Concorde
There was a fantastic programme on TV last night about Concorde: What a wonderful piece of engineering and design that was, when you consider it first flew in 1969! It’s hard to believe that 40 years later, we’re now back to a World with no supersonic passenger air travel. As the people who designed her said; “We tookair travel from 600 mph to 1350 mph and now we’re back to 600 mph!
We couldn’t be more apart in terms of technology: We make our stone fireplaces using the methods that have been used for thousands of years. Men using simple tools and their eyes. Nothing really different from the early stone mason (not always a fireplace maker of course) We do of course have access to power tools to cut the massive stone blocks, and we have advanced metallurgy some way, so that our tools are stronger and stay sharp longer.
The aviation industry when from the Wright brothers to Concorde in about 70 years. If they’d moved at the pace of stone masonry, we’d still be with the Wrights!
Of course some parts of the stone industry are incredibly sophisicated: One couldn’t have had large, flat, polished granite worktops a few years ago, The same with stone flooring and the cladding of buildings: The use of computer controlled cutters and polishers means stone can be an economical material on the largest of projects.
The fact is, the humble stone fireplace, cannot really be improved! A skilled mason can make one relatively easily and probably quicker than a machine so perhaps that is why our methods haven’t really changed.