How to Clear a Path Through 60 Feet of Snow, Japanese Style • Hacker News Board

Re: How to Clear a Path Through 60 Feet of Snow, Japanese Style

#41

Post by userbinator » Fri, Mar 17, 2017, 12:08 PM UTC

chrissnell wrote: post #9

I would love to see that first bulldozer at work. I'm a little amazed because snow becomes incredibly heavy and hard to move/push when it's packed. As the blade moves forward, that dozer will quickly have to use incredible force to move forward. I experienced this first-hand last summer when I was driving my old Land Rover across the country. I was solo, way up in the very remote Henry Mountains [1] of Utah, about to…

Keep in mind that bulldozers routinely shove other, equally dense, materials around.

Re: How to Clear a Path Through 60 Feet of Snow, Japanese Style

#42

Post by orasis » Fri, Mar 17, 2017, 12:22 PM UTC

chrissnell wrote: post #9

I would love to see that first bulldozer at work. I'm a little amazed because snow becomes incredibly heavy and hard to move/push when it's packed. As the blade moves forward, that dozer will quickly have to use incredible force to move forward. I experienced this first-hand last summer when I was driving my old Land Rover across the country. I was solo, way up in the very remote Henry Mountains [1] of Utah, about to…

In glacier national park they use excavators for the first passes.

Re: How to Clear a Path Through 60 Feet of Snow, Japanese Style

#43

Post by 24gttghh » Fri, Mar 17, 2017, 1:16 PM UTC

frik wrote: post #33

Copy cat from Europe invention. This snow blower were invented many decades ago. The original vehicles from the 1930s are still in use in winter in the Alps - on mountain roads and trains.

Did the article claim the Japanese invented the snow-blower?

Re: How to Clear a Path Through 60 Feet of Snow, Japanese Style

#44

Post by chiph » Fri, Mar 17, 2017, 1:25 PM UTC

I'm looking at the vertical sides of the cut, and I'm really surprised it doesn't collapse.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angle_of_repose

Re: How to Clear a Path Through 60 Feet of Snow, Japanese Style

#45

Post by krkoch » Fri, Mar 17, 2017, 1:30 PM UTC

chiph wrote: post #44

I'm looking at the vertical sides of the cut, and I'm really surprised it doesn't collapse. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angle_of_repose

On packed snow like that, you can even have an angle > 90 deg.

Re: How to Clear a Path Through 60 Feet of Snow, Japanese Style

#46

Post by frik » Fri, Mar 17, 2017, 1:32 PM UTC

24gttghh wrote: post #43

frik wrote: post #33

Copy cat from Europe invention. This snow blower were invented many decades ago. The original vehicles from the 1930s are still in use in winter in the Alps - on mountain roads and trains.

Did the article claim the Japanese invented the snow-blower?

Have you even read the article? The headline already suggests "japanese style" even though it's just a common practice used for decades around the world. And the articles goes in great length mentioning a 600 horse power machine that is common elsewhere as well. And Japan was very well known for their "tourists" that took photos of everything oversees just to clone and rebuild it in their home country. (well nowadays other countries do that)

Re: How to Clear a Path Through 60 Feet of Snow, Japanese Style

#47

Post by klausjensen » Fri, Mar 17, 2017, 1:42 PM UTC

davidbanham wrote: post #24

chrissnell wrote: post #9

I would love to see that first bulldozer at work. I'm a little amazed because snow becomes incredibly heavy and hard to move/push when it's packed. As the blade moves forward, that dozer will quickly have to use incredible force to move forward. I experienced this first-hand last summer when I was driving my old Land Rover across the country. I was solo, way up in the very remote Henry Mountains [1] of Utah, about to…

Remember also that there's a big difference between the fluffy powder they're plowing in northern Japan and the wet stuff you drove your landie into.

...And some places have "lighter" snow than others.

I have seen experiments, where you fill a large glass with snow from the alps - and another with snow from the Rockies (US/Canada). When melted, there is only half the water in the glass from the Rockies - which is why it is powder-heaven for snow-freaks (such as myself).

I have no idea about the science - why it is this way.

Re: How to Clear a Path Through 60 Feet of Snow, Japanese Style

#48

Post by Coincoin » Fri, Mar 17, 2017, 1:46 PM UTC

masklinn wrote: post #35

davidbanham wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Remember also that there's a big difference between the fluffy powder they're plowing in northern Japan and the wet stuff you drove your landie into.

The top may be fluffy, but by the time you've dug through the top 50ft I doubt it's very fluffy anymore.

Compared to rocks, ice is not that dense. You can try yourself: it's easy to pickup a big chunk of ice, even with a shovel, while a similarly sized rock is impossible to lift.

Re: How to Clear a Path Through 60 Feet of Snow, Japanese Style

#49

Post by Xylakant » Fri, Mar 17, 2017, 1:58 PM UTC

TorKlingberg wrote: post #29

Does this website (atlasobscura) ever do anything other than repost viral stuff they copied from around the web?

Isn't that perfectly fine as long as they have an agreement with the original copyright owner (paid or unpaid)? It's called curation and I very much enjoy places that curate and collect stuff (see kottke.org)

Re: How to Clear a Path Through 60 Feet of Snow, Japanese Style

#50

Post by rangibaby » Fri, Mar 17, 2017, 2:10 PM UTC

yomly wrote: post #34

Tateyama or Mt. Tate but never Mt. Tateyama

The repetition makes sense to me because it works in both languages. Mt. Tate would confuse locals. Mt. Tateyama satisfies the need to make it "english" and also works in Japanese because they can just ignore the Mt. part.