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Brass monkey
It was necessary to keep a good supply of cannonballs near the cannon
on war ships. But how to prevent them from rolling about the deck was the problem. The best storage method devised was to stack them as a square based pyramid, with one ball on top, resting on four, resting on nine, which rested on sixteen. Thus, a supply of 30 cannon balls could be stacked in a small area right next to the cannon. * *>There was only one problem -- how to prevent the bottom layer from sliding/rolling from under the others. The solution was a metal plate with 16 round indentations, called a Monkey. But if this plate was made of iron, the iron balls would quickly rust to it. The solution to the rusting problem was to make Brass Monkeys. * *> * *>Few landlubbers realize that brass contracts much more and much faster than iron when chilled. Consequently, when the temperature dropped too far, the brass indentations would shrink so much that the iron cannon balls would come right off the monkey. Thus, it was quite literally, cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey. And all this time, you thought that was a vulgar __expression, didn't you? :banana |
that funky monkey
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Now that is some cool info that I rerally did not need, but is kool none the less.
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the funky monkey
Brass Monkey got me a ride in the back of a police car once.
The cop didn't see the humor of me trying to jump into the back of a moving truck!!!! |
brass monkey junky that funky monkey
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