[TheForge] Suggestions needed for scroungeable steel

[theforge@mailman.qth.net]

You know, Phil's comments can be taken as just a little ribbing or the 
product of a small minded dickhead.  Either way doesn't matter and 
shouldn't effect you sharing ideas with people you respect and who 
respect you.    Years ago one of my mentors recounted the story of his 
father, who was not highly educated, but was a very stubborn farmer.  He 
came up with a new hitch design that allowed a small tractor to take a 
load that would ordinarily put the front end in the air.  He got the 
idea from the little gravity defying belt hooks sold at carnivals years 
ago.    It took him several years to work it out, and when he finally 
did, he patented it and then got John Deere interested in it.  They sent 
two engineers to his farm to look at it.  He recounted to them how he 
had tried over a hundred different variations until he hit upon the 
solution. One of the engineers, who had already taken up treating him as 
a simpleton, commented that he sure had a lot of time to waste.  He 
looked at the engineer, paused to get his full attention and said " I 
know a hundred different ways that don't work, how many do you?"    The 
tenor of the conversation changed after that. 

Charles

Bruce Freeman wrote:

>Of course it's exactly because of feedback like this that I don't share
>design ideas before publishing the plans anymore.
> 
>Bruce
>NJ
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