Jump to content

Recommended Posts

Posted

As summer and the start of W&P or should it now be W&P ® heralds what is know in Uk as the 'Silly Season'. Anyone care to confess the silliest thing they have ever got away with? :D

 

Mine has to be a normal morning pushing a trailer load of horse muck with a Land Rover. It was easier to push the trailer to dump than reverse. I decided to light my pipe, with a match, as I'd run out of lighter fluid. So in the usual H&S approved manner, threw spent match out of window.

 

Then there was a smell of burning. I checked temprature gauge, loked around for smoke coming from dashboard, and turned my head right to see flames coming up! I bailed out ! Leaving Landy to fate, fortunatley it was in a feild, and was stopped by the trailer hitting hedge. Then realised my body warmer was alight! (Fortuantley as this was winter I'd also a thick pullover). I got that off **** quick, and ended nothing more than very shacken nerves. Moral of the tale is. If you going to throw a match out the window. OPEN IT FIRST!:D

Posted

Back when I was an engineer, we were doing development work on a small military aero engine. Small, well it still had a 5 foot twin blade wooden propeller. Because we were a small company with many projects on the go, we lacked anywhere to run the engine, so we got permission to use a small wood beside a grass landing strip near the village in which we were based.

 

Now for the part where H&S should look away.

 

We had this mounted on an old four-wheel motorcycle trailer (um, wobbly, too), and we lacked any kind of prop cage, even though we were using carburettors, and, due to the lack of manpower, I ran it on my own, plus since our sole half-brick mobile phone contract had run out I had no way of calling for help either.

 

The day came when I had to adjust the engine at full throttle, 7000 rpm with a prop speed of 2500 rpm. I should have gone and got the support of a technician, but it was a long way back and I might lose half a day's testing. So, there I was, lying over the intakes, 6 inches of steel carburettor adjusting tool in one hand, prop whirring by about 12 inches away, when the engine stuttered.

 

Ho ho...

 

When any engine stutters it jumps a bit in its mounts, more so with a propeller attached. Since I was precariously balanced on the side of the trailer, I kind of lost grip of the tool as I grabbed hold of a carb to stop myself from falling into the prop.

 

I can still see the tool tumbling down the gap between the propeller and the radiator, turning end over end.

 

And then it wasn't there.

 

If a propeller breaks, it just explodes. I know, I had seen it happen. Without a load, the engine would then attempt to leap out of its mounts, into my lap. I smacked the throttle lever shut, the engine subsided, and I saw that the propeller was still there, in one piece. Later, after I had switched the engine off and hugged a tree for a bit, I found a small dent in the tip of one of the prob blades, and my tool some distance away through the trees.

 

We built a prop cage the next day.

 

trevor

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...