[Peripherals] Alternitive Power for Developing Countries

[Caryl Bigenho]

Hello Javier Rodriguez and, all the other folks on the peripherals list,

After seeing the creative things Arjun Sarwal is doing with cow-power in India, I started thinking of other possibilities. I remembered my grandmother's old treadle sewing machine and how excited she was to have it electrified.  Later, I saw many being used 35 years ago in regions in the Yucatan where there was no electricity.

Here is a link to a picture of what they look like.  It is the one on the left.

http://www.sil.si.edu/DigitalCollections/Trade%2DLiterature/Sewing%2DMachines/

Many of these machines still exist.  i see them at estate auctions every summer in Montana.  There must be thousands throughout the world.  I have twice tried bidding on just the treadle mechanism of one on ebay. I lost out on the bidding for both, but have hopes of finding one in Montana this summer.

When I get one, I intend to try to set it up as a combination desk/power source to run an XO.  If it works and doesn't cost too much to set up, it might be something that could be replicated all over the world where these old machines still exist...some probably still being used without electricity.

Javier, have you seen any of these machines in rural Peru?  Are they still being used to sew?  Would there be a need to try to design it to continue to be used as a sewing machine but to generate power at the same time?

It might also be possible to manufacture a similar mechanism, at a modest cost.  But, the idea of recycling the old ones has a lot of appeal. I was also wondering if an old automobile generator could be adapted to work with it.  Perhaps it would require too much torque to work.

It may be just a crazy idea, but if cow-power works, maybe this will too. If and when I do this project, I will probably need some advice from you folks.  Any suggestions for starters?

Caryl

BTW, Could AJ's Cow-power generator be adapted to run on Llama power?  How about donkey power?  Goat power?
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