tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3119105822589181967.post8860160769338587630..comments2024-03-28T15:01:21.285-04:00Comments on SleuthSayers: How We Infuriated Two Generals and a Town MayorLeigh Lundinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07921276795499571578noreply@blogger.comBlogger13125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3119105822589181967.post-1555531974798982722014-06-14T02:02:01.753-04:002014-06-14T02:02:01.753-04:00Thanks, Dixon. Your articles are explosive and fun...Thanks, Dixon. Your articles are explosive and fun; we can't get enough of them.<br /><br />Anon (American): Our little county celebrated Pioneer Engineer's Day, which today features vintage gasoline and diesel tractors of the era, but when I was a kid, focused on antique steam traction engines. There was something special about those huge machines with their acrid eye-stinging smoke, virtually silent except for their whistles and clanking parts.<br /><br />Anon (British): What a great story to accompany Dixon's article. You make a deeper point, too, that as much fun as re-enactors have now, the battlefield was a frightening place.Leigh Lundinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07921276795499571578noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3119105822589181967.post-80612062756654253932014-06-14T01:28:01.633-04:002014-06-14T01:28:01.633-04:00There was one occasion with a crazy bunch of Engli...There was one occasion with a crazy bunch of English Civil War re-enactors when a replica of a monmouth rebellion nine-pounder needed re-proofing. We arranged for this to happen on a military range, of course so he's loaded up with an excessive amount of powder and double-shotted and we all huddle behind the sandbags as the gun-captian uses an extra length linstock to touch off the gun from back there with him ducking down as soon as he gets the match into the touch-hole.<br /><br />Now, we were not the only occupied gun pit on the range at the time. Some of Her Majesty's finest were exercising with their field pieces, making the typical flat "crack" of modern pieces using modern propellants.<br /><br />Then ours goes off. There's this god-awful BANG! the ground shakes and (the piece being charged with black powder) huge clouds of sulphurous-smelling white smoke.<br /><br />The range sergeant comes boiling up out of his dugout looking like he just had an accident in his BDU pants screaming at teh top of his lungs "WHAT THE F*** WAS THAT????"<br /><br />The squaddies on the rest of the line bought us drinks all night, just for the effect we had on the range sergeant.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3119105822589181967.post-83962305873894177432014-06-13T22:11:24.895-04:002014-06-13T22:11:24.895-04:00Leigh, I was restoring a 1950 Ford 8N. Roger Welsc...Leigh, I was restoring a 1950 Ford 8N. Roger Welsch restored old Alice-Chalmers, I forget what years but I think from about that same time period. Might have been about the same age as your dad's John Deere. Fun stuff!!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3119105822589181967.post-23959174307974113382014-06-13T13:35:17.905-04:002014-06-13T13:35:17.905-04:00Glad to hear it, R.T. Your posts are an inspirati...Glad to hear it, R.T. Your posts are an inspiration.Dixon Hillhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11220791609338404147noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3119105822589181967.post-51019151882160747782014-06-13T12:50:15.339-04:002014-06-13T12:50:15.339-04:00Dix, great story. With your words, I could picture...Dix, great story. With your words, I could picture the events almost as if I were there.R.T. Lawtonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15523486296396710227noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3119105822589181967.post-35997286182060688532014-06-13T11:57:03.513-04:002014-06-13T11:57:03.513-04:00ANON: Feel free to share the post! The more the ...ANON: Feel free to share the post! The more the merrier.Dixon Hillhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11220791609338404147noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3119105822589181967.post-17679575305448804872014-06-13T11:56:06.207-04:002014-06-13T11:56:06.207-04:00Fran, I'll be looking forward to your comment!...Fran, I'll be looking forward to your comment!Dixon Hillhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11220791609338404147noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3119105822589181967.post-16992009099302564732014-06-13T11:55:19.158-04:002014-06-13T11:55:19.158-04:00NO problem, Leigh. As the song might indicate, it...NO problem, Leigh. As the song might indicate, it always helps if: "She finds my tractor sexy!"Dixon Hillhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11220791609338404147noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3119105822589181967.post-23183557278170322332014-06-13T11:54:08.009-04:002014-06-13T11:54:08.009-04:00Leigh, with standard time fuse, I think you could ...Leigh, with standard time fuse, I think you <i>could</i> carefully trim the ends and use electrical tape to seal them together so the powder train of one fuse is butted up against the powder train of the other, and this <i>might</i> result in a longer piece of fuse that worked for you. However, I wouldn’t recommend this approach, and I’d give such a hookup a fairly low probability of success—probably no more than a 50/50 chance of working right.<br /><br />To use one standard time fuse line to set off multiple non-co-located charges, the preferred method is to run your time fuse to a blasting cap that’s taped to a det cord ring main, then run det cord lines from the ring main to caps in your charges. I’ll run a post some time about det cord ring mains, if you’d like. <br /> <br />NONEL: I’m not all that familiar with nonel, quite frankly. The occurrence I posted today was the only time I can recall working with it, and that took place over twenty years ago. So, I’m not really sure, but . . . the way I recall it, nonel fuse just had to be clipped together. <br /><br />In truth, it may be that the standoff line, such as the one used on that second shot, was some form of specialized det cord. I seem to remember that our visiting blaster actually referred to the fuse as “firing line,” or “det cord,” or something like that—though it in NO way resembled standard detcord when it went off, because the cord itself did not blow apart. Instead, if memory serves me right, the powder train in nonel runs down just one side of the “fuse” interior, leaving most of the inner plastic tubing filled by air. <br /><br />To clarify what I mean: imagine standing in a sewer line about six feet in diameter, with only about a 1-foot-deep stream of water running through it—this would be about roughly the ratio of the powder train to the inside of the “fuse” tubing, or at least that’s the way I recall the idea. I believe it’s intentionally set up this way, because the nonel tubing is closed at either end, which helps promote a sort of “flash over” effect, essentially sucking the flame down the tube, thus boosting the burn rate of the powder train, which helps explain how it gets that 2000-m/s burn rate without actually blowing apart. <br /><br />Here’s a URL for a PDF concerning a little of what I’m talking about. Finding the main dyno nobel site may provide better clarification, and more factual information: http://www.dynonobel.com/apac/~/media/Files/Dyno/ResourceHub/Technical%20Information/Asia%20Pacific/Initiation%20Systems/NONEL%20MS%20HD%20Series.pdf<br /><br />Incidentally, that sounds like a fun school!Dixon Hillhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11220791609338404147noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3119105822589181967.post-16585970541716086882014-06-13T11:44:59.015-04:002014-06-13T11:44:59.015-04:00Anon, I'm curious. What kind of tractor? I bou...Anon, I'm curious. What kind of tractor? I bought my dad a 1947 John Deere model L that he restored. He found a company in Indianapolis that still had the molds to pour tires!<br /><br />(Sorry, Dixon– my ADD sidetracked me.)Leigh Lundinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07921276795499571578noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3119105822589181967.post-81838396139685585312014-06-13T10:58:35.011-04:002014-06-13T10:58:35.011-04:00Oh man! You know what this made me think of (pedes...Oh man! You know what this made me think of (pedestrian by comparison as it is), is that when I was restoring an antique tractor and got on an online forum, I heard tons of stories about "blowing up things" from all these guys. Their favorite and best thing to do was find a way to get a really satisfying THUMP (as you say) and simultaneously see something fly into the air high enough to threaten local airspace regulations. Roger Welsch, who was on CBS Sunday Morning with Charles Kurault for years and wrote books about his own experiences restoring old tractors, claims that "blowing things up" is men's primary mode of amusement, genetically in-built. I think I'm going to have to share your blog post with him!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3119105822589181967.post-52014985037232772602014-06-13T07:40:19.810-04:002014-06-13T07:40:19.810-04:00Dixon, I enjoyed this tale and will remember it un...Dixon, I enjoyed this tale and will remember it until the 27th (possibly even longer). I think I know where you're headed, and I'm eager to see if I'm correct. I'm dealing personally with a situation involving genre which I'll save until the 27th to share.Fran Rizerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08655783035179620991noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3119105822589181967.post-28116413645447884182014-06-13T04:14:39.209-04:002014-06-13T04:14:39.209-04:00Dixon, it is entertaining! I seldom LOL– usually a...Dixon, it is entertaining! I seldom LOL– usually a quirk of the lip implies I find something funny. This time, I grinned through most of the article in appreciation and when the sergeant hung up the phone, I really laughed.<br /><br />Throughout, I kept recalling my old college, not NYU but Rose Polytechnic, now called Rose-Hulman. It’s a top science and engineering campus with some ultra-brainy guys– think Big-Bang Theory with a thousand cast members. How admissions screwed up and let this joker in, no one seems to know.<br /><br />Brainy guys pull brainy pranks (or geeky if you prefer), like using studio speakers to create standing waves to blast open doors. As I read your article, Dixon, I kept thinking thank God we no one had built major explosives.<br /><br />Dixon, a question: Can nonel or time fuses have different topologies? In other words, can’t one fuse line feed multiple dependent lines, like one column of dominoes triggering two, which trigger four in a chain reaction? Assuming that’s true, how does that affect demolition planning?Leigh Lundinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07921276795499571578noreply@blogger.com