Wild-giraffe self-service station

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The wild-giraffe self-service station was an unbuilt loading and training station proposed by Marta van Dalen for free-ranging giraffes using the Giraffecycle. Her 1968 East African service proposal placed stations beside existing tracks between feeding grounds. A giraffe would approach through a feeding lane, enter a parked vehicle and have its supports fitted automatically. Van Dalen allocated one machine to every adult giraffe in a service district.

Reconstruction of a proposed open-sided station beside an East African track: a free-ranging giraffe approaches a feeding lane and a parked four-wheel Giraffecycle with foot trays, supports and a rear ramp. — Illustrative reconstruction of van Dalen's unbuilt 1968 wild-giraffe station. The feeding lane leads toward a parked vehicle; automatic fitting and training remained proposals.

The station would have to habituate an unfamiliar animal to the vehicle and teach it to place four feet on drive trays, steer with its chin and raise its head to brake. At Marenbroek, Erik Smeding taught these actions through supervised, rewarded lessons and kept individual fitting records. His routine gave a reward only after all four feet were in place; a reward for each foot had taught one giraffe to repeat a single placement. Fitting and training giraffes of unknown sizes and responses remained unresolved parts of the proposal.

After stopping, a trained giraffe could press the vehicle's red escape pedal. Its stationary interlock would apply the parking brake, deploy and lock the stands and rear ramp, and lock the trays before transferring the animal's weight back onto its feet. Only after checking the stand and ramp locks and slack slings would the linkage open the slings and release the rear ties so the animal could back down the ramp. The automatic boarding and fitting sequence proposed for arrival was a further step beyond this unloading mechanism.

The stations were the free-access part of van Dalen's proposed East African freight service, whose staffed yards would earn receipts to help pay for them. The yard plan provided repair workshops, spare parts and enclosed training grounds; free-ranging animals would use the stations independently. The earlier Elephantine freight quadricycle carried a walking elephant and timber around staffed yards, with handlers steering and braking. Marenbroek built six single-giraffe vehicles. Wild-animal stations and the African freight service remained proposals. The separate Tandem Giraffecycle reached a stationary mock-up. A later Dromedary Express passenger vehicle kept a human attendant in charge of steering, braking and boarding on maintained circuits, illustrating the supervision the wild-giraffe scheme proposed to remove.

Wild-giraffe self-service station

See also