a riviting topic

[Stan Barr]

Hi,

Jules Richardson said:

> I've always wondered how the massive rivets on ships are put in, in 
> particular 
> how on earth they get them to also be watertight around the hole!

They're put in red hot and when they cool they contract and pull the
plates tightly together.  In modern times the heads are hammered into 
shape with a pneumatic hammer, but in older times it was 1, 2 or 3 
men swinging big hammers - I've watched both methods being used!


Incidentally, my mother was a rivetter in WW2, she made Spitfire wings
at Castle Bromwich, Birmingham - mostly left wings IIRC.


-- 
Cheers,
Stan Barr  stanb at dial.pipex.com

The future was never like this!