Without getting too technical, one of the big missions of this trip was to find a way to reduce the cost of the Marian Stove (see
Dad's website for background on this) . Long story short, it looks like Gabriel and his team may have found it. The most expensive item in the stove is a material called "Tuff-Floor" which the team is importing from South Africa in large quantities. It works well as the main ingredient for the combustion chamber, as it does not break down in high heat, but the shipping costs and import fees make it expensive. Gabriel reached out to a local professor from the University of Tanzania who turned him on to a material mined from the mounds of expired ant-hills. This "ant-hill sand" was used in ancient times by local residents of the Rukwa region to make high temperature blast furnaces. Gabriel and his team decided if it was good for a blast furnace it should work in the Marian Stove as a combustion chamber. He found a local ant-hill that had the right qualities, made a test stove with it standing in for Tuff-Floor, and it looks like it works. The new material held up well and is abundant in the local area. If this new material continues to hold up, then the stoves become affordable at the local market prices.
This is a major step forward for Ed's Project.
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| An ancient furnace made from "ant-hill" sand. Still standing after thousands of years and used to melt iron ore into steal implements. This is where Gabriel got the idea for the new combustion chamber. |
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| Clara mixing the "Anti-Hill" sand mixture to make a new combustion chamber, probably taking $50-$100 out of the cost of each stove with this innovation. |
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| Gabriel Showing Dad the ant-hill where they are now mining the new material. |
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