Shortly before the tank went flying I'm sure someone said, "Hold my beer, I'm going to try something...".
Projectile Tank Flies Through Needham Recycling & Transfer Station
- Thread starter RadHal
- Start date
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fppf
Contributor
Personally, I think this story, like many news stories, is WAY over blown, pun intended.
If you have ever seen a scuba valve cross section the hole out of the cylinder is MUCH smaller than in the industrial cylinders counter parts. This is because a diver does not need nearly as much gas supply as some of the industrial applications. By doing this it limits the rate that gas can move through the base of the valve. This is why scuba cylinders are not required to be transported with a secondary cap on them, like industrial cylinders.
So, unless the guy was able to either rip the whole valve out of the cylinder, sheering all the threads; Or crack the neck off the cylinder thus removing the valve I highly doubt this was as sensational as reported.
If you have ever seen a scuba valve cross section the hole out of the cylinder is MUCH smaller than in the industrial cylinders counter parts. This is because a diver does not need nearly as much gas supply as some of the industrial applications. By doing this it limits the rate that gas can move through the base of the valve. This is why scuba cylinders are not required to be transported with a secondary cap on them, like industrial cylinders.
So, unless the guy was able to either rip the whole valve out of the cylinder, sheering all the threads; Or crack the neck off the cylinder thus removing the valve I highly doubt this was as sensational as reported.
EGad
Contributor
I imagine it's not too hard to drive anything through a sheetmetal outer wall and a drywall inner wall. An office building at a transfer station is probably a pretty flimsy prefab structure. It probably wasn't very spectacular as a snapped off K valve probably isn't a very efficient venturi rocket nozzle, but I bet anyone nearby probably had a pretty good show and spilled their coffee.
Rocketmahn
Contributor
"I imagine it's not too hard to drive anything through a sheetmetal outer wall and a drywall inner wall."
I had a running turbine missile engine fail in a spectacularly uncontained way during a test in the Mojave.
The engines shaft went through a sheet metal wall and drywall, and back out the drywall and through the sheet metal on the opposite wall where it then landed in the sand and spun down for about 5 minutes like a top. The sand was glassified from the 75,000 rpm, 1700 degree F mass of metal.
I had a running turbine missile engine fail in a spectacularly uncontained way during a test in the Mojave.
The engines shaft went through a sheet metal wall and drywall, and back out the drywall and through the sheet metal on the opposite wall where it then landed in the sand and spun down for about 5 minutes like a top. The sand was glassified from the 75,000 rpm, 1700 degree F mass of metal.
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