This is probably "old hat" for many, but I just ran
across a discussion that in 2002 there will be two vehicles with
42 volts systems from BMW and Mercedes, see: www.sae.org. Looks like
a whole bunch of cars will be at 42 volts by the end of the
decade. Opens the door for significant electrical-magnetic
applications; more stability; less weight in wiring, etc.
*******
Given all the comments about ships recently, and given that
it is winter... thought the following bit of navy lore might
be interesting to some
Naval Lore with a twist
Every sailing ship had to have cannon for protection. Cannon of the times
required round iron cannonballs. The master wanted to store the
cannonballs such that they could be of instant use when needed, yet not roll
around the gun deck. The solution was to stack them up in a square-based
pyramid next to the cannon.
The top level of the stack had one ball, the next level down had four, the
next had nine, the next had sixteen,and so on. Four levels would provide a
stack of 30 cannonballs.
The only real problem was how to keep the bottom level from sliding out from
under the weight of the higher levels.
To do this, they devised a small brass plate ("brass monkey") with one
rounded indentation for each cannonball in the bottom layer. Brass was used
because the cannonballs wouldn't rust to the "brass monkey," but would rust
to an iron one.
When temperature falls, brass contracts in size faster than iron. As it got
cold on the gun decks, the indentations in the brass monkey would get smaller
than the iron cannonballs they were holding. If the temperature got cold
enough, the bottom layer would pop out of the indentations spilling the
entire pyramid over the deck.
Thus it was, quite literally, "cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass
monkey."
KEN
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
* Ken Bond, *
* Prof. of Bus. Admin. *
* Humboldt State Univ. ____________ *
* Arcata, CA 95521 _______| 58 85 99 |_________ *
* / How much horsepower / *
* / Can I have and still / *
* Wk.:707.826.4277 /_________ go to Heaven?______/ *
* Wk Fax:707.826.6666 |_61______61_| *
* Hm.:707.826.7764 I Never Drive Faster than *
* Hm Fax:707.826.0334 My Guardian Angel Can Fly *
* Internet: *
* kmb2@humboldt.edu (office) *
* ragtops@humboldt1.com (home) *
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
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