Phase 02 — Stone, bone, wood and fibre toolkit / About year 1
02.12
Lever, log rollers and sledge
the first machines for moving heavy loads
AWhat it needs
Needs 15 other products in all, 2 of them directly.
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- 02.12 Lever, log rollers and sledgeMaking Year 1 needs 15 products
- 02.08 Hafted stone axe ⚠Making Year 1 needs 13 products
- 02.05 Pitch glueMaking Year 1 needs 6 products
- 01.08 First fire and stone hearthMaking Year 1 needs 5 products
- 01.06 Tinder and kindling storeMaking Year 1 raw materials only
- 01.07 Bow-drill fire setMaking Year 1 needs 3 products
- 01.03 Sharp stone flakeMaking Year 1 needs 1 product
- 01.02 HammerstoneMaking Year 1 raw materials only
- 01.05 Twisted plant-fibre cordMaking Year 1 needs 2 products
- 02.06 Sinew thread and rawhide lashingMaking Year 1 needs 9 products
- 01.15 Fire-hardened spear ⚠Making Year 1 needs 6 products
- 02.03 Stone knives, scrapers and engraving pointsMaking Year 1 needs 3 products
- 02.01 Knapping kitMaking Year 1 needs 2 products
- 02.07 Ground stone axe headMaking Year 1 needs 2 products
- 01.02 Hammerstoneshown above ↑← shown at left
- 02.04 Sandstone grinding slabMaking Year 1 needs 1 product
- 02.11 Three-strand ropeMaking Year 1 needs 3 products
Open a box to see what it needs. A dashed box is a product already drawn in full: click it to jump there. In the org chart, drag to move around.
BWhy
The settlers have only their own bodies. A lever lets one person lift what ten cannot. Rollers let four people move a tree trunk or a boulder across flat ground. A sledge carries loads over rough ground. These are the first machines: they trade distance for force.
CYou need
- The hafted axe (02.08) and rope (02.11)
- Levers: two straight poles of ash or oak, each taller than a person and as thick as the wrist
- Rollers: six to eight straight round logs, all the same thickness (a hand-span across) and longer than the load is wide
- Sledge: two timbers with a natural upward curve at one end, and four cross-pieces
- Blocks and wedges of wood for propping
DSteps
- Lever: push the end of the pole under the load. Put a block or stone under the pole, as close to the load as possible. Press down on the far end. The closer the block is to the load, the greater the lift and the smaller the movement.
- Lift a little, push a block under the load to hold it, move the lever and block, and lift again. Never hold a load up on the lever alone.
- Rollers: lever up one end of the load and slide a roller under it. Lever up the other end and add a second. Lay the rest in a row in front.
- On soft ground, first lay two lines of straight poles as rails for the rollers to run on.
- Pull with rope and push with levers from behind. As the load rolls off the last roller, carry that roller round to the front.
- To turn, set the front rollers at a slant.
- Sledge: lay the two curved timbers side by side, a pace apart, curves upward at the front. Cut notches and lash four cross-pieces across them with rope. Tie a hauling rope to the front cross-piece.
- Drag the sledge over wet grass, mud or a path of small poles laid crosswise. Wet the path to make it slide.
- On a slope, tie a second rope to a tree above and let it out slowly.
EIt worked if
- Four people move a stone as heavy as ten people across fifty paces of level ground in an hour.
- At no moment is anyone's hand or foot under the load.
FWhat goes wrong
- A roller jams or the load slides off sideways. Rollers of different thickness, or uneven ground. Match the rollers and lay rails.
- The lever snaps. A knot, or too thin. Use two levers side by side.
- The load runs away downhill. There was no holding rope. Always have one on any slope.
GSafety
- The rule is absolute: hands and feet are never under a raised load. Blocks go in with a stick.
- One person gives the word. Everyone else is silent until the load is at rest.
HIn the story
Adam has moved injured climbers down cliffs with rope and poles, and this is the same work with a heavier patient. The first real load is the cedar trunk for Tane's canoe, a hundred paces from the water. It takes two days and all 24 of them. Diego counts paces the whole way and says they could move anything on the island this way, given time.
IFigures
not drawn yet
not drawn yet