QUAKE COTTAGE SHOWCASES FIRM'S FASTENING GADGETS.Byline: Michael Coit Daily News Staff Writer Standing inside a furnished aluminum-sided trailer made to shake with the force of an earthquake is a sure way to remember the power of the Northridge Quake. Michael Essrig hopes his Quake Cottage, unveiled Wednesday on the second anniversary of the magnitude-6.7 Northridge temblor, can help schools and businesses prepare for the next time the earth shakes in Southern California Southern California, also colloquially known as SoCal, is the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Centered on the cities of Los Angeles and San Diego, Southern California is home to nearly 24 million people and is the nation's second most populated region, . "This is made to look like home sweet home but it isn't. You realize home sweet home can be a disaster," said Essrig, president of a Westlake Village company that built the earthquake simulator as a showroom for household and office furniture fastening gadgets. Sales were slow when the company started in 1991, but the former actor and real estate salesman said business is rocking. Business surged after the Northridge Earthquake The Northridge earthquake occurred on January 17, 1994 at 4:31 AM Pacific Standard Time in the city of Los Angeles, California. The earthquake had a "strong" moment magnitude of 6. made homeowners and business owners aware - sometimes painfully - of how things can move during an earthquake. Essrig said the company, Earthquake Services and Products, built the 52-square-foot trailer as both a mobile showroom and an educational tool. The trailer features furniture, cabinets and items secured with various fastening straps and cables that Essrig's company distributes through retail stores and sells from its warehouse at 31143 Via Colinas, No. 502. The company also sells a wax material that holds china, crystal and other fragile items. An industrial motor linked to eight coil springs and two sliding steel plates can generate a shaking motion mimicking earthquakes much stronger than the Northridge event. When set in motion, the furniture barely shifts, cabinets remain closed, and a computer, television and video cassette recorder video cassette recorder Noun a device for recording and playing back television programmes and films video cassette recorder video n → Videorekorder m move slightly. "I truly want to teach people to get prepared," Essrig said. When moved, the $30,000 Quake Cottage simulates an earthquake with a good deal of accuracy, said Aaron Martin Aaron Beamon Martin (born February 10, 1942 in New Bern, North Carolina) was an American football cornerback in the NFL for the Los Angeles Rams, Philadelphia Eagles, and the Washington Redskins. He played college football for North Carolina Central University. , a program analyst for the Southern California Earthquake Center The Southern California Earthquake Center (SCEC), headquartered at the University of Southern California, was founded in 1991 with a mission to:
"You can get an idea, at least, even if it's not exactly an earthquake," he said. Martin used instruments from the earthquake center office at the University of California, Santa Barbara History The predecessor to UCSB, Santa Barbara State College, focused on teacher training, industrial arts, home economics, and foreign languages. Intense lobbying by an interest group in the City of Santa Barbara led by Thomas Storke and Pearl Chase persuaded the State , where he is based, to measure the trailer's movement. He said the trailer simulates both up and down and forward and backward movement produced by a strong earthquake that can be helpful to selling the fastening gadgets and educating children and adults alike. "There is a commercial aspect, no two ways about it," Martin said. "Good information getting out to the public is good. Going to schools and stuff is good." Essrig said his company is seeking businesses to sponsor the cost of taking the Quake Cottage on a regional tour of schools. Essrig said dozens of educators already have asked him to bring the trailer to their campuses. "That's what we're here for," he said. In addition to selling fastening gadgets, the company will retrofit ret·ro·fit v. ret·ro·fit·ted or ret·ro·fit, ret·ro·fit·ting, ret·ro·fits v.tr. 1. To provide (a jet, automobile, computer, or factory, for example) with parts, devices, or equipment not in home and office interiors using the items it sells. In October, the company completed a two-week project to secure furniture, mirrors and other items within The Getty House The Getty House is the official residence of the Mayor of Los Angeles, California, USA. It is located at 605 S. Irving Boulevard in Windsor Square, a neighborhood just east of the Hancock Park district, and located approximately five miles WNW of Los Angeles City Hall. . The 5,000-square-foot Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. home built in 1920 is the official residence of the mayor of Los Angeles. Essrig said the company donated the $2,000 project to the city. CAPTION(S): PHOTO Photo (1--color) Michael Essrig can simulate an 8.0-magnitude quake in his traveling Quake Cottage. (2--CONEJO only) Seismic fasteners fasteners In construction, connectors between structural members. Bolted connections are used when it is necessary to fasten two elements tightly together, especially to resist shear and bending, as in column and beam connections. are designed to keep furnishings in place in a quake. Dusty Locke/Special to the Daily News |
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