Reading Machines July 20, 2006 Teachers as Scholars Seminar Technology and the Human Experience Cornelius Raiford

Reading the Bicycle Pump 1930's Bicycle Pump · Cylindrical body made out of metal, approximately eighteen inches tall and two in diameter. · Metal base fans out on the bottom, to be stepped on by the operator when inflating tires. · Metal rod which is attached to the handle and runs down the middle of the cylinder; used to push air out the hose and to suck in new air.

Reading the Bicycle Pump · Wood handle attached to the metal rod, used to move air into the hose. · Rubber hose attached to the bottom of the cylinder. · Metal pin to attach the end of the hose to the inner-tube valve of the tire (unfortunately, this is missing from the artifact). · The metal used is extremely heavy, and has rusted all over, and the handle does not slide up and down easily.

Notes: ENERGY/CH04/img7.jpg

1990's Bicycle Pump · Also a metal cylindrical body made out of metal, but much thinner and lighter than the metal used in the 1930's, with approximately the same height as its ancestor but a lot smaller diameter. · Also has a metal base that is at the bottom of the cylinder used to keep the pump in an upright position. However it is now made out of a much lighter material and can be hinged, allowing the pump to be stored in a smaller space. · The rod is still metal, but is a lot lighter.

Reading the Bicycle Pump The handle is now made out of plastic. The hose is still rubber, but now it is wrapped in a thick protective twine. The pin is also made out of plastic now. Overall, this pump is a lot lighter, less prone to rust and the handle glides up and down easier. A lot of pumps these days can come with pressure gauge, so as to avoid pumping too much air into a tire. amstpics/pump_modern.jpg

Reading the Shield [ 3-7 ] Diagram of the shield, with completed tunnel on the right. The body of the shield is shown at A, and is simply a short tube of timberwork, backed by a heavy wrought iron ring, against which the hydraulic rams, D, act to advance the entire machine. The front part of the shield is a heavy chilled iron ring, B, brought to a cutting edge, and crossed on the interior by shelves, C, also sharpened.

Reading the Shield Bearing blocks, E, of timber, are placed against the masonry, as shown, on which the rams press when the shield is advanced. F is the pump from which the water is carried to the rams by pipes G. H is a hood of thin sheet steel within which the masonry is built, in rings of 16 inches in length, the bricks interlocked. The operation of this machine is as follows : The pump is worked by one man, and the rams press with a force of 126 tons against the end of the masonry.

Reading the Shield This forces the cutting edge and the shelves into the earth to a distance corresponding to the length of the stroke in the hydraulic cylinders and the earth being removed the masonry is again advanced, and so on step by step. (Scientific American, 1870 Mar 5.)

[ 3-8 ] Digging the Beach Pneumatic tube with the shield. From Scientific American, March 5, Originally from Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper, February 19, 1870.

Beach’s Pneumatic Tube

Update on Beach’s Concept zapatopi.net/inteli- tube