On 22/02/2024 08:45, Chris J Dixon wrote:

>
> During my thin sandwich degree course, I spent time at Eggborough

Seriously?

--
Jane
The Amethyst Artist
BTME

http://www.clothandclay.co.uk/umra/cookbook.htm - Umrats' recipes

Jane Vernon wrote:

>On 22/02/2024 08:45, Chris J Dixon wrote:
>
>>
>> During my thin sandwich degree course, I spent time at Eggborough
>
>Seriously?

Eggsactly! A very interesting eggsperience.

Chris
--
Chris J Dixon Nottingham
'48/33 M B+ G++ A L(-) I S-- CH0(--)(p) Ar- T+ H0 ?Q
chris@cdixon.me.uk @ChrisJDixon1
Plant amazing Acers.

On 22/02/2024 23:07, Rosie Mitchell wrote:
> You might like to think of using the tills as a matter of principle
> anyway. The supermarkets¹ would love nothing more than to do away with
> tills altogether and thus do away with another job option for the hard-
> pressed.

I nearly got aggressive with an eTsco employee who heard me complaining
to my sister about the prevalence of self-service tills. She seemed to
think they were the best thing since sliced bread.(1) I didn't purse
the matter, but did say to my sister as we left the store that the
employee obviously didn't care about all her colleagues who would lose
their jobs.

(1) I was going to write "... they were SB" but thought there might be a
fewrats who wouldn't get the reference.

--
Jenny M Benson
Wrexham, UK

On Thu, 22 Feb 2024 08:45:33 +0000, Chris J Dixon <chris@cdixon.me.uk>
wrote:

>nick wrote:
>
>>As a sort-of thought experiment, John, I just remembered that about five years ago I bought an absolutely brand new Pentax SFXn camera. It was still in its original box in its original wrapping and had never been used. It's still in exactly the same condition, in the same wrapping, in the same box and I've never used it. If I were to take it out and find that it were faulty, do you think I might have a claim against someone?
>>
>>If I now tell you that it was NOS (new old stock) and that model was last manufactured in 1991, does that alter your opinion in any way? How old would a new thing have be before before the seller/manufacturer should be absolved of responsibility for it?
>>
>>Nick
>>(FWIW I have two more SFXn cameras but they are in use: one here in Argentina, one in the UK and I love each of them dearly. The NOS one was such a bargain that I decided to buy it just in case one of the others were to ever break down.)
>
>During my thin sandwich degree course, I spent time at Eggborough
>power station. All that generation of power stations with 500 MW
>alternators had suffered from delays and faults requiring
>significant repair work - things were about 5 years late at the
>time. The previous designs had been 120 MW, and a number of
>aspects hadn't scaled well, resulting in premature and
>catastrophic failures.
>
>One of my tasks involved taking the shipping rubber bands off
>a cabinet of relays, which were already well outside their
>stamped 5-year warranty date. I was intrigued by one relay whose
>function was, as condenser vacuum fell, to open the turbine hall
>roof vents, so that the anticipated blast (1) didn't take all the
>windows out.
>
>(1) The low pressure turbine casings included a special explosion
>vent comprising a thin metal sheet normally sucked onto a mesh
>frame, with a sharp spike poised above it. If pressure becomes
>positive, the metal bulges and is pierced by the spike to vent to
>atmosphere
>
EMNTK Relay: to physically switch the power or to actuate the process?
Solid state or mechanical? Electrothermal or Hamlin (careful, you
could lose points for the wrong answer there). Please, on essential
British infrastructure, not those foreigners Siemens or Pickering?

And footnote (1)
Did the design team go on to invent the Nespresso machine?

Nick

On Fri, 23 Feb 2024 11:12:40 +0000, Jenny M Benson
<NemoNews@hotmail.co.uk> wrote:

>On 22/02/2024 23:07, Rosie Mitchell wrote:
>> You might like to think of using the tills as a matter of principle
>> anyway. The supermarkets¹ would love nothing more than to do away with
>> tills altogether and thus do away with another job option for the hard-
>> pressed.
>
>I nearly got aggressive with an eTsco employee who heard me complaining
>to my sister about the prevalence of self-service tills. She seemed to
>think they were the best thing since sliced bread.(1) I didn't purse
>the matter, but did say to my sister as we left the store that the
>employee obviously didn't care about all her colleagues who would lose
>their jobs.
>
>(1) I was going to write "... they were SB" but thought there might be a
>fewrats who wouldn't get the reference.

Sounds like another topic for Greg Foot to investigate - if he hasn't
done so already.

Nick

On Thu, 22 Feb 2024 08:45:33 +0000, Chris J Dixon wrote:

> nick wrote:
>
>>As a sort-of thought experiment, John, I just remembered that about five
>>years ago I bought an absolutely brand new Pentax SFXn camera. It was
>>still in its original box in its original wrapping and had never been
>>used. It's still in exactly the same condition, in the same wrapping, in
>>the same box and I've never used it. If I were to take it out and find
>>that it were faulty, do you think I might have a claim against someone?
>>
>>If I now tell you that it was NOS (new old stock) and that model was
>>last manufactured in 1991, does that alter your opinion in any way? How
>>old would a new thing have be before before the seller/manufacturer
>>should be absolved of responsibility for it?
>>
>>Nick (FWIW I have two more SFXn cameras but they are in use: one here in
>>Argentina, one in the UK and I love each of them dearly. The NOS one was
>>such a bargain that I decided to buy it just in case one of the others
>>were to ever break down.)
>
> During my thin sandwich degree course, I spent time at Eggborough power
> station.

Stop hamming it up, would you.

Rosie

On 23-Feb-24 18:30, Rosie Mitchell wrote:
> On Thu, 22 Feb 2024 08:45:33 +0000, Chris J Dixon wrote:
>
>> nick wrote:
>>
>>> As a sort-of thought experiment, John, I just remembered that about five
>>> years ago I bought an absolutely brand new Pentax SFXn camera. It was
>>> still in its original box in its original wrapping and had never been
>>> used. It's still in exactly the same condition, in the same wrapping, in
>>> the same box and I've never used it. If I were to take it out and find
>>> that it were faulty, do you think I might have a claim against someone?
>>>
>>> If I now tell you that it was NOS (new old stock) and that model was
>>> last manufactured in 1991, does that alter your opinion in any way? How
>>> old would a new thing have be before before the seller/manufacturer
>>> should be absolved of responsibility for it?
>>>
>>> Nick (FWIW I have two more SFXn cameras but they are in use: one here in
>>> Argentina, one in the UK and I love each of them dearly. The NOS one was
>>> such a bargain that I decided to buy it just in case one of the others
>>> were to ever break down.)
>>
>> During my thin sandwich degree course, I spent time at Eggborough power
>> station.
>
> Stop hamming it up, would you.

I disagree. That claim is worth an ova tion.

--
Sam Plusnet

Nick Odell wrote:

>On Thu, 22 Feb 2024 08:45:33 +0000, Chris J Dixon <chris@cdixon.me.uk>
>wrote:

>>One of my tasks involved taking the shipping rubber bands off
>>a cabinet of relays, which were already well outside their
>>stamped 5-year warranty date. I was intrigued by one relay whose
>>function was, as condenser vacuum fell, to open the turbine hall
>>roof vents, so that the anticipated blast (1) didn't take all the
>>windows out.
>>
>>(1) The low pressure turbine casings included a special explosion
>>vent comprising a thin metal sheet normally sucked onto a mesh
>>frame, with a sharp spike poised above it. If pressure becomes
>>positive, the metal bulges and is pierced by the spike to vent to
>>atmosphere
>>
>EMNTK Relay: to physically switch the power or to actuate the process?

I didn't work with the circuit diagrams, but I'm pretty sure that
the relays I saw, which were part of the whole control
interlocking, would have in turn energised a contactor to switch
the actual actuating motors to wind the windows open.

>Solid state or mechanical? Electrothermal or Hamlin (careful, you
>could lose points for the wrong answer there). Please, on essential
>British infrastructure, not those foreigners Siemens or Pickering?

Definitely electromagnetic. These sites are pretty much the only
major users of dc control systems besides the railways. In both
cases because battery supplies are required.

As this was an AEI site, the relays would have been designed and
built at Trafford Park in a department I had passed through: PSCP
- Power Systems Control & Protection. Their stores were full of
tiny components.

>And footnote (1)
>Did the design team go on to invent the Nespresso machine?

:-)

Chris
--
Chris J Dixon Nottingham
'48/33 M B+ G++ A L(-) I S-- CH0(--)(p) Ar- T+ H0 ?Q
chris@cdixon.me.uk @ChrisJDixon1
Plant amazing Acers.

On 21/02/2024 22:23, Jenny M Benson wrote:
> On 21/02/2024 20:56, J. P. Gilliver wrote:
>> ... but I admit I hadn't thought of that! I can't see shoezone going
>> to that sort of trouble.
>
> Oh good - you've named the shop involved.  If "they" have any sense at
> all they would immediately offer you a full refund, even if they deny
> all responsibility and say it is a "gesture of goodwill."
>
> If they do, lots of Umrats will say to themselves - and their friends
> and families - "Mmm!  I think Shoezone must be a good place to buy
> shoes."  Whereas if they don't the "Mmm!" will be followed by "I will
> make sure I never shop at Shoezone and I will warn off everyone I know."

Funnily enough waife has just had a dispute with shoezone.

"I purchased a pair of slippers from Shoezone Bedford at the end of
October. While the right hand slipper is still fine, the left hand one
has a tear in the fur trim, and the sole is coming away at the front and
back."

After a bit of discussion, photos and proof pf purchase date, she was
given a full refund.

In message <l4110fFlh0jU2@mid.individual.net> at Sun, 25 Feb 2024
14:26:22, BrritSki <rtilburyTAKEOUT@gmail.com> writes
>On 21/02/2024 22:23, Jenny M Benson wrote:
>> On 21/02/2024 20:56, J. P. Gilliver wrote:
>>> ... but I admit I hadn't thought of that! I can't see shoezone going
>>>to that sort of trouble.
>> Oh good - you've named the shop involved.  If "they" have any sense
>>at all they would immediately offer you a full refund, even if they
>>deny all responsibility and say it is a "gesture of goodwill."
>> If they do, lots of Umrats will say to themselves - and their
>>friends and families - "Mmm!  I think Shoezone must be a good place
>>to buy shoes."  Whereas if they don't the "Mmm!" will be followed by
>>"I will make sure I never shop at Shoezone and I will warn off
>>everyone I know."
>
>Funnily enough waife has just had a dispute with shoezone.
>
>"I purchased a pair of slippers from Shoezone Bedford at the end of
>October. While the right hand slipper is still fine, the left hand one
>has a tear in the fur trim, and the sole is coming away at the front
>and back."
>
>After a bit of discussion, photos and proof pf purchase date, she was
>given a full refund.

Hmm, so they asked you for photos too; I'm surprised - I'd have thought
October to February, they wouldn't have made any trouble. For me, they
asked for photos, and then (thanked me for the photos and) asked for a
scan of the receipt, which I'm expecting them now to say again shows it
was too long ago.
(On min, the left is fine, it's the right on which a strap has snapped.)
--
J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/<1985 MB++G()AL-IS-Ch++(p)Ar@T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf

Veni Vidi Vacuum [I came, I saw, It sucked] - mik@saslimited.demon.co.uk, 1998