thought y'all might enjoy this:
The US Standard railroad gauge (the distance between the rails) happens
to be 4 ft. 8.5 inches. That's an exceedingly odd number.
QUESTION: How was that number determined?
To begin with, 4 ft. 8.5 inches is the width of the rails built in
England, and the US railroads were originally designed by English
expatriates. So, why did the English build them like that? Because the
first English rail lines were built by the same people who built the
pre-railroad trams. And that's the width that was used for the trams.
Why was that width used for the trams?
Because the people who built the trams were the same people who built
the pre-tram wagons, and the same jigs and tools were used in building
both the trams and the wagons. So the wheel spacing of the trams was the
same as the wheel spacing of the wagons. Okay! Why did the wagons use
that odd wheel spacing? Because, believe it or not, if any spacing other
than the spacing of the existing wheel ruts had been used, the wagons
would have rattled themselves apart on the old, long distance roads
right away. And, of course, the spacing of the existing wheel ruts was
unique. So, who made these old, long distance roads, and why was the
spacing of these existing wheel ruts unique? Well....the first long
distance roads in Europe were built by the Imperial Romans for the
benefit of their legions. The roads have been in use ever since. And
the wheel ruts?
The initial ruts--whose spacing everyone else had to duplicate for fear
of destroying their wagons--were first made by the Roman war chariots.
The chariots were made for, and by, the Imperial Romans, and the
chariots were all made alike in the matter of wheel spacing.
So--because the Imperial Roman chariots were usually drawn by two
horses--the chariot's wheels had to be spaced wide enough apart to
accommodate the backends of two Roman war horses, or the width of two
horses' asses. THE ANSWER:
We can now see how the United States standard railroad gauge {of 4 feet,
8.5 inches} was determined. It was determined by a horse's ass--or, more
acccurately, by a couple of horses' asses......if we happen to follow
the trail back far enough, anyway. So, for all you technoids out there,
in case you happen to come across a weird specification somewhere--like,
just for example, the U.S. rail gauge--and you wonder what kind of ass
came up with that specification, well......now you know. The answer to
your wondering could well be: a horse's ass. [And--in our present case,
anyway--not only just any horse's ass, but a couple of horses' asses,
and more specifically, Roman horses' asses.] PLUS:
Here's an interesting extension of the historical connection between the
present rail gauge and horses' asses.
If you happen to see a Space Shuttle sitting atop a launchpad, you won't
miss seeing to see the two big booster rockets which flank the main fuel
tank. These big boosters are the solid rocket boosters, or, in the
jargon, the SRBs. The SRBs are made by Thiokol at a factory in Utah.
The engineers who designed the SRBs probably wanted them to be very
large in diameter, but since the SRBs had to be shipped via rail from
the factory to the launch site, their diameter was constrained. That's
because the railroad line that connects the factory with the launch site
runs through a tunnel in the mountains. And, of course, the SRBs have to
fit right through that tunnel. The tunnel for the rail is marginally
wider than the rail. And--as we have seen from our earlier
discussion--the rail track's width was determined by the width of a
couple of horses' asses. So-- in this very interesting historical
extension-- you can now see that we have arrived at a correct way of
putting all this together. We can say, quite correctly, that a major
design feature of what has to be THE most advanced transportation system
in the world--the Space Shuttle--was determined, in fact, by a couple of
horse's asses. Now, isn't this just what you've always wanted to know?
The US Standard railroad gauge (the distance between the rails) happens
to be 4 ft. 8.5 inches. That's an exceedingly odd number.
QUESTION: How was that number determined?
To begin with, 4 ft. 8.5 inches is the width of the rails built in
England, and the US railroads were originally designed by English
expatriates. So, why did the English build them like that? Because the
first English rail lines were built by the same people who built the
pre-railroad trams. And that's the width that was used for the trams.
Why was that width used for the trams?
Because the people who built the trams were the same people who built
the pre-tram wagons, and the same jigs and tools were used in building
both the trams and the wagons. So the wheel spacing of the trams was the
same as the wheel spacing of the wagons. Okay! Why did the wagons use
that odd wheel spacing? Because, believe it or not, if any spacing other
than the spacing of the existing wheel ruts had been used, the wagons
would have rattled themselves apart on the old, long distance roads
right away. And, of course, the spacing of the existing wheel ruts was
unique. So, who made these old, long distance roads, and why was the
spacing of these existing wheel ruts unique? Well....the first long
distance roads in Europe were built by the Imperial Romans for the
benefit of their legions. The roads have been in use ever since. And
the wheel ruts?
The initial ruts--whose spacing everyone else had to duplicate for fear
of destroying their wagons--were first made by the Roman war chariots.
The chariots were made for, and by, the Imperial Romans, and the
chariots were all made alike in the matter of wheel spacing.
So--because the Imperial Roman chariots were usually drawn by two
horses--the chariot's wheels had to be spaced wide enough apart to
accommodate the backends of two Roman war horses, or the width of two
horses' asses. THE ANSWER:
We can now see how the United States standard railroad gauge {of 4 feet,
8.5 inches} was determined. It was determined by a horse's ass--or, more
acccurately, by a couple of horses' asses......if we happen to follow
the trail back far enough, anyway. So, for all you technoids out there,
in case you happen to come across a weird specification somewhere--like,
just for example, the U.S. rail gauge--and you wonder what kind of ass
came up with that specification, well......now you know. The answer to
your wondering could well be: a horse's ass. [And--in our present case,
anyway--not only just any horse's ass, but a couple of horses' asses,
and more specifically, Roman horses' asses.] PLUS:
Here's an interesting extension of the historical connection between the
present rail gauge and horses' asses.
If you happen to see a Space Shuttle sitting atop a launchpad, you won't
miss seeing to see the two big booster rockets which flank the main fuel
tank. These big boosters are the solid rocket boosters, or, in the
jargon, the SRBs. The SRBs are made by Thiokol at a factory in Utah.
The engineers who designed the SRBs probably wanted them to be very
large in diameter, but since the SRBs had to be shipped via rail from
the factory to the launch site, their diameter was constrained. That's
because the railroad line that connects the factory with the launch site
runs through a tunnel in the mountains. And, of course, the SRBs have to
fit right through that tunnel. The tunnel for the rail is marginally
wider than the rail. And--as we have seen from our earlier
discussion--the rail track's width was determined by the width of a
couple of horses' asses. So-- in this very interesting historical
extension-- you can now see that we have arrived at a correct way of
putting all this together. We can say, quite correctly, that a major
design feature of what has to be THE most advanced transportation system
in the world--the Space Shuttle--was determined, in fact, by a couple of
horse's asses. Now, isn't this just what you've always wanted to know?
