[AT] OT NCSU

Larry D Goss rlgoss at evansville.net
Thu Aug 30 07:30:25 PDT 2007 

[WAY off topic.  Delete if not interested in a bunch of trivia.]

Marshall plays things pretty low-key.  You have to modify the URL to bring
up the homepage and then go searching.  Way down in the middle, you will
find him listed along with the fact that he started the website.  But you
have to know to look for his name or you won't find it.

Small world, Charlie.  I knew Houck, Hammond, Hilliard, and all those other
guys in Raleigh.  Back in the 60's, the "route to teaching" in the eastern
schools was for a retiring military officer (particularly graduates of West
Point and Annapolis) to apply for a position in the Graphics department.
Over the years, all the faculty in that department have been my professional
colleagues and personal friends.  They still are.  It's been less than 24
hours since I communicated with some of them by email.

I still have my original sliderule too (a Pickett)  but I sold most of my
collection to Bear on his way to the Portland show with H. L. about six
years ago.  I have a six-foot Post Versalog hanging on the wall above the
computers in my office.  I used that to teach students how to use a
sliderule for the first fifteen years I was in a classroom, but by the late
70's that technology was pretty much left in the dust.  None of those big
engineering tool companies you and I have mentioned are still in business.

What's really strange about what was taught in introductory engineering
courses is that Gasparde Monge (the father of Descriptive Geometry) had
enough influence over Napoleon Bonaparte that he got that discipline
incorporated into the curriculum at the military school for French officers
at Meziere (sp) over the objections of all the other staff military officers
Napoleon had in 1803.  All the other military officers wanted to use
calculus-based instead of algebra-based science in the curriculum, but Monge
insisted on the latter, particularly using geometry to calculate the
ballistic trajectories of cannon balls so that "test volleys"
didn't have to be used.  The bottom line is that the Western
world continued to use algebra and geometry for more than 150 years beyond
the time that it should have been used.  MIT was the first US university to
make the complete conversion to calculus back in 1955, and other engineering
schools have slowly followed suite.  The split that developed between 
engineering and engineering technology is fundamentally based on the 
difference in how sciences are taught.

Descriptive geometry was a military secret during and after the Napoleonic
wars.  We were so desperate to have it taught in this country that an envoy
traveled to France and hired Claude Crozet (student of Monge) to teach it at 
West Point, sight
unseen.  When he arrived, he discovered to his dismay that West Point was 
"in the sticks" and none of the
cadets spoke or understood French well enough to understand what they were
being taught.  He ended up writing the first text for the material in 
English (1821).  His wife was so upset at living conditions at West Point
that Crozet quit a few years later and he moved his family to Virginia where 
he
supported himself by surveying and investing in schemes to build a water
passage from the east coast to the Ohio river (up the Potomac across to the
Gauley, down to New River, the Kanawha, and into the Ohio at 
Gallipolis-Point
Pleasant.)  There are still a few of those first edition books on 
Descriptive geometry floating around.  I have seen one in Texas and one in 
Tuscaloosa, Alabama.  It's a large book with fold out pages, bound in 
leather, gold-leaf printing on the cover, etc. -- pretty nice looking for a 
government publication by today's standards.

In among the equipment that I sold to Bear were a couple of special 
sliderules from the Korean war era that were used for aiming Howitzers.  As 
late as that time, our military was still making regular use of the 
technology "forced" on us by Gasparde Monge.

Enough already.  Let's talk tractors.

Larry

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Charlie hill" <chill8 at suddenlink.net>
To: "Antique tractor email discussion group" <at at lists.antique-tractor.com>
Sent: Wednesday, August 29, 2007 3:46 PM
Subject: Re: [AT] grounded coil


> Thanks Larry,  I figured that was the case.  I just couldn't find his name
> mentioned anywhere......even on the How Stuff Works web site.  Probably if
> I
> was confused someone else was too.
>
> The remainder of this is for Larry and anyone else that might be
> interested
> in NCSU and or US Military spying.  If you're not then stop reading here.
>
> Larry,  this goes back to the spring of my Freshman year (if I'm
> remembering
> correctly).  To set the scene the year would have been 1969.  If you
> remember how things were back then, every freshman engineering student was
> loaded down with big books and on certain days with a portable drawing
> board
> and a big old 23 scale slide rule (mine was a Post Versalog and I still
> have
> it.  I think most guys had a K&E).  In addition almost everyone had a copy
> of the News & Observer folded up under their arm.
>
> On this particular morning I walked into the engineering building and into
> my 2nd semester graphics and analytical geometry class and deposited my
> books, drawing board, etc. onto the table and proceeded to read the N&O
> along with most of the rest of the class.   The headline that morning was
> about the N. Koreans capturing the USS Pueblo.  The instructor was
> retired
> US Navy Lt. Commander Houck (not sure about the spelling) who was an EE.
> He
> walked in and said:  I know that the question in everyone's mind is,  "Is
> it
> or isn't it a spy ship?"  He continued,  I can assure you it is a spy
> ship.
> I designed (or maybe helped design) the equipment aboard it.
>
> No point to the story.  Just an interesting side note that at the time
> made
> me realize the connection between NC State and things that go on in the
> world.  Being from a small tobacco farming community and being in school
> in
> what was at the time a small city, I had never before realized the scope
> of
> where I was and who was teaching me.
> At the time NC State did not even have University status.
>
> Charlie
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Larry D Goss" <rlgoss at evansville.net>
> To: "Antique tractor email discussion group"
> <at at lists.antique-tractor.com>
> Sent: Wednesday, August 29, 2007 5:04 PM
> Subject: Re: [AT] grounded coil
>
>
>> Marshall Brain invented the Howstuffworks website.  Ron referenced a page
>> on
>> that website about automotive ignition.  Marshall is a personal friend of
>> mine.  He and I have both been recognized by North Carolina State
>> University
>> because of contributions we have made that NCSU thinks are significant.
>> That's how he got into this.  But both of us still put on our pants one
>> leg
>> at a time.  :-)
>>
>> Larry
>>
>> ----- Original Message ----- 
>> From: "Charlie hill" <chill8 at suddenlink.net>
>> To: "Antique tractor email discussion group"
>> <at at lists.antique-tractor.com>
>> Sent: Wednesday, August 29, 2007 2:45 PM
>> Subject: Re: [AT] grounded coil
>>
>>
>>> Ok now I'm confused.  Who is Marshall Brian and how did he get in this
>>> fight?  LOL.
>>>
>>> Charlie
>>> ----- Original Message ----- 
>>> From: "Larry D Goss" <rlgoss at evansville.net>
>>> To: "Antique tractor email discussion group"
>>> <at at lists.antique-tractor.com>
>>> Sent: Wednesday, August 29, 2007 4:11 PM
>>> Subject: Re: [AT] grounded coil
>>>
>>>
>>>> Well, I don't want to get into a rock throwing contest.  Marshall Brain
>>>> is
>>>> a
>>>> nice guy and we're both members of the same club sponsored by NCSU
>>>> (literally), but everything that appears in his website is not
>>>> universal.
>>>> I
>>>> still stand by my statement that some ignition coils HAVE to be
>>>> grounded
>>>> to
>>>> operate.  Just because you haven't come across any, doesn't mean they
>>>> don't
>>>> exist or even that they're rare.
>>>>
>>>> Larry
>>>>
>>>> ----- Original Message ----- 
>>>> From: <RonMyers at wildblue.net>
>>>> To: "Antique tractor email discussion group"
>>>> <at at lists.antique-tractor.com>
>>>> Sent: Wednesday, August 29, 2007 1:13 PM
>>>> Subject: Re: [AT] grounded coil
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>> Got to this site and you will see that the coil case is not grounded.
>>>>> this
>>>>> one has a n electronic model to replace the points other than that its
>>>>> the
>>>>> same all of the cars trucks and tractors that use this type of system.
>>>>>
>>>>> Ron
>>>>>
>>>>> http://auto.howstuffworks.com/ignition-system.htm
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>>> AT mailing list
>>>>> http://www.antique-tractor.com/mailman/listinfo/at
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
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>>>>
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>>>> 4:29 PM
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>>>>
>>>
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>>
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>
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