An economics, investment, trading and policy blog with a focus on Modern Monetary Theory (MMT). We seek the truth, avoid the mainstream and are virulently anti-neoliberalism.
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Wednesday, November 4, 2015
The Engineer — High Design: Tiger Stone Paving Machine Makes Brick Roads Like Laying Carpet
Especially for people that traveled in the developing world years ago when construction sites were swarms of labor using primitive technology. It was amazing that they got the job done at all.
If you read the full article, it doesn't actually arrange the bricks. It just makes it so that the workers don't have to bend over. They manually arrange the bricks at a comfortable level on the machine and then the machine moves back and the bricks slide down without losing their arrangement. So it is an improvement for worker safety and productivity, but it isn't as cool as it first appeared.
Right. But this is version 1. Can't be a huge engineering problem to automate the whole process.
What I can't figure out is why anyone is still laying down brick roads other than for the aesthetics.
We still have a few brick road in Iowa City and they are beautiful and nostalgic but not so much fun to drive on after they become uneven. Still, I'd hate to see them go, too.
Some bricks are considered pervious materials, where concrete is always impervious to water infiltration. I had to use the brick pavers for my driveway to meet city flood-control codes that require a fixed percentage of the square footage of each lot to limit impervious areas that cause runoff.
They look nice, add more character than concrete. That is why most towns, use them, I suspect since they are usually in shopping and retail areas -- they surely don't care about runoff.
Brick really looks great and is an excellent decorative choice for light use. Cobble stones, too, if decoration is desired and use is somewhat heavier.
This sort of innovative thinking is precisely why labour should be expensive.
Otherwise, like the planting out crops, it will remain a cyborg machine and fail to move to fully robotic. And that is worse for the people who end up with the repetitive job the machine requires.
Chinese automated railway bridge making:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.facebook.com/inverse/videos/901673993214382/
Saw that. Pretty amazing.
ReplyDeleteEspecially for people that traveled in the developing world years ago when construction sites were swarms of labor using primitive technology. It was amazing that they got the job done at all.
Best thing is that this is not even high technology. Just an awesomely clever idea.
ReplyDeleteIf this was conceived 200 years ago, they could have used a hessian mat, made it out of wood and pulled it by a horse.
The cobblestonerers would have been mad as hell though.
If you read the full article, it doesn't actually arrange the bricks. It just makes it so that the workers don't have to bend over. They manually arrange the bricks at a comfortable level on the machine and then the machine moves back and the bricks slide down without losing their arrangement. So it is an improvement for worker safety and productivity, but it isn't as cool as it first appeared.
ReplyDeleteRight. But this is version 1. Can't be a huge engineering problem to automate the whole process.
ReplyDeleteWhat I can't figure out is why anyone is still laying down brick roads other than for the aesthetics.
We still have a few brick road in Iowa City and they are beautiful and nostalgic but not so much fun to drive on after they become uneven. Still, I'd hate to see them go, too.
A video of it in action
ReplyDeleteSome bricks are considered pervious materials, where concrete is always impervious to water infiltration. I had to use the brick pavers for my driveway to meet city flood-control codes that require a fixed percentage of the square footage of each lot to limit impervious areas that cause runoff.
ReplyDeleteThey look nice, add more character than concrete. That is why most towns, use them, I suspect since they are usually in shopping and retail areas -- they surely don't care about runoff.
Brick really looks great and is an excellent decorative choice for light use. Cobble stones, too, if decoration is desired and use is somewhat heavier.
ReplyDeleteThis sort of innovative thinking is precisely why labour should be expensive.
ReplyDeleteOtherwise, like the planting out crops, it will remain a cyborg machine and fail to move to fully robotic. And that is worse for the people who end up with the repetitive job the machine requires.