Re: Repsonse to Explosive Bolts, Disappointment

[David Buchner <Buchner@wcta.net>]

More ancient list traffic... you should all feel honored that I consider
everything you say so important that I'm still holding onto messages I
didn't have time to read in March... ;-)

Mr.
>"John Brownlee
>Lunar and Planetary Lab
>University of Arizona
(the guy whose job I envy)
wrote:

>	I work with space hardware frequently and we often use
>'pyrotechnic initiators' or explosive bolts and things. Explosive bolt
>sounds like, "Gee, it's a bolt that you can break with a push of a
>button".
>
>	It isn't. Think of an explosive bolt like a small grenade. Spray
>of hot shrapnel and all. We stand behind a concrete blast shield when we
>fire these things off, wearing ear protection.  Would you like someone to
>shoot a rifle at your sub underwater? That's what a "rough" shot from a
>pyro bolt is like. I will ignore the fact that explosions underwater can
>cause permanent and total hearing loss.
>	Forget these things. Please?

I promise I'm not seriously going to try using any of them, but I still
gotta know. Are they really "bolts"? Like, hex-headed threaded fasteners
going through holes and tightened up with nuts and washers to hold two or
more things together? Do the nuts explode too? I'm imagining an additional
bin at the Fleet store, next to the "grade 2" and "grade 5" -- a
"pyrotechnic" variety, orange or yellow so you don't accidentally use them
to hold a barbeque grille together.  With two little holes in the head to
jam wires into. They just sound so handy. A million household uses. It's
such a pain to get off the tractor to pull those pins that hold on the
implements. I could just flip a switch and POW!, the snowblower plops on
the ground and I drive away -- and use fresh exploding hitch pins next
time. Anything that involves crawling on your back under something dirty to
get loose crusty old bolts -- cuss no more! How about the ones which hold
on shock absorbers? They always rust solid ages before the shocks wear out.
I have Velcro and Tang in my house -- why not this other convenient space
program spinoff?

Maybe, for submersibles, we want water-soluble "dissolving bolts" which
don't explode at the push of a button, but just... go away... at the push
of a button. A nice, gentle disconnect. Made of laquered sugar or
cornstarch, which sugar melts when the laquer is cracked. Hmmm, not very
strong. Maybe wax or plastic bolts, with an electric heating element inside?

Actually, I don't have any Tang in my house.


---------
David
buchner@wcta.net
http://customer.wcta.net/buchner
Osage MN USA