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CloudFisher: Low-Tech Net Turns Fog into Drinking Water for Morocco

04 Feb

[ By SA Rogers in Conceptual & Futuristic & Technology. ]

cloudfisher-main

In a semi-arid region of Morocco, where tap water is a luxury but fog is plentiful, a fog-harvesting net based on the structure of a spider’s web naturally collects moisture from the air. Engineer Peter Trautwein of the German Water Foundation volunteered his time to develop CloudFisher, a structure that looks like no more than a fence from afar. Get closer, and you’ll see a metal framework supporting the stretched nets, with gutters and tubing directing the collected droplets to tanks.

The nets are placed along the area around Mount Boutmezguida, which is known for being one of the driest parts of Morocco, but also the foggiest. When the wind blows, it pushes moisture into the complex woven netting, effectively trapping it. Rubber expanders holding the nets to the frames reduce the impact of wind pressure on the net to keep them from breaking.

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CloudFisher is the result of many years of study, as Trautwein experimented with various structures of net to see which ones yielded the most water. Ultimately, monofilaments were the most effective. The netting’s tiny triangular openings fill with water, which then trickles down to the collector at the base.

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The CloudFisher system was installed with the help of NGO Dar si Hmed and won the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Momentum for Change Award. It’s capable of harvesting between four and fourteen liters of water per square meter of net, ultimately producing up to 36,000 liters (9,510 gallons) of water a day for the area’s 800 residents.

[ By SA Rogers in Conceptual & Futuristic & Technology. ]

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Posted in Creativity

15 of the World’s Weirdest Low-Tech Film Cameras

19 Jun

[ By Steph in Technology & Vintage & Retro. ]

Unusual Cameras Main

A pistol that shoots photos instead of bullets, a harness for pigeons, a cane and a human skull are among the unexpected objects that have been turned into film cameras since the dawn of photography in the 19th century. Here are 15 strange and unusual cameras, including historic collector’s items and new experiments in low-tech techniques like pinhole photography.

Miniature Pigeon Camera

Unusual Cameras Pigeon Surveillance

Inventor Julius Neubronner’s tiny harnesses fitted with cameras were received with understandable skepticism when he first unveiled the idea in the early 20th century, but once he put the photos taken by pigeons on display, his idea took off, and even the military took interest. But it wasn’t long before the invention of the airplane made the need for pigeon photographers null and void for reconnaissance purposes. Each pigeon was trained to wear the harness and fly to a specific location, and a timer in the camera took care of the rest.

Skull Camera

Unusual Cameras Skull 1

Unusual Cameras Skull 2

Photographs taken from inside a human skull are suitably eerie and nightmarish. The Third Eye Camera by Wayne Martin Belger is made from the 150-year-old skull of a 13-year-old girl. It’s a pinhole camera, with a hole drilled between the eyes letting light hit a piece of photo paper placed inside.

900-Pound Camera from 1900

Unusual Cameras Mammoth Oversized

The world’s largest camera at the time, this monster made by Chicago camera builder J.A. Anderson weighed 900 pounds and required 15 men to load it onto a horse-drawn van for transport. And it’s all because the Chicago & Alton Railway company wanted to show off their new train to the world. The camera had a 8-by-4.5-foot glass plate to take the largest possible photo of the train, which was displayed at the Paris Exposition in the year 1900.

Turtle Shell Camera

Unusual Cameras Turtle Shell

Virtually any hollow object can be turned into a pinhole camera, as demonstrated by Taiyo Onorato and Nico Krebs in their two-volume series of books, “As Long as It Photographs” and “It Must Be a Camera.” The pair found their turtle shells, taxidermy animals and other objects at flea markets.

Cane Handle Camera, 1903

Unusual Cameras Cane Handle

Made in 1903, the Ben Akiba cane handle camera features a shutter released by pulling a knob below the handle. When a roll of film is exposed, you just remove the side face of the handle to pull it out, and a new roll pops up from a storage area inside the cane. Both originals and replicas of this odd camera are in demand these days, with one selling for $ 27,000 in 2002.

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15 Of The Worlds Weirdest Low Tech Film Cameras

[ By Steph in Technology & Vintage & Retro. ]

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Rock n’ Knit: Low-Tech Chair-Powered Hat Factory

14 Nov

[ By Steph in Design & Furniture & Decor. ]

Lounging around in a rocking chair for an hour or two might make you feel lazy – but what if, as you were rocking, you were actually a low-tech, one-person hat knitting factory? Rocking-Knit by Damien Ludi and Colin Peillex modifies a rocking chair to offer “productive moments of relaxation.”

The rocking motion of the chair causes gears to turn, pulling yarn from a spool at the base up into the top area where it’s slowly knitted into a red beanie cap. Over time the knitted creation begins to drop down toward the user’s face.

ECAL Low-Tech Factory/Rocking-Knit from ECAL on Vimeo.

The machine is currently being shown in the Ruckstuhl Building as part of the University of Art and Design Lausanne (ECAL) Low-Tech Factory exhibition in Langenthal, Switzerland. The theme requires students to reinterpret the idea of the manufacturing process.

Other devices on display include ‘Oncle Sam’, a machine that processes grains of popcorn one at a time so you can enjoy the spectacle, and ‘Swing’, a punch that cuts designs into a tarp with the movement of the user.

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360Photography

Posts Tagged ‘LowTech’

CloudFisher: Low-Tech Net Turns Fog into Drinking Water for Morocco