Now, why didn't I think of this, instead of suggesting that we throw the snow in the Harbor?Sixty three years ago Boston received so much snow that then Mayor James Curley took a look at it and began pleading with then MIT President Dr. Karl Compton for help. “I am very desirous that [MIT] have a competent group of engineers make an immediate study as to ways and means of removing the huge accumulation,” he wrote, “…be it by the use of flame throwers or chemicals or otherwise.”
Courtesy of the MIT Alumni Association.
4 comments:
Good post. It is true that our current snowpack has many inches of water in it, and while I would enjoy an Indian summer right now, the results could indeed be disasterous.
I have always watching the way snow falls on surfaces and for the past two years i have been testing some theories of mine. Today I am heading to Home Depot to begin building the first panel of a walkway system that never has to be shovelled, merely boomed off once after the snowfall ceases. It's pretty exciting to actually build this thing that has only existed in my head up until now. The theories work, but will the system work? I pray for a continuation of the patterns to really get a good test. I will keep you apprised.
Too bad we can't harness all the flame energy in the comments on TheHealthCareBlog.com ... :–)
You can find Compton's reply here: http://bos.to/5a9
Apparently they tested this flame thrower concept in the City of Newburgh, New York. Only they took it one step further and mounted a jet engine onto a large towable cart and melted the snow off Broadway. Newburgh is know to have the, unofficial, widest Broadway in America. It slopes down toward the Hudson River. They managed to create the worlds widest ice skating rink/luge course. They flooded hundreds of basements, and underground utilities. All of these flooded areas promptly froze, because their was no utility service! Needless to say, this device promptly disappeared and has never resurfaced...
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