What human powered machines do you own?

Post by **mikepepler** » 05 Oct 2007, 08:26

Sally wrote:
Vortex wrote:A corkscrew.

Now you're talking!

Peak grapes will be hard to handle.... some how I just don't think the 4 little bunches of pea sized grapes in my green house will ever make good red wine.

If things are that bad, you'll need to be eating them rather than making wine I think...

RenewableCandy · Post by **RenewableCandy** » 06 Oct 2007, 23:24

Heck I forgot our lawnmower! In fact all our gardening stuff is human-powered but then our garden isn't very big

Right, back to the other stuff. The Singer has now been lovingly cleaned and oiled, its previous owners were thoughtful enough to have kept the instruction book(!) so everything's a bit easier. I have also polished the metal part of the stand with oil and cleaned the wooden bits with some kind of evil solvent (not very eco, but if you only do that once a century...) Well it 'runs' smoother (no treadle belt yet, the local sewing-machine emporium is ordering one, along with some needles) and it looks a heck of a lot better. I really love bringing old stuff back to life, probably just as well...

Downshiftgal · Post by **Downshiftgal** » 12 Oct 2007, 15:25

We bought a push-along lawnmower last year, and I have a carpet sweeper which I use in preference to the vacuum cleaner. All torches are now hand-cranked as well.

I've also given up the electric mixer for baking, and have resorted to the good old-fashioned wooden spoon. I figure a bit of vigorous mixing might burn off some of the calories

I'd love a treadle sewing machine, but currently have nowhere to put it since we got a freecycled piano...

biffvernon · Post by **biffvernon** » 12 Oct 2007, 21:25

Downshiftgal wrote: we got a freecycled piano...

Would that be one of the old fashioned sort? No electricity but you hit a key and levers operate to trip a hammer that hits a bit of taut wire that vibrates and resonates in a big wooden box? They were great. My gran had one.

snow hope · Post by **snow hope** » 13 Oct 2007, 00:31

Yes, I have one of these - an upright one. It is German and worth a few bob - bought at an auction for a couple of hundred squid. My youngest son plays it from time to time - he is quite good. I know the basics but he is quicker than me......

Downshiftgal · Post by **Downshiftgal** » 13 Oct 2007, 20:00

Yep, definitely no electricity needed for this piano. Only problem is that husband tends to break into involuntary attacks of "Roll Out The Barrel" whenever he sits down at it...

We were lucky and got it for free because a friend of a friend was moving and couldn't be bothered to shift it. So we got it for a batch of cakes and sending round my husband and father-in-law with their van to fetch it...

Bargain, says I!

RenewableCandy · Post by **RenewableCandy** » 13 Oct 2007, 23:01

Hmmm we've got one too. And a couple of guitars (sorry! DSG's avatar reminded me

)

bobthebaker · Post by **bobthebaker** » 14 Oct 2007, 17:34

My wife.. although can be very energy intensive and liable to break down under too much stress...

RenewableCandy · Post by **RenewableCandy** » 22 Oct 2007, 17:12

Just been reminded of it in another thread (about wind-up tellies!): my bike has a dynamo.

The kids are human-powered but since they get most of their energy from me that's probably not a very good EROEI...

emordnilap · Post by **emordnilap** » 22 Oct 2007, 17:14

I run on biofuel...mainly spuds.

Anwen · Post by **Anwen** » 17 Nov 2007, 08:35

Hand mincer thingy (a tenner in Robert Dyas)
Wind up torch, wind up lantern (12 LEDs), shakey torch
Sieve and wooden spoon for pureeing the lumps of veg in soup rather than using blender
Did have a non-electric sewing machine but sold it to Shira and jmb as they have more space for it and someone gave me an electric one
Planning to buy a Kelly Kettle for heating water/food at least in the short term
An information storage system known as 'a pen and notebook'
Leifheit carpet sweeper, which is actually remarkably good at picking up dust, crumbs and hair - was expecting something like my gran's old one which just kinda trundled around doing nothing much. Bought from Lidl for a tenner
Am developing a heating system based on an integrated duvet/thermal undies/blanket set-up
Also have bought a solar battery charger, though most of the battery using items I have are fairly pre-TSHTF-ish anyway.

RenewableCandy · Post by **RenewableCandy** » 17 Nov 2007, 17:34

An information storage system known as 'a pen and notebook'

During the Apollo missions a special pen was developed, at a cost of millions of dollars, for the Astronauts. It used the very latest materials and fluid dynamics technology so that it could write in zero gravity.

The Russian Cosmonauts used pencils.

Aurora · Post by **Aurora** » 17 Nov 2007, 17:55

RenewableCandy wrote:
An information storage system known as 'a pen and notebook'

During the Apollo missions a special pen was developed, at a cost of millions of dollars, for the Astronauts. It used the very latest materials and fluid dynamics technology so that it could write in zero gravity.

The Russian Cosmonauts used pencils.

Post by **kenneal - lagger** » 18 Nov 2007, 04:40

RenewableCandy wrote:I really love bringing old stuff back to life, probably just as well...

Can you have a go on me please? After a days logging I'm in need of a tonic.

RenewableCandy · Post by **RenewableCandy** » 18 Nov 2007, 20:40

kenneal wrote:
RenewableCandy wrote:I really love bringing old stuff back to life, probably just as well...
Can you have a go on me please? After a days logging I'm in need of a tonic.

Here I confess to being a total lightweight...was going to do the same but it was driving rain all day and I just couldn't face it...