Text 2550, 81 rader
Skriven 2005-09-16 07:01:42 av Greg Sears (3:633/104)
Ärende: BONE
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.  o  _   From the Desk of Greg Sears AREA: F-UNNY
. Q\_|_)   --=[ I C E-man's FUNNY BONE Collection Book for ALL ]=--
. T> III                     Page: 01


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                  Where do Specifications Come From?


  The US Standard railroad gauge (distance between the rails) is 4 feet,
  8.5 inches.  That's an exceedingly odd number.

  Why was that gauge used?

  Because that's the way they built them in England, and the US railroads
  were built by English expatriates.

  Why did the English people build them like that?

  Because the first rail lines were built by the same people who built the
  pre-railroad tramways, and that's the gauge they used.

  Why did *they* use that gauge then?

  Because the people who built the tramways used the same jigs and tools
  that they used for building wagons, which used that wheel spacing.

  Okay!  Why did the wagons use that odd wheel spacing?

  Well, if they tried to use any other spacing the wagons would break on
  some of the old, long distance roads, because that's the spacing of the
  old wheel ruts.

  So who built these old rutted roads?

  The first long distance roads in Europe were built by Imperial Rome for
  the benefit of their legions.  The roads have been used ever since.

  And the ruts?

  The initial ruts, which everyone else had to match for fear of destroy-
  ing their wagons, were first made by Roman war chariots.  Since the
  chariots were made for or by Imperial Rome they were all alike in the
  matter of wheel spacing.

  Thus, we have the answer to the original questions...

  The United State standard railroad gauge of 4 feet, 8.5 inches derives
  from the original specification (Military Spec) for an Imperial Roman
  army war chariot.  MilSpecs and Bureaucracies live forever.

  So, the next time you are handed a specification and wonder what horse's
  ass came up with it, you may be exactly right. Because the Imperial Roman
  chariots were made to be just wide enough to accommodate the back-ends
  of two war horses.

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