-Chinese farmers near the Zhongyuan oil fields in China's Henan province carry back to their homes giant plastic bags filled with natural gass stolen from wells along the road. They use the gas for cooking and heating, causing annual losses of more than 20 million yuan (5 million guilders) to the oil companies.
source: book “Lightness” - The inevitable renaissance of minimum energy structures, Adriaan Beukers - Ed van Hinte
-Floating bridge over the Ganges
“Ramnagar fort is on the Ganga’s east bank, and we live on the west. We crossed the river on foot across the recently completed pontoon bridge, constructed of a series of planks on top of large floating tanks. The bridge creates a bit of a bouncing and swaying sensation as you cross, and the bicycles and motorbikes sharing the bridge made the crossing a bit nerve wracking, but it was really quite beautiful to be able to stand out in the middle of the river and look out at the city curving away along its western bank. Crossing back in the early evening, we got to see, for the first time, the sun setting over the Ganga.”
source: emilindia.blogspot.com/search?updated-min=200…

-Air Cushions, The Urban Search and Rescue team uses these for lifting immensely heavy objects. When deflated, the bags can be inserted under objects, even when there is very little room available. Once inserted, the bag is filled with air via the attached connection and hose which are clearly visible in the photos above. As the bag fills it lifts the load on top of it. source: http://www.buitink-technology.com/

-Worker mouth blowing glass to prepare a flower vase source: http://www.amitgoel.com/venice/image21.JPG
-Simone Decker. Chewing-gum, Venice Biennale, 1999
The bubble-gum series includes shots of wads of gum stretched between buildings, and the giant-looking bubbles. The chewing gum is real, chewed, chewing gum and, in the pictures, there appears to be a lot, but I only used a few packages for the entire series of thirty installations. I blew the biggest bubbles I could and then put the gum very close to the camera, about thirty centimetres away, to make it appear giant. Gum is such a common material that the contrast between these small wads of it and the big sculptures being shown at the biennale — and just the cultural weight of Venice — was great. source: http://www.walrusmagazine.com/

-Image used for invitation Artist Airshow in the Uk more: http://www.artscatalyst.org/projects/space/airshow.html
-Early in 1962 the staff of the Commander in Chief, Pacific, believing that the buildup in Vietnam required centralized control and management of long-distance communications into, out of, and within the Republic of Vietnam, recommended to the joint Chiefs of Staff in Washington that the responsibility for the operation of the Army's worldwide communications “gateway” station.
source: http://www.history.army.mil/books/Vietnam

Powermoon is a balloon-based lighting system suitable for road & railway infrastructure, outdoor events, entertainment, military, and search & rescue applications. Powermoon is packaged in a small, portable unit which may be quickly assembled on-site. Powermoon comes with a collapsible balloon and stand, a generator, an IP 67 control gear box, and a carrying case.It does not require an inflation fan and is therefore noise-free and lower in cost compared with other balloon-based lighting systems.
source: http://www.antidazzlelighting.co.uk/ http://www.powermoon.de

-Lanselevillard, France
-Temporary Bridge for heavy load Project Span: 30 m Load: 500 kN Weight: 10'000 Kg Current Status - Design phase
Airlight is among specialized in lightweight and large span structures: Tensairity. What is the difference between Tensairity and existing pneumatic structures? The innovative Tensairity-concept and the fact that air pressure is totally independent of the span and slenderness of the constituting elements. In other words: Tensairity allows the construction of very light roof structures with extremely long span. The load bearing capacity of Tensairity is so high that with a pressure of 200 mbar it is already possible to build temporary bridges even suitable for heavy transports. Compared with traditional airbeams, Tensairity needs just 1% of air pressure. With such low pressure, air losses are easily compensated. Many other fields of application are possible: floating structures, sport equipment, airships and even aerospace applications.
source:http://www.airlight.biz

Paul Gierow's GATR-com (which stands for “ground antenna transmit and receive) inflatable satellite ball has got to be the most sci-fi invention of the bunch. Designed to provide communications in otherwise inhospitable environments, the six or eight-foot sphere contains a plastic satellite dish that unfolds when the ball is inflated and can be targeted to within one-tenth of a degree. When collapsed, the GATR-com weighs just 70 pounds and fits into two backpacks. The $50,000 ball has already been tested in disaster areas, helping a Red Cross station secure medicine during Hurricane Katrina, and Gierow says he's been inundated with potential clients. We can see why – not only does this thing dial up a T1 speed connection, it's perfect for exercising your Wookiees. Peep a vid of the ball setting up after the jump.
source: http://www.engadget.com


The meeting of bionics with pneumatics is found again and again in the new ideas for using air in the Bionic Learning Network. The hovercraft is a perfect example of highly precise manoeuvring over land and water.
The mode of operation of the thrust control system developed by students of Bielefeld University of Applied Sciences is reminiscent of the guidance principle of a tracked vehicle. The air produced by the propeller is split into two channels. Each of these channels has a pair of flaps that behave like the thrust-reversing system of a turbo-drive and are able to steplessly adjust the portion of the air discharged backward or forward. Braking manoeuvres and reverse travel are therefore possible without difficulty.
source: http://www.festo.com/

Army decoys

continue with more inflatable image sections: Powered by Wind - Parasite Inflatables - Soap Experiences - When Nature Inflates - Environmental Blendings - Hardened Bubbles - Inflatable Spaces - Inflatable Sound - Interactive Inflatables - Inflatable Wearables - The Non Categorized Inflatables - Lighter than Air - NASA Inflatables or go back: Cocky Eek