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An Introduction To Refrigerators

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From keeping our veggies fresh, to storing our favorite ice creams and juices, refrigerators have become essential for modern day living.

The first refrigerators, so to say, were built as ice houses. These buildings consisted of man-made underground chambers, which were built close to natural sources of winter ice such as freshwater lakes. During winter, this ice and snow would be packed into the ice house along with straw or sawdust that was used for insulation. The ice house kept the ice intact for several months on end, even through summer.

Many countries claim to be the home of the refrigerator. Over the years, refrigerator technology has evolved in leaps and bounds. One of the first home refrigeration units was installed at Biltmore Estate in North Carolina in around 1895. That same year, the first commercial refrigeration unit was opened by the Vestey Brothers in London.

Modern day refrigerators primarily work on electric power, although some of the older models use gas as a source of energy. Today, a domestic refrigerator is present in 99.5% of American homes. It works using phase change heat pumps operating in a refrigeration cycle. An industrial refrigerator is simply a refrigerator used in an industrial setting, usually in a restaurant or supermarket where large quatities of food stocks are stored. They may consist of either a cooling compartment (a larger refrigerator), a freezing compartment (a freezer) or both. The dual compartment was introduced commercially by General Electric in 1939. Some refrigerators are now divided into four zones for the storage of different types of food at different temperatures.

Refrigerators have become an essential part of our daily life. They have taken their place in almost every space of life, from homes and restaurants to offices and airports. It is now considered a home support system, without which a daily visit to the grocery store would be unavoidable.

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Source by Damian Sofsian

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How to Build a Kegerator

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Bottles. We home brewers collect them, store them, wash them, and fill them. It takes time and space. Eventually we want a faster way to enjoy the beer we brew. Ultimately we want it on tap for not only saving space but to have that “Brew Pub” beer at home. Here is an easy low cost way to enjoy your own brewed beer at home straight from the tap without spending your hard earned money on a commercially made Kegerator.

When I went from single batch 5 gallon extract kits to an all-grain setup brewing 10 gallons at a time, I too got tired of the bottles and wanted to keg. I came up with an alternate way to refrigerate the kegs and tap the beer without converting an old refrigerator with a tap on the door. I went for a lower profile unit that would also look good in my living room.

I bought a small upright freezer on sale making sure I would have enough room inside to fit three 5 gallon carney (soda) kegs. I also purchased a separate temperature control unit that would run the freezer as a refrigerator. More on that later.

I needed a way to mount the tap(s) without going through the side of freezer. I also knew that I would need additional top space on the inside for the keg fittings and hoses. The lid as it was did not allow enough room, so I thought of raising it with a frame to make the unit taller. Now I was set to go.

I built a wooden frame out of 1″X4″ wood, securing the corners with L-brackets on the inside. Holes were drilled for two taps in the front and the gas line in the rear. The lid was removed and the frame placed on top securing it with window insulation between the frame and the cooler. The insulation “adhered” the frame to the freezer. The lid was placed on top. The additional height of the frame now raised the lid higher.

The lid has two brackets for mounting it to the freezer. Each bracket has two holes, a top and bottom to accommodate mounting screws. The top hole of each bracket was over the frame with the bottom holes aligning with the top holes in the freezer. The bottom holes in the freezer were now unused. The lid was secured by replacing the screws through the bracket holes. Each bracket had a mounting screw into the frame and into the freezer. The lid was secure and closed on the frame evenly.

I have a three way port to split the CO2 line into three. One for each keg. Also I have one CO2 line and a tap dedicated for a commercial 1/6 keg. I now have the option of tapping my own brew or a bought microbrew.

An external temperature control unit was attached to the side of the freezer and plugged into an outlet. The freezer plugged into the control unit. A thermocouple wire was placed through the rear hole on the frame with the CO2 gas line and hung freely in the freezer in order to monitor only the inside air temperature. A desired temperature of 60 degrees was set on the controller. In addition, I mounted a drip tray to the front with double back foam tape. My living room was now graced with a wonderful addition that truly served a purpose.

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Source by Mark Garber

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A Guide to Construction Essentials: Gantry

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If your business is into planning and organising events or engages in construction activities for companies, not only do you need to have adequate and skilled manpower, but you also need to have the right tools, equipment and a good gantry system. Combined together and executed skilfully, they can ensure success of your events and make your clients happy and satisfied. However, these equipment and gantries can be too expensive to buy and maintain. Good news is that you do not need to buy them. Instead, you can simply hire gantries for your events and construction projects. It will help you save lots of money instead of purchasing it!

What is a Gantry?

A gantry is an overhead assembly and serves multiple uses. It is primarily installed to provide protection to workers, pedestrians and the public against construction debris and falling objects from the building or construction site. However, the use of gantry in many applications other than at construction sites has also become popular. Gantries are versatile. They can easily be adapted, customized, adjusted and used in other applications. It can be used to provide an elevated platform for a variety of events of any sizes such as sporting events (e.g. marathon) and corporate events where the objective is to provide a highly visible presence and also to launch promotional campaigns. Gantries come in different sizes and designs, and they can be put up easily at different heights and widths in any locations.

Types of Gantries

There are many types of gantries you could choose from depending on your needs and purpose. Below are some of the more popular ones:

  • Gantry crane. Gantry crane is ideal for heavy-duty and industrial load needs. It is a special type of crane used for heavy-duty lifting. It is the toughest type of crane capable of lifting heavy loads. The gantry crane is commonly used at shipyards or construction sites to lift heavy stuff.

  • Tower gantry. As the name implies, this is a tower structure usually made of stainless steel at both sides which makes it very solid and sturdy. It is perfect for sporting events such as fun runs, cycling, marathons, etc. It can be erected at different heights and weights depending on the purpose of the event.

  • Lightweight gantry. This type of gantry is very light and easy to set-up. It is also affordable and works well for events that have a limited budget. It can also be set-up at different heights and widths, up to a maximum clearance and width of three meters (3m) and six point four (6.4) meters, respectively.

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Source by Steven K Difabrizio

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The History of Welding and Fabrication

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History of welding and fabrication is hard to write in one short article, but I will summarize it as much as possible…

Today when we are using different complex welding tools we need to know the history of welding a little bit. We need to look back and see when welding first came into being. To know that, we need to go back to the Iron Age.

At the time the Egyptians and the Eastern Mediterranean people first started the process of welding. They liked to apply this process to perfect the craft of welding their iron pieces to make iron boxes. This was during a time the hammer hadn’t been invented.

The hammer appeared later in the middle ages to make different kind of small iron products. They used to pound heat until it bounded. That process became older when Edmund Davy in the 1830s discovered Acetylene with which welding became much easier to do. It helped to identify the arc between two electrodes.

The invention of arc lighting gave a new modification to the conventional welding process where cutting and gas welding became far easier than the previous ones. At that time welding became popular as a joining process.

After almost 50 years, another scientist came with a new invention which influenced largely to the process. He was a Frenchman named Auguste De Meritens. He did show a new path to weld lead plates. He used the heat of the arc. This practice first started the famous carbon arc welding. It became popular from the 1900s.

The welding process became more popular in the 1900s. At that time coated metal electrodes was already invented and rapidly became very popular. The up-gradation electrode was very common at the time and all these modifications were, in fact, helping to deliver a more accurate arc. The year 1914 was really a very important year because the stick electrode was first introduced at that time.

With the perfect use of that stick electrode, many welding processes at that time became finer. Projection welding and seam welding were also greatly influenced by the involvement of stick electrode in the welding process. Many welding processes were benefited through this breakthrough in welding. The quality of gas welding and cutting began to improve rapidly. Blowtorch and low pressure acetylene were already there.

The popularity of welding businesses grew rapidly at the time of World War I. Countries were competing with each other in many aspects. Welding technology was one of them. They were trying to invent advanced technology of welding process to make powerful ships as ships played a very important role in the war.

One was able observe a revolution in welding business during this time. The British started to build their ships using the arc welding process. Because of that, arc welding became very popular in Britain and Europe. Americans had different plans and different goals to achieve. They concentrated more on repairing jobs. Instead of building new ships, they preferred to repair their ships and make them stronger. It can be seen how these powerful countries knowingly or unknowingly made a very serious contribution to develop welding process.

Airplanes also benefited from these emerging welding processes. After that revolution fifty years passed and when laser was invented, people again observed a change in the welding process and business. Laser beam welding became popular. This was a quick and automated welding process and even today this process has no competitor.

Welding has had different contributors from the different parts of the globe. Professional experts say that to become a Master of any technology, one need to know its history very well for his own improvement.

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Source by Tyler Powers

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Entrepreneurship Knowledge Services

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When an entrepreneur is starting a business he or she is faced with the requirement of several functions in which they might not be experts. They may know, for example, all there is to know about wholesale distribution but have no idea how to build a website.

Since most companies are started with very limited funds, many entrepreneurs are reluctant to set money aside to pay for consulting services to fill in their knowledge gaps. For example, many create a website from the many templates available. Some are even free.

Where the company website is concerned I feel that the use of existing templates is a false economy. The website functions as an online calling card and needs to put your best foot forward. For site visitors, seeing a format that they have seen before can reflect badly on you.

The amount of time required for the entrepreneur to become proficient enough to develop a quality website takes time away from tending to functions relating to product knowledge, operations and management. Contracting with a website development company could be the solution.

Websites, to be noticed, must go through the Search Engine Optimization (SEO) process. The purpose of SEO is to improve your website’s chances of ranking high in a search. The mechanism for doing this is complex and dynamic. This again is a very specialized function that is often beyond the capability of the business owner.

There are functions which may be grouped under the heading Entrepreneurship Knowledge Services that will present the company at its best. In addition to the website and SEO examples these can include Business Strategy Planning and Business Valuation Services.

Entrepreneurship Knowledge Services is a rich term covering what one needs to know to be a successful entrepreneur. There are other issues to be considered besides knowledge however. Do you have the right temperament? Do you have enough tolerance for risk? Can you acquire the funds to be a success?

My recent experience is that the cost of business services for the self-employed is going down. One of the reasons is the quality and economy of services from Indian consultants. My experience with two firms in India has been positive. This is simply my experience, and yours can be vastly different, but I got a substantial amount of website design for about $4,000 and SEO for about $2,000.

Your reaction may be that adding $6,000 to your startup expenses is prohibitive, but by farming this out the entrepreneur should find a quicker path to profitability.

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Source by John Vinturella

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Choosing Light Bulbs For Aesthetics

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Now when you have designed your new interior scheme and picked the lighting you do not want to go and ruin it all by selecting ugly light bulbs. There are definitely different alternatives that are available for energy saving light bulbs with different technologies, energy consumptions and aesthetics. So you need to select your light bulb for both energy saving efficiency and aesthetics. Lets look at some of the alternative bulbs that strike the balance between aesthetics and efficiency.

Halogen Light Bulbs

Halogen Bulbs are definitely aesthetically pleasing and they will save around 30% in electricity costs against the traditional incandescent bulb. As an example if you choose a clear candle halogen bulb for your chandelier then the clear light will really make the most of the sparkle from the crystals. Then if you really want that aesthetic design edge go for the candle flame tip halogen bulb which will enhance the look of your chandelier considerably and the light bulbs will really contribute to the overall looks. Clearly the bulbs will never look like real candles with a glowing flame but the simple clean design of the flame tip candle bulb is the best choice for an electric light bulb.

Compact Fluorescent Lamps- CFL’s

The energy saving bulbs which use the compact fluorescent lamp technology are certainly good from an energy efficiency perspective saving around 80% against a traditional incandescent bulb, but the aesthetics can be far from pleasing. This is just fine if the light bulb is tucked away inside a lamp and is not visible, but if the light bulb is seen under the shade or there is no sconce at all then be sure to pick the right choice. The original linear CFL’s look awful and now at least the full spiral energy saving light bulbs have improves aesthetics, but the visual appearance is still far from ideal. The best choice is to go for the globe design CFL and if you pick one with a nice spherical shaped energy saving globe light bulb, then the look can be highly desirable. This way you can get the best of both worlds with a beautiful looking bulb that will pay for itself in electricity savings in a matter of months. That has got to be a win-win situation on the light bulb front!

LED Bulbs

If you want the ultimate in energy efficiency then the best choice is the LED bulb which will save you around 90% in electricity although the initial outlay for the light bulbs is considerably higher. However, be aware of the appearance to be sure that they are right for your lighting application. Now if you have simple halogen downlighter then there are some very elegant LED MR16 bulbs available that will produce the equivalent of say 25W halogen output from a 3W LED. That is a great energy saving bulb and the aesthetics are good too.

If you have a chandelier with say 20 bulbs then if you use 40 watt traditional bulbs then you will be consuming a massive 800 watts which is enough to heat the room if it is not mod winter! This means then you really need an energy efficient bulb scheme. You can go for the halogen bulbs as mentioned above but alternatively you could fit say 3W LED candle flame bulbs which will give you a light output per bulb of around 25 watts. The aesthetics are not as pleasing as the halogen bulbs as the multiple LED lights can look rather high tech, but if you build that into your interior design scheme then the result can be quite pleasing.

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Source by Paul Nigel Towers

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Ancestor Surname: Do You Belong to an Ancient Noble Family?

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The purpose of this article is to show what you should look out for if you are searching for an ancestor’s surname and want to know if it is noble.

The most common noble predicates are “von”, “de”, “di” etc. (meaning “of”) before the surname. A predicate among your ancestors is by no means proof of nobility, and some families have wrongly assumed predicates to make themselves appear to be noble. In some countries the noble families do not have any predicates, but are noble nonetheless. A predicate is an indispensable part of a surname if the surname was originally constructed with it – if it has been assumed later (after the family was ennobled or generally recognised as noble) it is sometimes called a “prefix”.

A surname of a noble ancestor with a predicate or prefix should properly be registered on the first letter of the main name, not on the predicate or prefix. Hence my name, von Wowern, is registered under “W”, not under “v”.

Many noble surnames include words such as “gold-” or “golden”, “silver-“, “sword” or symbols which are used on the family’s coat of arms. Among your ancestors you may also find names constructed from animals (“Wolf”, “Lion”) etc. Noble surnames often, but not always, seem unusual and different (which of course was a way to make it stand out).

An incholate is typically the geographical predicate attached to a noble family. E.g. for the Prince of Wales, “Wales” is the incholate. Incholates in another sense can be used by Church dignitaries, e.g. “Titular Bishop of X Y “. In many cases the incholate was the family’s domains, but later developed into a titular attribute. In some families the loss of the geographical domain caused them to write the nobiliary title between their first name and the surname – hence it was no longer “Count X Y”, but “X Count Y”, as the family name became the new incholate. Any incholate found among your ancestors should be carefully examined.

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Source by Jan-Olov Von Wowern

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England in the First Millennium – Hygiene, Bathing and How to Deal With Fleas

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The word ‘hygiene’ in the first millennium, certainly among the Anglo-Saxons, was an oxymoron.

For instance, people would dig their latrine pits outside the backs of their houses, apparently untroubled by the odour, which would have mingled deliciously with the droppings from their animals and perfumes of similar pungency.

The flies, of course, must have had a field day. A good tramp in the latrines, followed by a stroll across any food they might find lying about in the house, no doubt made their day.

For some reason, the Anglo-Saxon thought it only fair and reasonable that his or her body should play host to any parasite that was anxious for shelter. The whip-worm, despite its name, was relatively inoffensive. The maw-worm, however, was not. It favoured people’s liver and lungs, and had the most startling habit of suddenly appearing from the corner of someone’s eye.

Fleas, on the other hand, were not well tolerated. A number of methods used to be tried to rid the householder of these pests, one of which was laying sheepskins around the bed and waiting for the little brutes to vacate the bed and embrace the sheepskin, as it were. Since the sheepskin was white, or nearly so, the flea could be spotted as soon as he landed.

I expect the bed was gently tapped to encourage their exodus, but once on the sheepskin, the homeowner would presumably leap from hiding, waving a cudgel and lay about him or her, sending as many fleas to the promised land as possible.

It almost goes without saying that bathing wasn’t the most popular pastime around, either. The monks of one 10th. century European monastery were ordered to bathe 5 times per year. Now to your average Anglo-Saxon, this was fanaticism. Once a year, fine. Twice, if you were one of those fastidious types, but five times? Come on!

Mind you, it seems that on the other end of the scale, the Danes would bathe and comb their hair every week. Now while this was frowned upon, (I’m surprised the church didn’t issue a sanction on such radical behaviour), the commentator on this Danish custom was forced to admit that it seemed to give them a distinct edge when it came to the ladies.

So there was absolutely no concept of hygiene nor cleanliness in any form. But again, the Lord would protect you. If you happened to drop a piece of food on the floor, which as you can imagine would be covered in all forms of excrement, the best advice was to pick it up, make the sign of the Cross over it, season it well and pop it in your mouth!

Allow me to leave you with this thought. Acupuncture. No, not with needles, but with red hot iron pokers. There was even a book showing the points on the body where the pokers should be applied.

Enjoy your dinner!

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Source by Mike Bond

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How Mean is your Lean? Results of UK Study in Manufacturing

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It is starting to become accepted amongst management that Continuous Improvement (CI) requires an appropriate organisational culture change to create a sustainable improvement and benefits stream.

Whilst this emanates from research which goes back to the early 1990s, it has been slow to gain acceptance amongst business leaders, possibly due to scepticism, as after all, organisational culture is seen by many as being intangible, ‘soft and fluffy’.

Practical experiences and setbacks in the successful adoption of Continuous Improvement by practitioners, coupled with continued research (for example, see Jager et al, 2004 ; Gallear & Ghobadian,2004 ; Tennant & Warwood & Chiang, 2002 ; Warwood & Roberts 2004 ) has led to this final acceptance that organisational culture is a contributory factor in the successful adoption of Continuous Improvement.

The study.

As part of a PhD research programme, a pilot study amongst UK manufacturing companies was conducted. All of the companies in the sample had implemented Lean manufacturing techniques, although at different points in time, so each could be regarded as being at different points on the ‘journey’, but they all shared dissatisfaction with the results they had each attained with their Lean programmes.

Organisational culture assessments, consisting of both quantitative and qualitative approaches were conducted with each of the companies, involving several days with each. The approach was consistently applied across all of the companies in the sample.

Some of the findings.

The results were analysed and the findings which were drawn from these which showed that overall, the top three categories of organisational culture which were ‘resisting’ Lean implementation were Communications, Training & Development of employees, and Planning.

Employees saw the type and level of communications as being inadequate in engaging them with Lean, often inconsistent and contradictory.

Insufficient training and development of staff before and after the initial implementation of Lean made left employees not knowing what it was all about, and how to operate in the new ways of working. This extended to managers also.

The planning category included both planning for Lean, as well as strategic and operational planning. Overall, employees felt that there was a lack of coherent planning and direction, which led them to doubt the ability of the management to manage, as well as to ‘lead’ the implementation of Lean.

Finding out more.

If you would like to find out more about the findings of this research and practical ways of improving your Continuous Improvement (CI) programme, you can come and hear Tim Franklin talk at the Southern Manufacturing event and exhibition at Thorpe Park on Wednesday 8th February 2006 (“How Mean is your Lean?”), as well as on Thursday 9th February 2006 (“Accelerating your business improvement”). Alternatively you can contact Tim timfranklin@ambianceconsulting.co.uk

Sources:

Jager, B. d: Minnie, C; Jager, J. d; Welgemoed, M; Bessant, J; and Francis, D. (2004).

Enabling continuous improvements: a case study of implementations. Journal of Manufacturing Technology Management, Vol 15, number 4.

Gallear, D; & Ghobadian, A. (2004). An empirical investigation of the channels that facilitate a total quality culture. Total quality management, Vol 15, number 8.

Tennant, C; Warwood, S.J.; & & Chiang, M. M. P. (2002). A Continuous Improvement process at Severn Trent Water. The TQM Magazine, Volume 14, number 5.

Warwood, S.J.; & Roberts, P.A.B. (2004). A survey of TQM success factors in the UK. Total Quality Management, Volume 15, number 8.

Tim Franklin MBA

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Source by Tim W Franklin

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Going Green Makes a Lot of CENTS

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You’ve likely heard the term “going green” and why it’s good for the environment. But what about the dollars and cents aspect? There are any number of reasons why building and business owners should invest in energy-efficient upgrades in their multi-family properties.

First, bear in mind how much LESS efficient older structures and related appliances and systems are compared to newer ones. Let’s take the example of a Heating, Venting and Air Conditioning System (HVAC) system on but one of your properties. Older buildings often have older HVAC systems with Seasonal Energy Efficiency Ratio (SEER) ratings of only 6-11. Conversely, a new building, or one with an upgraded HVAC system, has a SEER rating of 15-20 – or more. And energy savings = cost savings.

* As an advertising tool. Being seen as a developer interested in “going green” will reap dividends as you’ll be seen as being environmentally friendly – promoting the environment while lowering energy bills for renters at the same time! This will make your properties more desirable, especially for the younger set.

The caveat here is practicing what you preach. Green marketing won’t work unless your organization is committed to protecting the environment. The last thing you want is a connect between what your brand says and what you actually do. If you follow the other bullet points in this article, you’ll be well on your way!

* Differentiating yourself from your competitors. Because going green costs more at first, you can be rest assured that not every business developer will be willing to make a green commitment. But doing so will pay off in the long run. Appraised value of your property, for instance, can be expected to double by installing SMART technology that improves energy efficiency. Going green makes a lot of “cents”.

* Increasing the bottom line of your properties. Homeowners know that remodeling – such as new siding, roof, etc. – will increase the value of their home. It’s like that with developers, too! As noted earlier, energy-efficient upgrades can easily mean add double the cost of the upgrade to the value of your property.

* Saving renters’ money. Installing energy-efficient HVAC systems, lights, water heaters, etc. on your premises will save renters in monthly expenses. A residence with energy-efficient upgrades can realize a 30 percent savings – or roughly $100 to $150 – in a single month. Renters can save a lot of money pretty quickly!

* Extending the life of different systems (lights, water, AC) with smart thinking technology to operate more efficiently. Efficient appliances not only cost less to run, but they also last longer. Consider the example of a simple LED light bulb. A typical LED light will last 1,500 operating days, or almost five years. Can your incandescent bulb say the same thing? And if a single LED light can last that long, how much longer can much costlier systems be expected to operate?

Summary

As you can see, there are a lot of reasons why investing in energy-efficiency upgrades in multi-family properties makes a lot of “cents” for any developer or investor. What are you waiting for?

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Source by William Carson, Jr