What Is This Object on the Titan Rocket?

[Integral]

http://home.comcast.net/~rossgr1/EAM/whatsit.JPG

 

[wolram]

It looka natural, maybe an eye.

 

[Kakarot]

airplane propellar spinning fast? or maybe a mushroom of some kind

or maybe a pattern on a butterfly or moth

 

[zoobyshoe]

That's the nipple of a female model terminator.


Actually, I bet it's the nose cone of one flying machine or another.

 

[brewnog]

At first, I thought it was a mushroom. Now I think it's a bullet hitting something.

 

[recon]

To me, it looks like a very bad chandelier.

 

[Danger]

Colonoscope image of someone in ill health?

 

[wolram]

Colonoscope image of someone in ill health?

 

[hypatia]

it looks like a shower head, or a sprinkler for flowers to me. Or a spray jet for his hot tub!

 

[Evo]

To me, it looks like a very bad chandelier.

It does look like a light fixture.

 

[Gokul43201]

It's got to be something from the Aircraft Museum, wot ?

 

[brewnog]

It's got to be something from the Aircraft Museum, wot ?

Yeah, front of a turbofan?

 

[Integral]

It's got to be something from the Aircraft Museum, wot ?

We are on the right track.

 

[FredGarvin]

It looks like you're looking up an exhaust duct. That hole pattern is seriously looking like a combustor section though. Perhaps an afterburner flameholder of some kind?

 

[Integral]

Fred,
You are just way good. You are so close that I am temped to revel. But you are off just a little bit so I am going to let it ride for a bit more.

 

[Hurkyl]

Haven't yet read the thread. The picture looks like a trash can or a manhole.

 

[Integral]

Sorry Hurykl, you need to look up, not down!

 

[brewnog]

Sorry Hurykl, you need to look up, not down!

aaHA! An impromptu clue, perhaps?

Inside a VTOL nozzle?

 

[Integral]

You guys are on the right track.

Lets let a few others look at it.

 

[Integral]

Ok, Resolution time

http://home.comcast.net/~rossgr1/EAM/titanII_info.JPG

 

[BicycleTree]

Why aren't you posting this stuff in the Brain Teasers forum?

 

[Integral]

'Cause it's not what I consider a brain teaser?

Humm... Maybe it is?

 

[brewnog]

Aha, rocket engine exhaust nozzle? I almost had a stab at that after your "look up" clue, but thought it must still have been GT related.

 

[Integral]

Yep, that is looking right into the business end of the Titan Rockect engine, so it is indeed a combustion chamber with fuel feed nozzles visible in the back.

 

[brewnog]

Which are the fuel feed nozzles? I'd have expected them to look like the kind of swirl atomisers you get in a GT engine, although I suppose the fuel is ready-mixed so this isn't as important? Don't know nearly enough about rockets...

 

[Danger]

I suppose the fuel is ready-mixed

It better not be! Those are hypergolic motors!

 

[brewnog]

It better not be! Those are hypergolic motors!

Ok, I've not even heard that word before. Good job I'm not an engineering graduate, or anything. Teach me, dammit!

 

[Danger]

Teach me, dammit!

Sorry.
Hypergols are binary propellants that burn spontaneously when they contact each other. No igniter system required. Nitric acid used to be the oxydizer of choice, and the other part can range from unsymmetrical dimethylhydrazine to analine. The Ariane rocket, for instance, uses monomethylhydrazine and nitrogen tetroxide for its final stage. They tend to be used where ignition is not negotiable.

 

[brewnog]

Sorry.
Hypergols are binary propellants that burn spontaneously when they contact each other. No igniter system required. Nitric acid used to be the oxydizer of choice, and the other part can range from unsymetrical dimethylhydrazine to analine. The Ariane rocket, for instance, uses monomethylhydrazine and nitrogen tetroxide for its final stage. They tend to be used where ignition is not negotiable.

Ooh, okay.

So, (with reference to Integral's picture), what's being squirted where? And how come I don't see any GT style atomisers? Is it because there's no issue of getting everything to fully combust at those temperatures?

Apologies for taking a GD thread off topic into Mech & Aero Eng![/size]

 

[Integral]

Which are the fuel feed nozzles? I'd have expected them to look like the kind of swirl atomisers you get in a GT engine, although I suppose the fuel is ready-mixed so this isn't as important? Don't know nearly enough about rockets...

I believe that the fuel nozzles are the dots in the center.

Here is a pic of the other side.

http://home.comcast.net/~integral50/EAM/rocket2.JPG

 

[brewnog]

Okay, well, since this is the "I was at a museum today, give interesting insight into the photo" thread, I'll comply.

http://personalpages.umist.ac.uk/student/E.Smith-2/guess10.jpg

 

[Danger]

what's being squirted where? And how come I don't see any GT style atomisers? Is it because there's no issue of getting everything to fully combust at those temperatures?

The entire centre section there is the injector assembly. Although I can't say for sure about this particular engine, the injector holes are generally machined in concentric circles. Ideally, alternating rings should feed propellant, and the ones between oxydizer. Since the components are equally reactive in liquid form, atomization is accomplished by the initial turbulence; any remaining droplets are quickly deconstructed by the combustion violence.

The picture that you posted is pretty dark, but it looks like cast iron to me. Must be something fairly old, like maybe a printing press.

 

[brewnog]

The entire centre section there is the injector assembly. Although I can't say for sure about this particular engine, the injector holes are generally machined in concentric circles. Ideally, alternating rings should feed propellant, and the ones between oxydizer. Since the components are equally reactive in liquid form, atomization is accomplished by the initial turbulence; any remaining droplets are quickly deconstructed by the combustion violence.

Okay, thanks for that!

The picture that you posted is pretty dark, but it looks like cast iron to me. Must be something fairly old, like maybe a printing press.

It is cast iron.

It's pretty old, but it's a case of the broom which has had 3 new handles and 4 new heads, - the original will have been there a few hundred years before the existing one was installed. The original was first installed somewhere in the 1600's, although it would have been wooden back then. This one's probably around a hundred years old.

 

[brewnog]

Have a slightly bigger picture. There's a good clue if you look closeishly.

http://personalpages.umist.ac.uk/student/E.Smith-2/guess11.jpg

 

[Integral]

Could it be something like a Castle door opening mechanism?

 

[brewnog]

Could it be something like a Castle door opening mechanism?

No.

 

[Danger]

Have a slightly bigger picture. There's a good clue if you look closeishly.

http://personalpages.umist.ac.uk/student/E.Smith-2/guess11.jpg

[/URL]
You beat me to it! I just took the liberty of tweaking it myself.
http://img173.echo.cx/img173/5493/guess103hu.jpg

Yours is better though, because of the expanded view. The only 'cluish' thing that I see is the boards bolted across. Maybe an old paddle-wheel in a mill?

 

[brewnog]

Yours is better though, because of the expanded view. The only 'cluish' thing that I see is the boards bolted across. Maybe an old paddle-wheel in a mill?

That was the clue indeed, and it is a paddle-wheel.

But not in a mill...!

Bed time now, I'll leave you to ponder this one overnight.

 

[FredGarvin]

Not in a mill? Damn. That just ruled out 95% of my guesses. 1600's? Perhaps it's from a very old pump mechanism?

 

[Danger]

I'm lousy at history, so the time scale might be way off... early steamship?

 

[zanazzi78]

Does it power a loom?

 

[Integral]

How about one of those human gerbil cages for powering things. (close but not quite the same, as a modern piece of gym equipment)

 

[brewnog]

Some more hints:

While it's not a mill or loom, it's not far off. Originating in the 1600s, it's water powered. It's not a pump mechanism, although a similar water-wheel is sited in the same building a few yards away which did power a pump, although a century or two later (while this one was still operational).

I believe it stopped working around 1900.

I'll tell you that it was in the North of England, not far from icvotria actually.

 

[zanazzi78]

Ok did it power bellowes in an iron foundry

 

[brewnog]

Ok did it power bellowes

No.

in an iron foundry

Very close indeed. Not a foundry though!

 

[zanazzi78]

Is it situated in a Steel Foundry (since your from sheffield!)?
A grinding wheel, powered press or stamp?!

 

[honestrosewater]

Did it power a tilt hammer? Is it on the River Sheaf in Abbeydale?

 

[honestrosewater]

Ah, Top Forge!? It's from the other side, but this must be it: http://www.topforge.co.uk/Photographs/Barry%2009G.htm
Wortley Top Forge is also a museum.

 

[brewnog]

Ah, Top Forge!? It's from the other side, but this must be it: http://www.topforge.co.uk/Photographs/Barry%2009G.htm
Wortley Top Forge is also a museum.

Excellent! How did you get it?


I was just looking for someone to say it was powering a tilt hammer in a forge, but you actually got the right place too! I was going to give you points for guessing Abbeydale (because it's very similar), but you hit the jackpot!



It's the site of an old forge (not foundry, sorry zanazzi!), which ended up making axles for trains. Not steel, but wrought iron. There are three waterwheels at the forge, all recently restored. Two power tilt hammers (one of which employs a rudimentary 'spring' mechanism to increase its power), and the other powered bellows for experimental work to develop the puddling process.

 

[honestrosewater]

Excellent! How did you get it?

Eh, you ruled out a lot, and Sheffield was a big help. After I ruled out every other water-wheel-powered tilt hammer in Sheffield, the picture ended up being on the first page of a google image search for "water wheel". I don't know how I missed it the first time.

Okay, so for all you manly men out there:
http://void01.xs.to/pics/05263/smallclue1.JPG
Hm, is this too easy?