Sealing wax and string

Though my last ever scientific publication was many years ago, one of the things about being a real scientist that I remember most fondly were those moments when you decided that to do an experiment you needed a particular piece of kit that you didn't have yet. In those pre-internet days you could either get down the catalogues and see if such a thing actually existed, and then, if it did, put in an order, spend some of the budget and wait for it to turn up or you could wander around the lab with a slightly blank look on your face (entirely optional) to see if there just happened to be something lying around that could be modified to do the job. 

In an earlier post I mentioned Gibson's ecological theory of perception and the idea that we not only see objects but also the things that they might be useful for. He referred to this as his theory of affordances. Of course, the opportunities that you think an object might afford depend on your experience and state of knowledge but each time I simply wander around staring at stuff and come up with something that fits the bill it feels like a little confirmation of the theory.

One of the stumbling blocks we face in our efforts to improve the Cinder Track has been the simple fact that before we, or the North York Moors National Park or whoever, can apply for little bits of funding we need to have all the planning permissions, design details and costings already in place. The expression used is that the schemes need to be shovel ready. 

Because the track runs up the coast it cuts across a number of valleys carrying water to the sea and unless the drains are properly maintained water ends up running along the surface, of cinders, and eroding it. In places the surface of the track is too low for water to flow off it, and into the adjoining drains, and so material will need to be brought in to raise it up. How much depends on the length of track that's involved and the height difference to the drain.

For the grand sum of £2.45 I bought a bicycle computer  from Aldi, carefully measured my bike's wheel circumference, and can now get a reasonably accurate measure of the lengths of track involved. Measuring the height difference was another matter. For this I decided that I needed to make a tool.

Surveying tool

As you can see, it's just a long piece of wood (hinged in the middle so I can carry it on my bike) equipped with a cheap spirit level. At each end, spaced at 2m, is a short length of overflow pipe which a dowel with a cap can drop through. One side serves as a reference, the other is marked out with a cm scale.

The scale shows a mere 7cm and the spirit is level

So I've now been up the track and done a few sample measurements with the reference end in the ditch and the other on the track. In this example, ironically just past the Rugby Club, we probably need to raise the level of about 100m of track by about 13 cm to give a reasonable (20+cm) drop to the drain. Since we want the completed track to be 2.60m wide this means 34 cubic metres of material. Since crushed stone comes in at around 1,600 kg per cubic metre this means bringing in over 50 tonnes of material for this short stretch alone.

Survey bike at a picnic bench with a view

When I was getting hold of a suitable hinge I chatted to the shopkeeper about what I wanted it for and he showed me the latest remote controlled laser operated surveying equipment. At a total cost of £12.35 my system comes in at about 3% of the price and a fraction of the weight.

Now, since this activity is entirely voluntary, can I put this down as a business expense?