Manhole covers (yes, really, Manhole covers)

I have discovered that taking photographs makes you open your eyes to your surroundings.  Suddenly, everything is subject matter.  And I have also found most things have beauty, you just have to look closely.

During my early walking tours of Odense, I started noticing the number of different manhole covers.  Some were very utilitarian, the "working man's cover" so to speak, while others were simply beautiful in their design.

A manhole cover is a removable plate forming the lid over the opening in a road or sidewalk, to prevent anyone or anything from falling in, and to keep out unauthorized persons and material.  They are usually cast iron for strength.  Most manhole covers have a pattern, or texture to make them less slippery.

Here is an interesting question.  Why are manhole covers round?  This question was made famous by Microsoft when they began asking it as a job-interview question.

The main reason is a round manhole cover cannot fall through its circular opening, a square manhole cover can fall in if it were inserted diagonally in the hole.

Pretty simple once you think about it (if you are so inclined to think about such things, I am one of those "so inclined people").

There are other reasons, less material to make then a square cover, easier to move.  Think about rolling a square one.  See what I mean?

So all you really need is a round, cast iron plate with a grid pattern cast into it and you have a perfect manhole cover.

If that's all you need,why are there so many different kinds?  City Crests, animals, geometric patterns, religious symbols just to name a few.

From a utility perspective, casting a City Crest into a man hole cover provides traction.  Not as slippery.  For me, that is the "engineers" answer.

But personally, I think the main reason for all the different kinds is two fold.

One, people like to put their mark on the world, and a manhole covers is like a cast iron "Kilroy was Here".  (If you don't know what Kilroy was, look it up, an interesting story).

And two, because people have a desire to make things beautiful.  And these are the perfect canvas for someone's artistic talents.  So I think the real answer is an artist's need, not an engineer's.

And now the collection.  There may be some duplicates, but I just couldn't decide which I liked more in some instances, so I left them in.  It's my collection!

ODENSE

The following covers are ones I have found here in town

 This one is the same as the last one, I just liked the way it had rusted.  It was in an out of the way location and didn't get any traffic

 Some are for specific access to Telephone lines

 Power

 This one is hinged.  Plain.

 Yes, I know.  Square.  I don't know what they were thinking here

 These next three are beautiful.  This one has a horse running in a forest

 This one a Raven with other birds

 And this a Man in the middle

 Some are not technically a "Manhole Cover", too small.  But it's my blog and I felt these smaller ones had merit as well

 This is not a manhole cover as well, but a brass medallion making the beginning of the bicycle highway in Odense.  About 6 inches in diameter

 There are hundreds of these marking the center-line of the bicycle highway throughout the city.  It's a bicycle wheel.  See the air nozzle at the bottom?

COPENHAGEN

 Some we saw there were not as "maintained" as the ones in Odense.

 This is a Hans Christian Anderson cover!  The tin soldier is a piece added to the cover

 Someone had to have the Tin soldier I guess.  (It was not me)

Even Tivoli Gardens had their own

EVERYWHERE ELSE

 There were several for Svendborg, Denmark that were similar

 This is the City Crest of Oslo, Norway

 These next three were in Oslo.  Square, but they were hinged so the wouldn't fall in the hole

If you made it to the end, thanks for indulging me.

Next blog entry I will be sharing photos of my sand collection.  

Grains of sand from all around the world.

Or perhaps not.