It was about twenty five years ago, but while microwave ovens were still new on the scene. The administrator for our product safety group had come back from lunch with a take-out hamburger and was warming it up in the microwave in the vending area. One of our engineers walking by heard the buzz and looked as the arcing and flames flashed in the eyes of the calmly waiting administrator. He was able to get the package out, hosed down in the sink and beat out the flaming plastic in the oven. He nicely avoided having the product safety department burn down the company. The hamburger had come wrapped in a metalized paper wrapper and that is the way she put it in the oven. Her comment about the show, "I thought it was supposed to work that way".
Bob Johnson Richard Nute wrote: > Hi Tim: > > > The problem is NOT the cell phone manual > and its warnings, but the microwave oven. > > I've just bought "Design of Everyday Things" > by Donald A. Norman. Norman talks about > how the product design leads to use > difficulties and affords misuse. > > Your father-in-law needed to dry out the > phone. Heating something is a method of > drying it out. > > Any oven would afford a means to heat up the > phone and dry it out. The microwave oven > affords a means to heat something up -- > quickly. > > Ipso facto, you father-in-law popped the > phone into the microwave to dry it out. > > Norman would likely point out that your > father-in-law did not distinguish that > microwave heating is fundamentally different > than convection heating. Typical microwave > oven instructions only hint at this > difference -- because it rarely makes any > difference -- except speed -- when heating > foods. > > Norman would likely point out that a warning > in the phone instruction manual is not > likely to prevent putting the phone in the > microwave. Our brains tend to be cluttered > with such data, and the data gets filed > somewhere that is difficult if not impossible > to recall, especially warnings that are > obscure and useless at the time you read the > warning. > > So, the fault lies with the microwave oven, > not with lack of warnings in the phone > manual. The fact that we call it a > "microwave" oven should tell us that it is > fundamentally different than an ordinary > oven. If we don't actually use the oven, > but watch someone else use it, we may very > well lose the distinction that the oven > uses microwaves for heating. > > > Best regards, > Rich > > --------------------------- > Richard Nute > Product Safety Consultant > San Diego > > - > ---------------------------------------------------------------- > This message is from the IEEE Product Safety Engineering Society > emc-pstc discussion list. Website: http://www.ieee-pses.org/ > > To post a message to the list, send your e-mail to [email protected] > > Instructions: http://listserv.ieee.org/request/user-guide.html > > List rules: http://www.ieee-pses.org/listrules.html > > For help, send mail to the list administrators: > > Scott Douglas [email protected] > Mike Cantwell [email protected] > > For policy questions, send mail to: > > Jim Bacher: [email protected] > David Heald: [email protected] > > All emc-pstc postings are archived and searchable on the web at: > > http://www.ieeecommunities.org/emc-pstc > > - This message is from the IEEE Product Safety Engineering Society emc-pstc discussion list. Website: http://www.ieee-pses.org/ To post a message to the list, send your e-mail to [email protected] Instructions: http://listserv.ieee.org/request/user-guide.html List rules: http://www.ieee-pses.org/listrules.html For help, send mail to the list administrators: Scott Douglas [email protected] Mike Cantwell [email protected] For policy questions, send mail to: Jim Bacher: [email protected] David Heald: [email protected] All emc-pstc postings are archived and searchable on the web at: http://www.ieeecommunities.org/emc-pstc ______________________________________________________________________ This email has been scanned by the MessageLabs Email Security System. For more information please visit http://www.messagelabs.com/email ______________________________________________________________________
