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Pedal Power
Introduction
In this age of lasers and deep space probes, much of the muscle in the industrialized world sags like a rag doll.
In this rich technological age much of the population, particularly in developing countries, has been displaced from the workplace by "inappropriate" technologies. The leap is from bullock cart to jet plane.
Thus the paradox. Part of the world dreams of the likelihood of a "workless" state ripe with leisure time; the other part is trying to catch up. And the "catching up" is some times written in bold letters. On any given day, London, Lagos, and Tokyo can experience traffic jams of similar proportions.
The industrialized nations, especially America, have given birth to certain assumptions which are rapidly gaining currency around the globe: cars are "better" than bicycles; processed foods are "better" than natural ones; living in a city is "better" than living in a rural area.
Ironically, because developing countries must live by the rules of a capital-intensive economic order, they are often obliged to accept the above assumptions.
The retreat, then, is from the town, from the bicycle, from the land. The result: a death of simplicity, both in life-style and machine. Mother's milk is no longer in fashion.
Interestingly, at the time when the "appropriateness" of technology is being questioned daily, the bicycle, which is perhaps the most "appropriate" and efficient machine ever invented, is making a rocky comeback in many countries. A compelling example of this renaissance is in Dodema, the new capital of Tanzania, now under construction. The master plan for Dodema calls for a complex network of roads that will encourage maximum use of the bicycle. Furthermore, the plan decrees that the ratio of bicycles to cars will be 70:30, thus assuring this machine a major role in an enlightened transportation system.
In addition, the bicycle has come under close scrutiny by those who believe it offers great potential for performing stationary work and for goods transportation.
The literature is filled with examples of pedal- and treadle-driven machines designed to perform all types of useful work. However, with the decline of the bicycle came the decline in pedal-power devices, with the notable exceptions of apparatus used in China and other Asian countries.
Partly because of a general critique of technology, there has been in the last decade a renewed and vigorous interest in the potential of pedal power for both developing and developed countries. Professor Stuart S. Wilson of Oxford University, Professor David Gordon Wilson of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the Intermediate Technology Development in the United Kingdom, the Rodale Press Research and Development Department, and many inventors, scientists, and tinkerers have brought new and valuable insights to the science of pedal power; and from these minds has come this book.
Pedal Power is a philosophical work in that it explores the full human potential inherent in the use of the bicycle for work. On the other hand, it is a very practical book, as it suggests scores of tasks which can be easily and effectively accomplished with pedal devices.
In Chapter One David Gordon Wilson charts the use of human muscle in history and explores the singular display of pedal equipment invented at the end of the nineteenth century. In Chapter Two Stuart Wilson discusses a whole range of pedal-power apparatus which could be particularly useful to developing countries.
In Chapter Three Diana Branch offers a detailed account of the Rodale Energy Cycle. The author not only gives a description of this "complete" machine, but also provides a full set of building instructions for those who desire to construct it. Further-more, the author offers a host of suggestions about how the Energy Cycle can be effectively used around the house, garden, farm, and homestead.
The possible uses for pedal power are significantly extended by John McGeorge and David Gordon Wilson in Chapters Four and Six, respectively. And in Chapter Five Mark Blossom considers "Treadle Power in the Workshop."
Overall, the book is ripe with plans, models, prototypes, and possibilities. It is hoped the reader will be moved to develop pedal equipment of his own.
Above all, we hope this book will bring about a reconsideration of the bicycle and pedal-driven machines. We feel these are subjects worthy of additional study.
Perhaps an interface between East and West is the bicycle, the machine which makes us all brothers and sisters.
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