Why do circuit breakers go up for on and down for off?

The fun project was a device to electrocute your friends. I'm working from memory but you build a box to hold a couple of D cells, that had a crank with a gear at one end. Then you constructed a set of points with two flat metal pieces and an insulating strip that would make and break as you turned the crank and two girder type pieces for the electrodes. Then you wired it up to the motor and used the inductance of the motor coil.

It was sort of a DIY TENS system.

On many locos its on the outside

The issue is to arrange it so it doesn't foul the piston/connecting rods.

Some locos have internal cylinders to drive the axles.

Other arrangements are possible. I am not an anorak tho.

Socialism and central government always leads to the same sort of brutalist architecture.

Square foot for square foot, the British high rise was the cheapest way to house the wurkahs.

Some attempt to dress up the poured concrete construction with

Dressing costs money. Space is limited.

USA has lots of space and lots of trees, Chalet style ranch houses work, and if they are too hot throw in energy guzzling Aircon.

The spanish/mediterranean style houses built of brick stone and concrete with massively thick rooves, tiled floors and overhanging eaves are the most energy efficient way to live in temperatures over 30°C as the Romans and the Moors discovered.

At night airflow cools the masonry, and by day the masonry cools the airflow

Solar gain at high sun angles is reduced.

There's quite a few older than that in the UK.

However the problem is that the statistics show that eventually nearly all of them catch fire.

And there is nothing left to rebuild.

Indeed, the "Big House" in our village has been found to be based on a timber-framed structure from the 15th C. Timber is still there..

"Dating from 1395, The Crooked House in Lavenham sits at the heart of Britain’s best-preserved medieval village and is the inspiration behind the famous nursery rhyme."

The domesday book mentioned hall across the road from me here, caught fire about 25 years ago as they were 'renovating it'.

But there is a lot of the 15th century timber framed house still left. The original 1066 or thereabouts manor may be in there somewhere.

The estate is anglo saxon.

I think there are a few houses in the Downland Museum that are Dark ages. But they are repros. I dont think any actual example that was taken down and moved there, dates from much before 1400.

The oldest houses I know of in the UK are stone, at Skara Brae.

"The site was occupied from roughly 3180 BC to about 2500 BC and is Europe's most complete Neolithic village. Skara Brae gained UNESCO World Heritage Site status as one of four sites making up "The Heart of Neolithic Orkney". Older than Stonehenge and the Great Pyramids of Giza, it has been called the "Scottish Pompeii" because of its excellent preservation"

-Wiki

It can prevent a fire if the fault is a resistance that heats sufficiently connected accidentally between live and earth, at the metal chassis, which has not sufficient current to blow the fuse.

just an example.

Not much wood in Spain, and not of building quality. A lot has to be imported.

My house is all stone, mortar and bricks, and iron, except wood beams supporting the roof tiles, made from Canadian pines.

The adobe construction in the US southwest has similar properties. The energy efficiency may be a byproduct. Sun-dried mud bricks require thick walls and overhanging eaves prevent them from washing away in the infrequent but intense rains.

Trees are sparse and most aren't suitable for lumber. Stone was used in other areas like Chaco Canyon where sandstone was abundant. There may have been more timber in the period but from today's conditions they would have had to go as much as 60 miles to find suitable timber for the vigas.

You use what you have. Sod construction wasn't very pleasant but when you're on the Great Plains with plenty of sod and no trees you make do.

Exactly, I dont think adobe construction is that bad either. Surprised they never lit a fire and turned it into bricks

Exactly, I dont think adobe construction is that bad either. Surprised they never lit a fire and turned it into bricks

It doesn't heat all both sides, and needs a lot of wood, which is usually scarce in those areas.

However, I read about somewhere (Africa?) where they lit a big fire inside the house (of rounded shape, like an igloo), turning at least part of the mud to ceramics.

Fuel

Cow s*it is fairly common

It doesn't help that the oldest were made with wooden chimneys... late 1700s and Victorian era isn't so rare to see standing today.

Not much suitable to burn that isnt used for cooking food.

about 1800 degrees for 8+ hours.

Cow manure has about 7500 BTU per pound. Takes about 6000 BTU to fire a brick. Even a small 8' square cabin would be about 800 bricks. Depending on kiln efficiency, between a half to a ton of manure. About a month of poop from a well fed cow.

Firewood is fairly scarce in many of the areas where adobe was used. Mesquite can get big given a reliable water supply but typically it's more of a large shrub. Making bricks would be lower on the scale than cooking and heating. Depending on the altitude there may be juniper or live oak but they're not large either.

otoh, there's plenty of sun in the southwest and you don't have to lug it home.