Jacques
I had always assumed the spacing was determined as an economic tradeoff between rail beam strength and cost of sleeper (tie?).
Talking of step spacing, though, I walked along a small part of the Great Wall of China some years back. Parts were fairly steep with steps, but the steps were all of different treads and risers. You had to look at the steps to avoid stumbling. The reason for this is said to be that the guards on the wall walked the steps so often that they knew every step without looking. Any invader on the wall would be slowed down considerably as he stumbled along. Strong advantage in favour of the guards. I reckon the story is true as the stonework and layout was of such high quality that the provision of uneven steps must have been deliberate.
Cheers
Steve McKenzie
-----Original Message-----
From: Jacques Chaurette [mailto:jchaurette@fluidedesign.com]
Sent: Thursday, August 22, 2002 11:46 PM
To: <a href="/group/PipingDesign/post?postID=pvMaiX8yWVgG_rTcwRc4tJg6BkmC2sO6iVrxdiS8JwwEz3CMiV77_LWPPKpbu2cdtwJHkUJiiJr9vIshjkDRSGfeug">PipingDesign@yahoogroups.com</a>
Subject: Re: [PipingDesign] Query-Sump caisson Piping
Steve, who determined the spacing of the railroad ties, must be a good story
there.
I have noticed that when I was a kid the spacing made it very awkward to
walk on them, I checked it lately and it is still awkward. It seems that
some bright engineer made the spacing just so that adults and children would
have difficulty walking on them. Pretty smart, eh??
Jacques
> Hi there
>
> as this thread no longer seems to bear any relationship to its title I
> thought it a suitable vehicle to attach the following piece of trivia that
I
> received today. Nonfactual of course (England used at least 4 gauges) but
> contains a grain of truth nontheless.
>
> In a similar vein, does anyone know who formalised the O.D.s of the pipe
we
> use today? I have heard bits and pieces but am unsure of which body or
firm
> settled on these sizes. Havent done a web search, so answer only if you
> would like to.
>
> Cheers
>
> Steve McKenzie
>
>
>
> Subject: You learn something new every day
> .
>
> Does the statement, "We've always done it that way" ring any bells?
>
> The US standard railroad gauge (distance between the rails) is
>
> 4 feet,8.5 inches. That's an exceedingly odd number.
>
>
>
> Why was that gauge used? Because that's the way they built them in
England,
> and English expatriates built the US Railroads.
>
>
>
> Why did the English build them like that? Because the first rail lines
were
> built by the same people who built the pre-railroad tramways, and that's
the
> gauge they used.
>
>
>
> Why did they use that gauge then? Because the people who built the
tramways
> used the same jigs and tools that they used for building wagons, which
used
> that wheel spacing.
>
>
>
> Okay! Why did the wagons have that particular odd wheel spacing?
>
> Well, if they tried to use any other spacing, the wagon wheels would break
> on some of the old, long distance roads in England, because that's the
> spacing of the wheel ruts.
>
>
>
> So who built those old rutted roads? Imperial Rome built the first long
> distance roads in Europe (and England) for their legions.
>
> The roads have been used ever since.
>
>
>
> And the ruts in the roads? Roman war chariots formed the initial ruts,
which
> everyone else had to match for fear of destroying their wagon wheels.
Since
> the chariots were made for Imperial Rome, they were all a like in the
matter
> of wheel spacing. The United States standard railroad gauge of 4 feet, 8.5
> inches is derived from the original specifications for an Imperial Roman
war
> chariot, and bureaucracies live forever.
>
>
>
> So the next time you are handed a specification and wonder what horse's
ass
> came up with it, you may be exactly right, because the Imperial Roman war
> chariots were made just wide enough to accommodate the back ends of two
war
> horses.
>
>
>
> Now the twist to the story...When you see a Space Shuttle sitting on its
> launch pad, there are two big booster rockets attached to the sides of the
> main fuel tank. These are solid rocket boosters, or SRBs. The SRBs are
made
> by Thiokol at their factory at Utah.
>
> The engineers who designed the SRBs would have preferred to make them a
bit
> fatter, but the SRBs had to be shipped by train from the factory to the
> launch site. The railroad line from the factory happens to run through a
> tunnel in the mountains. The SRBs had to fit through that tunnel. The
tunnel
> is slightly wider than the railroad track, and the railroad track, as you
> now know, is about as wide as two horses' behinds.
>
>
>
> So, a major design feature of what is arguably the world's most advanced
> transportation system was determined over two thousand years ago by the
> width of a horse's ass...
>
>
>
> And you thought being a HORSE'S ASS wasn't important!
>
>
> ---
> Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free.
> Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com).
> Version: 6.0.380 / Virus Database: 213 - Release Date: 7/24/2002
>
>
>
> Texas Flange - a good source for information on industrial flanges, all
they ask is for referrals for designs they help with.
> 877-610-8924.
> www.texasflange.com
> =====================================================
> unsubscribe: <a href="/group/PipingDesign/post?postID=t_JUc41b4SB8uWFHMmfJTOaKYrncXAPOehh_jhYlAo3sP9hOc3IlM2kCjz9Uy410AvA7AVAHYxrVTuHtKp3Ebq6H8e1pd1F5nQl8fmUS-I4beQ">PipingDesign-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com</a>
>
> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to <a href="http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/">http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/</a>
>
>
>
Texas Flange - a good source for information on industrial flanges, all they
ask is for referrals for designs they help with.
877-610-8924.
www.texasflange.com
Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to <a href="http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/">http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/</a>
--- Incoming mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.380 / Virus Database: 213 - Release Date: 7/24/2002 --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.380 / Virus Database: 213 - Release Date: 7/24/2002Received on Thu Aug 22 18:28:00 2002
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.8 : Tue Mar 04 2008 - 11:40:24 EST