Seawork 2015, the definitive event for the marine engineering industries leading movers and shakers, docked in the Port of Southampton last week. From global communications equipment to cutting edge working vessels berthed on the pontoon, Seawork International brings together industry buyers, sellers and designers for a world-class three day Expo widely regarded as the essential [...]
Has the smart phone revolution already powered up a Continent? How smart phones change lives in the developing world. The Economist reckons that by 2020, 80% of the adults in the world will have a smart phone (a great article on http://www.economist.com/news/leaders/21645180-smartphone-ubiquitous-addictive-and-transformative-planet-phones ). I remember an article ten or fifteen years ago in the same [...]
If 700 bar very high pressure hydraulics cuts mass and space envelope, is it the future for hydraulic systems? Jacking and work holding hydraulics at 700 bar from the likes of Enerpac, Hi-Force and Power Team has carved out a massive global business. This international "standard" of 700 bar equipment must have been used for [...]
In a week when Bertrand Piccard and his co-pilot André Borschberg are just about to start the tricky Pacific leg of this amazing round the world trip in their solar powered aircraft, Solar Impulse, clearly there is still a place for ground breaking trips that push a boundary of human achievement. Magnificent men and women [...]
How will scamsters get their hands on people’s pension pots? I have just had the first bulk e-mail promising a 16% return on a 50K property investment, but I am sure that they will be playing a more subtle game as well. History can tell us a lot about financial scandals, bubbles and scams going [...]
Why wouldn’t you look at low pressure hydraulics first? Think low pressure hydraulics! When designing a one off hydraulic system or for that matter a new piece of OEM hydraulic equipment, I suppose it is temping to dive straight into 250 bar components and techniques which are just everywhere. On some OEM hydraulics, you might [...]
Paul Durand-Ruel must be the art dealers' dealer. As a well established dealer in Paris in the late 1800's, he knew Claude Monet and was introduced to young Pierre-Auguste Renoir and his circle of friends including Camille Pissarro, Berthe Morisot, Alfred Sisley and others. He had the vision to bet the house on buying a [...]
No end has been written about the two men, their long running rivalry and how they shaped the Baroque Rome that we still see today. The work of both guys is just stunning. Having trekked round Rome, I just marvel at the imagination. But who would be the designer's designer? Which of them would be [...]
How clean hydraulics is the key to reliable hydraulics. Cleanliness is key to reliable hydraulics. Yes, you may get failures for assorted engineering reasons, but our take is that building systems clean dramatically improves reliability and that then flushing a system can be an amazingly good investment. Keep in mind the difference between building clean [...]
Would Alfred Lord Tennyson still know it? How Orchards Brothers' heritage goes back five generations. Orchard Brothers in Freshwater Bay, Isle of Wight is an institution. Alfred Lord Tennyson used to pop across the road to the shop from his beautiful house, Farringford, to buy some ciggies or a clay pipe (I reckon). I am [...]
