Trivia and other useless but interesting items

**Bigbjorn** · 11th June 2019, 07:07 PM

Originally Posted by JDNSW

Designing for easy manufacture was one of Henry Ford's main contributions to building cars, rather than any specific design features or manufacturing techniques such as the assembly line. Assembly lines and mass production were not new - they date from, I think it was Venice's naval shipbuilding in the fifteenth century.

Mass production machinery and interchangeable parts was introduced to block making at the Royal Dockyards by the elder Brunel in about 1800, and by the middle of the century was being used by Colt for the production of firearms. What Henry did was to take these production methods and design for them. And this has been accelerating ever since.

It does not have to bee in conflict with maintainability though. A good example is the Martin-Baker MB3 (Sabre engined) and MB5 (Griffon) which offered superior performance and manufacturing ease and maintainability compared to that of the existing Hurricanes and Spitfires, or indeed their immediate evolved descendants (Typhoon and Spiteful). It was not put into production, probably because the existing aircraft types were already being mass produced.

Cadillac was the first motor vehicle that could be assembled with interchangeable parts. Henry Leland was the chief engineer and his experience with interchangeability was gained during the Civil War when Union arsenals assembled firearms using components from numerous makers. The Whites of sewing machines, bicycles, steam cars, motor trucks and automobiles got their start by making parts for Union muskets. Several of Lelands Cadillacs were sent to Britain where the local industry was astonished by the feat of dismantling the cars, mixing up the parts, and reassembling them. Right up to and during WW2 Rolls Royce were still building Merlins by selective assembly. Ford set them right on this. Read the account in Stanley Hooker's book "Not Much of an Engineer".

DiscoMick · 12th June 2019, 01:02 PM

If you count backwards, 5 + 5 = 11.
"Ten, nine, eight, seven, six plus 5 = 11."

Trivia and other useless but interesting items

**JDNSW** · 12th June 2019, 05:11 PM

I don't think Cadillac were the first to build cars with interchangeable parts, although I'm not sure of the date this is claimed for.

White and Poppe, who built the engines for the first Morris cars in 1912 had demonstrated the interchangeability of their engine parts a couple of years prior to this. They learnt how to do this building shell fuses during the Russo-Japanese war.

**Bigbjorn** · 12th June 2019, 07:13 PM

Originally Posted by JDNSW

I don't think Cadillac were the first to build cars with interchangeable parts, although I'm not sure of the date this is claimed for.

White and Poppe, who built the engines for the first Morris cars in 1912 had demonstrated the interchangeability of their engine parts a couple of years prior to this. They learnt how to do this building shell fuses during the Russo-Japanese war.

John, The RAC awarded the Dewar Trophy to Cadillac in 1908 for interchangeability. Cadillac were the only maker prepared to enter the contest. Three stock Cadillacs and a quantity of stock spare parts were used. The cars were completely dismantled, all the parts mixed up and the cars reassembled. All three were reported to have started easily and quickly after reassembly. Plenty of references to this on the internet.

Interchangeable parts (Inventions)

**Old Farang** · 12th June 2019, 08:02 PM

Read the account in Stanley Hooker's book "Not Much of an Engineer".

Very much overlooked genius! "The man whom put the power into the Merlin".

**Bigbjorn** · 12th June 2019, 08:42 PM

Originally Posted by Old Farang

Very much overlooked genius! "The man whom put the power into the Merlin".

Dead right. Before Hooker redesigned and reworked the supercharger system, the Merlin was a very ordinary engine (and unnecessarily complex). Hooker was also responsible for much of the research and development that went into gas turbines (jet engines). The Yanks should have got him to have a look at the Allison V1710 which was a much simpler and easier to maintain engine. Unfortunately the USAAC owned the turbocharger and intercooler patents, had GE make them and supplied to Allison to use at the USAAC insistence.

**NavyDiver** · 18th June 2019, 08:42 PM

NBN is cool. If your lucky enough to have it and it works of course. One BIG ozzie company NBN modems have fall over protection. It turns the failed NBN connection to a mobile 4g connection again if for lucky enough to get 4g.

Fall over protection is a great idea. When the NbN is restored my little bit of trivia is I have to manually change it back from the 4g connection. That is at home and work. I wonder who the bright spark was that forgot to progam the switch back to the much faster NBN?

Trivia or trivial?

DiscoMick · 19th June 2019, 06:29 AM

In Spain and Thailand drivers can be charged for driving while topless.
In Alabama drivers can be charged for driving while blindfolded.

**LRJim** · 19th June 2019, 10:17 AM

Originally Posted by DiscoMick

In Spain and Thailand drivers can be charged for driving while topless.
In Alabama drivers can be charged for driving while blindfolded.

LOL, I once saw a fella playing a clarinet while driving funniest ever. Also seen a few truckers have ipads on their steering wheels while driving along, playing candy crush or whatever crap it is.
Worst ive seen is a fella smoking crack, got a photo somwhere you can see his glass pipe clear as day.... people are fried.

**Bigbjorn** · 19th June 2019, 11:07 AM

Originally Posted by LRJim

LOL, I once saw a fella playing a clarinet while driving funniest ever. Also seen a few truckers have ipads on their steering wheels while driving along, playing candy crush or whatever crap it is.
Worst ive seen is a fella smoking crack, got a photo somwhere you can see his glass pipe clear as day.... people are fried.

I once spotted a truckie on the New England with a newspaper spread on the steering wheel.

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