[Public-List] Propane bottles and the V2 aboard

[John Birch]

7 lb of propane in the bilge and a spark - can you say the first astronaught 
to go into space without a rocket or suit.

That wouldn't end well for sure.

When I was 16 or 17, my mates and I used to experiment with rockets and 
rocket fuels - got quite good at it. Even made up V-2 Rocket Fuel using 
manganese as a catalyst, H2O2 and Alcohol - hey I didn't have access to a 
ready supply of platinum as a catalyst.

We spent most of a semester at high school building a 7' long liquid fueled 
rocket. Spent ages in the machine shop surreptitiously making an aluminum 
engine and bell.

The igniter was magnesium wire bonded inside the engine with epoxy and the 
guidance system was a simple model airplane radio remote server set with 
vanes on the fins. With no access to pumps suitable we had a small air 
pressurized tank to force the fuel and H2O2 into the engine which we pumped 
up with a bicycle pump.

What we didn't know was that the igniter must be running before the fuel and 
peroxide going through the catalyst hits the engine. As we had no remote 
switching to turn on the fuel lines - we reversed the process and turned the 
lines on with breakaway string soaked in gun powder and then ran to the 
ditch and hit the igniter coil.

We figured it would rise like a Redstone.

Well, the Rocket disappeared completely in the resulting explosion and fire 
ball without a trace.

After months of work we were most disappointed. But it was "neat" and big 
explosion ; )

Later we leaned that the pure Oxygen we were producing through the catalyst 
pools into globules with alcohol and becomes highly unstable if allowed to 
do so without being burned to prevent pooling.

The Germans learned that the hard way 30 or so years before.

Anyway, one day when I was 14 - before the great rocket experiment, I wanted 
to experiment with Butane and it's heavier than air qualities. Model solid 
fuel rockets had become boring.

So I took a BIC lighter, discharged it without flame for 5 seconds into the 
toilet bowl. Stood back and tossed in a match. The resulting concussion was 
palpable and shook all the windows in the house.

As Tom Lehrer's great song 'Werner Von Braun' went, "once zey go up, who 
cares vhere zey come down, zat's not my department said Verner Von Braun"

I am always amazed that I am still alive with all ten - someone upstairs is 
looking after me.

Fools & drunks eh what !?

Best

John


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Hugh McCormack" <hugh_alberg at hotmail.com>
To: <public-list at lists.alberg30.org>
Sent: Sunday, March 14, 2010 4:30 PM
Subject: Re: [Public-List] Propane bottles


>
> Rod,
>
>
>
> We had a 40 lb bottle at work start to leak 2 summers ago.  It turned out 
> to have been over-filled and, as the tank warmed up, the tank 
> over-pressure vented through the relief valve which worked as designed. 
> We first thought that the valve was defective but when I took the tank to 
> the nearest propane dealer to find out what was wrong they found that the 
> tank was 7 lbs over weight even after an hour or more of venting.  They 
> weren't long venting the remaining excess and then they condemned the tank 
> because
> it was past its mandatory inspection.  It should never have been filled in 
> the first place!  The supervisor of the work crew who had planned to use 
> the tank was quite unconcerned about the potential hazard and was more 
> upset over the lost propane.
>
>
>
> Hugh
>
>> From: weatherhelm at hotmail.com
>> To: public-list at lists.alberg30.org
>> Date: Sun, 14 Mar 2010 13:47:37 -0400
>> Subject: [Public-List] Propane bottles
>>
>>
>> One more warning. I used to remove the one pound bottle from the camp 
>> stove and my plumbers torch when not in use until one time the seal on 
>> the bottle failed to close properly and an almost full pound of propane 
>> leaked out before I needed it next. That was a distressing discovery.
>> At least the 20 pound tank has a shut off valve. Has anyone experienced 
>> them leaking ?
>>
>> Rod
>>
>
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