Tire
A tire or tyre is a ring-shaped component that surrounds a wheel's rim to transfer a vehicle's load from the axle through the wheel to the ground and to provide traction on the surface traveled over. Most tires, such as those for automobiles and bicycles, are pneumatically inflated structures, which provide a flexible cushion that absorbs shock as the tire rolls over rough features on the surface. Tires provide a footprint, designed to match the weight of the vehicle with the bearing strength of the surface that it rolls over by providing a bearing pressure that will not deform the surface excessively; the materials of modern pneumatic tires are synthetic rubber, natural rubber and wire, along with carbon black and other chemical compounds. They consist of a body; the tread provides traction. Before rubber was developed, the first versions of tires were bands of metal fitted around wooden wheels to prevent wear and tear. Early rubber tires were solid. Pneumatic tires are used on many types of vehicles, including cars, motorcycles, trucks, heavy equipment, aircraft.
Metal tires are still used on locomotives and railcars, solid rubber tires are still used in various non-automotive applications, such as some casters, carts and wheelbarrows. The word tire is a short form of attire, from the idea; the spelling tyre does not appear until the 1840s when the English began shrink fitting railway car wheels with malleable iron. Traditional publishers continued using tire; the Times newspaper in Britain was still using tire as late as 1905. The spelling tyre began to be used in the 19th century for pneumatic tires in the UK; the 1911 edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica states that "he spelling'tyre' is not now accepted by the best English authorities, is unrecognized in the US", while Fowler's Modern English Usage of 1926 says that "there is nothing to be said for'tyre', etymologically wrong, as well as needlessly divergent from our own older & the present American usage". However, over the course of the 20th century, tyre became established as the standard British spelling.
The earliest tires were bands of leather iron placed on wooden wheels used on carts and wagons. The tire would be heated in a forge fire, placed over the wheel and quenched, causing the metal to contract and fit on the wheel. A skilled worker, known as a wheelwright, carried out this work; the first patent for what appears to be a standard pneumatic tire appeared in 1847 lodged by the Scottish inventor Robert William Thomson. However, this never went into production; the first practical pneumatic tire was made in 1888 on May Street, Belfast, by Scots-born John Boyd Dunlop, owner of one of Ireland's most prosperous veterinary practices. It was an effort to prevent the headaches of his 10-year-old son Johnnie, while riding his tricycle on rough pavements, his doctor, John Sir John Fagan, had prescribed cycling as an exercise for the boy, was a regular visitor. Fagan participated in designing the first pneumatic tires. Cyclist Willie Hume demonstrated the supremacy of Dunlop's tires in 1889, winning the tire's first-ever races in Ireland and England.
In Dunlop's tire patent specification dated 31 October 1888, his interest is only in its use in cycles and light vehicles. In September 1890, he was made aware of an earlier development but the company kept the information to itself. In 1892, Dunlop's patent was declared invalid because of prior art by forgotten fellow Scot Robert William Thomson of London, although Dunlop is credited with "realizing rubber could withstand the wear and tear of being a tire while retaining its resilience". John Boyd Dunlop and Harvey du Cros together worked through the ensuing considerable difficulties, they employed inventor Charles Kingston Welch and acquired other rights and patents which allowed them some limited protection of their Pneumatic Tyre business's position. Pneumatic Tyre would become Dunlop Tyres; the development of this technology hinged on myriad engineering advances, including the vulcanization of natural rubber using sulfur, as well as by the development of the "clincher" rim for holding the tire in place laterally on the wheel rim.
Synthetic rubbers were invented in the laboratories of Bayer in the 1920s. In 1946, Michelin developed the radial tire method of construction. Michelin had bought the bankrupt Citroën automobile company in 1934, so it was able to fit this new technology immediately; because of its superiority in handling and fuel economy, use of this technology spread throughout Europe and Asia. In the U. S. the outdated bias-ply tire construction persisted, with market share of 87% as late as 1967. Delay was caused by tire and automobile manufacturers in America "concerned about transition costs." In 1968, Consumer Reports, an influential American magazine, acknowledged the superiority of radial construction, setting off a rapid decline in Michelin's competitor technology. In the U. S. the radial tire now has a market share of 100% in automobiles. Today, over 1 billion tires are produced annually in over 400 tire factories. There are 2 aspects to. First, tension in the cords pull on the bead uniformly around the wheel, except where it is reduced above the contact patch.
Second, the bead transfers that net force to the rim. Air pressure, via the ply cords, exerts tensile force on the entire bead surrounding th
Sandboarding
Sandboarding is a boardsport and extreme sport similar to snowboarding that involves riding across or down a sand dune while standing on a board, either with both feet strapped in or while standing loose, without bindings. Sandboarding can be practised sitting down or lying on the belly or the back, it involves a sandboard, although it is possible to use sleds, surfboards, a skateboard deck, or snowboards. Sandboarding has adherents throughout the world, but is most prevalent in desert areas or coastal areas with beach dunes, it is less popular than snowboarding because it is difficult to build a mechanised ski lift on a sand dune, meaning participants must walk or ride a dune buggy or all-terrain vehicle back to the top of the dune. On the other hand, dunes are available year-round as opposed to ski resorts, which are seasonal; the sandboard base is much harder than a snowboard, is built out of formica or laminex with special base materials now being made for this sport. To glide in the sand, the board bottom is waxed with a paraffin-based sandboard wax, before a run.
Afterwards, the bottom of the board may have a sanded look to it, while'Race Base' tends to polish smoother and glossier with use. Most terrain sandboards are composed of hardwood ply, while'full-size' sandboards are a wood, fiber glass, plastic composite. However, a snowboarding base will sometimes work on steeper dunes. Drorbamidbar has sandboarding in Israel at Negev Desert not far from Ashalim in the Ramat Negev. Little Sahara on Kangaroo Island in South Australia is a sand dune system covering two square kilometres; the highest dune is 70 metres above sea level. Lucky Bay, about 30 km south of Kalbarri, in Western Australia, is another sandboarding hotspot. Sandboarding Tours are offered in the area; the Stockton dunes, 2.3 hours north from Sydney. Stockton Bight Sand Dunes system is up to one kilometre wide, 32 kilometres long, covers an area of over 4,200 hectares; the massive sand dunes climb up to 40 metres high. Located only minutes from the centre of Nelson Bay, it is the largest sand dune system in Australia.
Sandboarding sites in Egypt include the Great Sand Sea near Siwa Oasis واحة سيوة in Egypt's Western Desert, the Qattaniya القطانية sand dunes, El Safra الصفراء and Hadudah هدودة dunes midway between Dahab and St. Catherine in Sinai. Namibia features sand-skiing, similar to sandboarding, performed with skis instead of a board. Most of the sand-skiing is performed in the Namib desert dunes around Walvis Bay. With a special permit it is sometimes possible to sand-ski at the world's highest dunes in Sossusvlei. Henrik May, a German living in Namibia for some 10 years, set a Guinness World Record in speed sand-skiing on 6 June 2010, he reached a speed of 92.12 km/h. After some pioneers like Derek Bredenkamp who boarded Swakopmund around 1974, commercial operators in South Africa began offering sandboarding to tourists in 1994. In 2000 the Sandboarding South Africa league was established. Between 2002 and 2004 the South African Sandboarding League held competitions on the Matterhorn Dune located between Swakopmund and Walvis bay.
Competition events included dual boarder cross and big air events. In 2005 and 2006 Alter Action held sandboarding competitions at Matterhorn but the competitions no longer formed part of the South African Sandboarding League during those years; the league collapsed the sport was revived again in 2007 with weekly sandboarding sessions in and around Cape Town and Gauteng. Sand Master Park, located in Florence, Oregon USA is a sandboard park with 40 acres of private sculpted sand dunes and a full-time pro shop. Dune Riders International is the governing body for competitive sandboarding worldwide and sanctions three events each season at Sand Master Park. Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve near Alamosa, Colorado has sandboarding on what it calls the tallest dunes in North America. Sandboarding and skiing are permitted anywhere on the dunefield away from vegetated areas. Peru is known for having large sand dunes in some reaching up to 2 km. Duna Grande in Ica is the largest sand dune in the world.
The Copa Sandboarding Perú has been held near Paracas every year since 2009. There are great dunes near the capital city in Chilca. In Chile, sandboarding is practiced throughout the north of the country, including the Medanoso dunes in Copiapo, Puerto Viejo beach in Caldera, excellent dunes in Iquique, some near Viña del Mar. Nicaragua is home to the youngest volcano in Central America. Since it has steep slopes and volcanic sand, it is possible to sandboard down this active volcano. A rather small sand mountain is the Monte Kaolino in Germany. Being equipped with a lift to the 120m top it is the host of the annual Sandboarding World Championships. Amothines is a small desert five kilometres from Katalakkos village in Greece. There are many sand dunes there. Wales is home to the village of Merthyr Mawr, 2½ from the town of Bridgend, the village is close to a beach and it is home to the "Big Dipper", the second largest sand dune in Europe. Holywell, Cornwall is home to a beach with a complex of sand dunes.
The Braunton Burrows sand dunes on the Devon coast, was the filming location for where Alex Bird became the first sandboarder to be towed by a car on British shores. In the North East region of the United Kingdom, there is a small beach at Seaton Sluice where people can sandboard; this is a good alternative to sledding, as th
Samuel Leeds Allen
Samuel Leeds Allen was the founder of S. L. Allen & Company in Philadelphia, he was the inventor of, his company manufactured, both the Flexible Flyer sled and Planet Jr farm and garden equipment. For over one hundred years these products were the best selling and most famous market gardening tools and American sleds. During his lifetime and for the first half of the 20th century S. L. Allen was far more renowned for his companies seed drills and cultivating equipment than the sleds. Allen was born on May 5, 1841 in Philadelphia to Quaker parents: John Casdorp Allen, a prominent druggist, Rebecca Smith Leeds, his wife. In 1861, Allen moved to Ivystone, his father's farm near the community of Westfield in Cinnaminson Township, New Jersey. On November 22, 1866, Samuel Leeds Allen and Sarah Hooton Roberts, the daughter of Elisha Roberts and Elizabeth West Hooton, were married in the Friends Meeting House, New Jersey. Allen's revolutionary sled was tested at Westtown School and Ivystone. Stokes Hill, a popular sledding area located next to Breidenhart, Allen's Moorestown home, has been mistakenly identified as the birthplace of the Flexible Flyer sled.
However, Allen built Breidenhart in 1894. Allen was awarded 300 patents for a wide range of farming machinery, including the fertilizer drill, seed drill, potato digger, furrower, grass edger and numerous other farm implements. In order to provide year-round employment for his workers producing farm equipment, Mr. Allen sought to create a product that could be sold during the winter, his passion for sledding led him to develop a series of sleds and sled improvements. Allen was issued U. S. Patent number 408,681 on August 13, 1889 for the Flexible Flyer. Allen, Elizabeth Roberts. Samuel L. Allen. Philadelphia: Franklin Printing Co. DeCou, George. Moorestown and her neighbors. Philadelphia: Harris & Partridge, Inc. United States Patent and Trademark Office: The Story of the Flexible Flyer New Jersey Inventors Hall of Fame Biographical information about Samuel L. Allen Sledding at Westtown
Podkowa Leśna
Podkowa Leśna is a town in Grodzisk Mazowiecki County of Poland and located within the territory of the Młochowskie Forests. City status - since January 1, 1969; the city has the status of gmina, meaning "commune". Population - ca. 4000. Founded in 1925. On September 1, 1939 bombs fell on Podkowa Leśna. On January 17, 1945 the Soviets entered Podkowa Leśna. Located in a beautiful setting not far from Warsaw, the town has an interesting collection of villas dating back to the interwar period, along with newly built mansions. Forests surround the city on three sides from the east and north). Stanisław Wilhelm Lilpop, founder of the town of Podkowa Leśna Official website Jewish Community in Podkowa Leśna on Virtual Shtetl
Switzerland
Switzerland the Swiss Confederation, is a country situated in western and southern Europe. It consists of 26 cantons, the city of Bern is the seat of the federal authorities; the sovereign state is a federal republic bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland is a landlocked country geographically divided between the Alps, the Swiss Plateau and the Jura, spanning a total area of 41,285 km2. While the Alps occupy the greater part of the territory, the Swiss population of 8.5 million people is concentrated on the plateau, where the largest cities are to be found: among them are the two global cities and economic centres Zürich and Geneva. The establishment of the Old Swiss Confederacy dates to the late medieval period, resulting from a series of military successes against Austria and Burgundy. Swiss independence from the Holy Roman Empire was formally recognized in the Peace of Westphalia in 1648; the country has a history of armed neutrality going back to the Reformation.
It pursues an active foreign policy and is involved in peace-building processes around the world. In addition to being the birthplace of the Red Cross, Switzerland is home to numerous international organisations, including the second largest UN office. On the European level, it is a founding member of the European Free Trade Association, but notably not part of the European Union, the European Economic Area or the Eurozone. However, it participates in the Schengen Area and the European Single Market through bilateral treaties. Spanning the intersection of Germanic and Romance Europe, Switzerland comprises four main linguistic and cultural regions: German, French and Romansh. Although the majority of the population are German-speaking, Swiss national identity is rooted in a common historical background, shared values such as federalism and direct democracy, Alpine symbolism. Due to its linguistic diversity, Switzerland is known by a variety of native names: Schweiz. On coins and stamps, the Latin name – shortened to "Helvetia" – is used instead of the four national languages.
Switzerland is one of the most developed countries in the world, with the highest nominal wealth per adult and the eighth-highest per capita gross domestic product according to the IMF. Switzerland ranks at or near the top globally in several metrics of national performance, including government transparency, civil liberties, quality of life, economic competitiveness and human development. Zürich and Basel have all three been ranked among the top ten cities in the world in terms of quality of life, with the first ranked second globally, according to Mercer in 2018; the English name Switzerland is a compound containing Switzer, an obsolete term for the Swiss, in use during the 16th to 19th centuries. The English adjective Swiss is a loan from French Suisse in use since the 16th century; the name Switzer is from the Alemannic Schwiizer, in origin an inhabitant of Schwyz and its associated territory, one of the Waldstätten cantons which formed the nucleus of the Old Swiss Confederacy. The Swiss began to adopt the name for themselves after the Swabian War of 1499, used alongside the term for "Confederates", used since the 14th century.
The data code for Switzerland, CH, is derived from Latin Confoederatio Helvetica. The toponym Schwyz itself was first attested in 972, as Old High German Suittes perhaps related to swedan ‘to burn’, referring to the area of forest, burned and cleared to build; the name was extended to the area dominated by the canton, after the Swabian War of 1499 came to be used for the entire Confederation. The Swiss German name of the country, Schwiiz, is homophonous to that of the canton and the settlement, but distinguished by the use of the definite article; the Latin name Confoederatio Helvetica was neologized and introduced after the formation of the federal state in 1848, harking back to the Napoleonic Helvetic Republic, appearing on coins from 1879, inscribed on the Federal Palace in 1902 and after 1948 used in the official seal.. Helvetica is derived from the Helvetii, a Gaulish tribe living on the Swiss plateau before the Roman era. Helvetia appears as a national personification of the Swiss confederacy in the 17th century with a 1672 play by Johann Caspar Weissenbach.
Switzerland has existed as a state in its present form since the adoption of the Swiss Federal Constitution in 1848. The precursors of Switzerland established a protective alliance at the end of the 13th century, forming a loose confederation of states which persisted for centuries; the oldest traces of hominid existence in Switzerland date back about 150,000 years. The oldest known farming settlements in Switzerland, which were found at Gächlingen, have been dated to around 5300 BC; the earliest known cultural tribes of the area were members of the Hallstatt and La Tène cultures, named after the archaeological site of La Tène on the north side of Lake Neuchâtel. La Tène culture developed and flourished during the late Iron Age from around 450 BC under some influence from the Gree
Norway
Norway the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe whose territory comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The Antarctic Peter I Island and the sub-Antarctic Bouvet Island are dependent territories and thus not considered part of the kingdom. Norway lays claim to a section of Antarctica known as Queen Maud Land. Norway has a total area of 385,207 square kilometres and a population of 5,312,300; the country shares a long eastern border with Sweden. Norway is bordered by Finland and Russia to the north-east, the Skagerrak strait to the south, with Denmark on the other side. Norway has an extensive coastline, facing the Barents Sea. Harald V of the House of Glücksburg is the current King of Norway. Erna Solberg has been prime minister since 2013. A unitary sovereign state with a constitutional monarchy, Norway divides state power between the parliament, the cabinet and the supreme court, as determined by the 1814 constitution; the kingdom was established in 872 as a merger of a large number of petty kingdoms and has existed continuously for 1,147 years.
From 1537 to 1814, Norway was a part of the Kingdom of Denmark-Norway, from 1814 to 1905, it was in a personal union with the Kingdom of Sweden. Norway was neutral during the First World War. Norway remained neutral until April 1940 when the country was invaded and occupied by Germany until the end of Second World War. Norway has both administrative and political subdivisions on two levels: counties and municipalities; the Sámi people have a certain amount of self-determination and influence over traditional territories through the Sámi Parliament and the Finnmark Act. Norway maintains close ties with both the United States. Norway is a founding member of the United Nations, NATO, the European Free Trade Association, the Council of Europe, the Antarctic Treaty, the Nordic Council. Norway maintains the Nordic welfare model with universal health care and a comprehensive social security system, its values are rooted in egalitarian ideals; the Norwegian state has large ownership positions in key industrial sectors, having extensive reserves of petroleum, natural gas, lumber and fresh water.
The petroleum industry accounts for around a quarter of the country's gross domestic product. On a per-capita basis, Norway is the world's largest producer of oil and natural gas outside of the Middle East; the country has the fourth-highest per capita income in the world on the World IMF lists. On the CIA's GDP per capita list which includes autonomous territories and regions, Norway ranks as number eleven, it has the world's largest sovereign wealth fund, with a value of US$1 trillion. Norway has had the highest Human Development Index ranking in the world since 2009, a position held between 2001 and 2006, it had the highest inequality-adjusted ranking until 2018 when Iceland moved to the top of the list. Norway ranked first on the World Happiness Report for 2017 and ranks first on the OECD Better Life Index, the Index of Public Integrity, the Democracy Index. Norway has one of the lowest crime rates in the world. Norway has two official names: Norge in Noreg in Nynorsk; the English name Norway comes from the Old English word Norþweg mentioned in 880, meaning "northern way" or "way leading to the north", how the Anglo-Saxons referred to the coastline of Atlantic Norway similar to scientific consensus about the origin of the Norwegian language name.
The Anglo-Saxons of Britain referred to the kingdom of Norway in 880 as Norðmanna land. There is some disagreement about whether the native name of Norway had the same etymology as the English form. According to the traditional dominant view, the first component was norðr, a cognate of English north, so the full name was Norðr vegr, "the way northwards", referring to the sailing route along the Norwegian coast, contrasting with suðrvegar "southern way" for, austrvegr "eastern way" for the Baltic. In the translation of Orosius for Alfred, the name is Norðweg, while in younger Old English sources the ð is gone. In the 10th century many Norsemen settled in Northern France, according to the sagas, in the area, called Normandy from norðmann, although not a Norwegian possession. In France normanni or northmanni referred to people of Sweden or Denmark; until around 1800 inhabitants of Western Norway where referred to as nordmenn while inhabitants of Eastern Norway where referred to as austmenn. According to another theory, the first component was a word nór, meaning "narrow" or "northern", referring to the inner-archipelago sailing route through the land.
The interpretation as "northern", as reflected in the English and Latin forms of the name, would have been due to folk etymology. This latter view originated with philologist Niels Halvorsen Trønnes in 1847; the form Nore is still used in placenames such as the village of Nore and lake Norefjorden in Buskerud county, still has the same meaning. Among other arguments in favour of the theor
Salt Lake City
Salt Lake City is the capital and the most populous municipality of the U. S. state of Utah. With an estimated population of 190,884 in 2014, the city is the core of the Salt Lake City metropolitan area, which has a population of 1,153,340. Salt Lake City is further situated within a larger metropolis known as the Salt Lake City–Ogden–Provo Combined Statistical Area, a corridor of contiguous urban and suburban development stretched along a 120-mile segment of the Wasatch Front, comprising a population of 2,423,912, it is one of only two major urban areas in the Great Basin. The world headquarters of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is located in Salt Lake City; the city was founded in 1847 by followers of the church, led by Brigham Young, who were seeking to escape persecution that they had experienced while living farther east. The Mormon pioneers, as they would come to be known, at first encountered an arid, inhospitable valley that they extensively irrigated and cultivated, thereby establishing the foundation to sustain the area's present population.
Salt Lake City's street grid system is based on the north-south east-west grid plan developed by early church leaders, with the Salt Lake Temple constructed at the grid's starting point. Due to its proximity to the Great Salt Lake, the city was named Great Salt Lake City. In 1868, the 17th Utah Territorial Legislature dropped the word "Great" from the city's name. Immigration of international members of the church, mining booms, the construction of the first transcontinental railroad brought economic growth, the city was nicknamed the Crossroads of the West, it was traversed by the Lincoln Highway, the first transcontinental highway, in 1913. Two major cross-country freeways, I-15 and I-80, now intersect in the city. Salt Lake City has developed a strong outdoor recreation tourist industry based on skiing, the city hosted the 2002 Winter Olympics, it is the industrial banking center of the United States. Before settlement by members of the LDS Church, the Shoshone and Paiute had dwelt in the Salt Lake Valley for thousands of years.
At the time of Salt Lake City's founding, the valley was within the territory of the Northwestern Shoshone. One local Shoshone tribe, the Western Goshute tribe, referred to the Great Salt Lake as Pi'a-pa, meaning "big water", or Ti'tsa-pa, meaning "bad water"; the land was treated by the United States as public domain. The first American explorer in the Salt Lake area was Jim Bridger in 1825, although others had been in Utah earlier, some as far north as the nearby Utah Valley. US Army officer John C. Frémont surveyed the Great Salt Lake and the Salt Lake Valley in 1843 and 1845; the Donner Party, a group of ill-fated pioneers, had traveled through the Great Salt Lake Valley in August 1846. The valley's first permanent settlements date to the arrival of the Latter-day Saints in July 1847, they had traveled beyond the boundaries of the United States into Mexican Territory seeking a secluded area to safely practice their religion away from the violence and the persecution they experienced in the Eastern United States.
Upon arrival at the Salt Lake Valley, president of the church Brigham Young is recorded as stating, "This is the right place, drive on." Brigham Young claimed to have seen the area in a vision prior to the wagon train's arrival. They found. Four days after arriving in the Salt Lake Valley, Brigham Young designated the building site for the Salt Lake Temple; the Salt Lake Temple, constructed on the block called Temple Square, took 40 years to complete. Construction started in 1853, the temple was dedicated on April 6, 1893; the temple serves as its centerpiece. In fact, the southeast corner of Temple Square is the initial point of reference for the Salt Lake meridian, for all addresses in the Salt Lake Valley; the pioneers organized a state called State of Deseret, petitioned for its recognition in 1849. The United States Congress rebuffed the settlers in 1850 and established the Utah Territory, vastly reducing its size, designated Fillmore as its capital city. Great Salt Lake City replaced Fillmore as the territorial capital in 1856, the name was shortened to Salt Lake City.
The city's population continued to swell with an influx of converts to the LDS Church and Gold Rush gold seekers, making it one of the most populous cities in the American Old West. Explorer and author Richard Francis Burton traveled by coach in the summer of 1860 to document life in Great Salt Lake City, he was granted unprecedented access during his three-week visit, including audiences with Brigham Young and other contemporaries of Joseph Smith. The records of his visit include sketches of early city buildings, a description of local geography and agriculture, commentary on its politics and social order, essays and sermons from Young, Isaac Morley, George Washington Bradley and other leaders, snippets of everyday life such as newspaper clippings and the menu from a high-society ball. Disputes with the federal government ensued over the church's practice of polygamy. A climax occurred in 1857 when President James Buchanan declared the area in rebellion after Brigham Young refused to step down as governor, beginning the Utah War.
A division of the United States Army, comman
