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Letters to the editor
By Design News Staff -- Design News, October 18, 1999
Strange, but true
I would like to make a couple of remarks in regard to the "Stupid Car Tricks II" (Design News Breaktime, 9/6/99). Some tricks may not be as stupid as they appear.
While it may seem unbelievable, I have squealed my tires in a corner on a dirt road. I could take you to the exact spot. I was tearing around a gravel pit in an MGA, many years ago, and it sounded as though I was on asphalt. I was so surprised that I went back and repeated it.
Also, one of the gun magazines did an experiment years ago which involved firing a Colt 45 pistol underwater. They did not know what to expect. The semi-auto did not blow up or malfunction. The velocity was low but certainly could have been lethal. DO NOT try this yourselves. The Colt 45 is a relatively low pressure and low velocity round in a very robust design.
Jeff Baker
DN reader
Measuring the earth
Regarding the no-problem problem of measuring the circumference of the earth with an unmarked slide rule, the uneven surface of the earth will mess up the calculation. Also, since the development of the calculator, young whippersnappers such as me have lost the ability to identify a slide rule, much less use one. Thus, a slightly older individual would have to tackle the challenge. Of course, anyone who is retired would be a fool to leave the golf course and attempt such a project, so that leaves it to someone around age 45. Say the slide rule was one foot and you measure one foot every second. The earth's diameter is 7,973 miles and the circumference is 25,047.9 miles. If you worked eight hours a day, five days a week, you could measure the diameter in 918.4 weeks, or 17.66 years. But now, the person doing the measuring is 62 and moving slower, so you might have to add five or ten years. Of course, the person would retire at 65, so the problem really is unsolvable.
Jason D. Miller
Frommelt Products Corp.
Searching for scroll compressor
Several years ago, Design News had an advertisement for scroll compressors of varying configuration and capacity. These units have one spiral-shaped scroll oscillating within another to produce pressurized air. I have since forgotten the manufacturer's name, and I cannot find any information on this product line elsewhere. I would appreciate hearing from anyone who can help a Design News reader.
Harold Vaughan
4100 Pawnee Rd.
Richmond, VA 23225
Right brain, left brain
I didn't know there was such a thing as an engineering humorist until I read the column on the swing gut-busting girdle (Design News, June 21, 1999)...I am impressed by your incorporation of so many diverse concepts into one page. I congratulate you on your excellently developed right brain. How do you keep your right brain from getting in the way of the left during serious engineering-type discussions--the ones where an excellently shot spring-propelled suction dart would be just the trick to stir things up? It's all a deep mystery.
Lauren Torres
Cheese hose
Regarding the packaging of the moon (Design News, June 7, 1999), back in the old days when people made their own cheese on a regular basis, they noticed that when the full moon first rises it has the same color as unripened, or green, cheese. I suspect that a green cheese is not nearly as firm as a cheese that has had time to ripen. This opens the possibility that some kind of liquid-transfer device might be used to bring the cheese to the consumer. I advocate the use of a cheese hose extending from the moon to earth, with dispensers in major cities. Anyone interested in reading more on the subject of pioneer cheese-making and "green" cheese should read Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder. In one chapter, she recounts her memories of her family's activities during the cheese-making season.
Tom Parker
Union Tools
Filtered out
Following up on your June 21, 1999 issue listing of new ideas in fluid power, I would like to add one. Schroeder Industries rolled thread medium pressure filter (RLT series filter). It's designed to replace spin-on filters rated at 1000 psi or less.
Abbey Vijlee
Schroeder Industries
Very late delivery
Packaging design for a green-cheese moon? Forget the expense, the resource limitations (you'd run out of foil before you covered the Sea of Tranquility), warnings that no one would buy the cheese anyway. Consider this: Every consumer has two criteria, price and availability. After the check clears, the shipping order is filled out, the transportation insurance is arranged, the transfer-of-moon title will be signed by your great-great-great-grandchildren.
David Douglass
Note: Opinions expressed are those of our readers and do not necessarily reflect the views of Design News.
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