Many people enjoy cobblestone covered streets. From the mediaeval alleyways of Prague, to the Soho Streets of New York, tourists and locals alike value and appreciate their cobblestoned thoroughfares for various reasons.
What is not enjoyable that much is actually walking over long stretches of the uneven, unyielding cobbles. High-heels wearers particularly suffer, and a solution is clearly needed. The answer is obvious: provide a degree of cushioning to the cobbles using Pneumatic Suspension Cobblestones.
The entire solution involves removing sections of the existing cobblestones and replacing them with factory assembled strips that contain the new cushioned cobbles. These come like rolled up carpets to facilitate easy laying.
Once in place, the new cobbles look exactly like the previous ones, except each of the individual cobbles now has under its base a sealed for life pneumatic suspension unit. Instead of the previous tar grout separating the cobbles there is a tough flexible rubber seal to allow the cobbles to deliver the vital impact cushioning effect.
De-lux version features adjustable linked cushioning to allow subtle ripple effects to be created along street lengths via a central contoller.-- xenzag, Jul 02 2015 Everything was invented by the French, so "pavé pneumatique", surely?-- hippo, Jul 02 2015 Wouldn't rubber cobbles work better? Otherwise the cobble would still be dome-shaped, but lower.
Here we don't have cobbles, but setts. Basically they are housebrick shaped and sized cobbles. When freshly laid they are suprisingly smooth, plenty flat enough to cycle over at speed on 23c tyres, but repeated passage of delivery lorries tends to make them less evenly set.-- pocmloc, Jul 02 2015 Work better? ha - rubber is no substitute for hard granite, especially if they need to be pried out and thrown in a riot situation.-- xenzag, Jul 02 2015 Explain, then, why riot police use rubber bullets and not granite bullets for crowd control? After all, when it comes to riots, these guys are the pros, all the other rioters are part-time amateurs.-- pocmloc, Jul 02 2015 Brilliant. The cobblestone streets of Nantucket Island almost take you out when riding a bike.-- blissmiss, Jul 02 2015 The setts, invented in Belgium in the middle ages, are usually made of granite, and are mostly being replaced with asphalt. There is an Israeli invention by a guy named Ackerstein that needs little maintenance, and creates a flat surface. If I understand correctly his bricks are used all around the world.
Little maintenance doesn't mean no maintenance. And my city's failed municipality (due to political deadlock) proves that.-- pashute, Jul 04 2015 Seems simple to incorporate membrane contact switches in each one, then you can put up a digital sign showing where each step is happening.-- tatterdemalion, Jul 04 2015 // Explain, then, why riot police use rubber bullets and not granite bullets for crowd control? //
Pansy pinko commie liberals, beaded sandal-wearing hand-wringing do-gooders, vegetarians, save-the-whale tree-hugging hippies, whining on and on about "reasonable force", that's why. Forget baton rounds; a couple of 12-pounder cannon double-shotted with canister should do the trick. Worked a treat against the filthy frogs at Waterloo.
// After all, when it comes to riots, these guys are the pros, all the other rioters are part-time amateurs. //
Maybe there should be a scheme where they can take turns.
// the police, as full time professional rioters, have to stay within a budget, and using rubbers and rulers and pencil sharpeners means that their riots can be funded as admin consumables. //
The projectile from a 40mm baton round is useless as an eraser. It just tears the paper. But they're good for moving furniture - use them as rollers - and the empty cartridge casings are neat containers for pencils, paperclips and drawing pins.-- 8th of 7, Jul 04 2015 Indeed.
As for the shock absorbing cobblestone idea, I've taken a survey, and we approve.-- 2 fries shy of a happy meal, Jul 05 2015 Gallup?-- 2 fries shy of a happy meal, Jul 07 2015 No, the horses trip over them at those speeds.-- RayfordSteele, Jul 07 2015 random, halfbakery