On Thu, 08 Mar 2012 14:51:00 +0000, Martin Brown
wrote:

On 08/03/2012 10:06, Tim Streater wrote:
In article ,
wrote:

On Wed, 07 Mar 2012 16:12:00 +0000, Tim Streater
wrote:

If we all had your attitude we'd never have put foosteps on the Moon.

Putting footsteps on the moon was relatively straightforward.

Really? Why bother with NASA at all, then?

I didn't say it was easy, or cheap. It just required organisation, and,
above all, the *will* to do it. But I don't think anyone doubted that it
was possible, or that any magic new engineering was required.

It wasn't exactly magic engineering, but up until the space race and the
need for really good mechanical seals in vacuum the packed gland was how
water pumps on cars were done and they has a serious tendency to leak
and dribble their vital fluids onto the floor. The space race put an end
to all that and modern cars use mechanical seals that were a spinoff of
the space race and/or cold war (useful in submarines too).

Presumably you are referring to carbon sealing rings for the water
pumps?

Crank and gearbox seals as used today originate back in the 1930's,
albeit with slightly more advanced materials.

GB Patent 479743 filed 10th February 1938

http://worldwide.espacenet.com/publi...R=479743A&KC=A


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