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MOTAT
The Museum of Transport and Technology (MOTAT) is a science and technology museum located in Western Springs, Auckland, New Zealand. It is located close to the Western Springs Stadium, Auckland Zoo and the Western Springs Park. The museum has large collections of civilian and military aircraft and other land transport vehicles. An ongoing programme is in place to restore and conserve items in the collections. This work is largely managed by volunteers but, since the passing of the Museum of Transport and Technology Act in 2000, has been supported by full-time professional museum. New public programmes and facilities now promote the collections. MOTAT was established in 1960 by a combination of groups including the Old Time Transport Preservation League, which was formed in 1957 and preserved trams and railway locomotives. MOTAT was formally opened in 1964. MOTAT – Great North Road MOTAT was built around the site of a beam engine pump house, which originally provided Auckl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Richard Pearse
Richard William Pearse (3 December 187729 July 1953) was a New Zealand farmer and inventor who performed pioneering aviation experiments. Witnesses interviewed many years afterward describe observing Pearse flying and landing a powered heavier-than-air machine on 31 March 1903, nine months before the Wright brothers flew. Ambiguous statements made by Pearse himself make it difficult to date the aviation experiments with certainty. In a newspaper interview in 1909, with respect to inventing a flying machine, he said "I did not attempt anything practical with the idea until 1904". Biographer Gordon Ogilvie credits Pearse with "several far-sighted concepts: a monoplane configuration, wing flaps and rear elevator, tricycle undercarriage with steerable nosewheel, and a propeller with variable-pitch blades." Pearse largely ended his early flying experiments about 1911 but pioneered on in novel aircraft and aero-engine invention from 1933 with the development of his "private plane ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Western Springs, Auckland
Western Springs is a residential suburb in the city of Auckland in the north of New Zealand. It is located four kilometres to the west of the city centre, Auckland CBD. The park is situated to the north of State Highway 16 and the residential suburb is located southeast of the park on the opposite side of State Highway 16. The suburb is dominated by Western Springs Reserve (featuring a lake with a variety of birdlife), within which are situated Auckland Zoo, Western Springs Stadium and M.O.T.A.T. (the Museum of Transport and Technology). The park is the location of the annual Pasifika Festival, one of Auckland's most popular public events. Across the road from the zoo is the school of Western Springs College, with a student population of around . History The Māori valued ''Waiorea'' (Western Springs) for the clean, clear spring water and eels that lived in the stream. After colonisation, the area was part of a block of land farmed by William Motion, a Scottish settler. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jean Batten
Jane Gardner Batten (15 September 1909 – 22 November 1982), commonly known as Jean Batten, was a New Zealand aviator, making a number of record-breaking solo flights across the world. She is notable for completing the first solo flight from England to New Zealand in 1936. Born in Rotorua, Batten went to England to learn to fly. She made two unsuccessful attempts to fly from England to Australia solo, before finally achieving the feat in May 1934, taking just under 15 days to fly the distance in a Gipsy Moth biplane. The flight set a new record for the women's solo flight between the two countries. After a publicity tour around Australia and New Zealand, she flew the Gipsy Moth back to England, setting the solo women's record for the return flight from Australia to England. In doing so she became the first woman to fly solo from England to Australia and back again. In November 1935, she set the absolute record of 61 hours, 15 minutes, for flying from England to Brazil. In th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Western Springs Park
Western Springs Reserve, also known as Western Springs Lakeside Park, consists of a sanctuary for wildlife, surrounding a lake fed by the natural springs. There are walking paths surrounding the lake with bridges going across sections of it. Auckland Zoo, MOTAT and Western Springs Stadium are all situated around the park. History The park is the site of a natural freshwater aquifer, where water comes through the surface through cracks in basalt lava flow from Te Tātua a Riukiuta. The aquifer and wetland were traditionally known by the name Te Wai Ōrea to Tāmaki Māori, referring to the eels that lived in the lake. Prior to European settlement, the land was primarily a pūriri lava rock forest ecosystem, a now rare ecosystem consisting of plants growing in a minimal soil environment, growing amongst rock and leaf humus. In 1877, an earth dam was constructed to create a larger artificial lake, in order to serve as the source of Auckland's drinking water. The Western Springs l ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Beam Engine
A beam engine is a type of steam engine where a pivoted overhead beam is used to apply the force from a vertical piston to a vertical connecting rod. This configuration, with the engine directly driving a pump, was first used by Thomas Newcomen around 1705 to remove water from mines in Cornwall. The efficiency of the engines was improved by engineers including James Watt, who added a separate condenser; Jonathan Hornblower and Arthur Woolf, who compounded the cylinders; and William McNaught, who devised a method of compounding an existing engine. Beam engines were first used to pump water out of mines or into canals but could be used to pump water to supplement the flow for a waterwheel powering a mill. The rotative beam engine is a later design of beam engine where the connecting rod drives a flywheel by means of a crank (or, historically, by means of a sun and planet gear). These beam engines could be used to directly power the line-shafting in a mill. They also c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Te Puna
Te Puna is a rural community near Tauranga in the Bay of Plenty region of New Zealand's North Island. It is located on State Highway 2, north of Bethlehem and south of Katikati. The local Te Puna Quarry has been redeveloped by volunteers into a park. Te Puna has three marae belonging to the Ngāti Ranginui hapū of Pirirākau: Paparoa Marae and Werahiko meeting house, Poutūterangi Marae and Takurua meeting house, and Tutereinga Marae and meeting house. Former National Party leader Todd Muller was raised in Te Puna in the 1970s, where his parents started a kiwifruit orchard. He attended Te Puna Primary School. He entered parliament at the 2014 general election as the MP for Bay of Plenty, and was National Party leader and the Leader of the Opposition from 22 May to 14 July 2020. Demographics Te Puna statistical area, which includes Motuhoa Island and Te Puna West, covers and had an estimated population of as of with a population density of people per km2. Te P ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Corporal (rocket)
The MGM-5 Corporal missile was a nuclear-armed tactical surface-to-surface missile. It was the first guided weapon authorized by the United States to carry a nuclear warhead. A guided tactical ballistic missile, the Corporal could deliver either a nuclear fission, high-explosive, fragmentation or chemical warhead up to a range of . It was developed by the United States Army in partnership with Caltech's pioneering Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and initially produced by Douglas Aircraft Company. As development continued production shifted to Firestone Tire and Rubber Company (airframe) and Gilfillan Brothers Inc. (guidance). The Corporal was designed as a tactical nuclear missile for use in the event of Cold War hostilities in Western Europe. The first U.S. Army Corporal battalion was deployed in Europe in 1955. Eight Corporal battalions were deployed in Europe and remained in the field until 1964, when the system was replaced by the solid-fueled MGM-29 Sergeant missile system. Th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sea Fencibles
The Sea Fencibles were naval fencible (a shortening of ''defencible'') units established to provide a close-in line of defence and obstruct the operation of enemy shipping, principally during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. The earliest recorded use of the term was in 1793, when Royal Navy captain Sir Home Popham organised groups of fishermen to guard against French vessels off the coast of Nieuwpoort, Belgium. At Popham's suggestion the British Admiralty subsequently authorised the formation of co-ordinated Sea Fencible units along the English and Irish coasts. From 1804 on they were supported by a network of Martello towers. Popham's Sea Fencible companies consisted of merchant seamen using their own private or commercial vessels, but operating under letters of marque that authorised them to capture enemy ships should opportunity arise. The Navy provided the Fencibles with uniforms and weapons; it also protected them from the depredations of navy press gangs. Th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Blacksmith
A blacksmith is a metalsmith who creates objects primarily from wrought iron or steel, but sometimes from #Other metals, other metals, by forging the metal, using tools to hammer, bend, and cut (cf. tinsmith). Blacksmiths produce objects such as gates, grilles, railings, light fixtures, furniture, sculpture, tools, agricultural implements, decorative and religious items, cooking utensils, and weapons. There was an historical distinction between the heavy work of the blacksmith and the more delicate operation of a whitesmith, who usually worked in Goldsmith, gold, Silversmith, silver, pewter, or the finishing steps of fine steel. The place where a blacksmith works is called variously a smithy, a forge or a blacksmith's shop. While there are many people who work with metal such as farriers, wheelwrights, and Armourer, armorers, in former times the blacksmith had a general knowledge of how to make and repair many things, from the most complex of weapons and armor to simple things ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Transport Museum
A transport museum is a museum that holds collections of transport items, which are often limited to land transport (road and rail)—including old cars, motorcycles, trucks, trains, trams/streetcars, buses, trolleybuses and coaches—but can also include air transport or waterborne transport items, along with educational displays and other old transport objects. Some transport museums are housed in disused transport infrastructure such as dismantled trolley systems, former engine sheds or bus garages. Many transport museums exist throughout the world, listed below. Argentina * Tramway Histórico de Buenos Aires, Caballito, Buenos Aires Australia * Archer Park Rail Museum, Rockhampton, Queensland * Australian National Maritime Museum, Sydney, New South Wales * Australian Road Transport Heritage Centre, Gundagai, New South Wales * Ballarat Tramway Museum, Ballarat, Victoriabr>* Trams in Bendigo, Bendigo Tram Museum, Bendigo, Victori* Brisbane Tramway Museum, Ferny Grove, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
VTOL
A vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft is one that can take off and land vertically without relying on a runway. This classification can include a variety of types of aircraft including helicopters as well as thrust-vectoring fixed-wing aircraft and other hybrid aircraft with powered rotors such as cyclogyros/cyclocopters and gyrodynes. Some VTOL aircraft can operate in other modes as well, such as CTOL (conventional take-off & landing), STOL (short take-off & landing), or STOVL (short take-off & vertical landing). Others, such as some helicopters, can only operate as VTOL, due to the aircraft lacking landing gear that can handle taxiing. VTOL is a subset of V/STOL (vertical or short take-off & landing). Some lighter-than-air aircraft also qualify as VTOL aircraft, as they can hover, takeoff and land with vertical approach/departure profiles. Electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft, or eVTOLs, are being developed along with more autonomous flight control tech ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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