Monday - September 27, 2010

An Unusual End To An Unusual Life

Jimi Heselden, the owner of the Segway company, has died after riding one of the two-wheeled machines off a cliff and into a river.

The multi-millionaire businessman, 62, fell into the River Wharfe while inspecting the grounds of his North Yorkshire estate on a rugged country version of the Segway.

The Segway is a motorised scooter which use gyroscopes to remain upright and is controlled by the direction in which the rider leans.

A passer-by found Heselden alongside his Segway in the Boston Spa area at about 11.40am on Sunday.

A spokesman for West Yorkshire Police said today: “Police were called at 11.40am yesterday to reports of a man in the River Wharfe, apparently having fallen from the cliffs above.

“A Segway-style vehicle was recovered. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

The off-road version of the Segway is their XT model. It has much bigger tires than the urban i180 model and weighs a little more. It can handle dirt and gravel roads and drive across fields. They sell for about $5000 and are good for 10-12 miles of use between charges. The Segway was invented by Dean Kamen and Heselden acquired the company earlier this year. Segway sales have been significant but not as great as originally hoped for. Perhaps under Heselden the company was set to head in a new direction.

I think this incident may be only the second Segway fatality ever anywhere. They don’t go very fast, you’re already standing up when riding, and your feet are only a couple inches off the ground.



Heselden, a former miner, made his fortune by inventing a folding cardboard box to put dirt in. Perhaps his original idea was to clean up the mine tailings areas, but the rugged box soon found widespread usage and is now known as the Hesco bastion.

The former miner made his millions from defence contracts. He created a unique portable wire cage water containment system which when filled with earth and sand proved a major defence against bullets, missiles and suicide attacks.

His founded his first company HESCO Bastions with his redundancy pay when he was laid off from the mines. The wire cage systems developed by Bastions have become standard military equipment for Nato as well as American and British forces.

The hesco barrier or hesco bastion is a modern gabion for military fortification. It is made of a collapsible wire mesh container and heavy duty fabric liner, and used as a temporary blast or small-arms barrier. One of the less heralded life- and labor-saving devices of war.

Originally designed for use on beaches and marshes for erosion and flood control,the hesco bastion quickly became a popular security device. In general, it takes far less labor to build a Hesco barrier than an equivalent structure made with sandbags.

Posted by Drew458     on 09/27/2010 at 08:58 AM   
Filed Under: • Miscellaneous •  
• Comments (4) • Trackbacks(0)  Permalink •  

DISCLAIMER

THE SERVICES AND MATERIALS ON THIS WEBSITE ARE PROVIDED "AS IS" AND THE HOSTS OF THIS SITE EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMS ANY AND ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, TO THE EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF SATISFACTORY QUALITY, MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, WITH RESPECT TO THE SERVICE OR ANY MATERIALS.

Not that very many people ever read this far down, but this blog was the creation of Allan Kelly and his friend Vilmar. Vilmar moved on to his own blog some time ago, and Allan ran this place alone until his sudden and unexpected death partway through 2006. We all miss him. A lot. Even though he is gone this site will always still be more than a little bit his. We who are left to carry on the BMEWS tradition owe him a great debt of gratitude, and we hope to be able to pay that back by following his last advice to us all:

1. Keep a firm grasp of Right and Wrong
2. Stay involved with government on every level and don't let those bastards get away with a thing
3. Use every legal means to defend yourself in the event of real internal trouble, and, most importantly:
4. Keep talking to each other, whether here or elsewhere

It's been a long strange trip without you Skipper, but thanks for pointing us in the right direction and giving us a swift kick in the behind to get us going. Keep lookin' down on us, will ya? Thanks.

THE INFORMATION AND OTHER CONTENTS OF THIS WEBSITE ARE DESIGNED TO COMPLY WITH THE LAWS OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. THIS WEBSITE SHALL BE GOVERNED BY AND CONSTRUED IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE LAWS OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AND ALL PARTIES IRREVOCABLY SUBMIT TO THE JURISDICTION OF THE AMERICAN COURTS. IF ANYTHING ON THIS WEBSITE IS CONSTRUED AS BEING CONTRARY TO THE LAWS APPLICABLE IN ANY OTHER COUNTRY, THEN THIS WEBSITE IS NOT INTENDED TO BE ACCESSED BY PERSONS FROM THAT COUNTRY AND ANY PERSONS WHO ARE SUBJECT TO SUCH LAWS SHALL NOT BE ENTITLED TO USE OUR SERVICES UNLESS THEY CAN SATISFY US THAT SUCH USE WOULD BE LAWFUL.

Copyright © 2004-2015 Domain Owner