February 19, 20215 yr 12 hours ago, ThomasPowers said: Out here that would make a great solar cooker; Al foil on the mesh and a plate to set the pot on at the focal point. I made one out of a solid satellite dish and covered it in mirrored tiles when I was a cub scout. It would catch wood on fire in less than a minute. The adults were impressed and somewhat irritated with me at the same time. Hahahaha. I made one a few years ago with the fresnel lens from a projection screen TV that worked pretty well too. Pnut
February 19, 20215 yr 2 hours ago, pnut said: The adults were impressed and somewhat irritated with me at the same time. Plus ça change....
February 19, 20215 yr Seeing as I was stationed on several lighthouses in the USCG, I have fond memories of polishing the brass on the main light's. Those lenses would amplify the light from a 100 wt incandescent bulb or Alladin lamp, so it could be seen from miles away. If one had to go up to the main light when it was running dark glasses were in order.
February 20, 20215 yr I've been watching a docu series about The Irish Lights. Those folks were cut from a different cloth than the average Joe. Pnut
February 20, 20215 yr IDF&C, did you ever run into the Cuban Navy? My dad's first sgt. was in the coast guard before he went in the Army and he used to tell me about the Cuban Navy, a single old oiler (is that the correct term for a ship that burned oil for fuel?) that could be seen puffing smoke from miles away.
February 20, 20215 yr My family visits the Washington beach at cape disappointment every year. They have a lighthouse with similar lens. Using solar oven ideas, someone probably could create a functional "solar forge". Nadar Khali in his book talks about using tall towers with rapidly rising hot air to create wind tunnels, creating ice in middle of desert on north side of thick wall. The opposite could also be created with same concepts like a "solar rocket stove" with fresnel lens in parabolic enclosure.
February 21, 20215 yr 9 hours ago, BillyBones said: IDF&C, did you ever run into the Cuban Navy? I don't recall the Cuban Navy term. When I was stationed at the Watch Hill RI Lighthouse in '65, there was a side wheeler tourist boat that plied the Block Island sound and the steam boilers were run on oil which could be seen billowing smoke from it's stack for a long way off.
February 21, 20215 yr 21 hours ago, Will-I-am said: solar oven ideas, someone probably could create a functional "solar forge". They use mirror arrays to heat salt up to molten temps for producing electricity with steam. I'm sure it could be done. Might take some time and and a big lens though to get it right. Pnut
February 21, 20215 yr Mike Reynolds author of all the earthship books, uses lots of solar devices. Solar panels for pumping dc water pumps, batteries, and fans. He also does some really neat solar chambers, one is a solar toilet where the wastes drops and gets baked to ash by the sun or heated for faster composting. Solar distillers, solar water heaters with black painted surfaces, he uses perforated metal to filter graywater which bakes the filtered particles to ash so the grow beds are not clogged. Collecting rainwater in cisterns. I built a rocket stove smoker years ago but I goofed the design and now it makes an excellent grill with the used forge coals. Used an old metal 40gallon cylinder and reciprocal sawed it in half. A rocket forge and mirror forge are interesting and I will study further.
March 1, 20215 yr Storing electric has always been the real downfall for solar though I knew a guy who ran a dc pump and filled a big tank uphill a ways and ran a pelton wheel when the sun was down. Not much use here though. Mr. Slag sent me a link to an article a couple days ago that could make solar a lot more practical. https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20210223-the-battery-invented-120-years-too-soon Frosty The Lucky.
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