Jamcleat

I made a Christmas ornament from a scrap left over from the rope wreath. I unraveled the strands and re-made the 3 strands into 3 interlocked grommets as in Ashley 2864,2865. I probably should have used a bit longer piece. Ashley recommends starting with a length 3 times the desired circumference plus 6 times around the rope. Normally, I use an overhand knot to hold the stands where they meet. With the shorter length, I cut them just long of flush and whipped the ends down.

Some of our American Girl dolls are 12 years old.  With play and time, the elastic that holds the legs gives way and the leg is loose or falls off.  While my daughter is grown, my wife still sets up a seasonal table with the girls.

American Girl provides a repair service and will re-attach arms and legs for a fee.  There are doll hospitals in most large cities and individuals in smaller towns that provide doll repair.  If you wish to attempt it yourself, here is one way to do it.

Undress the doll if desired.  This will avoid soil and glue problems. When I examined the doll patient, I noted that the detached leg had a ball-joint that mated with a socket sewn into the cloth torso.  An elastic cord is retained in the ball and holds the two parts together.  The leg appears to be one piece with a hole molded in the hip-joint.  There is what could be a mold-parting-line but I theorized that it was glued or sonicly welded at assembly time. I marked a small index mark on the inside of the thigh at the line with a Sharpie and carefully cut off the top of the leg with and X-acto knife.  Similarly, I marked the torso-to-socket joint and cut the threads where the socket is stitched in.  Inside the leg there was a plastic cup loose and a piece of elastic with an eyelet squished onto it as a retainer. In the stuffing in the torso, was a similar cup and piece of elastic.  I believe that the cups are to make the elastic long enough so that it can be tensioned but still stretch far enough that the leg can be worked on. In one of the dolls, there were washers between the cup and the openings in the leg or socket.  Additional strain relief?  Smoother operation? Abrasion protection?

The elastic is heavy-duty shock cord about 4mm (1/8 inch) diameter.  I did not have any like it but had some flat dress-makers elastic about 10 mm (3/8 inch) wide.  I doubled a piece of elastic about 70 mm long (2 1/2 inches)  and slipped on an eyelet with the flange away from the bitter end, drew it close and squashed the eyelet with a pliers to make a “knot”.  I pushed the elastic through one of the cups so it came out the cup side.  Please note that the cup in the picture Fig 2 is oriented BACKWARD.  The cup should face the other way.  The through the large hole in the severed leg-top.  Next through the large hole in the socket, through the other cup and out the bottom.  Last another eyelet is slipped on.  Using another leg, estimate the tension required and pull the elastic up until the ball-to-socket tension is similar to a good joint.  Mash the second eyelet to complete the assembly.

Put a small amount of cyanoacrylate glue (super glue) on the leg top where it was cut. Carefully replace the leg top matching the index you marked before cutting.  Hold until set.  The glue I was using remained sticky where it had squeezed out after assembly.  A small amount of ammonia or a weak baking soda solution will cause this to set instantly.

Pull the leg-joint apart and to the side to give you room to work. Place the socket in the torso with the alignment correct.  Use hemostats or other small nosed clamps to hold the edge of the cloth aligned with the edge of the socket.  The original socket was machine stitched but I used a glover’s needle and an overhand stitch to rejoin the socket and torso.  A pair of pliers may be required to force the needle through the existing holes and draw it out the other side.

 

When the stiching is complete around the circumference, let the leg slip into the socket and check for fit.  Re-dress the doll and the job is done.

Update on Leg Repair:  In one of the joints I repaired, there were a couple of washers strung on the elastic, I think possibly to keep the cord centered or reduce abrasion.  They do not seem to be essential and found only in joint out of 3.  Perhaps part of the original design but later dropped.
There is also a procedure for Arm Repair.

While surfing for something totally unrelated I came across the end-of-season notice for the Ironton Michigan cable ferry. Plan on going through Charlevoix or East Jordan until next April. Little ferries are so much fun. When we lived in Connecticut the Chester-Hadlyme ferry with picnic at Gillette Castle or a morning of berry picking and a ride on Rocky Hill-Glastonbury ferry were a short drive away for an afternoon of cheap boating.

My brother in Muncie Indiana has completed participation in a project at the Muncie Childrens Museum.   For the last year he has been a “consultant/ finish carpenter” for a Ball State Architecture design- build class(es) project. The Tot Spot child activity area for children ages 0-5 was conceived, designed, and constructed by students under the guidance of architecture professor Pamela Harwood. For David, it has been both challenging and rewarding working with the students as they designed, modified and finally built each of the 6 areas. Each area has an inspirational book, The Giving Tree, The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Scuffy the Tug Boat, Oh the Places You’ll Go, Jack and the Bean Stalk, and Old McDonald as a theme. There were over 57 students involved in making it over 2 semesters and both summer sessions. Now that it is open the kids seem to love it.
Thanks to the generous donations and support of the following organizations and foundations, this project was made a reality for the Muncie Children’s Museum: The Boren Foundation, Inc., George and Frances Ball Foundation, The Community Foundation of Muncie and Delaware County, Inc. and Robert A. and Beverly D. Terhune Fund.

In other news, David found out Monday that he has been designated an “Indiana Artisan”. Selection of Indiana Artisans is a juried process. You can go to www.indianaartisan.org to learn more about it.

You can see more of David Calvin’s work at his own website, Whimwood.net.

The taxpayers through the United State Department of Agriculture Agriculture Research Service, Nutrient Data Laboratory have provided a USDA National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference, Release 24 of foods, food ingredients, and nutrition.  The current revision is 24.

If you have the Microsoft Access database software, you can download a pre-made MS Access database which presumably has the relationships and perhaps some sample queries.

If you are a Linux or Unix user, you are left to your own ingenuity to create the database.  As I transitioned from SR 23 to SR 24 I thought that I should improve my own documentation to make my life easier next time. Perhaps you will find it useful as well.

This week I was able to attend 2 lectures by Professor William J. Cook, Chandler Family Professor, ISyE, Operations Research, Georgia Institute of Technology at Furman University’s 2011-2012 Donald H. Clanton Visiting Mathematician Program. 

Exact Solutions in Linear and Integer Programming

This lecture treats the problem of finding exact rational solutions.  While the details of the mathematical theory cannot be covered in a one hour lecture, Professor Cook was able to help the audience (me at least) understand the difficulties inherent in the computer’s limited numeric precision, the large number of calculations involved each with its inherent possible losses, and a number of approaches to reducing or at least managing these errors. With David L. Applegate, Robert E. Bixby, and Vasek Chvátal, William J. Cook is co-author of The Traveling Salesman Problem: A Computational Study

In Pursuit of the Salesman: Mathematics at the Limits of Computation

This lecture is  more accessible by the non-mathematician.  Professor Cook outlines the history and origins of the problem: How to minimize the length of the trip a salesman must make to visit all of the required cities.  The complexity of this problem grows super-exponentially with each added point. With delightful illustrations, pictures, and explanation he makes this problem come alive and helps us understand why the Traveling Salesman Problem is important not just to travelers but in genetics, manufacturing and astronomy.

Professor Cook’s book In Pursuit of the Salesman: Mathematics at the Limits of Computation be available in January, 2012.

If you have an opportunity to hear Professor Cook speak, do not miss it. You will enjoy his knowledge and excitement in mathematics.

We saw Leo Kottke at The Handlebar in Greenville, SC. last night There is no comparison.

Labor Day weekend is a big one in Dacusville, SC. Saturday and Sunday were the Dacusville Farm Days. This event has been going on on Labor Day for quite a number of years. A combination of tractor and engine show, crafts, traders, music, and fun. When Phillip and I went last year, we got there too late and missed the veneer mill. While we did see the sawmill operating, Phillip really wanted to see the veneer mill. I checked the on-line schedule and suggested that we get there by mid morning.

We got to the site on Pace Bridge Road right on schedule. The sawmill start was running late and the veneer was scheduled after that. While we were waiting for the mills to run, we got some pictures of the steam mill engine and it’s boiler, a shingle sawmill run from a tractor PTO belt, and more tractors than you can shake a bundle of sticks at.

Both the sawmill and the veneer mill are in separate sheds, each powered by its own large single cylinder diesel engine. The flywheels on the engines are about 6 feet in diameter. Since we got there early, we got to see the diesels started. First a pot-engine drives an air compressor to fill the receiver to 9.5 kg/cm2 (135psi). While this is going on, the starting team opens the cylinder head valve and moves the piston to top-dead-center by using a long metal bar engaged in holes in the flywheel to pull the flywheel around. Next the compression valve is closed and a plug on the cylinder-head is removed. Starting fluid is poured in and the plug replaced. When the air pressure is as required, a valve is opened and the fly is turned by compressed. Once the flywheel is turning, the engine begins to ignite fuel and white smoke pours out gradually becoming clearer as the engine begins to heat up. Once the engine is warmed up, a clutch is engaged to turn the line-shaft. Belts are checked. Everything is good. The engine is brought to operating speed and everything is now moving.

The saw mill consists of a carriage and circular saw. As the log is sawed, the slabs are take off the back and brought to and edge-saw table that makes a rough plank by trimming both edges as the slab is conveyed through the edge-saw. Lumber is taken of the back and stacked.

The veneer mill has a similar diesel engine. The veneer mill itself consists of a cast-iron frame with the log to be worked suspended by two long screw-jacks with face-plates that support and turn the log. the log is scored so that each turn produces two pieces. The jacks are turned by a large 2 m (6 ft) reduction gear. The horizontal veneer knife is held in a heavy cast-iron frame that is moved by a ratchet a little bit at a time into the log. Two men catch the veneers as they come off, roll them and hand them to spectators.

After watching sawing and veneer, we had some lunch. We looked for a friend who restores small engines and shows them at shows like this but he had already packed up by the time we were wandering around. After watching the blacksmith and the Parade of Power, we departed. Near the exit, we realized that we had just missed the threshing of about 25 bushels of wheat. Maybe next year.

For fans of Richard Scarry’s Cars and Trucks and Things That Go, Goldbug is on this page.
Sorry the picture is not perfect. After the first shot, she flew away.

Quite a few years ago, my late mother got a Sunbeam Electric Frying Pan. For some reason, I was at home from school (snowday? holiday?) and watching the “Today” show. A lady who may have been Estelle Parsons or perhaps Lee Meriweather presented a recipe for Sukiyaki. I saw a chance for my mother to use her new fry pan. I took notes. I noted especially that the the last ingredient was fresh spinach. “Mom can you make this”? She did. This is what I remember from the recipe. You can compare.
This is the recipe I recall, demo’ed by the Today show hostess. Set the fry pan to medium, a bit of vegetable oil, brown thin-sliced strips of beef. Set aside. Increase heat, brown carrot strips, celery, bamboo shoots (optional). Reset to medium. Add fresh spinach. Cover wait 3-4 minutes for spinach to cook. Serve with rice. Soy sauce.
Recently there was some left over steak strips and some bell peppers. The other night I made a sukiyaki-like dish as above, but no bamboo shoots using a conventional skillet over a gas stove. Pretty tasty. Should have used the whole bag of spinach though.