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pcbTIM
Alien Abductee
USA
6501 Posts |
 Posted - 08/26/2003 : 03:50:06 AM
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I got this from one of my engineering professors.
The U.S. standard railroad gauge (distance between the rails) is 4 feet, 8.5 inches. That is an exceedingly odd number. Why was that gauge used? Because that’s the way they built them in England, and the U.S. railroads were built by English expatriates.
Why did the English build them that way? 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? Because the people who built the tramways used the same jigs and tools that they used for building wagons, which used that wheel spacing.
So why did the wagons have that particular odd 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 was the spacing of the wheel ruts.
So who built those old rutted roads? The ruts in the roads, which everyone had to match for fear of destroying their wagon wheels, were first formed by Roman war chariots. Since the chariots were made for (or by) Imperial Rome, they were all alike in the manner of wheel spacing.
The U.S. standard railroad gauge of 4 feet, 8.5 inches derives from the original specification for an Imperial Roman war chariot.
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 end of two war horses.
Thus we have the answer to the original question. Now for the twist in the story.
When we see a space shuttle sitting on its launching pad, there are two booster rockets attached to the side of the main fuel tank. These are solid rocket boosters, or SRB’s. The SRB’s are made by Thiokol at their factory in Utah.
The engineers who designed the SRB’s might have preferred to make them a bit fatter, but the SRB’s had to be shipped by train from the factory to the launch site.
The railroad line from the factory had to run through a tunnel in the mountains. The tunnel is slightly wider than the railroad track, and the railroad track is about as wide as two horses’ rumps.
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!
Don’t you just love engineering?
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Gay marriage killed the dinosaurs. |
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PJK
Alien Abductee
USA
4159 Posts |
Posted - 08/26/2003 : 06:46:47 AM
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HAHAHAHA this is the best story ever! |
"It is hard enough to remember my opinions, without also remembering my reasons for them!"Friedrich Nietzsche |
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victorwootenfan
Alien Abductee
USA
2128 Posts |
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dan p.
Alien Abductee
Uganda
3776 Posts |
Posted - 08/26/2003 : 09:32:38 AM
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| hahahaha. i have a friend who's majoring in engeering in tulane. he told me the same thing. damnedest thing i ever heard. lol. |
death to false metal. |
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Fleabass76
Fluffy-Esque
USA
1026 Posts |
Posted - 08/26/2003 : 1:17:50 PM
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| Wow...that's crazy. |
Robots are the enemy? Hmm... |
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therippa
Fluffy-Esque
Kazakhstan
1099 Posts |
Posted - 08/26/2003 : 1:29:26 PM
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Kinda reminds me of that show Connections...anyone ever see that?
They start with an old invention like gunpowder and show how it led to the invention of something else hundreds of years later, like the space shuttle. |
Aspiring to Be Fluffy-Esque an Alien Abductee! |
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Fluffy
Administrator
USA
10739 Posts |
Posted - 08/27/2003 : 5:02:22 PM
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.....and the best part, IT'S ALL TRUE! Although I heard a more indepth explanation. Here it is, although I didn't post it here:
Another example of how rules from the past influence the present is how the standard gauge, or width, of train tracks came to be what they are. The gauge of the American rail system is actually the same as England's because British engineers were the ones who designed our railroad system.
The width of the English railroad track was based on the availability of tools for making axles for horse-drawn carriages. (Why retool if the machinery already existed?) The carriage axles were designed to fit the ruts that existed on British roads. Since the British roads were originally Roman roads, it was Roman chariots that initially made the ruts.
The axles of Roman chariots were built to accommodate two Roman horses. Thus, the width of American train tracks is related directly to Roman chariots.
Without knowing it, we operate under a lot of rules that no longer make sense. In some cases, these rules do not make a difference in our effectiveness, such as in the case of the width of train tracks ---- they simply become acceptable patterns of operating.
However, some rules may prevent us from being more effective in light of a changed environment. Likewise, the fastest trains today don't use a two-track rail system.
NOT!!!!
Roman Chariots, Railroad Tracks, Milspecs and Urban Legends
by Steve Lowell
Every culture has its urban legends. While myths, fairy tales, folklore, and traditional legends are generally considered fictional, allegorical, or exaggerations of the truth, urban legends are reported as fact and are widely believed to be factual among the masses. Urban legends are extremely difficult to combat even when evidence exists to disprove them because they seem reasonable, they fit comfortably into an individual's personal beliefs, and most people are not inclined to go in search of "the truth."
American history is especially full of urban legends. Most Americans think they know about such things as the Pilgrims landing on Plymouth Rock , U.S. Independence Day , the Liberty Bell , and hundreds of other "historical facts." What most Americans know, however, are the urban legends.
The world of standards and standardization also has its share of urban legends, which seem to be on the increase because of the Internet and email. One standardization urban legend that has been making the rounds over the last seven years or so deals with the connection between Roman chariots, railroad tracks, and MilSpecs. The story begins with a question asking why the U.S. standard railroad gauge (the distance between rails) is 4 feet 8-1/2 inches, which seems an odd number. The answer given is that English ex-patriots built U.S. railroads, and 4 feet 8-1/2 inches was the standard railroad track gauge in England because the railroad tracks were built on top of road ruts created by the Romans to accommodate their war chariots. Supposedly, the Romans had a MilSpec that set the wheel spacing at 4 feet 8-1/2 inches for their war chariots and all Roman rut roads. Eventually, railroad tracks were laid on top of the road ruts. The final punch line is that the U.S. standard railroad gauge derives from the original MilSpec for an Imperial Roman army war chariot proving that MilSpecs and bureaucracies live forever.
The only problem with this story is that none of it is true, except the fact that the standard U.S. railroad track gauge today is indeed 4 feet 8-1/2 inches. Over the years, I estimate that people have sent me over 200 email messages transmitting this story, and I have heard it repeated at many conferences. I would like to try to counter this urban legend with some historical facts.
For starters, the Roman army did not use chariots for warfare. Chariots were technologically obsolete by 600 BCE, centuries before the rise of Rome. While chariots were a technological leap when they came into use around 1800 BCE, they were far from the ideal weapon portrayed by Hollywood. Chariots were unstable and restricted in use to open and flat terrain. They were also expensive and difficult to make and maintain. The armies of the ancient world used chariots because the horses available to them were too small to carry a mounted soldier in armor and with weapons. Once horses were introduced that were large enough to carry a fully equipped soldier, cavalry quickly replaced charioteers. Cavalry was far more mobile, easier to maintain, and made more effective use of manpower since a chariot required a driver and fighter, whereas a single soldier could ride and fight on horseback.
The Roman legions that conquered the ancient western world were made up primarily of armored infantry supported by cavalry, light infantry, archers, and engineers. The Roman legions never used the technologically inferior chariot. Chariots were very popular in the Roman circus games and for ceremonial processions, but they were not used militarily or commercially. The suggestion that the Roman army developed a MilSpec for chariot wheel spacing that necessitated the placement of road ruts at 4 feet 8-1/2 inches is pure fiction.
The other aspect of this standardization urban legend that is pure fiction is the suggestion that the standard track gauge in the U.S. has always been 4 feet 8-1/2 inches. At the beginning of the American Civil War in 1861, there were more than 20 different railroad track gauges in the U.S. ranging from 3 feet to 6 feet. In fact, 5 feet was by far the most prevalent gauge in the South , so if the Confederacy had won the war, the standard size in the U.S. might be different today. The table below shows some of the variety of gauges in the U.S. and Canada at the beginning of 1861.
Track Gauge-----Miles of Railroad Track---Percentage of Total Mileage
4' 8-1/2"----------------17,712---------------------53.3
4' 10"--------------------3,294----------------------9.9
5' 0"---------------------7,267---------------------21.8
5' 6"---------------------2,896----------------------8.7
6' 0"---------------------1,777----------------------5.3
Others-----------------------------------------------1.0
Probably more than any other single event, the American Civil War is why the U.S. has the one standard track gauge today. The Civil War was the first war in which railroads played an important part in transporting troops, equipment, and supplies. The variety of track gauges forced army units to unload and then reload cargo at the junction point between lines with different gauges. Such delays were inconvenient, expensive, and annoying for civilians during peacetime, but for an army to experience such delays sometimes meant the difference between victory and defeat.
While the U.S. government did not mandate conversion to a standard track gauge, it did take steps that accelerated standardization towards the 4 foot 8-1/2 inch gauge. In 1862, the United States Military Railroad organization was created to address a number of rail transportation issues, including standardization of track gauges. Since the 4 foot 8-1/2 inch track gauge accounted for more than half the track in the U.S., it made sense from a military and economic viewpoint to promote this as the standard gauge. More than 4,000 miles of new track was laid down in the North during the war, most of which conformed to the 4 foot 8-1/2 inch track gauge. In some cases, the Union forces altered the track gauges of captured Confederate rails. For example, the 5-foot gauge of the Norfolk & Petersburg rail was changed to 4 foot 8-1/2 inch gauge. In other cases, the government succeeded in convincing nonstandard Northern railroads, such as the New York Central, to change their track gauge. Finally, the Pacific Railway Act of 1864 mandated the standard 4 foot 8-1/2 inch gauge for the Transcontinental Railroad.
The most significant contribution of the government for standardizing track gauges, however, was to serve as a catalyst in bringing together industry to promote railroad cooperation during the Civil War. In February of 1862, Secretary of War Stanton and other government leaders met with the owners of the major railroads to discuss a number of issues, including standardization of track gauges. These meetings continued throughout the Civil War. Following the war, industry continued to meet, and on September 18, 1867, representatives from twenty-nine railroads formed the Master Car Builders Association. At the top of their agenda was the standardization of track gauge in the U.S. It would take another nineteen years, but through the cooperative efforts of industry brought together initially by government, commercial railroad track gauges in the U.S. were at last standardized to 4 feet 8-1/2 inches in 1886.
The original question of just how did such an odd track size of 4 feet 8-1/2 inches still remains. The truthful answer is that no one really knows. Some people believe that train tracks were merely laid on top of road ruts left by wagons and that the width of the wagons were determined by the width of two horses side by side hauling the wagon. While it does seem reasonable that train tracks were often laid on top of wagon wheel ruts, the distance between wagon wheel ruts was not universal.
Everyone seems to agree that this odd track size did originate in England from a railway pioneer named George Stephenson who used the 4 feet 8-1/2 inch track gauge when building the first public rail line, the Liverpool & Manchester Railway, in 1830. Why he chose this odd size is a matter of conjecture. Some historians maintain that the rails were originally laid 5 feet apart on top of wagon wheel ruts, but because the early edge rails were 1.75 inches across the top and early trains ran on the inside edges, Mr. Stephenson had to subtract 3-1/2 inches for the railroad car wheel spacing making them 4 feet 8-1/2 inches. As railroad track technology improved so that the train wheels ran on top of the tracks, the tracks were moved closer to fit the rail car widths. Still others maintain that Mr. Stephenson originally designed the track gauge to measure 4 feet 8 inches, but during construction, he added in an extra half inch to allow for a little more leeway between rails and wheel flanges.
How ever the 4 foot 8-1/2 inch track gauge happened, hopefully, I have provided enough convincing argument to dispel the urban legend connecting it with Roman chariots and MilSpecs. Many believe that once an urban legend makes it to the Internet, it can never be undone. Perhaps. But if everyone in the standards community would send back an email rebuttal to anyone who sends this story to you, I think it could be discredited enough to fade. We in the standards community have a reputation for requiring data to support contentions, and then challenging the data. We do our reputations a disservice if we don't challenge and put right these urban legends.
http://public.ansi.org/ansionline/Documents/News and Publications/Links Within Stories/Urban Legends.doc
(you must copy and paste the above link to access it, clicking will not work as the spaces don't allow it to be read as the complete link. There are lots of footnotes, etc etc attached to the story for those interested)
And it just seems to get extrapolated out from there:
http://www.abc.net.au/science/slab/shuttle/anatomy.htm
Apparently,quote:
damnedest thing i ever heard. lol.
Is exactly RIGHT!!!
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Peace & Keep the Faith
Fluffy         
"THE MUSIC BUSINESS IS A CRUEL AND SHALLOW MONEY TRENCH-- A LONG PLASTIC HALLWAY WHERE THIEVES AND PIMPS RUN FREE AND GOOD MEN DIE LIKE DOGS. THERE'S ALSO A NEGATIVE SIDE..." -Hunter S. Thompson |
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Interesting bit of history...
