----- Original Message ----- From: Michael J. Coppi <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Tuesday, November 16, 1999 5:21 PM Subject: A Horse is a Horse......... Subject: Fw: Measurements and Horses. > > >> The US standard railroad gauge (distance between the > >> rails) is 4 feet, 8.5 > >> inches. That's an exceedingly odd number. Why was > >> that gauge used? > >> > >> Because that's the way they built them in England, > >> and the US railroads > >> were built by English expatriates. > >> > >> Why did the English build them like that? > Because the first rail lines were > >> built by the same people who built the pre-railroad > >> tramways, and that's the > >> gauge they used. > >> > >> Why did "they" use that gauge then? > Because the > >> people who built the > >> tramways used the same jigs and tools that they > >> used for building wagons, > >> which used that wheel spacing. > >> > >> Okay! Why did the wagons have that particular odd > >> wheel spacing? > Well, if they tried to use any other spacing, the wagon > >> wheels would break on some > >> of > >> the old, long distance roads in England, because > >> that's the spacing of the > >> wheel ruts. > >> > >> So who built those old rutted roads? > The first long distance roads in > >> Europe (and England) were built by Imperial Rome > >> for their legions. The > >> roads have been used ever since. > >> > >> And the ruts in the roads? > The initial ruts, which everyone else had to > >> match for fear of destroying their wagon wheels, > >> were first formed by > >> Roman war chariots. Since the chariots were made > >> for (or by) Imperial > >> Rome, they were all alike in the matter of wheel > >> spacing. > > The United States standard railroad gauge of 4 feet, 8.5 inches > >> derives from the original > >> specification for an Imperial Roman war chariot. > >> Specifications and > >> bureaucracies live forever. > >> > >> So the next time you are handed a specification and > >> wonder what horse's a-- > >> came up with it, you may be exactly right, because > >> the Imperial Roman war > >> chariots were made just wide enough to accommodate > >> the back ends of two war > >> horses. Thus, we have the answer to the original > >> question. > >> > >> Now the twist to the story.............. > >> > >> There's an interesting extension to the story about > >> railroad gauges and > >> horse's behinds. When we see a Space Shuttle > >> sitting on its launch pad, > >> there are two big booster rockets attached to the > >> sides of the main fuel > >> tank. These are solid rocket boosters, or SRBs. The > >> SRBs are made by > >> Thiokol at their factory at Utah. The engineers > >> who designed the SRBs > >> might have preferred to make them a bit fatter, > >> but the SRBs had to be > >> shipped by train from the factory to the launch > >> site. > >> > >> The railroad line from the factory had to run > >> through a tunnel in the > >> mountains. The SRBs had to fit through that > >> tunnel. The tunnel is > >> slightly wider than the railroad track, and the > >> railroad track is about as > >> wide as two horse's behinds. So, the major design > >> feature of what is > >> arguably the world's most advanced transportation > >> system was determined over > >> two thousand years ago...by the width of a Horse's > >> Backside! > >> ---------------------------------------------------------------- This is the Neither public email list, open for the public and general discussion. To unsubscribe click here Mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Subject=unsubscribe To subscribe click here Mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Subject=subscribe For information on [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.neither.org/lists/public-list.htm For archives http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]
