Guest guest Posted July 15, 2002 Report Share Posted July 15, 2002 Mark Middle Mountain wrote: > > 5) We plan to build a oxen powered water pump to pump water into a tank to > > use for irrigation. Any suggestions? > > > > Great use of oxen and very picturesque. Build a shade structure for them to > go around in, I don't personally know any good plans but i know they are out > there, perhaps Hare Krishna dd would know an appropriate agency off hand. Balabhadra and Chaya have posted the Acrobat PDF file for Gita-nagari's ox power unit on the ISCOWP website (see address below). The ox power unit is basically just an engine -- Gita-nagari used theirs for sawing wood, but it could be used for a number of other applications as well. Various people would like to see the ox power unit design updated, so would I -- but it is definitely a place to start. I believe that Lagudi at New Govardhana in Australia adapted it for irrigation, and possibly grain grinding. I like the grain grinding application. Prabhupada said that the oxen should be used for "smashing grains." But I'm not sure if you can grow grains in Florida -- rice? millet? flax? dahl? Sell ox-power cookies and crackers and poppers -- an excellent "value added" product. your servant, Hare Krsna dasi http://www.iscowp.com/resources/resources.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 16, 2002 Report Share Posted July 16, 2002 Dear Prabhu's, Here at bhaktivedanta manor we have an ox power unit made from a truck axle, prop shafts and gear boxes. My feeling is that it is of such a simple design that it could very easily be replicated. Having seen the Gita Nagari ox power unit my perception is that such a unit would require too specialised engineering to be viable in a lot of cases. The essential parts of the spare parts ox power unit are all available globally and thus easy to construct. We use our power unit for rolling grains but as it has the parts of a Tractor power Take off then whatever a static tractor could power this unit can power (providing you put enough oxen on it), wood saw, oil press, flour mill, vegetable chopper, chaff cutter, washing machine, water pump, air compresser etc... We have 4 arms off the power unit and generally only use 4 single oxen, however it would be better to follow the Gita Nagari model in this regard and put 5 arms on the power unit. This means you can have 5 teams of 2 (10 oxen) on the unit which will not only look amazing but also gives valuable work for the oxen. ys syam Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 16, 2002 Report Share Posted July 16, 2002 "Syamasundara (das) (Bhaktivedanta Manor - UK)" wrote: > > We have 4 arms off the power unit and generally only use 4 single oxen, > however it would be better to follow the Gita Nagari model in this regard > and put 5 arms on the power unit. This means you can have 5 teams of 2 (10 > oxen) on the unit which will not only look amazing but also gives valuable > work for the oxen. > > ys syam Even though the Gita-nagari unit has 5 arms, I believe that sometimes they would run it with fewer than 5 teams. Maybe Balabhadra can remember better than I can. ys hkdd Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 16, 2002 Report Share Posted July 16, 2002 "Noma T. Petroff" wrote: > "Syamasundara (das) (Bhaktivedanta Manor - UK)" wrote: > > > > > We have 4 arms off the power unit and generally only use 4 single oxen, > > however it would be better to follow the Gita Nagari model in this regard > > and put 5 arms on the power unit. This means you can have 5 teams of 2 (10 > > oxen) on the unit which will not only look amazing but also gives valuable > > work for the oxen. > > > > ys syam > > Even though the Gita-nagari unit has 5 arms, I believe that sometimes they > would > run it with fewer than 5 teams. Maybe Balabhadra can remember better than I > can. > > ys > hkdd Oh, now I remember, they used single yokes instead of double yokes -- so it was only 1 ox per arm -- otherwise the outside ox would have to run 15% faster than the inner ox. Even still, I think sometimes they might use fewer than 5 oxen -- Balabhadra? your servant, Hare Krsna dasi Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 17, 2002 Report Share Posted July 17, 2002 when I visited Balabhadra Prabhu and his wife Chayadevi they showed me a video of the gita nagari ox power unit being used. In that video they were cutting wood with 5 oxen. One could hear the saw slowing down through the wood which probably didn't matter for the thickness of wood being cut. If the saw was going through very thick wood or was cutting planks then it would seam that there would have to be the full team of 5 x 2. It seams that there will be oxen who walk at different speeds in any case. Certainly here at BM out two teams both walk at different paces. Perhaps the teams should be positioned according to there natural walking speed. Anybody remember 'Ben Hur' the slower ox on the inside and faster on the outside. ys syam Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 17, 2002 Report Share Posted July 17, 2002 "Syamasundara (das) (Bhaktivedanta Manor - UK)" wrote: > when I visited Balabhadra Prabhu and his wife Chayadevi they showed me a > video of the gita nagari ox power unit being used. In that video they were > cutting wood with 5 oxen. One could hear the saw slowing down through the > wood which probably didn't matter for the thickness of wood being cut. > > If the saw was going through very thick wood or was cutting planks then it > would seam that there would have to be the full team of 5 x 2. > > It seams that there will be oxen who walk at different speeds in any case. > Certainly here at BM out two teams both walk at different paces. Perhaps the > teams should be positioned according to there natural walking speed. Anybody > remember 'Ben Hur' the slower ox on the inside and faster on the outside. > > ys syam If you will refer to Paramananda and Vaisnava's Gita-nagari Ox Power Unit booklet on the ISCOWP website, you will note that it is definitely designed for 5 single oxen. The illustration on the back page, showing 2 yokes of 2 oxen each is a very early 1985 photo -- taken before the single yokes were made and before a shelter for the unit was built. If you look closely, it appears that the outside ox on the foreground is having difficulty maintaining proper rhythm with the inside ox. He does not look comfortable. ys hkdd http://www.iscowp.com/resources/oxpowerunit.pdf Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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