"Lloyd E. Sponenburgh" wrote in =
message ...
|=20
| "Lloyd E. Sponenburgh" wrote in =
message=20
| ...
|
| The stacks did become slack during extreme heat. The brass monkey =
became=20
| looser. Only when it tightened excessively did the balls begin to =
roll=20
| off.
|
| Keep in mind that a triangular pyramid stack of spheres is stable to =
+-60=20
| degrees of roll. That's a heavy sea.
|
|=20
| From the rather small niche of black powder historians, the story =
comes this
| way:
|=20
| Anyone who physically handled cannon balls or powder was known as a =
"ball
| monkey" or "powder monkey". The term "powder monkey" is still used =
today.
| "Ball monkey" seems to have been lost.
|=20
| On board most armed ships of the British fleet were triangular brass =
racks -
| low bars of brass forged into an equilateral triangle - mounted to the
| decks, into which to stack cannon balls in the familiar pyramid =
fashion.
| This, to ready the balls for quick access.
|=20
| Although the "brass monkeys" were only an inch or two high, the stacks =
made
| within them were quite stable -- until the temperature dropped very, =
very
| cold. At that point, due to different coefficients of expansion =
between
| brass and iron, the balls came tumbling off their racks.
|=20
| Thus, "cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey". Of =
course, the
| vulgar connotations came quite soon after. G
|=20
| LLoyd
|=20
|=20
|=20
|=20
|=20

Further to all the above, take a look at this:

http://www.history.navy.mil/faqs/faq107.htm


--=20
PDQ