XPost: rec.arts.sf.written

[email protected] (Ted Nolan <tednolan>) writes:

In article <GayMJ.18418$[email protected]>,
Scott Lurndal <[email protected]> wrote:

Paul S Person <[email protected]d> writes:

On Mon, 07 Feb 2022 23:36:15 -0500, Michael Trew
<[email protected]> wrote:

On 2/6/2022 14:32, Lynn McGuire wrote:

Over The Hedge: Heated Seats
https://www.gocomics.com/overthehedge/2022/02/06

I love the heated seats in my truck. That and the remote start are the >>>>> cat's meow.

Lynn

Fancy. My seats are only heated under one of the following two >>>>circumstances. Either after sitting in the blazing summer sun, or after >>>>my rear end has been sitting in it for some time, LOL

Remote start... no, I usually have to turn the key and pray... heh... >>>>Most won't start without depressing the clutch pedal first.

When I took Intermediate Russian, one of the examples we were given
was a newspaper article (in Russian) proudly proclaiming that tractors >>>now had an automatic starter!

The crank still works when the battery is dead. DAMHIKT.

That would depend.

Actually if it _has_ a crank, then it can be cranked sans battery;
otherwise the crank is just vestigial.

I've cranked a few Farmall letter series tractors in the day.

Just watch out for any kickback so you don't break an arm.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

XPost: rec.arts.sf.written

On Tue, 08 Feb 2022 17:57:58 GMT, [email protected] (Scott Lurndal)
wrote:

Paul S Person <[email protected]d> writes:

On Mon, 07 Feb 2022 23:36:15 -0500, Michael Trew
<[email protected]> wrote:

On 2/6/2022 14:32, Lynn McGuire wrote:

Over The Hedge: Heated Seats
https://www.gocomics.com/overthehedge/2022/02/06

I love the heated seats in my truck. That and the remote start are the >>>> cat's meow.

Lynn

Fancy. My seats are only heated under one of the following two >>>circumstances. Either after sitting in the blazing summer sun, or after >>>my rear end has been sitting in it for some time, LOL

Remote start... no, I usually have to turn the key and pray... heh... >>>Most won't start without depressing the clutch pedal first.

When I took Intermediate Russian, one of the examples we were given
was a newspaper article (in Russian) proudly proclaiming that tractors
now had an automatic starter!

The crank still works when the battery is dead. DAMHIKT.

The point of the exercise, of course, was that this was claimed to be
a Soviet invention. Despite it having been in use in the West for some
time.

There were many such inventions. Indeed, one of our instructors had
worked on inventing things by translating American patents. Her
insistance on technical accuracy occasionally brought her into
conflict with her supervisor, whose only interest was output volume.

IOW, instead of turning a crank, the
operator merely turned a key!

Or more likely stepped on a starter switch.

These were tractors, and Soviet tractors at that, so I have no idea of
the details. I will admit that the article may have been about using a
switch instead of a key; after all, a key might imply private property
which, as we know, is an anti-Soviet concept.
--
"I begin to envy Petronius."
"I have envied him long since."

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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XPost: rec.arts.sf.written

On 2/8/2022 13:44, Ted Nolan <tednolan> wrote:

In article<GayMJ.18418$[email protected]>,
Scott Lurndal<[email protected]> wrote:

Paul S Person<[email protected]d> writes:

On Mon, 07 Feb 2022 23:36:15 -0500, Michael Trew
<[email protected]> wrote:

On 2/6/2022 14:32, Lynn McGuire wrote:

Over The Hedge: Heated Seats
https://www.gocomics.com/overthehedge/2022/02/06

I love the heated seats in my truck. That and the remote start are the >>>>> cat's meow.

Lynn

Fancy. My seats are only heated under one of the following two
circumstances. Either after sitting in the blazing summer sun, or after >>>> my rear end has been sitting in it for some time, LOL

Remote start... no, I usually have to turn the key and pray... heh...
Most won't start without depressing the clutch pedal first.

When I took Intermediate Russian, one of the examples we were given
was a newspaper article (in Russian) proudly proclaiming that tractors
now had an automatic starter!

Here is a pretty nifty 30's/40's English made (Marshall I believe)
tractor that has a coffman-style starter. Short 2.5 minute video.
First, he wraps paper around the glo-plug (diesel engine). Then he
loads an ammunition cartridge, turns the crank to just past top dead
center on the other side, inserts the now burning paper (someone in the background lit it) into the glo-plug, and uses a hammer to fire the
ammunition to start the engine.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=idwceKeWgHw

I imagine this is not an "automatic starter" by any means, but it's a
pretty nifty way to start an engine!

The crank still works when the battery is dead. DAMHIKT.

That would depend. If Russian tractors still use(d) generators, probably. But in altenator based systems, like modern cars, there has to be *some* juice in the battery to prime the pump. You can't roll-start a car with
no or a completely flat battery.

That would also depend... a 1960's or older car with points ignition can
run with almost a totally flat battery if push-started, as long as just
enough juice can get to the coil.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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XPost: rec.arts.sf.written

On 2/10/2022 1:33 PM, Michael Trew wrote:

Here is a pretty nifty 30's/40's English made (Marshall I believe)
tractor that has a coffman-style starter.  Short 2.5 minute video.
First, he wraps paper around the glo-plug (diesel engine).  Then he
loads an ammunition cartridge, turns the crank to just past top dead
center on the other side, inserts the now burning paper (someone in the background lit it) into the glo-plug, and uses a hammer to fire the ammunition to start the engine.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=idwceKeWgHw

I imagine this is not an "automatic starter" by any means, but it's a
pretty nifty

You misspelled "Heath Robinson"

? way to start an engine!

--
Mark Jackson - https://mark-jackson.online/
An object is a monotonous process.
- Nelson Goodman

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

XPost: rec.arts.sf.written

On 2/9/2022 11:01 AM, Paul S Person wrote:

On Tue, 08 Feb 2022 17:57:58 GMT, [email protected] (Scott Lurndal)
wrote:

Paul S Person <[email protected]d> writes:

On Mon, 07 Feb 2022 23:36:15 -0500, Michael Trew
<[email protected]> wrote:

On 2/6/2022 14:32, Lynn McGuire wrote:

Over The Hedge: Heated Seats
https://www.gocomics.com/overthehedge/2022/02/06

I love the heated seats in my truck. That and the remote start are the >>>>> cat's meow.

Lynn

Fancy. My seats are only heated under one of the following two
circumstances. Either after sitting in the blazing summer sun, or after >>>> my rear end has been sitting in it for some time, LOL

Remote start... no, I usually have to turn the key and pray... heh...
Most won't start without depressing the clutch pedal first.

When I took Intermediate Russian, one of the examples we were given
was a newspaper article (in Russian) proudly proclaiming that tractors
now had an automatic starter!

The crank still works when the battery is dead. DAMHIKT.

The point of the exercise, of course, was that this was claimed to be
a Soviet invention. Despite it having been in use in the West for some
time.

There were many such inventions. Indeed, one of our instructors had
worked on inventing things by translating American patents. Her
insistance on technical accuracy occasionally brought her into
conflict with her supervisor, whose only interest was output volume.

IOW, instead of turning a crank, the
operator merely turned a key!

Or more likely stepped on a starter switch.

These were tractors, and Soviet tractors at that, so I have no idea of
the details. I will admit that the article may have been about using a
switch instead of a key; after all, a key might imply private property
which, as we know, is an anti-Soviet concept.

When I worked for TXU (generated 40% of electricity in Texas back in the 1980s), all of our black start diesels used compressed air for starting.
If you ran out of compressed air and the plant was black (no system
power), we had hand crank compressors at the diesels. One of the
operators told me a story of a horrible frozen night back in the 1950s
that he could not get the diesels started at our plant (we had a couple
of old submarine 10 cylinder diesels, 1,500 hp each) and the Texas grid
had separated in two, north and south. So he got on that hand crank
compressor for over an hour and finally got enough compressed air to
start one of the diesels which was enough power to start the small
26,000 hp steam boiler ...

Lynn

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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XPost: rec.arts.sf.written

On 2/10/22 1:53 PM, Mark Jackson wrote:

On 2/10/2022 1:33 PM, Michael Trew wrote:

Here is a pretty nifty 30's/40's English made (Marshall I believe)
tractor that has a coffman-style starter.  Short 2.5 minute video.
First, he wraps paper around the glo-plug (diesel engine).  Then he
loads an ammunition cartridge, turns the crank to just past top dead
center on the other side, inserts the now burning paper (someone in
the background lit it) into the glo-plug, and uses a hammer to fire
the ammunition to start the engine.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=idwceKeWgHw

I imagine this is not an "automatic starter" by any means, but it's a
pretty nifty

You misspelled "Heath Robinson"

Rube Goldberg, hither side t’pond.

? way to start an engine!

--
John W. Kennedy
Algernon Burbage, Lord Roderick, Father Martin, Bishop Baldwin,
King Pellinore, Captain Bailey, Merlin -- A Kingdom for a Stage!

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

XPost: rec.arts.sf.written

On 2/10/2022 3:39 PM, John W Kennedy wrote:

On 2/10/22 1:53 PM, Mark Jackson wrote:

On 2/10/2022 1:33 PM, Michael Trew wrote:

Here is a pretty nifty 30's/40's English made (Marshall I believe)
tractor that has a coffman-style starter.  Short 2.5 minute video.
First, he wraps paper around the glo-plug (diesel engine).  Then he
loads an ammunition cartridge, turns the crank to just past top dead
center on the other side, inserts the now burning paper (someone in
the background lit it) into the glo-plug, and uses a hammer to fire
the ammunition to start the engine.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=idwceKeWgHw

I imagine this is not an "automatic starter" by any means, but it's a
pretty nifty

You misspelled "Heath Robinson"

Rube Goldberg, hither side t’pond.

Well, the device *was* English made.

Fine British craftsmanship:
"Hit it again with the hammer, Harry!"
- Henry N. Manney III, writing in /Road & Track/

--
Mark Jackson - https://mark-jackson.online/
An object is a monotonous process.
- Nelson Goodman

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

XPost: rec.arts.sf.written

In article <[email protected]>,
Mark Jackson <[email protected]> wrote:

On 2/10/2022 3:39 PM, John W Kennedy wrote:

On 2/10/22 1:53 PM, Mark Jackson wrote:

On 2/10/2022 1:33 PM, Michael Trew wrote:

Here is a pretty nifty 30's/40's English made (Marshall I believe)
tractor that has a coffman-style starter.  Short 2.5 minute video.
First, he wraps paper around the glo-plug (diesel engine).  Then he
loads an ammunition cartridge, turns the crank to just past top dead
center on the other side, inserts the now burning paper (someone in
the background lit it) into the glo-plug, and uses a hammer to fire
the ammunition to start the engine.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=idwceKeWgHw

I imagine this is not an "automatic starter" by any means, but it's a
pretty nifty

You misspelled "Heath Robinson"

Rube Goldberg, hither side t’pond.

Well, the device *was* English made.

Fine British craftsmanship:
"Hit it again with the hammer, Harry!"
- Henry N. Manney III, writing in /Road & Track/

I knew an elderly Master Machinist once, whose motto was, "Don't
FORCE it, get a bigger hammer!"

--
Dorothy J. Heydt
Vallejo, California
djheydt at gmail dot com
Www.kithrup.com/~djheydt/

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

XPost: rec.arts.sf.written

On 2/10/2022 3:26 PM, Mark Jackson wrote:

On 2/10/2022 3:39 PM, John W Kennedy wrote:

On 2/10/22 1:53 PM, Mark Jackson wrote:

On 2/10/2022 1:33 PM, Michael Trew wrote:

Here is a pretty nifty 30's/40's English made (Marshall I believe)
tractor that has a coffman-style starter.  Short 2.5 minute video.
First, he wraps paper around the glo-plug (diesel engine).  Then he
loads an ammunition cartridge, turns the crank to just past top dead
center on the other side, inserts the now burning paper (someone in
the background lit it) into the glo-plug, and uses a hammer to fire
the ammunition to start the engine.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=idwceKeWgHw

I imagine this is not an "automatic starter" by any means, but it's
a pretty nifty

You misspelled "Heath Robinson"

Rube Goldberg, hither side t’pond.

Well, the device *was* English made.

Fine British craftsmanship:
"Hit it again with the hammer, Harry!"
        - Henry N. Manney III, writing in /Road & Track/

At my first power plant job, we had 3.5 foot long aluminum cheater bars.
If you could not get the 20 inch valves to close on the 6,000 psi
boiler feedwater lines with those then you got a 20 lb sledgehammer and
and 4x4 piece of wood.

Lynn

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

XPost: rec.arts.sf.written

On 11/02/2022 05:53, Mark Jackson wrote:

On 2/10/2022 1:33 PM, Michael Trew wrote:

Here is a pretty nifty 30's/40's English made (Marshall I believe)
tractor that has a coffman-style starter.  Short 2.5 minute video.
First, he wraps paper around the glo-plug (diesel engine).  Then he
loads an ammunition cartridge, turns the crank to just past top dead
center on the other side, inserts the now burning paper (someone in
the background lit it) into the glo-plug, and uses a hammer to fire
the ammunition to start the engine.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=idwceKeWgHw

I imagine this is not an "automatic starter" by any means, but it's a
pretty nifty

You misspelled "Heath Robinson"

? way to start an engine!

A similar mechanism is used to start the jet engines on the Canberra
bomber. I don't know if it was faithfully reproduced on the Martin B-57 version. :-)

Cheers,
Gary B-)

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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XPost: rec.arts.sf.written

"Gary R. Schmidt" <[email protected]> writes:

On 11/02/2022 05:53, Mark Jackson wrote:

On 2/10/2022 1:33 PM, Michael Trew wrote:

Here is a pretty nifty 30's/40's English made (Marshall I believe)
tractor that has a coffman-style starter.  Short 2.5 minute video.
First, he wraps paper around the glo-plug (diesel engine).  Then he
loads an ammunition cartridge, turns the crank to just past top dead
center on the other side, inserts the now burning paper (someone in
the background lit it) into the glo-plug, and uses a hammer to fire
the ammunition to start the engine.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=idwceKeWgHw

I imagine this is not an "automatic starter" by any means, but it's a
pretty nifty

You misspelled "Heath Robinson"

? way to start an engine!

A similar mechanism is used to start the jet engines on the Canberra
bomber. I don't know if it was faithfully reproduced on the Martin B-57 >version. :-)

Coffman starters were used extensively during WWII, e.g. the F4F, Spitfire
and various armored vehicles.

https://www.hemmings.com/stories/article/coffman-combustion-starters

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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XPost: rec.arts.sf.written

On Thu, 10 Feb 2022 19:09:37 -0600, Lynn McGuire
<[email protected]> wrote:

On 2/10/2022 3:26 PM, Mark Jackson wrote:

On 2/10/2022 3:39 PM, John W Kennedy wrote:

On 2/10/22 1:53 PM, Mark Jackson wrote:

On 2/10/2022 1:33 PM, Michael Trew wrote:

Here is a pretty nifty 30's/40's English made (Marshall I believe)
tractor that has a coffman-style starter.� Short 2.5 minute video.
First, he wraps paper around the glo-plug (diesel engine).� Then he
loads an ammunition cartridge, turns the crank to just past top dead >>>>> center on the other side, inserts the now burning paper (someone in
the background lit it) into the glo-plug, and uses a hammer to fire
the ammunition to start the engine.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=idwceKeWgHw

I imagine this is not an "automatic starter" by any means, but it's
a pretty nifty

You misspelled "Heath Robinson"

Rube Goldberg, hither side t�pond.

Well, the device *was* English made.

Fine British craftsmanship:
"Hit it again with the hammer, Harry!"
������� - Henry N. Manney III, writing in /Road & Track/

At my first power plant job, we had 3.5 foot long aluminum cheater bars.
If you could not get the 20 inch valves to close on the 6,000 psi
boiler feedwater lines with those then you got a 20 lb sledgehammer and
and 4x4 piece of wood.

The 20-lb sledgehammer -- AKA "Army Fine Adjustment Tool #1".
--
"I begin to envy Petronius."
"I have envied him long since."

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

XPost: rec.arts.sf.written

On Fri, 11 Feb 2022 18:35:27 +1100, "Gary R. Schmidt"
<[email protected]> wrote:

On 11/02/2022 05:53, Mark Jackson wrote:

On 2/10/2022 1:33 PM, Michael Trew wrote:

Here is a pretty nifty 30's/40's English made (Marshall I believe)
tractor that has a coffman-style starter.  Short 2.5 minute video.
First, he wraps paper around the glo-plug (diesel engine).  Then he
loads an ammunition cartridge, turns the crank to just past top dead
center on the other side, inserts the now burning paper (someone in
the background lit it) into the glo-plug, and uses a hammer to fire
the ammunition to start the engine.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=idwceKeWgHw

I imagine this is not an "automatic starter" by any means, but it's a
pretty nifty

You misspelled "Heath Robinson"

? way to start an engine!

A similar mechanism is used to start the jet engines on the Canberra
bomber. I don't know if it was faithfully reproduced on the Martin B-57 >version. :-)

Not just the B-57:
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9JC8DlnJSVU> <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OGDG3iTYMPY>

Aircraft newer than the F-4 have onboard APUs or similar arrangements.

Habu could have benefited from it. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nFO--wzFfUs>
That sound like a big car engine is the two Buick V-8s in the start
cart.
(Another reason McNamara rots in Hell--if I had a TARDIS, Hitler would
be number 2 on my list)

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XPost: rec.arts.sf.written

On 2/10/22 8:09 PM, Lynn McGuire wrote:

On 2/10/2022 3:26 PM, Mark Jackson wrote:

On 2/10/2022 3:39 PM, John W Kennedy wrote:

On 2/10/22 1:53 PM, Mark Jackson wrote:

On 2/10/2022 1:33 PM, Michael Trew wrote:

Here is a pretty nifty 30's/40's English made (Marshall I believe)
tractor that has a coffman-style starter.  Short 2.5 minute video.
First, he wraps paper around the glo-plug (diesel engine).  Then he >>>>> loads an ammunition cartridge, turns the crank to just past top
dead center on the other side, inserts the now burning paper
(someone in the background lit it) into the glo-plug, and uses a
hammer to fire the ammunition to start the engine.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=idwceKeWgHw

I imagine this is not an "automatic starter" by any means, but it's
a pretty nifty

You misspelled "Heath Robinson"

Rube Goldberg, hither side t’pond.

Well, the device *was* English made.

Fine British craftsmanship:
"Hit it again with the hammer, Harry!"
         - Henry N. Manney III, writing in /Road & Track/

At my first power plant job, we had 3.5 foot long aluminum cheater bars.
 If you could not get the 20 inch valves to close on the 6,000 psi
boiler feedwater lines with those then you got a 20 lb sledgehammer and
and 4x4 piece of wood.

Lynn

Back in the 70s, when America was finally switching over to steel-belted
radial tires, the average tire started lasting 50,000 miles instead of
5,000. I once got a flat on just such an elderly tire—oh—somewhere
between Mew Jersey and Vermont, and found that I couldn’t change it. I
had gotten the nuts off the lugs, but I couldn’t get the wheel. Finally, although I felt embarrassed, I called AAA (I guess I must have found a
phone booth), and they sent a wrecker. The man who drove it, obviously
thinking I was a girly-man, tried, but got no further than I had.
Frustrated, he put my car on the hook, and drove to his garage. There he
tried again. And he got some help and both of them tried. Still no
movement. Finally, he got out an almost cartoon-size sledgehammer, wound
up for the blow, and smacked that tire on the inboard side.

It flew about fifty feet before hitting the ground, and bounced as much
again.

--
John W. Kennedy
Algernon Burbage, Lord Roderick, Father Martin, Bishop Baldwin,
King Pellinore, Captain Bailey, Merlin -- A Kingdom for a Stage!

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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XPost: rec.arts.sf.written

On Fri, 11 Feb 2022 00:25:21 GMT, [email protected] (Dorothy J
Heydt) wrote:

I knew an elderly Master Machinist once, whose motto was, "Don't
FORCE it, get a bigger hammer!"

There's some truth in that. When cracking nuts, the bigger the
hammer, the easier it is to avoid crushing the meat.

--
Joy Beeson
joy beeson at centurylink dot net
http://wlweather.net/PAGEJOY/

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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XPost: rec.arts.sf.written

On 2/11/2022 10:55, Scott Lurndal wrote:

"Gary R. Schmidt"<[email protected]> writes:

On 11/02/2022 05:53, Mark Jackson wrote:

On 2/10/2022 1:33 PM, Michael Trew wrote:

Here is a pretty nifty 30's/40's English made (Marshall I believe)
tractor that has a coffman-style starter.� Short 2.5 minute video.
First, he wraps paper around the glo-plug (diesel engine).� Then he
loads an ammunition cartridge, turns the crank to just past top dead
center on the other side, inserts the now burning paper (someone in
the background lit it) into the glo-plug, and uses a hammer to fire
the ammunition to start the engine.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=idwceKeWgHw

I imagine this is not an "automatic starter" by any means, but it's a
pretty nifty

You misspelled "Heath Robinson"

? way to start an engine!

A similar mechanism is used to start the jet engines on the Canberra
bomber. I don't know if it was faithfully reproduced on the Martin B-57
version. :-)

Coffman starters were used extensively during WWII, e.g. the F4F, Spitfire and various armored vehicles.

https://www.hemmings.com/stories/article/coffman-combustion-starters

I've never actually watched the movie; I need to do that some time.
I've certainly seen this 4.5 minute clip from the movie, of the engine
firing up.

https://youtu.be/AwYzAF9bZLI

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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