Zipblocks Blog

I had originally wrote what follows as a “solution” in response to an InnoCentive Challenge that was seeking a solution for a “Humanitarian Air Drop.”  The quake today in Turkey prompted me to go ahead and put this “solution” on the blog.

Every time a disaster strikes one of the biggest relief problems is delivering food and water to victims in a timely manner.

Here are a just a few reasons as to why food and water delivery can be problematic:

• Quakes , tsunamis, and flooding can make airports inoperable
•  Supply routes  into damaged communities may be severely damaged or heavily congested
• Authorities within the impacted region may lack the training, facilities, resources, etc. to effectively manage relief efforts
• Food and water distribution points are often “localized” and sometimes require armed guards to be present so that they can ensure that everyone gets a fair share of supplies

What follows is a brief essay on how in-flight-aircraft could be used to rapidly deliver food to people by dropping thousands of over sized Maple-seed-like food-helicopters from aircraft.

For the purpose of illustration let’s consider the development of an artificial Maple-like seed capable of carrying a ¼ pound payload of food.   Seeds capable of carrying larger amounts of food could be developed, but I would argue that there is “really” no need to develop larger seeds.
All that we need to do in order to create our artificial seed capable of carrying food is to:

• Reverse engineer an actual Maple seed.  I.e. feed a Maple seed image into a computer via a laser scanner.
• Adjust the mass/size of our computer generated 3D seed such that the “new size” represents an object capable of carrying ¼ pound of food/water/supplies.
• Create a food-vacuum-sealing-process that seals food into a “plastic skeleton” that resembles a Maple seed. Most of the food would be in the area where the “nut is.” Perhaps the outer wing of the vacuum sealed seed might have a piece of Bamboo in it the size of a chop-stick to provide additional strength. The point is simply that the actual structural make-up of artificial seeds need not be complicated. A bit of research and design into artificial seed construction would undoubtedly produce seeds capable of carrying more weight in relation to their size.

But the ¼ pound seeds are so small?

Smaller is better two main reasons:

• Safety – Not much chance of a person getting hurt by a ¼ pound helicopter seed.
• Dispersion – Lighter seeds will fall slower and disperse over a wider area, thereby providing more people with the opportunity to collect food.

Let’s also not forget that when the “seed packaging process” is perfected…packaging size won’t matter because “a machine” will just as readily fill/create/produce ¼ pound food-seeds as it will ½ pound food-seeds.

Hypothetical example:

In order to deliver 10,000 pounds of food using ¼ pound seeds… you’ll need 40,000 seeds.  Imagine the joy brought to people in need when they see 40,000 seeds filled with food and supplies gently falling to the ground.

A few seed extras:

• As well as providing food the seed packaging could have things printed on them like news articles, advertising (aid from your friends in the USA…Saudi Arabia..Britain…France…etc..), upcoming weather reports, health, religious info…etc.
• Perhaps the seed design could be “tweaked” such that they could be used to build shelters that could be woven together with a piece of string.
• Seeds dispersed at night could have chem-lights or LED’s embedded in them.
• Seeds could have handles on them…like grocery bags…so that children and families can easily carry 10-20 “food seeds” back to their families.
• Because everything is vacuum packed/sealed…you can virtually deliver anything from frozen meat to fresh vegetables.
• Perhaps plastic eating utensils might be incorporated into the structural design?

Here’s an article from Wired that discusses how Maple seed pods “remain airborne for miles by harnessing the power of tornado-like vortexes generated as they spin.”

Article:   www.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/06/whirlybirds

Here’s a YouTube movie that illustrates the leading edge of a seed creating lift:

We get a considerable number of inquiries from people and organizations that are interested in using our products to build low cost housing for families in parts of the world where poverty is a major problem. When we get these types of inquires we always let people know that we are not interested in profiting when it comes to “helping out people in need.” We let them know that we’ll gladly license our products for free where this type of work is to be accomplished.

Today we are going to up our philanthropic philosophy another notch. Today we are going to release a minimalist modular interlocking dome design that could easily be used to build extremely low cost housing. This dome design was created by Zipblocks LLC. We do not want to patent this design and we encourage anyone to use this design as they see fit. All that we ask is that you might consider putting our logo on it somewhere and that if you make improvements to the design, that you publish them here or somewhere else on the web so that others may benefit from your improvements.

The dome design portrayed in the above movie was originally created with the intent of manufacturing it out of triangular foam panels that are about 5 inches thick. Two channels are integrated into the sides of all panels. The outermost channel is to be filled with an expanding foam sealant after all of the panels are locked together (run a tube into the hollow channel and spray foam into it). The inner channel is to be used for the installation of plumbing and wiring.

The channels and their placement are both optional and discretionary. Aesthetics were originally the primary influence for the creation of the two “internal” channels. Wiring could most certainly be hung from the walls, but wouldn’t it be nice to hide it within the channels? The dome could be sealed via grooves between panels on the outside of the dome, but wouldn’t it be nicer to hide the seal?

Between the sides of each dome panel there are two interlocks. These locations are the ideal for the placement of electrical and plumbing outlets as they intersect with the channels thru which wiring and plumbing run. Further, the dual purpose interlocks not only hold the panels together, they also provide a sturdy junction for electrical and plumbing fixtures. The interlocks act almost the same as junction boxes within a regular home, only they also facilitate plumbing hardware.

How do you get foam into the outer channel? Actually this is very easy. The panels would come with small disposable tubes pre-inserted into the channels. The tubes would run from the extreme ends the panel channels, up to and out of the cam holes. Several tubes would be sticking out of each cam hole at the time of panel installation. After all the panels are in place, pressurized foam would be pumped into these tubes; this action would fill the channels with foam, making the dome waterproof and adding to its stability.

While our original design was based on foam panels, lightweight concrete panels could be used as well. A dome is after all, a self supporting structure that delivers all of its load forces to its base.

Let’s assume that the domes illustrated here are being manufactured and distributed to people that need to live in them. To further elevate the standard of living one could further customize panels such that:

• Dome panels could have solar panels embedded directly into them. The wiring could be kept within the channels. Inter-connectivity could be managed at cam holes.
• Panels could have LED lights in them. Would be powered by solar. Perhaps each panel would have a switch that enables the panel light to operate by itself or they could all be turned on at the same time?
• Bottom panels could have battery compartments integrated into them so that a certain amount of power would be available after dark.
• Panels could have computers, radios, displays, or TV’s integrated into them.
• The outsides of panels could have a clothes drying apparatus attached to it.
• The outside panels could have fixtures on them for lifting the domes so that assembled units could be moved if necessary.
• Other fixtures like TV antennas or satellite dishes might be fixed to them. Commerce and educational domes might need this type of equipment.
• Perhaps a custom fitting gutter kit around the base of the dome might feed a mini water cistern.
• Perhaps some of the panels at the base of the dome could be outfitted with embedded water storage tanks that could hold rainwater.
• Some of the dome panels could have windows embedded within them.
• The interior sides of the dome panels could be “peg boarded” or “grooved” so that fixtures like cabinets, ceiling fans, shelving, furniture, etc. could be attached to them. The finishes on these interior panels could perhaps have a pleasant wood grain finish.
• Perhaps a small solar driven water timer and pump might feed a few vegetable plants precise doses of water via tubes coming out of the mini cistern (something on the scale of a small aquarium pump). This same mini plumbing system might be used to deliver limited amounts of water for cooking.
• A sink could be customized to attach to a panel and hook up to the mini water supply.

A great many things could be customized and integrated into panels such that every panel could enhance the quality of living for its intended occupants. The key is to integrate these enhancements directly into the panels. By integrating “quality of life enhancements” directly into panels you:

• Simplify kits. Outside of the panels, very few extra parts floating around.
• Lessen the opportunity for damage. If parts are embedded, the panels will aid in safeguarding them from damage much more so than if they were to lay around in the open somewhere.
• By building custom panels with predefined feature sets, costs can be cut. It’s easier and cheaper to “stamp out” consistent parts as opposed to “customizing each part.”
• As more people come up with more ideas all that is needed to integrate these new ideas is a new panel that embraces these ideas.

Mass production, modularization, and investments into this dome design could easily raise the standard of living for people that need help.

Ask yourself this. If I were very poor and had virtually nothing how might my quality of life would be improved if I were to move into a dome with some/all of the features described earlier?

A few closing lines. While everyone enjoys helping others out, it is even more important that those that are helped out are provided with tools and opportunities to help themselves such that they may become non-dependent on assistance from others. Perhaps some of the panels might be have audio/video instructional lessons on reading, writing, sanitation, health, farming, setting up a business, etc. A person that can provide for himself/herself and his/her family will be much prouder of themselves than a person that cannot provide for themselves and their family. Pride in oneself, one’s family, and in one’s country is quite simply “a very good thing!”

If you like this dome idea please forward it to someone whom you think might be able to act on it.

Thank you for visiting Zipblocks.com!

I want to take a moment to post what might be a solution to capping the well in the gulf. I’m not a mechanical engineer but I think that the approach I’m about to suggest is very simple and do-able. I’ll try to briefly describe the concept in words but I think the very crude movie that I put together very rapidly does a better job of illustrating how this solution might work.
In your mind’s eye visualize a car piston that has rings on it and a connecting rod attached to it. Remove the connecting rod. Hollow out the piston such that it resembles a cylinder. Enlarge the size of this object such that it will fit into the top of the well. I believe that the well is around 2 feet in diameter. Our hollowed out piston is slightly less than this diameter. Let’s adjust the thickness of the sides of our cylinder such that they are 4 inches thick. Next we drill 1 inch holes at 6 inch intervals thru the center of the outside walls of the piston around the entire circumference of the hollow cylinder. The top 4 to 6 inches of these holes get threaded. Remember that our cylinder has rings on it? Well the drilled holes intersect the cut-out within which the rings are seated. We drop what resembles a slug-javelin into the holes that we drilled. The real shape of these slugs more closely resembles a wedge made from a cylindrical piece of steel. We next insert bolts into our threaded holes until they meet up with the slugs. At this point our rings are not extended. The action of further tightening our bolts pushes the rings out very forcefully. Were this action to take place within the broken well cap this part would be held firmly in place.

What has been described so far has been a very rough description so I’ll elaborate a bit more. As opposed to having multiple grooves in this cylinder (like a regular car piston) our cylinder only has one groove in it for ring placement. Within this groove we place two rings. All these parts fit snugly into place with nominal room for moving around (this restricts oil flow – nominal voids). The two rings are placed such that their open ends are on opposing sides. This placement gets rid of a void thru which oil might flow (openings in the rings). Perhaps our rings might have a small groove on the outside of them. Within this ring-groove one might place a rubber seal? The top of this cylinder that we inserted would be made such that a real cap and/or valve could readily be mounted to it after its placement.
If you think that this solution might work please forward a link of this blog article to someone that you think might be able to act on it.

Thank you for taking the time to read this.

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 (HowToMake2x4Blocks.pdf 4.8 Megs) shows many more pictures of them and details how they are constructed.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.