56.370
4339.561 34.032 56.449
4466.720 34.699 56.525
4597.605 35.363 56.652
4732.325 36.058 56.820
4870.992 36.792 56.982
5013.723 37.554 57.126
5160.637 38.332 57.252
5311.855 39.127 57.365
5467.504 39.939 57.460
5627.714 40.759 57.543
5792.619 41.593 57.625
5962.355 42.445 57.699
6137.066 43.304 57.762
6316.896 44.169 57.830
6501.995 45.061 57.915
6692.518 45.982 58.002
6888.623 46.925 58.080
7090.476 47.889 58.145
7298.242 48.869 58.202
7512.097 49.864 58.253
7732.218 50.880 58.302
7958.790 51.918 58.349
8192.000 52.978 58.393
8432.044 54.054 58.432
8679.122 55.151 58.466
8933.439 56.269 58.496
9195.209 57.407 58.521
9464.649 58.565 58.540
9741.985 59.745 58.561
10027.447 60.948 58.581
10321.273 62.176 58.594
10623.710 63.425 58.606
10935.008 64.700 58.615
11255.428 65.999 58.621
11585.238 67.319 58.623
11924.711 68.661 58.627
12274.132 70.029 58.630
12633.791 71.420 58.630
13003.989 72.837 58.625
13385.035 74.275 58.617
13777.247 75.736 58.609
14180.951 77.226 58.602
14596.485 78.750 58.593
15024.194 80.302 58.581
15464.437 81.881 58.569
15917.579 83.485 58.555
16384.000 85.113 58.541
16864.088 86.763 58.524
17358.243 88.440 58.507
17866.879 90.153 58.490
18390.418 91.902 58.470
18929.299 93.680 58.447
19483.969 95.573 58.480
20054.893 98.484 58.928
20642.546 109.082 61.090
Mixed media acrylic and collage on wood, 35cm diameter
This piece fell together using compositional elements arranged within the circle, during which I recalled images from renaissance western painting, and christian devotional images of isolation, sufferance, and a bit of what I suppose emerges throughout 20th century culture of the cartoon of 'the guy stuck on a desert island'. I think it is a tricky prospect for me to use references from art history, or other artists work directly - look at as much as you can, I think, but close the books, and filter it through your own mind.
Sometimes I am asked where might I get ideas from. Everything I see, hear, read (and smell) influences what I do.
I am fascinated by the colonisation across the Atlantic and Indian Ocean by Europeans throughout history, and the boats here have been collaged from some paintings depicting, I think, Portuguese vessels off Goa. The notion of suddenly having to pay homage to some pallid far-off regent or King is a very disturbing idea. Here Philip of Spain is delivering some misplaced poetry to an animist deity, a Lewis-Carroll rabbit.
The creature in the plant is the skywatcher, being watched by the satellites, one of which may be called Magellan.
Observing all is the eye in the spoon, with an impassive gaze. The poetry is from the verbose Spanish mystic, St John of the Cross.
Private Collection, Ireland
Restaurante Hacienda - Mama Nena - jackfruit, ready for sacrifice - Cocina Campestre, Jarretaderas, Nayarit, Mexico.
The jackfruit (Artocarpus heterophyllus), also known as jack tree,[7] is a species of tree in the fig, mulberry, and breadfruit family (Moraceae) native to southwest India.[8][9][10]
The jackfruit tree is well-suited to tropicallowlands, and its fruit is the largest tree-borne fruit, reaching as much as 55 kg (120 lb) in weight, 90 cm (35 in) in length, and 50 cm (20 in) in diameter.[10][11] A mature jackfruit tree can produce about 100 to 200 fruits in a year. The jackfruit is a multiple fruit, composed of hundreds to thousands of individual flowers, and the fleshy petals are eaten.[10][12]
Jackfruit is commonly used in South and Southeast Asian cuisines.[13][14] The ripe and unripe fruit and seeds are consumed. The jackfruit tree is a widely cultivated throughout tropical regions of the world. It is the national fruit of Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, and the state fruit of the Indian states of Kerala and Tamil Nadu.
Etymology and history:
The word "jackfruit" comes from Portuguese jaca, which in turn is derived from the Malayalamlanguage term chakka (Malayalam chakka pazham).[12][15] When the Portuguese arrived in India at Kozhikode (Calicut) on the Malabar Coast(Kerala) in 1498, the Malayalam name chakka was recorded by Hendrik van Rheede (1678–1703) in the Hortus Malabaricus, vol. iii in Latin. Henry Yuletranslated the book in Jordanus Catalani's (f. 1321–1330) Mirabilia descripta: the wonders of the East.[16]
The common English name "jackfruit" was used by physician and naturalist Garcia de Orta in his 1563 book Colóquios dos simples e drogas da India.[17][18] Centuries later, botanist Ralph Randles Stewart suggested it was named after William Jack (1795–1822), a Scottish botanist who worked for the East India Company in Bengal, Sumatra, and Malaya.[19]
The jackfruit was domesticated independently in South Asia and Southeast Asia, as evidenced by the fact that the Southeast Asian names for the fruit are not derived from the Sanskrit roots. It was probably first domesticated by Austronesians in Java or the Malay Peninsula. The word for jackfruit in Proto-Western-Malayo-Polynesian is reconstructed as *laŋkaq. Modern cognates include Javanese, Malay, Balinese, and Cebuano nangka; Tagalog, Pangasinan, Bikol and Ilocano langka; Chamorro lanka or nanka; Kelabit nakan; Wolio nangke; Ibaloi dangka; and Lun Dayeh laka. Note, however, that the fruit was only recently introduced to Guam via Filipino settlers when both were part of the Spanish Empire.[20][21]
Botanical description:
Shape, trunk and leaves:
Artocarpus heterophyllus grows as an evergreen tree that has a relatively short trunk with a dense treetop. It easily reaches heights of 10 to 20 meters and trunk diameters of 30 to 80 centimeters. It sometimes forms buttress roots. The bark of the jackfruit tree is reddish-brown and smooth. In the event of injury to the bark, a milky juice is released.
The leaves are alternate and spirally arranged. They are gummy and thick and are divided into a petiole and a leaf blade. The petiole is 1 to 3 inches long. The leathery leaf blade is 7 to 15 inches long, and 3 to 7 inches wide and is oblong to ovate in shape.
In young trees, the leaf edges are irregularly lobed or split. On older trees, the leaves are rounded and dark green, with a smooth leaf margin. The leaf blade has a prominent main nerve and starting on each side six to eight lateral nerves. The stipules are egg-shaped at a length of 1.5 to 8 centimeters.
Flowers and fruit:
The inflorescences are formed on the trunk, branches or twigs (caulifloria). Jackfruit trees are monoecious, that is there are both female and male flowers on a tree. The inflorescences are pedunculated, cylindrical to ellipsoidal or pear-shaped, to about 10-12 centimeters long and 5-7 centimeters wide.
Inflorescences are initially completely enveloped in egg-shaped cover sheets which rapidly slough off.
The flowers are very small, there are several thousand flowers in an inflorescence, which sit on a fleshy rachis.[22] The male flowers are greenish, some flowers are sterile. The male flowers are hairy and the perianth ends with two 1 to 1.5 millimeters membrane. The individual and prominent stamens are straight with yellow, roundish anthers. After the pollen distribution, the stamens become ash-gray and fall off after a few days. Later all the male inflorescences also fall off. The greenish female flowers, with hairy and tubular perianth, have a fleshy flower-like base. The female flowers contain an ovary with a broad, capitate or rarely bilobed scar. The blooming time ranges from December until February or March.
The ellipsoidal to roundish fruit is a multiple fruit formed from the fusion of the ovaries of multiple flowers. The fruits grow on a long and thick stem on the trunk. They vary in size and ripen from an initially yellowish-greenish to yellow, and then at maturity to yellowish-brown. They possess a hard, gummy shell with small pimples surrounded with hard, hexagonal tubercles. The very large and variously shaped fruit have a length of 30 to 100 centimeters and a diameter of 15 to 50 centimeters and can weigh 10-25 kilograms or more.
The fruits consist of a fibrous, whitish core (rachis) about 5-10 centimeters thick. Radiating from this are many 10 centimeter long individual fruits. They are elliptical to egg-shaped, light brownish achenes with a length of about 3 centimeters and a diameter of 1.5 to 2 centimeters.
There may be about 100-500 seeds per fruit. The seed coat consists of a thin, waxy, parchment-like and easily removable testa (husk) and a brownish, membranous tegmen. The cotyledons are usually unequal in size, the endosperm is minimally present.[23]
The fruit matures during the rainy season from July to August. The bean-shaped achenes of the jackfruit are coated with a firm yellowish aril (seed coat, flesh), which has an intense sweet taste at maturity of the fruit. [3] The pulp is enveloped by many narrow strands of fiber (undeveloped perianth), which run between the hard shell and the core of the fruit and are firmly attached to it. When pruned, the inner part (core) secretes a very sticky, milky liquid, which can hardly be removed from the skin, even with soap and water. To clean the hands after "unwinding" the pulp an oil or other solvent is used. For example, street vendors in Tanzania, who sell the fruit in small segments, provide small bowls of kerosene for their customers to cleanse their sticky fingers.[citation needed]
An average fruit consists of 27% edible seed coat, 15% edible seeds, 20% white pulp (undeveloped perianth, rags) and bark and 10% core.
The number of chromosomes is 2n = 56.[24]
As food:
Ripe jackfruit is naturally sweet, with subtle flavoring.[10] It can be used to make a variety of dishes, including custards, cakes, or mixed with shaved ice as es teler in Indonesia or halo-halo in the Philippines. For the traditional breakfast dish in southern India, idlis, the fruit is used with rice as an ingredient and jackfruit leaves are used as a wrapping for steaming. Jackfruit dosas can be prepared by grinding jackfruit flesh along with the batter. Ripe jackfruit arils are sometimes seeded, fried, or freeze-dried and sold as jackfruit chips.
The seeds from ripe fruits are edible, and are said to have a milky, sweet taste often compared to Brazil nuts. They may be boiled, baked, or roasted. When roasted, the flavor of the seeds is comparable to chestnuts. Seeds are used as snacks (either by boiling or fire-roasting) or to make desserts. In Java, the seeds are commonly cooked and seasoned with salt as a snack. They are quite commonly used in curry in India in the form of a traditional lentil and vegetable mix curry.
Aroma:
Jackfruit has a distinctive sweet and fruity aroma. In a study of flavour volatiles in five jackfruit cultivars, the main volatile compounds detected were ethyl isovalerate, propyl isovalerate, butyl isovalerate, isobutyl isovalerate, 3-methylbutyl acetate, 1-butanol, and 2-methylbutan-1-ol.[25]
A fully ripe and unopened jackfruit is known to "emit a strong aroma", with the inside of the fruit described as smelling of pineapple and banana.[10] After roasting, the seeds may be used as a commercial alternative to chocolate aroma.[26]
Nutritional value:
The flesh of the jackfruit is starchy and fibrous and is a source of dietary fiber. The pulp is composed of 74% water, 23% carbohydrates, 2% protein, and 1% fat. In a 100-g portion, raw jackfruit provides 400 kJ (95 kcal) and is a rich source (20% or more of the Daily Value, DV) of vitamin B6 (25% DV). It contains moderate levels (10-19% DV) of vitamin C and potassium, with no other nutrients in significant content.
The jackfruit also provides a potential part of the solution for tropical countries facing problems with food security,[12] such as several countries of Africa.[27]
Culinary uses:
The flavor of the ripe fruit is comparable to a combination of apple, pineapple, mango, and banana.[10][13] Varieties are distinguished according to characteristics of the fruit flesh. In Indochina, the two varieties are the "hard" version (crunchier, drier, and less sweet, but fleshier), and the "soft" version (softer, moister, and much sweeter, with a darker gold-color flesh than the hard variety). Unripe jackfruit has a mild flavor and meat-like texture and is used in curry dishes with spices in many cuisines. The skin of unripe jackfruit must be peeled first, then the remaining jackfruit flesh is chopped in a labor-intensive process[28] into edible portions and cooked before serving.
The cuisines of many Asian countries use cooked young jackfruit.[13] In many cultures, jackfruit is boiled and used in curries as a staple food. The boiled young jackfruit is used in salads or as a vegetable in spicy curries and side dishes, and as fillings for cutlets and chops. It may be used by vegetarians as a substitute for meat such as pulled pork. It may be cooked with coconut milk and eaten alone or with meat, shrimp or smoked pork. In southern India, unripe jackfruit slices are deep-fried to make chips.
South Asia:
In Bangladesh, the fruit is consumed on its own. The unripe fruit is used in curry, and the seed is often dried and preserved to be later used in curry.[29] In India, two varieties of jackfruit predominate: muttomvarikka and sindoor. Muttomvarikka has a slightly hard inner flesh when ripe, while the inner flesh of the ripe sindoor fruit is soft.[30]
A sweet preparation called chakkavaratti (jackfruit jam) is made by seasoning pieces of muttomvarikka fruit flesh in jaggery, which can be preserved and used for many months. The fruits are either eaten alone or as a side to rice. The juice is extracted and either drunk straight or as a side. The juice is sometimes condensed and eaten as candies. The seeds are either boiled or roasted and eaten with salt and hot chilies. They are also used to make spicy side dishes with rice. Jackfruit may be ground and made into a paste, then spread over a mat and allowed to dry in the sun to create a natural chewy candy.
Southeast Asia:
In Indonesia and Malaysia, jackfruit is called nangka. The ripe fruit is usually sold separately and consumed on its own, or sliced and mixed with shaved ice as a sweet concoction dessert such as es campur and es teler. The ripe fruit might be dried and fried as kripiknangka, or jackfruit cracker. The seeds are boiled and consumed with salt, as it contains edible starchy content; this is called beton. Young (unripe) jackfruit is made into curry called gulai nangka or stewed called gudeg.
In the Philippines, jackfruit is called langka in Filipino and nangkà[31] in Cebuano. The unripe fruit is usually cooked in coconut milk and eaten with rice; this is called ginataang langka. The ripe fruit is often an ingredient in local desserts such as halo-halo and the Filipino turon. The ripe fruit, besides also being eaten raw as it is, is also preserved by storing in syrup or by drying. The seeds are also boiled before being eaten.
Thailand is a major producer of jackfruit, which are often cut, prepared, and canned in a sugary syrup (or frozen in bags or boxes without syrup) and exported overseas, frequently to North America and Europe.
In Vietnam, jackfruit is used to make jackfruit chè, a sweet dessert soup, similar to the Chinese derivative bubur cha cha. The Vietnamese also use jackfruit purée as part of pastry fillings or as a topping on xôi ngọt (a sweet version of sticky rice portions).
Jackfruits are found primarily in the eastern part of Taiwan. The fresh fruit can be eaten directly or preserved as dried fruit, candied fruit, or jam. It is also stir-fried or stewed with other vegetables and meat.
Americas:
In Brazil, three varieties are recognized: jaca-dura, or the "hard" variety, which has a firm flesh, and the largest fruits that can weigh between 15 and 40 kg each; jaca-mole, or the "soft" variety, which bears smaller fruits with a softer and sweeter flesh; and jaca-manteiga, or the "butter" variety, which bears sweet fruits whose flesh has a consistency intermediate between the "hard" and "soft" varieties.[32]
Africa:
From a tree planted for its shade in gardens, it became an ingredient for local recipes using different fruit segments. The seeds are boiled in water or roasted to remove toxic substances, and then roasted for a variety of desserts. The flesh of the unripe jackfruit is used to make a savory salty dish with smoked pork. The jackfruit arils are used to make jams or fruits in syrup, and can also be eaten raw.
Wood and manufacturing:
The golden yellow timber with good grain is used for building furniture and house construction in India. It is termite-proof and is superior to teak for building furniture. The wood of the jackfruit tree is important in Sri Lanka and is exported to Europe. Jackfruit wood is widely used in the manufacture of furniture, doors and windows, in roof construction,[10] and fish sauce barrels.[33]
The wood of the tree is used for the production of musical instruments. In Indonesia, hardwood from the trunk is carved out to form the barrels of drums used in the gamelan, and in the Philippines, its soft wood is made into the body of the kutiyapi, a type of boat lute. It is also used to make the body of the Indian string instrument veena and the drums mridangam, thimila, and kanjira.
Cultural significance:
The jackfruit has played a significant role in Indian agriculture for centuries. Archeological findings in India have revealed that jackfruit was cultivated in India 3000 to 6000 years ago.[34] It has also been widely cultivated in Southeast Asia.
The ornate wooden plank called avani palaka, made of the wood of the jackfruit tree, is used as the priest's seat during Hindu ceremonies in Kerala. In Vietnam, jackfruit wood is prized for the making of Buddhist statues in temples[35] The heartwood is used by Buddhist forest monastics in Southeast Asia as a dye, giving the robes of the monks in those traditions their distinctive light-brown color.[36]
Jackfruit is the national fruit of Bangladesh,[29] and the state fruit of the Indian states of Kerala and Tamil Nadu.[37][38]
Cultivation:
In terms of taking care of the plant, minimal pruning is required; cutting off dead branches from the interior of the tree is only sometimes needed.[10] In addition, twigs bearing fruit must be twisted or cut down to the trunk to induce growth for the next season.[10] Branches should be pruned every three to four years to maintain productivity.[10]
Some trees carry too many mediocre fruits and these are usually removed to allow the others to develop better to maturity.
Stingless bees such as Tetragonula iridipennis are jackfruit pollinators, so play an important role in jackfruit cultivation.[39]
Production and marketing:
Edit
In 2017, India produced 1.4 million tonnes of jackfruit, followed by Bangladesh, Thailand, and Indonesia.[40]
The marketing of jackfruit involves three groups: producers, traders, and middlemen, including wholesalers and retailers.[41] The marketing channels are rather complex. Large farms sell immature fruit to wholesalers, which helps cash flow and reduces risk, whereas medium-sized farms sell the fruit directly to local markets or retailers.
Commercial availability:
Outside of its countries of origin, fresh jackfruit can be found at food markets throughout Southeast Asia.[10][42] It is also extensively cultivated in the Brazilian coastal region, where it is sold in local markets. It is available canned in sugary syrup, or frozen, already prepared and cut. Jackfruit industries are established in Sri Lanka and Vietnam, where the fruit is processed into products such as flour, noodles, papad, and ice cream.[42] It is also canned and sold as a vegetable for export.
Outside of countries where it is grown, jackfruit can be obtained year-round, both canned or dried. Dried jackfruit chips are produced by various manufacturers.
Invasive species:
Edit
In Brazil, the jackfruit can become an invasive species as in Brazil's Tijuca Forest National Park in Rio de Janeiro. The Tijuca is mostly an artificial secondary forest, whose planting began during the mid-19th century; jackfruit trees have been a part of the park's flora since it was founded.
Recently, the species has expanded excessively, and its fruits, which naturally fall to the ground and open, are eagerly eaten by small mammals, such as the common marmoset and coati. The seeds are dispersed by these animals; this allows the jackfruit to compete for space with native tree species. Additionally the supply of jackfruit as a ready source of food has allowed the marmoset and coati populations to expand. Since both prey opportunistically on birds' eggs and nestlings, increases in marmoset or coati population are detrimental for local bird populations.
References:
Under its accepted name Artocarpus heterophyllus (then as heterophylla) this species was described in Encyclopédie Méthodique, Botanique 3: 209. (1789) by Jean-Baptiste Lamarck, from a specimen collected by botanist Philibert Commerson. Lamarck said of the fruit that it was coarse and difficult to digest. "Larmarck's original description of tejas". Retrieved 2012-11-23. On mange la chair de son fruit, ainsi que les noyaux qu'il contient; mais c'est un aliment grossier et difficile à digérer.
^ "Name - !Artocarpus heterophyllus Lam". Tropicos. Saint Louis, Missouri: Missouri Botanical Garden. Retrieved 2012-11-23.
^ "TPL, treatment of Artocarpus heterophyllus". The Plant List; Version 1. (published on the internet). Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and Missouri Botanical Garden. 2010. Retrieved 2012-11-23.
^ "Name – Artocarpus heterophyllus Lam. synonyms". Tropicos. Saint Louis, Missouri: Missouri Botanical Garden. Retrieved 2012-11-23.
^ "Artocarpus heterophyllus". Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN). Agricultural Research Service (ARS), United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). Retrieved 2012-11-23.
^ "Artocarpus heterophyllus Lam. — The Plant List". Theplantlist.org. 2012-03-23. Retrieved 2014-06-17.
^ "Artocarpus heterophyllus". Tropical Biology Association. October 2006. Archived from the original on 2012-08-15. Retrieved 2012-11-23.
^ Love, Ken; Paull, Robert E (June 2011). "Jackfruit" (PDF). College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources, University of Hawaii at Manoa.
^ Boning, Charles R. (2006). Florida's Best Fruiting Plants:Native and Exotic Trees, Shrubs, and Vines. Sarasota, Florida: Pineapple Press, Inc. p. 107.
^ a b c d e f g h i j k Morton, Julia. "Jackfruit". Center for New Crops & Plant Products, Purdue University Department of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture. Retrieved 19 April 2016.
^ "Jackfruit Fruit Facts". California Rare Fruit Growers, Inc. 1996. Retrieved 2012-11-23.
^ a b c Silver, Mark. "Here's The Scoop On Jackfruit, A Ginormous Fruit To Feed The World". NPR. Retrieved 19 April 2016.
^ a b c Janick, Jules; Paull, Robert E. The encyclopedia of fruit & nuts. p. 155.
^ The encyclopedia of fruit & nuts, By Jules Janick, Robert E. Paull, pp. 481–485
^ Pradeepkumar, T.; Jyothibhaskar, B. Suma; Satheesan, K. N. (2008). Prof. K. V. Peter, ed. Management of Horticultural Crops. Horticultural Science Series. 11. New Delhi, India: New India Publishing. p. 81. ISBN 978-81-89422-49-3. The English name jackfruit is derived from Portuguese jaca, which is derived from Malayalam chakka.
^ Friar Jordanus, 14th century, as translated from the Latin by Henry Yule (1863). Mirabilia descripta: the wonders of the East. Hakluyt Society. p. 13. Retrieved 2012-11-23.
^ Oxford English Dictionary, Second Edition, 1989, online edition
^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. Bartleby. 2000. Archived from the original on 2005-11-30.
^ Stewart, Ralph R. (1984). "How Did They Die?". Taxon. 33 (1): 48–52. doi:10.2307/1222028. JSTOR 1222028.
^ Blench, Roger= (2008). "A history of fruits on the Southeast Asian mainland" (PDF). In Osada, Toshiki; Uesugi, Akinori. Occasional Paper 4: Linguistics, Archaeology and the Human Past. Indus Project. pp. 115–137. ISBN 9784902325331.
^ Blust, Robert; Trussel, Stephen (2013). "The Austronesian Comparative Dictionary: A Work in Progress". Oceanic Linguistics. 52 (2): 493–523. doi:10.1353/ol.2013.0016.
^ D. KN G Pushpakumara: Floral and Fruit Morphology and Phenology of Artocarpus heterophyllus Lam. (Moraceae). In: Sri Lankan J. Agric. Sci. Vol. 43, 2006, pp. 82-106, online (PDF), on researchgate.net, accessed May 24, 2018.
^ N. Haq: Jackfruit Artocarpus heterophyllus. International Center for Underutilized Crops, 2006, ISBN 0-85432-785-1, p. 4-11, 72 f.
^ Artocarpus heterophyllus at Tropicos.org. In: IPCN Chromosome Reports . Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis.
^ Ong, B.T.; Nazimah, S.A.H.; Tan, C.P.; Mirhosseini, H.; Osman, A.; Hashim, D. Mat; Rusul, G. (August 2008). "Analysis of volatile compounds in five jackfruit (Artocarpus heterophyllus L.) cultivars using solid-phase microextraction (SPME) and gas chromatography-time-of-flight mass spectrometry (GC-TOFMS)". Journal of Food Composition and Analysis. 21 (5): 416–422. doi:10.1016/j.jfca.2008.03.002. Retrieved 2013-02-02.
^ Spada, Fernanda Papa; et al. (21 January 2017). "Optimization of Postharvest Conditions To Produce Chocolate Aroma from Jackfruit Seeds". Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry. 65 (6): 1196–1208. doi:10.1021/acs.jafc.6b04836. PMID 28110526.
^ Mwandambo, Pascal (11 March 2014). "Venture in rare jackfruit turns farmers' fortunes around". Standard Online. Standard Group Ltd. Retrieved 20 December 2016.
^ Gene Wu [@@GeneforTexas] (2018-08-21). "Look for this thread later when we do: "You don't know Jackfruit."" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
^ a b Matin, Abdul. "A poor man's fruit: Now a miracle food!". The Daily Star. Retrieved 2015-06-12.
^ Ashwini. A (2015). Morpho-Molecular Characterization of Jackfruit. Artocarpus heterophyllus. Kerala Agricultural University.
^ Wolff, John U. (1972). "Nangkà". A Dictionary of Cebuano Visayan. 2. p. 698.
^ General information Archived 2009-04-13 at the Wayback Machine, Department of Agriculture, State of Bahia
^ "Nam O fish sauce village". Danang Today. 2014-02-26. Retrieved 2015-09-22.
^ Preedy, Victor R.; Watson, Ronald Ross; Patel, Vinood B., eds. (2011). Nuts and Seeds in Health and Disease Prevention (1st ed.). Burlington, MA: Academic Press. p. 678. ISBN 978-0-12-375689-3.
^ "Gỗ mít nài". Nhagoviethung.com. Retrieved 2014-06-17.
^ Forest Monks and the Nation-state: An Anthropological and Historical Study in Northeast Thailand, J.L. Taylor 1993 p. 218
^ Subrahmanian, N.; Hikosaka, Shu; Samuel, G. John; Thiagarajan, P. (1997). Tamil social history. Institute of Asian Studies. p. 88. Retrieved 2010-03-23.
^ "Kerala's State fruit!". Retrieved 2018-03-17.
^ Kothai, S. (2015). "Environmental Impact on Stingless Bee Propolis (Tetragonula iridipennis) Reared from Two Different Regions of Tamilnadu — A Comparative Study". International Journal of ChemTech Research.
^ Benjamin Elisha Sawe (25 April 2017). "World Leaders In Jackfruit Production". WorldAtlas. Retrieved 23 May 2018.
^ Haq, Nazmul (2006). Jackfruit: Artocarpus heterophyllus (PDF). Southampton, UK: Southampton Centre for Underutilised Crops. p. 129. ISBN 978-0-85432-785-0. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-10-05.
^ a b Goldenberg, Suzanne (23 April 2014). "Jackfruit heralded as 'miracle' food crop". The Guardian, London, UK. Retrieved 17 October 2016.
This is a collaborative project between performance artist Lascaux Proxy and myself. The concept, choreography, performance and music is by Lascaux Proxy. The video was shot on an iPhone 4S using FiLMiC Pro and ClassicCam and edited in Final Cut X by Andrew B. White.
©2103 Lascaux Proxy
Model of USS Pennsylvania(BB-38) at The Pennsylvania State Museum in Harrisburg, PA on September-4th-2019.
USS Pennsylvania (BB-38) was the lead ship of her class of super-dreadnought battleships built for the United States Navy in the 1910s.
Part of the standard-type battleship series, the Pennsylvania-class ships were significantly larger than their predecessors, the Nevada class. Pennsylvania had an overall length of 608 feet (185 m), a beam of 97 feet (30 m) (at the waterline), and a draft of 29 feet 3 inches (8.92 m) at deep load. This was 25 feet (7.6 m) longer than the older ships. She displaced 29,158 long tons (29,626 t) at standard and 31,917 long tons (32,429 t) at deep load, over 4,000 long tons (4,060 t) more than the older ships. The ship had a metacentric height of 7.82 feet (2.38 m) at deep load.
The ship had four direct-drive Curtis steam turbine sets, each of which drove a propeller 12 feet 1.5 inches (3.7 m) in diameter. They were powered by twelve Babcock & Wilcox water-tube boilers. The turbines were designed to produce a total of 34,000 shaft horsepower (25,000 kW), for a designed speed of 21 knots (39 km/h; 24 mph). She was designed to normally carry 1,548 long tons (1,573 t) of fuel oil, but had a maximum capacity of 2,305 long tons (2,342 t). At full capacity, the ship could steam at a speed of 12 knots (22 km/h; 14 mph) for an estimated 7,552 nautical miles (13,990 km; 8,690 mi) with a clean bottom. She had four 300-kilowatt (402 hp) turbo generators.
Fitting-out deck area around forward turrets in early weeks of 1916
Pennsylvania carried twelve 45-caliber 14 in (356 mm) guns in triple gun turrets.The turrets were numbered from I to IV from front to rear. The guns could not elevate independently and were limited to a maximum elevation of +15° which gave them a maximum range of 21,000 yards (19,000 m). The ship carried 100 shells for each gun. Defense against torpedo boats was provided by twenty-two 51-caliber 5 in (127 mm) guns mounted in individual casemates in the sides of the ship's hull. Positioned as they were they proved vulnerable to sea spray and could not be worked in heavy seas.[5] At an elevation of 15°, they had a maximum range of 14,050 yards (12,850 m).Each gun was provided with 230 rounds of ammunition.The ship mounted four 50-caliber three-inch guns for anti-aircraft defense, although only two were fitted when completed. The other pair were added shortly afterward on top of Turret III.Pennsylvania also mounted two 21-inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes submerged, one on each broadside, and carried 24 torpedoes for them.
The Pennsylvania-class design continued the all-or-nothing principle of armoring only the most important areas of the ship begun in the Nevada class. The waterline armor belt of Krupp armor measured 13.5 inches (343 mm) thick and covered only the ship's machinery spaces and magazines. It had a total height of 17 feet 6 inches (5.3 m), of which 8 feet 9.75 inches (2.7 m) was below the waterline; beginning 2 feet 4 inches (0.7 m) below the waterline, the belt tapered to its minimum thickness of 8 inches (203 mm).The transverse bulkheads at each end of the ship ranged from 13 to 8 inches in thickness. The faces of the gun turrets were 18 inches (457 mm) thick while the sides were 9–10 inches (229–254 mm) thick and the turret roofs were protected by 5 inches (127 mm) of armor. The armor of the barbettes was 18 to 4.5 inches (457 to 114 mm) thick. The conning tower was protected by 16 inches (406 mm) of armor and had a roof eight inches thick.
The main armor deck was three plates thick with a total thickness of 3 inches (76 mm); over the steering gear the armor increased to 6.25 inches (159 mm) in two plates. Beneath it was the splinter deck that ranged from 1.5 to 2 inches (38 to 51 mm) in thickness.The boiler uptakes were protected by a conical mantlet that ranged from 9 to 15 inches (230 to 380 mm) in thickness.A three-inch torpedo bulkhead was placed 9 feet 6 inches (2.9 m) inboard from the ship's side and the ship was provided with a complete double bottom. Testing in mid-1914 revealed that this system could withstand 300 pounds (140 kg) of TNT.
The keel for Pennsylvania was laid down on 27 October 1913 at the Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company of Newport News, Virginia. She was the Second Vessel Named for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Her completed hull was launched on 16 March 1915, thereafter beginning fitting-out. Work on the ship finished in mid-1916, and she was commissioned on 12 June under the command of Captain Henry B. Wilson. The ship was assigned to the Atlantic Fleet and then completed final fitting out from 1 to 20 July. Pennsylvania then began sea trials in 20 July, steaming first to the southern drill grounds off the Virginia Capes and then north to the coast of New England. Rear Admiral Austin M. Knight and officers from the Naval War College came aboard on 21 August to observe fleet training exercises. Three days later, the ship was visited by Franklin Delano Roosevelt, then the Assistant Secretary of the Navy. FDR later became the 32nd President of the United States from 1933 to 1945(His Death).
Rear Admiral Henry T. Mayo transferred to Pennsylvania on 12 October, making her the flagship of the Atlantic Fleet. At the end of the year, she went into drydock at the New York Navy Yard for maintenance. After emerging from the shipyard in January 1917, she steamed south to join fleet exercises in the Caribbean Sea, during which she stopped in: Culebra, Puerto Rico; Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic; and Port-au-Prince, Haiti. While in Port-au-Prince, Pennsylvania again hosted Roosevelt, who met with the President of Haiti aboard the ship. The battleship arrived back in Yorktown, Virginia on 6 April, the same day the United States declared war on Germany, bringing the country into World War I. Since Pennsylvania was oil-fired, she did not join the ships of Battleship Division Nine, as the British had asked for coal-burning battleships to reinforce the Grand Fleet. As a result, she stayed in American waters and saw no action during the war.
In August, Pennsylvania took part in a naval review for President Woodrow Wilson. Foreign naval officers visited the ship in September, including the Japanese Vice Admiral Isamu Takeshita and the Russian Vice Admiral Alexander Kolchak. For the rest of the year and into 1918, Pennsylvania was kept in a state of readiness through fleet exercises and gunnery training in Chesapeake Bay and Long Island Sound. She was preparing for night battle training on 11 November 1918, when the Armistice with Germany came into effect, ending the fighting. She thereafter returned for another stint in the New York Navy Yard for maintenance that was completed on 21 November. She began the voyage to Brest, France, on 2 December by way of Tomkinsville, New York, in company with the transport ship George Washington that carried Wilson to France to take part in the peace negotiations; they were escorted by ten destroyers. The ships arrived on 13 December and the next day, Pennsylvania began the trip back to New York with Battleship Divisions Nine and Six. The battleships reached their destination on 26 December, where they took part in victory celebrations.
Inter-war period
1919–1924
Pennsylvania and the rest of the Atlantic Fleet departed on 19 February, bound for the Caribbean for another round of exercises in Cuban waters. The ship arrived back in New York on 14 April, and while there on 30 June, Mayo was replaced by Vice Admiral Henry Wilson. On 8 July at Tomkinsville, a delegation consisting of: Vice President Thomas R. Marshall; Josephus Daniels, the Secretary of the Navy; Carter Glass, the Secretary of the Treasury; William B. Wilson, the Secretary of Labor; Newton D. Baker, the Secretary of War; Franklin K. Lane, the Secretary of the Interior; and Senator Champ Clark came aboard the ship for a cruise back to New York. The fleet conducted another set of maneuvers in the Caribbean from 7 January to April 1920, Pennsylvania returning to her berth in New York on 26 April. Training exercises in the area followed, and on 17 July she received the hull number BB-38.
On 17 January 1921, Pennsylvania left New York, passed through the Panama Canal to Balboa, Panama, where she joined the Pacific Fleet, which together with elements of the Atlantic Fleet was re-designated as the Battle Fleet, with Pennsylvania as its flagship. On 21 January, the fleet left Balboa and steamed south to Callao, Peru, where they arrived ten days later. The ships then steamed north back to Balboa on 2 February, arriving on 14 February. Pennsylvania crossed back through the canal to take part in maneuvers off Cuba and on 28 April she arrived in Hampton Roads, Virginia, where President Warren G. Harding, Edwin Denby, the Secretary of the Navy, Theodore Roosevelt Jr., the Assistant Secretary of the Navy, and Admiral Robert Coontz, the Chief of Naval Operations (CNO), came aboard the ship. Further training was held from 12 to 21 July in the Caribbean, after which she returned to New York. On 30 July, she proceeded on to Plymouth, Massachusetts for a visit that lasted until 2 August. Anothery drydock period in New York lasted from 5 to 20 August.
Pennsylvania departed New York thereafter, bound for the Pacific; she passed through the Panama Canal on 30 August and remained at Balboa for two weeks. On 15 September, she resumed the voyage and steamed north to San Pedro, Los Angeles, which she reached on 26 September. The ship spent most of 1922 visiting ports along the US west coast, including San Francisco, Seattle, Port Angeles, and San Diego, and from 6 March to 19 April, she underwent a refit at the Puget Sound Navy Yard. She won the Battle Efficiency Award for the 1922 training year. She went back to Puget Sound on 18 December, and remained there into 1923. She left the shipyard on 28 January and steamed south to San Diego, where she stayed from 2 to 8 February, before continuing on to the Panama Canal. After passing through, she steamed to Culebra for a short visit. The ship then passed back through the canal and arrived back in San Pedro on 13 April. Beginning in May, she visited various ports in the area over the course of the rest of 1923, apart from a round of fleet training from 27 November to 7 December. She ended the year with another stint in Puget Sound from 22 December until 1 March 1924.
1924–1931
The ship arrived in San Francisco on 3 March, where she loaded ammunition before joining the Battle Fleet in San Diego on 9 March. The fleet cruised south to the Gulf of Fonseca, then continued south and passed through the Panama Canal to Limon Bay. The ships visited several ports in the Caribbean, including in the US Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico before returning to the Pacific in early April. Pennsylvania arrived back in San Pedro on 22 April, where she remained until 25 June, when she steamed north to Seattle. By this time, she was serving as the flagship of Battle Division 3 of the Battle Fleet. While in the Seattle area, she took part in training exercises with the ships of her division that lasted until 1 September. Further training exercises took place from 12 to 22 September off San Francisco. She thereafter took part in joint training with the coastal defenses around San Francisco from 26 to 29 September. The ship underwent a pair of overhauls from 1 to 13 October and 13 December to 5 January 1925. Pennsylvania then steamed to Puget Sound on 21 January for a third overhaul that lasted from 25 January to 24 March.
Pennsylvania returned to San Pedro on 27 March and then joined the fleet in San Francisco on 5 April. The ships then steamed to Hawaii for training exercises before departing on 1 July for a major cruise across the Pacific to Australia. They reached Melbourne on 22 July, and on 6 August Pennsylvania steamed to Wellington, New Zealand, where she stayed from 11 to 22 August. On the voyage back to the United States, they stopped in Pago Pago in American Samoa and Hawaii, before reaching San Pedro on 26 September. Pennsylvania went to San Diego for target practice from 5 to 8 October, thereafter returning to San Pedro, where she remained largely idle for the rest of 1925. She left San Pedro with the Battle Fleet on 1 February 1926 for another visit to Balboa, during which the ships conducted tactical training from 15 to 27 February. Pennsylvania spent early March in California before departing for Puget Sound on 15 March for another refit that lasted until 14 May, at which point she returned to San Pedro. Another tour of west coast ports began on 16 June and ended on 1 September back in San Pedro.
Pennsylvania remained at San Pedro from 11 December to 11 January 1927 when she left for another refit at Puget Sound that lasted until 12 March. She returned to San Francisco on 15 March and then moved to San Pedro the next day. She left to join training exercises off Cuba on 17 March; she passed through the canal between 29 and 31 March and arrived in Guantánamo Bay on 4 April. On 18 April, she left Cuba to visit Gonaïves, Haiti before steaming to New York, arriving there on 29 April. After touring the east coast in May, she departed for the canal, which she crossed on 12 June. She remained in Balboa until 12 June, at which point she left for San Pedro, arriving on 28 June. The ship spent the rest of 1927 with training, maintenance, and a tour of the west coast. She went to Puget Sound for a refit on 1 April 1928 that lasted until 16 May, after which she went to San Francisco. She left that same day, however, and steamed back north to visit Victoria, British Columbia. She remained there from 24 to 28 May and then returned to San Francisco. She spent June visiting various ports, and in August she embarked Dwight F. Davis, the Secretary of War, in San Francisco; she carried him to Hawaii, departing on 7 August and arriving on the 13th. Pennsylvania returned to Seattle on 26 August.
Another cruise to Cuba took place in January 1929, after which she went to the Philadelphia Navy Yard on 1 June for a major refit and modernization. She received a number of modifications, including increased deck and turret roof armor, anti-torpedo bulges, new turbo-generators, new turbines, and six new three-drum boilers. Her main battery turrets were modified to allow them to elevate to 30 degrees, significantly increasing the range of her guns, and her secondary battery was revised. The number of 5-inch guns was reduced to twelve, and her 3-inch anti-aircraft guns were replaced with eight 5-inch /25 guns. Her torpedo tubes were removed, as were her lattice masts, which were replaced with sturdier tripod masts. Her bridge was also enlarged to increase the space available for an admiral's staff, since she was used as a flagship. Her living space was increased to 2,037 crew and marines, and she was fitted with two catapults for seaplanes.
Pennsylvania returned to service on 1 March 1931 and she conducted trials in Delaware Bay in March and April. She then steamed south to Cuba on 8 May for a training cruise before returning to Philadelphia on 26 May. Another cruise to Cuba followed on 30 July; the ship arrived there on 5 August and this time she steamed across the Caribbean to the Panama Canal, which she transited on 12 August to return to the Battle Fleet. She reached San Pedro on 27 August, where she remained for the rest of the year. She toured the west coast in January 1932 and before crossing over to Pearl Harbor, where she arrived on 3 February. There, she took part in extensive fleet maneuvers as part of Fleet Problem XIII. She returned to San Pedro on 20 March, remaining there until 18 April, when she began another cruise along the coast of California. She returned to San Pedro on 14 November and remained there until the end of the year.
1932–1941
Pennsylvania in Pearl Harbor in 1932, with tripod masts and her enlarged bridge
The ship departed San Pedro on 9 February to participate in Fleet Problem XIV, which lasted from 10 to 17 February. She returned to San Francisco on 17 February and then went to San Pedro on 27 February, remaining there until 19 June. Another west coast cruise followed from 19 June to 14 November, and after returning to San Pedro, Pennsylvania stayed there inactive until early March 1934. From 4 to 8 March, she made a short visit to Hunters Point Naval Shipyard in San Francisco and then returned to San Pedro. From there, she went to join the fleet for Fleet Problem XV, which was held in the Caribbean this year; she passed through the canal on 24 April, the maneuvers having already started on the 19th. They lasted until 12 May, at which point Pennsylvania went to Gonaïves with the rest of the fleet, which then continued on to New York, where it arrived on 31 March. There, Pennsylvania led the fleet in a naval review for now-President Franklin D. Roosevelt. On 15 June, Admiral Joseph M. Reeves took command of the fleet aboard Pennsylvania, which was once again the fleet flagship.
On 18 June, Pennsylvania left New York for the Pacific, stopping in Hampton Roads on 20 June on the way. She passed through the canal on 28 June and reached San Pedro on 7 July. She then went to Puget Sound for a refit that lasted from 14 July to 2 October. The ship left the shipyard on 16 October and returned to San Francisco two days later, beginning a period of cruises off the coast of California and visits to cities in the state. She ended the year in San Pedro, remaining there or in San Francisco until 29 April 1935, when she took part in Fleet Problem XVI in the Hawaiian islands. The maneuvers lasted until 10 June, and were the largest set of exercises conducted by the US Navy at the time. The ship then returned to San Pedro on 17 June and embarked on a cruise of the west coast for several months; on 16 December, she went to Puget Sound for another overhaul that lasted from 20 December to 21 March 1936. Fleet Problem XVII followed from 27 April to 7 June, this time being held off Balboa. She returned to San Pedro on 6 June and spent the rest of the year with training exercises off the west coast and Hawaii, ending the training program for the year in San Pedro on 18 November.
The ship remained in port until 17 February, when she departed for San Clemente, California at the start of a tour along the west coast. She participated in Fleet Problem XVIII, which lasted from 16 April to 28 May. Another stint in Puget Sound began on 6 June and concluded on 3 September, when she returned to San Pedro. She spent the rest of the year alternating between there and San Francisco, seeing little activity. She made a short trip to San Francisco in February 1938 and took part in Fleet Problem XIX from 9 March to 30 April. Another period in San Pedro followed until 20 June, after which she embarked on a two-month cruise along the west coast that concluded with another stay at Puget Sound on 28 September. After concluding her repairs on 16 December, she returned to San Pedro by way of San Francisco, arriving on 22 December. Fleet Problem XX occurred earlier the year than it had in previous iterations, taking place from 20 to 27 February 1939 in Cuban waters. During the exercises, Franklin Roosevelt and Admiral William D. Leahy, the CNO, came aboard Pennsylvania to observe the maneuvers.
The ship then went to Culebra on 27 February, departing on 4 March to visit Port-au-Prince, Haiti from 6 to 11 March. A stay in Guantanamo Bay followed from 12 to 31 March, after which she went to visit the US Naval Academy in Annapolis on 5 April. Pennsylvania began the voyage back to the Pacific on 18 April and passed through the canal at the end of the month, ultimately arriving back in San Pedro on 12 May. Another tour of the west coast followed, which included stops in San Francisco, Tacoma, and Seattle, and ended in San Pedro on 20 October. She went to Hawaii to participate in Fleet Problem XXI on 2 April 1940. The exercises lasted until 17 May, after which the ship remained in Hawaii until 1 September, when she left for San Pedro. The battleship then went to Puget Sound on 12 September that lasted until 27 December;[11] during the overhaul, she received another four 5-inch /25 guns. She returned to San Pedro on 31 December. Fleet Problem XXII was scheduled for January 1941, but the widening of World War II by this time led the naval command to cancel the exercises. On 7 January, Pennsylvania steamed to Hawaii as part of what was again the Pacific Fleet, based at Pearl Harbor. Over the course of the year, she operated out of Pearl Harbor and made a short voyage to the west coast of the United States from 12 September to 11 October.
On the morning of 7 December, Pennsylvania was in Dry Dock No. 1 in Pearl Harbor undergoing a refit; three of her four screws were removed. The destroyers Cassin and Downes were also in the dock with her. When it became clear that the port was under air attack from the Japanese fleet, Pennsylvania's crew rushed to their battle stations, and between 08:02 and 08:05, her anti-aircraft gunners began engaging the hostile aircraft. Japanese torpedo bombers unsuccessfully attempted to torpedo the side of the drydock to flood it; having failed, several aircraft then strafed Pennsylvania. At 08:30, several high-altitude bombers began a series of attacks on the ship; over the course of the following fifteen minutes, five aircraft attempted to hit her from different directions. One of the Japanese bombers hit Downes and one scored a hit on Pennsylvania that passed through the boat deck and exploded in casemate No. 9. Pennsylvania's anti-aircraft gunners fired at all of these aircraft but failed to hit any of them, apparently owing to incorrect fuse settings that caused the shells to explode before they reached the correct altitude. The gunners did manage to shoot down a low-flying aircraft that attempted to strafe the ship; they claimed to have shot down another five aircraft, but the after-action investigation noted that only two aircraft were likely hit by Pennsylvania's guns.
By 09:20, both destroyers were on fire from bomb hits and the fire had spread to Pennsylvania, so the drydock was flooded to help contain the fire. Ten minutes later, the destroyers began to explode as the fires spread to ammunition magazines, and at 09:41, Downes was shattered by an explosion that scattered parts of the ship around the area. One of her torpedo tubes, weighing 500 to 1,000 pounds (230 to 450 kg), was launched into the air, striking Pennsylvania's forecastle. As part of her crew battled the fire in her bow, other men used the ship's boats to ferry anti-aircraft ammunition from stores in the West Loch of Pearl Harbor. Beginning at 14:00, the crew began preparatory work to repair the bomb damage; a 5-inch /25 gun and a 5-inch /51 casemate gun were taken from the damaged battleship West Virginia to replace weapons damaged aboard Pennsylvania.[11] In the course of the attack, Pennsylvania had 15 men killed (including her executive officer), 14 missing, and 38 wounded.[12] On 12 December, Pennsylvania was refloated and taken out of the drydock; having been only lightly damaged in the attack, she was ready to go to sea. She departed Pearl Harbor on 20 December and arrived in San Francisco nine days later. She went into drydock at Hunter's Point on 1 January 1942 for repairs that were completed on 12 January.[11]
The ship left San Francisco on 20 February and began gunnery training before returning to San Francisco the next day. Further training followed in March, and from 14 April to 1 August, she took part in extensive maneuvers off the coast of California; during this period, she underwent an overhaul at the Mare Island Naval Shipyard in San Francisco. The work involved considerably strengthening the ship's anti-aircraft capabilities, with ten Bofors 40 mm quad mounts and fifty-one Oerlikon 20 mm single mounts. The tripod mainmast was removed, with the stump replaced by a deckhouse above which the aft main battery director cupola was housed. One of the new CXAM-1 radars was installed above the cupola. The older 5-inch /51 cal anti-ship guns in casemates and 5-inch /25 cal anti-aircraft guns were replaced with rapid fire 5-inch /38 cal guns in eight twin turret mounts. The new 5"/38 cal dual purpose guns could elevate to 85 degrees and fire at a rate of one round every four seconds.[3] The ship briefly went to sea during the Battle of Midway as part of Task Force 1, commanded by Vice Admiral William S. Pye, but the ships did not see action during the operation.
Aleutians and Makin Atoll
On 1 August, Pennsylvania left San Francisco, bound for Pearl Harbor. She arrived there on 14 August and took part in further training, including guard tactics for aircraft carrier task forces. Another overhaul followed in San Francisco from 3 to 10 January 1943. After further training and tests at San Francisco and Long Beach that lasted into April, she departed to join the Aleutian Islands Campaign on 23 April. She bombarded Holtz Bay and Chichagof Harbor on 11–12 May to support the forces that went ashore on the island of Attu. While she was leaving the area on the 12th, the Japanese submarine I-31 launched a torpedo at the ship, which was observed by a patrolling PBY Catalina flying boat. The Catalina radioed Pennsylvania, which took evasive maneuvers and escaped unharmed; a pair of destroyers then spent the next ten hours hunting the submarine before severely damaging her and forcing her to surface. I-31 was later sunk by another destroyer the next day.
Pennsylvania returned to Holtz Bay on 14 May to conduct another bombardment in support of an infantry attack on the western side of the bay. She continued operations in the area until 19 May, when she steamed to Adak Island for another amphibious assault. While en route, one of her gasoline stowage compartments exploded, which caused structural damage, though no one was injured in the accident. She was forced to leave Adak on 21 May for repairs at Puget Sound that lasted from 31 May to 15 June; during the overhaul, another accidental explosion killed one man and injured a second. She left port on 1 August, bound for Adak, which she reached on 7 August. There, she became the flagship of Admiral Francis W. Rockwell, commander of the task force that was to attack Kiska. The troops went ashore on 15 August but met no resistance, the Japanese having evacuated without US forces in the area having becoming aware of it. Pennsylvania patrolled off Kiska for several days before returning to Adak on 23 August.
Two days later, the battleship departed Adak for Pearl Harbor, arriving there on 1 September. She embarked a contingent of 790 passengers before steaming on 19 September, bound for San Francisco. She arrived there six days later and debarked her passengers before returning to Pearl Harbor on 6 October to take part in bombardment training from 20 to 23 October and 31 October – 4 November. Now the flagship of Rear Admiral Richmond K. Turner, the commander of the Fifth Amphibious Force, itself part of the Northern Attack Force, Pennsylvania left Pearl Harbor on 10 November to lead the assault on Makin Atoll, part of the Gilbert Islands. She was joined by three other battleships, four cruisers, three escort carriers, and numerous transports and destroyers; they arrived off Makin on 20 November, and Pennsylvania opened fire on Butaritari Island that morning at a range of 14,200 yards (13,000 m), beginning the Battle of Makin. Early on the morning of 24 November, the ship was rocked by an explosion off her starboard bow; lookouts reported that the escort carrier Liscome Bay had been torpedoed and had exploded. Japanese torpedo bombers conducted repeated nighttime attacks on 25 and 26 November, but they failed to score any hits on the American fleet. Pennsylvania left the area on 30 November to return to Pearl Harbor.
Marshalls and Marianas campaigns
At the start of 1944, Pennsylvania was at Pearl Harbor; over the course of the first two weeks of January, she took part in maneuvers in preparation for landings on Kwajalein in the Marshall Islands. She departed Pearl Harbor on 22 January in company with the invasion fleet, and on 31 January she began her preparatory bombardment of the atoll to start the Battle of Kwajalein. Troops went ashore the next day, and Pennsylvania remained offshore to provide artillery support to the marines as they fought to secure the island. By the evening of 3 February, the Japanese defenders had been defeated, allowing the ship to depart to Majuro Atoll to replenish her ammunition supply. She left shortly thereafter, on 12 February, to support the next major attack on Eniwetok in the Marshalls; five days later she arrived off the island, the Battle of Eniwetok already underway, and over the course of 20 and 21 February, she shelled the island heavily to support the men fighting ashore. On 22 February, she supported the landing on Parry Island, part of the Eniwetok atoll.
On 1 March, Pennsylvania steamed back to Majuro before proceeding south to Havannah Harbor on Efate Island in the New Hebrides. She remained there until 24 April, when she left for a short visit to Sydney, Australia from 29 April to 11 May, when she returned to Efate. She thereafter steamed to Port Purvis on Florida Island, in the Solomons, to participate in amphibious assault exercises. After replenishing ammunition and supplies at Efate, she left on 2 June, bound for Roi, arriving there six days later. On 10 June, she joined a force of battleships, cruisers, escort carriers, and destroyers that had assembled for the Marianas campaign. While en route that night, one of the escorting destroyers reported a sonar contact and the ships of the fleet took evasive maneuvers; in the darkness, Pennsylvania accidentally collided with the troop transport Talbot. Pennsylvania incurred only minor damage and was able to continue with the fleet, but Talbot had to return to Eniwetok for emergency repairs.
Pennsylvania began her bombardment of Saipan on 14 June to prepare the island for the assault that came the next day. She continued shelling the island while cruising off Tinian on 15 June as the assault craft went ashore. On 16 June, she attacked Japanese positions at Orote Point on Guam before returning to Saipan. She left the area on 25 June to replenish at Eniwetok, returning to join the preparatory bombardment of Guam on 12 July. The shelling continued for two days, and late on 14 July, she steamed to Saipan to again replenish her ammunition. Back on station three days later, she continued to blast the island through 20 July. This work also included suppressing guns that fired on demolition parties that went ashore to destroy landing obstacles. On the morning of 21 July, Pennsylvania took up her bombardment position off Orote Point as the assault craft prepared to launch their attack. The ship operated off the island supporting the men fighting there for the next two weeks.
Operations in the Philippines
Pennsylvania left Guam on 3 August to replenish at Eniwetok, arriving there on 19 August. From there, she steamed to Espiritu Santo in the New Hebrides before joining landing training off Guadalcanal. The ship left on 6 September as part of the Bombardment and Fire Support Group for the invasion of Peleliu. She bombarded the island from 12 to 14 September and supported the landings the next day. She shelled Anguar Island on 17 September and remained there for three days, departing on 20 September. She then steamed to Seeadler Harbor on Manus, one of the Admiralty Islands for repairs. On 28 September, she arrived there and entered a floating dry dock on 1 October for a week's repairs. Pennsylvania left on 12 October in company with the battleships Mississippi, Tennessee, California, Maryland, and West Virginia, under the command of Rear Admiral Jesse B. Oldendorf. These ships, designated Task Group 77.2, formed the Fire Support Group for the upcoming operations in the Philippines. They arrived off Leyte on 18 October and took up bombardment positions; over the next four days, they covered Underwater Demolition Teams, beach reconnaissance operations, and minesweepers clearing the way for the landing force.
On 24 October, reports of Japanese naval forces approaching the area led Oldendorf's ships to prepare for action at the exit of the Surigao Strait.Vice Admiral Shōji Nishimura's Southern Force steamed through the Surigao Strait to attack the invasion fleet in Leyte Gulf; his force comprised Battleship Division 2—the battleships Yamashiro and Fusō, the heavy cruiser Mogami, and four destroyers—and Vice Admiral Kiyohide Shima's Second Striking Force—the heavy cruisers Nachi and Ashigara, the light cruiser Abukuma, and four more destroyers. As Nishimura's flotilla passed through the strait on the night of 24 October, they came under attack from American PT boats, followed by destroyers, initiating the Battle of Surigao Strait. One of these destroyers torpedoed Fusō and disabled her, though Nishimura continued on toward his objective.
In the early hours of 25 October, the Southern Force came into contact with Oldendorf's battleships, which had positioned themselves to cross Nishimura's T. At 03:53, West Virginia opened fire, followed by some of the other battleships, though Pennsylvania had trouble locating a target in the darkness with her search radar. Her older Mark 3 radar was not as effective as the more modern sets on West Virginia and some of the other battleships. Task Group 77.2's battleships effectively annihilated Battleship Division 2; Shima's Second Striking Force had fallen behind and had not yet entered the fray. Yamashiro was set on fire and then exploded; she turned to flee, covered by a salvo of torpedoes from the burning Mogami, but the American battleships were able to evade them without damage. Despite having disengaged from Oldendorf's battleships, Yamashiro was hit by more torpedoes and capsized and sank around 04:20. Shima's ships passed the still-floating Fusō and realized that Nishimura had entered a trap, so he reversed course to flee; in the confusion, his flagship Nachi collided with Mogami, damaging her and slowing her to be attacked by American light forces. She was later sunk, as were three of the four destroyers. Later on 25 October, Pennsylvania's anti-aircraft gunners helped to shoot down four aircraft that attacked a nearby destroyer.
Late on 28 October, Pennsylvania shot down a torpedo bomber. The ship remained on station off Leyte until 25 November, when she departed for Manus, from which she steamed to Kossol Roads off Palau on 15 December to refill her magazines. She conducted gunnery training on 22 December, and on 1 January 1945, Pennsylvania re-joined Oldendorf's Fire Support Group on the way to Lingayen Gulf for the next major operation in the Philippines. Over the course of 4–5 January, Japanese aircraft repeatedly attacked the ships, including kamikazes that destroyed the escort carrier Ommaney Bay. Pennsylvania began bombarding Japanese positions on Santiago Island at the entrance to Lingayen Gulf on 6 January before entering the gulf that night to suppress Japanese guns while minesweepers cleared the area. The next morning, the rest of Oldendorf's ships joined her in the gulf to begin the main preparatory bombardment, which continued through the 8th. On 9 January, the amphibious assault began as troops from the Sixth United States Army went ashore.
Japanese aircraft struck the invasion fleet on 10 January, and four bombs landed close to Pennsylvania, though she was undamaged. Later that day, a fire control party directed Pennsylvania to shell a group of Japanese tanks that were massing to launch a counterattack on the beachhead. The ship patrolled outside the gulf from 10 to 17 January, when she returned to the gulf; she saw no further action, however, and she departed on 10 February for maintenance at Manus. From there, she left on 22 February for San Francisco, stopping in the Marshalls and at Pearl Harbor on the way. After arriving on 13 March, she underwent a thorough overhaul, including the replacement of her worn-out main battery and secondary guns. She also received more modern radar and fire control equipment and additional close-range anti-aircraft guns. With the work done, she went on sea trials off San Francisco, followed by training at San Diego. She left San Francisco on 12 July and arrived in Pearl Harbor on the 18th, where she engaged in further training from 20 to 23 July. The next day, she departed to join the invasion fleet off Okinawa.
While transiting the Pacific, she stopped to bombard Wake Island on 1 August. In the artillery duel with Japanese coastal guns, one of their shells detonated close enough that fragments disabled one of the ship's fire control directors for her 5-inch guns. One of her Curtiss SC Seahawks was damaged in heavy seas, and the destroyer Ordronaux recovered the pilot. Pennsylvania loaded ammunition at Saipan before continuing on to Okinawa, arriving there on 12 August where she became flagship of Task Force 95. That night, while moored next to Tennessee in Buckner Bay, a Japanese torpedo bomber managed to penetrate the Allied defensive screen undetected; the aircraft launched its torpedo at Pennsylvania and hit her aft, causing serious damage. The torpedo opened a hole approximately 30 ft (9.1 m) in diameter, causing the ship to take on a considerable amount of water and begin to settle by the stern. Damage control teams were able to contain the flooding. Twenty men were killed and another ten were injured in the attack, including Oldendorf, who was aboard at the time. Pennsylvania was the last major US warship to be damaged in the war. The next day, salvage tugs towed her to shallow water where temporary repairs could be effected. On 15 August, the Japanese surrendered, ending the war.
Pennsylvania Received 8 Battle Stars via the Asiatic Pacific Campaign Metal and the Navy Unit Commendation for WWII Service.
Pennsylvania was taken under tow by a pair of tugboats on 18 August, bound for Apra Harbor, Guam, where they arrived on 6 September. The next day, she was taken into a floating drydock, where a large steel patch was welded over the torpedo hole, which would allow the ship to make the voyage back for permanent repairs. The battleship Missouri relieved Pennsylvania as flagship on 15 September, and on 2 October, she was able to leave the drydock. Two days later, Pennsylvania steamed out of Guam, bound for Puget Sound, where repairs would be effected. She was escorted by the light cruiser Atlanta and the destroyer Walke. While still en route on 17 October, the ship's number 3 propeller shaft slipped aft. Divers were sent to cut the shaft loose; Pennsylvania now had just one operational screw, and the open propeller shaft was now allowing water to leak into the hull. She nevertheless completed the voyage to Puget Sound, arriving on 24 October. The ship received the Navy Unit Commendation for her wartime service there on 3 November.
On 16 January 1946, Pennsylvania was designated to be expended as a target ship for the Operation Crossroads atomic bomb tests at Bikini Atoll to be carried out later that year. Repairs were completed enough to allow her to sail to the Marshall Islands, and she left Puget Sound on 24 February. After stopping in Pearl Harbor, she arrived in Bikini Atoll on 31 May, where she was anchored along with another eighty-three warships. The first explosion, Test Able, took place on 1 July, and was an air burst. After tests determined that the ship had not been contaminated with radiation, the crew returned to the ship from 3 to 24 July. The second blast, Test Baker, was done the next day. This was an underwater detonation, and Pennsylvania was moored just 1,100 yards (1,000 m) from ground zero. She was only lightly damaged from the blast, but the surge of water caused significant radioactive contamination; work parties came aboard the ship from 17 to 21 August to prepare the ship to be towed, and on the 21st she was taken under tow by the transport Niagara, which took her to Kwajalein, where she was decommissioned on 29 August. Various radiological and structural studies were completed over the next year and a half until she was scuttled off Kwajalein on 10 February 1948. She was officially stricken from the Naval Vessel Register on 19 February.
The ship's bell is on display at The Pennsylvania State University near the main entrance of the Wagner Building, home of the university's ROTC programs. It has been on permanent loan to the university from the Department of the Navy since 1955. Two of the ship's 14-inch guns that had been replaced during the 1945 overhaul are on outdoor display at the Pennsylvania Military Museum in Boalsburg, Pennsylvania.
Black pepper (Piper nigrum) is a flowering vine in the family Piperaceae, cultivated for its fruit, known as a peppercorn, which is usually dried and used as a spice and seasoning. When fresh and fully mature, it is about 5 mm in diameter and dark red, and contains a single seed, like all drupes. Peppercorns and the ground pepper derived from them may be described simply as pepper, or more precisely as black pepper (cooked and dried unripe fruit), green pepper (dried unripe fruit), or white pepper (ripe fruit seeds).
Black pepper is native to present-day Kerala in Southwestern India, and is extensively cultivated there and elsewhere in tropical regions. Vietnam is the world's largest producer and exporter of pepper, producing 34% of the world's crop, as of 2013.
Ground dried and cooked peppercorns have been used since antiquity, both for flavour and as a traditional medicine. Black pepper is the world's most traded spice, and is one of the most common spices added to cuisines around the world. Its spiciness is due to the chemical compound piperine, which is a different kind of spicy from the capsaicin characteristic of chili peppers. It is ubiquitous in the modern world as a seasoning, and is often paired with salt and available on dining tables in shakers.
ETYMOLOGY
The word pepper has roots in the Sanskrit word pippali for long pepper. Ancient Greek and Latin turned pippali into the Greek πέπερι peperi and then into the Latin piper, which the Romans used for both black pepper and long pepper, erroneously believing that both came from the same plant.
From its Sanskrit roots, today's "pepper" is derived from the Old English pipor and from Latin, which is the source of Romanian piper, Italian pepe, Dutch peper, German Pfeffer, French poivre, and other similar forms.
In the 16th century, people began using pepper to also mean the unrelated New World chili pepper (genus Capsicum). People have also used pepper in a figurative sense to mean "spirit" or "energy" at least as far back as the 1840s. In the early 20th century, this shortened to "pep".
VARIETIES
BLACK PEPPER
Black pepper is produced from the still-green, unripe drupes of the pepper plant. The drupes are cooked briefly in hot water, both to clean them and to prepare them for drying. The heat ruptures cell walls in the pepper, speeding the work of browning enzymes during drying. The drupes dry in the sun or by machine for several days, during which the pepper skin around the seed shrinks and darkens into a thin, wrinkled black layer. Once dry, the spice is called black peppercorn. On some estates, the berries are separated from the stem by hand and then sun-dried without the boiling process.
Once the peppercorns are dried, pepper spirit and oil can be extracted from the berries by crushing them. Pepper spirit is used in many medicinal and beauty products. Pepper oil is also used as an ayurvedic massage oil and in certain beauty and herbal treatments.
WHITE PEPPER
White pepper consists solely of the seed of the ripe fruit of the pepper plant, with the thin darker-coloured skin (flesh) of the fruit removed. This is usually accomplished by a process known as retting, where fully ripe red pepper berries are soaked in water for about a week so the flesh of the peppercorn softens and decomposes; rubbing then removes what remains of the fruit, and the naked seed is dried. Sometimes alternative processes are used for removing the outer pepper from the seed, including removing the outer layer through mechanical, chemical, or biological methods.
Ground white pepper is used in Chinese and Thai cuisine, but also in salads, cream sauces, light-coloured sauces, and mashed potatoes (as a substitute, because black pepper would visibly stand out). However, white pepper actually has a different flavour from black pepper; it lacks certain compounds present in the outer layer of the drupe
GREEN PEPPER
Green pepper, like black pepper, is made from unripe drupes. Dried green peppercorns are treated in a way that retains the green colour, such as with sulphur dioxide, canning, or freeze-drying. Pickled peppercorns, also green, are unripe drupes preserved in brine or vinegar.
Fresh, unpreserved green pepper drupes, largely unknown (and unavailable) in the West, are used in some Asian cuisines, particularly Thai cuisine. Their flavour has been described as "spicy and fresh", with a "bright aroma". They decay quickly if not dried or preserved, making them unsuitable for international shipping.
WILD PEPPER
Wild pepper grows in the Western Ghats region of India. Into the 19th century, the forests contained expansive wild pepper vines, as recorded by the Scottish physician Francis Buchanan (also a botanist and geographer) in his book A journey from Madras through the countries of Mysore, Canara and Malabar (Volume III). However, deforestation resulted in wild pepper growing in more limited forest patches from Goa to Kerala, with the wild source gradually decreasing as the quality and yield of the cultivated variety improved. No successful grafting of commercial pepper on wild pepper has been achieved to date.
ORANGE PEPPER AND RED PEPPER
Orange pepper or red pepper usually consists of ripe red pepper drupes preserved in brine and vinegar. Ripe red peppercorns can also be dried using the same colour-preserving techniques used to produce green pepper.
Pink pepper and other plants
Pink peppercorns are the fruits of the Peruvian pepper tree, Schinus molle, or its relative, the Brazilian pepper tree, Schinus terebinthifolius, plants from a different family (Anacardiaceae). As they are members of the cashew family, they may cause allergic reactions, including anaphylaxis, for persons with a tree nut allergy.
The bark of Drimys winteri ("canelo" or "winter's bark") is used as a substitute for pepper in cold and temperate regions of Chile and Argentina, where it is easily found and readily available. In New Zealand, the seeds of kawakawa (Macropiper excelsum), a relative of black pepper, are sometimes used as pepper; the leaves of Pseudowintera colorata ("mountain horopito") are another replacement for pepper. Several plants in the United States are also used as pepper substitutes, such as field pepperwort, least pepperwort, shepherd's purse, horseradish, and field pennycress.
PLANTS
The pepper plant is a perennial woody vine growing up to 4 m in height on supporting trees, poles, or trellises. It is a spreading vine, rooting readily where trailing stems touch the ground. The leaves are alternate, entire, 5 to 10 cm long and 3 to 6 cm across. The flowers are small, produced on pendulous spikes 4 to 8 cm long at the leaf nodes, the spikes lengthening up to 7 to 15 cm as the fruit matures. Pepper can be grown in soil that is neither too dry nor susceptible to flooding, moist, well-drained and rich in organic matter (the vines do not do too well over an altitude of 900 m above sea level). The plants are propagated by cuttings about 40 to 50 cm long, tied up to neighbouring trees or climbing frames at distances of about 2 m apart; trees with rough bark are favoured over those with smooth bark, as the pepper plants climb rough bark more readily. Competing plants are cleared away, leaving only sufficient trees to provide shade and permit free ventilation. The roots are covered in leaf mulch and manure, and the shoots are trimmed twice a year. On dry soils, the young plants require watering every other day during the dry season for the first three years. The plants bear fruit from the fourth or fifth year, and then typically for seven years. The cuttings are usually cultivars, selected both for yield and quality of fruit.
A single stem bears 20 to 30 fruiting spikes. The harvest begins as soon as one or two fruits at the base of the spikes begin to turn red, and before the fruit is fully mature, and still hard; if allowed to ripen completely, the fruit lose pungency, and ultimately fall off and are lost. The spikes are collected and spread out to dry in the sun, then the peppercorns are stripped off the spikes.
Black pepper is native either to Southeast Asia or South Asia. Within the genus Piper, it is most closely related to other Asian species such as P. caninum.
PRODUCTION AND TRADE
As of 2016, Vietnam was the world's largest producer and exporter of black peppercorns, producing 216,000 tonnes or 39% of the world total of 546,000 tonnes (table). Other major producers include Indonesia (15%), India (10%), and Brazil (10%). Global pepper production may vary annually according to crop management, disease, and weather. Vietnam dominates the export market, using almost none of its production domestically.
Peppercorns are among the most widely traded spice in the world, accounting for 20% of all spice imports.
HISTORY
Pepper is native to South Asia and Southeast Asia, and has been known to Indian cooking since at least 2000 BCE. J. Innes Miller notes that while pepper was grown in southern Thailand and in Malaysia, its most important source was India, particularly the Chera dynasty (Tamil dynasty) Malabar Coast, in what is now the state of Kerala. The lost ancient port city of Muziris in Kerala, famous for exporting black pepper and various other spices, gets mentioned in a number of classical historical sources. Peppercorns were a much-prized trade good, often referred to as "black gold" and used as a form of commodity money. The legacy of this trade remains in some Western legal systems that recognize the term "peppercorn rent" as a token payment for something that is, essentially, being given.
The ancient history of black pepper is often interlinked with (and confused with) that of long pepper, the dried fruit of closely related Piper longum. The Romans knew of both and often referred to either as just piper. In fact, the popularity of long pepper did not entirely decline until the discovery of the New World and of chili peppers. Chili peppers—some of which, when dried, are similar in shape and taste to long pepper—were easier to grow in a variety of locations more convenient to Europe.
Before the 16th century, pepper was being grown in Java, Sunda, Sumatra, Madagascar, Malaysia, and everywhere in Southeast Asia. These areas traded mainly with China, or used the pepper locally. Ports in the Malabar area also served as a stop-off point for much of the trade in other spices from farther east in the Indian Ocean. Following the British hegemony in India, virtually all of the black pepper found in Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa was traded from Malabar region.
Black peppercorns were found stuffed in the nostrils of Ramesses II, placed there as part of the mummification rituals shortly after his death in 1213 BCE. Little else is known about the use of pepper in ancient Egypt and how it reached the Nile from South Asia.
Pepper (both long and black) was known in Greece at least as early as the fourth century BCE, though it was probably an uncommon and expensive item that only the very rich could afford.
By the time of the early Roman Empire, especially after Rome's conquest of Egypt in 30 BCE, open-ocean crossing of the Arabian Sea direct to Chera dynasty southern India's Malabar Coast was near routine. Details of this trading across the Indian Ocean have been passed down in the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea. According to the Greek geographer Strabo, the early empire sent a fleet of around 120 ships on an annual trip to India and back. The fleet timed its travel across the Arabian Sea to take advantage of the predictable monsoon winds. Returning from India, the ships travelled up the Red Sea, from where the cargo was carried overland or via the Nile-Red Sea canal to the Nile River, barged to Alexandria, and shipped from there to Italy and Rome. The rough geographical outlines of this same trade route would dominate the pepper trade into Europe for a millennium and a half to come.
With ships sailing directly to the Malabar coast, black pepper was now travelling a shorter trade route than long pepper, and the prices reflected it. Pliny the Elder's Natural History tells us the prices in Rome around 77 CE: "Long pepper ... is 15 denarii per pound, while that of white pepper is seven, and of black, four." Pliny also complains, "There is no year in which India does not drain the Roman Empire of 50 million sesterces", and further moralizes on pepper:
It is quite surprising that the use of pepper has come so much into fashion, seeing that in other substances which we use, it is sometimes their sweetness, and sometimes their appearance that has attracted our notice; whereas, pepper has nothing in it that can plead as a recommendation to either fruit or berry, its only desirable quality being a certain pungency; and yet it is for this that we import it all the way from India! Who was the first to make trial of it as an article of food? and who, I wonder, was the man that was not content to prepare himself by hunger only for the satisfying of a greedy appetite?
— Pliny, Natural History 12.14
He does not state whether the 50 million was the actual amount of money which found its way to India or the total retail cost of the items in Rome, and, elsewhere, he cites a figure of 100 million sesterces.
Black pepper was a well-known and widespread, if expensive, seasoning in the Roman Empire. Apicius' De re coquinaria, a third-century cookbook probably based at least partly on one from the first century CE, includes pepper in a majority of its recipes. Edward Gibbon wrote, in The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, that pepper was "a favorite ingredient of the most expensive Roman cookery".
POSTCLASSICAL EUROPE
Pepper was so valuable that it was often used as collateral or even currency. In the Dutch language, "pepper expensive" (peperduur) is an expression for something very expensive. Also in Hungarian, the term "a price of pepper" ("borsos ár") means something of extraordinary value. The taste for pepper (or the appreciation of its monetary value) was passed on to those who would see Rome fall. Alaric, king of the Visigoths, included 3,000 pounds of pepper as part of the ransom he demanded from Rome when he besieged the city in fifth century. After the fall of Rome, others took over the middle legs of the spice trade, first the Persians and then the Arabs; Innes Miller cites the account of Cosmas Indicopleustes, who travelled east to India, as proof that "pepper was still being exported from India in the sixth century". By the end of the Early Middle Ages, the central portions of the spice trade were firmly under Islamic control. Once into the Mediterranean, the trade was largely monopolized by Italian powers, especially Venice and Genoa. The rise of these city-states was funded in large part by the spice trade.
A riddle authored by Saint Aldhelm, a seventh-century Bishop of Sherborne, sheds some light on black pepper's role in England at that time:
I am black on the outside, clad in a wrinkled cover,
Yet within I bear a burning marrow.
I season delicacies, the banquets of kings, and the luxuries of the table,
Both the sauces and the tenderized meats of the kitchen.
But you will find in me no quality of any worth,
Unless your bowels have been rattled by my gleaming marrow.
It is commonly believed that during the Middle Ages, pepper was often used to conceal the taste of partially rotten meat. No evidence supports this claim, and historians view it as highly unlikely; in the Middle Ages, pepper was a luxury item, affordable only to the wealthy, who certainly had unspoiled meat available, as well. In addition, people of the time certainly knew that eating spoiled food would make them sick. Similarly, the belief that pepper was widely used as a preservative is questionable; it is true that piperine, the compound that gives pepper its spiciness, has some antimicrobial properties, but at the concentrations present when pepper is used as a spice, the effect is small. Salt is a much more effective preservative, and salt-cured meats were common fare, especially in winter. However, pepper and other spices certainly played a role in improving the taste of long-preserved meats.
Its exorbitant price during the Middle Ages—and the monopoly on the trade held by Italy—was one of the inducements that led the Portuguese to seek a sea route to India. In 1498, Vasco da Gama became the first person to reach India by sailing around Africa (see Age of Discovery); asked by Arabs in Calicut (who spoke Spanish and Italian) why they had come, his representative replied, "we seek Christians and spices". Though this first trip to India by way of the southern tip of Africa was only a modest success, the Portuguese quickly returned in greater numbers and eventually gained much greater control of trade on the Arabian Sea. The 1494 Treaty of Tordesillas with the Spanish granted Portugal exclusive rights to the half of the world where black pepper originated.
Unsurprisingly, the Portuguese proved unable to monopolize the spice trade. Older Arab and Venetian trade networks successfully imported enormous quantities of spices, and pepper once again flowed through Alexandria and Italy, as well as around Africa. In the 17th century, the Portuguese lost almost all of their valuable Indian Ocean trade to the Dutch and the English, who, taking advantage from the Spanish ruling over Portugal during Iberian Union (1580–1640), occupied by force almost all Portuguese dominations in the area. The pepper ports of Malabar began to trade increasingly with the Dutch in the period 1661–1663.
As pepper supplies into Europe increased, the price of pepper declined (though the total value of the import trade generally did not). Pepper, which in the early Middle Ages had been an item exclusively for the rich, started to become more of an everyday seasoning among those of more average means. Today, pepper accounts for one-fifth of the world's spice trade.
China
It is possible that black pepper was known in China in the second century BCE, if poetic reports regarding an explorer named Tang Meng (唐蒙) are correct. Sent by Emperor Wu to what is now south-west China, Tang Meng is said to have come across something called jujiang or "sauce-betel". He was told it came from the markets of Shu, an area in what is now the Sichuan province. The traditional view among historians is that "sauce-betel" is a sauce made from betel leaves, but arguments have been made that it actually refers to pepper, either long or black.
In the third century CE, black pepper made its first definite appearance in Chinese texts, as hujiao or "foreign pepper". It does not appear to have been widely known at the time, failing to appear in a fourth-century work describing a wide variety of spices from beyond China's southern border, including long pepper. By the 12th century, however, black pepper had become a popular ingredient in the cuisine of the wealthy and powerful, sometimes taking the place of China's native Sichuan pepper (the tongue-numbing dried fruit of an unrelated plant).
Marco Polo testifies to pepper's popularity in 13th-century China, when he relates what he is told of its consumption in the city of Kinsay (Hangzhou): "... Messer Marco heard it stated by one of the Great Kaan's officers of customs that the quantity of pepper introduced daily for consumption into the city of Kinsay amounted to 43 loads, each load being equal to 223 lbs." Marco Polo is not considered a very reliable source regarding China, and these second-hand data may be even more suspect, but if this estimated 4,500 kg a day for one city is anywhere near the truth, China's pepper imports may have dwarfed Europe's.
During the course of the Ming treasure voyages in the early 15th century, Admiral Zheng He and his expeditionary fleets returned with such a large amount of black pepper that the once-costly luxury became a common commodity.
Phytochemicals, folk medicine and research
Like many eastern spices, pepper was historically both a seasoning and a folk medicine. Long pepper, being stronger, was often the preferred medication, but both were used. Black pepper (or perhaps long pepper) was believed to cure several illnesses, such as constipation, insomnia, oral abscesses, sunburn, and toothaches, among others. Various sources from the fifth century onward recommended pepper to treat eye problems, often by applying salves or poultices made with pepper directly to the eye. No current medical evidence indicates any of these treatments has any benefit.
Pepper is known to cause sneezing. Some sources say that piperine, a substance present in black pepper, irritates the nostrils, causing the sneezing. Few, if any, controlled studies have been carried out to answer the question.
Piperine is under study for its potential to increase absorption of selenium, vitamin B12, beta-carotene and curcumin, as well as other compounds. As a folk medicine, pepper appears in the Buddhist Samaññaphala Sutta, chapter five, as one of the few medicines a monk is allowed to carry. Pepper contains phytochemicals, including amides, piperidines, pyrrolidines and trace amounts of safrole, which may be carcinogenic in laboratory rodents.
Piperine is also under study for a variety of possible physiological effects, although this work is preliminary and mechanisms of activity for piperine in the human body remain unknown.
NUTRITION
One tablespoon (6 grams) of ground black pepper contains moderate amounts of vitamin K (13% of the daily value or DV), iron (10% DV) and manganese (18% DV), with trace amounts of other essential nutrients, protein, and dietary fibre.
FLAVOR
Pepper gets its spicy heat mostly from piperine derived both from the outer fruit and the seed. Black pepper contains between 4.6 and 9.7% piperine by mass, and white pepper slightly more than that. Refined piperine, by weight, is about one percent as hot as the capsaicin found in chili peppers. The outer fruit layer, left on black pepper, also contains aroma-contributing terpenes, including germacrene (11%), limonene (10%), pinene (10%), alpha-phellandrene (9%), and beta-caryophyllene (7%), which give citrusy, woody, and floral notes. These scents are mostly missing in white pepper, as the fermentation and other processing removes the fruit layer (which also contains the spicy piperine). Other flavors also commonly develop in this process, some of which are described as off-flavors when in excess: Primarily 3-methylindole (pig manure-like), 4-methylphenol (horse manure), 3-methylphenol (phenolic), and butanoic acid (cheese). The aroma of pepper is attributed to rotundone (3,4,5,6,7,8-Hexahydro-3α,8α-dimethyl-5α-(1methylethenyl)azulene-1(2H)-one), a sesquiterpene originally discovered in the tubers of Cyperus rotundus, which can be detected in concentrations of 0.4 nanograms/l in water and in wine: rotundone is also present in marjoram, oregano, rosemary, basil, thyme, and geranium, as well as in some Shiraz wines.
Pepper loses flavor and aroma through evaporation, so airtight storage helps preserve its spiciness longer. Pepper can also lose flavor when exposed to light, which can transform piperine into nearly tasteless isochavicine. Once ground, pepper's aromatics can evaporate quickly; most culinary sources recommend grinding whole peppercorns immediately before use for this reason. Handheld pepper mills or grinders, which mechanically grind or crush whole peppercorns, are used for this as an alternative to pepper shakers that dispense ground pepper. Spice mills such as pepper mills were found in European kitchens as early as the 14th century, but the mortar and pestle used earlier for crushing pepper have remained a popular method for centuries, as well.
Enhancing the flavor profile of peppercorns (including piperine and essential oils), prior to processing, has been attempted through the postharvest application of ultraviolet-C light (UV-C).
WIKIPEDIA
A massive structure, this Air Ministry Pattern Pillbox has a 24ft diameter, constructed with brickwork shuttering and poured concrete, shellproof walls with large embrasures. It stands in a cropped field south west from the former RAF Hunsdon airfield.
A World War Two Air Ministry Pattern Pillbox, a variant of a FW3/22 Type-22 Pillbox consisting of the standard internal dimensions with thickened walls and enlarged embrasures. The need for a shellproof Pillbox with a wall thickness of between 42in and 55in was deemed necessary in 1941 by the Air Ministry to help defend airfields against aerial bombing. This Pillbox is positioned south west of the airfield, they were built in Great Britain prior to the invasion and thereafter in northwest Europe from the 6th of June 1944 to V-E Day, the 7th of May 1945.
The Air Ministry Pillbox was part of RAF Hunsdon airfield defences, it's been constructed with brickwork shuttering and poured concrete, which has come away in large sections, its also under attack from the undergrowth. The entrance is via a short half-height porch, now fitted with a gate. The porch entrance has stepped anti-ricochet walls which leads in to the interior of the Pillbox, with a central anti-ricochet wall, the corrugated sheets and wooden supports used for shuttering remain in place under the roof. The large stepped embrasures are fitted with Turnbull gun mounts.
This photo shows the tree rings before drilling (to fit the ivy), oiling or varnishing; the diameter is only 9cm.
Ireland was once covered in forest, from head to toe and side to side, with oak or pine predominating at different times and places though other trees were present. Colonisation was largely to blame for the disappearance of these, and by around the 17th century Ireland became the country in Europe the most denuded of forestry.
It can be argued that there are no ancient forests left – even the forests of Killarney are 19th century constructs. So the sense of living continuity with the ancient past has been lost in Ireland in relation to the arboreal world. What does survive is the amazing, very evocative but very dead, world of bog wood, hidden away in bog and wetland, sometimes unearthed in the modern era by drainage, erosion or (less now) by turf cutting.
This piece, constructed of a bog pine stump which must be several thousand years old and dating back to when Ireland was covered in trees, with a piece of modern ivy added, is a lament for that loss. And much modern forest in Ireland is very ordered monocultural pine so we haven’t even begun to replace what was lost.
‘Anthropomorphism rules’, anthropomorphism being the attribution of human characteristics to other animals or inanimate objects. Hence a ‘ghost’ tree which is a human concept. And I will also say this sapling, of which the stump and some roots survive here, had a struggle to live and grow, perhaps situated in gravel or partly on stone, perhaps the weather also did not treat it kindly. Where the trunk is cut it is only 9cm in diameter.
I had to get a strong magnifying glass to try to work out the number of tree rings (= the number of years it grew). With a maximum radius of only 45mm, the rings are so small it is difficult to count and I am not an expert in tree ring counting when it comes to the outer part or the center where growth started; however I reckon on 45 rings/years plus possibly some more; you can try counting the rings. So the tree rings grew not more than 1mm a year on average in radius. This Scots Pine had hard times.
Continuing the anthropomorphism, I will say it is perhaps poetic justice that this sapling – you could hardly call it a tree - which struggled to grow in life should end up being selected to make a piece lamenting the demise of the forests of Ireland.
While the piece has been deliberately left as natural a shape as possible and I decided against adding any ornamentation, you can still see ‘things’ in it if you look. One possible perception is of a reclining body to the right.
I have seen different stands of exposed bog pine trees, and photos of more. But this piece is partly inspired by a stand of bog pine on Clare Island, Co Mayo, see www.flickr.com/photos/boggerwood/42293683382/in/dateposted/
I found this particularly atmospheric, perhaps because of its island setting, or because I could imagine wandering in that forest thousands of years ago. Being given a piece of stripped ivy by friends put me in the mind of using it with the bog pine.
Co Mayo bog pine with modern ivy. Length 98cm, height 82cm though the pine itself is only 23cm high. The bog pine was oiled where I worked on it and where the surface needed to be removed, due to dirt or decay; it has not been oiled where the wood was exposed and ‘good’, having the characteristic silver-grey coating bog pine gets in this situation – those parts have been left exactly as they were. All the pine and ivy have been coated with a water based varnish, satin finish.
Today, the William Mulholland Memorial Fountain serves as a not-quite-legal wading pool for children and a photogenic backdrop for wedding parties. Motorists see it as they whiz past the entrance to Griffith Park at Los Feliz Boulevard and Riverside Drive. But few stop and walk around its 90-foot-diameter reflection pool, or know much about the man it honors.
Water appropriately shoots up from this memorial to William Mulholland, the man who built a concrete and steel river through the Mojave Desert and brought water to L.A.'s doorstep. August 1 will mark the anniversary of the memorial's dedication.
Growth--explosive and unending--was the fondest wish of many local businesspeople, land owners and other civic leaders in Mulholland's time. They realized by the 1890s that water--which until then had come exclusively from the Los Angeles River and local wells--limited further development.
Mulholland: The Man and His Work
Mulholland, an Irish immigrant, was a self-taught engineer who became head of the city's Bureau of Water Works and Supply. He supported the plan of another local visionary, Fred Eaton, to redirect water from the Owens Valley, on the eastern slope of the Sierras. Employing 5,000 workers and 6,000 mules, Mulholland completed the 238-mile-long aquaduct in record time and under budget.
The aquaduct, Mulholland estimated, would allow Los Angeles to grow from a quarter million people to 3 million.
There are no fountains honoring Mulholland in the Owens Valley, however. For several years in the 1920s, the Owens Valley and Los Angeles were locked in a bitter water war that occasionally spilled beyond the editorial pages and courtrooms. Mulholland hired armed guards to patrol the aquaduct. Even so, it was dynamited numerous times.
As recently as September 1976, the aquaduct was damaged by saboteurs after the Department of Water and Power announced plans to double its pumping of subsurface water from the Owens Valley. Shortly afterward, an arrow carrying a stick of dynamite and two blasting caps was shot at the Mulholland Memorial Fountain. No one was hurt and the dynamite did not explode. Ironically for the saboteur, the explosive-laden arrow landed in the water.
A Sentimental Dedication
But on Aug. 1, 1940, a warm Thursday evening, the water wars of the 1920s seemed safely in the past. Mulholland, who died in 1935, had outlived most of the controversy his career had generated. And the city had a grand new fountain to dedicate in his honor.
Approximately 3,000 people spilled across Los Feliz Boulevard, some standing on the adjacent hill in Griffith Park. The Los Angeles Police Band played. The Civic Chorus sang. The Aquaduct Post Color Guard presented the flag. Mayor Fletcher Bowron accepted the fountain on behalf of the city, predicting that "as the crystal pureness of the water . . . radiates brilliantly in the sun . . . or shimmers in the colors of myriad electric lights," the fountain would help to develop "a greater civic pride, a more developed civic consciousness."
Mulholland's granddaughter, Katherine Mulholland, was 17 years old at the time. She remembers her sister, Patricia, then nine years old, pushing a button to start the fountain. "That was quite dramatic," she said.
An Appropriate Site Alongside Griffith Park
The site was chosen for several reasons. It was located at one of the city's busiest and prettiest intersections. Furthermore, Mulholland had once lived there in a one-room wooden shack. The man who would build one of the world's great water projects was first employed by the water department as a ditch tender. His job was to keep the "zanja madre"--the city's main water ditch--clear of weeds and debris.
Although a committee comprised of the city's elite oversaw construction of the fountain--and provided most of the funds for it--there was also considerable popular support. Many DWP employees made contributions through payroll deductions. Even school children were asked to donate (including Katherine Mulholland's classmates, which she found a little embarrassing at the time) to the $30,000 project.
Over the next several decades, the fountain became a symbol of abundance--the good life, Los Angeles-style. Through a complex maze of timers and jets, the fountain--which operated between 7 a.m. and 11 p.m.--continually changed its shape, a water sculpture in motion.
Color added to the spectacle. Lights played upon the water in ever-varying combinations. Commented newsman Ralph Story in a segment about the fountain on "Ralph Story's Los Angeles" that first aired on KNXT (Now KCBS, Channel 2) on Oct. 6, 1968, "The panel of relays, gears and vertical camshafts . . . produces not only light, but changing light . . . sending the fountain through the entire spectrum of color in a smooth continuous pattern."
The 'Kool Aid' Fountain
Some say these lights made the water look like Kool Aid. A colorized post card of the fountain from the 1940s shows it at night and accentuates the Kool Aid effect. "The idea of colored lights was very much an idea of its place and time," Katherine Mulholland said. "It was Hollywood, after all."
But not all of the fountain's special effects were planned by the DWP. Glendale College Professor of Dance Lynn McMurrey grew up about a mile from the fountain. He remembers one particular Halloween:
We went down there trick or treating. Somebody filled the fountain with soap. When I came down there, Riverside Drive was covered with suds. The fountain was still splashing and the suds were up to the top of it. With the light shining on the soap suds it looked like somebody's fantasy.
The energy crisis of 1973-74 was grim for millions of Americans who waited in long lines and paid record prices for gasoline. But it was grimmer for the fountain. For a while, it was shut down. And for a long while after that, the water was turned on, but the lights weren't.
Today, the problem is aging equipment. The water no longer goes through a continuous cycle of patterns. No colored lights play on it at night. And sometimes it is simply, unceremoniously shut off.
"The tiles are in very bad shape," said Kuno Lill, a maintenance engineer with the DWP. He said that the fountain's water purification system, its electrical system and much of its underground plumbing will have to be replaced. Budget problems have deferred much of its maintenance.
He said the fountain is scheduled for overhaul and rebuilding within the next two years.
Writer's note: This article, one of an occasional series, is part of the Griffith Park History Project, an attempt to chronicle the park's long and remarkable life.
What memories do you have of Griffith Park? Suggestions? Questions? Criticisms?
Please call Mike Eberts at Glendale College 240-1000, Ext. 5352 (I have voice mail, so you can leave a message at any time.)
Write to, Mike Eberts, Griffith Park History Project, Glendale Community College, 1500 N. Verdugo Road, Glendale, CA 91208.
Text taken from
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A parte externa do cume da cúpula principal da Basílica de São Pedro.
Estivemos aí, de onde fotografamos Roma, a Praça de São Pedro e a vizinhança.
An external view of the St. Peter's Basilica dome.
Following, a text, in english, from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:
The dome of St. Peter's rises to a total height of 136.57 m (448.06 ft) from the floor of the basilica to the top of the external cross. It is the tallest dome in the world. Its internal diameter is 41.47 metres (136.06 ft), being just slightly smaller than two of the three other huge domes that preceded it, those of the Pantheon of Ancient Rome and Florence Cathedral of the Early Renaissance. It has a greater diameter by approximately 30 feet (9.1 m) than that of the third great dome, Constantinople's Hagia Sophia church, completed in 537. It was to the domes of the Pantheon and Florence duomo that the architects of St. Peter's looked for solutions as to how to go about building what was conceived, from the outset, as the greatest dome of Christendom.
redesigned the dome in 1547, taking into account all that had gone before. His dome, like that of Florence, is constructed of two shells of brick, the outer one having 16 stone ribs, twice the number at Florence but far fewer than in Sangallo's design. As with the designs of Bramante and Sangallo, the dome is raised from the piers on a drum. The encircling peristyle of Bramante and the arcade of Sangallo are reduced to 16 pairs of Corinthian columns, each of 15 metres (50 ft) high which stand proud of the building, connected by an arch. Visually they appear to buttress each of the ribs, but structurally they are probably quite redundant. The reason for this is that the dome is ovoid in shape, rising steeply as does the dome of Florence Cathedral, and therefore exerting less outward thrust than does a hemispherical dome, such as that of the Pantheon, which, although it is not buttressed, is countered by the downward thrust of heavy masonry which extends above the circling wall.
The ovoid profile of the dome has been the subject of much speculation and scholarship over the past century. Michelangelo died in 1564, leaving the drum of the dome complete, and Bramante's piers much bulkier than originally designed, each 18 metres (59 ft) across. On his death the work continued under his assistant Vignola with Giorgio Vasari appointed by Pope Pius V as a watchdog to make sure that Michelangelo's plans were carried out exactly. Despite Vignola's knowledge of Michelangelo's intentions, little happened in this period. In 1585 the energetic Pope Sixtus appointed Giacomo della Porta who was to be assisted by Domenico Fontana. The five year reign of Sixtus was to see the building advance at a great rate.
The engraving by Stefan du Pérac was published in 1569, five years after the death of Michelangelo.
Michelangelo left a few drawings, including an early drawing of the dome, and some drawings of details. There were also detailed engravings published in 1569 by Stefan du Pérac who claimed that they were the master's final solution. Michelangelo, like Sangallo before him, also left a large wooden model. Giacomo della Porta subsequently altered this model in several ways, in keeping with changes that he made to the design. Most of these changes were of a cosmetic nature, such as the adding of lion's masks over the swags on the drum in honour of Pope Sixtus and adding a circlet of finials around the spire at the top of the lantern, as proposed by Sangallo. The major change that was made to the model, either by della Porta, or Michelangelo himself before his death, was to raise the outer dome higher above the inner one.
A drawing by Michelangelo indicates that his early intentions were towards an ovoid dome, rather than a hemispherical one. Stefan du Pérac's engraving shows a hemispherical dome, but this was perhaps an inaccuracy of the engraver. The profile of the wooden model is more ovoid than that of the engraving, but less so than the finished product. It has been suggested that Michelangelo on his death bed reverted to the more pointed shape. However Lees-Milne cites Giacomo della Porta as taking full responsibility for the change and as indicating to Pope Sixtus that Michelangelo was lacking in the scientific understanding of which he himself was capable.
Helen Gardner suggests that Michelangelo made the change to the hemispherical dome of lower profile in order to establish a balance between the dynamic vertical elements of the encircling giant order of pilasters and a more static and reposeful dome. Gardner also comments "The sculpturing of architecture [by Michelangelo]... here extends itself up from the ground through the attic stories and moves on into the drum and dome, the whole building being pulled together into a unity from base to summit."
It is this sense of the building being sculptured, unified and "pulled together" by the encircling band of the deep cornice that led Eneide Mignacca to conclude that the ovoid profile, seen now in the end product, was an essential part of Michelangelo's first (and last) concept. The sculptor/architect has, figuratively speaking, taken all the previous designs in hand and compressed their contours as if the building were a lump of clay. The dome must appear to thrust upwards because of the apparent pressure created by flattening the building's angles and restraining its projections.[21] If this explanation is the correct one, then the profile of the dome is not merely a structural solution, as perceived by Giacomo della Porta; it is part of the integrated design solution that is about visual tension and compression. In one sense, Michelangelo's dome may appear to look backward to the Gothic profile of Florence Cathedral and ignore the Classicism of the Renaissance, but on the other hand, perhaps more than any other building of the 1500s, it prefigures the architecture of the Baroque.
Giacomo della Porta and Fontana brought the dome to completion in 1590, the last year of the reign of Sixtus V. His successor, Gregory XIV, saw Fontana complete the lantern and had an inscription to the honour of Sixtus V placed around its inner opening. The next pope, Clement VIII, had the cross raised into place, an event which took all day, and was accompanied by the ringing of the bells of all the city's churches. In the arms of the cross are set two lead caskets, one containing a fragment of the True Cross and a relic of St. Andrew and the other containing medallions of the Holy Lamb.
In the mid-18th century, cracks appeared in the dome, so four iron chains were installed between the two shells to bind it, like the rings that keep a barrel from bursting. As many as ten chains have been installed at various times, the earliest possibly planned by Michelangelo himself as a precaution, as Brunelleschi did at Florence Cathedral.
Around the inside of the dome is written, in letters 2 metres (6.5 ft) high:
Tv es Petrvs et svper hanc petram aedificabo ecclesiam meam. Tibi dabo claves regni caelorvm
("...you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church. ... I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven..." Vulgate, Matthew 16:18-19.)
Beneath the lantern is the inscription:
S. Petri gloriae sixtvs pp. v. a. m. d. xc. pontif. V.
(To the glory of St Peter; Sixtus V, pope, in the year 1590 and the fifth year of his pontificate.)
On December 7, 2007, a fragment of a red chalk drawing of a section of the dome of Saint Peter's, almost certainly by the hand of Michelangelo was discovered in the Vatican archives. The drawing shows a small precisely drafted section of the plan of the entabulature above two of the radial columns of the cupola drum. Michelangelo is known to have destroyed thousands of his drawings before his death. The rare survival of this example is probably due to its fragmentary state and the fact that detailed mathematical calculations had been made over the top of the drawing.
A seguir, um texto, em português, do site "Eco da Notícia", que pode ser visto no endereço ecodanoticia.net/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=50&t=18683
No pontificado de Júlio II (1503 a 1513) decidiu-se afinal derrubar a igreja velha e em 18 de Abril de 1506 Bramante recebeu o encargo de desenhar a nova. Seus planos eram de um edifício centralmente planificado, com um domo colocado sobre o centro de uma cruz grega (com braços de idêntico tamanho), forma que correspondia aos ideais da Renascença, por copiar a de um mausoléu da antiguidade.
Um século mais tarde, o edifício ainda não estava completado. A Bramante sucederam, como arquitetos, Rafael, Fra Giocondo, Giuliano da Sangallo, Baldassare Peruzzi, Antonio da Sangallo.
O Papa Paulo III (pontificado de 1534-1549) em 1546 entregou a direção dos trabalhos a Michelangelo. Este, aos 72 anos, deixou-se fascinar pela cúpula, concentrando nela os seus esforços, mas não conseguiu completá-la antes de sua morte em 1564. O zimbório é visível de toda a cidade de Roma, dominando seus céus. Tem diâmetro de 42 m, ligeiramente menor do do domo do Panteão, mas é mais imponente por ser muito mais alto, com 132,5 m.
Graças aos seus planos e a um modelo em madeira do seu sucessor, Giacomo della Porta, foi capaz de terminá-la com ligeiras modificações, apenas. O modelo segue o da famosa cúpula que Brunelleschi ergueu na catedral de Florença e cria impressão de grande imponência. A diferença é que, ao contrário do que Michelangelo planejou, não se trata de uma cúpula semicircular mas afunilada, criando um movimento de impulso para cima, até culminar na lanterna cujas janelas, inseridas em fendas entre duas colunas, deixam a luz inundar o interior. Terminada em 1590, ainda é uma das maravilhas da arquitetura ocidental.
Vignola, Pirro Ligorio, Giacomo della Porta continuaram os trabalhos na basílica.
High Roller is a 550-foot tall (167.6 m), 520-foot (158.5 m) diameter giant Ferris wheel on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada, US.
It opened to the public on March 31, 2014, and is the world's tallest Ferris wheel. It is 9 ft (2.7 m) taller than its predecessor, the 541-foot (165 m) Singapore Flyer, which held the record since it opened in 2008.
High Roller was announced in August 2011 as the centerpiece of Caesars Entertainment Corporation's $550 million The LINQ. Arup Engineering, which previously consulted on the Singapore Flyer, acted as the structural engineer.
The wheel rotates on a pair of custom-designed spherical roller bearings, each weighing approximately 19,400 lb (8,800 kg). Each bearing has an outer diameter of 7.55 feet (2.30 m), an inner bore of 5.25 feet (1.60 m), and a width of 2.07 feet (0.63 m).
The outer rim comprises 28 sections, each 56 feet (17 m) long, which were temporarily held in place during construction by a pair of 275-foot (84 m) radial struts, prior to being permanently secured by four cables.
The passenger cabins (or capsules) are mounted on the wheel's outboard rim and are individually rotated by electric motors to smoothly maintain a horizontal cabin floor throughout each full rotation. Preliminary designs anticipated 32 passenger cabins, each with a 40 passenger capacity—with the final design accommodating 28 40-person cabins and a total capacity of 1,120 passengers.
Each 225-square-foot (20.9 m2) cabin weighs approximately 44,000 pounds (20,000 kg), has a diameter of 22 feet (6.7 m), includes 300 square feet (28 m2) of glass, and is equipped with eight flat-screen televisions and an iPod dock.
At night the wheel is illuminated by a 2,000-LED system which can display a single solid color, differently colored sections, multiple colors moving around the rim, and custom displays for special events and holidays.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_Roller_(Ferris_wheel)
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Text_of_Creative_Commons_...
Today, the William Mulholland Memorial Fountain serves as a not-quite-legal wading pool for children and a photogenic backdrop for wedding parties. Motorists see it as they whiz past the entrance to Griffith Park at Los Feliz Boulevard and Riverside Drive. But few stop and walk around its 90-foot-diameter reflection pool, or know much about the man it honors.
Water appropriately shoots up from this memorial to William Mulholland, the man who built a concrete and steel river through the Mojave Desert and brought water to L.A.'s doorstep. August 1 will mark the anniversary of the memorial's dedication.
Growth--explosive and unending--was the fondest wish of many local businesspeople, land owners and other civic leaders in Mulholland's time. They realized by the 1890s that water--which until then had come exclusively from the Los Angeles River and local wells--limited further development.
Mulholland: The Man and His Work
Mulholland, an Irish immigrant, was a self-taught engineer who became head of the city's Bureau of Water Works and Supply. He supported the plan of another local visionary, Fred Eaton, to redirect water from the Owens Valley, on the eastern slope of the Sierras. Employing 5,000 workers and 6,000 mules, Mulholland completed the 238-mile-long aquaduct in record time and under budget.
The aquaduct, Mulholland estimated, would allow Los Angeles to grow from a quarter million people to 3 million.
There are no fountains honoring Mulholland in the Owens Valley, however. For several years in the 1920s, the Owens Valley and Los Angeles were locked in a bitter water war that occasionally spilled beyond the editorial pages and courtrooms. Mulholland hired armed guards to patrol the aquaduct. Even so, it was dynamited numerous times.
As recently as September 1976, the aquaduct was damaged by saboteurs after the Department of Water and Power announced plans to double its pumping of subsurface water from the Owens Valley. Shortly afterward, an arrow carrying a stick of dynamite and two blasting caps was shot at the Mulholland Memorial Fountain. No one was hurt and the dynamite did not explode. Ironically for the saboteur, the explosive-laden arrow landed in the water.
A Sentimental Dedication
But on Aug. 1, 1940, a warm Thursday evening, the water wars of the 1920s seemed safely in the past. Mulholland, who died in 1935, had outlived most of the controversy his career had generated. And the city had a grand new fountain to dedicate in his honor.
Approximately 3,000 people spilled across Los Feliz Boulevard, some standing on the adjacent hill in Griffith Park. The Los Angeles Police Band played. The Civic Chorus sang. The Aquaduct Post Color Guard presented the flag. Mayor Fletcher Bowron accepted the fountain on behalf of the city, predicting that "as the crystal pureness of the water . . . radiates brilliantly in the sun . . . or shimmers in the colors of myriad electric lights," the fountain would help to develop "a greater civic pride, a more developed civic consciousness."
Mulholland's granddaughter, Katherine Mulholland, was 17 years old at the time. She remembers her sister, Patricia, then nine years old, pushing a button to start the fountain. "That was quite dramatic," she said.
An Appropriate Site Alongside Griffith Park
The site was chosen for several reasons. It was located at one of the city's busiest and prettiest intersections. Furthermore, Mulholland had once lived there in a one-room wooden shack. The man who would build one of the world's great water projects was first employed by the water department as a ditch tender. His job was to keep the "zanja madre"--the city's main water ditch--clear of weeds and debris.
Although a committee comprised of the city's elite oversaw construction of the fountain--and provided most of the funds for it--there was also considerable popular support. Many DWP employees made contributions through payroll deductions. Even school children were asked to donate (including Katherine Mulholland's classmates, which she found a little embarrassing at the time) to the $30,000 project.
Over the next several decades, the fountain became a symbol of abundance--the good life, Los Angeles-style. Through a complex maze of timers and jets, the fountain--which operated between 7 a.m. and 11 p.m.--continually changed its shape, a water sculpture in motion.
Color added to the spectacle. Lights played upon the water in ever-varying combinations. Commented newsman Ralph Story in a segment about the fountain on "Ralph Story's Los Angeles" that first aired on KNXT (Now KCBS, Channel 2) on Oct. 6, 1968, "The panel of relays, gears and vertical camshafts . . . produces not only light, but changing light . . . sending the fountain through the entire spectrum of color in a smooth continuous pattern."
The 'Kool Aid' Fountain
Some say these lights made the water look like Kool Aid. A colorized post card of the fountain from the 1940s shows it at night and accentuates the Kool Aid effect. "The idea of colored lights was very much an idea of its place and time," Katherine Mulholland said. "It was Hollywood, after all."
But not all of the fountain's special effects were planned by the DWP. Glendale College Professor of Dance Lynn McMurrey grew up about a mile from the fountain. He remembers one particular Halloween:
We went down there trick or treating. Somebody filled the fountain with soap. When I came down there, Riverside Drive was covered with suds. The fountain was still splashing and the suds were up to the top of it. With the light shining on the soap suds it looked like somebody's fantasy.
The energy crisis of 1973-74 was grim for millions of Americans who waited in long lines and paid record prices for gasoline. But it was grimmer for the fountain. For a while, it was shut down. And for a long while after that, the water was turned on, but the lights weren't.
Today, the problem is aging equipment. The water no longer goes through a continuous cycle of patterns. No colored lights play on it at night. And sometimes it is simply, unceremoniously shut off.
"The tiles are in very bad shape," said Kuno Lill, a maintenance engineer with the DWP. He said that the fountain's water purification system, its electrical system and much of its underground plumbing will have to be replaced. Budget problems have deferred much of its maintenance.
He said the fountain is scheduled for overhaul and rebuilding within the next two years.
Writer's note: This article, one of an occasional series, is part of the Griffith Park History Project, an attempt to chronicle the park's long and remarkable life.
What memories do you have of Griffith Park? Suggestions? Questions? Criticisms?
Please call Mike Eberts at Glendale College 240-1000, Ext. 5352 (I have voice mail, so you can leave a message at any time.)
Write to, Mike Eberts, Griffith Park History Project, Glendale Community College, 1500 N. Verdugo Road, Glendale, CA 91208.
Text taken from
Today, the William Mulholland Memorial Fountain serves as a not-quite-legal wading pool for children and a photogenic backdrop for wedding parties. Motorists see it as they whiz past the entrance to Griffith Park at Los Feliz Boulevard and Riverside Drive. But few stop and walk around its 90-foot-diameter reflection pool, or know much about the man it honors.
Water appropriately shoots up from this memorial to William Mulholland, the man who built a concrete and steel river through the Mojave Desert and brought water to L.A.'s doorstep. August 1 will mark the anniversary of the memorial's dedication.
Growth--explosive and unending--was the fondest wish of many local businesspeople, land owners and other civic leaders in Mulholland's time. They realized by the 1890s that water--which until then had come exclusively from the Los Angeles River and local wells--limited further development.
Mulholland: The Man and His Work
Mulholland, an Irish immigrant, was a self-taught engineer who became head of the city's Bureau of Water Works and Supply. He supported the plan of another local visionary, Fred Eaton, to redirect water from the Owens Valley, on the eastern slope of the Sierras. Employing 5,000 workers and 6,000 mules, Mulholland completed the 238-mile-long aquaduct in record time and under budget.
The aquaduct, Mulholland estimated, would allow Los Angeles to grow from a quarter million people to 3 million.
There are no fountains honoring Mulholland in the Owens Valley, however. For several years in the 1920s, the Owens Valley and Los Angeles were locked in a bitter water war that occasionally spilled beyond the editorial pages and courtrooms. Mulholland hired armed guards to patrol the aquaduct. Even so, it was dynamited numerous times.
As recently as September 1976, the aquaduct was damaged by saboteurs after the Department of Water and Power announced plans to double its pumping of subsurface water from the Owens Valley. Shortly afterward, an arrow carrying a stick of dynamite and two blasting caps was shot at the Mulholland Memorial Fountain. No one was hurt and the dynamite did not explode. Ironically for the saboteur, the explosive-laden arrow landed in the water.
A Sentimental Dedication
But on Aug. 1, 1940, a warm Thursday evening, the water wars of the 1920s seemed safely in the past. Mulholland, who died in 1935, had outlived most of the controversy his career had generated. And the city had a grand new fountain to dedicate in his honor.
Approximately 3,000 people spilled across Los Feliz Boulevard, some standing on the adjacent hill in Griffith Park. The Los Angeles Police Band played. The Civic Chorus sang. The Aquaduct Post Color Guard presented the flag. Mayor Fletcher Bowron accepted the fountain on behalf of the city, predicting that "as the crystal pureness of the water . . . radiates brilliantly in the sun . . . or shimmers in the colors of myriad electric lights," the fountain would help to develop "a greater civic pride, a more developed civic consciousness."
Mulholland's granddaughter, Katherine Mulholland, was 17 years old at the time. She remembers her sister, Patricia, then nine years old, pushing a button to start the fountain. "That was quite dramatic," she said.
An Appropriate Site Alongside Griffith Park
The site was chosen for several reasons. It was located at one of the city's busiest and prettiest intersections. Furthermore, Mulholland had once lived there in a one-room wooden shack. The man who would build one of the world's great water projects was first employed by the water department as a ditch tender. His job was to keep the "zanja madre"--the city's main water ditch--clear of weeds and debris.
Although a committee comprised of the city's elite oversaw construction of the fountain--and provided most of the funds for it--there was also considerable popular support. Many DWP employees made contributions through payroll deductions. Even school children were asked to donate (including Katherine Mulholland's classmates, which she found a little embarrassing at the time) to the $30,000 project.
Over the next several decades, the fountain became a symbol of abundance--the good life, Los Angeles-style. Through a complex maze of timers and jets, the fountain--which operated between 7 a.m. and 11 p.m.--continually changed its shape, a water sculpture in motion.
Color added to the spectacle. Lights played upon the water in ever-varying combinations. Commented newsman Ralph Story in a segment about the fountain on "Ralph Story's Los Angeles" that first aired on KNXT (Now KCBS, Channel 2) on Oct. 6, 1968, "The panel of relays, gears and vertical camshafts . . . produces not only light, but changing light . . . sending the fountain through the entire spectrum of color in a smooth continuous pattern."
The 'Kool Aid' Fountain
Some say these lights made the water look like Kool Aid. A colorized post card of the fountain from the 1940s shows it at night and accentuates the Kool Aid effect. "The idea of colored lights was very much an idea of its place and time," Katherine Mulholland said. "It was Hollywood, after all."
But not all of the fountain's special effects were planned by the DWP. Glendale College Professor of Dance Lynn McMurrey grew up about a mile from the fountain. He remembers one particular Halloween:
We went down there trick or treating. Somebody filled the fountain with soap. When I came down there, Riverside Drive was covered with suds. The fountain was still splashing and the suds were up to the top of it. With the light shining on the soap suds it looked like somebody's fantasy.
The energy crisis of 1973-74 was grim for millions of Americans who waited in long lines and paid record prices for gasoline. But it was grimmer for the fountain. For a while, it was shut down. And for a long while after that, the water was turned on, but the lights weren't.
Today, the problem is aging equipment. The water no longer goes through a continuous cycle of patterns. No colored lights play on it at night. And sometimes it is simply, unceremoniously shut off.
"The tiles are in very bad shape," said Kuno Lill, a maintenance engineer with the DWP. He said that the fountain's water purification system, its electrical system and much of its underground plumbing will have to be replaced. Budget problems have deferred much of its maintenance.
He said the fountain is scheduled for overhaul and rebuilding within the next two years.
Writer's note: This article, one of an occasional series, is part of the Griffith Park History Project, an attempt to chronicle the park's long and remarkable life.
What memories do you have of Griffith Park? Suggestions? Questions? Criticisms?
Please call Mike Eberts at Glendale College 240-1000, Ext. 5352 (I have voice mail, so you can leave a message at any time.)
Write to, Mike Eberts, Griffith Park History Project, Glendale Community College, 1500 N. Verdugo Road, Glendale, CA 91208.
Text taken from
112ft/34.1m Bruce King, Renaissance Yachts, Centreboard Ketch
Launched in 1990, SIGNE is a very beautiful ketch of wood/epoxy construction built to a total thickness of 71mm in 5 skins, with outer sheathing of Dynel cloth / West epoxy. Her centreboard allows the flexibility of access to a wide range of destinations, bow and stern thrusters are fitted. SIGNE turns heads wherever she goes.
Her outstanding interior joinery, designed by Joe Artese, is a blend of Hawaiian koa, bird's eye maple and olive wood, all combining with her teak soles, coachroof coamings and skylights and her beautifully laminated beams. The saloon is beautifully joinered. Natural light and ventilation is provided by the magnificent 5ft diameter decagonal bevelled glass skylight, plus other opening portlights, hatches and deck prisms.
SIGNE sleeps six in three owner's and guests' staterooms, positioned aft of the saloon. Her full width master stateroom is superbly lit by a large bevelled glass skylight. Forward, captain's cabin, crew mess, crew cabin and additional fo'c'sle berths are to be found.
CENTRAL AGENTS
DESIGNERBruce King Yacht Design, USA
Interior - Joe Artese, USA
BUILDER Renaissance Yachts, USA
CONSTRUCTIONWood / Epoxy
DATE1990
LOA112' / 34.1m
LWL93 / 28.3m
BEAM22.1'/ 6.7m
DRAFT22' / 6.7m board down
8'3" / 2.53m board up
DISPLACEMENT232000ib / 105235kg approx
PRICEEUR 1.75m + VAT if due
LOCATIONW. Mediterranean
Hull Profile & Accommodation Plan
CONSTRUCTION. Hull constructed of wood / WEST epoxy to a total thickness of 71mm in 5 skins with outer sheathing of Dynel cloth / WEST epoxy. Inner skin is of 26mm Honduras mahogany edge bevelled to simulate traditional ceiling, next 3 core skins are each of 10mm white cedar, outer skin is of 17mm Honduras mahogany. In way of shroud plates the cedar core is replaced by Honduras mahogany. Outer mahogany skins are laid fore and aft. Core skins are laid in triple diagonal configuration.
Centreline structure of Honduras mahogany
Teak finished varnished transom with decorative carvings of traditional style picked out in gold.
Carved trail boards to bows
Varnished teak bulwark cappings
Two structural bulkheads made watertight as part of MCA Code Compliance in 1999. MCA "Large Yacht Code of Practice" Compliance certificate issued 16/01/2012 in Trinidad (safety equipment only). Next survey due in December 2012.
Lead ballast keel of approximately 93000lb / 42185kg.
Elliptical high aspect ratio airfoil sectioned centreboard with hydraulic controls. Centreboard removed for routine inspection, 1999, when hydraulic ram serviced. Centreboard case is glassfibre lined to resist abrasion.
Rudder with stainless steel stock and full length skeg
Chain and wire operated wheel in aft cockpit
Hydraulically powered steering in mid cockpit
Emergency tiller (in lazarette)
Deck constructed of wood / WEST epoxy to a total original thickness of approximately 51mm in 4 skins. These comprise a lower skin of 18mm red cedar, edge bevelled and tongue and grooved to simulate traditional planking, and forming the deckhead. Next are 2 skins each of 8mm white cedar, laid in double diagonal configuration and finally the deck teak planking of 16mm original thickness. Teak planking to coachroofs was added by Camper & Nicholson's for previous owners. Decks sanded and re-caulked 2002. Varnished teak deck hatches with bronze framed window panels and bronze hinges. Varnished teak Bruce King skylight over saloon with bevelled laminated window panels secured with bronze edgings.
Varnished teak superstructure coamings with accommodation surfaces bleached during original construction. Bronze framed rectangular opening ports in coamings. Laminated varnished ash deck beams. Teak coachroof hatches with bronze hinges. Decagonal saloon skylight, varnished ash with bevelled glass panes. Nonagonal skylight over owner's stateroom with welded metal glazing bars to central collar through which the mizzen mast passes. Glazing of bevelled glass panels. Many traditional light prisms set into decks.
Interior joinery and bulkhead facings generally of varnished Hawaiian koa, with occasional use of olive wood, plus bird's eye maple to horizontal joinery surfaces, including head compartment vanitories. Solid teak surfaced plywood sole panels, secured in place with twist locks. Some off-white painted surfaces in cabins and galley, including inside topside planking and deckhead planking throughout the yacht. Corian galley worktops.
HARDWARE. Cast bronze enclosed fairleads, coaming window frames, bowsprit fittings, shroud plates, deck prism frames, and ventilation air scoops.
Stainless steel stanchions and sockets, sternguard and bow pulpit.
Stainless steel Bimini frame over guest cockpit.
Lewmar alloy mainsheet track and car.
WINCHES. By Barient, hydraulic:
2 x hydraulic primaries (abreast steering cockpit)
2 x staysail sheet (on deck aft of mainmast)
1 x mainsheet (to starboard on aft coachroof, close to mainsheet track)
1 x mizzen sheet (on aft deck at starboard quarter)
1 x mizzen clew outhaul (on mizzen mast
By Barient, manual:
5 x line winches on mainmast:
Mainsail halyard (top, starboard)
Staysail halyard (middle starboard)
Staysail halyard (bottom starboard
Mainsail clew outhaul
Spinnaker halyard (port, fore side)
2 x line winches on mizzen mast
1 x mainsheet traveller car
2 x mainmast running backstay
2 x mizzen running backstay (fwd of steering cockpit)
1 x warping winch (on aft deck at port quarter)
By Maxwell, hydraulic:
2 x vertical capstans with warping drum and chain gypsy
SPARS. Bermudian ketch with buff painted alloy Hood Stoway masts, each with hydraulic
furling
Mainmast is 3-spreader rigged
Mizzen is 2-spreader rigged
Stainless steel rod standing rigging
Navtec hydraulic backstay adjusters
Yankee and staysail are fitted with Hood hydraulic furlers
Mainsail and mizzen booms are of varnished spruce
Rig hauled 12/2010: dye tested and X-rayed. Furlers rebuilt as required.
SAILS. Sail area 5230 ft2 / 486.4m2
By Quantum, 2013: Mainsail
Mizzen
Staysail
Yankee.
All on order placed November 2012.
ENGINE. SIGNE's engine room is below the midships cockpit and accessed through a door to starboard of the saloon companionway. Additional servicing access is provided by removable panels on the inboard side of the port walk-thru'.
Engine room - Kidde FM200 gas fire extinguishing system (2008).
The main engine is a GM 6V92 TA Detroit diesel of 330kW, with Twin Disc gearbox driving a Hundested 37" diameter 4 blade variable pitch propeller. The propeller pitch is adjusted by a 24V electric motor with manual back-up.
Cruising speed: 8 knots
Maximum speed: 11 knots
Fuel consumption: 50 litres per hour approx.
Range under power: approx. 1800nm according to load and conditions.
Engine completely rebuilt 2014.
Engine room completely stripped and cleaned during engine rebuild.
Insulation to engine room replaced with new B15 material as required by MCA surveyor (04/2014).
ELECTRICS. 24V/12V DC system
24V DC
24V to 12V converter
240V/120V AC system
Generators:
2 x Northern Lights 26kVA
Hours @ 20/01/2012, starboard = 13,109, port = 13,365. Hours indicators failed at this point but hours since then (@ 01/07/12) are starboard = 1010, port = 2052,.
Victron Energy Phoenix system battery charger and inverter
Batteries
Services (located beneath inboard berth of starboard aft guest cabin):
34 x 12V 100Ah gel batteries wired in 2 banks to supply @
24V/1700 Ah
Starter batteries (located beneath sole of aft walk-thru'):
4 x 12V sealed lead/acid batteries in 2 banks wired to supply 24V to start main engine and generators
Instrument batteries:
2 x 12V sealed lead/acid batteries located adjacent to chart table
MACHINERY. Bow thruster, 50hp hydraulic - major rebuild 2005
Stern thruster, 30hp (approx) hydraulic, through-hull tube type - major rebuild 2003
High volume emergency bilge pump/fire pump, driven hydraulically from aft generator and with manifold (located beneath aft saloon sole) giving options including 4 x separate bilge areas.
Yamaha portable diesel powered emergency bilge pump, stowed in lazarette.
Compair air compressor (in lazarette)
Marine Air reverse cycle air conditioning system
HEM watermaker, new membranes 2009
TANKS. Fuel: Tank 1 = 500 imp.gallons / 600 US gallons / 2270 litres
Tank 2 = 275 imp.gallons / 330 US gallons / 1250 litres
Tank 3 = 375 imp.gallons / 450 US gallons / 1705 litres
Tank 4 = 350 imp.gallons / 420 US gallons / 1590 litres
Water: Tank 1 = 400 imp.gallons / 480 US gallons / 1818 litres
Tank 2 = 433 imp.gallons / 520 US gallons / 1968 litres
Black Water Tank = 417 imp.gallons / 500 US gallons / 1895 litres
INSTRUMENTS. Raymarine E120 navigation system, interfaced with aft cockpit instrumentation, E120 chart plotter, Raytheon navigation computer and a Mac Mini general computer
Brookes & Gatehouse Hydra 2000 at chart table with repeaters in cockpit, captain's cabin, crew mess
Skanti 3000 VHF
ICOM VHF at chart table (2012)
Icom ICM801 SSB
Furuno NX-300 Navtex receiver
Furuno GP32 GPS receiver
Furuno weather fax
Inmarsat satellite communication system
Philips fax
Panasonic GSM/satellite phone (+ 1 unit in captain's cabin)
ENTERTAINMENT. TV/DVD player with Sony Surround Sound.
Bose speakers
Crew Mess: Sharp TV, Pioneer DVD/CD player, clock on bulkhead
SAFETY EQUIPMENT. RFD 6 person canister packed liferaft - new 12/2010, last serviced
11/2011.
2 x Zodiac 6 person canister packed liferafts
ACR EPIRB in aft cockpit
SART system in aft cockpit
Fire extinguishers:
Dry powder 6kg - 4 in engine room, 3 by stairs, 1 in crew mess
Dry powder 1kg - 1 in each cabin
C02 9kg -1 in engine room
Foam 9 litres - 1 in engine room, 2 in crew mess
GENERAL EQUIPMENT. Zodiac YL470 tender with 90hp Yamaha (2008)
2 x stainless CQR anchors
150m x 18mm open link chain - re-galvanised 12/2010
DOMESTIC EQUIPMENT. Smeg stainless steel gimballed ceramic hob
EQUIPMENT Gaggenau fan assisted electric oven
Russell Hobbs microwave
Bosch Exxcell 7 clothes washer
Bosch ClassiXX clothes dryer
Grunert deep freeze, approx. 0.56m3, top opening and located beneath work surface between galley and crew mess
Grunert deep freeze, approx. 0.21m3, top opening and located beneath work surface under oven
Grunert refrigerator, approx. 0.78m3, split level with two doors facing athwartships and one full height door facing aft, located adjacent to the main mast
Grunert chiller cabinet, approx. 0.18m3, top opening and located beneath the forward cockpit seat on starboard side
Danfoss chiller cabinet, approx. 0.11m3, in master stateroom
Quantities of cutlery, glassware, crockery
Cooking utensils and pots and pans
Linen for all cabins
LAYOUT. SIGNE sleeps six in three owner's and guests' staterooms. Furthest aft is the full width master stateroom which is superbly lit by a large bevelled glass skylight. The queen-sized berth is to starboard with a settee to port. Storage is provided by a cedar-lined hanging locker and numerous drawers. The head/shower compartment is to port, forward of the settee area. There is a companionway giving direct access to the aft cockpit.
The two guest staterooms are next forward. The stateroom to port has a double berth and the stateroom to starboard has twin settee berths with a removable wood framed berth over the inboard settee. Each stateroom has an en suite head/shower compartment.
The saloon is beautifully joinered. Natural light and ventilation are provided by the magnificent 5 diameter decagonal bevelled glass skylight and other opening portlights, hatches and deck prisms. The L-shaped settee to starboard comfortably seats 12 around a convertible height koa wood table. Opposite is a lounging area with two armchairs and built-in fireplace. Bookcases, cabinets and lockers provide ample storage and house an entertainment centre.
To starboard of the companionway is a bar with sink, icemaker and crystal cabinet. The navigation area is aft and to port in the saloon.
The large galley is forward of the saloon to port. Opposite is the captain's cabin with double berth and en suite head/shower compartment. The excellent crew mess is forward of the galley and the crew cabin with upper and lower berths is opposite. The crew head and shower have separate compartments. There are additional crew berths in the fo'c'sle. A companionway gives direct access to the deck from the crew mess.
REMARKS. SIGNE is one of the most beautiful yachts to come from the creative and technical skills of Bruce King. Her building by Renaissance Yachts took 5 years and resulted in the creation of a work of art. Passers-by have to stop and gaze in awe at this truly magnificent yacht. Her transom has been photographed on countless occasions. Her beautiful skylights have been copied by others. Her outstanding interior joinery, designed by Joe Artese, is a blend of Hawaiian koa, bird's eye maple and olive wood, all combining with her teak soles, coachroof coamings and skylights and her beautifully laminated beams.
SIGNE's hull and decks are massively built from the wood/epoxy system and the hull is Dynel cloth sheathed. The structure is immensely strong and offers excellent insulation. She is a centreboarder, resulting in a minimum draft of not much over 8 /2.5m.
The choice of ketch rig with hydraulic furling to both masts and hydraulic furling headsails makes SIGNE easy on her crew and, although the masts are of alloy, the long booms are traditionally built of spruce.
SIGNE, in present ownership, has been successfully chartered in Mediterranean and Caribbean waters, as well as for owner cruising.
Her maintenance has been to MCA "Large Yacht Code of Practice" certification. Her last major 5 Year MCA Survey/Refit was conducted in Portsmouth (South coast of England) and ran from October through November 2010. Procedures undertaken included:
" Rig pulled, dye tested, X Rayed. Furlers were rebuilt as applicable.
" 150 m of 18mm chain re-galvanised.
" New RFD 6 person canister packed life raft purchased
" All tanks cleaned for MCA inspection.
" All skin fittings removed, MCA inspected, serviced as appropriate or replaced.
Other up-gradings and replacements as described in this listing include a new suit of sails just ordered from Quantum.
Although SIGNE's MCA status has been maintained, she had not been subjected to a Condition Survey for several years. That, and with sale in mind, the owners elected to commission the respected surveyor, Roby Scalvini, Principal of Marine Survey Bureau in Palma de Mallorca, to conduct a Condition Survey afloat. The procedure took place on 21-22 November 2012 and the subsequent Report was issued on 30 November 2012.
Generously the owners will offer sight to seriously interested potential purchasers of the entire Report which includes the Surveyor's Findings and Recommendations, together with 12 photographs and 3 Spectro (Marine) Oil Analysis Reports.
Today, the William Mulholland Memorial Fountain serves as a not-quite-legal wading pool for children and a photogenic backdrop for wedding parties. Motorists see it as they whiz past the entrance to Griffith Park at Los Feliz Boulevard and Riverside Drive. But few stop and walk around its 90-foot-diameter reflection pool, or know much about the man it honors.
Water appropriately shoots up from this memorial to William Mulholland, the man who built a concrete and steel river through the Mojave Desert and brought water to L.A.'s doorstep. August 1 will mark the anniversary of the memorial's dedication.
Growth--explosive and unending--was the fondest wish of many local businesspeople, land owners and other civic leaders in Mulholland's time. They realized by the 1890s that water--which until then had come exclusively from the Los Angeles River and local wells--limited further development.
Mulholland: The Man and His Work
Mulholland, an Irish immigrant, was a self-taught engineer who became head of the city's Bureau of Water Works and Supply. He supported the plan of another local visionary, Fred Eaton, to redirect water from the Owens Valley, on the eastern slope of the Sierras. Employing 5,000 workers and 6,000 mules, Mulholland completed the 238-mile-long aquaduct in record time and under budget.
The aquaduct, Mulholland estimated, would allow Los Angeles to grow from a quarter million people to 3 million.
There are no fountains honoring Mulholland in the Owens Valley, however. For several years in the 1920s, the Owens Valley and Los Angeles were locked in a bitter water war that occasionally spilled beyond the editorial pages and courtrooms. Mulholland hired armed guards to patrol the aquaduct. Even so, it was dynamited numerous times.
As recently as September 1976, the aquaduct was damaged by saboteurs after the Department of Water and Power announced plans to double its pumping of subsurface water from the Owens Valley. Shortly afterward, an arrow carrying a stick of dynamite and two blasting caps was shot at the Mulholland Memorial Fountain. No one was hurt and the dynamite did not explode. Ironically for the saboteur, the explosive-laden arrow landed in the water.
A Sentimental Dedication
But on Aug. 1, 1940, a warm Thursday evening, the water wars of the 1920s seemed safely in the past. Mulholland, who died in 1935, had outlived most of the controversy his career had generated. And the city had a grand new fountain to dedicate in his honor.
Approximately 3,000 people spilled across Los Feliz Boulevard, some standing on the adjacent hill in Griffith Park. The Los Angeles Police Band played. The Civic Chorus sang. The Aquaduct Post Color Guard presented the flag. Mayor Fletcher Bowron accepted the fountain on behalf of the city, predicting that "as the crystal pureness of the water . . . radiates brilliantly in the sun . . . or shimmers in the colors of myriad electric lights," the fountain would help to develop "a greater civic pride, a more developed civic consciousness."
Mulholland's granddaughter, Katherine Mulholland, was 17 years old at the time. She remembers her sister, Patricia, then nine years old, pushing a button to start the fountain. "That was quite dramatic," she said.
An Appropriate Site Alongside Griffith Park
The site was chosen for several reasons. It was located at one of the city's busiest and prettiest intersections. Furthermore, Mulholland had once lived there in a one-room wooden shack. The man who would build one of the world's great water projects was first employed by the water department as a ditch tender. His job was to keep the "zanja madre"--the city's main water ditch--clear of weeds and debris.
Although a committee comprised of the city's elite oversaw construction of the fountain--and provided most of the funds for it--there was also considerable popular support. Many DWP employees made contributions through payroll deductions. Even school children were asked to donate (including Katherine Mulholland's classmates, which she found a little embarrassing at the time) to the $30,000 project.
Over the next several decades, the fountain became a symbol of abundance--the good life, Los Angeles-style. Through a complex maze of timers and jets, the fountain--which operated between 7 a.m. and 11 p.m.--continually changed its shape, a water sculpture in motion.
Color added to the spectacle. Lights played upon the water in ever-varying combinations. Commented newsman Ralph Story in a segment about the fountain on "Ralph Story's Los Angeles" that first aired on KNXT (Now KCBS, Channel 2) on Oct. 6, 1968, "The panel of relays, gears and vertical camshafts . . . produces not only light, but changing light . . . sending the fountain through the entire spectrum of color in a smooth continuous pattern."
The 'Kool Aid' Fountain
Some say these lights made the water look like Kool Aid. A colorized post card of the fountain from the 1940s shows it at night and accentuates the Kool Aid effect. "The idea of colored lights was very much an idea of its place and time," Katherine Mulholland said. "It was Hollywood, after all."
But not all of the fountain's special effects were planned by the DWP. Glendale College Professor of Dance Lynn McMurrey grew up about a mile from the fountain. He remembers one particular Halloween:
We went down there trick or treating. Somebody filled the fountain with soap. When I came down there, Riverside Drive was covered with suds. The fountain was still splashing and the suds were up to the top of it. With the light shining on the soap suds it looked like somebody's fantasy.
The energy crisis of 1973-74 was grim for millions of Americans who waited in long lines and paid record prices for gasoline. But it was grimmer for the fountain. For a while, it was shut down. And for a long while after that, the water was turned on, but the lights weren't.
Today, the problem is aging equipment. The water no longer goes through a continuous cycle of patterns. No colored lights play on it at night. And sometimes it is simply, unceremoniously shut off.
"The tiles are in very bad shape," said Kuno Lill, a maintenance engineer with the DWP. He said that the fountain's water purification system, its electrical system and much of its underground plumbing will have to be replaced. Budget problems have deferred much of its maintenance.
He said the fountain is scheduled for overhaul and rebuilding within the next two years.
Writer's note: This article, one of an occasional series, is part of the Griffith Park History Project, an attempt to chronicle the park's long and remarkable life.
What memories do you have of Griffith Park? Suggestions? Questions? Criticisms?
Please call Mike Eberts at Glendale College 240-1000, Ext. 5352 (I have voice mail, so you can leave a message at any time.)
Write to, Mike Eberts, Griffith Park History Project, Glendale Community College, 1500 N. Verdugo Road, Glendale, CA 91208.
Text taken from
1. Aluminum Casting and Rolling Machine Application:
This aluminum rod CCR line is designed to manufacture aluminum conductive rod diameter of 12mm with 13rolling stands, 9.5mm with 15 rolling stands.
2.1 Aluminum Casting and Rolling Machine Main technical date:
Dia. of the al. rod: Ф12, Ф9.5 mm
Production capacity: 2.5-4.2t/h
Overall dimension: (l×w×h) ≈32.05×7.2×4.2m
Total weight: ≈60t (not include the furnace body)
2.2 Technical data for components:
2.2.1. Continuous casting machine
Dia. of the crystallizing wheel: Ф1500mm
Section of the crystallizing wheel: 2420mm2
Section of the ingot: 2400mm2
Casting speed: 7.6-15m/min (rotate speed of the motor 500-1000r/min)
Rotate speed of the crystallizing wheel: 1.66-3.3r/min
Power of the crystallizing wheel motor: 4Kw
Cooling water pressure of the crystallizing wheel: 0.35-0.6Mpa
Cooling water consumption: 100t/h (inner cooling 60t/h, outer cooling 40t/h)
Water pump type: IS100-65-200
Motor type: Y160M2-2 22Kw
2.2.2. Monorail hydraulic shear:
Max. shearing force: 12000kgf
Max. shearing stroke: 65mm
Motor hoist type: TV-0.50 Max. load 250kg
Pump type: CB-FC-20
Oilpressure: 160kg/cm2
Oil volume: 20L/min
Motor power: 7.5Kw n=960r/min
2.2.3. Continuous rolling machine type Y:
Type: 3-roller type Y
Dia. of rod: Ф9.5, Ф12mm
No. of rolling stands: 15, 13
Nominal roller dia.: Ф255mm
Driving ratio between neighboring stands: 1:1.25
Max. finished rolling speed: V=6.2m/s
Rolling center height: 852.5mm
Main motor power: 250kw (DC n=500R/min)
Gear box and lubricating oil box: 3m3
2.2.4. Coiler:
Max. coiling weight: 2t
Max. dia. of the coiler: Ф1800mm
Driving motor power: 1.5kw
Trolley motor: 2.2kw
Trolley speed: 0.75/s
3. Aluminum Casting and Rolling Machine Brief technological process:
3.1
3.2 Aluminum liquid or compounded aluminum flows from the holding furnace through the launder to the belt continuous casting machine to cast the molten aluminum into trapezium ingot with a section of 2400mm2, then shear the substandard aluminum ingot, press the front part small, and feed it into the 15 rolling stands to manufacture al. rod with a dia. of 9.5mm. The stand (can also be bought from us) which will loop it.
4. Aluminum Casting and Rolling Machine Component parts and structural features:
4.1. Continuous casting machine:
Belt continuous casting machine consists of crystallizing wheel, driving device, press roll device, steel belt greasing device, guide bridge, steel belt tensioner, external cooling inject, steel belt, etc.
The melt aluminum flows from the holding furnace through the launder to the pouring groove, the floating head of the plug controls the flow of the al. liquid, the liquid is poured into the cavity formed by the crystallizing wheel and the sealed belt. The whole pouring groove can be moved up and down driving by the power of motor. Worm gear reducer and screw pair. The section of crystallizing wheel is M-type, and it is driven by the motor. The crystallizing wheel is equipped with an inner cooling device, which could spray cooling water onto the inner surface of the wheel with a water pressure of 0.35 Mpa. The inner cooling water can be divided into 6 sections; the flow could be controlled by the cut off valve. The external cooling device spray the cooling water onto the steel belt, so as to cool the al. liquid won't flow out. The guide wheel is used to adjust or change the direction of the steel belt and change the length of the cavity. The tension of the steel belt can be changed through the tensioner, so as to keep a certain tension. In order to strip the al. ingot, the continuous casting machine is equipped with steel belt greasing device. Because the whole process is not interrupted long ingot can be gained.
4.2. Continuous rolling mill:
The continuous rolling mill consists of 15 rolling stands of three rollers type-Y. The nominal dia. is 255mm. there are 7 upper driving device for even number rolling stands and 8 lower driving device for odd number rolling stands, they are arranged alternately. The type of the hole is "circuit-arc triangle-circuit". The main DC motor transmits the power through the coupler and the main shaft under the 12th rolling stand of driving gearbox. The transmission ratio between two neighboring stands is 1:1.25; there is safe tooth-like coupling in the junction of the gearbox and rolling stands. When it is overloaded, the safe pin will be cut to avoid the accident. In the front and the back of the rolling stands there are inlet and outlet guide device. The rolling guide device is used in the odd number rolling stands, and the sliding guide device is used in the even number rolling stands. Small roller of every rolling stands can be adjusted by shims of the different thickness; the range can be 0.1-1.00mm. The adjustment of the hole every rolling stands is taken out by a certain plug gauge. The seam can be 0.866mm, the tolerance is ±0.10mm.
The thin-oil lubricating system is used to lubricating the driving gearbox and bearings. It includes:
Oil pump: ZCY-18m3/0.36
Max. flow: 18m3/h
Work pressure: 0.35Mpa
Motor type: Y132M2-6 5.5kw
Oil temperature: 35-45oC
Oil tank: 3m3
The lubricating oil comes out of the oil box which has a volume of 3m3, and flows through the oil pump into the main intake pipe and then into the gearbox in three different ways. The lubricating oil is sprayed onto the gear through the oil nozzle, and lubricates the rolling bearing directly through the red copper joint of the branch oil pipe and the upper part of the bearing block.
The emulsion comes out of the emulsion station and flows into the main emulsion pipe which is installed in the driving gear box, and flows through the top and two sides of the stands into the rolling stands and the guide device separately. The returned emulsion can flows back to the emulsion tank through the return emulsion pipe and slot.
4.3. Monorail hydraulic shear:
The monorail hydraulic shear system consists of monorail hoist, hydraulic shearing device and oil system. The max. load is 250kg. In order to make it convenient to use hydraulic shear between the space of the continuous casting machine and continuous rolling mill, the hoist can move alone the crossbeam which is 7 meters high. The max. shear force of the hydraulic shear is 12000kgf. It is mainly used for shearing the unstandardized al. ingot.
4.4. Coiling stands:
The coiling stand consists of the coiler and the trolley and the collecting basket. The rod is guided by the guide pipe into the spinning head of the worn, and it is going to form different dia. of loop in the collecting basket. This is down by changing the rotational speed of the motor of the spinning head. By adding the lubricating grease, the frictional force between the rod and guide pipe will be reduced. This can protect the finished rod or wire.
There are two collecting basket of the same size on the trolley, and under the trolley there is a motor. When one is full, another basket is going to take its place. On the top of the coiling stand, there is a dust hood, which linked to the exhaust pipe under the pillar of coiler, so the fume produced when the rod travels through the guide pipe.
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We have cooperated with many famous electrical wire or cable producing groups and our users had already spread all over the world like South East Asia, Middle East, Western Europe and America. We are one of the biggest exports and absorbed in electric wire and cable process equipments export.
The Dome
A vertical section of the dome of the Main Reading Room would show an exact half circle, with a diameter of 100 feet. The dome is of stucco, and applied to a framework of iron and steel, filled in with terra cotta. Although it appears to rest upon the deep upper entablature, it really springs immediately from the eight arches resting upon the great piers. The entablature, as will be seen on close inspection, bears no part in the construction. It is projected so far forward from the dome that one may easily walk between the two.
The entablature is about seven feet high, with a richly molded architecture and a heavy projecting corners. The ground of the frieze is gilt, with a relief ornament in white of eagles standing upon hemispheres and holding in their beaks a heavy garland of laurel. Over the north, south, east, and west arches are two female figures, the work of Philip Martiny, represented as seated upon the architrave molding and supporting a heavy cartouche—another instance of the emphasis that the architect has so often placed upon the four main axes of the building.
The Stucco Ornamentation
The dome is so simply planned that a description of its main features may be given in a very brief space. The surface is filled with a system of square coffers. The ornamentation of the body of the dome is in arabesque. The eight ribs that mark off the dome into compartments or reach divided into two by a band of gilded ornament representing a guilloche. The coffers diminish in size from 4½ feet square at the bottom to 2½ feet at the top. The total number of coffers is 320—or 40 in each compartment, and in each horizontal row, and eight in each vertical row. The ground of the coffers is blue, sky blue, as if one were really looking out into the open air—and therefore the color traditionally used in coffer in. To give sparkle and brilliancy, many shades and kinds of blue are used, the darker and heavier at the bottom, and the lighter and area are toward the top. The transition is so gradual and natural that the eye does not perceive any definite change, but only a generally increased vividness. The border moldings of the coffers are cream-colored—old ivory is the usual term—strongly touched with gold, and in the center of each is a great gold rosette.
Although the purpose of the dome arabesque is primarily to give an agreeable impression of light and shade, the individual figures of which it is composed are nearly as interesting a subject of study is the general effect of the whole. The variety of the figures is almost bewildering—lions’ heads, seahorses, dolphins, urns, cartouche’s, griffons, shells, storks, caryatids, tridents, eagles, cherubs, half figures, genii—altogether something like forty-five principal designs, interwoven with very many smaller but no less beautiful pieces of ornament. They all are adapted from Renaissance models of the best and purest period and are combined with the utmost spirit and harmony in an arabesque whose every portion has equal artistic value. No single figure catches the eye; broad horizontal and vertical bands of decoration, gradually diminishing as they approached the top, and circle and ascend the dome, each with its “note” of arrangement and design, but all cunningly united to form an indisputable whole, everywhere balanced and restrained.
Edwin Howland Blashfield’s Paintings
The position of Edwin Howland Blashfield’s decorations in the collar and lantern of the dome is the noblest and most inspiring in the Library. They are literally and obviously the crowning glory of the building and put the final touch on the whole decorative scheme of the interior. The visitor will see how, without them, not a painting in the building would seem to remain solidly and easily in its place, for they occupy not only the highest but the exact central point of the Library, to which, in a sense, every other is nearly relative.
Blashfield was almost certainly drawn to select some subject as he has here chosen: the Evolution of Civilization, the records of which it is the function of a great library to gather and preserve.
The ceiling of the lantern is sky and air, against which, as a background, floats the beautiful female figure representing Human Understanding, lifting her veil and looking upward from Finite Intellectual Achievement (typified in the circle of figures and the collar) to that which is beyond; in a word, Intellectual Progress looking upward and forward. She is attended by two cherubs; one holds the book of wisdom and knowledge, the other seems, by his gesture, to be encouraging those needs to persist in their struggle toward perfection.
The decoration of the collar consists of a ring of twelve seated figures, male and female, ranged against a wall of mosaic patterning. They are of colossal size, measuring, as they sit, about ten feet in height. They represent the twelve countries, or epics, which have contributed most to the development of present-day civilization in this country. Beside each is a tablet, decorated with palms, on which is inscribed the name of the country typified, and below this, on a continuous banderole or streamer, is the name of some cheese or typical contribution of that country to the sum of human excellence. The figures follow one another in chronological order, beginning, appropriately enough, at the east, the East being the cradle of civilization. List is as follows: Egypt, typifying Written Records; Judea, Religion; Greece, Philosophy; Rome, Administration; Islam, Physics; The Middle Ages, Modern Languages; Italy, the Fine Arts; Germany, the Art of Printing; Spain, Discovery; England, Literature; France, Emancipation; and America, Science.
Each figure is winged, as representing an ideal, but the wings, which overlapped regularly throughout, serve mainly to unite the composition in the continuous whole and in no case have been allowed to hamper the artist in his effort to make each figure the picture of a living, breathing man or woman. Four of the twelve figures, it will be observed, stand out more conspicuously than the rest because of the lighter tone of their drapery: Egypt, Rome, Italy, and England. They occupy respectively the East, South, West, and North points in the decoration and furnish another instance of the stress that has been laid, throughout the Library, upon the four cardinal points of the compass that governed the axial lines of the building and that, in turn, have been enriched and dignified in the final decorative scheme of the interior. Each of these axial figures is painted in a more rigid attitude than those beside it informs, as will be noticed, the center of a triad, or group of three, each of flanking figures leaning more or less obviously toward it. It should be noted that there was no intention on the part of the painter to magnify the importance of before figures thus represented over any of the others. The emphasis of color is solely for decorative purposes. The arrangement being chronological, Blashfield was unable to exercise much control over the order in which each figure should occur and still retain his original selection of countries.
Egypt is represented by a male figure clad in the loincloth and with lappets so familiar in the ancient monuments. The idea of Written Records is brought up by the tablet he supports with his left hand, which is inscribed in hieroglyphics the cartouche or personal seal of Mena, the first recorded Egyptian king, and by the case of books at his feet, which is filled with manuscript roles of papyrus, the Egyptian paper. Besides the idea of Writing and Recording, Blashfield brings out the fact that the Egyptians were among the first doctrine of the immortality of the soul. The figure holds in the right hand the Tau, or cross with a ring head, the emblem of life both in this world and beyond; and on the tablet behind his feet is the winged ball, the more familiar symbol of the same idea.
Judea is shown as a woman lifting her hands in an ecstatic prayer to Jehovah. The over garment that she wears falls partly away and discloses the ephod, which was investment borne by the high priests, ornamented with a jeweled breastplate and with shoulder clasps set in gold, which were engraved the names of the Twelve Tribes of Israel. On the face of the stone pillars set beside her is inscribed, in Hebrew characters, the injunction, as found in Leviticus 19:18: “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself”—a sentence selected as being perhaps the noblest single text contributed by the Jewish religion to the system of modern morality. In her lap is a scroll containing, presumably, a portion of the Scriptures; and that her feet is a censer, typical of the Hebrew ritualism.
The figure of Greece is distinctively suggestive, so far as attitude drapery are concerned, one of the beautiful little Tanagra figures of terra cotta—so called from the ancient Greek town in which the first discovered—which are so familiar to students of Greek art. A bronze lamp is set beside her, and in her lap is a scroll—the emblems of wisdom. Her head is crowned with a diadem, perhaps a reference to the City of the Violet Crown, Athens, the Mother of Philosophy.
Rome, the second axial figure, where’s the armor of a centurion, or captain in a legion. A lion’s skin, the mark of a standard-bearer, is thrown over him, the head covering the top of his casque. The whole conception is that of the just but inexorable administration of Rome founded upon the power of its arms. One foot is planted upon the lower drum of a marble column, signifying stability. His right arm rests upon the fasces, or bundle of rods, the typical emblem of Roman power and rule. In his right hand, he holds the baton of command.
Islam is an Arab, standing for the Moorish race, which introduced into Europe not only an improved science of physics—as here used by Blashfield in its older and less restricted sense—but of mathematics and astronomy also. His foot rests upon a glass retort, and he is turning over the leaves of a book of mathematical calculations.
The term Middle Ages, represented by the female figure that comes next in the decoration, is usually understood to mean the epic beginning with the dissolution of the Western Roman Empire in 455 and ending with the discovery of America in 1492. No single country is here indicated, for Europe was throughout that. In a state of flux, so to say, during which the principal modern languages were finally involved from the Latin and Teutonic tongues. But it was an epic notable for many other things, also. The figure typifying the epic is distinguished by an expression at once graven passionate, and has a sword, casque, and cuirass, emblematic of the great institution of Chivalry; a model of a cathedral, standing for Gothic architecture, which was brought to its greatest perfection in these thousand years; and a papal tiara and the keys of St. Peter, signifying medieval devotion and the power of the church.
The next figure, Italy—the Italy of the Renaissance—is shown with symbols of four of the Fine Arts that she represents: Painting, Sculpture, Architecture, and Music. She holds a pallet in her left hand and with the brush in her right seems to lay another stroke of color on her canvas. To her left is a statuette after Michelangelo’s celebrated David, in Florence. At her feet is a Renaissance capital; and leaning against the wall of violin, at once the typical musical instrument and one the Italians excelled in manufacturing.
Germany is the printer, turning from his press—a hand press, accurately copied from early models—to examine the proof sheet he has just pulled. His right foot is placed upon a pile of sheets already corrected, and a roller for inking lies convenient to his hand.
Spain is the sixteenth-century Spanish adventurer. He wears a steel morion on his head and is clad in a leathern jerkin. Holding the tiller of the ship in his right hand, he seems to be watching for land to appear in the seat. Behind him is a globe of the earth, and that his feet a model of a caravel, the sort of ship in which Columbus sailed on his voyages, is introduced.
England wears the ruff and full sleeves of the time of Elizabeth—the era when English literature, both poetry and prose, was at its peak. She is crowned with laurel—the reward of literature—and bears in her lap an open book of Shakespeare’s plays, the right-hand page with a for simile of the title page of the first edition of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, dated 1600.
France, standing for emancipation and the great revolutionary upheaval of the 18th century, is dressed in a characteristic garb of the First Republic: a jacket with lapels, a tricolor scarf, and a liberty cap with a tricolor cockade. She sits on a cannon and carries a drum, a bugle, and a sword—emblems of her military crusade on behalf of liberty. In her left hand, she displays a scroll bearing the words Les Droits de l’Homme, the famous Declaration of the Rights of Man adopted by the French Assembly in 1789.
The twelfth and last figure, bringing us once more round to the east, is that of America—represented as an engineer, in the garb of the machine shop, sitting lost in thought over a problem of mechanics he has encountered. He leans his chin upon the palm of one hand, while the other holds the scientific book that he has been consulting. In front of him as an electric dynamo, recalling the part that the United States has taken in the advancement of electrical science.
On the base of the dynamo Blashfield has signed his work in an inscription that recalls also the name of the artist who assisted him and laying it upon the plaster: “These decorations were designed and executed by Edwin Howland Blashfield, assisted by Arthur Reginald Willet, A.D. MDCCCLXXXXVI.”
The visitor will perhaps have been a little perplexed by the familiar appearance of some of the faces in Blashfield’s decoration. It is an interesting fact that in several cases Blashfield has introduced a resemblance, more or less distinct, to the features of some real person to give greater variety and, above all, greater vitality to his figures. The persons chosen were selected because the character of their features seemed to him peculiarly suited to the type that he wished to represent. In the case of Abraham Lincoln—the figure of America—and of General Casey—Germany—the choice was fitting for other reasons. Among the female figures, the Middle Ages is Mrs. De Navarro (Mary Anderson), and England, Ellen Terry. The faces of Italy and Spain are from sketches made from Amy Rose, a young sculptor in New York, and William Bailey Faxon, the painter, respectively. France suggests the features of the artist’s wife. Throughout, however, it must be remembered that, to use Blashfield’s own words, “no portraiture has been attempted, but only characterization.”
Size : Approximately 3" diameter.
Made from 100% cotton yarn.
Hand-crochet by me.
Scrubbie has a little pocket to insert soap.(Great for saving your little soap slivers. Make your soap go a long way)
Has a neat strap for your fingers for easy grip.
No two scrubbies will be exactly alike.
-Madbull Python 6.03mm diameter 363mm long
-Madbull Blue Hop-up Bucking
-Magpul AFG
-Magpul MBUS
-Replica EOTech
Soon to be added:
-Mosfet
-Magpul P-Mags
-High Torque Motor
-"H" Spacer
Aside from the P-Mag's, the externals are done, I just need to finish doing some internal work. I'm not going to touch the gearbox. From what I can tell, this gun is a work horse to say the least. The only problem I have ever had with this thing was when I installed the barrel and there was a slight issue with air seal between the hop-up and the barrel, but that's obviously not G&G's fault. To anyone who as ever considered getting a G&G GR16, I'll say this: It may not be the greatest gun out there, but it preforms phenomenally and you can't buy a gun that beats this things internals without probably spending about $100. It takes a beating and it works. That's all I need...
Nancy Grossman
"Bride" 1966
Mixed media assemblage, 22 ½ inches in diameter
www.francisnaumann.com/EXHIBITIONS/VV/index.html
“THE VISIBLE VAGINA”
FRANCIS M. NAUMANN FINE ART
and DAVID NOLAN GALLERY
January 28 – March 20, 2010
Wednesday, January 27, 2010, 6-8 pm at Francis M. Naumann Fine Art
Thursday, January 28, 2010, 6-8 pm at David Nolan Gallery
THE VISIBLE VAGINA is an exhibition jointly organized by Francis M. Naumann and David Nolan. It is scheduled to open at Francis M. Naumann Fine Art (24 West 57th Street) and at David Nolan Gallery (527 West 29th Street) on January 28, 2010. Both shows will run concurrently, ending on March 20, 2010.
As the title of the exhibition suggests, the show is designed to make visible a portion of the female anatomy that is generally considered taboo―too private and intimate for public display. If shown at all, this part of a woman’s body is usually presented in an abject fashion, generally within the context of pornography, intended, in almost all cases, for the exclusive pleasure of men. The goal of this exhibition is to remove these prurient connotations, implicit even in works of art, ever since the pudendum was prudishly covered by a fig leaf. This gesture of false modesty, it should be noted, was devised and enforced entirely by men (not only in the case of classical sculpture, but also in the Bible, in which, immediately after their disobedience in the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve cover their genitalia with fig leaves). Indeed, until recently, virtually all depictions of the frontal nude female figure were made by men, but as this exhibition will demonstrate, that has changed dramatically in recent years.
The catalogue for THE VISIBLE VAGINA will trace this motif in art history from prehistoric to modern times. It includes an introduction by the exhibition organizers, as well as a highly informative and provocative essay by Anna C. Chave, Professor of Contemporary Art and Theory at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. Inspiration for both the show and its catalogue came from Eve Ensler’s The Vagina Monologues, a stage play that premiered off-Broadway in 1996, and was followed by various productions throughout the world (it appeared as a book in 1998). Ensler gave voice to countless women worldwide, honoring the complexity and mystery of their sexuality, basically encouraging them to consider their vaginas as powerful and expressive components of their physical selves, something not to be ashamed of, but to be proudly protected as an assertive and positive manifestation of their being. The idea for this show came from realizing that there was no better group to give vision to this goal than artists, many of whom had already incorporated imagery of the vagina in their works. Because of Ensler’s pioneering work in this field, the catalogue is dedicated to her, and proceeds from its sale shall be donated to V-Day, the organization she founded to end violence against women and girls throughout the world.
The following is a list of the artists whose work will be included in the exhibition (as well as a number whose work is only reproduced in the catalogue): Magdalena Abakanowicz, Ghada Amer, Beth B, Judie Bamber, Tracey Baran, Nancy Becker, Hans Bellmer, Mike Bidlo, Louise Bourgeois, Robert Brinker, Judy Chicago, Carol Cole, Maureen Connor, Gustave Courbet, Tee Corinne, John Currin, Sarah Davis, James Dee, Jay Defeo, Jim Dine, Leo Dohman, Marcel Duchamp, Carroll Dunham, Tracy Emin, India Evans, John Evans, Valie Export, Robert Forman, Neil Gall, Kathleen Gilje, Guerrilla Girls, Nancy Grossman, Barbara Hammer, Jane Hammond, Mona Hatoum, Stanley William Hayter, Sandra Vásquez de la Horra, David Humphrey, Paul Joostens, Pamela Joseph, Mel Kendrick, Elisabeth Kley, Jeff Koons, Mark Kostabi, Shigeko Kubota, Zoe Leonard, Sherrie Levine, Lee Lozano, Henri Maccheroni, Chema Madoz, Réné Magritte, Gerard Malanga, Man Ray, Robert Mapplethorpe, Marcel Mariën, André Masson, Sophie Matisse, Ana Mendieta, Allyson Mitchell, Cathy de Monchaux, Vik Muniz, Wangechi Mutu, Gladys Nilsson, Yoko Ono, Pablo Picasso, Chloe Piene, Richard Prince, Daniel Ranalli, Oona Ratcliffe, Niki de Saint-Phalle, Katia Santibanez, Peter Saul, Naomi Savage, Egon Schiele, Carolee Schneemann, Mira Schor, Michelle Segre, Tom Shannon, Cindy Sherman, James Siena, Laurie Simmons, Kiki Smith, Julie Speed, Nancy Spero, Betty Tompkins, Kiyoshi Tsuchiya, John Tweddle, Tabitha Vevers, Douglas Vogel, Robert Watts, Hannah Wilke, Terry Winters, Beatrice Wood.
PANEL DISCUSSION: David Nolan Gallery will host a panel discussion on the exhibition with the featured artists on Saturday, January 30 from 2-4 pm at 527 West 29th Street.
FRANCIS M. NAUMANN FINE ART
24 West 57th Street, Suite 305
New York, NY, 10019
Telephone: 212.582.3201
LHOOQ@FRANCISNAUMANN.COM
Today, the William Mulholland Memorial Fountain serves as a not-quite-legal wading pool for children and a photogenic backdrop for wedding parties. Motorists see it as they whiz past the entrance to Griffith Park at Los Feliz Boulevard and Riverside Drive. But few stop and walk around its 90-foot-diameter reflection pool, or know much about the man it honors.
Water appropriately shoots up from this memorial to William Mulholland, the man who built a concrete and steel river through the Mojave Desert and brought water to L.A.'s doorstep. August 1 will mark the anniversary of the memorial's dedication.
Growth--explosive and unending--was the fondest wish of many local businesspeople, land owners and other civic leaders in Mulholland's time. They realized by the 1890s that water--which until then had come exclusively from the Los Angeles River and local wells--limited further development.
Mulholland: The Man and His Work
Mulholland, an Irish immigrant, was a self-taught engineer who became head of the city's Bureau of Water Works and Supply. He supported the plan of another local visionary, Fred Eaton, to redirect water from the Owens Valley, on the eastern slope of the Sierras. Employing 5,000 workers and 6,000 mules, Mulholland completed the 238-mile-long aquaduct in record time and under budget.
The aquaduct, Mulholland estimated, would allow Los Angeles to grow from a quarter million people to 3 million.
There are no fountains honoring Mulholland in the Owens Valley, however. For several years in the 1920s, the Owens Valley and Los Angeles were locked in a bitter water war that occasionally spilled beyond the editorial pages and courtrooms. Mulholland hired armed guards to patrol the aquaduct. Even so, it was dynamited numerous times.
As recently as September 1976, the aquaduct was damaged by saboteurs after the Department of Water and Power announced plans to double its pumping of subsurface water from the Owens Valley. Shortly afterward, an arrow carrying a stick of dynamite and two blasting caps was shot at the Mulholland Memorial Fountain. No one was hurt and the dynamite did not explode. Ironically for the saboteur, the explosive-laden arrow landed in the water.
A Sentimental Dedication
But on Aug. 1, 1940, a warm Thursday evening, the water wars of the 1920s seemed safely in the past. Mulholland, who died in 1935, had outlived most of the controversy his career had generated. And the city had a grand new fountain to dedicate in his honor.
Approximately 3,000 people spilled across Los Feliz Boulevard, some standing on the adjacent hill in Griffith Park. The Los Angeles Police Band played. The Civic Chorus sang. The Aquaduct Post Color Guard presented the flag. Mayor Fletcher Bowron accepted the fountain on behalf of the city, predicting that "as the crystal pureness of the water . . . radiates brilliantly in the sun . . . or shimmers in the colors of myriad electric lights," the fountain would help to develop "a greater civic pride, a more developed civic consciousness."
Mulholland's granddaughter, Katherine Mulholland, was 17 years old at the time. She remembers her sister, Patricia, then nine years old, pushing a button to start the fountain. "That was quite dramatic," she said.
An Appropriate Site Alongside Griffith Park
The site was chosen for several reasons. It was located at one of the city's busiest and prettiest intersections. Furthermore, Mulholland had once lived there in a one-room wooden shack. The man who would build one of the world's great water projects was first employed by the water department as a ditch tender. His job was to keep the "zanja madre"--the city's main water ditch--clear of weeds and debris.
Although a committee comprised of the city's elite oversaw construction of the fountain--and provided most of the funds for it--there was also considerable popular support. Many DWP employees made contributions through payroll deductions. Even school children were asked to donate (including Katherine Mulholland's classmates, which she found a little embarrassing at the time) to the $30,000 project.
Over the next several decades, the fountain became a symbol of abundance--the good life, Los Angeles-style. Through a complex maze of timers and jets, the fountain--which operated between 7 a.m. and 11 p.m.--continually changed its shape, a water sculpture in motion.
Color added to the spectacle. Lights played upon the water in ever-varying combinations. Commented newsman Ralph Story in a segment about the fountain on "Ralph Story's Los Angeles" that first aired on KNXT (Now KCBS, Channel 2) on Oct. 6, 1968, "The panel of relays, gears and vertical camshafts . . . produces not only light, but changing light . . . sending the fountain through the entire spectrum of color in a smooth continuous pattern."
The 'Kool Aid' Fountain
Some say these lights made the water look like Kool Aid. A colorized post card of the fountain from the 1940s shows it at night and accentuates the Kool Aid effect. "The idea of colored lights was very much an idea of its place and time," Katherine Mulholland said. "It was Hollywood, after all."
But not all of the fountain's special effects were planned by the DWP. Glendale College Professor of Dance Lynn McMurrey grew up about a mile from the fountain. He remembers one particular Halloween:
We went down there trick or treating. Somebody filled the fountain with soap. When I came down there, Riverside Drive was covered with suds. The fountain was still splashing and the suds were up to the top of it. With the light shining on the soap suds it looked like somebody's fantasy.
The energy crisis of 1973-74 was grim for millions of Americans who waited in long lines and paid record prices for gasoline. But it was grimmer for the fountain. For a while, it was shut down. And for a long while after that, the water was turned on, but the lights weren't.
Today, the problem is aging equipment. The water no longer goes through a continuous cycle of patterns. No colored lights play on it at night. And sometimes it is simply, unceremoniously shut off.
"The tiles are in very bad shape," said Kuno Lill, a maintenance engineer with the DWP. He said that the fountain's water purification system, its electrical system and much of its underground plumbing will have to be replaced. Budget problems have deferred much of its maintenance.
He said the fountain is scheduled for overhaul and rebuilding within the next two years.
Writer's note: This article, one of an occasional series, is part of the Griffith Park History Project, an attempt to chronicle the park's long and remarkable life.
What memories do you have of Griffith Park? Suggestions? Questions? Criticisms?
Please call Mike Eberts at Glendale College 240-1000, Ext. 5352 (I have voice mail, so you can leave a message at any time.)
Write to, Mike Eberts, Griffith Park History Project, Glendale Community College, 1500 N. Verdugo Road, Glendale, CA 91208.
Text taken from
+++ DISCLAIMER +++
Nothing you see here is real, even though the conversion or the presented background story might be based historical facts. BEWARE!
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Some background:
The mighty Suchoj SuCh-1 started its life in early March 1943, when the Sukhoi OKB finished work on the design of a high-speed fighter with a unique powerplant arrangement. The aircraft was an all-metal low-wing monoplane with conventional tail surfaces. The three-section wings had constant dihedral and basically trapezoidal planform; the stabilizers had zero dihedral.
Two Klimov M-107 water-cooled Vee-12 engines, each with a. take-off power of 1 ,600 hp (1,193 kW) and a maximum design power of 1,500 hp (1,119 kW) at 5,500 m (18,045 ft), were mounted in the center fuselage in a staggered-tandem arrangement: the front engine was offset to starboard and of the rear one to port. Thus, the total power was increased but the drag was the same as for a single-engined aircraft, which was expected to increase fight speed considerably. Consequently, the project was internally designated 'I-2M107', literally "Article powered by two M107 engines".
Furthermore, the left cylinder bank of the front engine and the right cylinder bank of the rear engine were disposed vertically, so that each engine had one set of exhaust stubs on top of the fuselage and one on the fuselage side. Both engines drove a single three blade tractor propeller of 4.0 m (13 tt 2 in) diameter via parallel extension shafts and a common reduction gearbox. Both water radiators were located side by side in a chin housing, while the oil coolers were buried in the wings. The total fuel capacity of the four tanks arranged in the center fuselage was 1,113 litres (244.86 Imp. gal).
Because of the power plant arrangement and the large ground angle (necessary to give adequate ground clearance for the large propeller) the cockpit was offset to port and placed ahead of the wing leading edge to provide better forward visibility on take-off and landing. The cockpit was protected by a bulletproof windscreen, a front armor plate and an armored backrest; the armor weight totaled 70kg (154Ib).
The main landing gear units with 800 x 280 mm (31.5x11 in) wheels retracted inwards into the wing roots and the 400 x 150 mm (15.7 x 5.9 in) tail wheel retracted aft. The fighter's armament consisted of two wing-mounted 12.7-mm Berezin UBS machine-guns firing outside the propeller disc and a single 20-mm ShVAK cannon firing through the propeller hub*.
A full-scale mock-up was inspected in December 1943, and with German long range bombers threatening the Western front line as well as the lack of a fast and powerful fighters to intercept them (the earlier MiG-5 had turned out to be a disappointment, and Mikoyan's I-211/221 family if high altitude fighters also suffered from serious technical problems at that time), OKB Suchoj received an immediate go-ahead for further development of the SuCh-1, how the I-2M107 was now officially called, since Vladimir A. Chizhevskiy took lead of the project.
In the course of 1944 three prototypes went through a fast development program. While the aircraft itself was easy to handle, overheating problems and trouble with the gearbox for the two engines could only partly be rectified - esp. the power transmission should remain the SuCh-1s Achilles Heel.
Anyway, the Su-5 was ready for service introduction towards late 1944, and the powerful type was exclusively to be used as an interceptor. Several improvements had been made, compared to the prototypes: now two slightly more powerful Klimov VK-107A engines were used, which were better suited for high altitude operations, and the chin-mounted water cooler was considerably enlarged. The oil coolers had been re-designed and they were now placed under the wing roots.
The wing span had been extended by 6' and a bigger (now 4.3m diameter!), four-bladed propeller was added in order to improve performance at high altitude. No pressurized cabin was installed, but the cockpit received an extended glazing for better all-round field of vision.
Armament had also been augmented: now a Nudelman N-23 23mm cannon was firing through the propeller hub, and the number of UBS machine-guns in the wings was increased to four.
As initial duty experience was gathered, it became quickly clear that the firepower had to be augmented, so that the propeller-hub-mounted 23mm cannon was quickly replaced by a Nudelman-Richter NR-37 37mm cannon, and the four wing-mounted UBS machine guns were replaced by two 20-mm ShVAK cannons or even two Nudelman N-23 23mm cannons - the latter became the production standard from March 1945 on, even though the type's designation did not change.
Experience also showed that the overheating problem had been cured, but the complicated gear box tended to malfunction, esp. when full power was called for in aerial combat: high G forces took their toll and damaged the bearings, even warping the extension shafts and structural parts, so that some SuCh-1 were literally torn apart in mid-air.
The high torque powers of the large propeller also took their toll on handling: starting and landing was described as "hazardous", esp. when the fuel tanks were empty or in cross winds.
Consequently, SuCh-1 pilots were warned to engage into any dogfight or enter close combat with single-engined enemy fighters, and just focus on large enemy aircraft.
On the other side, the SuCh-1's powerful cannon armament made it a deadly foe: a single hit with the NR-37 cannon could down an aircraft, and its top speed of roundabout 700 km/h (435 mph) was more than enough for the Luftwaffe's heavy bomber types like the He 177.
Several engine and armament experiments were undertaken. For instance, at least one SuCh-1 was outfitted with a Nudelman-Sooranov NS-45 45mm cannon firing through the propeller hub, even a 57mm cannon was envisaged. Furthermore, one airframe was prepared to carry two Charomskiy M-30V 12 cylinder diesel engines, in order to produce a heavy long-range escort fighter (internally called I-2M30V).
In order to minimize the torque problems a contraprop arrangement with two three-bladed propellers and a diameter of only 3.6m was under development.
All in all only 120 of these powerful machines were built until the end of hostilities, as the feared mass attacks of German long range bombers did not materialize. as the Su-7 was complicated to operate and jet engines promised a far more efficient way of propulsion for high speeds, the type was already retired in 1947 and replaced by 1st generation jet fighters like the Yak-15 and MiG-9, which carried a similar armament, attained a better performance (except for the range) but weighed only half of the large and heavy SuCh-1.
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General characteristics
Crew: One
Length: 11.75 m (38 ft 5 3/4 in)
Wingspan: 13.85 m (45 ft 3 1/4 in)
Height: 5.30 m (17 ft 4 in)
Empty weight: 5.250 kg (11.565 lb)
Max. take-off weight: 8.100 kg (17.840 lb)
Powerplant:
2× Klimov VK-107A liquid-cooled V12 engines with an output of 1.650 hp (1.210 kW) each at sea level and 900 hp (650 kW) at 8.300m (27.220 ft)
Performance:
Maximum speed: 720 km/h (447 mph) at height, clean configuration
Range: 750 km (465 mi)
Service ceiling: 11.700 m (38.400 ft)
Rate of climb: 876 m/mim (2.850 ft/min)
Armament:
1× Nudelman-Richter NR-37 37mm cannon with 60 RPG, firing through the propeller hub
2× Nudelman N-23 23mm cannons with 120 RPG in the wings
Many different cannon and machine gun arrangements coulod be found, though.
*Information about the conceptual Suchoj I-2M107 was primarily gathered from the book 'OKB Suchoj', written by Yefim Gordon & Dmitriy Komissarov; Hersham (UK), 2010.
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The kit and its assembly (a long story!):
This abomination of an aircraft is/was real, even though the I-2M107 was never built – the fictional name Suchoj-Chizhevskiy SuCh-1 was actually chosen because I could not find any plausible Su-X code for a WWII fighter. Vladimir A. Chizhevskiy actually joined the Suchoj OKB in mid WWII, so I deemed this alternative to be plausible.
I had this on the agenda for a long time, but the horrors of kitbashing kept me from building it - until now. The current Anthony P memorial Group Build (for the deceased fellow member at whatifmodelers.com, RIP) was a good motivation to tackle this brute thing. Fortunately, I already had some major ingredients in store, so work could start asap.
From that, anything else was improvised from the scrap box, and with only a three side view of the I-2M107 as guidance. It became a true Frankenstein creation with...
● Fuselage and inner wings from the (horrible) NOVO Attacker
● Wings from an Italeri Fw 190 D-9 attached to them
● Nose is a resin Griffon from an Avro Lincoln conversion set from OzMods
● Tail cone is a radar nose from an F-4J Phantom II
● Tail fin is a horizontal stabilizer from a Matchbox SB2C Helldiver
● Vertical stabilizers come from a Matchbox Me 410
● Oil coolers are modified front landing gear wells from two Revell G.91 kits
● Cockpit hood comes from a Revell P-39 Airacobra
● Landing gear comes from an Italeri Fw 190 D-9, covers were modified/improvised
● Main wheels belong to a MPM Ryan Dark Shark
● Tail wheel belongs to a Matchbox Harrier
● The propeller was scratched, IIRC from a Grumman Hellcat drop tank front and blades from an Airfix A-1 Skyraider. Inside, a metal axis was mounted.
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Work started with the fuselage and the wings as separate segments.
The Attacker fuselage lost its fin and the cockpit and air intakes were simply cut away, just as the tail pipe. The resin Griffon was slightly shortened at the front, but more or less directly attached to the fuselage, after I had cut out openings for the four rows of exhaust nozzles.
Then, the new tail cone was glued onto the end and the original fairings for the Attacker's stabilizer cut away and sanded even - anything had to be made new.
The wings were a bit tricky. I had hoped to use the Attacker's OOB wings, but these were not only much too small and did not have the proper shape, they also lacked landing gear wells!
Finding a solution was not easy, and I had to improvise. After some trials I decided to cut the Attacker wing span at about the width where the guns are located, and then add Fw 190 wings.
The depth would be fine, even though the Fw 190 wings were a bit thicker, and they offered a leading edge kink which was good for the original and characteristic I-2M107's wing root extensions. The latter were sculpted from a 6mm thick core or styrene sheet, added to the Attacker parts' leading edge, and the rest, as well as the lacking Attacker wing's thickness, sculpted with 2C and later NC putty.
Furthermore I cut out and sculpted landing gear wells, another challenging, since these had to cover the Attacker/Fw 190 parts' intersection! LOTS of putty work, sanding and shaving, but as a benefit I was able to use the Attacker kit's original wing/fuselage joints. Effectively, my placement turned out to be a bit far outside, so the track appears too wide - the price to pay when you work on single parts. Anyway, I left it was it turned out, as a major correction at a late working stage would mean to tear anything apart again...
Back to the nose: adding the propeller and the cockpit into the massive nose was the next working station. The propeller had to be huge, and also needed a rather big spinner. A contraprop was ruled out, even though it would have looked great here. But eventually I settled for a scratch-built thing, made from a teardrop-shaped drop tank front onto which the four blades from a A-1 Skyraider were glued. Probably the biggest prop I have ever put onto a 1:72 scale model! Since the resin nose was massive, drilling a hole and adding a metal axis to the propeller was enough.
With that in place I started carving out a cockpit opening - it worked better and easier than expected with a mini drill and a coarse shaving head! The opening is still rather small, a seat and a pilot hardly fit, but it works - I found a rather smallish pilot figure, and added a seat and some other small details from the scrap box, just to have something inside.
For a canopy I found a very old (30 years, I guess...) clear part from a Revell P-39 Airacobra in the scrap box, which was almost perfect in shape and width. It was a bit blind and stained with ancient enamel paint, but some wet sanding and serious polishing almost got it back to translucent status. Since I would not open the cockpit, this was a sufficient solution.
The asymmetrical cockpit opening was, in an initial step, faired with styrene strips, for a rough outline, and then sculpted with 2C and later NC putty, blending it into the rest of the fuselage.
For the tail surfaces, the SB2C stabilizer was cut away at its base - it is not a bad donation piece, its shape and rudder come pretty close to the I-2M107's original design!
The stabilizers I used on my kitbash come from a Me 410, and their leading edge was a cut away so that the sweep angle would be a bit larger. They lack depth, compared to the I-2M107's original design, but since the wings have become more slender, too, I think it's a good compromise, and the best what I had at hand in the spares stash.
Finally, and before detail work could start, the wings were attached to the fuselage. I eventually set them back by ~6mm, so that the new, extended leading edge would match the respective fairing on the fuselage. The resulting gap at the trailing edge was, again, filled with 2C and NC putty.
A personal change was a different oil cooler arrangement. The original location was to be in the wings' leading edge, just in front of the landing gear wells - but that appeared a bit doubtful, as I could not find a plausible solution where the exit for the air would be? Consequently, and in order to avoid even more messy putty sculpting on the wings, I decided to re-locate the oil coolers completely, into shallow, tunnel-like fairings under the wing roots, not unlike the radiator arrangement on a Spitfire or Bf 109.
In order to check the surface quality I decided to add a coat of grey primer, once the fuselage/wing segments had been connected. This showed only minor flaws, but made another turn with NC putty and wet sanding necessary.
Now it was time for finishing touches, e .g. mounting the landing gear, completing the cockpit and adding exhaust stubs - cut individually from HO scale model railroad roof tiles and inserted into the four fuselage fairings.
The canopy was fixed into place with white glue, which also helped closing some small gaps.
.
Painting and markings:
While the I-2M107 looks odd, to say the least, I wanted to keep the paint scheme rather simple and quasi-authentic. I went for a pale grey/green camouflage, used e. g. on late war Yakovlev Yak-3 fighters.
Basic colors are Humbrol 31 (Slate Grey, it has a very greenish, even teal, hue), ModelMaster 1740 (Dark Gull Grey, FS 36231) and Humbrol 167 (Barley Grey) for the lower sides with a wavy waterline. Since only marginal surface details were left over, I decided to fake panels and panel lines with paint.
Panels were simulated with lighter shades of the basic tones (RLM 62 from ModelMaster, Humbrol 140 and 127 below), panel lines were painted with highly thinned grey acrylic paint and a special brush - in German it's called a 'Schlepppinsel', it's got very long hairs and is also used to paint scallops on car models, and similar things are used for real car tuning/custom paintwork, too.
Sure, the painted panel lines are a bit rough, but I did not want to risk any damage through manual engraving on the rather delicate mixed-media surface of the kitbashed model. For an overall look or first impression it's very good, though.
As 'highlights' I added a white spinner and half of the fin was painted white, too.
The decals were puzzled together. The flashes and the tactical code number come from a Hobby Boss La-7, the Red Stars, IIRC, belong to a vintage MiG-21F from Hasegawa. The "Rodinu" slogan actually belongs to a 1:35 Soviet Tank decals set.
Finally, after some additional dry painting with light grey, some oil stains around the engines and coolers and soot stains at the exhaust stubs and guns (painted, plus some grinded graphite, as it yields a nice, metallic shimmer that looks like oil or burnt metal), everything was sealed under a coat of matt acrylic varnish.
If it had been built, the Suchoj I-2M107 must have been an impressive aircraft - it was bigger than a P-47 Thunderbolt or an A-1 Skyraider, and one can only wonder how its field performance would have been?
Similar concepts had been underway in UK, too, e. g. for a heavy naval attack aircraft, but the I-2M107 with its asymmetrical cockpit and engine arrangement were unique. A worthy whif, even if some details like the landing gear or the borrowed nose section are not 100% 'correct'.
+++ DISCLAIMER +++
Nothing you see here is real, even though the conversion or the presented background story might be based historical facts. BEWARE!
Some background:
The "Entwicklung" tank series (= "development"), more commonly known as the E-Series, was a late-World War II attempt by Germany to produce a standardized series of tank designs. There were to be six standard designs in different weight classes, from which several specialized variants were to be developed. This intended to reverse the trend of extremely complex tank designs that had resulted in poor production rates and mechanical unreliability.
The E-series designs were simpler, cheaper to produce and more efficient than their predecessors; however, their design offered only modest improvements in armor and firepower over the designs they were intended to replace, such as the Jagdpanzer 38(t), Panther Ausf. G or Tiger II. However, the resulting high degree of standardization of German armored vehicles would also have made logistics and maintenance easier. Indeed, nearly all E-series vehicles — up through and including the E-75 — were intended to use what were essentially the Tiger II's 80 cm (31½ in) diameter, steel-rimmed road wheels for their suspension, meant to overlap each other (as on the later production Tiger I-E and Panther designs that also used them), even though in a highly simplified fashion. For instance, while the E-50/75’s running gear resembled outwardly the Tiger II’s, the latter’s torsion bar suspension, which necessitated a complex hull with many openings, was replaced by very compact conical spring coil packages that each held a pair of interleaved road wheels – with the benefit that all suspension elements remained outside of the hull. This considerably simplified production and saved time as well as scarce material.
Focus of initial chassis and combat vehicle development was the E-50/75 Standardpanzer, designed by Adler. These were two mostly identical vehicles and only differed in armor thickness, overall weight and running gear design to cope with the different weights. While the E-50 was the standardized replacement for the medium PzKpfw. V “Panther” and the last operational PzKpfw. VI “Tiger”, with an operational weight of around 50 tons, the E-75 was intended to become the standard heavy tank in the 70 ton class, as a replacement for the Tiger II battle tank and the Jagdtiger SPG. They were to share many components, including the same Maybach HL 234 engine with up to 900 hp output and the drivetrain, as well as running gear elements and almost all peripheral equipment. Both E-50 and E-75 were built on the same production lines for ease of manufacture.
This universal tank chassis would, beyond the primary use for battle tanks, also become the basis for a wide range of specialized support vehicles like self-propelled artillery, assault guns, tank hunters and anti-aircraft weapon carriers, which would gradually replace and standardize the great variety of former support vehicles, dramatically optimizing maintenance and logistics.
The E-50/75 SPAAG sub-family itself was quite diversified and comprised a wide range of vehicles that mainly carried different turrets with the respective weaponry as well as air space surveillance, targeting and command equipment. The range of armament included not only guns of various calibers for short, medium and long range in armored and mostly fully enclosed turrets, there were furthermore armored launch ramps for anti-aircraft missiles, including the guided “Rheintochter”, “Wasserfall” or “Enzian” SAMs as well as batteries with unguided “Taifun” anti-aircraft missiles.
Among this new vehicle family, the heaviest gun that was carried in a fully enclosed turret was the Rheinmetall 8.8 cm Flak 41. This was an improved version of the powerful pre-war 8.8 cm Flak 36/37 that was also developed into an anti-tank gun and became the main armament for Germany’s heavy battle tanks like the Tiger I: the 8.8 cm PaK 43 and KwK 43, respectively.
The 8.8 cm Flak 41 was a mobile field weapon on a new pedestal mounting that lowered its silhouette, and it used a longer barrel and a longer 88 mm cartridge with an increased propellant load. The shells had a weight of 9.4-kilogram (20 lb) and achieved a muzzle velocity of 1,000 m/s (3,280 ft/s), giving the gun an effective ceiling of 11,300 meters (37,100 ft) and a maximum of 14,700 meters (48,200 ft). The barrel initially consisted of three sections and had a length of 74 calibers but was then redesigned to a simpler dual-section barrel with a length of 72 calibers, for easier manufacture. Improvements in reloading raised the manual firing rate, with 20 to 25 rounds a minute being quoted. The Flak 41 could also be used against ground targets and was able to penetrate about 200 mm (7.9 inches) of armor at 1,000 m (3,280 feet), allowing it to defeat the armor of any contemporary tank from a relatively safe distance. Because of the high cost and complexity of this weapon, however, Rheinmetall manufactured relatively few of them, 556 in all. 399 were fielded, the rest went into SPAAG production.
The new pedestal mounting made it easy to adapt the weapon to a vehicle, so that this formidable weapon was immediately earmarked to be combined with a tank chassis to improve its mobility. Since an SPAAG would not need the massive frontal armor of a battle tank, the hull from the lighter E-50 was used (which still had a maximum armor thickness of 60mm at the front at 30°, which was effectively 120 mm vs. the E-75’s 185 mm), but instead of the E-50 MBT’s running gear with six steel wheels per side, the Flak 41 SPAAG used the heavier E-75’s running gear with eight wheels per side and wider tracks, effectively creating a hybrid E-50/75 chassis. This measure was taken to better distribute the vehicle’s overall weight and stabilize the it while moving and firing. In this form the new vehicle received the designation Sd.Kfz. 192/3, also known as “Einheits-Flakpanzer E-50 (88 mm)” or “E-50-41” for short.
The Flak 41 was integrated into Rheinmetall’s standardized SPAAG turret that could carry a wide range of automatic anti-aircraft weapons. It was a spacious, boxy design, optimized for maximum internal space than for effective armor protection, resulting in almost vertical side walls and a high silhouette. However, the level of armor was sufficient to protect the crew and the equipment inside from 20 mm gun shells – the typical armament of Allied fighter bombers of the time like the Hawker Typhoon and Tempest.
A heavy-duty hydraulic gun mount with a reinforced recoil system allowed an elevation of the Flak 41 between +83° and -3°. As a novel feature the weapon received a semi-automatic loading mechanism. This was the attempt to increase the gun’s excellent manual rate of fire even further, and it mimicked the magazine clips of the smaller 37 mm Flak 37 that contained seven rounds for short, continuous bursts of fire. A belt feed for truly continuous fire had been envisioned, but not possible with the long and heavy 88 mm rounds within the turret and chassis limits. A mechanical magazine solution, e. g. a drum with several rounds, was impossible, too. The most practical solution was a spiral-shaped magazine, driven by simple gravitation and directly attached to the Flak 41’s breech. This feeding could – beyond an initial round already in the barrel – hold up to three more rounds, and upon firing and expelling the empty case, a fresh round automatically fell into place. The rounds from the magazine could be fired in a fully automatic mode in a short burst with a rate of 50-55 RPM. The magazine itself had to be filled manually, though, and the gun could alternatively be fed directly, too, so that different types of ammunition could be prepared and the gunner could switch between them on short notice.
To accommodate the weapon’s longer ammunition (the Flak 41’s cartridge was 855 mm long) and a crew of four (commander, gunner and two loaders), the standard Rheinmetall Flak turret had to be extended at the rear. Anti-aircraft aiming was done visually, a stereoscopic rangefinder with a span of 200 cm (78¾ in) was integrated above the gun mount. A secondary ZF.20 scope for ground targets was available, too. Two more crewmen, the driver and a radio operator, sat in the hull in front of the turret, similar to the E-50/75 battle tank’s layout. The radio operator on the right side also acted as a third loader for the ammunition supply stored in the hull’s front.
Initially, no secondary defensive armament was provided since the new SPAAGs were to be operated in specialized anti-aircraft units, the so-called Fla-Züge, in which the SPAAGs’ protection would be taken over by supporting infantry and other dedicated vehicles. However, initial field experience quickly revealed this weak spot in the vehicle’s close-range defense: due to material and personnel shortages the Fla-Züge units could hardly be equipped with everything they needed to operate as planned, so that they were in most cases just an underserved mix of SPAAGs, occasionally augmented by a command vehicle and rarely with the protection these specialized vehicles needed. Most of the time the units’ vehicles had to operate independently and were therefore left to their own devices. As a solution, a commander cupola was soon added to the Sd. Kfz.192/3’s turret that not only improved the field of view around the vehicle to assess the tactical situation and detect approaching infantrymen that tried to attach mines or throw Molotov cocktails, it also featured a remote-controlled MG 42 that could be aimed and fired by the commander from the inside. However, to re-supply the ammunition, the cupola hatch had to be opened and someone had to leave the turret’s cover and manually insert a new box of rounds. Furthermore, a 100 mm grenade launcher, a so-called “Nahverteidigungswaffe”, was mounted into the opposite side of the turret roof, too. It fired SMi 35 leaping mines for close defense against approaching infantry. This made the cramped turret interior even more cluttered, but significantly improved the vehicle’s survivability, especially in a confined, urban combat environment. Updated vehicles reached the frontline units in late 1945 and were immediately thrown into service.
Despite being a powerful weapon, several operational problems with the Sd.Kfz. 192/3 became soon apparent. The complex Flak 41 and its feeding mechanism needed constant proper maintenance and service – otherwise it easily jammed. Spent shell casing also frequently jammed the gun. The high silhouette was an innate tactical problem, but this had already been accepted during the design phase of Rheinmetall’s SPAAG standard turret. However, the tall turret was the source of an additional conceptual weakness of the Sd.Kfz. 192/3: the sheer weight of the large turret with the heavy gun frequently caused imbalances that overstressed the turret bearing and its electric drive (which had been taken over from the E-50/75 battle tanks), resulting in a jammed turret — especially when either fully loaded or when the ammunition supply was depleted. Due to the large and heavy turret, the vehicle’s center of gravity was relatively high, too, so that its off-road handling was limited. Even on paved roads the early Sd.Kfz. 192/3s tended to porpoise in tight corners and upon braking. Stiffer coil springs, introduced during the running production and retrofitted through field kits to existing vehicles, countered this flaw, even though these kits were rare due to material shortages. Sometimes the harder coil springs were distributed between two vehicles, only replacing the suspension on the front and rear pair of wheels.
A different tactical problem was the limited ammunition supply for the Flak 41. While 57 rounds were sufficient for a comparable battle tank, the semi-automatic Flak 41‘s theoretical high rate of fire meant that the Sd.Kfz. 192/3 quickly depleted this supply and could only keep up fire and its position for a very limited period, or it had to save ammunition to a point that its deployment became pointless. After spending its ammunition, the vehicle had to retreat to a safe second line position to re-supply, and this was, due to the vehicle’s limited mobility, size and the heavy and bulky rounds, a risky undertaking and meant tedious manual labor with poor protection for the supply crews. The resulting supply logistics to keep the Sd.Kfz. 192/3 operational and effective were demanding.
Nevertheless, despite these shortcoming, the Sd.Kfz. 192/3 greatly improved the heavy Flak units’ mobility and firepower, and the weapon’s effectiveness was high against both air and ground targets. Until mid-1946, a total of around forty Sd.Kfz. 192/3 were built and put into service, primarily with units that defended vital production sites in Western Germany and Saxonia.
At the time of the Sd.Kfz. 192/3’s introduction, anti-aircraft aiming was already augmented by mobile radar systems like the “Würzburg” device or special command vehicles like the Sd.Kfz. 282 “Basilisk” which combined an autonomous radar system with a powerful visual rangefinder and an integrated analogue range calculator, the Kommandogerät 40. However, fire control development had continued, and at least one Sd.Kfz. 192/3 was used in late 1946 during trials to fully automatize gun aiming and firing remotely through electric drives through “slaving” a turret to an external director. This was a modified Sd.Kfz. 282/1 that successfully controlled the Sd.Kfz. 192/3 via cable from an elevated location 50 m away from the SPAAG’s firing position. The objective of these trials was to connect several anti-aircraft weapons to a single command unit with improved sensors and high accuracy under any weather condition for concentrated and more effective fire and an improved first shot hit probability.
Specifications:
Crew: Sixe (commander, gunner, two loaders, radio operator, driver)
Weight: 64 tonnes (71 short tons)
Length: 7.27 m (23 ft 10 ¾ in) (hull only)
9.57 m (31 ft 4 ½ in) with gun forward
Width: 3.88 m (12 ft 9 in)
Height 3.46 m (11 ft 4 in)
3.81 m (12 ft 6 in) with commander cupola
Ground clearance: 495 to 510 mm (1 ft 7.5 in to 1 ft 8.1 in)
Suspension: Conical spring
Fuel capacity: 720 liters (160 imp gal; 190 US gal)
Armor:
30 – 60 mm (1.2 – 2.4 in)
Performance:
Speed
- Maximum, road: 44 km/h (27.3 mph)
- Sustained, road: 38 km/h (24 mph)
- Cross country: 15 to 20 km/h (9.3 to 12.4 mph)
Operational range: 160 km (99 miles)
Power/weight: 14 PS/tonne (12.5 hp/ton)
Engine:
V-12 Maybach HL 234 gasoline engine with 900 PS (885 hp/650 kW)
Transmission:
ZF AK 7-200 with 7 forward 1 reverse gears
Armament:
1× 8,8 cm Flak 41 L/72 anti-aircraft cannon with 57 rounds in turret and hull
1× 7.92 mm Maschinengewehr 42 with 2.400 rounds, remote-controlled on the commander cupola
The kit and its assembly:
This fictional German SPAAG never existed, not even on the drawing boards. But I wondered, after ModelCollect had released an E-100 SPAAG with a twin 88mm gun some years ago, why there was no lighter vehicle with the powerful 88 mm Flak in a closed turret? There were plans to mount this weapon onto a tracked chassis in real life, but it would have been only lightly armored. Then I recently came across a whiffy aftermarket resin turret with a single 88 mm Flak, based on the Tiger II’s Porsche turret, and I liked the idea – even though the rather MBT-esque aftermarket turret looked rather dubious and too small for my taste – esp. the potential angle of the AA weapon appeared insufficient. From this basis the idea was born to create a personal interpretation of a Flak 41 in a fully enclosed turret on a tank chassis.
The basis became the Trumpeter 1:72 E-75 kit of the twin 55 mm Flak with its boxy turret. While I initially considered a totally different turret shape, I eventually settled on a generic design that would have been used for a variety of weapons. This appeared more realistic to me and so I stuck to the Rheinmetall AA turret. However, due to the heavy weapon its certainly massive mount and bulky recoil system as well as the long rounds and a crew of four, I decided to enlarge the Rheinmetall turret. The turret was cut into a front and rear half and an 8 mm wide plug, made from 1.5 mm styrene sheet, was implanted and PSRed. To keep the turret rotatable, the rear extension had to be raised, so that the “oriel” could move over the air intake fairings on the engine cover.
Due to the longer roof, some details were modified there. The most obvious addition is a commander cupola on the left, taken from an early Panzer IV, together with a MG 42 and a small shield on a swing arm, inspired by the remote-controlled installation on some Jagdpanzer 38(t) Hetzer. A stereoscopic rangefinder was added to the turret flanks and a periscope added to one of the loader’s hatches. A cover for a ventilator was added on the right side of the roof, together with a cover for a vertical grenade launcher underneath.
Using the original turret as base, the model’s movable mount for the twin 55 mm guns was retained and the rear extension would also become a good visual balance for the new main weapon. The armor at barrels’ base was cut off and a 1:72 Flak 41, taken from a Zvezda field gun kit, was glued to it, together with parts of the field gun’s recoil system and styrene bits to blend the new gun into the rest of the turret.
The E-75 chassis was taken OOB, since it would be a standardized vehicle basis. Outwardly the hull did not bear recognizable differences to the lighter E-50, which it is supposed to represent, just with more wheels to better cope with the bulky and heavy new turret.
Thankfully, this Trumpeter kit’s vinyl tracks were molded in black – sometimes they come in a sandy beige, and it’s a PITA to paint them! As another bonus, Trumpeter’s running gear on the 1:72 E-50/75 model is of a more sturdy and simpler construction than the one on the alternative ModelCollect kit(s), making the assembly and esp. the mounting of the tracks much easier. The Trumpeter kit is simpler than the comparable ModelCollect models with the E-50/75 basis, but the result is visually quite similar.
Painting and markings:
The paint scheme uses once more typical German late WWII "Hinterhalt" camouflage colors, namely Dark Yellow, Olive Green and Red Brown. This time, however, to adapt the livery to the boxy hull and the huge turret, the pattern ended up as a kind of a splinter scheme – inspired by a real Panzer V Panther from the Eastern Front in 1943.
The basic colors became Humbrol 57 (Buff) for the RAL 7028 Dunkelgelb, in this case as a rather pale (stretched?) shade, plus large areas of brown (RAL 8017, I used this time Humbrol 98 for a darker and less reddish shade) and Humbrol 86 for the green (RAL 6003), which appears quite pale in contrast to the dark brown. The camouflage was applied over an overall coat of sand brown as a primer coat, with the intention of letting this uniform basis shine through here and there. The distribution of the darker colors is quite unique, concentrating the brown on the vehicle’s edges and the green only to the flanks of hull and turret. However, the pattern works well on the huge E-50/75, and I can imagine that it might have worked well in an urban environment, breaking up the tank’s outlines.
As a match for the upper hull the wheels were painted uniformly in the same standard colors –without any pattern, because this would be very eye-catching while on the move. The many delicate tools on the tank’s hull are molded, and instead of trying to paint them I tried something else: I rubbed over them with graphite, and this worked very well, leaving them with a dark metallic shine. Just some wooden handles were then painted with a reddish brown.
Decals/marking came next, everything was procured from the scrap box. The Balkenkreuze came from a Hasegawa Sd.Kfz. 234/2 “Puma”, the tactical code from a TL-Modellbau sheet and the small unit badges on front and back from an UM Models Bergehetzer. A dry brushing treatment with light grey followed, highlighting surface details and edges, and after painting some details and adding some rust marks with watercolors followed a coat of matt varnish.
The tracks were painted with a cloudy mix of dark grey, red brown and iron acrylic paints, and mounted after hull and running gear had been assembled. The antennae, made from heated spure material, were mounted to the turret and, finally, the tank’s lower areas were dusted with a greyish-brown mineral pigment mix, simulating dust and mud residue.
This project was realized in just two days, made easy through the Trumpeter kit’s simple construction. Most work went into the extended turret and the different main weapon, but all parts mostly fell into place – and the result looks IMHO quite believable. In fact, the E-50/75 with a Flak 41 reminds a bit of the Italian Otomatic 76 mm SPAAG from the late Eighties?
I keep a twelve-inch diameter clay saucer filled with sand and small rocks and use a tiny wooden rake to create patterns in the sand. It kind of works like a mini zen garden. And it is easy to become totally absorbed in that moment of "realigning" the grains of sand -- and it is somewhat meditative for me to do so. Running a finger through the sand to form patterns, as I did in this photo, elevated the experience to a delightful tactile one.
It is difficult for me to wrap my mind around the depth of time that it took to form our sand beaches. And, then, when I do allow myself to start to think about this process, the ego-mind jumps in and says, hey, what about me. Where do I fit into this grand continuum. Are we more than tiny specks of sand in this ever-evolving astonishing creation. Maybe not, but what a wonderous and unique crystallization each one of us represents.
+++ DISCLAIMER +++
Nothing you see here is real, even though the conversion or the presented background story might be based historical facts. BEWARE!
Some background:
The "Entwicklung" tank series (= "development"), more commonly known as the E-Series, was a late-World War II attempt by Germany to produce a standardized series of tank designs. There were to be six standard designs in different weight classes, from which several specialized variants were to be developed. This intended to reverse the trend of extremely complex tank designs that had resulted in poor production rates and mechanical unreliability.
The E-series designs were simpler, cheaper to produce and more efficient than their predecessors. But, on the other side, their design offered only modest improvements in armor and firepower over the designs they were intended to replace, such as the Jagdpanzer 38(t), Panther Ausf.G or Tiger II. However, the resulting high degree of standardization of German armored vehicles would also have made production, logistics and maintenance easier. Indeed, nearly all of the E-series vehicles — up through and including the E-75 — were intended to use what were essentially the Tiger II's eighty centimeter diameter, steel-rimmed road wheels for their suspension, meant to overlap each other. An innovative conical spring system, replacing their predecessors' torsion bar system which required a special steel alloy, simplified production and required less internal space.
Focus of initial chassis and combat vehicle development was the E-50/75 Standardpanzer, designed by Adler, both being mostly identical and only differing in armor thickness, overall weight and running gear design to cope with the different weights. But there were lighter chassis variants, too, including the light E-5 and E-10 for armored, tracked reconnaissance vehicles, and the medium E-25.
The E-25 designs, in the 25-50 tonnes weight class, were to be replacements for all Panzer III and Panzer IV based designs still in service, as well as for the early variants of the Panzer V (the Panther). This chassis' main designers were Alkett, Argus and Adler, with the involvement of Porsche. The proposed vehicle family would include medium reconnaissance vehicles, a medium Jagdpanzer and a heavy Waffenträger, but the chassis was also considered for other armed vehicles.
The original E-25 chassis used five Tiger II style road wheels per side, combined with "slack-track" design. Track propulsion was switched to a rear drive sprocket, as a consequence of mating the engine and the gearbox into a single tail-mounted, very compact power pack that made the voluminous and heavy power train all through the hull obsolete. This allowed the tank’s body to be lowered, and the gained space offered more room for the crew’s operations, heavier guns and ammunition storage.
The first member of the E-25 family that entered production was the medium tank hunter. It received highest priority and the project was called “Jagdpanzer E-25/88”, running under the inventory ordnance number "SdKfZ. 194". However, at the time of its introduction the E-25 chassis was also considered for a medium battle tank in the 35 ton class, since it had become clear that the E-50/75 battle tanks were rather large and resource-consuming. A lighter, more agile vehicle was needed, and it was to be armed with either the highly effective 75mm L/70 cannon (used in the Panther and the late Jagdpanzer IV) or the more powerful 8.8 cm L/56 gun, used in the Tiger I and the Jagdpanther.
Porsche was tasked with the adaptation of the E-25 chassis for a turret for both heavy guns. The work was in close collaboration with Henschel and the Oberschlesische Gusswerke Beuthen who were both working on a new, unified cast steel turret for the 88mm gun for a wide range of medium tanks like the Panther, the E-50/75 family and the heavy Tiger II. Alternatively, the new E-25 battle tank was to accept the so-called Schmalturm, which could carry both cannon types, too.
After the Allied invasion in the Normandy in 1944 and with ever-rising pressure through the Red Army from the East, the E-25 MBT project eventually gained more and more priority and momentum. As a consequence, Porsche was assigned by the Heeresleitung to build a running prototype as quickly as possible, ideally until early 1945.
Porsche was certain that the original E-25 chassis was too short and light for the adaptation of the cast turret. In order to keep the tight timeline, Porsche decided to develop a new welded steel hull while using as many Einheitspanzer components as possible. The resulting vehicle had little in common with the original Adler E-25 chassis and rather resembled the bigger and heavier E-50/75 family. Overall dimensions ended up close to the Panther hull, as a result of a certain minimum width that was necessary to mount the new turret’s bearings and balance its weight. However, the new tank's overall silhouette was considerably lower than the Panther’s or the E-50/75 family MBT’s.
The Porsche design also made full use of several new technical solutions for the engine and the new, space-saving E-50/75 suspension. For instance, thanks to the rear-mounted power unit with the gearbox and the driving sprocket wheels, the front armor could be optimized to offer very good ballistic protection (achieving a very shallow 30°angle) despite a maximum thickness of only 70 mm. The thickest armor, the cast steel gun mantlet, was 80 mm.
The tank’s running gear consisted of six steel-rimmed wheels per side, mounted in three staggered pairs, similar to the heavier E-50 tank. Thanks to the lower overall weight, a new Niresit track with less width could be used. The so-called “Beuthen Turm” offered excellent ballistic protection, a very low profile and featured a commander cupola with a full 360° view through periscopes as well as a 200cm width stereoscopic optical rangefinder for the gunner. A few vehicles were additionally equipped with FG1250/1251 infrared illuminators, too, allowing night operations in coordination with special versions of the Sd.Kfz.251 with long-range infrared illuminators, and complemented by assault troops using Vampir-modified Sturmgewehr guns.
Savings in material and complexity were achieved through simplified shapes and the use of stock components from other or older tanks, as well as the reduction of the crew to only four: the traditional radio operator in the hull, next to the driver, as well as a hull-mounted machine gun, were completely omitted. The driver was furthermore moved to the right side, a result of the secondary ammunition bunker in the hull being placed in front of the loader in the turret for easy access.
In this form, the tank was tested in early 1945 and hastily pushed into production, receiving the designation Sonderkraftfahrzeug 194 and officially christened ”Fuchs”. In order to reflect Porsche's involvement in this new tank's design and to differentiate it from the standard E-25 tank, the vehicle and its chassis variant was called E-25(P).
The resulting medium battle tank received, depending on its main weapon, the suffix 'A' for the 75mm cannon (SdKfz. 194/1) and 'B' for the 88mm gun (SdKfz. 194/1). The Schmalturm did not find its way on the production vehicles, and both variants had an operational weight of roundabout 38 tons. This was considerably less than any German contemporary MBT from the E-50/75 family, and even lighter than the late Panther variants. For its weight, the powerful main weapons made the vehicle a highly mobile and deadly enemy, enabling the crews to execute “hit and run” tactics which were impossible with the bigger and slower tanks.
The first production vehicles were deployed to independent units at the Western front line along the lower Rhine in May 1945, but due to the lack of thorough tests, sufficient crew training and lack of combat experience with the new vehicle, the initial results were poor. The majority of tank losses was not through enemy fire, though - many tanks had to be abandoned and were destroyed by their crews after technical failures.
The Fuchs MBT was popular among the crews, though, since it offered a much higher mobility than its heavier Einheitspanzer brethren. The relatively large and spacious turret was another point that found much appraise – but its poor technical reliability was its biggest Achilles heel.
Due to the ever-worsening situation, less than 100 E-25(P) hulls were completed and probably less than 50 combat-worthy vehicles arrived at front line units and were involved in battle until the end of hostilities. But the design work, with many radical and innovative ideas, did not get lost – many of the Fuchs’ design features like its hull layout and armor design or the Beuthen turret found their way into the highly successful German Leopard I MBT in the early 1960ies, which entered service with the German Bundeswehr in 1965 and still serves with several armies until today.
Specifications:
Crew: Five (commander, gunner, loader, radio operator, driver)
Weight: 38 tonnes (41.9 short tons)
Length: 7,02 metres (23 ft), hull only
9.77 metres (32 ft) overall, with the gun forward
Width: 3.96 metres (12 ft 11 1/2 in)
Height: 2.34 metres (7 ft 8 in)
Ground clearance: 495 to 510 mm (1 ft 7.5 in to 1 ft 8.1 in)
Suspension: Conical spring
Fuel capacity: 450 litres (120 US gal)
Armor:
10–80 mm (0.4 – 3.15 in)
Performance:
Speed
- Maximum, road: 52 km/h (32 mph)
- Sustained, road: 42 km/h (26 mph)
- Cross country: 16 to 25 km/h (9.5 to 15.5 mph)
Operational range: 210 km (130 mi)
Power/weight: 14,47 PS/tonne (12,86 hp/ton)
Engine:
V12 Maybach HL 101 gasoline engine with 550 PS (539 hp, 341 kW)
Transmission:
ZF AK 7-200 with 7 forward 1 reverse gears
Armament:
1× 8.8 cm KwK 43/4 L/56 with 48 rounds
2× 7.92 mm MG 34 machine guns with a total of 5.200 rounds
(one co-axial with the main weapon, one manually operated on the commander's cupola)
The kit and its assembly:
This fictional Heer '46 is based on the fact that the famous German post-WWII MBT Leopard 1 – at least the Porsche prototype – was based on designs from the WWII era. So, why not spin this story further and retro-grade a Leopard 1 into a Heer ’46 tank, as a kind of grandfather design with then-state-of-the-art technologies…?
Well, that job could be easily done with a Leopard 1 kit built more or less OOB and just painted in typical WWII colors – I have actually seen such things in simulation games like World of Tanks, and it did not look bad at all. But for the ambitious modelers, this would be a bit too simple, wouldn’t it?
For instance, there are some features like the running gear on the Leopard that are very modern and would IMHO not fit into the late WWII timeframe. The general lack of high quality materials and design simplifications everywhere would certainly also take their toll. As a consequence the starting basis for this whiffy tank model actually became an 1:72 Leopard 1 (to be exact, it’s Revell’s Leopard 1A5 kit), but from this basis only a few parts were actually taken over.
Work started with the upper hull, which received the transplantation of the complete upper rear deck from a leftover Hasegawa Panther, including the turret’s attachment ring. Internally the whole affair was reinforced with styrene profiles along the seams. The basic idea behind this move was to get rid of the rather modernistic, raised engine cover of the Leopard, and the Panther’s armored cooling fan covers would add a very familiar, German touch. Furthermore, the Panther turret is set relatively further back than on the Leopard, resulting IMHO in a positive side effect for the vehicle’s proportions. The front with the driver’s hatch and the side walls of the Leopard hull were taken over, just the glacis plate was cleaned from the moulded snow claws for the modern Leopard track.
While I could have used the original, casted Leopard 1 turret without any extra armor, I rather reverted to a donor part: an aftermarket resin turret from the German short run producer Modell Trans. What spoke for this aftermarket piece is that this Heer ’46 turret piece was exactly that kind of add-on this kit would need: a retrograded Leopard 1 turret, with a simplified shape, a simple commander cupola, typical bulges for a late-war optical rangefinder in the turret sides and even a 8.8cm KwK barrel! The resin turret, which also comes with an AA machine gun, was taken OOB. Only the original resin gun barrel came slightly bent – this could have been corrected easily, but I replaced it with a more delicate white metal and brass piece, anyway. Additionally, an adapter for the hull opening had to be scratched.
So far, so good - but the running gear became the biggest challenge. The Leopard 1’s advanced torsion bar running gear with rubber-rimmed wheels would not make sense anymore, due to the special high quality materials needed for its construction. Since the Einheitspanzer family was to share as many components as possible, I decided to implant an E-50-style running gear with its typical cast standard wheels.
This sounds easy, but scratching a running gear is a real stunt! Work started with the attachment points for the driving and guide wheels at the hull’s ends, which were cut off of the Revell kit’s parts and glued into their respective places. The drive wheel was taken over from the Leopard, but the guide wheel at the front end was replaced by a simpler and smaller pair of wheels from a Russian IS-3 tank.
Using the E-50 as benchmark for the running wheels, I gathered twelve of them from the scrap box and from several Modellcollect kits in the stash (The 1:72 E-50 kits from Modelcollect and Trumpeter all come with the option to build an E-75, too, so that each kit offers two pairs of excess parts). Mounting these wheels to the hull, in a staggered fashion, became the kit’s true challenge, though, because I did not have a sufficient number of original wheel carriers/suspension packs. Improvisation resulted in the adaptation of twelve leftover suspension arms from a Modelcollect E-100 kit, even though they had to be tailored in depth and length to fit under the Leopard’s hull. It took some trial and error to find a proper position that would produce a plausible stance, but I think the effort of this transplantation really changes the tank’s look into something Heer ’46-ish?
The track was taken OOB from the Leopard 1 kit, and it is of the segmented IP type. It was mounted after most painting was done, starting with single track segments on the drive and guiding wheels, and then the gaps were filled with other track elements. A bit of a gamble, but the theory, that the track parts should match, was confirmed. Phew…
Painting and markings:
For some subtlety, the model received a classic German paint scheme with “Hinterhalt” colors (Dunkelgelb, Olivgrün and Rotbraun). Once the kit’s components were finished (hull, turret and the separate wheels), everything received an overall coat with matt RAL 7028 (Modelmaster Authentics).
On top of that, a dense pattern of red brown (Humbrol 160) and finally green (RAL 6003 from Modelmaster Authentics) mottles in 1 1:2 ratio was applied with a flat, narrow brush, for a somewhat square shape of the blotches. Pretty straightforward, seen on a late war Panther - and suitable for a summertime scenario as well as in line with common field practice, even though at the time where the model is placed, tanks might have looked more extraordinary or improvised due to the general material shortages.
Once the basic painting was done, the kit received a thin, water-based wash with dark brown, carefully swabbed with a soft cotton cloth in order to leave just a thin and cloudy film on the surfaces and more of the wash in recesses and corners. There were only a few decals to apply, namely three small German crosses and the tactical code on the turret’s flanks. Later some dry-brushing with light grey and hemp was done, emphasizing the edges and highlighting surface details.
The track segments were primed with a mix of acrylic iron, black and dark brown and received a final paint treatment after mounting them onto the wheels, hiding some glue stains and other blemishes.
Artist pigments (a mix of ochre, grey and brown) were dusted with a soft brush onto the lower kit areas, after having sealed the model with matt acrylic varnish beforehand.
Well, what could have been a simple paint job in order to achieve a time-warped Leopard 1 became a massive kitbashing project. However, I think this extra effort, esp. the adaptation of the E-50 running gear, and all the potential risks of mixing parts from different kits, was worthwhile? The paint scheme certainly suggest the WWII era, too. The resulting “new” tank looks IMHO pretty plausible, and both hull and turret shape remind of the Leopard 1 without looking like the real thing behind this build. In fact, from certain angles this one appears like the missing link between the Panther and the Leopard 1, and a lot like an inspiration for the Soviet T-54/55 or even the T-72?
This model operates on regular gasoline with spark ignition and swings a 12-inch-diameter propeller. Dennis used cylinders and head castings produced by Bruce Satra, of Vernal Utah rather than machining them himself. However, most of Fadden’s model engines are machined from bar stock, rather than using castings.
Fadden’s engines vary from simple, single-cylinder model-airplane engines to complex in-line and opposed multi-cylinder engines. He also produced an array of custom-designed model inboard and outboard boat motors, as well as a ¼-scale Harley Davidson motorcycle. Dennis did not produce or use any drawings to create his models.
See More Morton Engines at: www.flickr.com/photos/15794235@N06/sets/72157634501829249/
See Our Dennis Fadden Engines Set at: www.flickr.com/photos/15794235@N06/sets/72157633812919017/
See Our Model Engine Collection at: www.flickr.com/photos/15794235@N06/sets/72157602933346098/
Visit Our Photo Sets at: www.flickr.com/photos/15794235@N06/sets
Courtesy of Paul and Paula Knapp
Miniature Engineering Museum
via
Vendor: Creative Wall Clock
Type:
Price: 39.90
Type:Wall Clocks;Model Number:MZGZ-003;Style:Modern;Material:Bamboo & Wooden;Motivity Type:Quartz;Display Type:Needle;Length:260 mm;Diameter:30 cm;Pattern:Abstract;Applicable Placement:Living Room;Feature:Antique Style;Combination:Separates;Shape:Geometric;Brand Name:The Vinyl Clock;Width:30 cm;Form:Single Face;Body Material:Wood;Body Material:Wood;Wall Clock Type:Wood;
Honeycomb Wall Clock
Time sweetly flies when you're watching it pass on this nature-inspired clock. Combines the geometric beauty of honeycomb with the human innovation of laser-cutting technology. The delicate, hexagonal lattice is created by precision-cutting decorative plywood
A single, laser-cut honeybee rests in the 12 o'clock spot. The clock adds a burst of cheery sweetness without taking up much wall space, and makes a buzz-worthy addition to your kitchen, sun room or office.
****BASIC INFORMATIONS****
Size -30cm (12") x 26 cm (10 5/8")
Thickness - 5 mm (1/5 ")
Clock colour - natural wood
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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Maquinaria De Reloj De Acero 28 - 10
17 Rubis Como Rodamientos Anti Friccion Y Desgaste
Diámetro De Maquinaria 23 Milimetros
Steel Machine 28 to 10
Anti Friction Bearings And Wear 17 Jewels
23 Millimeters Diameter Machine
"The low, round Kiva, forty feet in diameter, built at the base of the Watchtower at Desert View, lies half buried in its foundation of green stained Canyon boulders. In all details it reproduces the prehistoric Kiva or ceremonial chamber, except for the introduction of great windows overlooking the magnificent panorama of Canyon and Desert. Built for the shelter and entertainment of the traveler, it affords a most comfortable and fascinating lounge room."
One of 10 Grand Canyon postcards from paintings by Gunnar Widforss published in 1932 by Fred Harvey.Grand Canyon National Park Museum Collection, P.O. Box 129, Grand Canyon, AZ 86023
That was when I saw the Pendulum of Foucault
The sphere, hanging from a long wire set into the ceiling of the choir, swayed back and forth with isochronal majesty.
I knew -- but anyone could have sensed it in the magic of that serene breathing -- that the period was governed by the square root of the length of the wire and by pi, that number which, however irrational to sublunar minds, through a higher rationality binds the circumference and diameter of all possible circles. The time it took the sphere to swing from end to end was determined by an arcane conspiracy between the most timeless of measures: the singularity of the point of suspension, the duality of the plane's dimensions, the triadic beginning of pi, the secret quadratic nature of the root, and the unnumbered perfection of the circle itself.
I also knew that a magnetic device centered in the floor beneath issued its command to a cylinder hidden in the heart of the sphere, thus assuring continual motion. This device, far from interfering with the law of the Pendulum, in fact permitted its manifestation, for in vacuum any object hanging from a weightless and unstretchable wire free of air resistance and friction will oscillate for eternity.
The copper sphere gave off pale, shifting glints as it was struck by the last rays of the sun that came through the great stained-glass windows. Were its tip to graze, as it had in the past, a layer of damp sand spread on the floor of the choir, each swing would make a light furrow, and the furrows, changing direction imperceptibly, would widen to form a breach, a groove with radial symmetry -- like the outline of a mandala or penticulum, a star, a mystic rose. No, more a tale recorded on an expanse of desert, in tracks left by countless caravans of nomads, a story of slow, millennial migrations, like those of the people of Atlantis when they left the continent of Mu and roamed, stubbornly, compactly, from Tasmania to Greenland, from Capricorn to Cancer, from Prince Edward Island to the Svalbards. The tip retraced, narrated anew in compressed time what they had done between one ice age and another, and perhaps were doing still, those couriers of the Masters. Perhaps the tip grazed Agarttha, the center of the world, as it journeyed from Samoa to Novaya Zemlya. And I sensed that a single pattern united Avalon, beyond the north wind, to the southern desert where lies the enigma of Ayer's Rock.
At that moment of four in the afternoon of June 23, the Pendulum was slowing at one end of its swing, then falling back lazily toward the center, regaining speed along the way, slashing confidently through the hidden parallelogram of forces that were its destiny.
Had I remained there despite the passage of hours, to stare at that bird's head, that spear's tip, that obverse helmet, as it traced its diagonals in the void, grazing the opposing points of its astigmatic circumference, I would have fallen victim to an illusion: that the Pendulum's plane of oscillation had gone full circle, had returned to its starting point in thirty-two hours, describing an ellipse that rotated around its center at a speed proportional to the sine of its latitude. What would its rotation have been had it hung instead from the dome of Solomon's Temple? Perhaps the Knights had tried it there, too. Perhaps the solution, the final meaning, would have been no different. Perhaps the abbey church of Saint-Martin-des-Champs was the true Temple. In any case, the experiment would work perfectly only at the Pole, the one place where the Pendulum, on the earth's extended axis, would complete its cycle in twenty-four hours.
But this deviation from the Law, which the Law took into account, this violation of the rule did not make the marvel any less marvelous. I knew the earth was rotating, and I with it, and Saint-Martin-des-Champs and all Paris with me, and that together we were rotating beneath the Pendulum, whose own plane never changed direction, because up there, along the infinite extrapolation of its wire beyond the choir ceiling, up toward the most distant galaxies, lay the Only Fixed Point in the universe, eternally unmoving.
So it was not so much the earth to which I addressed my gaze but the heavens, where the mystery of absolute immobility was celebrated. The Pendulum told me that, as everything moved -- earth, solar system, nebulae and black holes, all the children of the great cosmic expansion -- one single point stood still: a pivot, bolt, or hook around which the universe could move. And I was now taking part in that supreme experience. I, too, moved with the all, but I could see the One, the Rock, the Guarantee, the luminous mist that is not body, that has no shape, weight, quantity, or quality, that does not see or hear, that cannot be sensed, that is in no place, in no time, and is not soul, intelligence, imagination, opinion, number, order or measure. Neither darkness nor light, neither error nor truth.
I was roused by a listless exchange between a boy who wore glasses and a girl who unfortunately did not.
``It's Foucault's Pendulum.'' he was saying. ``First tried out in a cellar in 1851, then shown at the Observatoire, and later under the dome of the Pantheon with a wire sixty-seven meters long and a sphere weighing twenty-eight kilos. Since 1855 it's been here, in a smaller version, hanging from that hole in the middle of the rib.''
``What does it do? Just hang there?''
``It proves the rotation of the earth. Since the point of suspension doesn't move...''
``Why doesn't it move?''
``Well, because a point...the central point, I mean, the one right in the middle of all the points you see...it's a geometric point; you can't see it because it has no dimension, and if something has no dimension, it can't move, not right or left, not up or down. So it doesn't rotate with the earth. You understand? It can't even rotate around itself. There is no `itself.' ''
``But the earth turns.''
``The earth turns, but the point doesn't. That's how it is. Just take my word for it.''
``I guess it's the Pendulum's business.''
Idiot. Above her head was the only stable place in the cosmos, the only refuge from the damnation of the panta rei, and she guessed it was the Pendulum's business, not hers. A moment later the couple went off -- he, trained on some textbook that had blunted his capacity for wonder, she, inert and insensitive to the thrill of the infinite, both oblivious of the awsomeness of their encounter -- their first and last encounter -- with the One, the Ein-Sof, the Ineffable. How could you fail to kneel down before this altar of certitude?
The Dome
A vertical section of the dome of the Main Reading Room would show an exact half circle, with a diameter of 100 feet. The dome is of stucco, and applied to a framework of iron and steel, filled in with terra cotta. Although it appears to rest upon the deep upper entablature, it really springs immediately from the eight arches resting upon the great piers. The entablature, as will be seen on close inspection, bears no part in the construction. It is projected so far forward from the dome that one may easily walk between the two.
The entablature is about seven feet high, with a richly molded architecture and a heavy projecting corners. The ground of the frieze is gilt, with a relief ornament in white of eagles standing upon hemispheres and holding in their beaks a heavy garland of laurel. Over the north, south, east, and west arches are two female figures, the work of Philip Martiny, represented as seated upon the architrave molding and supporting a heavy cartouche—another instance of the emphasis that the architect has so often placed upon the four main axes of the building.
The Stucco Ornamentation
The dome is so simply planned that a description of its main features may be given in a very brief space. The surface is filled with a system of square coffers. The ornamentation of the body of the dome is in arabesque. The eight ribs that mark off the dome into compartments or reach divided into two by a band of gilded ornament representing a guilloche. The coffers diminish in size from 4½ feet square at the bottom to 2½ feet at the top. The total number of coffers is 320—or 40 in each compartment, and in each horizontal row, and eight in each vertical row. The ground of the coffers is blue, sky blue, as if one were really looking out into the open air—and therefore the color traditionally used in coffer in. To give sparkle and brilliancy, many shades and kinds of blue are used, the darker and heavier at the bottom, and the lighter and area are toward the top. The transition is so gradual and natural that the eye does not perceive any definite change, but only a generally increased vividness. The border moldings of the coffers are cream-colored—old ivory is the usual term—strongly touched with gold, and in the center of each is a great gold rosette.
Although the purpose of the dome arabesque is primarily to give an agreeable impression of light and shade, the individual figures of which it is composed are nearly as interesting a subject of study is the general effect of the whole. The variety of the figures is almost bewildering—lions’ heads, seahorses, dolphins, urns, cartouche’s, griffons, shells, storks, caryatids, tridents, eagles, cherubs, half figures, genii—altogether something like forty-five principal designs, interwoven with very many smaller but no less beautiful pieces of ornament. They all are adapted from Renaissance models of the best and purest period and are combined with the utmost spirit and harmony in an arabesque whose every portion has equal artistic value. No single figure catches the eye; broad horizontal and vertical bands of decoration, gradually diminishing as they approached the top, and circle and ascend the dome, each with its “note” of arrangement and design, but all cunningly united to form an indisputable whole, everywhere balanced and restrained.
Edwin Howland Blashfield’s Paintings
The position of Edwin Howland Blashfield’s decorations in the collar and lantern of the dome is the noblest and most inspiring in the Library. They are literally and obviously the crowning glory of the building and put the final touch on the whole decorative scheme of the interior. The visitor will see how, without them, not a painting in the building would seem to remain solidly and easily in its place, for they occupy not only the highest but the exact central point of the Library, to which, in a sense, every other is nearly relative.
Blashfield was almost certainly drawn to select some subject as he has here chosen: the Evolution of Civilization, the records of which it is the function of a great library to gather and preserve.
The ceiling of the lantern is sky and air, against which, as a background, floats the beautiful female figure representing Human Understanding, lifting her veil and looking upward from Finite Intellectual Achievement (typified in the circle of figures and the collar) to that which is beyond; in a word, Intellectual Progress looking upward and forward. She is attended by two cherubs; one holds the book of wisdom and knowledge, the other seems, by his gesture, to be encouraging those needs to persist in their struggle toward perfection.
The decoration of the collar consists of a ring of twelve seated figures, male and female, ranged against a wall of mosaic patterning. They are of colossal size, measuring, as they sit, about ten feet in height. They represent the twelve countries, or epics, which have contributed most to the development of present-day civilization in this country. Beside each is a tablet, decorated with palms, on which is inscribed the name of the country typified, and below this, on a continuous banderole or streamer, is the name of some cheese or typical contribution of that country to the sum of human excellence. The figures follow one another in chronological order, beginning, appropriately enough, at the east, the East being the cradle of civilization. List is as follows: Egypt, typifying Written Records; Judea, Religion; Greece, Philosophy; Rome, Administration; Islam, Physics; The Middle Ages, Modern Languages; Italy, the Fine Arts; Germany, the Art of Printing; Spain, Discovery; England, Literature; France, Emancipation; and America, Science.
Each figure is winged, as representing an ideal, but the wings, which overlapped regularly throughout, serve mainly to unite the composition in the continuous whole and in no case have been allowed to hamper the artist in his effort to make each figure the picture of a living, breathing man or woman. Four of the twelve figures, it will be observed, stand out more conspicuously than the rest because of the lighter tone of their drapery: Egypt, Rome, Italy, and England. They occupy respectively the East, South, West, and North points in the decoration and furnish another instance of the stress that has been laid, throughout the Library, upon the four cardinal points of the compass that governed the axial lines of the building and that, in turn, have been enriched and dignified in the final decorative scheme of the interior. Each of these axial figures is painted in a more rigid attitude than those beside it informs, as will be noticed, the center of a triad, or group of three, each of flanking figures leaning more or less obviously toward it. It should be noted that there was no intention on the part of the painter to magnify the importance of before figures thus represented over any of the others. The emphasis of color is solely for decorative purposes. The arrangement being chronological, Blashfield was unable to exercise much control over the order in which each figure should occur and still retain his original selection of countries.
Egypt is represented by a male figure clad in the loincloth and with lappets so familiar in the ancient monuments. The idea of Written Records is brought up by the tablet he supports with his left hand, which is inscribed in hieroglyphics the cartouche or personal seal of Mena, the first recorded Egyptian king, and by the case of books at his feet, which is filled with manuscript roles of papyrus, the Egyptian paper. Besides the idea of Writing and Recording, Blashfield brings out the fact that the Egyptians were among the first doctrine of the immortality of the soul. The figure holds in the right hand the Tau, or cross with a ring head, the emblem of life both in this world and beyond; and on the tablet behind his feet is the winged ball, the more familiar symbol of the same idea.
Judea is shown as a woman lifting her hands in an ecstatic prayer to Jehovah. The over garment that she wears falls partly away and discloses the ephod, which was investment borne by the high priests, ornamented with a jeweled breastplate and with shoulder clasps set in gold, which were engraved the names of the Twelve Tribes of Israel. On the face of the stone pillars set beside her is inscribed, in Hebrew characters, the injunction, as found in Leviticus 19:18: “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself”—a sentence selected as being perhaps the noblest single text contributed by the Jewish religion to the system of modern morality. In her lap is a scroll containing, presumably, a portion of the Scriptures; and that her feet is a censer, typical of the Hebrew ritualism.
The figure of Greece is distinctively suggestive, so far as attitude drapery are concerned, one of the beautiful little Tanagra figures of terra cotta—so called from the ancient Greek town in which the first discovered—which are so familiar to students of Greek art. A bronze lamp is set beside her, and in her lap is a scroll—the emblems of wisdom. Her head is crowned with a diadem, perhaps a reference to the City of the Violet Crown, Athens, the Mother of Philosophy.
Rome, the second axial figure, where’s the armor of a centurion, or captain in a legion. A lion’s skin, the mark of a standard-bearer, is thrown over him, the head covering the top of his casque. The whole conception is that of the just but inexorable administration of Rome founded upon the power of its arms. One foot is planted upon the lower drum of a marble column, signifying stability. His right arm rests upon the fasces, or bundle of rods, the typical emblem of Roman power and rule. In his right hand, he holds the baton of command.
Islam is an Arab, standing for the Moorish race, which introduced into Europe not only an improved science of physics—as here used by Blashfield in its older and less restricted sense—but of mathematics and astronomy also. His foot rests upon a glass retort, and he is turning over the leaves of a book of mathematical calculations.
The term Middle Ages, represented by the female figure that comes next in the decoration, is usually understood to mean the epic beginning with the dissolution of the Western Roman Empire in 455 and ending with the discovery of America in 1492. No single country is here indicated, for Europe was throughout that. In a state of flux, so to say, during which the principal modern languages were finally involved from the Latin and Teutonic tongues. But it was an epic notable for many other things, also. The figure typifying the epic is distinguished by an expression at once graven passionate, and has a sword, casque, and cuirass, emblematic of the great institution of Chivalry; a model of a cathedral, standing for Gothic architecture, which was brought to its greatest perfection in these thousand years; and a papal tiara and the keys of St. Peter, signifying medieval devotion and the power of the church.
The next figure, Italy—the Italy of the Renaissance—is shown with symbols of four of the Fine Arts that she represents: Painting, Sculpture, Architecture, and Music. She holds a pallet in her left hand and with the brush in her right seems to lay another stroke of color on her canvas. To her left is a statuette after Michelangelo’s celebrated David, in Florence. At her feet is a Renaissance capital; and leaning against the wall of violin, at once the typical musical instrument and one the Italians excelled in manufacturing.
Germany is the printer, turning from his press—a hand press, accurately copied from early models—to examine the proof sheet he has just pulled. His right foot is placed upon a pile of sheets already corrected, and a roller for inking lies convenient to his hand.
Spain is the sixteenth-century Spanish adventurer. He wears a steel morion on his head and is clad in a leathern jerkin. Holding the tiller of the ship in his right hand, he seems to be watching for land to appear in the seat. Behind him is a globe of the earth, and that his feet a model of a caravel, the sort of ship in which Columbus sailed on his voyages, is introduced.
England wears the ruff and full sleeves of the time of Elizabeth—the era when English literature, both poetry and prose, was at its peak. She is crowned with laurel—the reward of literature—and bears in her lap an open book of Shakespeare’s plays, the right-hand page with a for simile of the title page of the first edition of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, dated 1600.
France, standing for emancipation and the great revolutionary upheaval of the 18th century, is dressed in a characteristic garb of the First Republic: a jacket with lapels, a tricolor scarf, and a liberty cap with a tricolor cockade. She sits on a cannon and carries a drum, a bugle, and a sword—emblems of her military crusade on behalf of liberty. In her left hand, she displays a scroll bearing the words Les Droits de l’Homme, the famous Declaration of the Rights of Man adopted by the French Assembly in 1789.
The twelfth and last figure, bringing us once more round to the east, is that of America—represented as an engineer, in the garb of the machine shop, sitting lost in thought over a problem of mechanics he has encountered. He leans his chin upon the palm of one hand, while the other holds the scientific book that he has been consulting. In front of him as an electric dynamo, recalling the part that the United States has taken in the advancement of electrical science.
On the base of the dynamo Blashfield has signed his work in an inscription that recalls also the name of the artist who assisted him and laying it upon the plaster: “These decorations were designed and executed by Edwin Howland Blashfield, assisted by Arthur Reginald Willet, A.D. MDCCCLXXXXVI.”
The visitor will perhaps have been a little perplexed by the familiar appearance of some of the faces in Blashfield’s decoration. It is an interesting fact that in several cases Blashfield has introduced a resemblance, more or less distinct, to the features of some real person to give greater variety and, above all, greater vitality to his figures. The persons chosen were selected because the character of their features seemed to him peculiarly suited to the type that he wished to represent. In the case of Abraham Lincoln—the figure of America—and of General Casey—Germany—the choice was fitting for other reasons. Among the female figures, the Middle Ages is Mrs. De Navarro (Mary Anderson), and England, Ellen Terry. The faces of Italy and Spain are from sketches made from Amy Rose, a young sculptor in New York, and William Bailey Faxon, the painter, respectively. France suggests the features of the artist’s wife. Throughout, however, it must be remembered that, to use Blashfield’s own words, “no portraiture has been attempted, but only characterization.”
The jackfruit (Artocarpus heterophyllus), also known as jack tree, is a species of tree in the fig, mulberry, and breadfruit family (Moraceae). Its original distribution range is unknown but most authors place its center of origin to be within the region between the Western Ghats of southern India to the rainforests of Borneo.
The jackfruit tree is well-suited to tropical lowlands, and its fruit is the largest tree-borne fruit, reaching as much as 55 kg in weight, 90 cm in length, and 50 cm in diameter. A mature jackfruit tree can produce about 100 to 200 fruits in a year. The jackfruit is a multiple fruit, composed of hundreds to thousands of individual flowers, and the fleshy petals are eaten.
Jackfruit is commonly used in South and Southeast Asian cuisines. The ripe and unripe fruit and seeds are consumed. The jackfruit tree is a widely cultivated throughout tropical regions of the world. It is the national fruit of Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, and the state fruit of the Indian states of Kerala and Tamil Nadu.
ETYMOLOGY AND HISTORY
The word "jackfruit" comes from Portuguese jaca, which in turn is derived from the Malayalam language term chakka (Malayalam chakka pazham). When the Portuguese arrived in India at Kozhikode (Calicut) on the Malabar Coast (Kerala) in 1498, the Malayalam name ചക്ക (cakka) was recorded by Hendrik van Rheede (1678–1703) in the Hortus Malabaricus, vol. iii in Latin. Henry Yule translated the book in Jordanus Catalani's (f. 1321–1330) Mirabilia descripta: the wonders of the East. This term is in turn derived from the Proto-Dravidian root kā(y) ("fruit, vegetable").
The common English name "jackfruit" was used by physician and naturalist Garcia de Orta in his 1563 book Colóquios dos simples e drogas da India. Centuries later, botanist Ralph Randles Stewart suggested it was named after William Jack (1795–1822), a Scottish botanist who worked for the East India Company in Bengal, Sumatra, and Malaya.
The jackfruit was domesticated independently in South Asia and Southeast Asia, as evidenced by the fact that the Southeast Asian names for the fruit are not derived from the Sanskrit roots. It was probably first domesticated by Austronesians in Java or the Malay Peninsula. The word for jackfruit in Proto-Western-Malayo-Polynesian is reconstructed as *laŋkaq. Modern cognates include Javanese, Malay, Balinese, and Cebuano nangka; Tagalog, Pangasinan, Bikol and Ilocano langka; Chamorro lanka or nanka; Kelabit nakan; Wolio nangke; Ibaloi dangka; and Lun Dayeh laka. Note, however, that the fruit was only recently introduced to Guam via Filipino settlers when both were part of the Spanish Empire.
BOTANICAL DESCRIPTION
SHAPE, TRUNK AND LEAVES
Artocarpus heterophyllus grows as an evergreen tree that has a relatively short trunk with a dense treetop. It easily reaches heights of 10 to 20 meters and trunk diameters of 30 to 80 centimeters. It sometimes forms buttress roots. The bark of the jackfruit tree is reddish-brown and smooth. In the event of injury to the bark, a milky juice is released.
The leaves are alternate and spirally arranged. They are gummy and thick and are divided into a petiole and a leaf blade. The petiole is 1 to 3 inches long. The leathery leaf blade is 7 to 15 inches long, and 3 to 7 inches wide and is oblong to ovate in shape.
In young trees, the leaf edges are irregularly lobed or split. On older trees, the leaves are rounded and dark green, with a smooth leaf margin. The leaf blade has a prominent main nerve and starting on each side six to eight lateral nerves. The stipules are egg-shaped at a length of 1.5 to 8 centimeters.
FLOWERS AND FRUIT
The inflorescences are formed on the trunk, branches or twigs (caulifloria). Jackfruit trees are monoecious, that is there are both female and male flowers on a tree. The inflorescences are pedunculated, cylindrical to ellipsoidal or pear-shaped, to about 10-12 centimeters long and 5-7 centimeters wide. Inflorescences are initially completely enveloped in egg-shaped cover sheets which rapidly slough off.
The flowers are very small, there are several thousand flowers in an inflorescence, which sit on a fleshy rachis . The male flowers are greenish, some flowers are sterile. The male flowers are hairy and the perianth ends with two 1 to 1.5 millimeters membrane. The individual and prominent stamens are straight with yellow, roundish anthers. After the pollen distribution, the stamens become ash-gray and fall off after a few days. Later all the male inflorescences also fall off. The greenish female flowers, with hairy and tubular perianth, have a fleshy flower-like base. The female flowers contain an ovary with a broad, capitate or rarely bilobed scar. The blooming time ranges from December until February or March.
The ellipsoidal to roundish fruit is a multiple fruit formed from the fusion of the ovaries of multiple flowers. The fruits grow on a long and thick stem on the trunk. They vary in size and ripen from an initially yellowish-greenish to yellow, and then at maturity to yellowish-brown. They possess a hard, gummy shell with small pimples surrounded with hard, hexagonal tubercles. The very large and variously shaped fruit have a length of 30 to 100 centimeters and a diameter of 15 to 50 centimeters and can weigh 10-25 kilograms or more.
The fruits consist of a fibrous, whitish core (rachis) about 5-10 centimeters thick. Radiating from this are many 10 centimeter long individual fruits. They are elliptical to egg-shaped, light brownish achenes with a length of about 3 centimeters and a diameter of 1.5 to 2 centimeters.
There may be about 100-500 seeds per fruit. The seed coat consists of a thin, waxy, parchment-like and easily removable testa (husk) and a brownish, membranous tegmen. The cotyledons are usually unequal in size, the endosperm is minimally present.
The fruit matures during the rainy season from July to August. The bean-shaped achenes of the jackfruit are coated with a firm yellowish aril (seed coat, flesh), which has an intense sweet taste at maturity of the fruit. The pulp is enveloped by many narrow strands of fiber (undeveloped perianth), which run between the hard shell and the core of the fruit and are firmly attached to it. When pruned, the inner part (core) secretes a very sticky, milky liquid, which can hardly be removed from the skin, even with soap and water. To clean the hands after "unwinding" the pulp an oil or other solvent is used. For example, street vendors in Tanzania, who sell the fruit in small segments, provide small bowls of kerosene for their customers to cleanse their sticky fingers.
An average fruit consists of 27% edible seed coat, 15% edible seeds, 20% white pulp (undeveloped perianth, rags) and bark and 10% core.
The number of chromosomes is 2n = 56.
AS FOOD
Ripe jackfruit is naturally sweet, with subtle flavoring. It can be used to make a variety of dishes, including custards, cakes, or mixed with shaved ice as es teler in Indonesia or halo-halo in the Philippines. For the traditional breakfast dish in southern India, idlis, the fruit is used with rice as an ingredient and jackfruit leaves are used as a wrapping for steaming. Jackfruit dosas can be prepared by grinding jackfruit flesh along with the batter. Ripe jackfruit arils are sometimes seeded, fried, or freeze-dried and sold as jackfruit chips.
The seeds from ripe fruits are edible, and are said to have a milky, sweet taste often compared to Brazil nuts. They may be boiled, baked, or roasted. When roasted, the flavor of the seeds is comparable to chestnuts. Seeds are used as snacks (either by boiling or fire-roasting) or to make desserts. In Java, the seeds are commonly cooked and seasoned with salt as a snack. They are quite commonly used in curry in India in the form of a traditional lentil and vegetable mix curry.
AROMA
Jackfruit has a distinctive sweet and fruity aroma. In a study of flavour volatiles in five jackfruit cultivars, the main volatile compounds detected were ethyl isovalerate, propyl isovalerate, butyl isovalerate, isobutyl isovalerate, 3-methylbutyl acetate, 1-butanol, and 2-methylbutan-1-ol.
A fully ripe and unopened jackfruit is known to "emit a strong aroma", with the inside of the fruit described as smelling of pineapple and banana. After roasting, the seeds may be used as a commercial alternative to chocolate aroma.
NUTRITIONAL VALUE
The flesh of the jackfruit is starchy and fibrous and is a source of dietary fiber. The pulp is composed of 74% water, 23% carbohydrates, 2% protein, and 1% fat. In a 100-g portion, raw jackfruit provides 400 kJ (95 kcal) and is a rich source (20% or more of the Daily Value, DV) of vitamin B6 (25% DV). It contains moderate levels (10-19% DV) of vitamin C and potassium, with no other nutrients in significant content.
The jackfruit also provides a potential part of the solution for tropical countries facing problems with food security, such as several countries of Africa.
CULINARY USES
The flavor of the ripe fruit is comparable to a combination of apple, pineapple, mango, and banana. Varieties are distinguished according to characteristics of the fruit flesh. In Indochina, the two varieties are the "hard" version (crunchier, drier, and less sweet, but fleshier), and the "soft" version (softer, moister, and much sweeter, with a darker gold-color flesh than the hard variety). Unripe jackfruit has a mild flavor and meat-like texture and is used in curry dishes with spices in many cuisines. The skin of unripe jackfruit must be peeled first, then the remaining jackfruit flesh is chopped in a labor-intensive process into edible portions and cooked before serving.
The cuisines of many Asian countries use cooked young jackfruit. In many cultures, jackfruit is boiled and used in curries as a staple food. The boiled young jackfruit is used in salads or as a vegetable in spicy curries and side dishes, and as fillings for cutlets and chops. It may be used by vegetarians as a substitute for meat such as pulled pork. It may be cooked with coconut milk and eaten alone or with meat, shrimp or smoked pork. In southern India, unripe jackfruit slices are deep-fried to make chips.
SOUTH ASIA
In Bangladesh, the fruit is consumed on its own. The unripe fruit is used in curry, and the seed is often dried and preserved to be later used in curry. In India, two varieties of jackfruit predominate: muttomvarikka and sindoor. Muttomvarikka has a slightly hard inner flesh when ripe, while the inner flesh of the ripe sindoor fruit is soft.
A sweet preparation called chakkavaratti (jackfruit jam) is made by seasoning pieces of muttomvarikka fruit flesh in jaggery, which can be preserved and used for many months. The fruits are either eaten alone or as a side to rice. The juice is extracted and either drunk straight or as a side. The juice is sometimes condensed and eaten as candies. The seeds are either boiled or roasted and eaten with salt and hot chilies. They are also used to make spicy side dishes with rice. Jackfruit may be ground and made into a paste, then spread over a mat and allowed to dry in the sun to create a natural chewy candy.
SOUTHEAST ASIA
In Indonesia and Malaysia, jackfruit is called nangka. The ripe fruit is usually sold separately and consumed on its own, or sliced and mixed with shaved ice as a sweet concoction dessert such as es campur and es teler. The ripe fruit might be dried and fried as kripik nangka, or jackfruit cracker. The seeds are boiled and consumed with salt, as they contains edible starchy content; this is called beton. Young (unripe) jackfruit is made into curry called gulai nangka or stewed called gudeg.
In the Philippines, jackfruit is called langka in Filipino and nangkà in Cebuano. The unripe fruit is usually cooked in coconut milk and eaten with rice; this is called ginataang langka. The ripe fruit is often an ingredient in local desserts such as halo-halo and the Filipino turon. The ripe fruit, besides also being eaten raw as it is, is also preserved by storing in syrup or by drying. The seeds are also boiled before being eaten.
Thailand is a major producer of jackfruit, which are often cut, prepared, and canned in a sugary syrup (or frozen in bags or boxes without syrup) and exported overseas, frequently to North America and Europe.
In Vietnam, jackfruit is used to make jackfruit chè, a sweet dessert soup, similar to the Chinese derivative bubur cha cha. The Vietnamese also use jackfruit purée as part of pastry fillings or as a topping on xôi ngọt (a sweet version of sticky rice portions).
Jackfruits are found primarily in the eastern part of Taiwan. The fresh fruit can be eaten directly or preserved as dried fruit, candied fruit, or jam. It is also stir-fried or stewed with other vegetables and meat.
AMERICAS
In Brazil, three varieties are recognized: jaca-dura, or the "hard" variety, which has a firm flesh, and the largest fruits that can weigh between 15 and 40 kg each; jaca-mole, or the "soft" variety, which bears smaller fruits with a softer and sweeter flesh; and jaca-manteiga, or the "butter" variety, which bears sweet fruits whose flesh has a consistency intermediate between the "hard" and "soft" varieties.
AFRICA
From a tree planted for its shade in gardens, it became an ingredient for local recipes using different fruit segments. The seeds are boiled in water or roasted to remove toxic substances, and then roasted for a variety of desserts. The flesh of the unripe jackfruit is used to make a savory salty dish with smoked pork. The jackfruit arils are used to make jams or fruits in syrup, and can also be eaten raw.
WOOD AND MANUFACTURING
The golden yellow timber with good grain is used for building furniture and house construction in India. It is termite-proof and is superior to teak for building furniture. The wood of the jackfruit tree is important in Sri Lanka and is exported to Europe. Jackfruit wood is widely used in the manufacture of furniture, doors and windows, in roof construction, and fish sauce barrels.
The wood of the tree is used for the production of musical instruments. In Indonesia, hardwood from the trunk is carved out to form the barrels of drums used in the gamelan, and in the Philippines, its soft wood is made into the body of the kutiyapi, a type of boat lute. It is also used to make the body of the Indian string instrument veena and the drums mridangam, thimila, and kanjira.
CULTURAL SIGNIFICANCE
The jackfruit has played a significant role in Indian agriculture for centuries. Archeological findings in India have revealed that jackfruit was cultivated in India 3000 to 6000 years ago. It has also been widely cultivated in Southeast Asia.
The ornate wooden plank called avani palaka, made of the wood of the jackfruit tree, is used as the priest's seat during Hindu ceremonies in Kerala. In Vietnam, jackfruit wood is prized for the making of Buddhist statues in temples The heartwood is used by Buddhist forest monastics in Southeast Asia as a dye, giving the robes of the monks in those traditions their distinctive light-brown color.
Jackfruit is the national fruit of Bangladesh, and the state fruit of the Indian states of Kerala and Tamil Nadu.
CULTIVATION
In terms of taking care of the plant, minimal pruning is required; cutting off dead branches from the interior of the tree is only sometimes needed. In addition, twigs bearing fruit must be twisted or cut down to the trunk to induce growth for the next season. Branches should be pruned every three to four years to maintain productivity.
Some trees carry too many mediocre fruits and these are usually removed to allow the others to develop better to maturity.
Stingless bees such as Tetragonula iridipennis are jackfruit pollinators, so play an important role in jackfruit cultivation.
Production and marketing
In 2017, India produced 1.4 million tonnes of jackfruit, followed by Bangladesh, Thailand, and Indonesia.
The marketing of jackfruit involves three groups: producers, traders, and middlemen, including wholesalers and retailers. The marketing channels are rather complex. Large farms sell immature fruit to wholesalers, which helps cash flow and reduces risk, whereas medium-sized farms sell the fruit directly to local markets or retailers.
COMMERCIAL AVAILABILITY
Outside countries of origin, fresh jackfruit can be found at food markets throughout Southeast Asia. It is also extensively cultivated in the Brazilian coastal region, where it is sold in local markets. It is available canned in sugary syrup, or frozen, already prepared and cut. Jackfruit industries are established in Sri Lanka and Vietnam, where the fruit is processed into products such as flour, noodles, papad, and ice cream. It is also canned and sold as a vegetable for export.
Jackfruit is also widely available year-round, both canned and dried. Dried jackfruit chips are produced by various manufacturers.
INVASIVE SPECIES
In Brazil, the jackfruit can become an invasive species as in Brazil's Tijuca Forest National Park in Rio de Janeiro. The Tijuca is mostly an artificial secondary forest, whose planting began during the mid-nineteenth century; jackfruit trees have been a part of the park's flora since it was founded.
Recently, the species has expanded excessively, and its fruits, which naturally fall to the ground and open, are eagerly eaten by small mammals, such as the common marmoset and coati. The seeds are dispersed by these animals; this allows the jackfruit to compete for space with native tree species. Additionally the supply of jackfruit has allowed the marmoset and coati populations to expand. Since both prey opportunistically on birds' eggs and nestlings, increases in marmoset or coati population are detrimental for local bird populations.
WIKIPEDIA
St. Hilda’s By The Sea is a small Anglican church in Sechelt. Set among the verdant green trees of the temperate rainforest, it is an eclectic mix of old and new: retired British pensioners polish the altar crystal and set out flowers for Sunday services, presided over by a gay Chinese-Canadian priest. Tai chi mixes with Celtic mysticism in a melange that is somehow stronger than its parts. And isn’t that what community is all about?
From the official website:
Walking the labyrinth is an ancient spiritual act that is being rediscovered during our time.
Usually constructed from circular patterns, labyrinths are based on principles of sacred geometry. Sometimes called “divine imprints”, they are found around the world as sacred patterns that have been passed down through the ages for at least 4,000 years. When a pattern of a certain size is constructed or placed on the ground, it can be used for walking meditations and rituals.
Labyrinths and their geometric cousins (spirals and mandalas) can be found in almost every religious tradition. For example, the Kabbala, or Tree of Life, is found in the Jewish mystical tradition. The Hopi Medicine Wheel, and the Man in the Maze are two forms from the Native American labyrinth traditions. The Cretan labyrinth, the remains of which can be found on the island of Crete, has seven path rings and is the oldest known labyrinth (4,000 or 5.000 years old).
In Europe, the Celts and later the early Christian Celtic Church revered labyrinths and frequently built them in natural settings. Sacred dances would be performed in them to celebrate solar and religious festivals. During the Middle Ages, labyrinths were created in churches and cathedrals throughout France and Northern Italy. These characteristically flat church or pavement labyrinths were inlaid into the floor of the nave of the church.
The Chartres Labyrinth
The labyrinth constructed at St. Hilda’s is an 11-circuit labyrinth. It is a replica of the one embedded in the floor of Chartres Cathedral in France. The design of this labyrinth, and many of the other church labyrinths in Europe, is a reworking of the ancient labyrinth design in which an equal-armed cross is emphasized and surrounded by a web of concentric circles. As with many Christian symbols, this was an adaptation of a symbol; that is known to have predated the Christian faith. This medieval variation is considered a breakthrough in design because it is less linear than the preceding, more formal, Roman design that developed from quadrant to quadrant. The medieval design made one path as long as possible, starting at the outer circumference and leading to the centre. Fraught with twists and turns, the path’s meanderings were considered symbolic representations of the Christian pilgrim’s journey to the Holy City of Jerusalem and of one’s own journey through life. This classical design is sometimes referred to as “the Chartres Labyrinth” due to the location of its best known example. The labyrinth was built at Chartres in the early 13th century (~ 1215 A.D.). No one knows the source of this classical 11-circuit labyrinth design, and much of its spiritual meaning and use has been lost.
The Chartres Labyrinth is located in the west end of the nave, the central body of the cathedral. When you walk in the main doors and look towards the high altar, you see the center of the labyrinth on the floor about 50 feet in front of you. It is approximately 42 feet in diameter and the path is 16 inches wide. At Chartres, the center of the Rose Window mirrors the center of the labyrinth. The cathedral is perfectly proportioned, so that if we put the west wall of the cathedral on hinges and folded it down on the labyrinth, the Rose Window would fit almost perfectly over the labyrinth.
Labyrinth or Maze?
The difference between a labyrinth used for meditation and mazes can be confusing. Mazes often have many entrances, dead-ends and cul-de-sacs that frequently confound the human mind. In contrast, meditation labyrinths offer only one path. By following the one path to the center, the seeker can use the labyrinth to quiet his or her mind and find peace and illumination at the center of his or her being. “As soon as one enters the labyrinth, one realizes that the path of the labyrinth serves as a metaphor for one’s spiritual journey. The walk, and all that happens on it, can be grasped through the intuitive, pattern-discerning faculty of the person walking it. The genius of this tool is that it reflects back to the seeker whatever he or she needs to discover from the perspective of a new level of conscious awareness.”
The Labyrinth is a Universal Meditation Tool
Anyone from any tradition or spiritual path can walk into the labyrinth and, through reflecting in the present moment, can benefit from it. A meditation labyrinth is one of many tools that can be used for spiritual practice. Like any tool, it is best used with a proper, good, intention. A church or temple can be used simply as a refuge from a rainstorm, but it can be so much more with a different intention. The same is true of the labyrinth. The seeker is only asked to put one foot in front of the other. By stepping into the labyrinth, we are choosing once again to walk the contemplative spiritual path. We are agreeing to let ourselves be open to see, to be free to hear, and to becoming real enough to respond. The labyrinth is a prayer path, a crucible of change, a meditation tool, a blueprint where psyche meets soul.
The best way to learn about the labyrinth is to walk a well-constructed one a few times, with an open heart and an open mind. Then allow your experience to guide you as to whether this will be a useful spiritual tool for you.
The Chartres Labyrinth and the Pilgrim’s Journey
Pilgrims are persons in motion – passing through territories not their own – seeking something we might call completion, or perhaps the word clarity will do as well, a goal to which only the spirit’s compass points the way.
Richard R. Niebuhr in Pilgrims and Pioneers
“The tradition of pilgrimage is as old as religion itself. Worshippers on pilgrimage traveled to holy festivals whether to solstice celebrations, to Mecca to gather around the Ka’aba for the high holy days of Islam, or to Easter festivals in the Holy City of Jerusalem. Pilgrimages were a mixture of religious duty and holiday relaxation for the peasant, the commoner and rich land owner alike. The journey was often embarked on in groups with designated places to stay at night. The pilgrims were restless to explore the mystical holy places, and many were in search of physical or spiritual healing.
The Christian story, which emphasized the humanity of Christ, fascinated the pilgrims. In the Middle Ages, most people did not read. As a result, they were much more oriented to the senses than we are today. They learned the story by traveling to Jerusalem to walk where Jesus walked, to pray where he prayed, and to experience, in a solemn moment, where he died. Unlike today, Pilgrims encountered the truth of the Christian mystery through an ongoing intimacy with all their senses.
When a person committed his or her life to Christ in the early Middle Ages, they sometimes made a vow to make a pilgrimage to the Holy City of Jerusalem. However, by the 12th century when the Crusades swept across Europe and the ownership of Jerusalem was in tumultuous flux, travel became dangerous and expensive. In response to this situation, the Roman Church appointed seven pilgrimage cathedrals to become “Jerusalem” for pilgrims. Consequently, in the pilgrimage tradition, the path within the labyrinth was called the Chemin de Jerusalem and the center of the labyrinth was called “New Jerusalem”.
The walk into the labyrinth marked the end of the physical journey across the countryside and served as a symbolic entry-way into the spiritual realms of the Celestial City. The image of the Celestial City – taken straight out of the Book of Revelation to John – captivated the religious imagination of many during the Middle Ages. The wondrous Gothic cathedrals, with painted walls either in bright, even gaudy colours, or else white-washed, were designed to represent the Celestial City. The stained glass windows – when illuminated by the sun – created the sense of colourful, dancing jewels, allowing the pilgrim to experience the awesome mystery of the City of God.”
The Journey of Life
A fundamental approach to the labyrinth is to see it as a metaphor for life’s journey. The labyrinth reminds us that all of life, with its joys, sorrows, twists and turns, is a journey that comes from God (birth) and goes to God (death). It is a physical metaphor for the journey of healing, spiritual and emotional growth and transformation. Following the path is like any journey. Sometimes you feel you are at or nearing your destination, and at other times you may feel distant or even lost. Only by faithfully keeping to the path will you arrive at the physical center of the labyrinth, which signifies God, the center of our lives and souls.
Applying the Three Fold Mystical Tradition to the Labyrinth
In the Christian mystical tradition, the journey to God was articulated in the three stages. These stages have become recognized as being universal to meditation: to release and quiet; to open and receive; and to take what was gained back out into the world.
The Three Stages
The first part of the Three- Fold Mystical Path is Purgation. This archaic word is from the root word “to purge”, meaning to cleanse, to let go. Shedding is another way of describing the experience. The mystical word is empting or releasing. It is believed that monks journeyed the first part of the labyrinth Purgation on their knees as a penitential act. This was not done for reasons of punishment as we might think, but as a way to humble oneself before God.
The second stage of the Three-Fold Path, Illumination, is found in the center of the labyrinth. Usually it is a surprise to reach the center because the long winding path seems “illogical” and cannot be figured out by the linear mind. After quieting the mind in the first part of the walk, the center presents a new experience: a place of meditation and prayer. Often people at this stage in the walk find insight into their situation in life, or clarity about a certain problem, hence the label “illumination”. As one enters the
center, the instruction is simple: enter with an open heart and mind; receive what there is for you.
The third stage, Union, begins when you leave the center of the labyrinth and continues as you retrace the path that brought you in. In this stage the meditation takes on a grounded, energized feeling. Many people who have had an important experience in the center feel that this third stage of the labyrinth gives them a way of integrating the insights they received. Others feel that this stage stokes the creative fires within. It energizes insight. It empowers, invites, and even pushes us to be more authentic and confident and to take risks with our gifts in the world. Union means communing with God.
The Monastic Orders experienced a union with God through their community life by creating a fulfilling balance between the work that was assigned, sleep and the many hours of worship attended daily. Our times present a similar challenge: we struggle to find balance between work, sleep, family and friends, leisure and spiritual life. The lack of structured communities in which people share work responsibilities and the “every person for himself or herself” mentality (or every family for itself) prevalent in our highly individualistic society makes the task of finding balance even more difficult.
Monastic communities offered a mystical spirituality that spoke to highly intuitive and intensely introverted people and (paradoxically to some) at the same time provided an economic structure throughout Europe. Monasteries during the Middle Ages provided schools and hospitals managed by monks; yet, at the same time, cloistered life helped the monks stay inwardly directed. Today, without any reliable structure directing us, the way of union needs to be re-thought. Our times call for most of us to be outer-directed. We are called to action in every aspect of our society in order to meet the spiritual challenges that confront us in the 21st century. Gratefully, there are still people in religious orders holding the candle for deep contemplation, but the majority of people involved in the spiritual transformation are searching for a path that guides them to service in the world in an active, extroverted, compassionate way. The third stage of the labyrinth empowers the seeker to move back into the world replenished and directed – which makes the labyrinth a particularly powerful tool for transformation.
Walking the Labyrinth: The Process
The purpose of all spiritual disciplines – prayer, fasting, meditation – is to help create an open attentiveness that enables us to receive and renew our awareness of our grounding and wholeness in God.
The Experience of Walking Meditation
Many of us have trouble quieting our minds. The Buddhists call the distracted state of mind the “monkey mind”, which is an apt image of what the mind is frequently like: thoughts swinging like monkeys from branch to branch, chattering away without any rhyme or conscious reason. When the mind is quiet, we feel peaceful and open, aware of a silence that embraces the universe.
Complete quiet in the mind is not a realistic goal for most of us. Instead, the task is to dis-identify with the thoughts going through our minds. Don’t get hooked by the thoughts, let them go. Thomas Keating, a Cistercian monk who teaches Centering Prayer (meditation) in the Christian tradition, described the mind as a still lake. A thought is like a fish that swims through it. If you get involved with the fish (“Gee what an unusual fish, I wonder what it is called?”), then you are hooked. Many of us have discovered through learning meditation how difficult it is to quiet the mind; yet, the rewards are great.
In the labyrinth, the sheer act of walking a complicated, attention demanding path begins to focus the mind. Thoughts of daily tasks and experiences become less intrusive. A quiet mind does not happen automatically. You must gently guide the mind with the intention of letting go of extraneous thoughts. This is much easier to do when your whole body is moving – when you are walking. Movement takes away the excess charge of psychic energy that disturbs our efforts to quiet our thought processes.
Two Basic Approaches to the Walk
One way to walk the labyrinth is to choose to let all thought go and simply open yourself to your experience with gracious attention. Usually – though not always – quieting happens in the first stage of the walk. After the mind is quiet, you can choose to remain in the quiet. Or use the labyrinth as a prayer path. Simply begin to talk to God. This is an indication that you are ready to receive what is there for you, or you allow a sincere part of your being to find its voice.
A second approach to a labyrinth walk is to consider a question. Concentrate on the question as you walk in. Amplify your thoughts about it; let all else go but your question. When you walk into the center with an open heart and an open mind, you are opening yourself to receiving new information, new insights about yourself.
Guidelines for the Walk
Find your pace. In our chaotic world we are often pushed beyond a comfortable rhythm. In this state we lose the sense of our own needs. To make matters worse, we are often rushed and then forced to wait. Anyone who has hurried to the bank only to stand in line knows the feeling. Ironically, the same thing can happen with the labyrinth, but there is a difference. The labyrinth helps us find what our natural pace would be and draws our attention to it when we are not honouring it.
Along with finding your pace, support your movement through the labyrinth by becoming conscious of your breath. Let your breath flow smoothly in and out of your body. It can be coordinated with each step – as is done in the Buddhist walking meditation – if you choose. Let your experience be your guide.
Each experience in the labyrinth is different, even if you walk it often in a short period of time. The pace usually differs each time as well. It can change dramatically within the different stages of the walk. When the labyrinth has more than a comfortable number of seekers on it, you can “pass” people if you want to continue to honour the intuitive pace your inner process has set. If you are moving at a slower pace, you can allow people to pass you. At first people are uncomfortable with the idea of “passing” someone on the labyrinth. It looks competitive, especially since the walk is a spiritual exercise. Again, these kinds of thoughts and feelings, we hope, are greeted from a spacious place inside that smiles knowingly about the machinations of the human ego. On the spiritual path we meet every and all things. To find our pace, to allow spaciousness within, to be receptive to all experience, and to be aware of the habitual thoughts and issues that hamper our spiritual development is a road to self-knowledge.
Summary of How to Walk the Labyrinth
Pause at the entry way to allow yourself to be fully conscious of the act of stepping into the labyrinth. Allow about a minute, or several turns on the path, to create some space between yourself and the person in front of you. Some ritual act, such as a bow, may feel appropriate during the labyrinth walk. Do what comes naturally.
Follow your pace. Allow your body to determine the pace. If you allow a rapid pace and the person in front of you is moving slower, feel free to move around this person. This is easiest to do at the turns by turning earlier. If you are moving slowly, you can step onto the labyrs (wide spaces at the turns) to allow others to pass.
The narrow path is a two-way street. If you are going in and another person is going out, you will meet on the path. If you want to keep in an inward meditative state, simply do not make eye contact. If you meet someone you know, a touch of the hand or a hug may be an important acknowledgement of being on the path together.
Symbolism and Meanings Found in the Chartres Labyrinth
Circles and Spirals
The circle is the symbol of unity or union and it is the primary shape of all labyrinths. The circle in sacred geometry represents the incessant movement of the universe (uncomprehensible) as opposed to the square which represents comprehensible order. The labyrinth is a close cousin to the spiral and it, too, reflects the cyclical element of nature and is regarded as the symbol of eternal life.
The labyrinth functions like a spiral, creating a vortex in its center. Upon entering, the path winds in a clockwise pattern. Energy is being drawn out. Upon leaving the center the walker goes in a counter clockwise direction. The unwinding path integrates and empowers us on our walk back out. We are literally ushered back out into the world in a strengthened condition.
The Path
The path lies in 11 concentric circles with the 12th being the labyrinth center. The path meanders throughout the whole circle. There are 34 turns on the path going into the center. Six are semi-right turns and 28 are 180° turns. So the 12 rings that form the 11 pathways may symbolically represent, the 12 apostles, 12 tribes of Israel or 12 months of the year. Twelve is a mystical number in Christianity. In sacred geometry three represents heaven and four represents earth. Twelve is the product of 3 x 4 and, therefore, the path which flows through the whole is then representative of all creation.
The obvious metaphor for the path is the difficult path to salvation, with its many twists and turns. Since we cannot see a straight path to our destination, the labyrinth can be viewed as a metaphor for our lives. We learn to surrender to the path (Christ) and trust that he will lead us on our journey.
The path can also be viewed as grace or the Church guiding us through chaos.
The Cruciform and Labyrs
The labyrinth is divided equally into four quadrants that make an equal-armed cross or cruciform. The four arms represent in symbol what is thought to be the essential
structure of the universe for example, the four spatial directions, the four elements (earth, wind, water and fire), the four seasons and, most important, salvation through the cross. The four arms of the cross emerging from the center seem to give order to the would-be chaos of the meandering path around it.
The Chartres labyrinth cross or cruciform is delineated by the 10 labyrs (labyr means to turn and this is the root of the word labyrinth). The labyrs are double-ax shaped and visible at the turns and between turns. They are traditionally seen as a symbol of women’s power and creativity.
The Centre Rosette
In the Middle Ages, the rose was regarded as a symbol for the Virgin Mary. Because of its association with the myths of Percival and the Holy Grail at that time, it also was seen as a sign of beauty and love. The rose becomes symbolic of both human and divine love, of passionate love, but also love beyond passion. The single rose became a symbol of a simple acceptance of God’s love for the world.
Unlike a normal rose (which has five petals) the rosette has six petals and is steeped in mysticism. Although associated with the Rose of Sharon, which refers to Mary, it may also represent the Holy Spirit (wisdom and enlightenment). The six petals may have corresponded to the story of the six days of creation. In other mystical traditions, the petals can be viewed as the levels of evolution (mineral, plant, animal, humankind, angelic and divine).
The Lunations
The lunations are the outer ring of partial circles that complete the outside circle of the labyrinth. They are unique to the Chartres design.
Celtic Symbols on the St. Hilda’s Labyrinth
The Celtic peoples have given us seven enduring spiritual principles:
1. A deep respect of nature, regarding creation as the fifth Gospel.
2. Quiet care for all living things.
3. The love of learning.
4. A wonder-lust or migratory nature.
5. Love of silence and solitude.
6. Understanding of time as a sacred reality and an appreciation of ordinary life, worshipping God through everyday life, and with great joy.
7. The value of family and clan affiliation, and especially spiritual ties of soul friends.
To show our respect for such wisdom, two Celtic designs adorn the St. Hilda’s labyrinth.
To mark the entrance to the labyrinth is a Celtic zoomorphic design painted in red. Traditionally, Celtic monks used intricate knotwork and zoomorphic designs (odd animals intertwined in uncomfortable ways) as mere filler for their illuminated gospel texts. They had no discernible meaning.
However, because of their unique design components, zoomorphs are now associated with transformations.
Transformation, change, action, and passion are also associated with red, the colour of fire. Therefore, this entrance symbol may well be an appropriate sign for the journey ahead.
At the labyrinth’s centre is a Celtic triquetra. This interlocked knotwork design of three stylized fish (whales) is often interpreted as the Trinity knot. It is a perfect representation of the concept of "three in one" in Christian trinity beliefs. Having the design enclosed within the centre circle further emphasizes the unity theme.
The triquetra can also be considered to represent the triplicities of mind, body, and soul, as well as the three domains of earth- earth, sea, and sky.
Final Reflection: The Labyrinth as a “Thinning Place”
In Celtic Christianity, places where people felt most strongly connected with God’s presence were referred to as thin places. It was these places in nature (forest groves, hilltops and deep wells) that the seen and unseen worlds were most closely connected, and the inhabitants of both worlds could momentarily touch the other. Today our churches, temples and sacred sites are the new thin places to meet the Divine. Here, at St Hilda’s, we have opportunities to encounter many thinning places – whether it be during Eucharistic or Taize services, while singing or praying, or through the love of a welcoming inclusive community. The labyrinth is a welcome addition; and with the right intent can also become a new thinning place for the modern pilgrim/spiritual seeker.This outward journey is an archetype with which we can have a direct experience. We can walk it. It can serve to frame the inward journey – a journey of repentance, forgiveness and rebirth, a journey that seeks a deeper faith, and greater holiness, a journey in search of God.
This High Dynamic Range panorama was stitched from 84 bracketed images with PTGUI Pro, tone-mapped with Photomatix, and touched up in Aperture.
Original size: 18160 × 9080 (164.9 MP; 194 MB).
Location: St. Hilda’s By The Sea Anglican Church, Sechelt, British Columbia, Canada
Christodoulos Panayiotou, 2008, (2008)
Shredded money
600 (diameter) x 240 (height) cm
Courtesy of the artist & Rodeo Gallery, Istanbul
More conceptual stuff on my weblog:
Christodoulos Panayiotou’s 2008 (2008), a monumental pile of shredded Greek Cypriot Pounds, the totality of which the artist was able to acquire when Greek Cyprus adopted the Euro.
The End of Money (22 May – 7 August 2011) - Gallery Witte de With - Rotterdam
Stitched with Microsoft ICE.