A story on Chinese yixing teapot--Tea is steeped in history
or, possibly, tall and thin or shaped like a cat. Teapots are for more than holding tea Tea is one of the world's oldest beverages and, after water, its most popular. Legend has it that the Chinese Emperor Shen Nung discovered the brew 5,000 years ago when tea leaves blew into a pot of boiling water, creating a delicious aroma. Since then the variety of teas and the design of teapots have improved considerably.
As trade routes to the West opened, merchants brought "cha" ( in Cantonese ) or "te" ( as it was called in Fukien ) with them by land and sea. Venice was a centre for trading in spices from the East, which it obtained in Alexandria and sold to merchants from western Europe.
First mentioned in Venetian literature in 1559, Chinese tea came to Holland, France and England by the mid-17th century. And so did Chinese redware teapots in imaginative shapes, sporting dragon spouts and serpent handles. Soon tea was fashionable with the upper classes.
In the early 18th century, when the Meissen factory succeeded in producing porcelain as fine as that made by the Chinese, exquisite novelty teapots shaped like monkeys and chickens were created. In England, more utilitarian salt-glazed novelty teapots resembling camels, horses and squirrels were made.
Coffee, another hot drink introduced in Europe at about the same time, also required the creation of a completely new range of containers, but coffee pots have never rivalled the eccentricity of the novelty teapots produced over the centuries.
Tea gained in popularity, despite occasional setbacks. In 1773 Britain's East India Company gained the right to import tea into the American Colonies without paying duty, thus reducing the price to consumers.
American middlemen, fearing financial ruin, manipulated public opinion and organized publicity stunts. In one, Americans dressed as Mohawks boarded three import ships off Boston and threw tea chests into the harbour. As news of the "tea party" spread, discontent with the British grew so rapidly that it resulted in a regime change, otherwise known as the American Revolution.
In 1833 the trading monopoly of the East India Company ended, and any merchant was free to trade in China tea. Competition to be the first to bring tea from China to the Tea Exchange in London led to the design of fast clipper ships that reduced the journey time by half.
The first clipper was the Rainbow, launched in New York in 1845. In 1850 the American clipper Oriental did the voyage from Hong Kong and around the southern tip of Africa to London in only 97 days. The opening of the Suez Ca-nal in 1869, and the arrival of steam ships, ended this era abruptly.
By 1890 plantations in India and Sri Lanka were providing the world market with much of its supply, and only a third of the tea drunk in Britain came from China.
In 1904 Thomas Sullivan, a New York merchant who wrapped loose tea in bags for restaurants, saw a marketing opportunity when he realized chefs were brewing his tea in the bag. But the first patent for a tea bag went to Thomas Lipton. Also in 1904, Richard Blechynden, an English plantation owner, added ice to his tea at the St. Louis World's Fair when a heat wave drove visitors away from his booth. This novelty, iced tea, brought them back again.
Recent news coverage of possible links between tea drinking and cancer prevention, the lowering of blood pressure, the reduction of tooth decay, and the supposed medicinal benefits of herbal teas have all increased interest in the bever-age.
Meanwhile, in China, they are rediscovering tea after several years of guzzling Coca Cola, coffee and other bever-ages from the West. Upscale tea shops, the invention of bubble tea and even a tea theme park in Fujian province are drawing the Chinese back to the drink discovered there some 5,000 years ago.
About the Author
Offers handmade yixing teapots,also called zisha teapot, is known as the best in Chinese teapots or China teapots, and accessories from Yixing, China.
Human powered generator...motor/coil?
I asked a while ago about this, but I there was still some confusion in my mind. My ultimate goal is to use power electric heating coil from human powered bike. I was wondering, I will I be able to create enough power to power the coil?
Here's what I have so far: I took the motor out from an old fan, and I was thinking about directly connecting that to the bike. My question is would that work? If so, about how much power will I be able to get out of it? Am I going to need anything like an inverter? or can I just connect to the two end terminals to the coil, and that would work? Also, am I going to need a diode? Basically, what I am trying to ask is how would I put everything together? I have bits of info, just need to figure everything out.
Also, as for the coil, how does the wattage rating work? I am thinking of using maybe like a teapot coil..
Thanks for all your help in advance!!
Another answer is correct, you are unlikely to be able to generate more than 200 watts for any length of time. Most small heating appliances are rated from about 600 to 2400 watts. If an electric kettle rated at 2000 watts takes 4 minutes to bring a quantity of tap water to the boil then a 200 watt input would take 40 minutes to do the same, barring losses of heat. With losses you could be looking at an hour or more
A fan motor may generate some power but it you will have to energise the rotor or stator coils. This might only need a little rewiring. Best thing is to weld up a connection to the chain or rear wheel and find out what happens. You are unlikely to get a mains voltage output though.
Another possibility is a DC generator from an old car. These were generally rated at somewhere between 20 and 50 watts and produced about 8 or 14 volts. Most cars since about 1960 have used alternators so to get DC you will need to go back quite a way.
In 1928 -29 Alf Traeger in Australia developed a pedal operated generator to power small radio transmitters and receivers.
Search "pedal radio" for more details.
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