Rebuilding Haiti Block by Block

I have been working on the development of 2×4 Zipblocks for quite some time now. In a previous blog entry I referred to them as ?wooden cinder blocks.? The recent turn of events in Haiti prompted me to post this article to my blog.

Before going any further I just want to say that I don?t want to make any money when it comes to helping out people in need. If a manufacturer elected to produce and ship them to Haiti I would be happy to forgo any royalties.

I simply believe very strongly that these new blocks could really help folks in Haiti with their reconstruction efforts.

Below are a few detailed pictures of these blocks. This PDF (HowToMake2×4Blocks.pdf 4.8 Megs) shows many more pictures of them and details how they are constructed.

Posted in Zipblock Discussions
Tags: Haiti, rebuilding haiti, reconstruction

Mass-Displacement-Pump

I?ve had this idea about a rather unusual water pump for some time but I simply haven?t had much time to scrutinize it so I?m simply going to post it to the blog and let other folks pick it apart. I decided to call it a Mass-Displacement-Pump because the idea is to use displaced mass to accomplish work.

The idea of the Mass-Displacement-Pump is simply that a piston within a sealed cylinder can siphon water into itself so long as the downward forces are greater than the forces needed to lift water upwards. The key to the system is that after the forces achieve equilibrium and the flow of water stops the dynamics of the environment are physically altered via minimal intervention. By simply sealing the water filled system and opening a valve in the piston which has less mass than the surrounding water the piston should rise and one should be able to repeat the process (pull more water upwards).

The law of conservation says that you cannot get more energy out of something than you put into it. So I?m guessing that atmospheric pressure or something would limit the efficiency of this system. Perhaps this method might provide a somewhat energy efficient way to transfer water to higher levels. I simply don?t remember enough physics to dig into this very deep. The movie below is crude but it does manage to illustrate the proposed concept.

Posted in Zipblock Discussions
Tags: mass displacement, pump

Using Artificial Fractal Tree Roots in Construction Design

I have a habit of constantly analyzing ?the way things are done? and then thinking about ?ways that they could be done better.? Lately, I have found myself thinking a lot about trying to maximize the transmission of loads thru commonly built structures. My thinking is that if one could somehow maximize the absorption, dispersion, or transmission of loads thru structures?that these efficiencies would lower construction costs, improve structural integrity, and perhaps allow us to ?rethink? some of current ?out of the box mainstream construction recipes.?

One of the things that I always try to do when I think about things like this is to simply look at everything around me and try to find existing examples that ?fit the need.? This ?look? includes just about everything from looking at natural forms (biomimicry) to browsing different technologies on the internet.

What originally prompted me to begin this research was the idea of improvements in bridge design and construction. After looking at endless pictures of bridges on the internet and reading about the advantages and disadvantages of each type I decided to try and come up with some sort of new arched bridge design.

After deciding on focusing my designs around an arch, my next challenge was to somehow minimize the use of construction materials, but at the same time optimize the transmission of forces from the top deck, to the arch, and then down to the ends of the arch. While there are quite a number of different ways to construct arched bridges, I was looking for streamlining the construction process via making bridge assemblies more modular and also looking for alternative ways to transmit loads throughout the structure. Most all of the designs that I came across employed only some of the features that I was looking for.

While driving down the road one day, I was still thinking about how one could use arches and somehow do a better job of transferring forces throughout the structure. I looked out my window and saw a few trees. I thought to myself, ?trees.? Wow, you know if you think about it, their root systems do a fantastic job of transferring loads in a great many ways.

Think about this. You can plant a tree in loose sand and the root system will grow into this loose sand and prevent the tree from tipping over. How many trees just ?up and fall over?? Even in severe storms the root systems of trees do a wonderful job of keeping trees standing.

The next challenge was, ?OK, so roots are great at transferring loads, but how could you ever integrate them into modern construction methods without going thru great pains or introducing a lot of cost?? The answer is quite simply that roots are fractal in nature. This means that you can simply construct different root sizes and join them all together to form a ?root system.?

The picture up by the title illustrates how to create roots out of arches or out of triangles. Both arches and triangles are notorious for the strength that they provide. What is interesting about the two roots shown in this picture is that while they both appear to be quite complex, they are very simple in that they these artificial root systems are made from only four different sizes of roots.

The secret to the root system?s strength lies in its ability to disperse loads from a focused area like a tree trunk down to all of its roots and into the earth. The manner in which this gets accomplished suggests that ?for artificial root systems? you do not have to embed roots into solid building materials like concrete to achieve the same effect. I.e. you could put your roots into any material that is somewhat firm and achieve similar results. Perhaps a lighter material like foam could be used. Perhaps a balance between the roots and supporting medium could be struck whereby each material compliments the strength characteristics of the other.

The picture below shows how upside down roots could transfer surface loads directly to multiple arch-root segments. The lower arched modular root segments could perhaps be encased in a modestly firm foam-like material? The upper portions of the upside down roots would probably have their roots encased in a rigid material like concrete. Perhaps flat concrete panels that have their undersides dotted with holes that match up with the fractal root patterns could be placed over the upper roots to lock everything into place?

The picture below provides a broader view of how surface areas might be supported by arches and roots beneath them. Perhaps the hollow areas between the surface and arches might be filled with foam to add stability?

A few final words about the drawings and this blog entry ? I don?t plan on patenting any of the ?fractal root ideas.? I simply wanted to share these ideas, drawings, and thoughts with people that might have an interest and/or see some value in them. There are a lot of new composite materials out there that would probably be well suited towards creating modular, lightweight, bridge construction systems like the one discussed here. The physical characteristics and features of fractal roots can be altered in virtually limitless ways. The designs used to illustrate core concepts on this page are somewhat exaggerated for ease of illustration.

Finally, before ending this article, I just wanted to leave a few links that illustrate some innovative new concepts:

• Advanced Infrastructure Technologies ? These folks are developing some really nice composite bridge systems. This link is to a video on their site that shows how they are using composite arch segments to build bridges.
• Civil Engineering (The Online Magazine of The American Society of Civil Engineers) ? This link is to an article that describes how some folks in China are using ?rooted caissons? to support an approach span on the side of a river.
• University of Delaware (Hillman Composite Beam) – This link is to a very interesting PDF document about ?Hybrid-Composite Railway Bridge Girder Fabrication, Testing, and Analysis.?

Posted in Zipblock Discussions
Tags: arched bridge, construction design, fractal, fractal roots

Wooden cinder blocks?

Most all of our early prototype blocks were made from plywood. We had chosen plywood because it is a very easy material to work with, it is relatively inexpensive, and it is quite strong. We received a lot of inquiries from people that wanted to buy plywood blocks and build with them. However, manufacturers and potential investors felt that production costs, block size limitations, and the fact that plywood only has around 50% of the strength in tension compared to ?same-sized? pieces of dimensional lumber to be the biggest deterrent to being commercially manufactured.

Based on all of the feed back we received we are now in the process of producing prototype Zipblocks out of ordinary 2×4?s.

Here are a few key features of our 2×4 Zipblocks:

• These blocks act like extremely long cinderblocks.
• Construction costs for a concrete block wall are approximately 60% for labor, 25% for concrete block, 15% for other materials such as mortar and reinforcement. Source article. —- We estimate construction costs for 2×4 Zipblock wall construction to be 85% for block, 10% for labor, and 5% for other materials such as glue and nails. Note that the labor costs are 50% less than that of a concrete block wall. If one takes into account the costs per square foot of wall and raw materials cost, the net result will be that 2×4 Zipblock wall structures will cost about the same as cinder block structures. Zipblock structures can be built much faster though and the walls are much easier to finish out.
• Wall fabrication with Zipblocks is much faster because blocks can be placed rapidly, blocks are larger, no need to wait on mortar curing/drying.
• Concrete blocks are not very green, they are extremely energy intensive to make and transport.
• Wooden 2×4 Zipblocks are green in that they are lightweight and manufactured out of wood, a sustainable resource.
• Wooden 2×4 Zipblocks are as easy to assemble as toy-construction-bricks. Unlike cinder blocks, no skilled labor is needed for wall assembly.
• Perfectly straight walls are easy to produce as 2×4 Zipblocks naturally form straight walls.
• 2×4 Zipblocks are made from wood, they are naturally insulative.

We strongly feel that once tested and certified for building, that Zipblocks will be a great alternative to cinder blocks. Granted cinder block walls reinforced with concrete and rebar will be able to support much heavier loads, but where lighter loading conditions are present, like in residential home construction, 2×4 Zipblocks will be very appealing in that they will enable:

• Labor savings ? No skilled labor needed for wall construction.
• Tornado/Hurricane resistance – Walls will have a nominal 3 inch thickness of solid wood.
• Strength ? Walls built out of 2×4 Zipblocks will be vastly stronger than generic ?stick-built? walls. Wall sections are fully interlocked and nailed together.
• Time savings ? Drop blocks into place and build walls instantly.
• Energy Savings ? Wood is a natural insulator. *Presumably wall cavities would be filled with foam.

Shown below are a few pictures of our 2×4 Zipblocks. Within the next month or two we will be constructing an 8 by 10 foot utility building out of these blocks. When we build this demo building we plan to film its assembly and take pictures so that we can show people just how easy it is to work with 2×4 Zipblocks. We will post pictures and updates here as well.

The above image shows to interlocked eight foot long 2×4 Zipblocks.

The core concept for these blocks is to stack blocks about eight feet high, drop studs down between the lugs, and then use a nail gun to lock them into place. The above picture shows a single stud inserted between two lugs. Up to three studs can be inserted between each lug.

The above picture simply shows to wooden cinder blocks (2×4 Zipblocks) laying side by side.

Posted in Zipblock Discussions
Tags: blocks, cinder blocks, green, wooden cinder blocks

Building Furniture Out of Zipblocks

In this post we simply wanted to illustrate how simple it is to build furniture out of Zipblocks. We?ll use the planter box in the below picture to show just how simple it is.

To see step by step instructions on how this planter was created you can click on this link. Note: All the steps are outlined in the first comment. You can click on this link to watch a YouTube video that illustrates how easy it is to build this planter box.

Posted in Zipblock Discussions
Tags: building, furniture, planter, planter box

ZipBlockster – ZipBlock Go Kart Project

In the past we have built a deck, wall unit, and playhouse using Zipblocks. This time we wanted to build something a bit more exciting so we decided on building a go kart using Zipblocks. We feel that this project will be both fun and illustrate just how versatile Zipblocks are. We have decided to call our go kart the “ZipBlockster” as we are going to try and make it look like a dragster and we wanted to use a unique name.

Shown below is the frame that we have built for the go kart. The frame is just over 7 feet long. As we continue to build the ZipBlockster we will add more comments and photos to this blog entry.

Posted in Zipblock Discussions
Tags: go kart, gokart, homemade, kart, zipblockster

This is our first entry in the blogosphere.

We are a small startup company. At the moment we consist of only two people, some very unique intellectual property, and an advertising budget of around $6 a day. We are getting around 25 to 35 visits a day on our site.

Despite our “smallness” we have received calls and emails from builders, schools, entrepreneurs, suppliers, and other folks that are very excited about our products.

It seems that we have products that people want…but that they are simply not being manufactured. It’s both a bit exciting and a bit frustrating to be in this predicament.

It is our hope that the blogosphere will provide counsel and lend a voice to our endeavor. On that note…let us begin our journey…

Within this section of the blog…you can post any questions that you might have and we’ll try and respond to them within 24hrs.

Note: Your comment(s) will appear after approval. Once approved you can post as often as you wish. If we did not review comments for approval this entire blog would quickly be spammed with unwanted links.

Posted in Zipblock Discussions
Tags: blogosphere, first post, startup company