I saw this at a friend’s house in Italy. I walked around for some time trying to guess what it was used for.
Obviously, it has something to do with a bicycle. But there are few more things you might recognise. There is a switch and on the top right there is a small electric motor. At the bottom, on the ground there is something that looks like a jack. In the middle there is something that looks like a sluice gate.
What’s a sluice gate? Here is a picture of one I found on the net:
Here’s another view:
So we have an old bicycle, a jack and a sluice gate. One interesting thing, which I find truly ingenuous, is the rod transferring movement from the paddle to the jack. The pile of firewood in the background told me that the purpose of this is splitting wood.
The best thing about this is that it is connected to a solar panel:
Using the electricity from the panel the small electric motor turns the wheel. This in turn turns the pedal and creates Reciprocating motion on the rod. The rod moves the jack’s lever and the jack raises.
This pushes the wood onto the guillotine and splits it. As there is enough sunlight in Tuscany, this means that wood can be split for free.
I think this is very cool. When I get home I’m going to make a few lesson plans with this.
