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In early 20th century in London there was an alternative hydraulic "power grid" with plants (aka pumps), storages and an underground distribution network of pip
by AlexTWithBeard 5y ago
In early 20th century in London there was an alternative hydraulic "power grid" with plants (aka pumps), storages and an underground distribution network of pipes. A building, for example, could connect to high pressure water mains and use it to power elevators. Electricity eventually won, but it's interesting to see an idea coming back.
Zeppelins next!
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_Hydraulic_Power_Company https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_Hydraulic_Power_Company
- samstave 5y agoThere also used to be "central turbines" whereby there was a central spinning rod that one could attach belts to in order to spin a thing to get work out of it... called line and shaft https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7qt5tltnvF8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7qt5tltnvF8
- cjrp 5y agoReally cool, sort of like how an ICE drives ancillaries
- spenczar5 5y agoCool indeed, but pretty dangerous and difficult to reconfigure. Electric wires and motors are so much smaller, and easier to protect, and more interoperable, so you can see why they won out.
- AlexTWithBeard 5y agoThat was one of the reasons behind having factory whistles: all workers take their places, the whistle, then the whole thing is started. While it's running people are not supposed to move around.
- snalty 5y agoThere's a cool working example of this at Kelham Island Museum in Sheffield, England.
- DrBoring 5y agoI once saw this in use at a restaurant to drive ceiling fans. I looked up some videos: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-uCvwEq3co https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-uCvwEq3co https://youtu.be/1IWTM1rNCnw?t=78 https://youtu.be/1IWTM1rNCnw?t=78
- Someone 5y agoThat was normal in the age of steam. Having lots of tiny steam engines on the factory floor does not make sense. Keeping them running is too labor intensive, they would be fire risks, and they’re less efficient.
- DuskStar 5y agoAnd in the age of water, running shafts to the waterwheel was vastly easier than having a wheel at each station.
- Smoosh 5y agoAnd a similar system used to be common for shearing: https://www.sheepcentral.com/wool-growers-support-call-to-phase-out-shaft-driven-shearing-equipment/ https://www.sheepcentral.com/wool-growers-support-call-to-ph...
- _pmf_ 5y agoThe Amish use compressed air: http://www.amishfamilyvalues.com/amish/amish-electricity/ http://www.amishfamilyvalues.com/amish/amish-electricity/
- caseyohara 5y agoThis is interesting: "This was a crisis. Without electricity, the Amish couldn’t store milk, and the church was adamant that Amish were not going connect to the local electric company. Finally a solution was found. It was decided that diesel generators could be used to power the refrigerators. This decision allowed the Amish to continue their tradition as dairy farmers without having to use public electricity." So the Amish are allowed to use electricity, just not from the public grid? Generators seem like a weird loophole to their own rules.
- userbinator 5y agoIf they are against centralisation, that makes sense; but then, unless you drill your own wells and refine the crude yourself, you're still getting fuel from someone else.
- labawi 5y agoI think it's against against dependence. You can choose who you buy your diesel from, and you store a however big tank of diesel you deem appropriate. In stark contrast to a powerline.
- s1mon 5y agoIf you think this is weird, wait until you see the convoluted/clever things that some Jewish people do to work around the sabbath. https://www.npr.org/2019/05/13/721551785/a-fishing-line-encircles-manhattan-protecting-sanctity-of-sabbath https://www.npr.org/2019/05/13/721551785/a-fishing-line-enci... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shabbat_elevator https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shabbat_elevator https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sabbath_mode https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sabbath_mode
- flyinghamster 5y ago
- javajosh 5y agoZeppelins with modern materials and technology would be very, very cool. I'd ride in one.
- xwdv 5y agoWhat would be even cooler is zeppelins with swimming pools and jacuzzis while you take in the views of the sky.
- javajosh 5y agoI'm picking up what you're putting down.
- LargoLasskhyfv 5y agoMade out of transparent material, so you could look down too.
- dr_dshiv 5y agoGlass-bottomed ballroom, anyone?
- AlexTWithBeard 5y agoPlane spotting gets a new color with that.
- Melatonic 5y agoThe military is actually doing a ton of work with blimp and zeppelin like things currently - you do not hear about it much but there is a a ton of testing and research being done.
- freefal 5y agoA bit tangential, but New York City has an operating steam system that's still widely used by commercial customers. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_City_steam_system https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_City_steam_system
- radicaldreamer 5y agoSan Francisco has one too, used primarily for heating buildings https://clearwaycommunityenergy.com/system_lists/energy-center-san-francisco/ https://clearwaycommunityenergy.com/system_lists/energy-cent...
- antupis 5y agoDistrict heating is pretty normal at northern Europe altought now we use mostly water.
- pinot 5y agoDistrict heating with water is vastly more safe, I imagine that's why its used. I remember my apartment in germany had a "Heat" meter on the water line, always wondered how that worked.
- krab 5y agoWe have a calorimeter - it should count volume of hot water times the temperature difference. I heard it's not very precise.
- m4rtink 5y agoThe district heating in Brno here in Czech Republic is in the process of converting from steam to hot water, mainly due to cost savings. Modern isolated hot water pipes loose a negligible ammount of heat in transfer while there was green grass growing on top of the old buried steam pipes even in winter. That and the old textile industry that directly used steam no longer exists.
- dmix 5y agoThe interesting part of the NYC one is the scale > Today, Consolidated Edison operates the largest commercial steam system in the world (larger than the next nine combined).
- JoeAltmaier 5y agoThe University of Iowa campus has a steam system under the campus, installed in the last century. Nowadays the steam is recovered waste from the electric plant. But it's still in use!
- bumby 5y agoIf you want to find good candidates for saving the campus tons of money, go to the roof of one of the tallest buildings on a cold day and look for the buildings that are venting lots of steam. They likely have a failed steam trap somewhere in the building. It's not uncommon for failed steam traps to save thousands of dollars a year apiece when fixed.
- duxup 5y agoUniversity of Minnesota too, not long ago replaced their old boilers and main steam plant.
- mabbo 5y agoThis sort of system is used today in many modern industrial facilities. Case in point: Amazon warehouses. Lots of the mechanical automations inside some of those warehouses are powered by compressed air in open loop systems. As the conveyor pushes the item off, onto a different lane, there's a distinct hiss of air escaping. The movement of the machine was powered by compressed air. Out in the parking lot in these facilities, you'll see a huge compressed air tank (or many), constantly being refilled. Tubes from these go into the building like arteries in a body. Often inside the building there will be buffer tanks to help ensure constant pressure. Source: worked for a few years with guys who maintained these systems. Some of what I learned may be wrong, so feel free to correct me.
- throw8932894 5y agoIt is pretty common in regular workshops. Compressed air powers drills, riveting machines, sprays guns, jack hammers... Tools powered by compressed air are simpler (no electronics), more durable and cheaper.
- mnahkies 5y agoMy favourite thing about air tools was not having to worry about batteries (most electric hand tools I've used are battery only so no opportunity to use an extension lead like you use an air hose)
- throwawayboise 5y agoThe motor also doesn't create sparks so they are more useful in flamable atmospheres.
- grawprog 5y agoMost electric hand tools are usually available for cheaper in a corded variety. The only electric hand tool I haven't seen come corded are impact drivers and most impact drivers I've used will last a day or two using it 8 hours a day even off a 2aH battery. For me, I like air powered tools because of their power and reliability. They'll almost always have more torque and power than similar electric tools.
- adrianmonk 5y agoThat is an interesting system (which I had never heard of), but it seems pretty different from this. The London system used water under pressure and was used for power distribution, whereas this one compresses air and is for energy storage. And the Wikipedia article says the London system used "large vertical pistons" with weights to store energy, whereas this one pressurizes air.
- MSFT_Edging 5y agoThere was an article on here earlier about Amish tech and they also make use of a lot of pneumatic machines for daily tasks.
- IncRnd 5y agoHydraulic refers to liquid. Pneumatic refers to compressed air.
- rcurry 5y agoI once took a tour of the Mabel Tainter theater in Menomonie Wisconsin. The original light fixtures had been built to work off of both gas and electricity, just in case the whole newfangled electricity thing didn’t work out.
- mderazon 5y agoIsn't that the concept behind "streampunk" ? https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steampunk https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steampunk