At 09:34 24-02-02 +0100, Jeroen wrote: >At 16:19 23-2-02 -0600, Julia Thompson wrote: > >>The problem is the noise. He can be in another room from the box & tape >>gun, and hear it, and it's enough to make him start screaming. > >What the heck is a tape gun? I get this vision of Julia packing a box, >then taking a few steps back, pulling her gun, aiming at the box, and then >pulling the trigger while saying "Eat this, sucker!". <grin> > >Tape then erupts from the gun with a loud "BANG!" and wraps itself around >the box.
Sorta. Except it won't work from a few steps back. Actually, it's a thing with a hand grip (similar to a pistol grip, hence the name "tape gun"). You put a roll of packing tape in it. Then, to seal a box, you place the free end of the tape on the box, then, holding the device by the grip, pull back across the lid of the box, laying down a strip of tape as you do. When you get to the other end, a twist of the wrist cuts the tape by bring it up against a sharp edge (similar to that on a desktop tape dispenser). Compared to taping by hand, it keeps the tape from getting all tangled up and stuck to itself, and saves you from trying to hold a knife in your third hand while holding the roll of tape in one hand and pressing it down with the other, so it really speeds things up when you are sealing a lot of boxes, as when moving or running a small business where you ship packages (but aren't big enough to afford an automated packing machine). Here's a picture (scroll down) of one available from American Science and Surplus (Everyone on the list does get their catalog, don't they? If not, you definitely should, if only for the entertainment value.) that shows how it is used. <http://www.sciplus.com/category.cfm?subsection=5&category=55> I paid IIRC about 7 or 8 bucks for one at the college bookstore (still cheaper than I have seen them from regular office supply places) when I was moving back to Alabama in 1989. The noise Julia refers to that Sammy cannot stand is most likely the "ripping" sound the tape makes as it comes off the roll (whether you tape by hand or with a tape gun). >>7 boxes, each 14" X 14" X 10" (sorry, Alberto) packed, and I think >>that's 0.032 cubic meters each, which doesn't make it sound like a lot, >>now, does it? > >That is indeed 0.032 cubic meters per box, and yes, that does not sound >like much. Compared to the boxes used over here for moving stuff, it *is* >not much; our boxes measure 48 cm x 37 cm x 32 cm (18.9" x 14.6" x 12.6") >or .057 cubic meters. > >That still does not sound like much; however, filling such a box >completely with books and then trying to lift it is likely to change your >understanding of the concept "not much". :-) Not to mention the feeling you get when you realize that said box is #1 in a set of 432, and *you* are the one who gets to lift and move them all (plus all that furniture and all the odds and ends that won't fit _anywhere_) . . . and then do it all again (in reverse) at the new house . . . It could be worse, though: there was the time while I was in the middle of all that, and some pipes burst and drenched everything that wasn't packed . . . -- Ronn! :)
