BE
CAREFULL WITH THE HAUNCH OF THE HORSE:
The standard
distance between two lines of the US railroads measures 4 feet and 8,5
inches what will be 1,42 meters. This is a particularly odd measure.
Why did they choose that distance? Because the first US railroads were
built similar to the ones built in England, built by English engineers
who thought that this will allow to use locomotive and English carriage.
Why the English have built their railways that way? Because the first
railways were built by the same engineers who built the streetcar (Br
E tramcar), whose tracks had such measures.
And why did the tracks of the streetcar have that distance? Because
the first streetcars were built by the cart manufacturers who built
the carts, using the same method and materials.
Ok , but Why did the carts have that distance? Because in many parts
of the world, in England as in the rest of Europe, the tracks left by
the carts were very deep, and a different distance between the wheels
would have caused the break up of the axle of the cart.
Then, Why did the carts have the tracks separated like that? Because
the first large European routes were built in that way by the roman
empire to accelerate the deployment of the legions. Why did the roman
choose that dimension? Because the vehicle thought to be used in those
routes were carts pulled by two horses. Such two horses were galloping
side by side, and the distance between them should be such that the
horses didn’t bother themselves.
In order to ensure the stability of the cart, the wheels should not
meet the tracks left by the hoof of the horses, and at the same time,
couldn’t be much separated so as not to cause a problem in the
crossing of two carts going in different directions.
Thus, we now have the answer to our first question: the space between
the lines of the US railroads (4 feet and 8,5 inches) it explains why
2000 years ago, in another continent, the roman carts were built in
terms of the dimensions of the haunch of the war horses.
And now the strawberry of the ice cream. There is an interesting prolongation
of this story of railroads and haunch of horses. When an American special
aircraft is observed from a particular sight, it can be observed that
it takes two fuel additional deposits joint to the main one. THIOKOL
manufactures these deposits in its Utah- based factory.
The engineers who manufactured these deposits would have liked to built
them wider, but such deposits should be sent by train up to the place
of the launching of the aircraft. The railroad that joins the factory
and Cabo Cañaberal goes through a tunnel, which is slightly wider
than the rails and the rails are at the same time only slightly wider
than two haunches.
THE BOTTOM LINE: One of the factors we have to bear in mind
in the conception of the world’s latest means of transport (special
aircraft) is the width of the haunch of a horse.
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