Thread: Hey Ian!

Originally Posted by BMKal

Tri-drive twin steer prime movers are not uncommon around here either.

This one is carting Hydrochloric Acid produced as a by-product from the Nickel Smelter just out of town. They used to take it up to Nifty Copper mine near Telfer, but don't know where they take it to these days.

That is a mighty looking KW. Conventional cab/twin steer,....never seen one before.
Do you know what the powerplant was?
Pickles.

Originally Posted by scarry

TPM system,probably shut down the whole rig,then send in a chopper to sort it.

I recon they are way off, on public roads, won't be here in our working lifetime,although they do have them in the mines.

The real issue is when will this type of thing end,probably never,and what future do our children have? There will be no jobs left.

oh,if we had robots fixing fridges,they would probably do a better job than the current crop of tradies.

That is something that I have often thought about, if jobs are gradually made redundant by automation, that means people can't consume, which means goods will stay in shops because people can't afford them. Where does it end??

Originally Posted by Ausfree

That is something that I have often thought about, if jobs are gradually made redundant by automation, that means people can't consume, which means goods will stay in shops because people can't afford them. Where does it end??

Fifty years ago, when automation was starting, most families had only one parent working, and we were told of a future where we would be only working three days a week, and shorter hours at that.

What do we have today? Almost all families have two parents working, working hours have increased markedly, and unemployment, while up slightly, does not represent what should have been expected from all the extra workforce participation and jobs lost due to automation.

So what happened? To some extent, we are not working longer - fifty years ago a large part of the workforce started work at fifteen, and probably 95% by the age of 21. Today we have few in the workforce before eighteen, and many more still in tertiary education well into their twenties. Standard annual leave has gone from two weeks to four, and many more are getting long service leave than did fifty years ago.

And there are many today doing jobs that did not exist or hardly existed fifty years ago - for a start, far more people can afford to eat out than could fifty years ago, and the ever growing mountain of red tape has opened avenues of employment that were undreamed of.

I expect something similar, but something we cannot envisage, will happen in the future.

John

Originally Posted by Pickles2

That is a mighty looking KW. Conventional cab/twin steer,....never seen one before.
Do you know what the powerplant was?
Pickles.

Not sure for these, but more than likely 600hp Cummins. That seems to be the norm around here these days - even the Volvo's are running with that engine.

There are plenty of twin steer Volvo prime movers around here as well, though I don't know if I've seen one with tri-drive configuration.

It depends as some have been around for a few years now at least 6 years. They are running 500-600hp depending on the model.
Most of them belong to BIS and are worked hard and constantly, so can be a bit rough. Not sure how many of the twin steers BIS have but it is a few.
There are also some out around Kambalda with other contractors. Not going back up to Leinster or I would ask the BIS supervisor.
The twin steers have been around Kambalda for at least 24 years that I know off. Littles had a couple in Kambalda in 91 when my old man was driving for them. Cant remember wether they were double or triple drive.
I remember when BIS bought a lot of these trucks, some were also in use in Ravy. Hardly any of them got used for their intended purpose and were diverted to Kalgoorlie and a lot of the single steers to Perth. I usually see one of the fleet on the Kwinana Fwy. Even saw the one that was on display at the Open Day back in 2008 and had to move as the driver parked it in the wrong spot and buggered off back into Esperance.

Originally Posted by Pickles2

That is a mighty looking KW. Conventional cab/twin steer,....never seen one before.
Do you know what the powerplant was?
Pickles.

Originally Posted by JDNSW

Your examples are good ones showing how long it takes for things to go from first trials to actually being used - cruise control was fitted to a few luxury cars in the 1920s, but did not become common for ninety years. Automatic transmission was introduced in the 1930s, but did not become commonplace in Australia until it became available on the EK Holden in 1961, and even then, despite being available and reasonably cheap, did not become the almost universally preferred option for another thirty or forty years.

And I think you are over-estimating the progress in the last twenty years compared to the previous 80. Certainly there have been advances since 1995 - but consider

1915 - motor cars were an expensive luxury - 1995 almost universal
1915 - Telephones were an expensive luxury - 1995 almost universal
1915 - Lighting was almost all gas or kerosine - 1995 electricity universal
1915 - Nearly 50% of children died before 5 years - 1995 most live
1915 - airline travel non-existent - 1915 airline the normal long distance travel
1915 - Four wheel brakes very rare by 1930, universal.
1915 - disc brakes unheard of 1995 - almost universal
1915 - safety glass unheard of 1995 - safety glass universal
1915 - diesel trains and cars unheard of - 1995 commonplace.
1915 - All clothing natural fibres 1995 - most clothing (part) synthetic fibres
1915 - plastic virtually non-existent 1995 - plastic used everywhere
1915 - Electronics almost non-existent - 1995 electronics ubiquitous
1915 - No radio broadcasting - 1995 Radio everywhere
1915 - TV a SF dream - 1995 Colour TV everywhere


I could go on, but you get my point.

I expect driverless cars and trucks to appear perhaps within the next ten years, and perhaps become commonplace in the cities and on freeways within a further twenty years. But a lot longer to become common elsewhere.

John

I think the leaps in computers, hardware and software outstrips your list, John.

Originally Posted by V8Ian

I think the leaps in computers, hardware and software outstrips your list, John.

No, this is where the major advances have come in the last twenty years - but surely you are not suggesting that a fly-by-wire airliner is a bigger advance than going from no airliner to the 747?

A similar comparison could be made for anything on my list, but again, I can't see how you can claim that advances in computing in the last twenty years are bigger than going from computing not being even a concept to a commonplace desktop device in the previous eighty years.

I think there is a natural tendency to see changes that you have witnessed yourself as more important than anything that happened before you were around - I know I am aware of this in myself, but I am also aware that the same view was held by my parents, and is held by my children and grandchildren. And reading a lot of technological history, and thinking about the effects of this technology, I see very little to suggest that technology really is advancing at four time the rate it did last century.

One factor that does help it advance faster is thast there are more people working on it than ever before, and communications between them are better - but against this, seeing ideas translate into real change is slowed by more and more red tape, which makes change more and more expensive.

John

Found a decent looking fridge for your kitchen Ian ..................



I don't think SWMBO would be impressed if I bought one of these for here.