permaculture

["Lawrence F. London, Jr." <lfl@intrex.net>]

John Schinnerer wrote:

> Aloha,
>
> The bike/stepper water pump is a possibility.  Any sufficiently small 
> rotary-shaft pump could be hooked to the bike's rotational output.
> However...

John:

What about using a hose pump for this. Easy to drive, slow but reliable and 
few moving parts to wear out.
This is a pump that utilizes a rotor that compresses a flex hose to move fluids. A cheap model for plant watering should 
be available somewhere.

LL

> > Another item that would be extremely useful is a  stationary bicycle powered
> > or stair climber style foot powered  chipper shredder that can be safely
> > opperated by one person or two.
>
>
> The smallest available electric units use about a 1 HP motor, and from 
> there on up to many many horses worth of electric or gas/diesel power.
>
> So no way one or two "normal" people could power one...you'd need three 
> or more olympic cyclists or a dozen or so "normal" healthy people to run 
> even the equivalent of the smallest home/yard unit for any length of time.

If you use a solar dryer to condition the biomass before shredding it things 
will be a lot easier.
Wouldn't a 22-speed bicycle make it possible to grind useful amounts of 
biomass?

What about using a roller system to compress biomass for pre-drying, 
pre-shredding treatment,
something like a cane mill or sorghum press.

Just got another idea. Hook a rider and bicycle up to a shredder that works 
like a sorghum press
(usually powered by a mule at the end of a long pole). Have one usit for 
dewatering the biomass
(through pressing), then solar drying, then grinding using the same machine 
with rollers replaced
with grinding or shredding cogs or blades.

LL
> Google
>
> human power output
>
> for links to info on how much power humans can actually generate.
> Here's one page that has basic info on this (scroll down past all the 
> HPV pictures etc. to get to that part):
>
> http://www.ent.ohiou.edu/~et181/hpv/hpv.html
>
> What I'd like to know is if any true shredders (machines that cut along 
> instead of across the grain) are readily available in N. America.
>
> Chippers and so-called chipper/shredders commonly sold here are afaik 
> all cross-grain cutters.
>
> Cutting along the grain drastically increases decomposition time for 
> woody debris - that's how Jean Pain got all that brushy debris in big 
> piles to compost so well.
>
> John S.