Scott Perkins

John C Daley wrote:Scot, I am trying to understand what you are trying to sort out?

Pretend that we want to build a structure with 8 feet interior height.  The blocks needed as shown would have to be very large.
Notice that in the photo there are only four different  shapes that are used to create the  Arch shown.   I am saying that the perfectly square shape can be used by adding more ( as spacers)  of the rectangular shapes  to extend the height of the structure
without having to make obcenely large heavy components.     Or you could have massive components if they were made of lightweight styrofoam.  

For example in the Vault shown in the photo,  insert between each piece in the vault another  perfectly square piece to extend the height   OR
you could use a greater quantity of smaller pieces to make the same height vault.

Our current day material scientists have plenty of motivation given the limited lifespan of roads and bridges and skyscrapers collapsing and an awful lot of progress has been made in the form of  ADMIXTURES  added to teh concrete mix that increase the strength and make the concrete water proof-impermeable  so that the moisture and other contamnates cannot reach the rebar.  Further different forms of rebar and reinforcement are being used like boron, fiberglass mesh,  galvanized rebar, stainless steel rebar, and fiberglass rebar.    If these additive components prevent the concrete from deteriorating over time then the lifespans expand dramatically.   As a layman, I have already added the acrylic liquid that tile installers use to make the tile installations in showers waterproof and longer lasting.....   I add it to the mortar used in brick sidewalks and steps and in the mass pours of sidewalks and driveways and  concrete floors of garages and basements.  

Study the attached photo and notice that there are actually only FOUR different shapes.    The shape of a Vault that is properly designed uses the weight of the blocks to reinforce the strength of the arc so that it is self supporting..    In this photo if you were to make a vault big enough for a human the individual pieces would be humongous ...  so  the way I see it is that  if you take this vault shape  and identify the  completely square rectangle  block,  you could use them as spacers so that you aould put three or four of the rectangular  between the different angle wedge blocks  to make the overall structure big enough and allow the individual parts to be small enough to be handled by a human.   I'm thinking molds could be made and these block components could be made out of various materials from pure foam to  concrete and the vault could be made much like an igloo is made only the shape is different and  fat least for me....  I think is a better solution in a way than are igloos- roundish structures instead of the rectangular footprint of a Vault.   Of course the drawback of the Vault is that you have to construct the two end walls.   As I think about it more, if you were to add the proper angles to the molds,  you could use the angled components to make a curved wall structure... ie igloo-ish dome.  

Jeremy VanGelder wrote:I'm curious if they would germinate anymore? If you grow new beans and harvest them, you would have fresh beans.

I'm curious if the red and pinto beans from the grocery store would germinate even when fresh ?   There are many different kinds of beans and lentils etc,   I wonder which ones germinate the best when fresh and when stored a long time ?  Maybe some of the different beans and lentils do better than others.

Joe Battaion wrote:Personally I would use a food safe bucket and not one that had any kind of chemicals in it.

I always leave the red or pinto beans in the plastic airtight bag from the grocery store.   I think any chemicals from a plastic bucket would have a hard time getting through the plastic bags.  

Riona Abhainn wrote:And this is why I don't do the prepping thing, I don't want this situation to happen to me.

I'm glad though you're finding a way to finally get it used up though.

I recently took two pounds of dried pinto beans ( 25 yrs old ) put them into the grinder first and made a course powder before I cooked them.
Now they cook in the normal time with the right amount of water and you get something like mashed potatoes but they are beans instead.

That is what I have found to cook very old beans.

Nancy Reading wrote:

Scott Perkins wrote: that the front and back bricks might have 3/4 inch space built in
to allow the flame to shoot out along the sides of the cooking pot if it is big enough to straddle the highest prominent (left and right) blocks.

I suspect you'd lose the chimney effect a bit...

Thinking about the design above - haivng the bricks sideways like that allows the pan to be supported part off the flame path so reduces the heating if neccessary whilst cooking, so it could be quite a practical feature.

Check out my recent entry where I did use the much larger concrete CAP BLOCKS  The dimensions were just right for only 9 blocks to create the same stove design.   I think three more blocks to extend the chimney would be useful to enhance the chimney draft effect.

I need only three more Concrete Cap Blocks to extend the Chimney.   I will take one block and with a small rotary grinder grind a quarter inch deep cut around the middle of the block so I can break it in half.   Then I will mount the two half blocks and two full blocks on the chimney to make it taller
and draw flames better.