New Zealand Inventions, Innovations and Feats of Engineering

I am revisiting this topic once again, but first, to dispel some claims of New Zealand inventions: many are dubious, despite being touted as wonders by all and sundry.

The first to be dismissed is the Britten V1000 motorcycle. Basically, it wasn't that groundbreaking and the inventiveness claimed by John Britten was all other people. The true story is told in the book, John Britten by Tim Hanna Mention in this book is made of the Denco motorcycle engine, designed for speedway use, and Denco also made a V8 engine for use in speedway. You never hear anything about the latter, as no doubt they were not so good at self-promotion.

Then we must dismiss the Martin Jetpack. An American invented this type of machine, called the SoloTrek XFV. 

The Hamilton Jetboat is also questionable, the American military seem to have done this first.

Now, those inventions that are unquestionable: we start off with Richard Pearse, the first man to achieve powered flight. Not only was he before the Wright Brothers, he did this using a monoplane, ailerons, a tricycle undercarriage and tractor propeller. This is what the airplane looked like, and yes, he knew how important his accomplishments were and he had witnesses present as he flew:

If you are familiar with excavators, they often use a quick hitch coupler to change buckets with. The universal quick hitch was invented in New Zealand by Jack Balemi. This is what they look like:

I do sometimes read sources which credit the NZ innovation; while hitches previously existed, they were always dedicated to the machines design. These hitches allow any machine to fit them and any bucket to be attached. 

Here's a source mentioning NZ: https://www.gochinaht.com/history-of-hydraulic-quick-hitch.html

Then, even now I may see in New South Wales, an earthmover advertising the equipment he has on hand, with a statement such as; a tipper, a Drott, a Halitrax. Well, the tipper is a dump truck, the Drott was a brand of American track-type loader, and a Halitrax was the world's first rubber track skid-steer loader - made in New Zealand. They were mostly exported to Australia, where the term Halitrax became industry standard. This is a Halitrax:

The biggest invention from NZ is the Barmac Vertical Shaft Impactor, now still made in NZ by Metso Minerals, the Finnish-based giant. A Barmac can be found in 60% of the world's quarries. If you doubt this, call up your local quarry and ask them if they've got a Barmac? This is what they look like:

Here's an article talking about this machine's development: https://www.engineeringnz.org/programmes/heritage/heritage-records/barmac-aggregate-impact-crusher/

Then, finally an engineering wonder, the Hamilton Road through Kurdistan. The project is a civil engineering marvel, and the design of Archibald Hamilton, a Kiwi. https://kurdistanchronicle.com/babat/2634

This project led Hamilton to design the Callender-Hamilton bridge, which are now found worldwide. I recently saw an article where Indonesia were starting to replace 37 Callender-Hamilton bridges in Java:

If in NZ's South Island, the drive from Blenheim to Nelson will see you crossing the Pelorus River on a Callender-Hamilton:

Anyway, that's my plug for plucky Kiwiland. It'd be nice if the North Island got off their lard arses and did some work once in a blue moon.