All our problems are solved: post your dodgy solutions

[bruce d]

Popular Mechanics, February 1927. Apparently the original owner of the mag tracked down the maker of this 'must-have' device.

What could go wrong?

[bruce d]

Modern Mechanix, August 1934.  I'm surprised it hasn't become an Olympic sport.

[mtaylor]

2 hours ago, bruce d said:

Modern Mechanix, August 1934.  I'm surprised it hasn't become an Olympic sport.

 

I guess the suit and tie would be required for an Olympic event?  With no tacking, running into the wind might be an issue.

[hollowneck]

It’s a SAILCYCLE.

I’m guessing that head injuries weren’t a thing in 1934: noggin helmet optional with a suit and tie. I recall riding my bike ‘no hands.’ This skill 

would be very helpful when tacking this rig by grabbing and tugging on the clothesline to maximize your speed. I also imagine that in a stiff breeze you could also take your feet off the pedals.😬

[Kolvir]

Suit and tie, you guys are disgraceful. How can you go about our great hobby without your powdered wig on?

[popeye2sea]

19 hours ago, Kolvir said:

Suit and tie, you guys are disgraceful. How can you go about our great hobby without your powdered wig on?

Hear, Hear!!

 

Regards,

Henry

[Louie da fly]

That's all very well for you 18th century guys. What about us mediaevalists (puts on jerkin, hose and hood with liripipe) . . .)

[Kolvir]

Doesn't matter, your ship will probably sink anyway.

[popeye2sea]

Mine is still afloat after 225 years!

 

Regards,

Henry

[bruce d]

Popular Mechanics August 1934. Sounds like a napalm substitute.

 

[Morgan]

So make 1 gallon (just enough to kill a few bugs or burn down an house) and spray it indiscriminately, you don’t need to aim it at your victim, the fallout will kill them! I think napalm is more surgical.

 

Gary

Edited December 5, 2022 by Morgan

[bruce d]

1 hour ago, Morgan said:

So make 1 gallon (just enough to kill a few bugs or burn down an house) and spray it indiscriminately, you don’t need to aim it at your victim, the fallout will kill them! I think napalm is more surgical.

 

Gary

I stared at the article a minute to be sure I had understood it. If there is a difference between spraying this stuff and using a flamethrower I can't see it.

[mtaylor]

Seems it would be a napalm like mix.  The question is... do you ignite it like a flame thrower or after it's sprayed?   The article doesn't say so it may not be lit off at all.   Just asking for scientific purposes....

[bruce d]

8 hours ago, mtaylor said:

Seems it would be a napalm like mix.  The question is... do you ignite it like a flame thrower or after it's sprayed?   The article doesn't say so it may not be lit off at all.   Just asking for scientific purposes....

Remember your digital footprint...

[thibaultron]

I believe this solution is one proceeded by "Buba, hold my beer, and watch this!"

 

[Altduck]

Carbon Tetrachloride itself is non-flammable, and at one time was used in small fire extinguishers.

In a brief search, I couldn't find anything on a 50-50 mix with gasoline, but the authors of the above piece claim it won't burn.

It will, however, damage your liver and kidneys, and other nasty health issues, and if exposed to high enough temps, decompose and release phosgene and hydrogen chloride gasses.

Carbon tet used to be used as a dry cleaning fluid, and other uses, but I think that it's been effectively banned in the US for consumer products.

 

[mtaylor]

Thanks for the explanation, Richard.  It had me curious.

[wefalck]

Carbon-tetrachloride production has been banned worldwide since 1999 (Montreal Protocol).

 

Edited December 7, 2022 by wefalck

[Kevin]

Pandemic golf

 

 

[Captain Shaun]

It was a common agent for fire extinguishers until banned. I was a volunteer firefighter for 30 yrs and worked as a propane tech. I always carried a few new ABC extinguishers on my truck and would convince many elderly homeowners to trade me the carbon tetrachloride ones for them. A common one I found were glass balls filled with it that were usually hanging in a holder near a fireplace. The holder had a two piece tab soldered together that would melt in a fire dropping the ball to the floor and (hopefully) put out the fire and maybe you as well since when heated to decomposition it will emit fumes of extremely toxic phosgene and hydrogen chloride. 

 

[Jack12477]

21 minutes ago, Captain Shaun said:

fumes of extremely toxic phosgene and hydrogen chloride.

The two gasses used in World War I.  

[bruce d]

I am sure we are all glad the man in Kevin's second photo above is wearing a tie. We have to maintain standards.

[Snug Harbor Johnny]

  Note how the tie is tucked between the second and third buttons to keep the lower part out of the way when working.  Now when I started as an industrial/manufacturing engineer, the factory supervisor said that only 'clip on' ties were permitted on the shop floor ... due to the potential hazard that a loose end could get caught in a machine and cause a serious or fatal accident.  A clip-on could get yanked away without taking the wearer's head with it.  Still, even with a clip-on, the ends had to be tucked between the second and third button OR held close with a horizontal tie bar.  However, removing the tie when going to the production floor was tolerated - if the tie was worn once coming back to the office.  We also had to wear safety shoes (having steel inside the toe area), and our glasses had to be safety rated.  Those not wearing glasses had to don nonprescription safety glasses provided by the office.

 

  Professional staff had to come in wearing a proper suit (where the trousers, and suit coat were of the same material - a dark color, perhaps with pin stripes - but NOTHING gaudy).  Management had vests, whereas engineers, planners, etc. did NOT wear vests - as that would be presumptuous.  Also managers did not take off their suit coats, whereas staffers DID remove the coat on arrival - and often rolled up long shirt sleeves if going to the floor in the machine shop to work on a process or problem.  Oh yes, those were WHITE dress shirts.  A few years later, a very light blue or yellow shirt became passable, but ties were still required.

 

  Many years later, the idea of "dress down" Fridays came into vogue - where non-suit slacks and other colors of shirt (including short sleeved) were OK.  This evolved into jeans and totally casual clothes - and everything went 'down hill' from there.

Edited December 7, 2022 by Snug Harbor Johnny
typos

[Snug Harbor Johnny]

38 minutes ago, Jack12477 said:

The two gasses used in World War I.  

  There was a brand with red tinted glass called 'Red Head' extinguishers - and one old factory I worked for had a few upstairs.

[Snug Harbor Johnny]

On 11/28/2022 at 9:33 PM, Louie da fly said:

That's all very well for you 18th century guys. What about us mediaevalists (puts on jerkin, hose and hood with liripipe) . . .)

  Don't for get the codpiece ! 😉 

[wefalck]

Things evolved differently on both sides of the Big Pond and in the various European countries. I was quite astonished to see, when I first started to go to England in 1972, that even young office clerks and the likes would wear three-piece suits - mind you they often were in dark green, brown, bourdeaux and with (slight) bell-bottoms at that time. Also ties were of the 'plaice' style and colourful. At the same time the suit had almost disappeared almost everywhere in my home country, Germany. It had a brief revival in the early 1990s, but generally badly cut with too long sleeves and hanging shoulders ...

 

When I moved to the UK in the mid-1980s, many (if not most) 'white collar' workers above 30 or so wore ties in the office, however shabby they might have been dressed otherwise.

 

My father to the very end normally wore white shirts and a tie. Allowance was made during vacations, when travelling, when the shirt could have been grey or blue, but jacket and tie were always there.

 

Sic transit gloria mundi ... or as Karl Lagerfeld seems to have put it: "Them, who wear track-suits, have lost control over their lives".

 

As to workplace-safety: when working with machinery, my father always rolled up the shirt-sleeves inside. Apparently, he was taught this by his father, who was a trained locksmith and mechanic.

 

And: What is the difference between the UK and Germany? British men, when sitting down in a meeting room take off their jackets and loosen their ties; later, when going to the pub they straighten their ties and put on their jackets. In Germany it is the other way around.

 

 

[Snug Harbor Johnny]

Ausgescheishnett 

 

[wefalck]

Ausgezeichnet ?

[Ian_Grant]

1 hour ago, Snug Harbor Johnny said:

Ausgescheishnett 

 

Bless you!!

[Snug Harbor Johnny]

2 hours ago, wefalck said:

Ausgezeichnet ?

  Thats German for 'excellent' .