US Army M1 Helmet - Korean War

A few weeks ago Time Magazine carried a story about the return by North Korea of the remains of US soldiers missing during the Korean War. The remains were sent in 55 boxes, but the boxes also contained things other than bones. In one box was a US Army M1 helmet that looked something like this. Modeled in Blender and rendered with Cycles.

Lunar Roving Vehicles Wheel

The Lunar Roving Vehicles (LRV, often referred to as Lunar Rovers or Moon Buggies) were made for the Apollo 15, 16 and 17 missions. They were transported to the mood in the Lunar Module and unfolded on the surface. All three of them are still there.

Each of the LRV’s four wheels, designed and made by General Motors, was powered by an electric motor housed in the wheel hub. The LRV had four-wheel drive and four-wheel steering. The Wheel assembly consisted of a spun aluminum hub (81 cm in diameter), a steel mesh tire with titanium chevron treads and inside the tire was a circular bump stop frame to protect the hub.

Interestingly, the LRV Operating Handbook published by general contractor Boeing in 1971 is available on the internet as a PDF document.

#Lunar_Roving­_Vehicle #LRV #Rover #Apollo #Blender #Cycles

Curiosity Mars Rover Wheel

Today on the surface of Mars there is a message made by the wheels of Curiosity. The message in Morse code is: dot dash dash dash; dot dash dash dot; dot dash dot dot. Spelling out, of course, the initials of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, JPL. And this configuration is not entirely frivolous. As the rover moves over the Martian surface it photographs its own tracks, thus providing an odometer record for the trip. Who says engineers don’t have fun?

The wheel, seen here from the outboard perspective, is cast aluminum 50 cm in diameter and 40 cm wide.

Modelled in Blender and rendered in Cycles.

#Mars #Curiosity #rover #Blender #Cycles

Old Tools

Old Wagon Wheel

Conestoga Wagon

In the decade before the American Revolutionary War, the Mackey family, my ancestors, sold their farm in central Pennsylvania, loaded their belongings into their wagon and travelled on the Great Pennsylvania Wagon Road to western North Carolina, a journey of over 500 miles (850 km) to start a new life on the frontier. Their wagon was probably a Conestoga, the most common type of freight hauler in the colonies at the time. The typical Conestoga was 18 feet long (5.5 m), 8 feet 3 inches wide at the hubs (2.5 m) and 11 feet high (3.4 m). It weighed about 12,000 pounds (5,400 kg) and had a cargo capacity of five tons (4.5 metric Tons). These wagons were typicaly pulled by a team of six or seven strong horses. The distinctive curved shape of the cargo box was designed to prevent the cargo from shifting on the primitive roads of the time. The wagons were not cheap: the cost of a Conestoga in the 1770’s was about $250.00 or $5,600 in today’s money. Horses and tack cost another $1,200 ($36,300 current value.) This model is based on the drawings of Donald W. Holst in Conestoga Wagons in Braddock's Campaign, 1755, by Don H. Berkebile, Smithsonian Institution, 1959. http://www.gutenberg.org/files/29653/29653-h/29653-h.htm

Wells Fargo Stage Coach

Between 1852 and 1869 the Wells Fargo company built the largest stage transportation system in the world by their own efforts and acquiring other stage companies along the way. The iconic stage coach used by Wells Fargo was built in Concord, New Hampshire, by carriage builder J. Stephens Abbot and wheelwright Lewis Downey and cost $1,100. For the first nine years the company provided mail and passenger service between Saint Louis and San Francisco on the “Butterfield Line”, a route that passed through El Paso, Texas, Los Angeles, CA, and the California Central Valley, a distance of 2,757 miles (4,437 km.) The trip took 28 days. With the outbreak of the civil war in 1861, a new rout had to be found passing through Denver and the Rocky and Sierra Mountains. When the transcontinental railway was completed in 1869, the stage coach service was no longer viable and was terminated.