1. science
2. engineering

Maritzburg Matters
November
2014
PIETERMARITZBURG MODEL
ENGINEERING SOCIETY
President-
Charles Polkey
Chairman-
Martin Hampton
V-Chairman-
Andries Keyser
Treasurer-
Roy Clemitson
Secretary-
Hugh Wylie
Committee-
Lucas Steyn
Committee-
Les Cloete
Tel
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033 3442337
[email protected]
033 3963227
083 3883149
[email protected]
082 5572119
[email protected]
033 3453810
[email protected]
0836512862
[email protected]
084 3010196
[email protected]
083 5393064
[email protected]
Postal Address-
P. O. Box 100430
Scottsville
3209
Tracksite and Clubhouse-
78 Rudling Rd
Pelham
Pietermaritzburg
3201
(No postal delivery)
Club Meetings-
General Meeting: Third Monday of each month at 19H45 at Halley
Park. Visitors welcome
Running Day: First Sunday of each month
Committee meetings: First Monday of each month
Work Day: Saturday following the General Meeting
Web Page-
www.pmes.co.za
FacebookGPS co-ordinates-
(Pietermaritzburg Model Engineering Society)
29.5833° S, 30.4167° E
No responsibility is taken by the Society for any subject matter in
this Newsletter other than official Society notices.
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Editorial Matters
Martin Hampton
We have almost come to the end of another very successful year! I say this
now because this last running day was the anniversary of our public running
days, started initially on the first Sunday of November 1987! On that day we
had use of Don Baker’s ‘Tich’, the tickets cost 50cents, and we raised the
grand total of R50.00, nearly R50.00 more than what we had in the bank! How
things have changed over the years, the operation is now slick, well-resourced
and well attended.
Please note that the annual Christmas dinner takes place on Saturday 29th
November, please let Hugh Wylie know that you will be attending.
It is with great sadness that we report the passing of Dave Rose, the DSME
President. Dave had been a prolific and expert model engineer who was well
respected by all.
We wish Jean Polkey a speedy recovery from her recent knee surgery, Charles
will have to speed up a little to stay ahead of her now!!
Shown here is
Andries’ new first
class
passenger
coach on its first
official outing, it
certainly
rides
every bit as well as
it looks, well done
Andries! It seems
as though it was
more
popular
amongst the club
members than the public, as some members were whinging that they had not
scored a ride!!
We have also made quite a good start on our much needed storage tunnel,
hopefully this won’t take too long.
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The masters of precision engineering - Nasmyth and Whitworth Hugh Wylie
In 1829, both James Nasmyth and Joseph Whitworth, working at the famous
Lambeth works under Henry Maudslay, learned what was the value of
precision in engineering. Invention and design were all very well, but they
were worthless without execution to the highest standards. Precision
engineering was vital for everything from stopping leaks in high-pressure
steam engines to making guns reliable. Both the engineers learned the lesson
well, and were at the forefront in setting benchmarks in British engineering
that made Britain the envy of the world over the next half century.
By the time Whitworth had arrived at the Lambeth works in the mid-1820s, he
had already served an apprenticeship as a cotton spinner and worked as a
mechanic in a Manchester factory. As he worked alongside Maudslay, he
developed a method of milling surfaces perfectly flat, and created machine
tools for turning, shaping, milling, slotting, and gear cutting and drilling - all to
a high degree of accuracy. Whitworth left Maudslay’s and worked briefly with
Charles Babbage on his “Difference Engine”. He then went on to establish his
own factory in Manchester.
Whitworth realized that one of the problems with making and assembling
machines precisely was the nuts and bolts. Each nut and bolt was made by
hand, with the result that they rarely fitted together tightly, and were never
interchangeable. He set a standard for all nuts and bolts, with a fixed angle of
55 degrees for the screw threads, and a standard pitch for each size of bolt.
This was (BSW) British Standard Whitworth.
To achieve this kind of precision, he needed to make exact measurements,
and so he developed the most accurate micrometer yet built. This could
measure up to one millionth of an inch.
In the 1850’s he was commissioned to make rifles for the army. His new rifle
had a hexagonal bore, it proved to be incredibly accurate and had a high
velocity - but the British army rejected it because it was too expensive, and
was prone to fouling.
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Nasmyth was building his own foundry in Manchester that became famous for
its steam engines that were exported all over the world. His greatest triumph
was his steam hammer used for shaping metal, but he realised that it could be
used to pile driving. The standard pile for building docks was 69ft long and18
sq. - it took 12 hours to hammer with a traditional pile driver, his machine did
it in 4 minutes.
I know that this is not model engineering, but what a blast!!
Wuppertal Suspension Railway was the
First Ever Suspended Train
A perfect transportation system would
be an inexpensive but effective one that
would not interfere with other means of
transportation. Nowadays it is almost
unthinkable to combine all these
characteristics into one single solution,
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especially with the fast and unplanned growth of large cities worldwide.
Although extremely difficult to achieve, all these characteristics were met way
back in 1901 in Wuppertal, Germany. That’s right! A solution to these
challenges is not only possible but has been in full operation for more than
100 years.
Projected by German engineer
Eugen Langen in 1894, this unique
floating tram moves around 25 million passengers every year and attracts
tourists from all over.
Nowadays, the suspension
railway runs through 20
stations, covering a total of
13.3 km at an average
speed of 60 km/h. Each
wagon measures 24 meters
long and can carry up to
130 people each. The 30
minute trip provides an
amazing view to the
passengers while hovering
between 8 and 12 meters
over the Wupper River and
the valley road.
It is now a source of inspiration for several other suspension railway projects
worldwide.
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Building a Steamboat
Michael Bass
Zingla came into being when my neighbour received environmental
permission to build Goxhill No 2 Dam on his farm at Himeville.
The Dam is up to twelve metres deep,
six and a half Km long and in a natural
valley through which the Pholela River
flows. It is the same river you cross
over at the Sani Pass intersection.
There are no drawings for Zingla.
Whilst sick I made a small flat
bottomed canoe out of a Kelloggs
packet. I had seen a flat bottomed
canoe on the internet, it said "Build in
forty hours", so much for that!
The Hull Statistics are:
Waterline length
4695m
Actual length
4865m
Beam at Waterline
1070m
Beam at Sheer
1270m
Length along Sheer
4900m
Whilst studying the canoe design I realised there would be little room for crew
and boiler, so Zingla received a sloping transom stern which will allow the
rudder to lie straight whilst rowing. Rowlocks were copied from a dinghy I saw
at Moorcroft Manor and will be cut out of bronze. The oars are to be made
from locally grown cedar that has been drying for two years.
The sides of the hull are six mm marine ply supported with pin oak stringers
along all edges. As the hull is 4865m long the side sheets have to be laminated
together with epoxy glue and the only screws are those that hold covers in
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place. The hull is flat bottomed 9mm marine ply, horrors for a traditional boat
enthusiast! There are watertight partitions in the bow and stern, a central
partition and the stern seat has a locker underneath. Zingla’s hull is of
monocoque construction, same way as cars are made today. So Zingla is right
up to date!
The exhaust steam from the Stuart No 1. 2" x 2,5" engine will be condensed.
Three bilge keels made from pin oak will be fitted to protect the condenser
pipes under the hull. The rudder is activated by wheel steering and the cords
and pulleys are all totally concealed. The propeller is home made from
stainless steel, 12" dia x 8" pitch which is the correct size for the Stuart
engine. The hull is painted green with varnished interior. My work at present
is to complete the watertube boiler.
A train made entirely of chocolate has set a new Guinness world record as
the longest chocolate structure in the world. The sculpture, on display at the
busy Brussels South station, is 34.05 meters long and weighs over 1250
kilos. Maltese chocolate artist Andrew
Farrugia spent over 700 hours
constructing the masterpiece.
After measuring the length of the train
and confirming that no material other
than chocolate was used, officials from
the
Guinness
Book
of
World
Records added a new category to the
collection of world records and declared the train to be the longest chocolate
structure in the world.
Club Notices
 Next General Meeting will be a talk by Ray Teichmann on How the
Petrol Pipeline works. This will be on Monday 17th November 2014 at
19h45 at Halley Park.
 Please note that the annual Christmas dinner will take place on
Saturday evening 29th November! Please let Hugh Wylie know asap
whether you will attend. The cost is R25.00 per person. This is always
well worth attending!
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