Inventor gets NIHF honour
Inventor gets NIHF honour
08 February 2017
published by http://gulfislandsdriftwood.com
CANADA – Recognition of a phenomenal invention that transformed the world of aerial firefighting and a company that continues to create and contribute on a global scale has earned Don Arney the honour of being a 2017 inductee into the National Inventors Hall of Fame.
The invention being celebrated is the Bambi Bucket, created by Arney in 1982. The now familiar firefighting device is an open-top cloth bag fastened beneath a helicopter with full collapsibility that delivers a solid column of water or foam efficiently, directly and accurately to extinguish fires.
Arney was completely surprised when he received news of his award from organizers of the National Inventors Hall of Fame.
It was something completely unexpected. It came right out of the blue, he said.
The 45th annual induction ceremony will take place on May 3-4 at the National Building Museum in Washington, D.C. The black-tie event is hosted in partnership with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and other sponsoring organizations.
A celebratory affair, each Induction brings the worlds brightest minds together to experience surprises, stories and unforgettable moments, states press material.
Each year, we induct a new class of industry pioneers into the National Inventors Hall of Fame who have conceived and patented innovations to further our nation, and this years class is no exception, said NIHF CEO Mike Oister.
Inductees are either chosen by nomination or by researchers within the staff of the enormous organization that employs over 100 people and runs educational programs, camps and competitions for aspiring inventors.
I was amazed to find out that 120,000 kids go through their programs every year, said Arney.
Arneys name came up through investigation by a NIHF selection and research team. Organizers required that the news be kept secret until the unveiling of all the inductees in January 2017.
Fifteen inductees both living and deceased will receive awards and be honoured at the ceremony. Arney joins the ranks of only 14 other Canadian inventors in the 45 years that the honour has been awarded.
Shortly after Arney received the news about his award, a delegation from the NIHF came to B.C. to interview and videotape him at work and at home.
They began by filming, interviewing and shadowing Arney at work at his company, SEI Industries in Delta, followed by two days of videotaping at Arneys beautiful Mount Belcher home on Salt Spring. They were particularly interested in his 47-year meditation practice, something Arney credits for inspiring his creativity.
They were also interested in the process of invention. How did he come up with an idea like the Bambi Bucket?
Many inventions are a process of extension, explained Arney. And timing plays a big part as well.
Before inventing the Bambi Bucket, Arney worked at an underwater salvage and construction company and he would look at the canvas bags holding 2,200 pounds of water and think, What an incredible light weight to carry this tremendous load.
He had also been involved in various aviation pursuits since 1976, which gave him necessary background knowledge when he started to investigate monsoon buckets, the old name for the firefighting vessels. He found they had huge deficiencies and were not well regarded.
There were three types and none of them were working well, but no one knew how to do anything different, he explained.
He went to work and the Bambi Bucket evolved. When demonstrated to firefighting professionals and organizations, they were stunned. The Bambi Bucket entered the market at the perfect time, saving time, money and lives for firefighters and multiple other industries.
I feel very fortunate that this idea came to me, said Arney.
Innovations and improvements to the Bambi Bucket have continued over the years, such as the ability to control the amount of water dispensed by gating water flow through the Bambi Max valve. This latest device is highly sophisticated, energy-efficient, cost-saving and self-regulating with state-of-the-art computer technology. In addition to the NIHF induction award, Arney has also received the Canadian Manning Award for Innovation in 1987 and BC Export Award in 2003.
Beyond financial success and recognition, Arneys inventions save lives. When a woman from California realized Arney was the inventor of the Bambi Bucket, she shared her story.
Years earlier, she told Arney, a fire was racing up the hill toward her neighbourhood and home owners were told to evacuate quickly.
We were just getting into our cars, she continued, when suddenly seven or eight helicopters came flying over the hill, all with Bambi Buckets, dropping their loads every 30 seconds. You just heard this boom, boom, boom . . . .
The fire was literally extinguished before their eyes and their homes were untouched.
Other inventions are saving numerous lives as well. In 1985, Arney developed inflatable floats for ultralight aircraft after discovering that the existing products were unsafe. While having a conversation with two pilots, they also shared a survival story. They were flying in the Arctic when a violent downdraft forced them onto broken, jagged sea ice.
When they hit the ice, they said it was like falling into mattresses, Arney recalled. There were no injuries and it would have been a double fatality without the floats.
When asked if Arney will be able to share some of these amazing stories at the induction ceremony, he was doubtful.
I think I get about a minute once I am called up there, he laughed.
Instead, organizers will screen the video that was created in the three-day visit to SEI Industries and Salt Spring.
More information is at www.invent.org.
Recognition of a phenomenal invention that transformed the world of aerial firefighting and a company that continues to create and contribute on a global scale has earned Don Arney the honour of being a 2017 inductee into the National Inventors Hall of Fame.
The invention being celebrated is the Bambi Bucket, created by Arney in 1982. The now familiar firefighting device is an open-top cloth bag fastened beneath a helicopter with full collapsibility that delivers a solid column of water or foam efficiently, directly and accurately to extinguish fires.
Arney was completely surprised when he received news of his award from organizers of the National Inventors Hall of Fame.
It was something completely unexpected. It came right out of the blue, he said.
The 45th annual induction ceremony will take place on May 3-4 at the National Building Museum in Washington, D.C. The black-tie event is hosted in partnership with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and other sponsoring organizations.
SINGAPORE, Feb 9 People in Singapore are willing to cough up nearly 1 per cent of their annual income in order to guarantee the absence of transboundary haze for a year, researchers from the National University of Singapore (NUS) have found.
In total, they are willing to pay US$643.5 million (RM2.8 billion) a year large enough to make a substantive impact on the problem if used for land conservation and restoration, the researchers state in a paper published in Februarys issue of the journal,Environmental Research Letters.
The papers authors, Yuan Lin, Lahiru Wijedasa and Dr Ryan Chisholm, wrote: Our results indicate that Singaporeans experience sufficiently negative impacts of air pollution (in) their day-to-day life, or personal health during haze periods, that they are willing to trade off personal financial gain for improvements in air quality.
Transboundary haze is a long-standing problem in the South-east Asian region, largely caused by the drainage of carbon-rich peatland as well as companies and farmers in Indonesia using fire to clear land.
Singapore experienced its worst haze episode in 2015 from September to November, with the Pollutant Standards Index hitting hazardous levels.
Since then, Indonesia has renewed efforts to prevent fires, although a state of emergency was declared last month in Riau province over forest and land fires.
The economic impact of haze pollution here has been estimated using cost-benefit analysis before, but the researchers said that the figures could be an under-estimate because they exclude impacts such as non-hospitalisable health effects that are difficult to infer from economic data.
The 2015 haze episode was estimated to have cost Singapore S$700 million (RM2.19 billion) in losses.
The NUS researchers surveyed 390 people in public areas from November 2015 to February 2016 on their willingness to pay, should the Singapore Government be able to guarantee good air quality year-round.
The participants, from various age and income groups, were given options ranging from 0.05 per cent to 5 per cent of their annual income, after they indicated if they were willing to support such a haze mitigation fund.
The average persons willingness to pay was an estimated 0.97 per cent of his/her annual income.
However, about three in 10 respondents were unwilling to pay even the minimum option of 0.05 per cent of their annual income.
Wijedasa said that one of the solutions proposed for the haze problem is payments for ecosystem services.
This could take the form of richer nations aiding better land management and restoration by making regular payments.
Indonesia has estimated that it needs US$2.1 billion to help restore two million hectares of peatland in (the country). They have currently only received US$50 million from Norway and US$17 million from the United States.
“Could this shortfall be filled by Singapore (and other countries in the region)?
Tan Yi Han, who is not involved in the study and is co-founder of non-governmental organisation Peoples Movement to Stop Haze, said that the findings are helpful and should motivate the Singapore Government to spend on measures to prevent haze, such as a subsidy on certified sustainable palm oil, as well as aid to support peat restoration and protection efforts in Indonesia.
His organisations survey last year found that more than nine in 10 respondents were willing to pay more for certified sustainable products to help mitigate the haze, Tan said.
Most were willing to pay 5 to 10 per cent more.
Consumers game to chip in to avoid any haze include Steven Lim, who is in his 40s and self-employed. How much he is willing to contribute would depend on the amount needed to make an impact.
Maybe S$10? Multiplied by many individuals, it would be a lot, Lim said, preferring that the money goes to the Indonesian government.
– See more at: http://www.themalaymailonline.com/money/article/singaporeans-willing-to-fork-out-1pc-of-income-to-ensure-no-more-haze#sthash.CRhWHQHj.dpuf
El capitán del primer batallón de la Unidad Militar de Emergencias (UME), Emilio Arias, ha descrito como “dantescos” los efectos del incendio forestal en el paraje natural de la Sierra de Gata (Cáceres), aunque ha sido optimista en cuanto a su extinción al darse una situación “bastante favorable” en estos momentos. Fotogalería ALCALDE 11 Fotos La Sierra de Gata, tras el incendio “El incendio se dio por estabilizado y ahora mismo sólo hay pequeños focos que se reactivan por lo que la situación es bastante adecuada para intentar extinguir el fuego”, ha explicado Arias en una entrevista en COPE. Arias ha descrito como “dantesco” el efecto del fuego en una zona “donde el terreno era precioso”. El mando único del Plan Director del Infoex decidía este lunes mantener activo el Nivel 2 de peligrosidad en el incendio de Sierra de Gata ante las previsiones de viento y altas temperaturas. Las mismas predicciones indican que habrá una mejoría a partir de las primeras horas de la noche del lunes, según ha informado la Junta de Extremadura. Más de 200 efectivos se mantienen en la zona. Intentar llegar a la normalidad es “un tanto difícil”, y que ahora hay que hacer valoraciones de los daños El incendio declarado el pasado jueves ha arrasado unas 7.500 hectáreas de alto valor agrícola, ambiental y paisajístico, de ahí que el Gobierno regional haya iniciado ya la evaluación de los daños y comenzado a preparar la recuperación de la zona. El director general de Medio Ambiente, Pedro Muñoz, ha afirmado que el incendio ha causado un “desastre” desde el punto de vista medioambiental ya que ha arrasado miles de hectáreas de pinar, olivar y pastos, además de haber producido cuantiosos daños materiales en algunas poblaciones. La asociación conservacionista SEO/Birdlife ha denunciado que el incendio afectó gravemente a especies amenazadas y a espacios protegidos de la Red Natura 2000, incluidos robledales, madroñales y castañares centenarios. Todo el área afectada es una zona ornitólogica de interés mundial. Por su parte, el alcalde de la localidad cacereña de Hoyos, Óscar Antúnez, ha alabado la participación ciudadana en el municipio para ayudar a los operarios del plan Infoex como “lo bonito dentro de la tragedia” y ha añadido que el “sentir general” de los ciudadanos de Sierra de Gata es de “frustración e indignación” tras el incendio forestal. El alcalde ha señalado que ha podido hablar con los vecinos de la localidad y que los “más afectados” son los que han perdido fincas o casas de campo, sobre todo una familia que ha perdido su domicilio de vacaciones habitual, que era una casa “recién reformada”. Asimismo, Óscar Antúnez ha indicado que intentar llegar a la normalidad es “un tanto difícil”, y que ahora hay que hacer valoraciones de los daños, tanto la Mancomunidad de Municipios de Sierra de Gata como la Junta de Extremadura, para ver qué ayudas se pueden proporcionar y de qué modo, además de cuáles serán los medios disponibles. Por último, el primer edil de Hoyos ha explicado que los vecinos, “más allá de la lamentación”, deben intentar hacer “una vida normal”, aunque ha considerado que es muy difícil “dado el paisaje que tenemos”, ya que casi el 90% del término municipal está calcinado, ha indicado.
Ver más en: http://www.20minutos.es/noticia/2532392/0/fuego/gata/dantesco/#xtor=AD-15&xts=467263
