Gears into Hammers

old gears turned into hammers in Uganda

More pictures from TMS Ruge of Project Diaspora, this time of a crude hammer used to crush stones in a quarry outside Kampala, Uganda. It’s made out of an old engine gear.

old gears turned into hammers in Uganda

Author: Erik Hersman

Erik is the owner of White African, a blog about technology and Africa. He is the co-founder of Zangu, a new web and mobile phone application that he hopes will change communication in Africa. AfriGadget is another web project of his, not that he doesn't have enough of those already...

6 thoughts on “Gears into Hammers”

  1. Afrikan people are smart. They can even fix old cars that “rich” people already threw away after giving up.
    Here in Madagascar, we believe that laziness is a source of poverty.

  2. I could be wrong, but isn’t that one half of a differential? I’m trying to think of where in a typical engine that would be, but can’t see it, although I’m not familiar with what you get out of anything beyond cars and trucks when you rip them apart.

    Certainly a much better hammer than when my father or I would try and bang something in to place with the handle of a screwdriver instead of getting an actual hammer >:)

    -miquel

  3. Using what others throw away is very normal in Africa. See the ‘gear’ used as a hammer, I remember watching a lady prepare a grinding stone in Sudan using just such a tool to make the surface of the stone just right for grinding. She would make small chips over the stone so that it was more effective for grinding.

  4. I have often seen gears like these used in Sudan for chipping a grinding stone so that it continues to be effective for grinding. They are a valued asset within any community as a result.

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