Friday - April 01, 2011
Local Color
Restoration and government inspection took more than 10 years
* Dec 1, 2009: Restoration work on #60 is near completion.
* Feb 1, 2010: The BRRHT has been tasked with overseeing completion of the BR&W steam program. The program consists of three sections: one to govern system-wide steam procedures for the Bel-Del and BR&W lines, one to govern procedures specific to locomotive #142, and one to govern procedures specific to locomotive #60.
* Mar 22, 2010: Work on the steam program is progressing. The system-wide and #142 sections are largely complete. Section for #60 is in progress. Plans for steam-crew training/qualifications are in progress.
* Aug 9, 2010: Work on #60 in preparation for recertification and operation is complete. The mandated Federal inspection (the last significant hurdle to be cleared for #60 to operate) has been scheduled and will take place during the coming weeks.
* Oct 19, 2010: #60 has officially passed her required FRA inspection! Preparations are underway for break-in runs on the BR&W.
Eight miles to the south of Clinton is the historic town of Flemington, NJ. It’s the Hunterdon County seat, and it’s courthouse was where the famous Lindbergh baby kidnapping trial took place in 1935. A few hundred yards down Main Street past the courthouse a rail line crosses the road, and a very short distance down that rail line is the terminus of the Black River & Western railroad. The BR&W RR is an actual commercial rail company; they own a good number of miles of track in our area and haul freight from here to there. Mostly though they are known for their weekend excursions in the summer. Come on down to Flemington, and shop ‘till you drop. They’ve got one of the largest outdoor discount malls in the country, and dozens of quaint specialty shops downtown. Enjoy the town’s well preserved picturesque 1850’s architecture. Watch one of the frequent parades, or the monthly classic car and street rod shows. Have lunch in one of the half dozen Zagat rated restaurants. And take your kids on a train ride. Just 90 minutes from NYC, less than an hour from Philadelphia! This is how small towns survive these days.
BR&W has been doing the theme based scenic train ride thing since 1965, when engine #60 was all that they had. I took the trip as a very small boy, probably in 1967. It was awesome!! These days the rail company, which is actually a historic trust, owns quite a few old time diesel locomotives. All the restoration work is done by volunteers and the members of the historical society. Their steam engine was taken out of service back in November 2000, and it had only rarely run in the years leading up to that. I’ve been living here in the county for 14 years now and I’m in Flemington every weekend and I’ve never seen it, not even on a siding. It’s been living in a train house a few miles further south in the town of Ringoes.
15 miles to the west of Clinton there is another steam engine excursion railroad, the New York Susquehanna & Western that does theme runs up and down a privately owned length of track along the Delaware River. Right now they are the only operating steam engine in the entire state. A dozen miles south of there and across the river into PA there is another one, the New Hope & Ivy RR that runs a locomotive quite similar to the BR&W’s #60. So these things aren’t impossible to find in my locale. They just aren’t very common.
I’m glad we’re going to soon have another steam locomotive running in the area. They aren’t energy efficient, they have tremendous maintenance requirements, the government regulations are a mile long, and they pollute the air even when fed clean burning anthracite coal. I don’t care. They are magical things, living breathing iron dragons created by the hand of man. I’m going to find out when the first run of #60 will be, and I’ll be on that ride that day.
The first link at the top of this post has information about the engine, which was built by ALCO in 1937 and worked was owned by Great Western it’s entire working life.
The locomotive was first owned by the Great Western Railway of Colorado, and had the distinction of being the only Alco locomotive in their fleet - all of the company’s other locomotives were built by the Baldwin Locomotive Works in Philadelphia, PA.
Because #60 was one-of-a-kind at Great Western, it saw the least amount of service of all their locomotives. When the BR&W purchased the locomotive from Great Western it was delivered along with a box car containing their entire stock of parts for #60
A pretty good database of every surviving steam engine in the western hemisphere can be found here. Facebook has several pages for the BR&W with pictures.
The Black River & Western Railroad has been in continuous operation since 1854. For a long time it was part of the Pennsylvania Railroad.
Posted by Drew458
on 04/01/2011 at 08:32 AM
Filed Under: • planes, trains, tanks, ships, machines, automobiles •
• Comments (3)
•
Trackbacks(0)
Permalink • Thursday - March 24, 2011
cryptic headlines
I’m on all sorts of news mailing lists here at BMEWS, to try to stay on top of the many things going on around us. Sometimes I get mail with a subject line that makes almost no sense. This one is an example. I read it and said “What on earth? Or maybe not on earth at all?” It sounds like some kind of futuristic genetic modeling attempt by NASA to populate one of the Jovian moons, right? Like the ones that are all water, with just ice at the surface? How far has this cloning and genetic stuff progressed when I wasn’t looking?
Wrong. Nope, that’s not it at all. This is one of those technology posts, and there are no pictures of pretty girls in it anywhere. So only peak below the fold if you’re interested. I’m interested, because, hey, how often do you ever hear about mermaid pods? What the heck are mermaid pods anyway?
Posted by Drew458
on 03/24/2011 at 11:55 AM
Filed Under: • High Tech • planes, trains, tanks, ships, machines, automobiles •
• Comments (3)
•
Trackbacks(0)
Permalink • Wednesday - February 23, 2011
On a Lighter Note
Bill Cosby discusses the difference, and deals with a gift of a Super Snake Cobra from Carroll Shelby. The clip is from 1997, when the twin to Cosby’s car sold for $5.5 million. Best punchline is at 5:02 for those who can remember the presidential race of 1968.
And yes, he really owned one. For a very short time. 800 horsepower, 1800 pounds. Probably a solid motor mount and solid lifters, which would explain all that shaking. Well, that plus the adrenaline overload.
Posted by Drew458
on 02/23/2011 at 04:45 PM
Filed Under: • Humor • planes, trains, tanks, ships, machines, automobiles •
• Comments (1)
•
Trackbacks(0)
Permalink • Wednesday - December 15, 2010
Superior Secret Soviet Invention Revealed At Last
Apparatchiks: Questions, da?
What is?
Is truth, not corrupt Steampunk dream product!
Many years ago of rust on next one, so other can be ask also, What was?
See, is same! Just difference of much times.
Many guessings?
Nyet, is not decadent Western original and world’s heaviest snowmobile! What you are seeing in diorama is not pravda! Is dream idea of stupid incompetent West not of truth understanding!
Answer: Is floating Soviet Aqua Tractor, from glorious Chelyabinsk Tractor Factory #4!! Of course!
Glorious Tractor Factory #4
For why need? Stupid capitalist! To plow the ocean waves of course! Because imperialist running dog Western horses keep sinking!! And Five Year Plan demands higher crop yields!
Ignore imperialist video! Not part of Great Soviet plan, so can no be ultimate pravda!
This is real truth. From modern 1970, not post Glorious Revolution 1920’s! Soviet design is unstoppable!!
Posted by Drew458
on 12/15/2010 at 04:09 PM
Filed Under: • Fun-Stuff • planes, trains, tanks, ships, machines, automobiles •
• Comments (8)
•
Trackbacks(0)
Permalink • Friday - December 10, 2010
Flying Art
Not sure what art category to put this one in. Art Deco, Streamline Moderne? I don’t think Bauhaus or Craftsman fits, but the shape of this lovely creature is so 1930’s it has to be in one of them. Art history majors, here’s your chance to flex that 4.0 GPA.
Go back in time about 80 years. Give a boy who is nuts about “aeroplanes” a pencil and have him draw you a racing plane. After he zips out a picture of a stubby Gee Bee, specify non-radial engines and a stable fuselage. And within a minute or two, this is what you would get. Like the Supermarine Spitfire that was to come along a few years later, this is the shape that I think is genetically programmed into boy’s minds of what airplanes ought to look like. Fast. Sleek. Deadly. Possibly a bit phallic. But elegant, if not particularly practical.
The de Havilland DH.88 Comet was a twin-engined British aircraft that won the 1934 MacRobertson Air Race [England to Australia], a challenge for which it was specifically designed. It set many aviation records during the race and afterwards as a pioneer mail plane.
This Comet was one of those transition aircraft, built out of wood and covered in linen and varnish, yet equipped with powerful engines and modern flight equipment. And a gigantic gas tank: the Comet had a range of nearly 3000 miles. Sure, it only went 250mph, but it flew at that speed all day long on a tank of fuel.
The airframe consisted of a wooden skeleton clad with spruce plywood, with a final fabric covering on the wings. A long streamlined nose held the main fuel tanks, with the low set central two-seat cockpit forming an unbroken line to the tail. The engines were essentially the standard Gipsy Six used on the Express and Dragon Rapide passenger planes, tuned for best performance with a higher compression ratio. The propellers were two-position variable pitch, manually set to fine before takeoff and changed automatically to coarse by a pressure sensor. The main undercarriage retracted upwards and backwards into the engine nacelles. The DH.88 could maintain altitude up to 4,000 ft (1,200 m) on one engine.
Three Comets were built and entered in the MacRobertson race. After the Grosvenor House, the red craft shown above, won that race, two more were built. The de Havilland company tried to interest governments in the design as a fighter, but to no real avail. The airplanes were sold off and saw service as airmail carriers.
It’s a lovely plane, but the shortcomings are beyond obvious. The engines and the simple 2 angle, 2 bladed propellers are far too small. The pilot sits behind a gigantic gas tank. The nose is so long that forward visibility is just about non-existent; my guess is that flying along about 5 miles up, the pilot could only see the ground 25 miles in front of him. Takeoffs and landings would be totally blind.
But it’s gorgeous. And a few years later, when WWII broke out, the de Havilland company took that same design, stretched it out, blew out the engine nacelles and put some real horsepower in there, stuck on some proper multi-bladed variable pitch propellers, reversed the landing gear pivot, and put the pilot up in front where he ought to be. And created the Mossie, the Mosquito, one of the most effective, fast, and nimble fighter bombers of the whole war.
All these decades later, only a few of the DH88 Comets still exist. But the Grosvenor House was still airworthy as recently as May 1987
Height: 10ft Length: 29ft Wingspan: 44ft Engines: two 230hp DH Gipsy 6 R Max Speed: 237mph
The plane lives these days among many friends at Shuttleworth Aerodrome, 4 miles west of the town of Biggleswade, straight up the A1 north of London.
Most source info and pics from Wikipedia. More info here.
Posted by Drew458
on 12/10/2010 at 01:27 PM
Filed Under: • Art-Photography • Eye-Candy • Fun-Stuff • planes, trains, tanks, ships, machines, automobiles •
• Comments (7)
•
Trackbacks(0)
Permalink • Monday - December 06, 2010
Doing It The Wrong Way
This looks like some major arm twisting to me. A kind of extortion, similar to Jesse Jackson’s actions against businesses. Or it is simple common sense?
Virgin boss Sir Richard Branson has declared war on the shipping industry with a new climate change initiative.
The Carbon War Room, an independent venture, wants to see an efficiency rating on every ocean going vessel to help clean up the industry. It is the first of many industries being targeted by the group who believe climate change can be solved through business rather than government summits. Ministers from 190 countries are into their second week of negotiations in Cancun, Mexico with no sign of a global deal.
Sir Richard told Sky News: “It is up to us business leaders to help those politicians deliver, they haven’t delivered so far, if they don’t deliver we can’t afford to wait. “It is up to us to get our house in order and make sure the world is safe for our children and our grandchildren.”
While shipping is a relatively clean mode of transport it accounts for over a billion tonnes of C02 a year - if it were a country it would be the world’s sixth biggest emitter. Carbon War Room believe the sector could be made at least 30% more efficient by upgrading and refitting ships. Their website http://www.shippingefficiency.org has catalogued 60,000 of the world’s ocean going vessels, with the cleanest rated ‘A’ and the worst polluters scoring ‘G’.
Peter Boyd, who is leading the project, explained: “You can go online and see an estimate of how clean or dirty the ship is. Whether you are an owner and you want to display that you are an A grade ship, whether you are a port or if you are a brand like Marks and Spencer or Sainsbury’s, you can start to pick your fleet depending on how efficient it is.”
The ratings are estimates but Carbon War Room believes there is only a one to two percent margin of error.
Industry experts welcome the move although they say it currently paints a very general picture.
Dr Simon Walmsley of WWF International told Sky News the ratings would provoke an industry reaction “and hopefully get them around the table to discuss how this can be a more accurate representation.”
“If that happens this will be fantastic, as these sort of rankings are very helpful for both customers and consumers.”
Right-o. So we’ve got a bunch of greenies here, or what? Or is it real? It shouldn’t be all that hard to figure out: ( mass of freight cargo hauled X distance traveled ) ÷ ( fuel used X weather factor ) = Efficiency Rating, and that rating implies a pollution level. Well, ceteris paribus. Which it never really is, because things are only equal in Economics 101. In the real world they never are.
One problem though: if you don’t factor in time, then sailboats will appear to be the big winners here. And if you do factor in time, you’ll soon see that the most gigantic ships are the most efficient ones, even though they pollute the most on a per ship basis. Not only that, but proper analysis will show that only 3 or 4 routes across the seas are the most efficient. And anyone who knows a bit about logistics will see the risks and problems with shipping One Big Order from point A to point B when you actually need 12 little orders to go to points C, D, E ... N. So secondary transport costs and warehousing have to figure into the equation to make it meaningful, and they never will (each company’s needs and locations are different). So this is a worthless metric. Sound and fury, signifying nothing.
On the third hand, no matter which way you slice it, this greenie rating will show that in terms of fuel efficiency and lower emissions, nuclear powered civilian owned cargo ships are the way to go. And that will blow their minds. Or cause them to argue for Obama and the One-Worlders to now take over the shipping industry.
But it does rather look like arm twisting to me: “government isn’t getting the job done, so we’ll turn to the market and let them solve it ... by publishing a list of ratings we dreamed up, causing a big ruckus and frightening dogs and little children, then we’ll twist the clean-air-guilt screws on retail businesses, then we’ll have a big meeting with all the shipping companies and see if we can’t figure out a way to make our ratings, you know, actually accurate.” Say what??
On the fourth hand, all of this is predicated on the belief that shipping customers could give a flying fart about the emissions generated by the ships they hire to bring in their cargoes. Seems to me that the only thing that matters to them is the volumetric time to cost ratio: I need a lot of my stuff and I need it right now = pay more, vs I’ll take a little and I can wait = pay less. I guess Branson thinks he’s going to run millions and millions of ad campaigns that say “Oh noes, the Dover Rover Cheese Company imported a barrel of rennet on a dirty boat! Don’t buy their products!” and that will actually have meaning? Oh please. After the 5th ad for the 3rd product for the boycott de jour NOBODY will pay it any attention whatsoever. And all any company will have to do is to bring in ONE load of stuff per year on the M/V Mr. Clean, and make an ad about it. The rest of the time they can explain away using the SS Dirty Birdy as “spreading the wealth around” to “developing third world economies” and get a total pass.
This is a dipshit idea Sir Richard. Now go wash your hair, you look like a greasy teenager.
Posted by Drew458
on 12/06/2010 at 08:07 AM
Filed Under: • Environment • planes, trains, tanks, ships, machines, automobiles •
• Comments (5)
•
Trackbacks(0)
Permalink • Sunday - December 05, 2010
Turning Ships Green
Preem’s time-chartered tanker Olympus, (IMO: 9310355, 125m X 18m, 8300dwt) owned by Sirius, will be fitted with catalytic converters and an exhaust gas boiler this winter to reduce NOx emissions and fuel consumption. The system has been developed by Gothenburg-based Göteborg Energi System AB, Gesab.
Both main and auxiliary engines will be fitted with catalytic converters and it is the catalytic converter shared by the auxiliary engines that will be combined with an exhaust gas boiler to reduce running hours and fuel consumption of the existing boilers. Noise levels will also be reduced.
”We will emit less than 2 gram NOx/KWh. The total investment is one million dollars”, Sirius Shipping’s MD Jonas Backman said to Shipgaz.
According to Preem and Sirius, The Olympus will be the first tanker in the world to reduce NOx-emissions by more than 90 percent by means of retrofits.
An exhaust gas boiler doesn’t boil the exhaust gases. No, it is heated by them. It’s a secondary heat reclamation device that puts a high pressure radiator in the chimney to capture waste heat from the engine exhaust. Read about them or look at the pictures here and here.
So by capturing some of the waste heat from the exhaust they get more work out of the fuel they burn up. But ships run on oil. They are gigantic diesel powered devices. And now someone is going to put a catalytic converter on one? I didn’t think that anybody did that for diesels. Will cutting down on the nitrous oxides cut down on the smell? That would be nice. Can they do that for trucks too? That would be awesome!
And I’m guessing there will now be a tertiary catalytic exhaust boiler installed as well. Particle filters too? I don’t know that either.
Use every last watt of heat energy if you can, and emit stone cold exhaust. In solid chunks, pressed into building blocks. Now that would be really green!
Posted by Drew458
on 12/05/2010 at 09:34 PM
Filed Under: • planes, trains, tanks, ships, machines, automobiles •
• Comments (3)
•
Trackbacks(0)
Permalink • Monday - November 29, 2010
just old cars and love of them
Hey. how about this? Just found it and found it fascinating. Not too sure how well it would hold up in constant use. I’m assuming this thing has been stored not used. Whatever .... the fact it’s an old car is enough for me. I just like those old styles. If I had the chance or more like it, the money, I’d get one of those cars built with modern materials and engine, but the style of the 20’s and 1930’s. Like the 1928 Mercedes. One among very many. The Stutz Bearcat comes to mind.
Those cars had pizazz. They were jazzy. I just like the looks of them although having once ridden in an uncle’s model A, just like this one ...
The ride wasn’t anything to write home about. A 1928 Ford and Uncle Al was still driving the darn thing in 1945.
Anyway, this posting is about a wooden car. This one.
Historic wooden car floated at auction
Is it a car or is it a boat? Unique car sails back into the limelight as it goes to auction with an estimated value of £20,000-£30,000.
By David Williams
Q: What do you get when you commission a boat builder to perform a “makeover” on a 1932 Talbot 14/65?
A: A unique Boat Tail Tourer, such as this one that will go under the hammer next month.
The Talbot began life as an ordinary saloon car, created by the Clement Talbot factory in west London nearly 80 years ago. But it took on its nautical flavour 30 years later when boat-builder Peter Lawrence of Cranleigh, Surrey, was commissioned to design and craft a new stem-to-stem wooden body that still adorns the car today.
It was entirely handbuilt, constructed from three-inch by 1/4-inch planks of finest Honduran mahogany, laid fore and aft and contoured to the classic boat tail configuration. The bonnet and doors were then cut out and expertly fabricated, with the whole body finished to the highest standards.
The interior is finished in black leather with art deco detailing, reflecting the era in which the car was built. Ingeniously, so as not to interrupt the elegant mahogany lines when travelling without rear passengers, it features a removable wooden hatch, in true boat tradition, beneath which is a bench seat.
The Talbot has a conventional steel chassis and is powered by a six-cylinder, 1,670cc engine. Beyond two rectangular aeroscreens, a tonneau and magnificent nine-inch diameter Marchal headlamps, the specification – not to mention the creature comforts – are limited, requiring the “crew” to be suitably attired for inclement weather.
The unique Talbot goes to auction with Historics at Brooklands on December 4, when it is expected to fetch between £20,000-£30,000. According to boatbuilders Henwood & Dean, of Hambleden, Henley-on-Thames, the estimate is comparable to the cost of recreating the wooden bodyshell alone, today.
Further details at the Historics at Brooklands website.
Posted by peiper
on 11/29/2010 at 02:59 PM
Filed Under: • planes, trains, tanks, ships, machines, automobiles •
• Comments (2)
•
Trackbacks(0)
Permalink • Come fly with me, let’s float down to Peru ..
The heart-stopping moment a stunt plane snapped apart mid-air - and the pilot walked away with just an injured foot
By Mail Foreign ServiceLast updated at 1:59 PM on 29th November 2010
This is the terrifying moment a pilot nearly lost his life after the wing of his plane snapped off mid-air.
But Argentine pilot Dino Moline managed to activate the plane’s ballistic parachute - walking away from the crash with just a burnt foot.
These dramatic new images released today show the accident unfolding as the 22-year-old was performing in an air display in Santa Fe, Argentina.
The 3,000 onlookers could only watch in horror as the wing snapped off his RANS Air Brigade Plane 1,640 feet above the ground - while it was upside down in the middle of a manoeuvre.
The plane began to spin dangerously out of control.
But Mr Moline managed to dodge death by deploying the parachute, which slowed his sickening fall to earth.
The plane crashed to the ground in a roar of flames, but Mr Moline escaped alive with minor injuries.
‘I don’t know what happened to me,’ he wrote on the website for ‘Show Aereo 2010 following the incident on on August 15.
August 15? WHy so long for these shots? Has anyone seen these that far back?
More photos HERE
Posted by peiper
on 11/29/2010 at 11:13 AM
Filed Under: • Fun-Stuff • planes, trains, tanks, ships, machines, automobiles •
• Comments (3)
•
Trackbacks(0)
Permalink • Friday - November 26, 2010
just a few shots from the singapore air show ….
I love this kind of thing and Singapore is the one country in the world I’m sad not to see. Maybe not sad exactly but can’t shake the feeling I have missed something extraordinary.
I think whoever put this together or chose the shots for the newspaper (Telegraph) could have done better. For example. It’ s an air show. So why photos of photographers taking shots of exhibits. Gimme more planes.
This isn’t a bad way to start the day. I promise, it’ll get worse cos there’s all sorts of insane activity that have driven us (me especially) up the darn wall this week.
These might be the three best the Telegraph published on line. I tried to google Singapore Air Show to see what other pix might be available. Oddly, what came up was news of a sort but no photos. Obviously I was in the wrong place (?). There was one site but I got a warning flash from FireFox about possible security on the site so I didn’t open it. Maybe I should have?
This was the warning I got so you can see why I didn’t want to go ahead. If you do and found it safe, let us know. How’s that for chicken hearted?
secure.singaporeairshow.com uses an invalid security certificate.
The certificate expired on 23/05/2010 12:59 AM.
(Error code: sec_error_expired_certificate)
Posted by peiper
on 11/26/2010 at 08:33 AM
Filed Under: • planes, trains, tanks, ships, machines, automobiles •
• Comments (0)
•
Trackbacks(0)
Permalink • Wednesday - November 10, 2010
At Sea, Where Worse Things Happen
disappeared in Philippines sea, search started, all vessels warned to look for any traces. Last known position 21-05N 123-50E, last AIS signal dated Oct 15 2010, last port of call Lianyungang, bulker left port on Oct 10. Crew 25, all Chinese.
Even in this day and age of GPS, weatherproof lifeboats, satellite cellphones, and air-sea rescues that can cover tens of thousands of square miles, the sea can still exact her price.
The Japanese coastguard at Naha Okinawa was alerted earlier today after Taiwanese authorities lost contact with the listing bulker Nasco Diamond, according to local reports.
Taiwan authorities had been in contact with the vessel after it developed a four degree list yesterday afternoon local time. But contact was lost by the early evening.
A Japanese coastguard search failed to locate the ship. An oil slick and two life rafts were spotted but there was no sign of any survivors.
...
Nasco Diamond is understood to have picked up a cargo of nickel ore bound for China. Nickel ore is known to liquefy and cause stability problems during transportation if it has excess moisture content.
Two weeks ago the similarly sized freighter Jian Fu Star capsized and sank in the same area. It was also carrying nickel ore. Half the crew was rescued, the other half was lost.
Whose arm hath bound the restless wave,
Who bid’st the mighty Ocean deep
Its own appointed limits keep;
O hear us when we cry to thee,
for those in peril on the sea.
Posted by Drew458
on 11/10/2010 at 09:40 PM
Filed Under: • International • planes, trains, tanks, ships, machines, automobiles •
• Comments (1)
•
Trackbacks(0)
Permalink • Shoulda Known
Looks like that “mystery missile” the other day was actually USAirways flight 808 inbound from Hawaii.
Yep, that fits.
Link here, with the math. Link here, to the source with the nice multi-part graphic at the bottom.
Nice work Liam Bahneman, doing some actual investigative journalism, checking the flight itineraries, and looking up a Newport Beach webcam the day after to see that the same flight the very next day made almost the same kind of contrails in the sky.
Now, I wonder how many days it will be until the TV news folks catch up to this, and stop pushing the sensationalist story now that it’s been figured out. If you are directly under the flight path of a very high altitude jet flying over you through dirty air, the contrails in the sky look just like those of a rocket heading straight up.
And I sure do wish that there was an actual video of an actual missile or space rocket launch, at sundown, photographed from just over the horizon. How are we supposed to tell them apart? Especially since no rule says a shorter range missile has to be supersonic, which means you can’t use your ears to tell impending doom from just another jet going over. I followed the math at the first link, and I still can’t tell the difference; a multi-stage missile could drop it’s booster stage before it cleared the visual horizon. So when an object is too high to see or hear but is creating a visible contrail, how can you tell up from over since they both appear the same? The only way I can figure is to jump in your car, drive several miles, then look again. Assuming that it wasn’t an inbound missile and that you haven’t become a monatomic smithereen ( which would answer the question! ), when you look at the same contrail from the new location it will now have a definite “going over” aspect if it’s from a jet. I’m guessing here, purely guessing, but if it’s a missile launch you’re seeing, it will still look like “up” even from “over there”.
The Newark to Chicago flight passes almost overhead here. So do the New York and Boston to points southwest flights. On a clear day I can count the number of engines and see the airplane itself. The contrails never roil together, nor is there any kind of “plume of fire” behind the jets. But they always look like planes flying overhead, not rockets shooting up. On a cloudy day I can’t see anything anyway, so who cares? We don’t have LA’s level of air pollution, and we don’t have coastal wind and cloud patterns. And we don’t have a distant horizon for the sun to set into. Those factors could make all the difference.
Posted by Drew458
on 11/10/2010 at 02:01 PM
Filed Under: • Amazing Science and Discoveries • News-Briefs • planes, trains, tanks, ships, machines, automobiles •
• Comments (1)
•
Trackbacks(0)
Permalink • Thursday - November 04, 2010
I wonder how much the toner costs?
It didn’t jam the printer but there’s no guarantee it won’t get stuck in traffic.
Two companies in the US have partnered to design and create Urbee - the car built entirely by a 3D printer.
Urbee was made using additive manufacturing processes, which prints layer upon layer of material to create a product.
Many manufacturers, including aeroplane giant Boeing, print their parts, but this is the first time an entire machine prototype has been created using the 3D printing process.
Every exterior component of Urbee, including the windscreen, was made using Dimension 3D printers and Fortus 3D Production Systems by Stratasys, who teamed up with Kor Ecologic to create the energy efficient car.
Jim Kor, president and chief technology officer for Kor Ecologic, said the process eliminated tooling, machining and handwork.
The electric/petrol hybrid car is extremely fuel efficient, getting approximately 85km/L (200mpg) on the highway (100mpg city).
A standard 4WD uses about 10 times the amount of petrol to go the same distance.
The futuristic looking vehicle can be charged from a regular household power outlet - just plug it in overnight - or can draw power from renewable sources such as sunlight or wind.
This combined with the environmentally friendly production process is part of the manufacturers’ goal of Urbee being “as green as possible”.
3-D printing has been used for manufacturing before. Boeing, for example, prints some airplane parts using the process. And a company called Bespoke Innovations is using 3-D printing to manufacture prosthetic limb casings. But Urbee is entirely 3-D printed--all exterior components were produced with Dimension 3D Printers and Fortus 3D Production Systems by Stratsys.
...
“FDM lets us eliminate tooling, machining, and handwork, and it brings incredible efficiency when a design change is needed,” Jim Kor, president and chief technology officer at Kor Ecologic explained in a press release. “If you can get to a pilot run without any tooling, you have advantages.”
Posted by Drew458
on 11/04/2010 at 08:46 AM
Filed Under: • High Tech • planes, trains, tanks, ships, machines, automobiles •
• Comments (3)
•
Trackbacks(0)
Permalink • Friday - October 29, 2010
Out of the Black and Into the Blue
This is a one of a kind test aircraft made by Boeing called the Bird Of Prey. Once upon a time it was the blackest of black projects, but it was declassified and shown to the public back in 2002. It was built with as many off the shelf parts as possible to keep the project cost down $67 million. It could neither fly high nor fast, and was a handful to land. And it seemed to generate UFO reports whenever it flew. I wonder why?
From a 2002 news release: Named after a Klingon spacecraft in “Star Trek,” The Boeing Co. yesterday took the wraps off what was once one of its most classified “black” military airplane projects known as the “Bird of Prey.”
The Bird of Prey plane is 47 feet long with a distinctive 23-foot wing at the rear shaped like a “W.” The Boeing project ran from 1992 through 1999. The plane, which looks like something that should be flying—and probably once did—at the super-secret Area 51 Nevada test range, helped Boeing pioneer stealth technology and new and more-affordable ways to design and build airplanes. The classified project ran from 1992 through 1999, and Boeing said it decided to make the aircraft public because the technologies that were demonstrated have become industry standards.“With this aircraft we changed the rules on how to design and build an aircraft, and what we’ve learned is enabling us to provide our customers with affordable, high-performing products,” said Jim Albaugh, president and chief executive of Boeing’s Integrated Defense Systems.
It was developed by the McDonnell Douglas Phantom Works organization, where many black, or secret, projects for the military ended up, just as they did at the famed Lockheed Martin Skunk Works.
The Bird of Prey incorporated a variety of stealth features to minimize radar, infrared, visual and acoustic signatures. The overall shape of the low profile, tailless, blended fuselage with sharply cranked aft-set wings contributed to an extremely low radar cross-section. Flexible covers concealed gaps between fixed structures and moveable control surfaces. Designers were careful to ensure edge alignment on the canopy, landing gear doors, wings and fuselage to minimize radar backscatter. To eliminate radar reflections from the engine compressor face, the powerplant was buried deep in the fuselage and hidden behind the canopy and a curved inlet duct. The engine exhaust mitigated the airplane’s acoustic signature. A paint scheme consisting of several shades of gray reduced the visual contrast of shadows from various parts of the airplane. All of these features would contribute significantly to the survivability of an operational combat airplane.
As the team learned the lessons of each flight, the test program proceeded at a leisurely pace. Only 38 missions were flown between September 1996 and April 1999, roughly one sortie per month.
A video is here.
Funny thing though ... all the articles out there keep saying the aircraft was built to pioneer stealth technology. In 1992. Even though the F-117 and B-2 stealth aircraft had been in the field since the early 80s, which means they’ve been around since probably the early 70s. So what’s the point of “pioneering” it in the early 90s? Well, take your pick:
a) it was pioneering work for Boeing, because the other stealth planes were built by Lockheed/Martin/Marietta and Northrop Grumman. So when Boeing bought out McDonnell/Douglas, who had started the project, they actually had no stealth experience themselves, so this was a prove-we-can-do-it project ... or
b) the real purpose of the project is still deep in the black. They only tell us it was a stealth demonstrator and a low performance flying testbed. Was this an early Aurora prototype? The truth really isn’t out there; we will never know for sure.
Posted by Drew458
on 10/29/2010 at 08:13 AM
Filed Under: • High Tech • History • planes, trains, tanks, ships, machines, automobiles •
• Comments (2)
•
Trackbacks(0)
Permalink • Five Most Recent Trackbacks:
Once Again, The One And Only Post
(4 total trackbacks)
Tracked at iHaan.org
Thｅ advantage to having a guide with you is thɑt an expert will haѵe very first hand experience dealing and navigating the river with гegional wildlife. Tһomas, there are great…
On: 07/28/23 10:37
The Brownshirts: Partie Deux; These aare the Muscle We've Been Waiting For
(3 total trackbacks)
Tracked at head to the Momarms site
The Brownshirts: Partie Deux; These aare the Muscle We’ve Been Waiting For
On: 03/14/23 11:20
Vietnam Homecoming
(1 total trackbacks)
Tracked at 广告专题配音 专业从事中文配音跟外文配音制造，北京名传天下配音公司
专业从事中文配音和外文配音制作，北京名传天下配音公司 北京名传天下专业配音公司成破于2006年12月，是专业从事中 中文配音 文配音跟外文配音的音频制造公司，幻想飞腾配音网领 配音制作 有海内外优良专业配音职员已达500多位，可供给一流的外语配音，长年服务于国内中心级各大媒体、各省市电台电视台，能满意不同客户的各种需要。电话：010-83265555 北京名传天下专业配音公司…
On: 03/20/21 07:00
meaningless marching orders for a thousand travellers ... strife ahead ..
(1 total trackbacks)
Tracked at Casual Blog
[...] RTS. IF ANYTHING ON THIS WEBSITE IS CONSTRUED AS BEING CONTRARY TO THE LAWS APPL [...]
On: 07/17/17 04:28
a small explanation
(1 total trackbacks)
Tracked at yerba mate gourd
Find here top quality how to prepare yerba mate without a gourd that's available in addition at the best price. Get it now!
On: 07/09/17 03:07
DISCLAIMER
THE SERVICES AND MATERIALS ON THIS WEBSITE ARE PROVIDED "AS IS" AND THE HOSTS OF THIS SITE EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMS ANY AND ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, TO THE EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF SATISFACTORY QUALITY, MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, WITH RESPECT TO THE SERVICE OR ANY MATERIALS.
Not that very many people ever read this far down, but this blog was the creation of Allan Kelly and his friend Vilmar. Vilmar moved on to his own blog some time ago, and Allan ran this place alone until his sudden and unexpected death partway through 2006. We all miss him. A lot. Even though he is gone this site will always still be more than a little bit his. We who are left to carry on the BMEWS tradition owe him a great debt of gratitude, and we hope to be able to pay that back by following his last advice to us all:
It's been a long strange trip without you Skipper, but thanks for pointing us in the right direction and giving us a swift kick in the behind to get us going. Keep lookin' down on us, will ya? Thanks.
- Keep a firm grasp of Right and Wrong
- Stay involved with government on every level and don't let those bastards get away with a thing
- Use every legal means to defend yourself in the event of real internal trouble, and, most importantly:
- Keep talking to each other, whether here or elsewhere
THE INFORMATION AND OTHER CONTENTS OF THIS WEBSITE ARE DESIGNED TO COMPLY WITH THE LAWS OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. THIS WEBSITE SHALL BE GOVERNED BY AND CONSTRUED IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE LAWS OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AND ALL PARTIES IRREVOCABLY SUBMIT TO THE JURISDICTION OF THE AMERICAN COURTS. IF ANYTHING ON THIS WEBSITE IS CONSTRUED AS BEING CONTRARY TO THE LAWS APPLICABLE IN ANY OTHER COUNTRY, THEN THIS WEBSITE IS NOT INTENDED TO BE ACCESSED BY PERSONS FROM THAT COUNTRY AND ANY PERSONS WHO ARE SUBJECT TO SUCH LAWS SHALL NOT BE ENTITLED TO USE OUR SERVICES UNLESS THEY CAN SATISFY US THAT SUCH USE WOULD BE LAWFUL.
Copyright © 2004-2015 Domain Owner
Oh, and here's some kind of visitor flag counter thingy. Hey, all the cool blogs have one, so I should too. The Visitors Online thingy up at the top doesn't count anything, but it looks neat. It had better, since I paid actual money for it.
RSS 2.0 
Atom 
