I wish to make a large Newton's Cradle. That usually consists of five
suspended steel balls. Ideally the balls will be at least 2" in
diameter or up to 12" or 24" in diameter.
If they were steel they are likely to injure childen. So they can't be
steel. Billiard balls bounce well but are still too heavy.
Golf balls don't seem to bounce properly so they are no good, and are
too small. Soccer balls don't bounce that well either.
Polystyrene foam is too flimsy.

Any brilliant ideas? I have an idea which I will experiment with.

On Tue, 1 Jun 2010 01:47:11 -0700 (PDT), Matty F
wrote:

I wish to make a large Newton's Cradle. That usually consists of five
suspended steel balls. Ideally the balls will be at least 2" in
diameter or up to 12" or 24" in diameter.
If they were steel they are likely to injure childen. So they can't be
steel. Billiard balls bounce well but are still too heavy.
Golf balls don't seem to bounce properly so they are no good, and are
too small. Soccer balls don't bounce that well either.
Polystyrene foam is too flimsy.

Any brilliant ideas? I have an idea which I will experiment with.

Grenades?

On 1 June, 09:47, Matty F wrote:
I wish to make a large Newton's Cradle. That usually consists of five
suspended steel balls. Ideally the balls will be at least 2" in
diameter or up to 12" or 24" in diameter.

http://www.brindley-steel-forging.co.uk/
are good for big steel balls

If they were steel they are likely to injure childen.

They must learn

In article ,
Matty F wrote:
I wish to make a large Newton's Cradle. That usually consists of five
suspended steel balls. Ideally the balls will be at least 2" in
diameter or up to 12" or 24" in diameter.
If they were steel they are likely to injure childen. So they can't be
steel. Billiard balls bounce well but are still too heavy.
Golf balls don't seem to bounce properly so they are no good, and are
too small. Soccer balls don't bounce that well either.
Polystyrene foam is too flimsy.

Any brilliant ideas? I have an idea which I will experiment with.

Looking for something similar some time back, I found this site:

http://www.grand-illusions.com/acata..._Bearings.html

Those are expensive though, and steel... [1]

My grandfather made me a newtons cradle many (many!) years ago with large
"steelies" like these - he soldered/brazed brass eyelets to the top and
I made a cradle out of wood and suspended the balls using heavy nylon
fishing line.

I was about 8 or 9 at the time - so for the children aspect - teach them
to respect it, or it'll bite!

Gordon

[1] I claim no responsibility for loss of work today from those viewing
that site! There's 1 or 2 real gems in it and the chap who runs it is
fairly amusing hmmself.

"Matty F" wrote in message
...
I wish to make a large Newton's Cradle. That usually consists of five
suspended steel balls. Ideally the balls will be at least 2" in
diameter or up to 12" or 24" in diameter.
If they were steel they are likely to injure childen. So they can't be
steel. Billiard balls bounce well but are still too heavy.
Golf balls don't seem to bounce properly so they are no good, and are
too small. Soccer balls don't bounce that well either.
Polystyrene foam is too flimsy.

Any brilliant ideas? I have an idea which I will experiment with.

I may be wrong but I thought that the weight of the balls was what makes it
work

Surely light weight balls would not have the inertia to work

Tony

On 01/06/10 09:47, Matty F wrote:
I wish to make a large Newton's Cradle. That usually consists of five
suspended steel balls. Ideally the balls will be at least 2" in
diameter or up to 12" or 24" in diameter.
If they were steel they are likely to injure childen. So they can't be
steel. Billiard balls bounce well but are still too heavy.
Golf balls don't seem to bounce properly so they are no good, and are
too small. Soccer balls don't bounce that well either.
Polystyrene foam is too flimsy.

Any brilliant ideas? I have an idea which I will experiment with.

Yes - I believe I have the answer...

(You can thank my messy sproglets for leaving crap everywhere!)

http://megabloks.iparenting.com/graphics/starterpic.jpg

They are made by "Mega Bloks" (spelling correct). Can't find a source,
right now, think we got them at ToysRUs or Argos a few years ago.

They are a giant sized version of "MagNext"

The balls are hollow steel getting on for 3" diameter. Very light, but
one thing I noticed was they bounce extremely well on concrete (and
thus, probably, on each other - which makes sense - they are exhibiting
the restitution of steel without the bulk mass). I think they will work
for you.

You may need to go hunting though - can't find them on google shopping.
Charity shops would be one place, or ebay. The original pachkaging was a
platic tub about 5" deep, 12" tall, 18" wide (all +/- few inches!).

Stop press...

Just found them:

They are called "Magnetix Jr" (or Junior) and there are a few places
selling them, eg:

http://www.pharmacyplace.co.uk/produ...ty-system.html

--
Tim Watts

Hung parliament? Rather have a hanged parliament.

On Jun 1, 9:28 pm, Andy Dingley wrote:
On 1 June, 09:47, Matty F wrote:

I wish to make a large Newton's Cradle. That usually consists of five
suspended steel balls. Ideally the balls will be at least 2" in
diameter or up to 12" or 24" in diameter.

http://www.brindley-steel-forging.co.uk/
are good for big steel balls

If they were steel they are likely to injure childen.

They must learn

That might be OK in the UK but in NZ we have a government department
that will prosecute someone making a device that they consider
dangerous. The inspectors that I've seen are women.

On 01/06/2010 12:39, Matty F wrote:

That might be OK in the UK but in NZ we have a government department
that will prosecute someone making a device that they consider
dangerous.

Good grief.

The inspectors that I've seen are women.

Close down all cookware and dressmaking shops :-)

--
Adrian C

"TMC" wrote in message
...

"Matty F" wrote in message
...
I wish to make a large Newton's Cradle. That usually consists of five
suspended steel balls. Ideally the balls will be at least 2" in
diameter or up to 12" or 24" in diameter.
If they were steel they are likely to injure childen. So they can't be
steel. Billiard balls bounce well but are still too heavy.
Golf balls don't seem to bounce properly so they are no good, and are
too small. Soccer balls don't bounce that well either.
Polystyrene foam is too flimsy.

Any brilliant ideas? I have an idea which I will experiment with.

I may be wrong but I thought that the weight of the balls was what makes
it work

Surely light weight balls would not have the inertia to work

It will work with anything that is elastic.
Heavy steel works well as you can put in lots of energy that is absorbed
slowly by the air/sound/non elasticity giving more bounces.
Feathers would probably work in a vacuum.

On 01/06/10 12:39, Matty F wrote:
On Jun 1, 9:28 pm, Andy wrote:
On 1 June, 09:47, Matty wrote:

I wish to make a large Newton's Cradle. That usually consists of five
suspended steel balls. Ideally the balls will be at least 2" in
diameter or up to 12" or 24" in diameter.

http://www.brindley-steel-forging.co.uk/
are good for big steel balls

If they were steel they are likely to injure childen.

They must learn

That might be OK in the UK but in NZ we have a government department
that will prosecute someone making a device that they consider
dangerous. The inspectors that I've seen are women.

So you can't use chain and cannonballs then...

--
Tim Watts

Hung parliament? Rather have a hanged parliament.

On Tue, 1 Jun 2010 04:39:07 -0700 (PDT), Matty F
wrote:
On Jun 1, 9:28 pm, Andy Dingley wrote:

They must learn

That might be OK in the UK but in NZ we have a government department
that will prosecute someone making a device that they consider
dangerous.


Sounds like a good idea. We are supposed to have something similar in
Europe but it apparently relies much too heavily on self-monitoring
and -certification.


The inspectors that I've seen are women.


In what way is that relevant, or noteworthy?

"Matty F" wrote in message
...
I wish to make a large Newton's Cradle. That usually consists of five
suspended steel balls. Ideally the balls will be at least 2" in
diameter or up to 12" or 24" in diameter.
If they were steel they are likely to injure childen. So they can't be
steel. Billiard balls bounce well but are still too heavy.
Golf balls don't seem to bounce properly so they are no good, and are
too small. Soccer balls don't bounce that well either.
Polystyrene foam is too flimsy.

Any brilliant ideas? I have an idea which I will experiment with.

I think you would need to get hold of some industrial size ball bearings, 2"
plus in diameter. You need weight for inertia and hardness for bounce. Ball
bearings wouldn't be drillable so some sort of glue for attaching eyes for
suspending them would be the way to go.

mark

On Jun 2, 12:30 am, Bruce wrote:
On Tue, 1 Jun 2010 04:39:07 -0700 (PDT), Matty F

wrote:
On Jun 1, 9:28 pm, Andy Dingley wrote:

They must learn

That might be OK in the UK but in NZ we have a government department
that will prosecute someone making a device that they consider
dangerous.

Sounds like a good idea. We are supposed to have something similar in
Europe but it apparently relies much too heavily on self-monitoring
and -certification.

The inspectors that I've seen are women.

In what way is that relevant, or noteworthy?

The two I saw had no mechanical sense whatsoever. Situations that have
existed for 40 years or more and which have never caused any accidents
or problems, they saw as needing urgent attention.
e.g. someone climbing a ladder without a safety harness and helmet.

On Tue, 01 Jun 2010 13:18:28 +0100, Tim Watts wrote:

On 01/06/10 12:39, Matty F wrote:
On Jun 1, 9:28 pm, Andy wrote:
On 1 June, 09:47, Matty wrote:

I wish to make a large Newton's Cradle. That usually consists of five
suspended steel balls. Ideally the balls will be at least 2" in
diameter or up to 12" or 24" in diameter.

http://www.brindley-steel-forging.co.uk/ are good for big steel balls

If they were steel they are likely to injure childen.

They must learn

That might be OK in the UK but in NZ we have a government department
that will prosecute someone making a device that they consider
dangerous. The inspectors that I've seen are women.

So you can't use chain and cannonballs then...

You just need some big pressure-sensitive switch on the ground,
activating some mechanism to stop things dead if the switch is tripped.
Unless the little buggers decide to meddle from above, I suppose... :-)

cheers

Jules

On Tue, 01 Jun 2010 10:26:17 +0100, Appelation Controlee wrote:
Any brilliant ideas? I have an idea which I will experiment with.

Grenades?

Cartoon bombs, with realistic-looking fuses and "bomb" written on the
sides in white lettering.

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the
drugs began to take hold. I remember Matty F
saying something like:

The two I saw had no mechanical sense whatsoever. Situations that have
existed for 40 years or more and which have never caused any accidents
or problems, they saw as needing urgent attention.
e.g. someone climbing a ladder without a safety harness and helmet.

HSE Disease mindset, where they see bogies everywhere.

On Tue, 1 Jun 2010 14:08:37 +0000 (UTC), Jules Richardson
wrote:
On Tue, 01 Jun 2010 10:26:17 +0100, Appelation Controlee wrote:
Any brilliant ideas? I have an idea which I will experiment with.

Grenades?

Cartoon bombs, with realistic-looking fuses and "bomb" written on the
sides in white lettering.


Just for a laugh, you could put a *real* bomb in there.

Kaboom! ;-)

On Tue, 1 Jun 2010 05:52:24 -0700 (PDT), Matty F
wrote:
On Jun 2, 12:30 am, Bruce wrote:
On Tue, 1 Jun 2010 04:39:07 -0700 (PDT), Matty F

wrote:
On Jun 1, 9:28 pm, Andy Dingley wrote:

They must learn

That might be OK in the UK but in NZ we have a government department
that will prosecute someone making a device that they consider
dangerous.

Sounds like a good idea. We are supposed to have something similar in
Europe but it apparently relies much too heavily on self-monitoring
and -certification.

The inspectors that I've seen are women.

In what way is that relevant, or noteworthy?

The two I saw had no mechanical sense whatsoever.


There are plenty of men like that too. Gender is not a reliable
indicator of whether someone possesses any particular type of sense.

But I suppose someone being from NZ is a slightly more reliable
indicator of gratuitous misogyny. ;-)

On 01/06/10 15:27, Bruce wrote:
On Tue, 1 Jun 2010 05:52:24 -0700 (PDT), Matty F

The two I saw had no mechanical sense whatsoever.


There are plenty of men like that too. Gender is not a reliable
indicator of whether someone possesses any particular type of sense.

I worked somewhere where the male H&S idiot used to lock off the tearoom
if the tealady (how quaint) wasn't in, "in case someone burn themselves
on the urn". FFS... Electronic Engineering department too.

Bit different to the Mech Eng department I worked in the in late 80's.
Got stuck in the lift as the doors had come unaligned with each other.
Anyway, one of the lecturers (big beard, pipe, tweed jacket, proper
mechanical bloke) let me out with the door key. Then rammed his arm
between the doors, jiggled the mechanism back into line and wandered
off... I took the stairs after that... Oh, and we had a bloody big urn
balanced on the fridge right by the door in that tearoom...

--
Tim Watts

Hung parliament? Rather have a hanged parliament.

On Tue, 01 Jun 2010 01:47:11 -0700, Matty F wrote:

I wish to make a large Newton's Cradle. That usually consists of five
suspended steel balls. Ideally the balls will be at least 2" in diameter
or up to 12" or 24" in diameter. If they were steel they are likely to
injure childen. So they can't be steel. Billiard balls bounce well but
are still too heavy. Golf balls don't seem to bounce properly so they
are no good, and are too small. Soccer balls don't bounce that well
either. Polystyrene foam is too flimsy.

Any brilliant ideas? I have an idea which I will experiment with.

Bowling balls?



--
Use the BIG mirror service in the UK:
http://www.mirrorservice.org

*lightning protection* - a w_tom conductor

On 01/06/10 16:46, Bob Eager wrote:
On Tue, 01 Jun 2010 01:47:11 -0700, Matty F wrote:

I wish to make a large Newton's Cradle. That usually consists of five
suspended steel balls. Ideally the balls will be at least 2" in diameter
or up to 12" or 24" in diameter. If they were steel they are likely to
injure childen. So they can't be steel. Billiard balls bounce well but
are still too heavy. Golf balls don't seem to bounce properly so they
are no good, and are too small. Soccer balls don't bounce that well
either. Polystyrene foam is too flimsy.

Any brilliant ideas? I have an idea which I will experiment with.

Bowling balls?




Hang on a minute - this is Matty...

Can't you (OP) just get some solid blocks of stainless steel and turn
them into hollow spheres, obviously in 2 halves with a nice thread
around the diameter of each on so they screw into a perfect sphere?

Extra points for just using a file and angle grinder! ;-



I am of course referring to:

http://groups.google.co.uk/group/uk....d654d507?hl=en

--
Tim Watts

Hung parliament? Rather have a hanged parliament.

On 01/06/2010 17:00, Tim Watts wrote:
On 01/06/10 16:46, Bob Eager wrote:
On Tue, 01 Jun 2010 01:47:11 -0700, Matty F wrote:

I wish to make a large Newton's Cradle. That usually consists of five
suspended steel balls. Ideally the balls will be at least 2" in diameter
or up to 12" or 24" in diameter. If they were steel they are likely to
injure childen. So they can't be steel. Billiard balls bounce well but
are still too heavy. Golf balls don't seem to bounce properly so they
are no good, and are too small. Soccer balls don't bounce that well
either. Polystyrene foam is too flimsy.

Any brilliant ideas? I have an idea which I will experiment with.

Bowling balls?




Hang on a minute - this is Matty...

Can't you (OP) just get some solid blocks of stainless steel and turn
them into hollow spheres, obviously in 2 halves with a nice thread
around the diameter of each on so they screw into a perfect sphere?

Extra points for just using a file and angle grinder! ;-



I am of course referring to:

http://groups.google.co.uk/group/uk....d654d507?hl=en


Why do they have to be spheres? Any shape will do provided there's just
a point contact with each neighbour. Maybe it would even work if the
faces were flat surfaces, but the alignment would need to be perfect.

--
Reentrant

On Tue, 01 Jun 2010 15:41:05 +0100, Tim Watts wrote:
On 01/06/10 15:27, Bruce wrote:
On Tue, 1 Jun 2010 05:52:24 -0700 (PDT), Matty F

The two I saw had no mechanical sense whatsoever.


There are plenty of men like that too. Gender is not a reliable
indicator of whether someone possesses any particular type of sense.

I worked somewhere where the male H&S idiot used to lock off the tearoom
if the tealady (how quaint) wasn't in, "in case someone burn themselves
on the urn". FFS... Electronic Engineering department too.


Uh oh. Give a man an H&S title and ...


Bit different to the Mech Eng department I worked in the in late 80's.
Got stuck in the lift as the doors had come unaligned with each other.
Anyway, one of the lecturers (big beard, pipe, tweed jacket, proper
mechanical bloke) let me out with the door key. Then rammed his arm
between the doors, jiggled the mechanism back into line and wandered
off... I took the stairs after that...


Eek. I would have used the stairs too.

Back in the 70s, I recall using a lift that had no doors and was in
constant motion. Cannot recall where it was but it was somewhere in
the UK. Scary. After one try, I took the stairs.


Oh, and we had a bloody big urn
balanced on the fridge right by the door in that tearoom...


No H&S man, then.

On 01/06/2010 17:17, Bruce wrote:

Back in the 70s, I recall using a lift that had no doors and was in
constant motion. Cannot recall where it was but it was somewhere in
the UK. Scary. After one try, I took the stairs.

Paternoster?

I liked the one I had a go in. (oxford, physics or chemistry dept? Can't
remember which)

On Tue, 01 Jun 2010 17:17:31 +0100, Bruce wrote:

Back in the 70s, I recall using a lift that had no doors and was in
constant motion. Cannot recall where it was but it was somewhere in the
UK. Scary. After one try, I took the stairs.

University of Essex libraty had one. Paternoster they're called.



--
Use the BIG mirror service in the UK:
http://www.mirrorservice.org

*lightning protection* - a w_tom conductor

On 01/06/10 17:11, Reentrant wrote:

Why do they have to be spheres? Any shape will do provided there's just
a point contact with each neighbour. Maybe it would even work if the
faces were flat surfaces,


but the alignment would need to be perfect.


That's why everyone uses spheres ;-

BTW - flat wouldn't be so good, except in a vacuum as the air cushion
effect would become quite noticeable.


--
Tim Watts

Hung parliament? Rather have a hanged parliament.

On 01/06/10 17:17, Bruce wrote:

Back in the 70s, I recall using a lift that had no doors and was in
constant motion. Cannot recall where it was but it was somewhere in
the UK. Scary. After one try, I took the stairs.

Paternoster lift? Never had the pleasure, but they do look weird. Always
wondered what it's like to go "over the top" in one...

On an aside, there's obviously no H&S in the 24th century - seen those
lifts in Star Trek NG in Engineering? Just a platform with the flimsiest
of guard rails on the exit...


Oh, and we had a bloody big urn
balanced on the fridge right by the door in that tearoom...


No H&S man, then.

Probably was - but then, H&S meant "not getting your arm ripped off by a
******* big machine". They had a sense of perspective...

This was also the place, where a story regailed in the tea room, told
first hand by a man who had the job of making safe some sort fo pump
that used liquid sodium inside (I have no idea what it was for).

Anyway, the usual route (Harlow was it?) was too expensive. So they
decided to melt the sodium and discharge it via a pipe under oil. That
didn't go well apparantly and they ended up with a litre of liquid
sodium on the floor burning away, followed by trying to explain to the
nice firemen that hosing it down with water was a bad idea (almost as
bad as their original idea!). In the end they dumped a load of sand on
it and let it sort itself out...

--
Tim Watts

Hung parliament? Rather have a hanged parliament.

On 01/06/2010 17:44, Tim Watts wrote:
On 01/06/10 17:17, Bruce wrote:

Back in the 70s, I recall using a lift that had no doors and was in
constant motion. Cannot recall where it was but it was somewhere in
the UK. Scary. After one try, I took the stairs.

Paternoster lift? Never had the pleasure, but they do look weird. Always
wondered what it's like to go "over the top" in one...

The one I had a go on apparently would stop if you tried that - or maybe
it was doing the same at the bottom. Can't see it being too silly though
- the car just follows the u-shaped track and goes down again.
Unfortunately it doesn't invert, which would be rather funnier :-)

On 01/06/10 17:44, Tim Watts wrote:

Anyway, the usual route (Harlow was it?)

Harwell...

--
Tim Watts

Hung parliament? Rather have a hanged parliament.

On 01/06/10 17:50, Huge wrote:
On 2010-06-01, Tim wrote:

This was also the place, where a story regailed in the tea room, told
first hand by a man who had the job of making safe some sort fo pump
that used liquid sodium inside (I have no idea what it was for).

Sodium cooled uclear reactor?

Don't think so - they didn't do nooclear there...

Anyway, the usual route (Harlow was it?) was too expensive. So they
decided to melt the sodium and discharge it via a pipe under oil. That
didn't go well apparantly and they ended up with a litre of liquid
sodium on the floor burning away, followed by trying to explain to the
nice firemen that hosing it down with water was a bad idea (almost as
bad as their original idea!). In the end they dumped a load of sand on
it and let it sort itself out...

You might like this;

http://pipeline.corante.com/archives..._this_time.php


"it makes asbestos burn" - holy ****...

--
Tim Watts

Hung parliament? Rather have a hanged parliament.

On 01/06/10 17:48, Huge wrote:
On 2010-06-01, Tim wrote:
On 01/06/10 17:11, Reentrant wrote:

Why do they have to be spheres? Any shape will do provided there's just
a point contact with each neighbour. Maybe it would even work if the
faces were flat surfaces,


but the alignment would need to be perfect.


That's why everyone uses spheres ;-

BTW - flat wouldn't be so good, except in a vacuum as the air cushion
effect would become quite noticeable.

And even then, if they were perfectly flat you'd have to allow firstly for
the Casimir effect and then the Johansson effect.

)



Over my head, mate...

--
Tim Watts

Hung parliament? Rather have a hanged parliament.

On 1 June, 17:17, Bruce wrote:

Back in the 70s, I recall using a lift that had no doors and was in
constant motion. *Cannot recall where it was but it was somewhere in
the UK. *Scary. *After one try, I took the stairs.

Ah yes.. a Paternoster.

Some years ago I went to a university open day (I'm sure it was
Sheffield) where they had one. It fascinated my mate and I - I think
we must've spent more time in the lift than looking at prospective
courses!

I do recall warning signs in every compartment saying not to remain in
the lift as it went over the top... but didn't say why. We kept
jumping out on the top floor but couldn't leave without knowing what
the danger was.... So with the foolhardiness of youth I stayed in on
the last 'go'....

I lived to tell the tale... obviously. I don't recall whether I really
find out what the problem was. What I do remember though is that the
compartment didn't flip upside down as I was otherwise braced for!

Mathew

On Tue, 01 Jun 2010 17:44:13 +0100, Tim Watts wrote:

Paternoster lift? Never had the pleasure, but they do look weird. Always
wondered what it's like to go "over the top" in one...

Dark.

--
Use the BIG mirror service in the UK:
http://www.mirrorservice.org

*lightning protection* - a w_tom conductor

On 01/06/10 18:36, Bob Eager wrote:
On Tue, 01 Jun 2010 17:44:13 +0100, Tim Watts wrote:

Paternoster lift? Never had the pleasure, but they do look weird. Always
wondered what it's like to go "over the top" in one...

Dark.


They should have a "Ghost Train" feature, like a luminous skeleton that
jumps out at you if you do, then slaps you in the face and says "didn't
you read the sign?"

--
Tim Watts

Hung parliament? Rather have a hanged parliament.

On Tue, 1 Jun 2010 10:04:13 -0700 (PDT), Mathew Newton
wrote:

On 1 June, 17:17, Bruce wrote:

Back in the 70s, I recall using a lift that had no doors and was in
constant motion. *Cannot recall where it was but it was somewhere in
the UK. *Scary. *After one try, I took the stairs.

Ah yes.. a Paternoster.


Yes, that's what it was called. But for the life of me, I cannot
recall where it was. It was probably some University or other, they
seemed quite popular with Unis. It might even have been at Liverpool,
where I studied, but in a different department.


Some years ago I went to a university open day (I'm sure it was
Sheffield) where they had one. It fascinated my mate and I - I think
we must've spent more time in the lift than looking at prospective
courses!

I do recall warning signs in every compartment saying not to remain in
the lift as it went over the top... but didn't say why. We kept
jumping out on the top floor but couldn't leave without knowing what
the danger was.... So with the foolhardiness of youth I stayed in on
the last 'go'....

I lived to tell the tale... obviously. I don't recall whether I really
find out what the problem was. What I do remember though is that the
compartment didn't flip upside down as I was otherwise braced for!


Brave man! I'm sure they didn't want people to stay in in case the
whole thing failed and they had difficulty getting them out.

On Tue, 01 Jun 2010 15:41:05 +0100, Tim Watts wrote:

On 01/06/10 15:27, Bruce wrote:
On Tue, 1 Jun 2010 05:52:24 -0700 (PDT), Matty F

The two I saw had no mechanical sense whatsoever.


There are plenty of men like that too. Gender is not a reliable
indicator of whether someone possesses any particular type of sense.

I worked somewhere where the male H&S idiot used to lock off the tearoom
if the tealady (how quaint) wasn't in, "in case someone burn themselves
on the urn". FFS... Electronic Engineering department too.

Yes, but they're engineers. If the tea took too long and there was any
change that the urn might be at fault, they'd have it stripped down and
parts scattered everywhere in no time flat :-)

On Tue, 01 Jun 2010 17:44:13 +0100, Tim Watts wrote:

On 01/06/10 17:17, Bruce wrote:

Back in the 70s, I recall using a lift that had no doors and was in
constant motion. Cannot recall where it was but it was somewhere in
the UK. Scary. After one try, I took the stairs.

Paternoster lift? Never had the pleasure, but they do look weird. Always
wondered what it's like to go "over the top" in one...

ISTR reading about a student dying by doing just that. Or at least, part
of them did just that; some of them may have remained behind.

I recall seeing a lift like that at one UK uni - and it could well have
been Essex - in the early 90s. Wonder if it's still there...

On an aside, there's obviously no H&S in the 24th century - seen those
lifts in Star Trek NG in Engineering? Just a platform with the flimsiest
of guard rails on the exit...

All plastic-fantastic crap from China by then - guard rails and doors and
stuff cost extra, y'know.

cheers

Jules

On Tue, 01 Jun 2010 15:15:32 +0100, Grimly Curmudgeon wrote:

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the
drugs began to take hold. I remember Matty F
saying something like:

The two I saw had no mechanical sense whatsoever. Situations that have
existed for 40 years or more and which have never caused any accidents
or problems, they saw as needing urgent attention. e.g. someone climbing
a ladder without a safety harness and helmet.

HSE Disease mindset, where they see bogies everywhere.

Bloody railway engineers, spoiling our fun!

On Tue, 01 Jun 2010 16:27:48 +0000, Huge wrote:
And gives me an excuse to post this (again);

http://www.youtube.com/results?
search_type=search_videos&search_query=bowling+bal l+mortar

I'm glad you felt excused. That's rather good. Love the noise the balls
make in flight!

(Hmm, bowling alley in town is closing down soon... maybe I should
enquire about some ammunition :-)

On Tue, 1 Jun 2010 10:04:13 -0700 (PDT), Mathew Newton
wrote:

On 1 June, 17:17, Bruce wrote:

Back in the 70s, I recall using a lift that had no doors and was in
constant motion. *Cannot recall where it was but it was somewhere in
the UK. *Scary. *After one try, I took the stairs.

Ah yes.. a Paternoster.

Some years ago I went to a university open day (I'm sure it was
Sheffield) where they had one. It fascinated my mate and I - I think
we must've spent more time in the lift than looking at prospective
courses!

I do recall warning signs in every compartment saying not to remain in
the lift as it went over the top... but didn't say why. We kept
jumping out on the top floor but couldn't leave without knowing what
the danger was.... So with the foolhardiness of youth I stayed in on
the last 'go'....

I lived to tell the tale... obviously. I don't recall whether I really
find out what the problem was. What I do remember though is that the
compartment didn't flip upside down as I was otherwise braced for!

Mathew

They had one at a company I worked at in Borehamwood many years ago.
Great fun once you got your timing right... rather like getting off a
moving Routemaster. Going over the top and under the bottom was no big
deal.

The reason that the Paternoster manufacturer did not want passengers
to ride over the top was that the suspended cabins passed rather close
to each other as they turned there. Eventually there was a fatal
accident at one location, where idiots going over the top rocked the
cabin such that it clashed into another passing in the other
direction.

As there were no doors, females were rather reluctant to hop on and go
upwards, for modesty reasons!

David