Manhole Project for HIS:429

•Manholes

•By Pearl Ong and Jaime Cardona

•Manholes covers

•http://colourweb.blogspot.com/2010/06/manhole-covers-in-japan.html

•Manholes Covers Origins in Antiquity

•Manholes conveniently are simply named and normally cover sewers.  Sewers derive their meaning from the old French word “seuwiere” (reservoir), meaning “to drain” or “to cause flow”.  Aside from sewage systems which are common in current times, manhole covers were in use thousands of years ago to cover access ports and water conduits.  Stone slabs and wood planks have been used to cover up old manholes. 

•Manhole history

•Human waste issues were the main reason why sewer systems were created.  The first cities were built along rivers and people would normally dump waste into these rivers.  Periodic plagues would arise due to people being in close contact with all of this waste.  The Romans were one of the first civilizations to figure out what to do with the waste.  Roman sewers were dug by hand and were set up in different sectors with manholes in order to allow for cleaning.

•As for the U.S. and its manholes/sewer system, Chicago was one of the first in 1856, New York in 1870…while the first manholes with familiar covers were constructed around the early nineteenth century and were made as water and gas pipelines.

•The Future of Manholes

•It is highly unlikely that production of manhole covers will change much in the future.  Cast iron, because of its weight, economic ease, and durability will more than likely remain as the base material for manholes.  Computers will be able to design and create manhole covers at a fast pace which is probably the only advancement in technology besides having artisans design them.

•FUN FACTS

    Manhole covers weigh about 250-300 pounds. This is to prevent any of the methane gas build up from lifting the cover up. Methane gas from human excretes is really harmful to inhale will pollute city streets.

    1990: Sacramento, California. Feminist movements demanded the change of the name Manhole to “Maintenance Holes”. Quality concern of both genders.

•Why are the more commonly round?

Why Not  Triangle/ squares/ equilateral shapes?

    First, all of them have edges and cannot be rolled. Keep in mind, they are VERY HEAVY!! A lot of times, previously when placing them in the corners would chip and break off. In some other instances, cars would roll over them and possibly cause the edges to lift (overtime).

•Why are the more commonly round? CONTINUED

  Circular covers, in addition to the won't-fall-in angle, have the advantage that you don't have to get the corners lined up when dropping them into place. What does this entail? Modification of the plate= more money and time wasted!!

•In Closing…

Imagine a world without Manholes, not only would disease spread (airborne) But...We might just end up falling into a hole or.. Two!

A Trip to Elmwood Avenue

Ill explain theses that I visited on the elmwood strip.

So these two places up above I will explain are right next to each other. Located on Elmwood and Delevan are two places that show some interesting things in regards to buildings. The first on the left shows what looks to be a regular house...unfortunately it is not, I found out that this plain old house next to a restaurant was actual converted into a pretty official Yoga place. The picture is old but it looks pretty much the same, except instead of seeing the curtains on the first floor you see nothing but people doing Yoga in this huge room which looks like a cutted out living room. On the right is the Great Wall, a pretty good chinese place that I order from sometimes, if you look up from the actual store you'll notice it looks like a big apartment building. It is has 3 stories and the first floor is obviously the restaurant. I have no idea how you have that half a hexagon piece jutting out from the apartment floor without some renevations, the place has been around longer than I have so I couldnt tell you but this looks like the chinese place was not in the original workings when the building was erected.

This place is Hardcore Tattoo and Adventure Comics.  These are two stores that have almost nothing to do with each other, and yet, they manage to co exist under virtually the same roof.  You got something where the kids visiting the store on the right(comic store) might decide to get a tattoo of their favorite comic book character for no other reason than they adore their comics and decide to keep their heros on their body forever!!!  Besides the weird coincidence here, what is weird is that their is an American flag on the top side of Adventure comics, on the right...and also I thought was like some cutout posterboard or something, so I assumed it came from the guys downstairs, this also began to make me question whether or not the people in these storefronts actually live up above their stores??? It makes alot of sense though, I can explain as well but lets do that after some more pics.





So it is unfortunate that these pics came from google maps this time, but I do apologize...I need to upload the pics from my camera phone I suppose. Either way, you can clearly tell in these pics that people more than likely are living ontop of these storefronts.  The top one out of this set of three is the best I think because it literally looks like someone just decided to get rid of their porch and add a store instead lol.  Lets be serious though, not that many houses in the Buffalo area have houses that dont have porches! I have lived in Buffalo most of my life and I can tell you that honestly, porches are like the thing everyone has, this house does not, and that is because someone decided to add the appendage called Daphnies liquor store lol.  I can see how that would make sense though, having a liquor store in your house if you were an alcoholic lol.  I like the idea though, dont know if it is connected personally though, I did not and have never been in that store. The second pic is the imfamous "WE NEVER CLOSE" store on elmwood which again has been around longer than me, and has always made me wonder....do they never close because they live right upstairs from their store???  Same thing goes for pic number three here which includes Mondo Video on the right and a Music store on the Left.  I have no idea how these stores look on the inside but lets be honest people, I am assuming they look like houses that were gutted to look like small shops and stores.  The ones that I have been on Elmwood always seem to look that way.

For most of these buildings they keep their original structures on the outside the same...or at least they only change the colors and what have you.  It looks like every other building has something different with its outside engineering/architecture...so I will assume that they were all built at different times..but close enough to know that Elmwood would be popping with pedestrians/customers/consumers.  The upper stories on most of these building storefronts seem to all have either a fan, shades/blinds, or an AC unit...which again I am going to assume this means that they are either occupied, or that they are used by the owners downstairs as offices/work places, what have you.  I think all of the storefronts that look like either houses or apartment buildings all had the same idea at first, which was to house people..but eventually business ideals took over and now they are strorefronts, maybe used by the owners of the shops as living spaces or office spaces.

This concludes my trip down/up elmwood street in Buffalo blog, hope you had fun reading and looking at the pics. Again I will try and use my camera phone to upload the pics next time so that they look better but I wont make any promises.  I will also point out that Elmwood is one of the most commercial streets in all of the United States people, that is like top 20, maybe higher, I heard this from my brother/twin who is studying to be an Urban Planner, why would he lie??? I think its the truth, nothing but business and restaurants on this strip I love visiting called Elmwood Ave!!!

Thank you again