Is e-mail a blessing or a curse? Yes.

It's no understatement to say that e-mail has had a profound effect on our professional and personal lives. People thousands of miles away from each other can send and receive detailed documents within mere seconds. This allows us to take on projects that wouldn't have been practical or possible only a few years ago. It has become routine for us to correspond and exchange files with people overseas. The only obstacle is the difference in time zones.

But on the other hand, e-mail can eat up a substantial portion of our workday. Most of the time and effort involved is going through unsolicited messages and separating the good from the bad. But not all unsolicited messages are spam. (However, the huge amount of these unwanted messages became such a problem that I had our IT department install a spam filter into my e-mail software.)

Many of the unsolicited messages I receive are valuable, so it would be reckless for me to delete them without further investigation. After all, many of the messages we receive come from co-workers, and ignoring these messages could get you fired — especially if they're from your boss.

But the problem seems to be that many people aren't very considerate. For example, when a co-worker became a father recently, he e-mailed pictures of his newborn son to his friends at work. No problem there, but one of the recipients sent a reply to everyone on the list. All he said was, "Cute kid." I guess he thought it was important for me and 15 other people to read his profound statement. Either that, or he was unaware he could simply reply to the sender instead of to everyone.

This addresses the root of the problem: Most people were not taught e-mail etiquette. E-mail just sort of happened, and users often don't put much thought into how they use it. When I went to our IT department for training on some new e-mail features, I discovered an area of e-mail etiquette I was guilty of violating. (When replying to messages with attachments, my reply still had the files attached.) I suggested to the instructor that she hold a class on e-mail etiquette. She said she tried to, but met with a lot of resistance. It seems that most people feel they practice good etiquette, and they know how to use e-mail, so they equate this with knowing e-mail etiquette.

When comparing the time e-mail saves to the time it consumes, I sometimes wonder if we'd be better off without it. But how about you? Does e-mail take up a substantial part of your work day? And do you feel that most of the communication directed to you is unnecessary?

Maintaining journalism ethics

Early in my editorial career (probably 1983) while working on a different magazine, I was given an assignment by Jim Z, the publisher. Assignments usually came from my boss, the editor, so getting an assignment straight from by boss's boss meant I'd better get it done.

A new advertiser told Jim that its gearboxes were being used by a power company in Tampa, Fla., and it would make a good story. The gearbox manufacturer offered to pay all my travel expenses, so the publisher told me to head down to Tampa to get a story.

Most editors would consider this unethical because it compromises the magazine's editorial integrity -- producing editorial to as a favor to an advertiser. I understood this, but my own personal integrity came into play because I wasn't about to write something with my name on it unless it met my own personal standards. Besides, escaping a brutal Northeast Ohio winter for a few days in warm, sunny Florida sounded pretty good at the time.

After I arrived at my hotel in Tampa, Walt Monreal from the gearbox company took me to dinner. Things didn't get any better because Walt didn't know what I was supposed to write about.

So the next morning he took me to the power plant, and we met with one of the staff engineers. The engineer showed me around the place, and I started asking him technical questions about the gearbox application. Fortunately, I knew enough about gearing to ask some probing questions, so I learned some objective reasons why the power plant was using that particular type of gearbox. Turns out, the gearbox used case-hardened gears instead of through-hardened gears. So my story compared the benefits of case-hardened gear teeth to those of through hardened, not about brand names or anything. Of course, I used the gearbox as my example.

So I got a good story and also a great shot for the front cover of the issue. The gearbox was situated at the top of a tall conveyor, and the background showed a panoramic view of the plant.

I also got a couple shots of the staff engineer checking the oil in the gearbox using a dipstick. Problem was, he had a huge Band-Air on his chin from having a boil removed a couple days prior. This was before the days of Photoshop, but I figured our photo expert, Ted Michols could retouch the photo. And he did. He ended up giving the engineer a goatee. Fortunately, he liked it, so all ended well.

Something I thought I'd never see

A couple weeks ago Mike Ference and I visited an advertising and PR agency in downtown Cleveland. The office is on the sixth floor, so, naturally, we'd take the elevator. We entered the Artcraft Building on Superior Ave., but instead of seeing the usual bank of elevators, we saw a single wooden and glass door with a button next to it.
I pushed the button, and within a few seconds, the elevator arrived. Much to my surprise, an operator was inside. I thought these were all long gone. But a second entrance to the building has another elevator.
The operator's name is John, and he said the building opened in 1919, so the elevators are 91 years old. I think John siad it was a shirt factory until the 1950s. It has since been converted to offices and studios. But the original elevators are still intact.

A preventive preventative

Since becoming an editor almost 30 years ago, I've enjoyed studying word usage. Why do we use one word over another?

Most of the time, we use similar words interchangeably, even though they each may have distinct meanings. Unfortunately, we sometimes use the wrong word. In my opinion, this is because we're not actually taught to talk; we just pick up our native language and begin using words we've heard in certain contexts many times over. If we hear two different words used in the same context, we may assign them the same meaning. When we become students of words, we want to differentiate similar words and their meanings.

If the difference is subtle, the misuse may go unnoticed -- such as using acquire rather than obtain. However, sometimes the use is glaring -- such as using literally instead of figuratively.

Which brings me to preventive and preventative. I have usually held the opinion that the word preventative does not exist. When the word popped up in manuscripts, and I would always change it to preventive. It just seemed silly to add an extra syllable to a word.

Then my daughter, Sally, chimed in with the same gripe, so I began a little research. Now, word usage and definitions are subjective, but I concluded that preventive should be used as an adjective, and preventative should be used as a noun. For example, "Changing your car's oil regularly is an effective means of preventive maintenance." Or, "Inoculations are an effective preventative against disease." In the first case, preventive modifies the noun maintenance. In the second, preventative is the noun itself.

I should probably share what I learned about my initial examples: obtain and acquire, and literally and figuratively. From my limited research, I reached the conclusion that obtain means to take possession of something deliberately, whereas acquire means to take possession whether intentional or not. If you buy a shirt at a second-hand store, you have obtained the shirt. But if there happens to be a $20 bill in the pocket of the shirt, you have acquired $20. Interestingly, most PR people announce that their company has acquired a smaller company. This implies that the acquisition was purely a stroke of luck, rather than the result of long and careful consideration.

I am always amused when someone misapplies the word literally -- especially if they are a communications professional, and, hence, should know better. I still remember an entertainment critic writing, "Her performance was so captivating, she literally held the audience in the palm of her hand." Either this performer had one huge hand, or her audience was composed of ants. Obviously, the writer meant to use figuratively. To me, when someone misapplies the word literally, it makes them sound like they're trying to appear smarter than they are by using big words they don't know the meaning of.

So when I am speaking of people who possess something, and I don't know if they obtained it deliberately or if it just fell into their lap, I will say that they "obtained, acquired, or otherwise took possession of" the item. I know. It's annoying, but sometimes I like to be annoying.

Airline humor

Kulula is an airline with head offices in Johannesburg, South Africa. I hear that Kulula airline flight attendants try to make the in-flight safety lecture and announcements somewhat entertaining. Here are some supposedly real examples that have been heard or reported (whether real or not, they are funny):

As with Southwest Airlines in the US, there is no assigned seating on Kulula flights. Passengers were apparently having a hard time choosing, so a flight attendant announced, "People, people we're not picking out furniture here, find a seat and get in it!"

On another flight with a very "senior" flight attendant crew, the pilot said, "Ladies and gentlemen, we've reached cruising altitude and will be turning down the cabin lights. This is for your comfort and to enhance the appearance of your flight attendants."

On landing, a flight attendant said, "Please be sure to take all of your belongings. If you're going to leave anything, please make sure it's something we'd like to have."

"There may be 50 ways to leave your lover, but there are only four ways out of this airplane."

"Thank you for flying Kulula. We hope you enjoyed giving us the business as much as we enjoyed taking you for a ride."

After a particularly rough landing during thunderstorms, a flight attendant on a flight announced, "Please take care when opening the overhead compartments because, after a landing like that, sure as hell everything has shifted."

"Welcome aboard Kulula 271 to Port Elizabeth. To operate your seat belt, insert the metal tab into the buckle, and pull tight. It works just like every other seat belt; and, if you don't know how to operate one, you probably shouldn't be out in public unsupervised."

"In the event of a sudden loss of cabin pressure, masks will descend from the ceiling. Stop screaming, grab the mask, and pull it over your face. If you have a small child traveling with you, secure your mask before assisting with theirs. If you are traveling with more than one small child, pick your favorite."

"Weather at our destination is 50° with some broken clouds, but we'll try to have them fixed before we arrive. Thank you, and remember, nobody loves you, or your money, more than Kulula Airlines."

"Your seats cushions can be used for flotation; and in the event of an emergency water landing, please paddle to shore and take them with our compliments."

"As you exit the plane, make sure to gather all of your belongings. Anything left behind will be distributed evenly among the flight attendants. Please do not leave children or spouses."

And from the pilot during his welcome message: "Kulula Airlines is pleased to announce that we have some of the best flight attendants in the industry. Unfortunately, none of them are on this flight!"

Heard on Kulula 255 just after a very hard landing in Cape Town: The flight attendant came on the intercom and said, "That was quite a bump and I know what you are all thinking. I'm here to tell you it wasn't the airline's fault, it wasn't the pilot's fault, it wasn't the flight attendant's fault, it was the asphalt."

Overheard on a Kulula flight into Cape Town , on a particularly windy and bumpy day: During the final approach, the Captain really had to fight it. After an extremely hard landing, the flight attendant said, "Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to The Mother City. Please remain in your seats with your seat belts fastened while the captain taxis what's left of our airplane to the gate!"

Another flight attendant's comment on a less than perfect landing: "We ask you to please remain seated as Captain Kangaroo bounces us to the terminal."

An airline pilot wrote that on this particular flight he had hammered his ship into the runway really hard. The airline had a policy which required the first officer to stand at the door while the passengers exited, smile, and give them a "Thanks for flying our airline. He said that, in light of his bad landing, he had a hard time looking the passengers in the eye, thinking that someone would have a smart comment. Finally everyone had gotten off except for a little old lady walking with a cane. She said, "Sir, do you mind if I ask you a question?"
"Why, no ma'am," said the pilot. "What is it?"
The lady said, "Did we land, or were we shot down?"

After a real crusher of a landing in Johannesburg , the attendant came on with, "Ladies and Gentlemen, please remain in your seats until Captain Crash and the Crew have brought the aircraft to a screeching halt against the gate. And, once the tire smoke has cleared and the warning bells are silenced, we will open the door and you can pick your way through the wreckage to the terminal.."

Part of a flight attendant's arrival announcement: "We'd like to thank you folks for flying with us today. And, the next time you get the insane urge to go blasting through the skies in a pressurized metal tube, we hope you'll think of Kulula Airways."

Heard on a Kulula flight. "Ladies and gentlemen, if you wish to smoke, the smoking section on this airplane is on the wing.. If you can light 'em, you can smoke 'em."

And my personal favorite:

After a plane taking off from Durban airport reached cruising altitude, the captain made an announcement over the intercom: "Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking. Welcome to Flight 293, non-stop from Durban to Cape Town. The weather ahead is good and, therefore, we should have a smooth and uneventful flight. Now sit back and relax... OH, MY GOODNESS!" Silence followed, and after a few minutes, the captain came back on the intercom and said, "Ladies and Gentlemen, I am so sorry if I scared you earlier. While I was talking to you, the flight attendant accidentally spilled a cup of hot coffee on my lap. You should see the front of my pants!" A passenger then quipped, "That's nothing. You should see the back of mine!"

My hydraulic watch

Dave Barry was a humor columnist for the Miami Herald, and repeats of his columns still appear in my local paper, the Lake County News-Herald. Every year, Dave devoted a column to his annual “Holiday Gift Guide,” in which he wrote about the most ridiculous merchandise he could find. He attributed most of the entries to submissions from readers.
A few weeks before Christmas a few years ago, I pulled out the News-Herald and started reading Dave’s “Holiday Gift Guide.” After finishing the first column of type, my eyes jumped to the second column and found a gaping hole in the page — not missing text, but, literally, a hole in the page!
I questioned my wife about the missing segment, but she denied any knowledge of how an entire column of type came up missing. “No problem,” I said, “I’ll just go to the library at lunch tomorrow and read what I missed.” She quickly recanted, and insisted that this wasn’t the time of year for me to be doing such things. Obviously, then, she was planning on getting me something ridiculous for Christmas or my birthday, which happens to fall two days after Christmas. Because I had forced her hand, I figured she’d retaliate by making me wait the extra two days to find out what totally useless item I’d be stuck with.
Sure enough, come Christmas, I received nothing that was extremely unusual or impractical. So when my birthday arrived, among the gifts was a small box containing the missing segment of Dave Barry’s column. Also in the box was literature describing “The Hydraulic Watch,” and, of course, the watch. Rather than describe the watch, I’ll quote a few excerpts from Dave’s column. “It is a hefty hunk of alloy metal — that’s right, mister, ALLOY metal — made in China, a nation famous around the world for the quantity of its watches. . . This is not some wussy little foo-foo girly-girl watch that, when you want to know what time it is, you just look at it. . . When you want to know what time it is, you pull a knob, which activates a hydraulic piston mechanism, which raises a little cover, thus revealing the watch face. . . Geraldo Rivera buys these babies by the case.” Dave also sarcastically referred to the watch’s $19.95 price tag as being evidence of it being a quality timepiece.
As it turns out, the idea of bestowing this coveted treasure on me did not originate with my wife. My son, Adam, read the column, then pointed it out to her saying, “Mom, you have got to get this for Dad!” I guess they both figured the editor of Hydraulics & Pneumatics wouldn’t be complete without the "hydraulic" watch.
But the biggest surprise came when I actually tried the watch. Well, okay, the biggest surprise was learning that there was such a thing as a hydraulic watch. So the second biggest surprise was trying it out. It isn’t hydraulic at all! The cover is spring loaded, so pulling out a retaining pin causes a spring to snap the cover open. The two “hydraulic” cylinders are purely for show — and about as useless as a belt when you’re wearing suspenders.

Living with a prototype

Even though I have never built a hydraulic or pneumatic system, I think some lessons learned from re-plumbing sections of my 100-year-old house apply to fluid power. One lesson (which I have learned time and again) is that good intentions certainly don’t guarantee successful results.
For example, as long as I had to install additional plumbing, I thought I’d be clever by upgrading some of the existing plumbing in the basement to minimize flow restrictions. I did this by using 3⁄4-in. tubing, fittings, and valves instead of 1⁄2 in. — plus I?used ball valves instead of the standard globe valves. My thinking was that minimizing restrictions would maximize flow rate. This would make running water for a bath, doing a load of laundry, or filling a pitcher of water go quicker because the water would flow faster. Sounds reasonable, but my great idea backfired.
What I neglected to account for was fluid conductivity — also known as flow coefficient, or Cv — a topic we discuss somewhat regularly in this magazine. Basically, when you have a series of restrictions (fittings, valves, and the tubing itself), and one restriction is considerably greater than any of the others, that restriction affects system flow more than all of the other restrictions combined. In my case, faucets at the end of each run all have relatively narrow passageways, so the restriction created by the faucet is considerably higher than anything else in that run. Consequently, using larger components upstream has not increased flow from any faucet.
The 3⁄4-in. tubing, in fact, has a negative effect, because it holds roughly twice as much water as 1⁄2-in. tubing does. So when I want hot water from the faucet, it takes twice as long for the water to get hot because twice as much cold water must first flow from the 3⁄4-in. tubing before hot water reaches the faucet. The water doesn’t flow any faster, plus it takes longer to get hot water, which increases energy used by the water heater.
But all is not lost. I still think it was a good idea to use the ball valves. They work quickly and effortlessly and achieve a leak-tight seal. The unrestricted, straight-through design poses no real benefit for my application, but I certainly can see the advantages for fluid power systems. Not only that, but they look great. A finished assembly of copper elbows, tees, tubing, and brass valves all soldered together is a thing of beauty. It seems a shame to hide it deep within the framework of my house where no one will see it. So now I can appreciate what designers of fluid power systems go through. After weeks of discussion, design, revision, construction, testing, more discussion, and maybe more revision, the reward for a designer is seeing his or her work become such an integral part of a machine that few observers are even aware that fluid power is at work.
But at least designers in industry can make prototypes, which gives them the chance to iron out unforeseen problems. Better still are simulation programs, which allow designers to test their work as a virtual machine. I didn’t use simulation to test my idea, so I’ll just have to live with the finished design, which also happens to be the prototype.

Meeting a worldwide celebrity

A trip to Disneyland or Universal Studios would be an enjoyable part of a vacation for any of us. But to see attractions at these parks from the inside truly is one of the highlights of my editorial career. Writing articles based on these visits is always a real challenge — in part because I have to leave out so much fascinating information that goes beyond the scope of the articles. Probably as much information is not written about as what is.
It's amazing how quickly some of these monumental projects come to fruition and a real testimony to engineering experience in finding solutions through precise, systematic techniques. For example, years ago I met with R. Duncan Mackenzie, whose company, Hoffend & Sons, Inc., Honeoye, N.Y., won a contract to design and install an attraction at Universal Studios Hollywood. Duncan explained that after receiving the contract to design and install hydraulic and control systems for the attraction, he and his associates started drawings in January and completed the project, including testing, in time for its opening in June the same year.
Another major attraction at Universal had a total turnaround time of only four months, according to its builder. Circumstances kept me from examining the fluid power in this major attraction, but it contains numerous special effects using hydraulics as well as pneumatics, not to mention fiery explosions, crashes, and chases.
On another front, ride simulators continue to gain popularity in parks not only with the public, but with park management as well. The simulators give the illusion of motion with an audio-visual presentation synchronized with multi-axial movement from a hydraulically articulated base. For a believable simulation, the hydraulics not only have to be in precise synchronization with audio-visual effects, but must also produce sharp, distinct motion. Charles Robertson, an electrohydraulics consultant I met with, illustrated this by explaining how a simulator his company helped build used quick-response servovalves to produce sharp movement of a motion base to simulate impact from hard objects. Later, a similar motion base was built using proportional valves instead of servovalves. As a result, the simulated impacts were not sharp and felt as if the vehicle was under attack by an army of hostile marshmallows.
Oh, yes, the picture. When I arrived at Disneyland at 6:30 a.m., my host, Jack Shippy, was already at work on Splash Mountain. We finished our business some time after 2 o’clock that afternoon, which gave me a few hours to take in the pleasures of Disneyland from out front with the other guests. I ran into Mickey Mouse, Disneyland’s “Big Cheese”, and just had to get my picture taken with him. Mr. Mouse is the one on the left.

And the survey says. . .

Julie Ritchie has been conducting market research at Penton (the company that publishes H&P) for more than 20 years. As is typical of the “old-time” Penton people, Julie takes pride in her work and absolutely will not sacrifice credibility.
Julie sent me a copy of a readership survey, which was e-mailed at random to 10,000 subscribers — about 1/5th of our total. It looks like a very accurate survey because the results mirror the facts.
One fact is that of our total of 51,021 qualified subscribers, 6478, or 12.7%, receive the digital version of H&P. In Julie’s survey, 14% indicated that they receive the digital version. That’s not exact, but it’s pretty close, and probably excellent results for a random sample survey.
As with most surveys, this one consisted mainly of multiple choice questions. This makes it easy to tabulate results and post them into charts and graphs. But what I really like about Julie’s surveys is that she gives participants an opportunity to enter comments in their own words.
Question #3 of the survey asked readers why they prefer to receive the magazine in the format they do — print or digital. The top three responses among print subscribers were that it’s easier to read, it can be read any time, and it’s easier to carry, in that order.
But I was surprised at the #1 answer among those receiving the magazine through their computer: it’s environmentally friendly. Now this is purely speculation, but I presume that the average age of these readers is less than the average age of readers who receive the magazine in print. If this is true, then you could conclude that the younger readers are more likely to conserve paper than the older ones are.
If this is true, then techniques for designing more environmentally friendly fluid power systems must be of keen interest to these younger readers, and I suspect it is. But this is nothing new. We’ve stepped up our coverage relating fluid power systems to the environment for years.
This survey was conducted primarily for demographics, to learn the information-gathering habits of the “typical” reader. But Julie also conducts surveys to find out what type of information readers are looking for — what they like, don’t like, what they’d like to see more of, etc. So when the time comes for that kind of survey, I’ll be eager to see if environmental issues are among the top interests of readers.

Hydraulics — a modern marvel

Modern Marvels has been a long running series on The History Channel — known today, simply, as History. The producers never seem to run out of ideas, and they always do a great job with their presentations.

Back in 2004, The History Channel released an episode on hydraulics. Although I have a couple minor issues with the content, in general, I think the producers did a superb job.

They present the content in a way that would interest people well-versed in hydraulics, who know nothing about it, or anyone in between.

I found a link that previews the first five minutes of the episode. To view it, click here. And if you download the Veoh web player, you can watch watch the entire 45-min episode. Or go to History's website, and buy the DVD.

I corresponded with one of the producers of Modern Marvels to suggest they create an episode about pneumatics. He asked me to provide some impressive examples of pneumatics, but I didn't hear back from him. But who knows, maybe some day. . .

Dealing with stress

I don't know who the author is, but the following advice sounds pretty good to me.

A lecturer, when explaining stress management to an audience, raised a glass of water and asked, "How heavy is this glass of water?"
Answers ranged from 20g to 500g. The lecturer replied, "The absolute weight doesn't matter. It depends on how long you try to hold it. If I hold it for a minute, that's not a problem. If I hold it for an hour, I'll have an ache in my right arm. If I hold it for a day, you'll have to call an ambulance. In each case, it's the same weight, but the longer I hold it, the heavier it becomes."
He continued, "And that's the way it is with stress management. If we carry our burdens all the time, sooner or later, as the burden becomes increasingly heavy, we won't be able to carry on. You have to put the glass of water down for a while and rest before holding it again. Likewise, once you're refreshed, you can carry on with the burden.
"So before you return home tonight, put the burden of work down. Don't carry it home; you can pick it up tomorrow. Put it down, and don't pick it up again until after you've rested a while."

Here are some tidbits from the same author:

* Accept that some days you're the pigeon, and some days you're the statue.

* Always keep your words soft and sweet, just in case you have to eat them.

* Always wear stuff that will make you look good if you die in the middle of it.

* Drive carefully. It's not only cars that can be "recalled" by their maker.

* If you can't be kind, at least have the decency to be vague.

* If you lend someone $20 and never see that person again, it was probably worth it.

* Your sole purpose in life may simply be to be kind to others.

* Never put both feet in your mouth at the same time or you won't have a leg to stand on.

* Nobody cares if you can't dance well. Just get up and dance.

* When everything's coming your way, you're in the wrong lane.

* Birthdays are good for you. The more you have, the longer you live.

* You may be only one person in the world, but you may also be the world to one person.

* Some mistakes are too much fun to only make once.

*A truly happy person is one who can enjoy the scenery on a detour.

* We could learn a lot from crayons... Some are sharp, some are pretty and some are dull. Some have weird names, and all are different colors, but they all live in the same box.

There's no business like...

Through the years, I've been fortunate enough to sometimes write and edit article dealing with the entertainment industry. These usually involved thrill rides at amusement parks but also included special effects used in movies and in live theater. Developing these articles generally turns up much more information than space allows to print or that deviates from the magazine's focus of system design.

One article I remember in particular involved an interview with Dan Hoffman, of Showtech, Inc., I learned how he sometimes has to overcome directors' fears or negative perceptions of hydraulics. Dan said this problem usually is overcome once a director discovers that hydraulics was instrumental in the success of other impressive effects. For example, in a production of Peter and the Wolf, Showtech was called on to supply a mechanism that would whisk an actor ten feet off the ground to the top of a tree in about a second with rigging not visible to the audience.

Dan housed a hydraulic power unit and cylinder inside the tree trunk and connected a block-and-tackle assembly to the cylinder rod to gain mechanical advantage. The block-and-tackle arrangement multiplied the stroke of the cylinder but divided its force by an equal factor. This meant hydraulics was the only choice for generating the high force and rapid linear motion needed. A cable on the output end of the block-and-tackle assembly ran inside a low hanging tree branch containing a track. Hooking the end of this cable to a harness on the actor and activating the hydromechanical system gave the impression that the actor lept ten feet from a standing position without any visible cables.

Another problem is how financially risky show business can be for those who are not involved directly. Dan said that in legitimate theater, a contractor like Showtech often can win or lose a bid based on a prep charge. A prep charge is the fixed cost a contractor charges a production company to complete the project at hand. The rest of the money comes from the lease agreement between the contractor and production company. What makes the financial picture so risky is that the contractor has to predict how well a show will do when figuring fixed and contract charges. If he thinks a show will do well -- and, therefore, run for a long time -- he can recover his investment just on the lease agreement and not even quote a prep charge. However, if he thinks a show may close after only a brief run, he will tend to quote a high prep charge because a short lease term will not cover his investment.

What complicates matters even more is competition. If a competitor thinks a show will do well but you don't, you'll likely lose the contract because of your higher prep charge. So trying to win a contract tends to keep your prep charge low, but minimizing risk tends to keep it high. But I guess that's show business.

An early lesson in motion control

One of my favorite toys as a pre-teen was a tape recorder, which brought many, many hours of creative entertainment. After recording various bodily function noises (some genuine, others fabricated) toilet flushings, etc., my friends and I graduated to making parodies of TV and radio commercials, TV shows, and even made our own skits. But my first tape recorder also taught me my first lesson in drive design, although I’m getting ahead of myself.

My first tape recorder was a real cheapie, and quite primitive. We’re talking about the old reel-to-reel jobs — early sixties, just before cassettes fell into favor. This machine drove a takeup reel at a constant rotational speed to pull the tape past a record and playback head. The trouble is, as more and more tape wound around the takeup reel, its effective diameter increased, so the tape at the beginning of the reel traveled at a slower linear speed than tape did at the end.

This simple setup posed no problem as long as I recorded and played back tapes on the same machine. However, I noticed a big difference when I got my second reel-to-reel machine. The new one worked great, but when I played back tapes that had been recorded on the old machine, the speed was off. The beginning of tapes played too fast, and the end of tapes played too slow. Further study revealed the problem.

The new reel-to-reel machine used what I later learned is called a capstan drive. Capstans were used by most reel-to-reel tape recorders, and many years later I learned that they are used extensively in industry. They serve as an effective way to maintain constant linear speed of material winding onto or unwinding from a spool or reel.

Unlike my first tape recorder, the second one’s motor didn’t drive the tape takeup spindle directly. Instead, it drove the spindle through a torque-limiting clutch. The clutch transmitted just enough torque to spin the takeup reel and apply tension to the tape. The tape itself got pinched between a pair of rollers (the capstan) spinning at a constant speed. This allowed the tape to run at a constant speed, regardless of how much tape was on the takeup reel.

So even though this wasn’t my first lesson in fluid power, it did provide an important lesson in drive design and motion control. I just didn’t call it that.

Catching forty winks

As Labor Day weekend approaches, I reflect on the era when the Monday after Labor Day meant the opening of the SAE Off-Highway Show in Milwaukee. The first time I attended an SAE Off-Highway Show was in 1981, during my first year as an editor. I worked for a different magazine then, Power Transmission Design, and that trip left quite an impression. A new chief editor had just been appointed to PTD, and after becoming acclimated to her new position, she realized that no editor had yet been assigned to cover the Off-Highway Show. So the week just before the show, I was instructed to arrange travel arrangements to attend.
The show was doing pretty well then, so there wasn’t a hotel room to be had in downtown Milwaukee. This meant I’d have to rent a car and stay on the outskirts of town somewhere. No problem. After many attempts, I finally landed a room — at the 40 Winks Motel.
I arrived at the 40 Winks, then drove downtown the next morning to attend an editor’s breakfast and press conference. About ten of us were seated at a table, and most of these guys obviously knew each other. Now keep in mind, I only 27 at the time, and had only been an editor for a few months. Prior to that, I didn’t know the difference between a font and a sidebar, so I felt a little intimidated and apprehensive. But I don’t remember doing or saying anything to embarrass myself.
Eventually, the conversation drifted to where each person was staying. One guy made some remarks about his room at the Hyatt. The man to his left was staying at the Marc Plaza. A couple others were at the Pfister. Each man took his turn, moving clockwise around the table. I remember thinking (or maybe it was a silent prayer), “Please let the conversation switch to something else before it’s my turn. I don’t want to say I’m at the 40 Winks.” Fortunately, the topic of conversation did change before it was my “turn,” so I was off the hook.
I had a pleasant stay at the 40 Winks and have even gone back a couple times. It seemed like a ma-and-pa operation at the time, and has gone through at least one expansion — so they must be doing something right. Unfortunately, I don't have many business trips to Milwaukee any more; the last one was probably 10 years ago. I remember seeing a sign at the 40 Winks about rooms with water beds. So the last I stayed at the 40 Winks, I requested a room with a water bed. The bed was comfortable enough, but I couldn't help but think what must've gone on in that room after seeing the giant mirror mounted onto the ceiling!

Focus on efficiency

It’s always a good idea to design for efficiency whenever you can. But efficiency can be a hard sell unless the buyer or management sees higher efficiency as a smart investment.
I visited a Baldor Electric, a manufacturer of electric motors, drives, and, controls, and learned about substantial reductions in electricity costs that can be had simply by specifying higher efficiency motors. The presentation was geared toward general-purpose motors in the manufacturing plant, but energy savings could also become a selling point if you specify electric motors for hydraulic power units.
John McFarland, president and CEO of Baldor, pointed out that more than 97% of the money spent on a motor goes toward the electricity to run it. More specifically, the average 3-phase, 50-hp, 1800-rpm motor will consume $36,029 worth of electricity if operated continuously over the course of a year. This assumes a very modest $0.10/kW-hr rate for electricity and motor efficiency of 90.7%. However, a premium efficiency (94.5%) motor operating under the same conditions would consume $34,580 worth of electricity. McFarland noted that the $1449 savings in the first year alone would almost pay for the entire motor -- not just the difference in price. Now multiply this saving by an expected life of ten years (which seems rather conservative), and the cost of a $2000 motor compares to a total cost of $360,000.
Granted, most motors aren’t 50 hp and don’t operate fully loaded 24/7. However, for most industrial hydraulic systems, the power unit’s electric motor is running whenever the machine is on. And in many cases, the motor runs fully loaded most of the time. So if the power unit is running 16 hr/day, six days a week, the savings can still be substantial.
Literature provided by Baldor lists figures for motors sized from 1 to 200 hp, so let’s look at a situation more typical of an industrial hydraulic system. According to Baldor, a standard 10-hp motor has an efficiency of 86.1%, which would use $7591 worth of electricity annually if operated continuously. But 4800 hr/yr seems more reasonable for a typical power unit. This amounts to 16 hours per day, six days a week, with two weeks off, which translates to $4159/yr. Baldor publishes their 10-hp premium motor as having an efficiency of 91.7%, which would consume $7127 of electricity annually. Again, though, at 4800 hr/yr, this would translate to $3905 -- an annual savings of $254.
But if the motor runs only about 55% of the time, then we should upgrade its expected life proportionally -- to 18.25 years. So for our example, the total energy cost savings from specifying a premium efficiency motor would amount to $4635. And don’t forget, these figures are based on electricity at $0.10/kW-hr. Ten cents is too low for situations, and rates will likely increase even more over time.
After the formal presentation, someone remarked that many designers are well aware of the benefits of specifying more energy efficient components. The problem is that sometimes the people who won’t approve spending a little more for higher energy efficiency are the same ones who threaten to cut jobs if expenses (such as the electricity bill) are not reduced. Therefore, because you have read this far, it now has become your task to share this information with whoever has been complaining about your facility’s electricity bill.

Hyped up over hybrids

Seems like everything is hybrid these days. My dad had a degree in agriculture from Michigan state, and I remember him telling me about how crops were bred to produce hybrid species that were highly resistant to certain diseases, drought, and other conditions — and that was more than 40 years ago.

Ever since the introduction of hybrid cars, we see the word hybrid popping up everywhere. A news release arrived awhile back describing a new hybrid excavator from Doosan Infracore, Atlanta, scheduled for launch in North America in 2012.

Why is this excavator a hybrid? The release explained that the excavator “will be equipped with a diesel engine, electric swing motor, electric converter, and an ultra-capacitor that will store excess energy during turning and light-duty operations. The reserve electricity will then be used to assist the power of the engine during heavier work; allowing the engine to maintain low revolutions and high efficiency combustion during acceleration.”

Now I’m not surprised that Doosan is replacing the conventional hydraulic swing drive with an electric drive. Hydraulic gear motors are normally used for this function. And although gear motors are powerful, reliable, inexpensive, and extremely compact, they’re not especially efficient. Plus, the rotary output of a hydraulic motor can easily be accomplished with an electric motor — even if the electric package must be larger and heavier. So it stands to reason that if efficiency is your primary goal, you’d consider using an electric motor for the swing drive.

However, Doosan could probably save all that trouble by using a moreefficient bent-axis piston motor instead of the gear motor and use an accumulator instead of the “ultra capacitor” for energy storage. Plus, the hydraulic solution would eliminate the likelihood of overheating the motor and avoid the potential dangers of electricity. After all, excavators are often used near water and out in the rain.

But what I found more puzzling was that Doosan made no mention of using a hydraulic fan drive to cool the excavator’s diesel engine. Hydraulic fan drives can substantially improve fuel efficiency and reduce emissions of diesel engines. How substantial? According to Gary Gotting, of High Country Tek, a manufacturer of electronic controls (including those for hydraulic fan drives), testing has shown that simply replacing a vehicle’s conventional belt-driven fan with a hydraulic fan drive can cut fuel consumption by 14.5%.

For the record, I contacted Doosan to find out what type of drive this machine will use for its cooling system. I was told it uses a conventional belt driven fan drive. Therefore, if Doosan’s goal is to produce the “greenest” excavator on the market, I think they’re missing out if they don’t investigate the virtues of hydraulic fan drives. These fuel savers have been popping up in all kinds of off-highway equipment. They’re just not getting all the hype of hybrid electric drives.

Stop leakage — and lose weight

What can you compare leakage to? I believe an appropriate analogy to preventing leakage is losing weight. At one time or another, most of us have tried a variety of techniques to lose weight. Some were more successful than others. But unless you stuck with your commitment, the weight came back.
Granted, some people are lucky enough to not have to battle with their waistline or cholesterol count. Others just seem to have it in their nature to exercise regularly and eat right. I would compare this second group to a hydraulic or pneumatic system that has all of its connections brazed together: leakage usually isn't much of a problem.
On the other end of the weight-loss spectrum is people who know they should lose weight but do little about it. Their effort may amount to having a Diet Coke with their double cheeseburger. (Sounds familiar.) Compare this to technicians who deal with leaks by using a drip pan or absorbent sock to collect the fluid. They treat the symptoms, not the cause.
Preventing leakage starts with an understanding of its root causes. Understanding, of course, comes from education, and this is where the continuing commitment comes into play. Talk to your suppliers about training materials to help you in your battle against leakage. Note, however, that you won't simply attend a couple of classes, put what you learn into practice, and be done. And remember to share the information with others, especially newcomers.
Studying leakage will teach you that one of the main culprits is the use of pipe fittings. So start your mission by doing what so many other companies have done: ban the use of pipe fittings. Pipe fittings are cheap and readily available, but that low price is the same temptation as a free piece of French Silk pie is to a dieter.
Another technique is simply to specify the right fitting for an application at the start. Leaks often are caused by a joint using three or more fittings screwed together, when one or two fittings of the right configuration would have done the same job. Every time you eliminate a fitting from a system, you eliminate a potential leakage point. Better still, a manifold containing multiple valves can eliminate dozens of fittings, along with sections of hose and tubing.
There's a lot more you can do. One is to become familiar with standard and proprietary fittings designed to be leak-free. Another is to go to our website, www.hydraulicspneumatics.com, and type leakage into the search box at the right side of the home page. Or talk to your suppliers for their ideas on how to reduce leakage in your designs.
Finally, instead of that double cheeseburger, order a grilled chicken sandwich with your Diet Coke. I'll try to do the same.

What makes standardization so difficult?

As we become increasingly global in our everyday dealings, differences in units of measure become more obvious. The push for U. S. adoption of the metric system has been going on for generations. It will probably never happen — at least officially — because no administration will want to have to force multiple industries to bear the tremendous cost of converting to metric measurements. In fact, I think it would be more likely for an administration to introduce legislation declaring English as the official language of the U.S. — a move that would actually save money by eliminating the costs associated with producing government documents in two languages. Most industries would also benefit from such a move.

I was recently reminded of all this while traveling through New York and Massachusetts. In most states, mile markers on interstate highway exits are numbered according to the preceding mile marker, so it's easy to tell how far it is between exits using simple arithmetic. However, exit numbers on interstate highways in New York and Massachusetts do not coincide with mileage markers — they are simply numbered sequentially, with no regard for mile markers. So if you've just passed exit 15, you have no way of determining how far it is to exit 16 — it could be 5 miles or 55 miles.

Standardizing on exit numbers should be easy and relatively inexpensive — at least compared to switching to the metric system. So if it is so difficult to standardize on exit numbers, it must be wishful thinking to expect governmental endorsement of the metric system in our lifetime.

If we ever do adopt the metric system, I'm sure it will result from the accumulated voluntary actions of individual industries — much like the fluid power industry's adoption of so many useful standards. If so, it would happen the same way you'd eat an elephant — one bite at a time.

My connection to a serial killer

If you're like me, you sometimes enter your name into a search engine to see what, if anything, comes up.
I did this back in 2008, and my name popped up in a list of credits for a true-crime novel written a few years ago. After a few more clicks, I found a few details about the book — Into the Water, by Diane Fanning — and the name of the serial killer, Richard Marc Evonitz.
None of this rang a bell at first, but the credit line included my job title, editor of Hydraulics & Pneumatics. So I went to our website and entered Evonitz's name into our search menu. This produced a single hit, an article titled "Compressed air: it's what's for dinner."
The article was originally published in December 2001, but I remembered it right away because I don't do many articles on food processing. I pulled out a copy of the issue and and began reading the article, which I had edited. Then more came back to me. I remembered talking with this guy on the phone quite a bit. Potential authors of technical articles often leave out basic, but important details in their manuscripts. That was the case here, so I talked with Mr. Evonitz several times on the phone to obtain the info I felt was needed. I can still remember his voice -- deep and authoritative. He seemed to know the subject matter very well.
Of course, I had to pick up a copy of the book. I read through it, and then I realized why I was listed as a credit. I remembered getting a call some time after Evonitz's article had been published. This would've been back in 2002, when many people still used the phone as their first line of communication instead of e-mail. Anyway, I remember a lady asking me questions about an author I had worked with. I suppose I had assumed she was writing a technical book. Most of the people I deal with are interested in some form of technology, so I didn't think much of it.
I also remembered that a couple years later, I tried to reach Mr. Evontiz. Again, I don't often write about food processing, so because I had found a good source, I intended to go back to that source for some another article.
Now, I remember this next part because it was so odd. I called the phone number I had for Evonitz, and I ended up talking to the receptionist. When I told her I wanted to speak with Marc Evonitz, she quickly replied, "He's dead!" and hung up. Again, this was highly unusual.
Now it made sense. The receptionist must've been so short with me because the company kept getting prank calls because they had employed a serial killer. I was surprised that Ms. Fanning listed me in her bibliography. We had only had one phone conversation, but I must've confirmed that Evonitz carried himself in a professional manner, which she mentions throughout the book.
By the way, I enjoyed reading the book. However, the author opens by telling some of the events that happen at the conclusion of the story. I thought the book would've been much more enjoyable if she hadn't tipped her hand.

Hydraulics has been vindicated

This may not seem like the time to be writing about the Winter Olympics, but some news arrived that i thought I'd share.
Back in March, I wrote in my Editor's Page about how a hydraulics failure had been blamed for a malfunction during the opening ceremonies of the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver. You may recall that three arms were supposed to raise out of the floor, but only two did. Announcers — and an spokesperson for the Olympics — mentioned a malfunction of the hydraulic system as the cause.
I had written that something else probably cause the malfunction — possibly a switch or sensor. I had made several inquiries to find the actual cause of the malfunction, but to no avail.
Eventually, though, I did hear from John Saluk, P.E., from Edmunton, Ab. John wrote: "My first reaction to the missing arm was, 'There's some hydraulic guy sweating!!' Then I thought about it and said to my wife, 'I'll bet it's an electrical issue.' Later I heard a spokesman explain that some switch was either disconnected or not working. This didn't allow the top plate to slide back preventing the arm from raising."
So not only has hydraulics technology been vindicated, but I was in good company with my suggestion that the root cause of the failure was in the electrical control system. The problem is, millions of people heard hydraulics get blamed, but very few actually learned the real cause.

Hydraulics needs a better moustrap

When I first became a staff member of Hydraulics & Pneumatics, I was quickly indoctrinated on what the hot topics were at the time. One of the hottest topics then, 20 years ago, was the integration of electronics into hydraulics — which I came to know as electrohydraulics.

Since then, we have published hundreds of articles about electrohydraulics in this magazine. Of course, back then, electrohydraulics meant analog electronics. More recently, we’ve written about digital electrohydraulics. And even more recently, it’s been digital electrohydraulics in fieldbus systems — both in stationary and mobile equipment.

One thing hasn’t changed, though: the need for a universal linear displacement transducer (LDT) that can easily and inexpensively be integrated into most hydraulic cylinders.

Don’t get me wrong, several different designs of acceptable LDTs already exist, each with characteristics that suit them to specific types of applications. At the low end are resistive sensors, at the high end are magnetostrictive transducers, and in between are various other designs that have gained limited acceptance. The problem is, resistive sensors have physical limitations that will likely prevent them from ever gaining widespread use in hydraulic cylinders. Magnetostrictive transducers have become the favored technology for high-performance applications. Magnetostrictive transducers have been a real success story for electrohydraulics. They have allowed incorporating electrohydraulic cylinders into countless applications that would not have been possible otherwise. However, their relatively high cost prevents them from being used in most applications. Furthermore, the extensive machining required to accommodate in-cylinder installation only adds to their initial cost.

Therefore, a key to more widespread use of electrohydraulic cylinders is development of an LDT with the performance on par with magnetostrictive transducers but with a lower cost and that does not require extensive machining of the cylinder.

Eventually, though, someone will develop a low cost, high-performance LDT for use in hydraulic cylinders that can be installed in a drilled and tapped port on the cap end of the cylinder — making an LDT as easy to install as a pressure transducer. When they do, you can bet that the hydraulics world will beat a path to their door.

What are your sources of knowledge?

When I was raking leaves in my back yard awhile back, two of my next-door neighbors’ boys were playing in their own back yard. All of us were minding our own business, but sometimes the boys’ conversation became a bit loud, so I couldn’t help but notice. I don’t remember the exact context, but one of them became agitated and said something like, “Alright, already! Geez, you sound like a broken record!”

This amused me, because both of these boys were less than ten years old, so they probably had never even seen a record, much less heard a broken one. I concluded that one of their parents used this term from time to time, and they adopted the term after hearing it frequently.

This isn’t unusual, because most words we all use were just picked up from conversation. We were coached along the way, but no one actually taught us to talk. This is fine for informal conversation. If someone misuses a term, dire consequences generally don’t result. For example, I once heard a crtic say, “Her performance was so spellbinding, she literally held the audience in the palm of her hand.” Either the performer had a hand the size of Godzilla’s, or the audience consisted of ants. Of course, the critic meant figuratively, not literally, but I guess she thought literally sounded intelligent.

Perhaps I’m nit picking — figuratively, of course. However, after becoming a technical editor years ago, it was drilled into me (figuratively, of course) that we must write what we mean. Sure, some of the best lessons are learned though experience. But the best way to gain a thorough understanding of a subject is through professional training. After all, think about where you’d be today if all you knew about the birds and bees was what you learned from your buddies in grade school.

America's poor are in the right place

America’s poor people may not be in the most desirable economic situation, but if you are poor, America is the place to be. Why? Because 43% of America’s poor own their home — and almost half of these are single-family homes. More than 70% own a car or truck; nearly 80% have air conditioning; more than half have one or more color televisions; and 43% have satellite or cable TV.

These figures come from a report by Robert Rector, senior research fellow in Domestic Policy Studies at The Heritage Foundation, Washington, DC. Rector’s report reveals that “most of America’s ‘poor’ live in material conditions that would be judged as comfortable or well-off just a few generations ago. For example, only 36% of Americans (all Americans, not just the poor) had air conditioning as recently as 1970. In contrast, more than three out of four of America’s poor enjoy air conditioning today.

But America’s poor have more than creature comforts. The average home owned by poor people has three bedrooms, one-and-a-half bathrooms, a garage, and a porch or patio. In fact, the average poor American has more living space than the average individual living in Paris, London, Vienna, or other cities throughout Europe.

These comparisons are for average citizens in foreign countries, not the poor.

Another interesting statistic is that a typical poor household with children is supported by only 800 hr of annual adult employment — roughly 16 hr/week. However, if each of these households had an adult working 2000 hr/yr (40 hr/week), nearly ¾ of poor children would be lifted out of official poverty.

But don’t poor children often go to bed hungry? Not according to Rector. He reports that “The average consumption of protein, vitamins, and minerals is virtually the same for poor and middle-class children. . . Most children today are, in fact, super nourished and grow up to be, on average, 1 in. taller and 10 lb heavier than the soldiers who stormed the beaches of Normandy in World War II.”

One statistic not mentioned in Rector’s report is the 99.7% of poor people in America whose lives have been improved by the many benefits of hydraulics and pneumatics technologies. Okay, I made that one up myself. But when you consider how much fluid power has done to improve the production of the food we eat, the homes we live in, and even the caskets we get buried in, it’s hard to ignore the impact hydraulics and pneumatics have on the civilized world.

Is fluid power research returning to its heyday?

Sitting at my desk, I daydream about what it must have been like to work in the 1960s and late 50s — what many would consider the heyday of fluid power. Air travel would've been much more convenient — long before security lines were needed. Even more intriguing would be having a secretary to open your mail, write letters, and handle much of the routine paperwork that takes up so much the day.

The familiar beep of an e-mail on my computer pops me back into reality. Maybe this one is a follow-up to my request for more information on a new hydraulic hybrid vehicle drive. Or maybe it's correspondence with an image attached showing the latest hydraulic fan drive. Then again, it might be a manuscript about a multifunctional hydraulic system that is lighter, smaller, and more efficient than the electric drives it replaces. But it may also explain how replacing multiple engine-driven belt drives with a single hydraulic system can slash maintenance costs.

All of these scenarios — and more — are in the works. And in my 20+ years working on H&P, I have never heard of so much activity occurring at the same time.

In addition, the U. S. appears to be at the forefront of renewed activity in fluid power research. Kim A. Stelson, director, Engineering Research Center for Compact and Efficient Fluid Power at the University of Minnesota, authored a paper outlining the amount of investment in fluid power research across the globe. As a graphic from that paper depicts, the U. S. led the world in fluid power R&D for two decades following WWII, and activity peaked in the 1960s before dropping off sharply around the same time R&D ramped up in Europe.

Since then, the majority of large-scale research has occurred overseas. But as Kim's graphic implies, activity in fluid power research in the U. S. gained new momentum with the first NFPA Educator-Industry Summit launched in 2001, and more recently with the $15 million, 5-year Fluid Power Research Center awarded by the National Science Foundation.

So with all the new developments in fluid power technology, the Educator-Industry Summit, and the Fluid Power Research Center, things are really looking up for fluid power technology. And who knows? Maybe future generations will refer to the early 21st century as the heyday for fluid power.

Preventive maintenance — dull, except for the bottom line

While attending the Reliable Plant Conference & Expo last year, one of the speakers said something I thought was pretty profound, but he seemed to just brush it off as common knowledge.

Terry Taylor, of Arch Coal Inc., St. Louis, presented a paper titled, “Highwall Miner Reliability — From Rags to Riches.” Taylor outlined some of the practices his company’s management team followed to increase the production of one of its highwall miners — which was producing only about half of its potential. Taylor explained how they evaluated the machine’s service records to determine the most common types of failures, their frequency, and severity.

Many of the failures involved the hydraulic system. However, it was also determined that most of these failures — hydraulic or otherwise — were preventable. Leaking hoses and fittings, premature pump failures, and sticking valves can all be avoided simply by performing routine preventive maintenance.

Some of this preventive maintenance involves periodic inspections, followed up by corrective action. If you find a hose has worked loose from its restraint, fix it. If a fitting has come loose, tighten it.

However, most preventive maintenance involves routine service. Take regular fluid samples to assess the cleanliness of hydraulic fluid. Change filters at regular intervals. Hook up filter carts to clean fluid in reservoirs.

All this routine service is pretty dull, and this is where Taylor grabbed my attention. He said mechanics are like anyone else; they like excitement and a challenge. So if equipment goes down because a pump fails or a valve sticks, everyone gets stressed out because they need to get equipment running again. So in comes the maintenance technician on his white horse. He pulls out his collection of super tools and instruments, changes out the pump or frees the sticky valve, and the machine comes back on line. He becomes the man of the hour, our hero.

I can also picture how management might view preventive maintenance. Management may wonder why they’re paying all these guys good money to change filters and tighten fittings. They don’t realize — or have forgotten — that it’s all this routine maintenance that keeps machines from suffering unscheduled downtime. Typically, they may reduce the workforce to cut costs, but then they’re surprised when downtime increases.

Unfortunately, management may never realize that the $50,000 they might save from laying off someone ends up costing the company three times that (or more) in unscheduled downtime over that same year. It’s not unusual for high-production machinery to be worth $1000 or more per hour. At that rate, it only takes a few breakdowns to offset any savings in the payroll.

Forgiveness after 35 years

It seems like a lifetime ago, but after joining the US Army in February of 1972, I found myself stationed in Aschaffenburg, Germany, in early July, 1972. I still remember getting picked up at the the railroad station by a guy named Denmark, who hailed from northern Florida, with an accent to match -- and could he play the guitar!

Denmark loaded all I owned, which was in a duffle bag, into his jeep, and after a short drive, we arrived a Fiori Kasserne, a US Army base that I later learned had been built as a German Army training camp for World War I.

I didn't get settled in right away because the radar machines I had been trained to repair had been obsolete for years, so I never saw one in the field. I wasn't trained to operate the machines, so I couldn't be of much use in the platoon that operated the newer machines.

Fortunately, I got transferred to the maintenance platoon. That was better, and I met a guy in my platoon — William Mace Martin, Logansport, Indiana — who took me under his wing. Bill and I had a lot in common, even though he was married and had an apartment off base. Bill and I became good friends and hung out together a lot -- sometimes the two of us, sometimes with his wife.

My formal Army training didn't really qualify me to do anything, and Bill said it would be in my best interest to get a military driver's license. Of course, I knew how to drive, but Bill taught me how to drive a monstrous 2 1/2-ton truck. It had 10 speeds, rear-wheel or all-wheel drive, air brakes, and other macho features. Nonetheless, Bill had me driving around the base in no time. And more importantly, he taught me how to back up a trailer — which is still useful today whenever I have to back my camper into a tight spot. Sometimes he even taught me on his own time, on Saturdays. So, yeah, Bill was a great guy and a good friend.

Bill and his wife didn't like their housing situation in Germany, so after several months, he was able to get a transfer back to the states. I was genuinely happy for them, but just before his scheduled departure, Bill approached me on pay day. He said the Army wasn't covering all his moving expenses, and he really needed some cash. He was asking for what came to be most of my bi-monthly take-home paycheck. I was reluctant, but he promised me he'd be good for the money, and that I knew the kind of person he was and that he'd certainly pay me back once he got settled. I gave him the money, but I never heard from again.

I was probably bitter by getting burned by my friend at first, but it never really ate away at me. I'd sometimes wonder how much the money would be worth — with interest — in today's dollars. I even tried looking him up a few times, but to no avail. Besides, maybe something serious happened that prevented him from sending me the money, or maybe he just lost my contact info. So, no, I didn't become bitter, but I didn't forget, either.

Then I came to a realization that what Bill did for me was far more valuable than the money he never repaid. When our battalion went on field maneuvers, truck drivers, like me, got to sit in a heated cab on a padded seat, rather than on a wooden bench in the back of a cold, windy truck — which even many sergeants had to do. I drove for the mess hall, so instead of crawling around in the mud and snow, I drove the cooks and food around all day so my comrades could be fed in the field. And back at the base, I drove for the supply sergeant, and at least once a week we'd head up to division headquarters for an enjoyable day.

So, Bill, if you're still out there, your debt is forgiven. In fact, I'd love to get back together to find out what happened to you and share some interesting stories I had driving that big ol' deuce-and-a-half all over Bavaria!

Trade shows: the singles bars of industrial marketing

I attend a few trade shows in a typical year. What’s nice about fluid power trade shows is that you usually run into the same people time after time. Some have become friends, not just acquaintances, so conversation drifts to topics other than fluid power. One such conversation revealed how trade shows can imitate life.

Some friends and I who gathered after a show were talking about relationships. One guy in the group mentioned that a single lady he works with was frustrated because she found most single men to be fickle. She criticized them as being superficial, because they are attracted to pretty women with good figures. She rebuked suggestions that she might attract more male suitors if she would make a greater attempt at making herself more attractive. In her view, men should not steer clear of her because she lacks Heidi Klum looks but be attracted to her because she is a kind, intelligent, caring person — which she is.

Furthermore, she said she would not go out of her way to make herself more appealing, because doing so would only attract superficial men. Instead, she wants to attract men who are kind, intelligent, and caring, like her. Although I understand her logic, I think a better approach would be to realize that making herself more appealing would attract all men, not just superficial ones. It would then be her responsibility to distinguish the superficial suitors from the serious ones.

I think similar attitudes exist with trade show exhibitors. Some have flashy displays that have nothing to do with the products or services they are exhibiting — but they grab the attention of anyone passing by. They may even give away hundreds of little trinkets to passersby. But they look at this as a cost of doing business and will later weed out the quality leads from those of only superficial interest. The problem is, when they’re talking to a non-prospect, a hot prospect may pass by after noticing heavy booth traffic.

Most exhibitors — at least in fluid power — take the opposite approach and simply display their wares near the front of the booth and have application pictures and literature in the back. If someone passing by is interested, he or she will stop and chat. In this manner, exhibitors save their time and the attendee’s by not attracting those with no interest. They avoid heavy booth traffic that might cause interested attendees to pass by. However, they probably miss a few hot prospects because some people may walk past the booth without even noticing it.

Sometimes you’ll find an exhibitor with a combination of these: a real attention-getting display that uses the exhibitor’s products as an integral element of the display. Anyone passing by will notice the display, but if the product is not of interest, they will continue on. In this manner, they grab virtually everyone’s attention, but also make good use of their time by talking mainly to real prospects.

Trade shows, then, provide a means for people to meet. It’s up to the individuals to decide if a meeting could grow into a mutually beneficial relationship.

Will magazines become a Rolling Stone?

Rolling Stone magazine recently announced that it would start charging a fee for users to have full access to its website. I’m sure most people who access the website regularly will grumble, but from a business standpoint, the plan makes sense. Subscribers to the magazine will still pay about $20 a year to receive their issues in the mail. However, if they want full access to the website, they will have to shell out about $30 for a yearly subscription to the website, which also entitles them to receive issues in the mail at no additional cost. So, in essence, current subscribers will pay only $10 a year to gain full access to the website. Website visitors also have the option of paying $4 for a month of full access.
This sounds like a good business plan because it should help Rolling Stone regain some of the revenue it surely lost from dwindling in-print advertising. Advertising is the major source of revenue for most magazines, and in the case of trade publications, such as Hydraulics & Pneumatics, it accounts for the lion’s share of our revenue.
As with most magazines, our issues have become thinner over the last several years. (This is due not only to fewer pages, but, also, thin paper, which costs less and reduces postage.) The dropoff in print ads began when companies started shifting their marketing dollars from print advertising to website development and web advertising. The problem is, revenue from website advertising has fallen short of the loss in revenue from print advertising.
I think print advertising will come back, to some extent, because companies will realize that they can’t rely only on the web to stimulate sales — it takes a multi-media approach. That’s why you’ll see ads on TV that refer viewers to a website, and you might even see a tag line that says something like, “See our ad in Men’s Health.” In fact, in surveys, H&P readers often respond that they like having ads in the print version and find them beneficial.
So does this mean you’ll have to pay to gain full access to our website or for your monthly subscription? I doubt that we’d charge for full access to our website, although we might eventually require users to register before gaining full access. That’s been debated since the inception of our website. And unlike Rolling Stone or Men’s Health, Hydraulics & Pneumatics is a trade publication, so any subscription fee could either be reimbursed by your employer or probably could be claimed as a tax-deductible business expense. However, I don’t see us charging for qualified subscriptions that are currently free — at least not during my watch.
But who knows what the future holds? After all, as the saying goes, evolve, or die.