Firehole River - Yellowstone Park
Photographed by Larry Friedman
Firehole River, Yellowstone Park.
Thumbnail Picture at:
http://www.wildernessconcepts.com/art/4803/en/
[Click on enlarge]
Larry Friedman is a "Landsman" of mine from my days in Green River, Wyoming. He is Jewish and comes from Chicago. Larry came to Green River about the same time I did - in 1973 - and his first work there was opening a veterinary clinic.
Larry became so good at doing nature photography that he now does it full time. His picture of the Firehole River in Yellowstone Park is one of my favorites. Larry does an excellent business selling copies of his photographs in the Green River region to businesses, libraries, office buildings, restaurants, etc. And his pictures are for sale on the Web.
September 27, 2002
Jack's Vote For a Beautiful Experiment
- Neil Bartlett's Synthesis of XePtF6 in 1962
Professor Neil Bartlett's synthesis of xenon platinum hexafluoride XePtF6 is beautiful to me for many reasons.
First is the timing for me as a chemist. In high school chemistry in 1954, and in undergraduate chemistry classes in 1956 - 1960, I was taught the Periodic Table Group VIII elements, the so-called "noble gases", were totally unreactive. These elemental gases are helium, neon, argon, krypton, xenon and radon. Then in 1962 a young professor at the University of British Columbia startled the chemistry world by making the first "noble gas" compound - XePtF6
So when I began graduate school chemistry classes in 1963, the view of the "noble gases" being unreactive was gone forever. What a fantastic change for me as a young chemist. And in addition I had a wonderful inorganic chemistry professor in graduate school who made a point of the beauty behind Professor Bartlett's experiment. We learned how Dr. Bartlett followed basic chemical principles and did not let past teachings sway him from his belief that making compounds from "noble gases" was possible. This is among the most important lessons I ever learned for success in my carreer as a scientist and engineer.
As told by my professor, Dr. Erickson, knowing the XePtF6 synthesis was possible just took looking at the table of electonegativties of substances by Dr. Barlett (or anyone else!) to see that fluorine was more electronegative than xenon. It follows by the most basic application of chemical principles that fluorine and xenon are thus capable of entering into compound formation.
Dr. Erickson described the biggest problem faced by Professor Bartlett for synthesis of XePtF6 was finding a material to make a container for the experiment.
Glass cannot be used. I've seen first hand that fluorine rapidly attacks glass, a sodium silicate, forming gaseous silicon hexafluoride SiF6. I don't recall what material was finally used by Dr. Bartlett for a container - maybe platinum Pt? - but once a suitable container was constructed the experiment to make XePtF6 was done in a straightforward fashion and reported in the literature. And a whole new field of chemistry opened up in "noble gas" compound synthesis that continues to this day.
Dr. Bartlett went to the University of California Berkeley in 1967 where he continues research that includes ongoing pursuit of "noble gas" compound synthesis. He is now a professor emeritus.
And Dr. Bartlett has just been honored by The United Kingdom’s Royal Society, the world's oldest scientific academy. "Chemistry professor emeritus Neil Bartlett has won the Davy Medal, a prestigious medal given each year for an outstandingly important recent discovery in any branch of chemistry worldwide. Bartlett, who was inducted into the Society in 1973, is being recognized for his research “exploring the highest oxidation limits of the less oxidizable elements, primarily using elemental fluorine.”
See Davy Medal announcement in:
ChemiCal Science and Engineering Newsletter
University of California, Berkeley
Volume 10, Issue 4, August 2002
http://www.cchem.berkeley.edu/editor/Publications/newsletter/2002/august2002/royalsociety.html
- Neil Bartlett's Synthesis of XePtF6 in 1962
Professor Neil Bartlett's synthesis of xenon platinum hexafluoride XePtF6 is beautiful to me for many reasons.
First is the timing for me as a chemist. In high school chemistry in 1954, and in undergraduate chemistry classes in 1956 - 1960, I was taught the Periodic Table Group VIII elements, the so-called "noble gases", were totally unreactive. These elemental gases are helium, neon, argon, krypton, xenon and radon. Then in 1962 a young professor at the University of British Columbia startled the chemistry world by making the first "noble gas" compound - XePtF6
So when I began graduate school chemistry classes in 1963, the view of the "noble gases" being unreactive was gone forever. What a fantastic change for me as a young chemist. And in addition I had a wonderful inorganic chemistry professor in graduate school who made a point of the beauty behind Professor Bartlett's experiment. We learned how Dr. Bartlett followed basic chemical principles and did not let past teachings sway him from his belief that making compounds from "noble gases" was possible. This is among the most important lessons I ever learned for success in my carreer as a scientist and engineer.
As told by my professor, Dr. Erickson, knowing the XePtF6 synthesis was possible just took looking at the table of electonegativties of substances by Dr. Barlett (or anyone else!) to see that fluorine was more electronegative than xenon. It follows by the most basic application of chemical principles that fluorine and xenon are thus capable of entering into compound formation.
Dr. Erickson described the biggest problem faced by Professor Bartlett for synthesis of XePtF6 was finding a material to make a container for the experiment.
Glass cannot be used. I've seen first hand that fluorine rapidly attacks glass, a sodium silicate, forming gaseous silicon hexafluoride SiF6. I don't recall what material was finally used by Dr. Bartlett for a container - maybe platinum Pt? - but once a suitable container was constructed the experiment to make XePtF6 was done in a straightforward fashion and reported in the literature. And a whole new field of chemistry opened up in "noble gas" compound synthesis that continues to this day.
Dr. Bartlett went to the University of California Berkeley in 1967 where he continues research that includes ongoing pursuit of "noble gas" compound synthesis. He is now a professor emeritus.
And Dr. Bartlett has just been honored by The United Kingdom’s Royal Society, the world's oldest scientific academy. "Chemistry professor emeritus Neil Bartlett has won the Davy Medal, a prestigious medal given each year for an outstandingly important recent discovery in any branch of chemistry worldwide. Bartlett, who was inducted into the Society in 1973, is being recognized for his research “exploring the highest oxidation limits of the less oxidizable elements, primarily using elemental fluorine.”
See Davy Medal announcement in:
ChemiCal Science and Engineering Newsletter
University of California, Berkeley
Volume 10, Issue 4, August 2002
http://www.cchem.berkeley.edu/editor/Publications/newsletter/2002/august2002/royalsociety.html
September 25, 2002
The Most Beautiful Experiment (Survey)
Physics World, Points of View: September 2002
http://physicsweb.org/article/world/15/9/2
"The most beautiful experiment in physics, according to a poll of Physics World readers, is the interference of single electrons in a Young's double slit. Robert P Crease reports." ... [detailed article continues] ...
Complete results of poll:
Top 10 beautiful experiments
---------------------------------------------------------------
1. Young's double-slit experiment applied to the interference of single electrons
2. Galileo's experiment on falling bodies (1600s)
3. Millikan's oil-drop experiment (1910s)
4. Newton's decomposition of sunlight with a prism (1665-1666)
5. Young's light-interference experiment (1801)
6. Cavendish's torsion-bar experiment (1798)
7. Eratosthenes' measurement of the Earth's circumference (3rd century BC)
8. Galileo's experiments with rolling balls down inclined planes (1600s)
9. Rutherford's discovery of the nucleus (1911)
10. Foucault's pendulum (1851)
Others experiments that were cited included:
---------------------------------------------------------------
Archimedes' experiment on hydrostatics
Roemer's observations of the speed of light
Joule's paddle-wheel heat experiments
Reynolds's pipe flow experiment
Mach & Salcher's acoustic shock wave
Michelson-Morley measurement of the null effect of the ether
Röntgen's detection of Maxwell's displacement current
Oersted's discovery of electromagnetism
The Braggs' X-ray diffraction of salt crystals
Eddington's measurement of the bending of starlight
Stern-Gerlach demonstration of space quantization
Schrödinger's cat thought experiment
Trinity test of nuclear chain reaction
Wu et al.'s measurement of parity violation
Goldhaber's study of neutrino helicity
Feynman dipping an O-ring in water
---------------------------------------------------------------
Author
Robert P Crease is in the Department of Philosophy, State University of New York at Stony Brook, historian at the Brookhaven National Laboratory, and in 2002-2003 a senior fellow at the Dibnes Institute for Science and Technology, US, email rcrease@notes.cc.sunysb.edu
Physics World, Points of View: September 2002
http://physicsweb.org/article/world/15/9/2
"The most beautiful experiment in physics, according to a poll of Physics World readers, is the interference of single electrons in a Young's double slit. Robert P Crease reports." ... [detailed article continues] ...
Complete results of poll:
Top 10 beautiful experiments
---------------------------------------------------------------
1. Young's double-slit experiment applied to the interference of single electrons
2. Galileo's experiment on falling bodies (1600s)
3. Millikan's oil-drop experiment (1910s)
4. Newton's decomposition of sunlight with a prism (1665-1666)
5. Young's light-interference experiment (1801)
6. Cavendish's torsion-bar experiment (1798)
7. Eratosthenes' measurement of the Earth's circumference (3rd century BC)
8. Galileo's experiments with rolling balls down inclined planes (1600s)
9. Rutherford's discovery of the nucleus (1911)
10. Foucault's pendulum (1851)
Others experiments that were cited included:
---------------------------------------------------------------
Archimedes' experiment on hydrostatics
Roemer's observations of the speed of light
Joule's paddle-wheel heat experiments
Reynolds's pipe flow experiment
Mach & Salcher's acoustic shock wave
Michelson-Morley measurement of the null effect of the ether
Röntgen's detection of Maxwell's displacement current
Oersted's discovery of electromagnetism
The Braggs' X-ray diffraction of salt crystals
Eddington's measurement of the bending of starlight
Stern-Gerlach demonstration of space quantization
Schrödinger's cat thought experiment
Trinity test of nuclear chain reaction
Wu et al.'s measurement of parity violation
Goldhaber's study of neutrino helicity
Feynman dipping an O-ring in water
---------------------------------------------------------------
Author
Robert P Crease is in the Department of Philosophy, State University of New York at Stony Brook, historian at the Brookhaven National Laboratory, and in 2002-2003 a senior fellow at the Dibnes Institute for Science and Technology, US, email rcrease@notes.cc.sunysb.edu
September 24, 2002
This Land is Your Land
by Woody Guthrie (1912 - 1967)
Born in Okemah, Oklahoma
[Jack's note: Showing my "Okie Pride" - A famous song by a famous fellow Oklahoman]
Words and annotations for "This Land is Your Land":
http://angam.ang.univie.ac.at/roadcult/guthrie/Land.htm
(chorus) This land is your land, this land is my land
From California to the New York Island,
From the redwood forest to the gulf stream water,
This land was made for you and me.
As I went walking that ribbon of highway
I saw above me that endless skyway,
I saw below me that golden valley, I said
This land was made for you and me.
I roamed and I rambled and I followed my footsteps
O'er the sparkling sands of her diamond deserts,
While all around me a voice was sounding, saying
This land was made for you and me
Was a big high wall there that tried to stop me
A sign was posted, said “Private Property”
But on the back side, it didn’t say nothing --
This land was made for you and me.
When the sun was shining, then I was strolling
In the wheat fields waving, and the dust cloud rolling
The voice was chanting as the fog was lifting
This land was made for you and me.
One bright sunny morning in the shadow of the steeple
By the relief office I saw my people --
As they stood hungry,
I stood there wondering
if this land was made for you and me?
by Woody Guthrie (1912 - 1967)
Born in Okemah, Oklahoma
[Jack's note: Showing my "Okie Pride" - A famous song by a famous fellow Oklahoman]
Words and annotations for "This Land is Your Land":
http://angam.ang.univie.ac.at/roadcult/guthrie/Land.htm
(chorus) This land is your land, this land is my land
From California to the New York Island,
From the redwood forest to the gulf stream water,
This land was made for you and me.
As I went walking that ribbon of highway
I saw above me that endless skyway,
I saw below me that golden valley, I said
This land was made for you and me.
I roamed and I rambled and I followed my footsteps
O'er the sparkling sands of her diamond deserts,
While all around me a voice was sounding, saying
This land was made for you and me
Was a big high wall there that tried to stop me
A sign was posted, said “Private Property”
But on the back side, it didn’t say nothing --
This land was made for you and me.
When the sun was shining, then I was strolling
In the wheat fields waving, and the dust cloud rolling
The voice was chanting as the fog was lifting
This land was made for you and me.
One bright sunny morning in the shadow of the steeple
By the relief office I saw my people --
As they stood hungry,
I stood there wondering
if this land was made for you and me?
"Gila Monster" Trial Diabetes Drug
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Eli Lilly Cuts Deal for the Rights to a New Diabetes Drug from Amylin
Diabetes In Control Newsletter Issue 123, September 25, 2002 http://www.diabetesincontrol.com/issue123/item3.shtml
Eli Lilly & Company will pay up to $325 million to Amylin Pharmaceuticals, a biotechnology company based in San Diego, for the rights to a potentially promising treatment for diabetes.
This article is exciting for me. About one year ago I participated in a clinical trial of the subject potential drug for treatment of diabetes from Amylin Pharmaceuticals. This is the first report I have seen about the "Gila monster" drug trial status.
I call it "Gila Monster" drug because the test drug is a synthetic version of a compound found in Gila Monster venom. Actually, until now I didn't realize Gila monsters are poisonous and the trial drug is a venom constituent. Wow! - glad I didn't know at the time. :-)
My phase II part of the double-blind trial involved taking steadily increasing dosages over about six weeks until I reported nausea. Based on test results for several hundred trial subjects like me, the practical drug dosage upper limit to minimize nausea was studied.
Well I really did get "big time" nausea with high dosage. That Gila monster venom packs a wallop! :-) And the last sentence of the article is: "Plus it induces nausea in some cases."
Yup - It sure does! But it is evidently a promising new drug for diabetes treatment.
Oh! I should mention - since the drug trial, a rubber Gila monster toy sits on top of my computer and I drink coffee from a cup with a picture of a Gila monster on it.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Eli Lilly Cuts Deal for the Rights to a New Diabetes Drug from Amylin
Diabetes In Control Newsletter Issue 123, September 25, 2002 http://www.diabetesincontrol.com/issue123/item3.shtml
Eli Lilly & Company will pay up to $325 million to Amylin Pharmaceuticals, a biotechnology company based in San Diego, for the rights to a potentially promising treatment for diabetes.
This article is exciting for me. About one year ago I participated in a clinical trial of the subject potential drug for treatment of diabetes from Amylin Pharmaceuticals. This is the first report I have seen about the "Gila monster" drug trial status.
I call it "Gila Monster" drug because the test drug is a synthetic version of a compound found in Gila Monster venom. Actually, until now I didn't realize Gila monsters are poisonous and the trial drug is a venom constituent. Wow! - glad I didn't know at the time. :-)
My phase II part of the double-blind trial involved taking steadily increasing dosages over about six weeks until I reported nausea. Based on test results for several hundred trial subjects like me, the practical drug dosage upper limit to minimize nausea was studied.
Well I really did get "big time" nausea with high dosage. That Gila monster venom packs a wallop! :-) And the last sentence of the article is: "Plus it induces nausea in some cases."
Yup - It sure does! But it is evidently a promising new drug for diabetes treatment.
Oh! I should mention - since the drug trial, a rubber Gila monster toy sits on top of my computer and I drink coffee from a cup with a picture of a Gila monster on it.
ASCII Table & Test Your Mouse Abilities
I misplaced the ASCII Table I printed out years ago. So I went surfing and found <http://www.asciitable.com/> to print out a new copy of the Table.
I got a surprise at the ASCII Table website. On the right side of the screen are two boxes with tests for mouse quickness and agility. As luck would have it, the two tests are timely for me because I switched to a trackball a few months ago. So it is interesting to see how I do. Also, doing the tests brings a few grins. :-)
The first test is:
"How Quick are You? - press [start], then press [stop] when the border goes 'red' "
My best time so far is 0.33 seconds.
The second test is:
"How good are you with a mouse? Test yourself here - from the time you start ticking the boxes, you have 20 seconds to tick as many as you can. Click restart to clear the boxes. Good luck!"
My best result so far is ticking 23 boxes in 20 seconds.
If I really want to get scientific about this, I should get out my mouse and do a systematic mouse versus trackball comparison. I don't think I want to get that scientific. 8-]
I misplaced the ASCII Table I printed out years ago. So I went surfing and found <http://www.asciitable.com/> to print out a new copy of the Table.
I got a surprise at the ASCII Table website. On the right side of the screen are two boxes with tests for mouse quickness and agility. As luck would have it, the two tests are timely for me because I switched to a trackball a few months ago. So it is interesting to see how I do. Also, doing the tests brings a few grins. :-)
The first test is:
"How Quick are You? - press [start], then press [stop] when the border goes 'red' "
My best time so far is 0.33 seconds.
The second test is:
"How good are you with a mouse? Test yourself here - from the time you start ticking the boxes, you have 20 seconds to tick as many as you can. Click restart to clear the boxes. Good luck!"
My best result so far is ticking 23 boxes in 20 seconds.
If I really want to get scientific about this, I should get out my mouse and do a systematic mouse versus trackball comparison. I don't think I want to get that scientific. 8-]
Fuel Cells - Part III ("Hydrotopia")
Today's Salon.com, September 24, 2002, features an article concerning fuel cells: "Hydrotopia, - Author (*) and environmentalist Jeremy Rifkin explains why hydrogen is the next great power source", by Katharine Mieszkowski
http://www.salon.com/tech/feature/2002/09/24/hydrogen/index.html
The catchy "Hydrotopia" title for this article sounds like the over enthusiasm of old for fuel cells using hydrogen as fuel to generate electrical power for running automobiles, for independent power for homes, for batteries for cell phones, etc.
But the article is informative and complementary to articles for the previous posts Fuel Cells - Part I (Micro Fuel Cells) and Fuel Cells Part II (Automobile Fuel Cells). And the interview of Jeremy Rifkin emphasizes some new points for me, some of which were covered in part in the previous references.
Examples include noting that laws are already passed in 30 states requiring utilities to purchase power put on the grid by people using fuel cells and a proposed law in California for strict automobile emissions reduction by 2009. Rifkin sees a groundswell leading to a hydrogen based fuel economy with computer software and the Internet playing important roles to make it possible. According to Rifkin, "A future in which every car driver could also be an energy producer implies a power infrastructure that is fundamentally decentralized. When everyone becomes a buyer and a seller of power, the similarly decentralized Internet will be the medium that matches producers and consumers together."
---------
References for previous posts:
Science News Week of Sept. 21, 2002, "Pocket Sockets, Tiny fuel cells for portable electronics have arrived, almost" , by Peter Weiss
http://www.sciencenews.org/20020907/bob10.asp
---------
Scientific American September 16, 2002, Designing AUTOnomy,One of the designers of a radical new fuel-cell-car concept explains what was done, by Christopher E. Borroni-Bird
http://www.sciam.com/print_version.cfm?articleID=00034FE5-BA99-1D80-90FB809EC5880000
---------
(*) The Hydrogen Economy, by Jeremy Rifkin, Tarcher/Putnam, 294 pages, Nonfiction
---------
Today's Salon.com, September 24, 2002, features an article concerning fuel cells: "Hydrotopia, - Author (*) and environmentalist Jeremy Rifkin explains why hydrogen is the next great power source", by Katharine Mieszkowski
http://www.salon.com/tech/feature/2002/09/24/hydrogen/index.html
The catchy "Hydrotopia" title for this article sounds like the over enthusiasm of old for fuel cells using hydrogen as fuel to generate electrical power for running automobiles, for independent power for homes, for batteries for cell phones, etc.
But the article is informative and complementary to articles for the previous posts Fuel Cells - Part I (Micro Fuel Cells) and Fuel Cells Part II (Automobile Fuel Cells). And the interview of Jeremy Rifkin emphasizes some new points for me, some of which were covered in part in the previous references.
Examples include noting that laws are already passed in 30 states requiring utilities to purchase power put on the grid by people using fuel cells and a proposed law in California for strict automobile emissions reduction by 2009. Rifkin sees a groundswell leading to a hydrogen based fuel economy with computer software and the Internet playing important roles to make it possible. According to Rifkin, "A future in which every car driver could also be an energy producer implies a power infrastructure that is fundamentally decentralized. When everyone becomes a buyer and a seller of power, the similarly decentralized Internet will be the medium that matches producers and consumers together."
---------
References for previous posts:
Science News Week of Sept. 21, 2002, "Pocket Sockets, Tiny fuel cells for portable electronics have arrived, almost" , by Peter Weiss
http://www.sciencenews.org/20020907/bob10.asp
---------
Scientific American September 16, 2002, Designing AUTOnomy,One of the designers of a radical new fuel-cell-car concept explains what was done, by Christopher E. Borroni-Bird
http://www.sciam.com/print_version.cfm?articleID=00034FE5-BA99-1D80-90FB809EC5880000
---------
(*) The Hydrogen Economy, by Jeremy Rifkin, Tarcher/Putnam, 294 pages, Nonfiction
---------
September 23, 2002
Flip Virtual Coins
The Web page <http://www.random.org/flip.html> flips a virtual coin for you.
"The outcome is truly random because it is based on true random numbers rather than pseudo random numbers commonly used in computer programs."
I had fun with the website because the "virtual coins" are from around the world. High quality pictures of the coin head or tail appear depending on the result of the coin flip.
The virtual coin selection is:
----------
Colombian 500 pesos (COP)
Danish 10 kr (DKR)
European €1 (EUR) - Portuguese
Dutch Rijksdaaler (2.5 Guilders) (NLG)
East Carribean $1 (XCD)
European €1 (EUR) - Belgian
European €1 (EUR) - German
European €1 (EUR) - Spanish
European €1 (EUR) - Finnish
European €1 (EUR) - French
European €1 (EUR) - Irish
European €1 (EUR) - Italian
European €1 (EUR) - Luxembourgian
European €1 (EUR) - Dutch
European €1 (EUR) - Austrian
European €1 (EUR) - Portuguese
Swiss 1 Franc (CHF)
Swiss 2 Franc (CHF)
US 25¢ (USD) - Connecticut
US 25¢ (USD) - Delaware
US 25¢ (USD) - Georgia
US 25¢ (USD) - Maryland
US 25¢ (USD) - Massachusetts
US 25¢ (USD) - New Jersey
US 25¢ (USD) - Pennsylvania
----------
The home page <http://www.random.org/> is a "True Random Number Service" with many options to check out if interested in lists of "true" random numbers.
The Web page <http://www.random.org/flip.html> flips a virtual coin for you.
"The outcome is truly random because it is based on true random numbers rather than pseudo random numbers commonly used in computer programs."
I had fun with the website because the "virtual coins" are from around the world. High quality pictures of the coin head or tail appear depending on the result of the coin flip.
The virtual coin selection is:
----------
Colombian 500 pesos (COP)
Danish 10 kr (DKR)
European €1 (EUR) - Portuguese
Dutch Rijksdaaler (2.5 Guilders) (NLG)
East Carribean $1 (XCD)
European €1 (EUR) - Belgian
European €1 (EUR) - German
European €1 (EUR) - Spanish
European €1 (EUR) - Finnish
European €1 (EUR) - French
European €1 (EUR) - Irish
European €1 (EUR) - Italian
European €1 (EUR) - Luxembourgian
European €1 (EUR) - Dutch
European €1 (EUR) - Austrian
European €1 (EUR) - Portuguese
Swiss 1 Franc (CHF)
Swiss 2 Franc (CHF)
US 25¢ (USD) - Connecticut
US 25¢ (USD) - Delaware
US 25¢ (USD) - Georgia
US 25¢ (USD) - Maryland
US 25¢ (USD) - Massachusetts
US 25¢ (USD) - New Jersey
US 25¢ (USD) - Pennsylvania
----------
The home page <http://www.random.org/> is a "True Random Number Service" with many options to check out if interested in lists of "true" random numbers.
September 22, 2002
OK! So Call Me a Dumb Engineer! :-)
One of my strong points as a chemical plant process engineer was being good natured about kidding from the plant operators that I am a "dumb engineer." The operators often had good reason for the name calling. For example I designed a thickener (a large vessel to settle solids from liquids) and installed a pump that had one-third the required capacity to pump the "thickener underflow" - the concentrated settled solids.
When we started up, I spent days trying to figure out why the "mud level" was always high and spilling into the thickener overflow. It took a sharp operator to catch my error. Fortunately it was a "quick fix" and all was fine afterwards. And all the operators had a field day kidding me which actually is good. It made me more accepted as a "regular guy" and hardly affected the project meeting its target costs.
So why do I write all this. I guess I am still a dumb engineer. About three years ago I bought a 10-ft. trailer for general use including hauling tree limbs to the dump after wind storms, hauling large items I purchase such as lumber purchases, and many other uses including hauling my rider lawn mower to the repair shop. Knowing I would haul the rider mower, I bought a "tilt bed" trailer so the mower can be driven easily onto the trailer. OK so far.
But recently I decided I might haul items on the Interstate such as furniture from Oklahoma City 75 miles away. So I bought a spare tire and a kit for attaching the spare tire to the trailer. Then I mounted the trailer spare tire at the front of the trailer bed near the hitch to the pickup truck.
Way to go, Schwartz! With the spare tire mounted in the forward position, the trailer bed fails to tilt down when I want to load my mower.
Back to the drawing board. I bought a second spare tire bracket and re-mounted the spare tire on the back right side of the trailer. Good Work! Now all works perfect when I want to tilt the trailer bed to load my mower.
So it cost me an extra $30 for a second tire bracket. Which, by the way, I purposely chose to do rather than move the spare tire bracket. It is handy to have the option to mount the tire in the different locations depending on the hauling job. Also, I learned the spare tire bracket at the forward position is handy for using tie-downs to cinch loads extra tight and be confident the load won't slide backwards.
See, I'm not such a dumb engineer after all. You all know I figured my final configuration of spare tire brackets from the very start. Yeah, Right! :-) :-)
One of my strong points as a chemical plant process engineer was being good natured about kidding from the plant operators that I am a "dumb engineer." The operators often had good reason for the name calling. For example I designed a thickener (a large vessel to settle solids from liquids) and installed a pump that had one-third the required capacity to pump the "thickener underflow" - the concentrated settled solids.
When we started up, I spent days trying to figure out why the "mud level" was always high and spilling into the thickener overflow. It took a sharp operator to catch my error. Fortunately it was a "quick fix" and all was fine afterwards. And all the operators had a field day kidding me which actually is good. It made me more accepted as a "regular guy" and hardly affected the project meeting its target costs.
So why do I write all this. I guess I am still a dumb engineer. About three years ago I bought a 10-ft. trailer for general use including hauling tree limbs to the dump after wind storms, hauling large items I purchase such as lumber purchases, and many other uses including hauling my rider lawn mower to the repair shop. Knowing I would haul the rider mower, I bought a "tilt bed" trailer so the mower can be driven easily onto the trailer. OK so far.
But recently I decided I might haul items on the Interstate such as furniture from Oklahoma City 75 miles away. So I bought a spare tire and a kit for attaching the spare tire to the trailer. Then I mounted the trailer spare tire at the front of the trailer bed near the hitch to the pickup truck.
Way to go, Schwartz! With the spare tire mounted in the forward position, the trailer bed fails to tilt down when I want to load my mower.
Back to the drawing board. I bought a second spare tire bracket and re-mounted the spare tire on the back right side of the trailer. Good Work! Now all works perfect when I want to tilt the trailer bed to load my mower.
So it cost me an extra $30 for a second tire bracket. Which, by the way, I purposely chose to do rather than move the spare tire bracket. It is handy to have the option to mount the tire in the different locations depending on the hauling job. Also, I learned the spare tire bracket at the forward position is handy for using tie-downs to cinch loads extra tight and be confident the load won't slide backwards.
See, I'm not such a dumb engineer after all. You all know I figured my final configuration of spare tire brackets from the very start. Yeah, Right! :-) :-)