Life rafts
Characters:
Theme: Structures
Competencies
Mathematical competence in science, technology and engineering
Personal, social and learning to learn competence
Entrepreneurial Competence
Subjects and year by Educational System
Spain > Technology and digitisation > 1st ESO > Troubleshooting process. Materials, products and technological solutions
Spain > Technology and digitisation > 2nd ESO > Troubleshooting process. Materials, products and technological solutions
Spain > Technology and digitisation > 3rd ESO > Troubleshooting process. Materials, products and technological solutions
Enunciation
Maria E. Beasley, (Philadelphia, 1847-1904) was an American entrepreneur and inventor, who designed two improved lifeboat models, used among others on the Titanic.
Look at Maria Beasley's plans for her ‘fireproof, compact, safe and easy to launch’ life raft. Her design included handrails surrounding the raft and rectangular metal floats. This design is capable of folding and unfolding, making it easy to store, even with the rails.
a) What type of structures can you observe in them?
b) Are they fixed or articulated structures?
c) Prior to Beasley's design, life rafts were typically flat wooden planks. What type of structure was it?
d) The concepts of handrails and reduced storage size are still used today, although their exact designs have changed. What type of structure is used today for life rafts?
Observations and context
Maria E. Beasley, (Philadelphia, 1847-1904) was an American entrepreneur and inventor who designed two models of improved life rafts, used among others, on the Titanic.
Other inventors contemporary to Mary were Ada Byron, a British mathematician and writer, most famous for her work on the mechanical general-purpose computer, she is considered the first programmer; Helen Augusta Blanchard (Lady Edison), an American inventor who received 28 patents between 1873 and 1915, among other inventions related to sewing machines and sewing technology or Margaret Eloise Knight whose best known invention is the flat-bottomed paper bag, which is still in use today.
Description
TYPE:
Practical exercises.
OBJECTIVES:
- Identification of different structures: fixed, articulated, trussed, triangular.
- Examples of how pneumatic structures can be used.