Engineers

[PatJ]

The things I don't learn here! I thought there were only two kinds of engineers, Mechanical Engineers and Civil Engineers.


And that the only difference between them is that -

Mechanical Engineers build weapons, and Civil Engineers build targets.

[Departed Member]

Petrochemical Engineers will draw it on CAD then sent it over to Nigeria where nobody bothers to do it up right, leaving locals with a plentiful supply of refined oil for when it's cold at night.

They just have to be careful not to leave a trail leading back to the original pipe.

KABOOM!!!

[Milfmog]

Petrochemical Engineers...

Love it. Now added to the "official" register (aka my list ).

Have fun,


Ian.

[Kirbstone]

I doubt if this will make it into your official list, Ian, but Seasons greetings: Cheers!, Here's to the Queers and the Bloody Engineers....I expect that refers to those Engineers who manage to cut themselves trying to do some job or other.

Tom

[Dale]

The things I don't learn here! I thought there were only two kinds of engineers, Mechanical Engineers and Civil Engineers.


And that the only difference between them is that -

Mechanical Engineers build weapons, and Civil Engineers build targets.

Unfortunately; I was sipping on a cup of tea when I read the above post, and nearly choked to death! This is one I definitely have to remember. Outstanding.

[crfriend]

Mechanical Engineers build weapons, and Civil Engineers build targets.

That must make the Mechanical Engineers rather uncivil engineers indeed.

[Dale]

Mechanical Engineers build weapons, and Civil Engineers build targets.

That must make the Mechanical Engineers rather uncivil engineers indeed.

You could be right. I might have said the are Civil engineers, and Uncivil Engineers. I know that I have worked with both groups during my years in the electronics industry.

[ChrisM]

Do you know how to tell an extroverted engineer from an introverted one?

It's quite easy: The extroverted one talks to _your_ shoes.

Chris
(PE / INTJ)

[Brandy]

I liked new shiny when it made sense. Hasn't made sense in decades.

MY new and shiny these days tend to be flashlights.

[Kirbstone]

I have a new entry into Ian Milfmog's list: A County Engineer.

My Maternal Grandfather from whom I inherited my tails coats was just that, for County Kildare, which borders on Co. Wicklow on the upper reaches of the river Liffey.
He died in his sixtys on the job, of diabetes, almost untreatable in the 1930s and didn't live to see the completion of the major project for which he was so involved in the planning and execution. By far the largest project in his career.

In 1937/8 they built an 80 meter high dam in a ravine called Poulaphouca (Pooka's hole) and from Mar.3rd 1940 they flooded the valley above to create the lake I row on every week. It took several years to reach the correct level, and after Ardnacrusha on the Shannon (1927) was the second hydro. dam built here.

Poulaphouca dam early construction.jpg

Blessington Lakes Construction 001.jpg

Poulaphouca Dam from below.jpg

Tom K.

[Kirbstone]

....Cont'd. : The dam is at bottom right and you wouldn't see it unless you looked for it, it's so well hidden. The result is a serious recreational amenity not many miles from Dublin in the Wicklow hills, apart from the power generation and the water supply.

Blesso Lake aerial view from S.W..jpg

The 'County Engineers' were proud indeed of what they created. Alas, my grandfather was gone.

Tom K.

[Big and Bashful]

Excellent family history! My father had a shop, not quite in the same league!

[crfriend]

Tom -- Many thanks for posting those two photos from the late '30s. They are splendid bits of documentary photography both! I especially like the ghostly image of the modern photographer taking a shot of an earlier photograph in image nr. 2!

As far as spotting the dam in the modern photo, that's trivial if one knows what to look for -- and that's water-level. Any time one has a lake at one clearly-defined level (as defined by reflectivity) and an absence of same in a short distance it can mean only one of two things: rapids or a dam.

Shortly after seeing your post I hit "Google Maps" and tried looking up the name of the lake -- and got no joy whatsoever. However, the outline of the lake is remarkable enough (and Ireland small enough) that I was able to find it on maps within about 30 seconds and a short bit after that had a nice "Street View" of the structure.

Eighty meters! That's double the height of the (hand-built) local dam that we have in our locale that drowned the heart of our little town a hundred-plus years ago. Your grand-dad's likely incorporated some of the "lessons learned" from ours.

[Kirbstone]

Carl,
Perhaps by inference I overstated my grandfather's role in that project. I know that the design of the dam itself/tunnel and turbine house was done by an Austrian firm & the turbines themselves by Siemens. My grandfather was one of several engineers involved with the land surveys, riparian structures round the future periphery of the lake, the three main crossing bridges and several smaller ones over tributaries, also the layout of the new roads which needed to be built. There was also the tricky problem of reburying people from a cemetry that was to be inundated, and demolishing old bridges, buildings &c. &c.

They cleverly built two further smaller dams downstream, the first of which is immediately below the former cateract and holds the 'Golden Falls' lake back. The big dam turbines generate 84 megawatts (I think!) and release a LOT of water into the golden falls lake (where the ski jumpers are confined) and every few hours the 1st lower dam which generates 5 Mega. is opened, raising the river water level by 2 feet for an hour or so, much appreciated by the canoeing fraternity. We had a house in Ballymore Eustace, just below this dam for a few years, whose garden reached down to the river at a wide bend, and observed the flow changes. They have an old fashioned wartime-type siren which sounds as they open the lower dam and warns of the imminent rise in river level/flow. The 2nd smaller dam is at Leixlip much nearer Dublin. The name Leixlip is derived from Lachs-Lep...Viking for Salmon Leap.

Our present main house is less than a mile from the Liffey near Newbridge on a former flood plain, which the dam system ensures will never flood again.
The Blessington Lake is at 184 meters/600 ft, plus. the Golden Falls lake is some 85 meters below that, making the river flowing past Ballymore Eustace at about 100 meters altitude. We are at a mere 81 meters, which means that the river flowing past us has fallen over several wiers and is at less than 80 meters altitude. There is a measure on the bridge near the rowing boathouse way up at the 'upstream' end of the lake. During the recent drought and drop in levels I saw that the level had dropped to 611 ft. ( it's normally about 618/9 ft.)

What prompted me to do the post is several photos behind glass (hence my reflection) in the hall of a hotel overlooking the lake where I had lunch yesterday. I photographed several of the pictures.

Tom

[Kirbstone]

B&B,
That guy was two generations removed. My corresponding Paternal G'father was a school headmaster, his wife also teaching there. Both men begat eldest boys who did Medicine. My Mum was a seamstress. I followed my Dad into Medicine, but was envious of my two elder brothers who did Dentistry and had lots of free time, so I did that too, a bit late!!
The bit of family history that's not so nice is the hereditary gene which predisposes to senile type II Diabetes. My Mum had to inject herself daily for many years until she became so senile she couldn't do it to herself anymore and had to go into nursing care. A close 1st cousin (also a granddaughter) had to give up as consultant anaesthetist in her 50s because of sudden onset. My own closest brother, retired dentist had his sudden onset in his 60s, had to be ambulanced off a 'plane back from holiday in Miami and they nearly lost him. He's fine now, T.G., but it was close.

I'm waiting....

Tom