Live data from Hacker News

The Beam Engine

glinscott.github.io

11–20 of 107 posts

Re: The Beam Engine

#11
First off, this is very cool, I love these kind of breakdowns from first principal.

This is sending me :)

> One cup of water becomes roughly 400 litres of steam, enough to fill two bathtubs

Three units of measurement in one sentence, my favorite unit is bathtubs.

Re: The Beam Engine

#13
Ever hear the phrase "Balls out" when referring to pushing something to the max? Comes form the balls of the centrifugal engine governor. At maximum speed the balls extended all the way outward giving us the term "Running balls out."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centrifugal_governor

edit: I once said this phrase at a work meeting and someone objected to my use of a crude term which I then explained much to everyone's surprise. They thought it had something to do with testicles.

Re: The Beam Engine

#14

Ever hear the phrase "Balls out" when referring to pushing something to the max? Comes form the balls of the centrifugal engine governor. At maximum speed the balls extended all the way outward giving us the term "Running balls out." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centrifugal_governor edit: I once said this phrase at a work meeting and someone objected to my use of a crude term which I then explained much to everyone'…

Similar to balls to the walls (or similar). Coming from the analog aviation controls I believe.

Re: The Beam Engine

#15

First off, this is very cool, I love these kind of breakdowns from first principal. This is sending me :) > One cup of water becomes roughly 400 litres of steam, enough to fill two bathtubs Three units of measurement in one sentence, my favorite unit is bathtubs.

Thanks!

RE: units - Good catch - there is almost certainly a better way to phrase this one. I always tried to give physical examples to make things more concrete. But who knows, maybe the bathtub will take off as a unit :).

Re: The Beam Engine

#16

Ever hear the phrase "Balls out" when referring to pushing something to the max? Comes form the balls of the centrifugal engine governor. At maximum speed the balls extended all the way outward giving us the term "Running balls out." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centrifugal_governor edit: I once said this phrase at a work meeting and someone objected to my use of a crude term which I then explained much to everyone'…

Similar to balls to the walls (or similar). Coming from the analog aviation controls I believe.

Balls to the van der Waals

Re: The Beam Engine

#17

Ever hear the phrase "Balls out" when referring to pushing something to the max? Comes form the balls of the centrifugal engine governor. At maximum speed the balls extended all the way outward giving us the term "Running balls out." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centrifugal_governor edit: I once said this phrase at a work meeting and someone objected to my use of a crude term which I then explained much to everyone'…

tbh, any time i've said it i've been referring to testicles, but thanks for the helpful excuse in future.

Re: The Beam Engine

#18

Ever hear the phrase "Balls out" when referring to pushing something to the max? Comes form the balls of the centrifugal engine governor. At maximum speed the balls extended all the way outward giving us the term "Running balls out." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centrifugal_governor edit: I once said this phrase at a work meeting and someone objected to my use of a crude term which I then explained much to everyone'…

Similar to balls to the walls (or similar). Coming from the analog aviation controls I believe.

Example, throttle controls on a Dogulas DC3. All engine controls forward is the typical convention for full power. (At sea level, neglecting the altitude effect on required engine fuel/air mixture.)

https://www.douglasdc3.com/dc3throt/dc3throt.htm

Re: The Beam Engine

#19

First off, this is very cool, I love these kind of breakdowns from first principal. This is sending me :) > One cup of water becomes roughly 400 litres of steam, enough to fill two bathtubs Three units of measurement in one sentence, my favorite unit is bathtubs.

Those damn imperial measurements.

Re: The Beam Engine

#20

Ever hear the phrase "Balls out" when referring to pushing something to the max? Comes form the balls of the centrifugal engine governor. At maximum speed the balls extended all the way outward giving us the term "Running balls out." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centrifugal_governor edit: I once said this phrase at a work meeting and someone objected to my use of a crude term which I then explained much to everyone'…

Definitely a fun note :). I think I heard it first from a Jay Leno youtube video where he was showing his amazing collection of steam powered machinery.

This is from the article, but governors also played a role in kicking off modern control theory! """ In 1868, James Clerk Maxwell studied when these oscillations grow or die away in his paper “On Governors”[https://www.damtp.cam.ac.uk/user/gold/pdfs/teaching/old_lite...]. This became one of the beginnings of modern control theory. """

Post reply on HN