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Re: [PSUBS-MAILIST] Mini book review.
The book "Water Baby: The Story of Alvin" , by Victoria Kaharl, describes
the rupture of a pressure vessel they used to destructively test one of the
spheres built for Alvin.
Actually, I would highly recommend PSUB'ers find and read this book. I think
that many participants on this list would learn a lot about subs
JP
----- Original Message -----
From: Dan h <machine@epix.net>
To: <personal_submersibles@psubs.org>
Sent: Wednesday, April 10, 2002 7:26 PM
Subject: Re: [PSUBS-MAILIST] Mini book review.
> Be careful adding compressed air to a tank full of water. If it blows,
you might have
> a giant sized "model rocket." Thinking of the ones I had when I was a
kid. The ones
> where you fill to the mark with water, pump in twenty pumps of air, and
let it rip!
>
> Remember when dealing with a pressure chamber, even if you have it full of
water, no
> air, which is barely compressible, the chamber itself acts like a gigantic
spring. It
> has elasticity and will expand as you pressure it up. It also retracts if
you have a
> violent rupture and flies like a rocket too. I believe there is a story
about such a
> rupture in the Kittredge book. The rupture was in a test chamber in
Florida that USED
> to be INSIDE a building. As I recall they didn't use a hatch, but welded
on the end
> and cut it back off when the test was over. I think it was a weld
failure.
>
> Captain Kittredge had two test chambers. One small one and one larger one
that could
> fit a hull. A small one for testing components wouldn't be expensive but
for a whole
> hull, it probably wouldn't be worth it for one sub. If you had to have a
hull tested
> in a chamber, there are several around the country.
>
> Dan H.
>
> Coalbunny wrote:
>
> > I would presume that a pressure chamber could be made by using
> > compressed air to add weight to the water. Am I wrong on that?
> > Carl
> >
> > John Brownlee wrote:
> > >
> > > This brings up an interesting point - how hard is it to built
a top-side
> > > chamber to test a hull? Is it even something a home-builder could
consider for
> > > shallower operating depths?
> > >
> > > John
> > >
> > > John Brownlee
> > > Chief Systems Administrator
> > > Scary Monsters Network
> > > jonnie at scarymonsters dot net
> >
> > --
> > Watch your thoughts; they become words....
> > Watch your words; they become actions....
> > Watch your actions; they become habits....
> > Watch your habits; they become character....
> > Watch your character; it becomes your destiny.
>
>