Gerald Brazil wrote:
>
> Hey Dalton, I once hear a good definition of a Profession Engineer. .....It
> is a guy who measures something to the nearest ten thousandth, marks it with
> a piece of chalk and then cuts it with an ax!
>
> Now why did I just think of that1
>
> GJB, FoV
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Bill Dalton <billd13@essex1.com>
> To: speckman@coredcs.com <speckman@coredcs.com>
> Cc: Paul Fitzsimmons <fitzsmns@mwci.net>; team thicko
> <team-thicko@Autox.Team.Net>; Bill Thompson <wsthompson@thicko.com>
> Date: Friday, January 23, 1998 8:34 PM
> Subject: Land Barge Math Help
>
> >Gar,
> >I have done some reconstructive math regarding this problem. The
> >aforementioned 3mph is = to 4.4 feet per second (fps). If the land barge
> >contacted the object in question at a speed of 4.4 fps, allowing for a
> >reaction time of .75 seconds (a fairly good reaction time for all but
> >dragster people who do it in about .4 of a second), before it was
> >realized that some part of the land barge was not wanting to travel
> >along at the same speed, with the rest of the vehicle, and the brakes
> >were applied- the barge would have travelled 3.3 feet before the brakes
> >were applied. Once the brakes were applied we could assume a linear
> >deceleration from 4.4 fps to 0, which would make the average velocity of
> >the land barge during decelleration = to a velocity of 2.2 fps. Putting
> >these numbers into simultaneous equations relating speed, deceleration,
> >and distance, it is my conclusion that, had the land barge been
> >travelling at the claimed speed of 3 mph (4.4 fps) it would have
> >traveled an addition distance of something less than 2 ft. This would
> >make the total distance traveled 5.5 feet. Assuming 4 feet of extended
> >damage due to buckling etc, the 18 feet would be reduced to 14 feet of
> >contact- not likely possible at a speed of 3 mph.
> >
> >If we assume that the speed were 6 mph,(8.8 fps) the length of contact
> >works out to be something between 2 and 3 feet making the length of
> >contact about 9 ft. Closer but still not 14 feet.
> >
> >If we assume that the speed were 9 mph,(13.2 fps) the length of contact
> >works out to be 13'-6"! Voila!!! Pretty close to the 14'.
> >
> >If I were called to testify in court as an expert witness, I would have
> >to say that the land barge was traveling at a speed of approximately 9
> >mph when the incident occurred.
> >
> >Fitz, what do you think?
> >
> >Gar, since you request help in getting to the truth of the matter, and
> >my rate is $50/hour. The clock has been on for 1/2 hour resulting in a
> >$25 charge. However, I do have a minimum billing of $50 to cover office
> >expense and such, therefore a bill in the amount of $50 is being mailed
> >today for services rendered.
> >
> >Bill D- away from the track also known as,
> >William J Dalton PE
> >IL Lic 62-039626
> >
> >See you in Tech
Gerry,
You only should make it as good as it needs to be for the particular
job, any better than that and you are costing the customer more money
for services or product than he needs to spend-hence the ax or cutting
torch etc. Most of the time the problem is that the customer can't
define what he needs so you don't know how good it has to be made.
This results in calculating a bunch of ways to cover all possibilities
and then using the chalk and ax technique so that he thinks he isn't
gonna get too big a bill.
Bill D
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