What human powered machines do you own?

[jonny2mad]

What human powered machines do you own?

Do you have a old hand powered treadle sewing machine, a hand powered bench drill or hand drill, a hand powered potato peeler, a hand powered torch, a hand powered washing machine, a hand powered vacuum cleaner (yes they used to make them I used to have one and a hand powered washing machine)

what stuff would you find it hard to do without electric or motor powered gadgets

save some old hand powered machines... Ive seen working treadle sewing machines being sold as bases of tables a couple of these machines and you have the basis of a mini future clothing factory

http://search.ebay.co.uk/treadle_W0QQfromZR40

[Erik]

Does anyone not have a hand powered potato peeler! I've always been averse to electric devices for squeezing oranges or opening tins etc, even before I started to worry about PO and CC!

I still have a "hand-powered" toothbrush but I'm going to switch to a simple electric brush soon cos I want to give my teeth a better chance of surviving more time after PO (Think about post-PO dentists with hand powered drills... scary!). I promise not to buy an electric toothbrush with an on-board computer though, as mentioned on other threads here!

I bought one of those induction torches but it does seem to require a lot of work just to get a faint glow. I think one of the few basic conveniences that will be most difficult to live without is electric lighting.

I remember hand powered carpet cleaners too, though now I don't have carpets now, so a broom or dustpan + brush is more the order of the day (all hand powered!).

What do you mean by hand powered washing machines though? Or do you mean a washing board? In some of the older more traditional villages in Spain there are still communal clothes washing areas where people can go to hand-wash their laundry. I don't know to what extent they're used though (I'm a doomed city dweller) but the structure is there.

What else? Foot power? I try not to use lifts, even escalators, and will be getting a bicycle soon...

[JohnB]

I'm collecting materials to build a pole lathe.

[jonny2mad]

we used to have a washing machine with a crank on the top and a handle Ive seen one since in a museum it worked really well .

At the moment I use a washing dolly or posser and a couple of large buckets

And yes we all have hand powered potato peelers that peel one potato at a time by hand.
But we used to have one that had a crank handle on the top and would peel loads of potatoes at a time with lots of little potato peelers inside this drum...it was mighty fancy

Thought of some more hand powered things you used to have treadle lathes and grinders , hobbies used to make a treadle fretsaw and small circular saw ,you often see hand turned grinders in car boot sales great tool as they dont get steel to hot

[skeptik]

What human powered machines do you own?

Cutlery, teatowels, broom, biros ...

ok... just machines with operational moving parts then , otherwise it'll gets boring.

Torch (wind up LED)
Bicycle
old style 35mm camera , which I dont use any more in favour of an electricty consuming digital camera.
antique coffee grinder.
caffetierre
old style cooking scales with iron and brass weights.
hand drill

bound to be a few things ive forgotten... but Ive got bored with this game now.

[jonny2mad]

Ive got a windup torch but its non led ,

I was thinking about treadle sewing machines last night and they are wonderful things as good as bikes, but unlike bikes no longer being made and undervalued and slowly being destroyed out of existence .

The old ones could sew leather or thick materials they are pretty indestructible dont cost anything to run and work pretty fast , Ive seen them being used to sew footwear and they dont add any co2 to the atmosphere

I found this site with a women who has a workshop of treadle machines http://www.antiquequiltdating.com/non-e ... chine.html I like the four machines set up together

I think people should set up workshops like that one that are only dependant on human energy and start green manufactering

[mikepepler]

- half-built pole-lathe (hope to finish by New Year)
- wind-up torch
- "shaky" torch (magnet + coil)
- wind-up & solar radio
- saws, hand drills, etc.
- toilet flushing (fill up bottles from the water butt and carry them upstairs!)
- hand-turned sewing machine (that I've never used yet, to my shame)
- bike
- recumbent trike
- kite buggy (OK, that's wind-powered...)

[jonny2mad]

Ive seen some recumbant bikes in the big green gathering and glastonbury carrying luggage I cant remember whether they are three or four wheels but they moved pretty fast and looked good fun .
where do you get them from

[mikepepler]

Ive seen some recumbant bikes in the big green gathering and glastonbury carrying luggage I cant remember whether they are three or four wheels but they moved pretty fast and looked good fun .
where do you get them from

I got my trike on ebay, ?800 second-hand, compared to new prices of around ?1500-?5000. The only shame is that now I work at home and use the village shop/pub/church/etc I don't really use it! I'm hanging on to it until we find a woodland to buy, and if I don't think I'll use it in the new location then I'll sell it. Fortunately, as they are fairly rare second-hand, I'll be able to sell it for what I bought it for. I'll be sad if I do sell it though, they're great fun.

Here's some websites:
http://www.ice.hpv.co.uk/
http://www.trikesandstuff.co.uk/
http://www.ihpva.org/

[RenewableCandy]

What human powered machines do you own?

...

save some old hand powered machines... Ive seen working treadle sewing machines being sold as bases of tables a couple of these machines and you have the basis of a mini future clothing factory

http://search.ebay.co.uk/treadle_W0QQfromZR40

Blimey there's a Treadle Lathe on there...And for only 99p!!!

Hmm we've got a tinopener, a load of bikes, a wind-up torch and a yet-to-be-revived treadle Singer. Btw are you the chap with the specialist site about those?

I've seen hand-powered hoovers but there are also those carpet-sweepers, we used to have one when I was a kid. A bit less use when wall-to-wall carpets came in in the 70's though.

[skeptik]

What human powered machines do you own?

umm... scissors. knives... a comb.. broom. loads of stuff really.

what stuff would you find it hard to do without electric or motor powered gadgets

Excel spreadsheets.

[RenewableCandy]

Someone's put up a working treadle Singer on Freecycle in York...

http://www.yorkrecycling.net/index.php?node=4

Get it while it's hot!!

[snowdrift]

Apart from kitchen tools (pepper mill, egg beaters), not much. I don't think human powered machines are a great idea in general (bicycle being an honourable exception). If I want to shave by hand, a sharp blade works well. A hand-powered rotary shaver (they do exist...) does not work well. Likewise, the best way to cut wood by hand is a sharp saw. The idea of a hand-cranked circular saw or pedal powered chainsaw is clearly daft.

Printing presses and musical instruments are important hand-powered machines, but perhaps not vital for everyday life.

Hand pumps (e.g. bicycle pumps, footpumps) are still common and effective.

[Vortex]

A corkscrew.

[Keela]

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.