Talk:Dolos

The greek God Dolos! My english is not good enough. - Please look in German or French Wiki - The God Dolos! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 78.51.42.202 (talk) 22:07, 6 November 2009 (UTC)

Photo
I know, I know: if it is unusually-shaped we should have a decent photo. I'll do my best. --Adam Brink 07:41, 18 July 2006 (UTC)

Etymology
A nice article. You write that 'there is a competing theory that [the word] refers to doll oxen as ox vertebrae were used by children as toy oxen. While such a practice did, and may still, exist, the etymology is unlikely as the Afrikaans word for doll is poppie'. But my copy of Boshoff and Nienaber's 'Afrikaanse Etimologieë' supports this theory, stating that the word comes from the Dutch 'dollen', the verb 'to play' with the word 'os' added for 'oxen'. They compare this to 'kleios' - 'clay' plus 'oxen' for clay ox toys. (Afrikaanse Etimologieë, SPE Boshoff and GS Nienaber, Die Suid-Afrikaanse Akademie vir Wetenskap en Kuns, 1967). If Adam Brink has no objections I intend changing this section to reflect this. --Queequeg Pequod 06:46, 7 September 2006 (UTC)

Thanks, you are quite right. You should just edit it boldly, though... --Adam Brink 07:08, 7 September 2006 (UTC)

Kruger v Merrifield
I have undone the (anonymous) edit saying 'Aubrey Kruger still has a copy of the original design plan (Plan No. BH 103. I. 400.) dated 12 July 1962, which contains his signature. Putting to rest that he was indeed the original designer of the Dolos and not Merrifield.' It isn't clear to my the fact that Kruger's signature on the original plan would show that he came up with the design. He may have prepared the plan on Merrifield's instructions... There is also no citation. [It would be nice to have a copy of the original plan linked to the article, if it is in fact available] --Adam Brink 16:02, 3 May 2007 (UTC)

Have you seen this article in the East London news paper? http://www.dispatch.co.za/1999/06/28/features/FAME.HTM

"What was to become internationally recognised as a revolutionary sea buffer first saw the light through the vision of a draughtsman, though it later brought fame, fortune and international design awards to a harbour engineer who basked in the glory as its inventor -- wrongfully it turns out."

Comments? It seems that Kruger is the original designer after all. There is a picture of Kruger holding the original plans. Would be nice to get a scan of the document he is holding..... —Preceding unsigned comment added by 41.241.186.94 (talk) 12:36, 13 October 2007 (UTC)

Yes, I saw it: It is the first article listed under the 'references' section. I don't think we can go as far as saying that Kruger is the original designer after all. Merrifield died in 1982 and I have seen no report of Kruger laying claim to being the designer before the 1990s. This means that Merrifield was unable to refute the suggestion when it was made. In the article I dealt with this by reporting that the development of the dolos shape is usually credited to Merrifield, but that Kruger was latterly reported as laying claim to it. I also detail Kruger's role, as far as we know what it was. We can't resolve the issue of who 'designed' it on the published information that we currently have, and can only report that the dispute exists, which the article does do. I think that that is fair. (PS please sign in, and sign your mails!) --Adam Brink 08:38, 15 October 2007 (UTC)

Plans
I will see Aubrey in the next month or so. I will get a copy of the plans from him, along with a photo of him and the original demo of the Dolos he made with his wife's broomstick. -- M Vincent

'most famously used'
I have cut this reference out: 'Dolos are most famously used in Crescent City, CA where they protect the city residents from future tsunamis. Dolos in Crescent City, CA are used in combination with Tetrapods'. There is no basis given for this particular use (as opposed to the thousands of other sites around the world) being the most famous use. Nor will the article be improved by listing every site where they are used. Adam Brink 07:26, 10 October 2007 (UTC)

Diabolical Whazzername
The last paragraph in the article contains grammatical ambiguities in translation that I cannot resolve without reference to the original text. Something is wrong...

Dolos/tetrapod
This article reads as if the dolos was an entirely novel design, unrelated to any other. Dolosse are a type of tetrapod, tetrapod being a generic term for objects like this used for mitigation of erosion by wave action (tetrapod = shaped like a four-limbed animal https://www.dictionary.com/browse/tetrapod) Designs shown in Pierre Danel and Paul Anglès d'Auriac's US patent of 1951 are tetrapodal, and designed to interlock, as are dolosse: https://patents.google.com/patent/US2766592A/en Tetrapods of that type were used at Roches Noir power station east of Casablanca in 1950 https://journals.tdl.org/icce/index.php/icce/article/view/1812? Dolosse were thus a development in a pre-existing field, and the article should mention that, perhaps with a link to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetrapod_(structure) in a sentence added to the introduction 'It is a type of tetrapod. Robert P Connolly (talk) 09:13, 29 July 2021 (UTC)


 * yes, this is anither case of apartheid propoganda being used to pretend that a particular shape of wave dissipating concrete blocks being made in South African means that the broader class was a South African invention. The same with epoxy glue and pool cleaners. 156.155.85.159 (talk) 04:39, 20 January 2024 (UTC)