Welcome to Friday Foto Flogging, a place to share your photos and photography news. We were inspired by the folks at European Tribune who post a regular Friday Photoblog series to try the same on this side of the virtual Atlantic. We also thought foto folks would enjoy seeing some other websites so each week we’ll introduce a different photo website.
This week’s theme: Tools and Machines. If you build a picture of it, we will come look.
Website of the Week: National Geographic, Best Pictures of Microscopic Life, 2008. Thanks to JimF, who linked to this site in the previous foto flog.
AndiF's Tools and Machines
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House Building Tools – Big and Small
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Two Views of an "Exploded" Engine
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Reflecting on an Auburn
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olivia's Tools and Machines
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Making cameos, Naples Italy (He looks like the toy-fixer in Toy Story 2!) Click image for larger version |
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Wine press, Vauvert France
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Ship
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- Next Week’s Theme: All Things Food.
Things to eat being made, eaten, grown, sold and the places where all that happens.
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Previous Friday Foto Flogs
In light of this weeks meltdown of Mike Griffin over at NASA, here’s some NASA machines that work or worked at one time.
Hi everyone! Your pics, let’s see ’em!
Hi Bob.
That bottom shot – is that the machine that takes the shuttle out to the launch pad?
Yeah, and that’s about as close as you can get with a 300mm, just outside the vehicle assembly building, from the bus. Dad worked for Martin/Lockheed and I used to have really good access to lots of stuff when he took us, but no pics allowed, just memories. One time he even drove us out to a launchpad. All of these are public access.
It is called a crawler transporter. It moves very slowly, something like 1 or 2 miles per hour. I only know thins because I have a truck obsessed son you could probably tell you more than I can!
Wow, even I move faster than that! 🙂
If anyone wants specifics.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crawler-transporter
Olivia,
Although I think your meeting of the craftsman & your picture of the wine press are really amazing, I do have to thank you for showing the vulnerable state of ships on the high seas.
I did always have as my credo, “Harm no one”, but jeez, don`t give me ideas.
What do you think I`d do to you if my proclivity to piracy reared it`s head?
Uh, Don`t answer that.
Great flog as you`re wont to present.
Don`t connect the two thoughts with the word “flog”, unless you want to.
Olivia,
Although I think your meeting of the craftsman & your picture of the wine press are really amazing, I do have to thank you for showing the vulnerable state of ships on the high seas.
I did always have as my credo, “Harm no one”, but jeez, don`t give me ideas.
What do you think I`d do to you if my proclivity to piracy reared it`s head?
Uh, Don`t answer that.
Great flog as you`re wont to present.
Don`t connect the two thoughts with the word “flog”, unless you want to.
“proclivity to piracy” … I like it … 🙂
Primarily, a propensity for prose, lets me publish poetry, pleasing to people who let me purloin propagated purple pie-eyed petunias.
Neat stuff, Bob. The top two pictures look like someone decided to put my exploded engine together.
It’s amazing that rat’s maze got into orbit.
Wonderful photos – I really like the top one with the hints of turquoise in the background.
What could the manual for this have looked like? This led me to think about the challenge I found following Lego manuals which have lots of pictures.
I just went looking for a Lego rocket – didn’t find one, but I did find a V-8 engine so there may be a rocket engine design around. (There’s even Lego candy.)
AndiF,
Not only am I a motormouth, but I`m a gearhead also.
The engines I was in charge of, while at sea, had to to be set up not for optimal performance, but for optimal life saving advantage.
The cummins diesels are definitely a picture to refer to when setting them up, but I`m more the seat of the pants motorhead.
The engines I was in charge of, were direct drive (no transmission) air start ones. The camshafts of these engines had double wide lobes with ramped pushrod lobes & double wide injector pump lobes. The end of the camshaft was lobed to represent each cylinder, and allowed air to whatever particular cylinder to be depressed by air pressure from reserve tanks, that had to be constantly topped off. Once air was applied, that particular cylinder was filled with air driving it downwards to turn the crankshaft which turned the geared camshaft to open another camshaft-end valve to open another cylinder valve till the compression started the engine. To change direction, the complete camshaft could be diverted to the left & all pushrods would either climb up to the high lobe, straight across, or drop to the lower lobe while the injector pump lobes just accepted the pushrods straight across since the engine needed the same amount of fuel in forward or reverse. These engines, although different than the ones blown up in your image, are a thrill for me to explore, as they are similar to MWM`s which were the engines I used for power to light up the electric systems on board. I had three of those.
The airstart diesel MAK`s were two cycle ones about twenty feet long running twin screws on a 2500 tonner.
Can you tell I just love how engines work.
I had the engines running in tip top shape with a maximum RPM of 375 at 18 knots crunching through heavy ice. That was enough to give the “man” a run for their money & plenty of my “motor magic” to make it look like they were incompetents.
Thanks for reminding me of my hellion days & for allowing me to represent in a venue of uncritical peers.
You & Olivia should be very proud.
I don`t presently have the time to comment on all the wonderful posts but it“s not for lack of wanting.
Thank you
I love engines too, Head. I find them elegant and love the “teamwork” of the parts. I definitely liked hearing about your engines. I worked at Cummins for 10 years in tech pubs and if I’d only had to deal with the engines instead of people, I might still be there.
Man’s own hands, carving the cameo, nice lighting!
He was a lovely gentleman. Very proud of his work.
tool or machine…or both?
clik to enlarge
an prime example of c. 1950 “streamlined” industrial design as applied to appliances. this bakelite and s.s. mixer/grinder was my grandmothers, then l had it for a long while. my sister in-law always coveted it, so l gave it to her for christmas 2 years ago as l rarely used it. it’s still working happily.
also, given boran2’s explorations of chrome and reflections in his latest painting palooza, it seemed apropos.
That just looks like fun, but then I like to cook.
That is beautifully sleek. And sexy.
Nice lighting!
Nice looking piece of equipment. I’m impressed that you didn’t get too many reflections in all that chrome — like of yourself and your background etc. (’cause I was looking … ;P)
it’s quite heavy, hence the stand.
that lack of reflections is a function of the lighting. the room was darkened except for the subject lighting, the primary source was from the upper left, with a bit of fill light above and to the right to soften the contrast.
wouldn’t want to jeopardize my anonymity with something as mundane as an errant reflection.
more chrome, this one’s definitely a machine: my bro’s ’78 electa-glide:
clik to enlarge
it’s more a “toy” than a tool…whatever, it’s sweet and loud!
A machine for tooling around 😉
The Syrian Vegematic, Damascus:
that’s kewl….did you buy one? hope it comes with an instruction booklet. :{)
l really enjoy your ME photos btw, they’re a wonderful insight into a culture we know too little about…wwhich is a rather long list. keep up the good work.
Thanks for the encouragement.
No, I stupidly did not buy one. Next time I am there I will buy a dozen or so, though. As for the instructions, heaven knows how useful they are – not much would be my guess.
dada, one of the things I hope people will notice is just how similar we all are when it comes right down to it. If you look below the surface humans have the same core values, the same basic desires, emotions, and psychological needs. Behaviours are not all that different when you look beneath the surface.
And people react very, very similarly to the same stimuli. And one of those basic human needs I mentioned is the need to have their humanity and dignity respected. Therefore, I go ape s*** when people try to explain away as some kind of exotic and opaque cultural oddity Iraqis’ rage over having gangs of heavily armed foreigners breaking down their doors at 3 AM and rampaging through their homes terrorizing the family, trashing the house, eating the food, taking “souvenirs”, and hauling away the men to parts unknown. Are they reacting any differently than any other human being can be expected to react? Are they reacting any differently than YOU would react? And how on earth can so many otherwise bright and perceptive Americans go so mindless as to not see this reality immediately?
OK, end of rant. Back to the pictures.
That thing is amazing!
The spiral are just gorgeous. In fact, they’re too beautiful to eat.
Aren’t they just perfect? I wish I had hung around longer and just watched to see how they do it. I am sure I could have asked him to do one for me, and he would have, especially if I made it clear I was going to buy something.
Or teach you to make your own.
artwork.
Antique donkey cart, Mutrah District, Musqat, Oman
This machine saves lives
In the pilot’s seat
Patient care aft
My friend and former coworker, the flight doc
Do you get to go for rides?
Sadly, no. The last ride I had in a helicopter was when I was working MedEvac duty on a Huey with the air force in 1986 out of Vogt Field, WI. The pilot was Wisconsin Air Guard and had served two tours flying them in Nam. The guy was an awesome pilot and loved to hedgehop flat out as fast as the thing would go about five feet off the ground. We had a blast! IIRC, he was also the guy who claimed, “Its a crime against nature to eat brats that haven’t been soaked in beer first.”
Its incredible how much equipment they can pack into one of these birds. The goal is to bring the ER to the patient, and they pretty well do that now. We can have one here in about 20 minutes. The doc’s story is pretty amazing too. He got his EMT training here when he was still in high school and began working for the local ambulance service. That’s when we worked together. He only weighed about 120 lbs. then and we took to calling him Doogie after the TV doc, partly because of his size, but also since he had a special talent for emergency medical care. He transferred to the county next door after school, and I heard he had become a paramedic. A few years later, I was amazed to hear he had completed med school and was in residency. Doogie grew up dirt poor with a single mom and about 6 brothers and sisters in a cheap mobile home a few miles north of here. He must have done med school on scholarships somehow. Now he’s doing what he loves at a “higher” level. I’m really proud of him!
It’s inspiring to hear/read stories of people who follow their passion and succeed, and who love their work. Very kewl.
Helicopter healers – thanks for sharing the photos and the stories.
I don’t have any good photos of machines or tools, but this what I did to myself (mis)using a tool a couple of weeks ago. I was trimming the bushes in the back yard using a black and decker hedge trimmer and I got careless and nipped my finger tip. You can’t see it from this angle, but they actually put a stitch through my finger nail. YOW! But overall, I’m really lucky the damage wasn’t worse. I easily could have cut off a finger or two.
The stitches are out now and the finger is healing.
Nice suture job. Glad its healing well.
Ouch!
Ow, ow, ow.
Hope it heals quickly.
Thinking of tools, hands come to mind right away. Glad yours has been repaired – hope the healing goes well.
MY MACHINATIONS,
Freedom Machine,
A before & after set. I took a magazine shot, & manually cleaned it up for a friend who flew these. He is good friends with the man who owns & did a full restoration of it.
The POW patches below this image are ones I created for my friend who was shot down over Germany on his 26th mission.
Hauling Ass Machine,
Made with parts from stuff around my office.
3D Machine
Hope to Hell it Doesn`t Bite Machine
Making it Back Alive Machine
For Boran 2 Machines
(By my friend Dave Mann)
Wind Machine
Preening Machines
Jumping Machine
The Rise of the Machine
Stone Cold Man Machine
Bad Ass Glass Machine
Image Machine
Scooting Machine
Dream Machine
Tin Machine
Biting Machine
Knucklehead`s Machine
Revolutionary Machine
Full Metal Jacket Machine
you’re a well-oiled machine. 😉
Love all the motorcycle-related pics.
And nice way to sneak a blenny in. 🙂
I really like the Art’s Garage shot. I restored a flathead when I was a kid in high school. At 130 lbs. (me then) it was a difficult ride to manage. I remember scrounging the old Southside Harley shop basement in Indy for head gaskets and other stuff.
Indiana Dem,
Here`s me with my 37 Flathead & my 37 Knucklehead. The Knuckle pictured is the same one as in my post, just reconfigured & painted a different color. I`ve been riding these dragons since I was 14, & probably would have been in your weight class also. Weren`t those the days, though!!!
That’s some nice iron.
Thanks BobX,
I like the iron you posted.
Metal spaghetti, that can take you to the moon. Amazing.
I envy your being able to have stood next to those magic behemoths.
Very nice indeed! Getting away from a hilly stop was always a challenge around here. Had a friend who had an Indian Scout for awhile. It was a fun ride.
I ride suicide & jockey.
The flathead was a “heel & toe” set-up.
I know what you mean about getting away from a hilly stop.I usually warn the vehicle behind me to stop (basically, OR ELSE)short, then proceed to the light giving myself plenty of roll back room, but in the beginning, right turns were the norm. The heel & toe clutch pedal was a trip. You can remain in gear when depressing the clutch heel, & put your foot down, while the other one is on the brake pedal. The clutch pedal remains depressed, held down by an eccentric friction disc. When the light changes, tap the “toe” part of the pedal, & off you go.
Here`s my old 46 KNUCKLE. It has my homemade springer, only a throttle cable on the Zbars,( a definite plastic surgery event, in the case of a crash) An Avon spool hub (no front brake) with a tire treaded to jerk you around in the crappy grooves on the freeway. A Cobra seat on a rigid frame. Real comfy. The pot leaves in the paint on the tank were always a conversation piece,(with the man).
And check out the anchor!!,an old mechanical rear brake that would get oiled by the oil slinging drive chain. Stop & go traffic was sure to create brake fade faster than one would normally imagine, always a gnarly wake up as you go gliding through the red light twisting & dodging cross traffic, while the “old lady”is screaming in your ear, “What the hell are you doing!!”. Staying alive, stupid, now please shut up. Oh, did I mention the useless little bulb horn, from a bicycle.
That made it legal. You can`t ride without a horn. The “Flame Thrower” slashed straight pipes were always a burning flesh experience for the girls who wouldn`t take me seriously.
Rounding all that out with a taped on 6 volt volkswagen headlight, a Joe Hunt mag, & a hex oil bag.
But I wouldn`t change those times for anything.
This was taken in 1970, in Manhattan Beach Ca
Not disappointed …
The detail in Hope to Hell it Doesn`t Bite Machine is incredible. Wow. And lol at the Scooting Machine … 🙂
That`s good, Olivia.
I wouldn`t want to disappoint you. Remember the numerous bugs I`d shoot that lived or visited in my office. Always something to startle. I never really worried about bites as I handled them, but it didn`t mean, I wasn`t hoping they wouldn`t.
Another wonderful set of photos – beautiful! Your titles always bring a smile. And I enjoyed the sharing of memories by Indianadem and you.
A question about, “Hauling Ass Machine,
Made with parts from stuff around my office.” What does it mean “Made with parts from stuff around my office?”
Thanks Tampopo,
We are our memories.
The Easyriders truck is a little piggy bank, about 12″ long.
The light poles are actually a pen stand with a magnet
from where the yellow light emanates.
A pen, set on it`s point on the base sharing the pole would be held up upright by the force of the magnet. The rails of the bridge are from parts of an image of some stainless steel strainer mesh.
The roadbed is of an old weathered piece of wood, & the cop car is from a bin of little plastic toys that visiting children can rummage through.
A faint bridge span across a reflecting stream, complete the idea.
In reality, more stuff from my office is reflected in this set of images. The driver of the “Tin Machine” is a little plastic figure from the same bin.
The “Blenny” riding the shell is a fish from one of my tanks that is composited with an old shell on one of my shelves. It was formerly in one of my large freshwater tanks.
The “Bad Ass Glass” car is another shelf dweller along with a camera from a set of old cameras.
The “Stone Cold” one is from a bunch of rocks I might observe casually but “see” faces in. I usually try to immediately mark in the expressions I first observe, to keep them in character.
Then there`s the “Dream Machine” a model of the Eisenhower Cadillac I`ve had in it`s original box for years. It is back in it`s container, as I might soon be, If I`m ever observed drawing on rocks. But hey, they couldn`t contain the cavemen, who did the same.
Machines for moving about, Sialkot, Pakistan
There’s a sense of both stillness and movement set by this photo that is really intriguing.
All kinds of transportation machines, Sialkot, Pakistan
Dog wash
Dog Dry
Wonderful shots! I’ve never seen one of those before — it sure looks like beats using the bathtub.
A car wash north of Hobart installed four of these about two years ago and we’ve never looked back.
It saves my back, our precious tank water, and has a massive blow dryer, which we use for about ten minutes just to get her half-dry.
LOL, that’s great. 🙂
Fortunately, she telegraphs her shakes fairly well, giving me a chance to step back and mostly out of range.
We’re having a lovely rainy morning here. Even if that means I have to go out in it right after I post this in order to move the water pump down the hill so that I can move its excess water to the top tank. There will be mud (and it will be attached to me).
How could I have forgotten “Mr Toolbelt” himself?
Checking the tools
Checking the materials
Checking the work
The commute home
Ooooh, so cute. Was that a sweeper-jacking?
Yes, I was Hoover-jacked. But oddly, I didn’t mind.
Great photos and titles!
I have seen “Pet Wash” on some car wash signs, but never had reason to check it out. I entertained myself imagining all kinds of pets going through a car wash ala “I Love Lucy.”
For the cooperative critter, this looks like a really good alternative to the at home bath.
Yes, “dog washing bays” (as they are called here) do evoke all sorts of surreal scenarios.
Luna makes them look easier to escape than they actually are. Mostly because she’s so tall. Almost all of the other dogs we see there barely top the tank. Also, they’ve thoughtfully supplied chains with clips on the inside of each end – for those people who need help holding their critter in place. Additionally, and sensibly, the tanks are inside a large “zoo-style” barred enclosure. So if Fluffy escapes, he won’t get far.
Centuries-old moving stuff around machine, inside the Umayyid Mosque, Old City, Damascus, Syria
Hurria,
Amazing “snapshotery” if I`ve ever seen it.
The dusty street scene with the century spanning transportation examples is very good.
Thanks! I took those snaps through the window of the office of one of my Pakistani “sisters”. She was working as the import/export manager for one of many small manufacturing companies in the city. She got married a few months ago, and sadly I was unable to fly back for the wedding.
If you buy something that says “Made in Pakistan” there is a high probability that it was made in Sialkot, especially if it is any kind of sports equipment, specialized sports garment, or beauty or surgical instrument. Sialkot is quite a prosperous little city, and quite underdeveloped relative to its per capita income. In fact, they only recently opened their own international airport, which was built not by the government, but by the business owners of the city. They got tired of shlepping their international suppliers and clients all the way from Lahore or worse yet Islamabad while they waited for the government to build them an airport, so they finally just built it themselves.
So who won the race? 🙂
LOL, great comparison shots.
What a great day for skiing – just back in!
Snow making machine:
Baccarat forest (or, Ice making machine when icy rain):
Wow,
Ask, we are supposed to get snow down to 2,000 feet here in southern Ca this weekend & into the week. Hopefully I can get some skiing in next week. That`s one of my favorite ‘get away from everything’ activities. Where is this?
You sound like you had a great time. Very cool & thanks for the reminder of what I like.
Hi knucklehead!
Nowhere fancy and famous. It’s at Butternut in the Berkshires. Low altitude skiing. Barely any natural snow, but great snowmaking conditions after the ice storm. Hope you get your skiing in next week.
Wife is from Windsor, know the area well. Nice pics!
Had to check on the map, but found it (being a furriner and all…)
Looks cold but very fun. Love the patterns of the icy branches.
Definitely on the cold side, but we were well equipped.
I’ll post a couple more in the cafe this morning (since they are O/T for the FFF).
The “Exploded Engine” photos are really wonderful – the wires, the color tones of the pieces and perspectives just come together so well. Even though I am not a huge machine/gadget fan, I could see wanting to look at these photos multiple times.
That said, the top photo in your “House Building Tools,” is my favorite. I like all the triangles – lots of geometry. There is also the feel of a giant puzzle being put together – “TAB A” into “SLOT B.” Quite a project! Did you design it? How long did it take?
It’s really amazing to see in person — if you’re ever in Columbus Indiana, be sure to stop by the Cummins Engine Company headquarters. 🙂
No we didn’t design it, though it was “our frame” — the frame was cut to order (but starting with a basic design). It took them 39 working hours to put up the frame (and the pieces weren’t identified in any way; they did all by simply knowing which went with which). And then it took Jim and me over 4 months to get it to the point that we could move out of our gawd-forsaken, evil travel trailer and into the house.
I thought maybe that was your place. Used to do some rustic construction myself some years ago. Now we’re totally conventional.
At first glance the wine press caught my eye. Even in thumbnail size there was all this “roundness” – barrel and wheel and hose and the slats (slatiness?), both vertical of the barrel and horizontal of the shutters. Then there was the green of grass and tree. Lovely!
Reading, “(He looks like the toy-fixer in Toy Story 2!),” captured me. Going to the enlargements, the artisan’s hands at work on the cameo is exquisite!
He was a very intriguing man. Was great to meet him.
That wine press was outside my hotel in Vauvert France … I was wandering around checking out the ‘stuff’ that was in the enclosed parking area while waiting for the rest of the party one day … 🙂