Homestead mailing list

[clhw AT InfoAve.Net (clhw)]

>Date: Tue, 27 Jul 2004 08:48:37 -0700
>From: Tvoivozhd <tvoivozd AT infionline.net>
>Subject: Tools, simple, effective, New Dawn Engineering products
>To: Homestead mailing list <homestead AT listserv.unc.edu>

>
>This New Dawn communication happens to be on efficient, low cost small
>stoves for poor countries (or American campers), but New Dawn  has a
>fine grouping of  tools and equipment suitable for homestead use--you
>would be well-advised to make note of it for uour present or future use.
>
>26 July 2004
>
>Dear Improved Stove Designers, Manufacturers and Users
>
>After two years of enthusiastic encouragement and advice from a number of
>actors on the international stage and much wild-eyed and off-the-wall work
>at New Dawn Engineering the news is in!
>
>It is with great celebration that we announce that an award for Design
>Excellence has been given to the Vesto single pot improved cooking stove .
>This annual award is given in recognition of Design Excellence.  There are
>four entrance categories and Vesto was judged in the Houseware section.
>
>The judging criteria include:  Innovation, Cost/value relationship,
>Performance, Safety and ergonomics, Environmental impact, Appearance and
>tactile aspects, Ease of maintenance and installation, Design choices made
>in materials, Manufacture and assembly.
>
>Indian Designer of the Year, Satish Gokhale was the South African Bureau of
>Standards' Design Institute 'international expert' and he sat on the judging
>panel that reviewed the Vesto.  He was very enthusiastic about the product
>and commented that it was an item with a large export potential.
>
>The Vesto is a formal sector product designed to make an impact on the
>consumption of biomass fuels by extending their burning time, by avoiding
>the cutting of forests and by allowing for the efficient use of multiple
>fuels including waste. Made largely from stainless steel, it is an
>aspirational stove aimed at households earning $130 to $230 per month but
>with looks that appeal to much higher income groups. It is currently being
>sold in nine countries through more than 30 retail dealers.  It sells for
>$41 plus tax in South Africa.
>
>It can be viewed at
>http://www.newdawnengineering.com/website/stove/singlestove/vesto/vesto1.htm
>
>With sincere thanks to all of you in the Stoves Group who contributed in any
>way to my understanding of stoves, combustion, materials, heat flows, fuel
>types, cooking needs and testing procedures.  This is a victory for all who
>strive for the betterment of humanity - our one family sharing a common,
>planetary home.
>
>Sincerely
>Crispin Pemberton-Pigott
>Vesto Designer
>New Dawn Engineering
>Matsapha, Swazila
>
>http://www.newdawnengineering.com/website/products.htm  (list of theirr
>product categories)
>
>I like their solar food dryer, though the homemade one shown in the
>Homepower archives is equally good. Though we are so damned lazy we tend
>to stay in the home canning rut or use Ziplock bags and throw foot in a
>freezer (which will spoil all the food in a protracted power outage), for
>most food, drying is the way to go because of compact storage, quick
>rehydration, and immunity to degradation over a long storage period.
>
>And if you are looking for biodiesel to run your tractor, truck or $350
>Chinese or Indian eight horsepower Lister 110 volt AC home generator, be
>sure to look at their manual oilseed press---squeeze the oil out of your
>oilseed crop (see my previous post on oilseed huller and winnower), and
>have a valuable source of oilcake as food for homestead animals too.
>
>For a moderately profitable home business, look at thair Casting Products,
>all the equipment needed to make floor tile, roof tile, bricks for house
>construction, at a price no housebuilder could resist.
>
>Love their various pumps, treadle if you want to pump water on occasion,
>with the least amount of physical effort, and hydraulic ram pumps for
>various uses.  You probably don't know a ram pump was first used to
>compress air, not pump household or irrigation water around your farm.
>Now you do, so you don't have to waste electricity or fuel to compress air
>for your long life, burnout-proof air tools.  I especially like hydraulic
>ram pumps for irrigation anywhere on this farm (has many creeks and a
>small lake 40 feet above the buildings and valley floor, and for
>distributing water to cattle tanks wherever needed in the pasture---keep
>the @##$% cattle out of the creeks, but be sure to make a gravel pad
>around the tanks so hooves don't turn the adjacent area into a quagmire.
>
>Their platform pump is an interesting variant of a treadle pump.  In the
>past I have posted something on where to buy or how to make a big one
>across which your cattle have to walk to get to a pasture water
>tank---works fine if you have a nearby creek as a water source, but no
>higher-elevation creek or lake to power a hydraulic ram pump.  Don't know
>where the hell I put the information on a cattle-powered platform pump
>though.  I may get back at it one of these days.
>
>
>
>