The Contraption 2009

unjonharley · Post by **unjonharley** » Wed Sep 24, 2008 1:30 pm

Hot tubes make for burned flesh.. Might call for some fancy iron works..

gyre · Post by **gyre** » Wed Sep 24, 2008 1:36 pm

And use bronze if possible.

fciron · Post by **fciron** » Wed Sep 24, 2008 3:26 pm

Y'all don't have to worry about LeChat spending too much time on BrassGoggles. BG has been Tribed all week. At least they have a note.

Back to Agri-punk. (Cows w/mohawks?) What about a secondary burner to heat the water tank?

You could use the exhaust gasses to turn a windmill that would charge the battery.

LeChatNoir · Post by **LeChatNoir** » Wed Sep 24, 2008 3:41 pm

unjonharley wrote:How about a "big" spoon sticking out of the cooler tank? I use one for my tea. Cools right down

Or even better... a couple cans of soup in the reservoir. A cold can placed in will absorb the heat from the engine's water tank and yield a warm can at some point later. Keep trading out cans and feed the pathetic hungry playafied masses.

I can hear it now...

The Rustbucket Hayrake EggCrate SoupWagon.

LeChatNoir · Post by **LeChatNoir** » Wed Sep 24, 2008 3:45 pm

fciron wrote:Y'all don't have to worry about LeChat spending too much time on BrassGoggles. BG has been Tribed all week. At least they have a note.

Back to Agri-punk. (Cows w/mohawks?) What about a secondary burner to heat the water tank?

You could use the exhaust gasses to turn a windmill that would charge the battery.

Now we're talkin'.

More Rube Goldberg, damnit.

And speaking of server errors and such, my favorite quote currently is, "Dude, you're tribing my buzz".

Dusza Beben · Post by **Dusza Beben** » Wed Sep 24, 2008 5:00 pm

If you want more Rube Goldberg then a flywheel powered can opener is definitely in order here. If there's hot soup I'm there! Chicken corn chowder please! (although independent testing has proven that Chunky Chicken Corn Chowder tastes better eaten cold from the can in a dust storm on the playa than it does hot in a bowl at home.)
Heck, you might be able to patent the "Campbell Edible Heat Sink"!

DB

theCryptofishist · Post by **theCryptofishist** » Wed Sep 24, 2008 6:10 pm

I'm trying to imagine what the appropriate soup would be. Cause with all that presentation Campbell's just won't cut it. Not even the tomato, which besides being a classic, would be a sly reference to other soup related art. I'm thinking importing a few flats of Polish Borscsht. Or maybe Thai Tom Yum. Or indian lentils. Something that speaks of a place just coming into it's industrial revolution. But that's just the rough sketch. I dread knowing what googling "industrial soup" would get me.

Zulegoona · Post by **Zulegoona** » Wed Sep 24, 2008 6:48 pm

forget the water all together, use beer and fill the reservoir with sauerkraut and sausages .

Or rabbit stew

gyre · Post by **gyre** » Wed Sep 24, 2008 6:54 pm

Italian wedding soup works, but nothing by campbells.

Jambalaya maybe.

Now I'm hungry.
fuck campbells, eat real soup.

Elliot · Post by **Elliot** » Wed Sep 24, 2008 6:54 pm

Methinks we need to get those Herring boys from Norway in on this!

unjonharley · Post by **unjonharley** » Wed Sep 24, 2008 7:29 pm

Methinks this thread has just boarded the hand basket

LeChatNoir · Post by **LeChatNoir** » Wed Sep 24, 2008 7:54 pm

Indeed...

I said , "Oh, hell yes" opon reading Z's beer and sausages post.

Box Burner · Post by **Box Burner** » Wed Sep 24, 2008 9:04 pm

unjonharley wrote:Methinks this thread has just boarded the hand basket

Actually I think it is a picnic basket that has just been boarded.

unjonharley · Post by **unjonharley** » Thu Sep 25, 2008 9:18 am

This the contraption that did not come to the playa this year.. The reason was,"It was not painted"

http://tinyurl.com/6p7xgw

Click on Dogsled to see how much work went into building this thing

Toolmaker · Post by **Toolmaker** » Thu Sep 25, 2008 8:22 pm

Heatsinks work for heat dissipation. Large fins and airflow is important. After you cast your plate with large fins you could heat the thing up ontop of a form to get the thing "bent" around whatever round you need it to fit on.

pinemom · Post by **pinemom** » Fri Sep 26, 2008 6:35 am

Next thing you know someone will suggest Sails Le Chat!
hehhee
oops...did I say that?

unjonharley · Post by **unjonharley** » Sun Sep 28, 2008 9:27 am

E-mail message
From: "My friend" (Bill)

Subject: I was depressed last night......

I was depressed last night so I called Lifeline.

Got a freakin' call center in Pakistan.

I told them I was suicidal.

They got all excited and asked if I could drive a truck.

pinemom · Post by **pinemom** » Sun Sep 28, 2008 12:42 pm

hahahaaaaaahahahaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

LeChatNoir · Post by **LeChatNoir** » Sun Sep 28, 2008 8:07 pm

Okâ€¦.

I like the loop to preheat the reservoir water and also dissipate the heat form the engine. Iâ€™ve yet to go look at how to do that exactly, but Iâ€™m thinking a simple copper loop from the reservoir down into the engineâ€™s water tank will do.

Iâ€™ll update as I get more figured out about that. For the meantime, its all in a sort of research mode until Winter.

With that in mind, itâ€™s on to the next item to ponderâ€¦

One thing that became apparent when we were tooling around was that it was hard for Karine and I to hear each other, with her facing forward in the driverâ€™s seat and me back in "engineering". For instance... for some reason, whenever someone was asking to get on, they would try to get my attention, instead of Karineâ€™s. I would have to yell to her to stop the vehicle and after a few interchanges of â€œWhat?!?â€

Captain Goddammit · Post by **Captain Goddammit** » Sun Sep 28, 2008 8:18 pm

I don't know what could be more appropriate than a "speaking tube" setup!
A nice tube, in the metal of your choice, with a flared, bell-shaped piece at each end... even just made from metal funnels.

Do you remember the BIG (60+ feet) white whale mutant vehicle from '02 and '03? I drove that; it required two drivers, one up top steering and throttling, one below braking and shifting. The original communication plan was radios, but the speaking tube arrangement, as described here, was what ended up working better! It was just garden hose with funnels at the ends, so of course you'd have to make yours prettier... but it'd be period-correct.

Zulegoona · Post by **Zulegoona** » Sun Sep 28, 2008 8:19 pm

how about a brass tube that runs from face height of the engineer down threw the floor and back up to ear height of the driver with a flared horn on each end.

Zulegoona · Post by **Zulegoona** » Sun Sep 28, 2008 8:22 pm

God we where writing the same thought at the same time

Dusza Beben · Post by **Dusza Beben** » Sun Sep 28, 2008 8:27 pm

I love the flame whistle idea. Lights on a dashboard are just so 20th century! With your mad skills though I think that you should step it up a notch with good ole' fashioned semaphores! A few of your georgous levers back in engineering and little tin semaphore flags that pop up in front of the driver accompanied by the ding of a trolley bell. I can see it in my head, wish I could scan that! It doesen't have to be completely mechanical either. 12v door lock solenoids ought to work handily for the flag raising and the flags could double as a bell striker. (Sorry, I've got serious bell fixation going at the present time.

)

DB

gyre · Post by **gyre** » Sun Sep 28, 2008 8:41 pm

Probably flame speakers.
What about bells or flags and levers?
You don't need to salvage glass.
Many of the indicator lenses still exist in stock or production as industrial signals.

http://www.ronfrancis.com/prodinfo.asp?number=BL%2D69A
Glass and metal, dual filament
Bulb actually is special.
I use these as side marker lights on the car.
Clear lenses, red or amber.

LeChatNoir · Post by **LeChatNoir** » Sun Sep 28, 2008 8:52 pm

God, what great ideas.

I thought about a nice cast bronze bell mounted on the smoke stack too.

karine · Post by **karine** » Sun Sep 28, 2008 8:53 pm

I think if he shot flames right at me (or right in front of me, blinding me by night), I might stop. True.

But the tube/ horn talk set up would be beneficial, because sometimes it isn't just stop and "go".. And then that brings up the question... Where would we mount it ? I like the idea, but we'd have to build something aesthetically reasoning it into the drivers seat- and the handling 'tiller' has a wide birth.

But...
SEMAPHORES! SEMAPHORES!
Holy contraption, LCN that's a good idea!

fciron · Post by **fciron** » Sun Sep 28, 2008 9:23 pm

I would handle it just like a steam ship. TELEGRAPH

I am pretty sure this could be handled easily by a pair of cables and it would allow two way communication.

Box Burner · Post by **Box Burner** » Sun Sep 28, 2008 11:42 pm

hey LeChat. Why not just make the water reservoir on top of the engine bigger (taller)? You could even do the Alice in wonderland thing and make it look like a Gallon sized tea cup and saucer on top of the engine. With a big spoon in it.

theCryptofishist · Post by **theCryptofishist** » Sun Sep 28, 2008 11:44 pm

LeChatNoir wrote: I thought about a nice cast bronze bell mounted on the smoke stack too.

I went to a bell factory in Innsbruck. Interesting.

unjonharley · Post by **unjonharley** » Mon Sep 29, 2008 8:12 am

There's a six inch titanic bell around here that needs a new home.

Those voice tubes are still put into ships.. They work very well if the intercom go's out.. Some have whistle at the head of the tube. try a hunk of round down spout to see if it works for you..