I’ve been watching the construction of a major new building in Glasgow over recent weeks.
One of the crazy aspects of this process is that they use an enormous and costly pump to raise concrete to the upper floors.
Today’s invention is a simple alternative for low flowrates of concrete.
A simple calculation shows that it would be possible to raise liquid concrete to about 100m, using only the weight of the mixer lorry itself.
This would have to be driven onto a hinged ramp under which would be a piston with cross-sectional area of about 100cm^2.
Valves would be needed of course to coordinate the inflow at the bottom and the small bursts of outflow to the upper storeys.
