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John Edson Sweet
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John E. Sweet
Reminiscences and Characteristics of Professor John Edson Sweet
By J. E. Johnson, Consulting Engineer and Metallurgist.
An extremely interesting, elevating and well written account of the life and character of Prof. John E. Sweet was prepared for The American Machinist by J. E. Johnson, Jr., Cornell, M.M.E. '92, and appeared in their issues of Nov. 16 and 23. Owing to the fact that Prof. Sweet was such a vital force in fashioning the Engineering Course in the early days of Sibley College and in molding the characters of so many of its best teachers and graduates, and due to the splendid portrayal we here reproduce rather fully the articles as they appeared in The American Machinist.
In the opening paragraphs Mr. Johnson shows that Prof. Sweet was greater than the material records show, that his character was more than his achievements, and his being surpassed his doing. He then continues as follows:
Professor Sweet's life as a whole, may properly be divided into two portions— that previous to his becoming professor of mechanical arts at Cornell, and the portion subsequent to that important event. Owing to the urging of some of us, Professor Sweet prepared within quite recent years an outline of an auto-biography. This has the defect that Professor's incurable modesty did not permit him to put the emphasis upon the important things of his life, or even to describe them fully. Nevertheless, it is the best information we have in regard to his early life and is quoted here almost in full:
PERSONAL REMINISCENCES WRITTEN BY PROFESSOR SWEET
I was born in Pompey, and Pompey was a good place to come from, because a good many pretty good people have come from there: Horatio Seymour, who ran for President; Grace Greenwood, the author of "Fifty Years Ago"; Charles Mason, patent commissioner; and later, Holland Duell, also commissioner; William Avery, the inventor of the Avery engine and many other useful inventions; besides many other noted people. Pompey generated some comedians and liars—one man who had two yoke of oxen drawing interest, and a liar who could give Baron Munchausen hearts and spades and beat him on inventing stories. As an example, he built himself a log house and it was so tight that the fire would not draw, so he bored a gimlet hole through the sash and it was all right. Old Strickland had a wonderful dog that could run like streaked lightning. It was chasing a fox, and the fox swerved past a sapling. The dog, always aiming for the fox, struck his nose squarely against the sapling, which split him from end to end; and as the two halves passed the sapling, they came together and welded, and the dog kept on and captured the fox. The thing that I remember that dates back the farthest must have been when I was perhaps three years old. I had my knee on a stick across my little chair, trying to saw the stick with a compass saw. My father said, "That boy will make a mechanic." That I remember as distinctly as I do anything that happened yesterday. How near that prophecy came true, others may guess. I believe the next event that I call to mind was when I was four years old. Our people moved to a farm at Britain Settlement, now Collamer, north of Messina Springs. I only remember that Jim Terwilliger (I remember him particularly, as he challenged my first vote) attended the same country school, but not long, as I do not think I went over two days. When we were returning to the Pompey farm, we stopped at Messina Springs Hotel. My mother was taken sick and asked my father to get her some wine, and I was horror-stricken. It would seem from this incident that I inherited my temperance notions. I don't know what became of me from that time until I was seven years old, probably nothing, for when I was four years old my youngest sister was born and from that time until I went to school I existed and kept out of the way. I was always tinkering and was dubbed "Johnny Tinker." I don't remember about my great achievements during my school life, as that was mostly in the old stone schoolhouse. I cannot remember that I ever studied— not that I was the bad boy in the school or out, or made any trouble, as I was never punished or had a fight. My best hold was in arithmetic and geography, the latter because I could draw the maps better than the others, and the arithmetic was easy for me. There were three schoolhouses, each a mile and a half away, and it was getting an education at long range. My last teacher was a Miss Bridgman, who found out my weak points in schoolwork when the study of grammar came up, for I got no farther than the one rule, "A noun is the name of something." When she attempted to start me on algebra she said, "Let A stand for 300," or something of that sort. I asked why three and two naughts wouldn't do just as well. She then gave it up as a bad job.
BEGINNING OF MY MECHANICAL EXPERIENCE
My mechanical experience started simultaneously with my schoolwork, as the first day was only a half-day in school. I went home at noon, and in the afternoon, I made a model of a plow. With one of my left-hand improvements, I made the moldboard very long and explained to my brother that I made it that way because it would draw easier. So, my mechanism began to show itself early, as did my disposition to do things better. I cannot call to mind ever starting on a job without thinking out how to make it better than it had been done before.
When I was about twelve years old I made a small fiddle. My parents likely thought I made the fiddle because I wanted to play it, so I was sent over to Mr. Sutherland's to take lessons and came home at the end of two weeks with about a dozen tunes to my credit, which would indicate that I was an apt scholar. Perhaps I was, in a way, but no musician, as I did not learn how to tune my fiddle for twenty or thirty years, and then not as musicians tune theirs. I make a distinction between a fiddler and a musician: The fiddler plays one note at once and the musician two, and when I learned to tune my fiddle it was in a new way. When the string of a stringed instrument is slightly touched in its middle, both halves vibrate alike, and the result is a harmonic; if touched at a point one-third of its length, it divides into three parts and all three vibrate, making a harmonic of a higher key. This harmonic on the A string is the same when the instrument is in tune as the first harmonic on the E string, so I discovered that I could tune the instrument by bringing these two together. I could tell when the two notes were at the same pitch, but never could tell when two notes of different pitch harmonized.
It was during this period of my life that I first began my graphic method of solving problems. I had noticed the unequal spacing of the frets of a guitar and learned from Mr. Sutherland that the true A sharp and B flat were not the same, but that in a guitar, piano, etc., the same note was used. He said, too, that the violin and trombone were the only true instruments, as by those the true flats and sharps could be produced. I devised a graphic method to lay out the frets, making the best compromise for all keys. I made a guitar and so placed the frets, and Mr. Sutherland said it was the best guitar he had ever seen. Likely the way the standard instruments are made is the best for some one key— C perhaps—and worse for some other.
About these days our people had a stone cistern made and the masons were two of the Fargoes. The founder of the express business was one, and he appeared a little too well dressed for a mason; but when my mother mentioned it, he said he would never wear poorer, and during his later life he didn't have to.
MY FIRST LESSON IN MECHANISM
I distinctly remember my first lesson in moving mechanisms. In those days our grain was at first threshed by a complete horsepower machine erected in our barn, and later by the portable machine that circulated during the fall from farm to farm. In the case of the latter the horses and gearing operated outside the barn, and a belt conveyed the power to the machine in the barn. I told one of my brothers that I couldn't see why the cylinder of the machine went faster than the band-wheel of the power, as certainly one end of the belt could not travel any faster than the other. I expect he set me right, and it is mighty few times I have ever had to be set right in that respect.
I was always at making something, had a turning lathe in the second story of our horse barn. It was turned by a crank, and my sister-in-law used to climb the stairs and turn the crank. We had, in the years of my idle life, a good deal of building and repair work in which I took a hand, and this led to my going, on the first of April, 1850, to learn the carpenter's trade. I worked seven months as an apprentice, for $7 a month. This money went for tools and board at $2 a week here in Syracuse, when I began to spend my money to the best advantage. By the favor of a neighbor living here, he got me the opportunity to build the fires and sweep the office of Deacon Hayden, who was then the only architect in the city, so then from the early winter till carpenter time in the spring I was learning something about drawing and architecture as that existed at that day.
At that period of my life I was fortunate to become associated with two of the best men possible, John Pinkerton and Deacon Hayden. The first week of my apprenticeship I helped make two planes, one of which I still possess.
My mechanical life ran into architecture, and there are a number of buildings in this city from my designs, and my architectural career ended at the breaking out of the Rebellion, when I was building from my own design at Selma, Ala., a hotel that would have been the second-best hotel in the South. It was stopped, and the plans were destroyed during the Rebellion. I was called down there afterward to make the plans over, and now, as a monument, I should not be ashamed of it if erected in this city.
MY FIRST VISIT TO EUROPE
After returning from the South, where I left one rainy day, I became acquainted with William B. Cogswell, who was a partner with my brothers. He left there for the Central R. R. shops and from there took a position in the Government shop at Port Royal. I took his place at the railroad shop and completed the drawings in detail for locomotive No. 108. The Government at the seat of war at that time was giving jobs to those who wanted to stand up and be shot at, which was a job that I did not hanker for. Besides, I had cultivated a desire to see Venice and other cities, and so, early in 1862, I went to the London Exhibition of that year, and from there to Paris, Switzerland and Italy, as far as Rome.
A good deal of this trip was alone and, remember, traveling fifty years ago alone in foreign countries was not the simple job it would be now. There were events along the journey worthy of notice; but I can only mention a few. In going over the St. Gothard Pass it was in a two-horse box, with four of us jammed inside with our limbs ship-lapped together—two Russian women, a German and myself. It was a jolly party. We were allowed to disembark at the Devil's Bridge, where the noise of the boiling water was so deafening that it would not have made any difference what language we spoke; nothing could have been understood. It took all night to get over to Como, and from there we went by train to Milan. During the night on the mountain, we stopped at the hospice, where we exchanged money for bread.
From Milan to Venice, then a half-day's journey, we went over the line to that part of Italy that was then under Austrian rule, through the forts and battlefields, through Verona and into Venice, which was one of the scary times of my life. It was midnight, and instead of getting into the gondola omnibus two gondoliers got me in a single gondola and made a short-cut of a couple of miles or so through the narrow, dark canals to the hotel. It makes me shudder now, fifty years later, to think of it. Venice was a gem to me, and it has grown brighter and brighter each of the three or four times I have seen it since.
SOME INCIDENTS OF THE VISIT
On a Saturday afternoon I went with a gondola-omnibus load out to the Adriatic bathing ground. A young gentleman, recognizing me as an American, came over and started an acquaintance. He asked me to come and take dinner with him Sunday. It turned out to be William Dean Howells, then consul at Venice, and later one of America's greatest authors. On Sunday evening, while in the depot to leave for Florence, another gentleman made himself known to me. He proved to be the general agent of the Wheeler & Wilson Sewing Machine Co. We traveled together until we returned to Paris.
Through Florence, Pisa and Rome I made myself so conversant with the make-up of all the sights that when I visited them fifty years later it seemed to me as easy to travel there as in our own cities. I will not bother to enumerate the various sights further than to mention St. Peter's, the Coliseum, Pantheon, the Capitoline Hill and Museum, Trajan's Forum, St. Paul's outside the Gates, the Pincian Hill, the Museum, the Vatican, the statue of Moses and that of Pauline Borghese. At the visit fifty years later, about the only notable addition was the statue of Garibaldi. In the thirty-six-hour return trip from Civita Vecchia to Marseilles I learned what it was to be seasick for thirty-five hours.
EXPERIENCES IN LONDON
After returning to London, where I first saw Dickens, I secured a position as draftsman in the International Patent Office, a big name for two of us—Dr. Hazeltine as the company, and I assistant. It was pretty hard sledding sometimes. I got a job one time making the patent drawings of a machine for making envelopes, and the last dinner before I got my pay was made out of a halfpenny loaf of bread eaten beneath a railway arch– a halfpenny loaf is not the best bread made in England. My first knowledge of Charles T. Porter of Porter Allen engine fame was in making the patent drawings for the Richards indicator for him. At that time patent documents, including the drawings, were all on parchment.
I had invented a nail machine to make two nails where one was made before, and at Mr. Hazeltine's instigation I took out an English patent. He interested the proprietor of the Patent Nut & Bolt Co. to undertake the construction and introduction of my machine at its works at Smethwick, near Birmingham, and there I spent the remainder of the two years I was away in making two or three machines and in trying to make them go. Returning home, where I had sent the drawings, I found that a machine was being made from improved drawings, and the patent attorney had taken an interest. When the machine (which didn't work any better than the English one) was done, we went with it to New York as joint owners. The attorney sold out my half of the patent to some of the sewing-machine men for $10,000. Eventually he got half of it and two or three years at a good salary to make two or three more machines that didn't work, either.
Out of the money I built another machine and exhibited it at the Paris Exhibition of 1867, where I saw Napoleon III and his wife, the Empress Eugénie, one of the most noble and beautiful women I ever saw; King William, who later became Kaiser William I of Germany; Bismarck and other notables; the kings of Austria, Spain, Portugal; the shah of Persia; khedives of Egypt and Turkey; and the Prince of Wales, who later became King Edward VII and father of the present King George V. Later, at the Centennial, I saw Don Pedro, ruler of Brazil, and had the honor of meeting the King of Belgium in Brussels; that is, he was going one way in the street and I was going the other.
A MACHINE TO SUPERSEDE MOVABLE TYPE
The machine I invented is in the museum at Cornell, a relic now, but a masterpiece of ingenuity and workmanship executed by William H. Craig, a master mechanic. It was an attempt to supersede movable type and was the forerunner of the linotype.
For a time, I was superintendent for Whitman & Barnes, then at bridge building for Howard Soule— the man I used to say I had as lief carry my pocket-book as to carry it myself. While building a bridge at Ithaca, President White and Mr. Cornell came around one afternoon and asked me to meet the Cornell Board, which I did and talked over what to do in the Sibley shop. This was soon after building the first StraightLine engine, and some months after this I was engaged to take charge of the Cornell shop.
The engine was purely an experimental one. Almost every element differed from common practice. The frame was straight instead of crooked; the cylinder had a jacket cast around it; the piston had a length equal to the diameter; the piston rod was ground round and straight and ran through a reamed bush; the crank between two flywheels; the valve a mechanically fitted balanced valve; engine resting on three points; end play to shaft and crank bearings; and many other features. Explaining this and the notion of making perfectly flat plates and straight-edges and a measuring machine, etc., and suggesting these things in the shop are probably what got me the position, and doing these things is what kept it. We speak of the engine as an invention, while, in fact, the engine in its various forms and the different devices devised for its manufacture likely would foot up to nearer a hundred than one.
WORK IN THE CORNELL SHOPS
At Cornell we were constantly developing new things —absolutely perfect surface plates, straight-edges, squares and angles, standard gages by the use of the measuring machine (which we built, the first ever built in this country, and which read to the ten-thousandth of an inch and enabled us to judge to the forty-thousandth of an inch). Visitors to the university were always shown our shop, and the wonders of the work we were doing interested the greatest of them all. Mr. Cornell was a constant, interested visitor while he lived; General Grant, Henry Ward Beecher, John Hay and hundreds of others came. In conversation with Henry Ward Beecher I casually remarked that an ordinary college graduate was of not much use in a machine shop, and he said he guessed I had never seen one in a pulpit.
Measuring hairs was one of the things to show off. The fact that all the hairs of one's head are of the same size was a discovery, and the various sizes was another. Every hair of my head, and I measured hundreds, is twenty-four ten-thousandths of an inch, and the finest one I ever measured was fifteen ten-thousandths. I remember one incident: We built certain lathes, and among other new things all the bolts and nuts that had to be changed to meet conditions were made to be operated by the one wrench. Showing it off to a friend, he said, "What in the world would you do if you lost that wrench".
FOUNDING THE STRAIGHT-LINE ENGINE CO.
The best thing we made, or helped make, at Sibley, I suppose—or hope, at least—was a lot of valuable men. A train of circumstances compelled me to abandon my post, a lamentable thing for both, I think. I returned here, remodeled the engine and made it so good that five of us put in a thousand dollars each and organized the Straight-Line Engine Co. With the aid of a company of able and devoted assistants we built up during the third of a century a moderate business and an extra good reputation. During the life and death of the engine business four of the five founders—David Hotchkiss, George Barnes, Anson A. Sweet and Henry Stevens—have died; and by the combined elements of gas engines, electric motors and other and more profitable business for the shop the engine business has died. A few months before the Chicago's World Fair, where I spent six months as a judge, I designed a steam separator; and at the instigation of some of our associates . the separator was patented and the Direct Separator Co. organized. At first it seemed like the tail of the Straight-Line Engine dog, and later it looked as if the tail was going to wag the dog. Anyway, under the management of some of the engine company's lieutenants it has prospered wonderfully. Some three or four years ago the manufacturers in the city joined in building a trade school. While it had to be abandoned, it was not because of any fault of the plan. It was undertaken because of my advocating it, so it naturally fell to my lot to father it; and the cause of the failure was my age. I was twenty-five years too old when the school was started, and it was wearing me out. It is lamentable that the engine business failed, and it is far more lamentable that the school failed. Such are the little events of my life, because there were no big ones. I have never been drowned, burned to death, shot or dynamited; in fact, I have never been killed, in jail, arrested or sued. Likely the most important thing I have done was to set the ball rolling for the organization of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, of which there are between four and five thousand members scattered throughout the inhabited surface of the world; that which is the most pleasing is the annual meeting of my "boys", who gather to honor me on my birthday, and have for a dozen years. A year ago the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, through a committee, made a great splurge, and in the large assembly room seated 250 to honor my eightieth birthday. It was a great occasion and a great honor. I have traveled a good deal, likely nearer two hundred thousand miles than one, and never met with but one accident. That was from jumping out of a buggy when ordered out by the driver. I struck on my head, which knocked me out for a couple of hours and knocked my eyes out of focus. I have crossed the Atlantic fifteen times, have been in ten seas and twenty-two countries. I have recently been honored by the degree of doctor of engineering. In response to the committee I said I could not understand how I deserved it, and I see no way to justify it, except to use the remaining years of my life in inventing a way to get electricity direct from the coal, or a way to burn the coal in the mines.
Professor Sweet's Boys as to the portion of Professor's life during and subsequent to the Cornell days we have the recollections of "Professor Sweet's boys." Perhaps it will be as well to give here a brief description of the loose organization to whose members this term was applied. It was perhaps the most significant phase of Professor Sweet's character that men once thrown in contact with him, even if not very intimately, retained a vivid recollection of him and a desire for more of his companionship. This was partly because of his personal charm and partly because of the generosity with which he gave himself, to whoever might ask of him, without any question of the right of the person asking the favor, but simply on the ground that that person asked his assistance. In the early autumn of 1901 I received a letter from E. J. Armstrong, superintendent of the Ball Engine Co., who had at one time been superintendent of the Straight-Line. He asked me what I thought of the project of getting together as many as we could of the old boys for a dinner in Professor's honor and of making some sort of presentation to him to show our affection for him. I responded enthusiastically and so, I think, did all the others to whom Mr. Armstrong wrote. No organization was formed, except a dinner committee, and Mr. Armstrong did practically all the work as secretary of that. Mrs. Sweet was taken into our confidence, but the matter was kept entirely from Professor's knowledge. Fortunately for our plans, he and Mrs. Sweet took a long trip to Mexico during that fall and returned only a short time before the date set for the dinner. In casting around for something to present, one or two suggested a watch. Mr. Armstrong wrote that as the one Professor already had, which had a rubber case, "fell apart whenever he opened it, and his eyes were getting too poor for rapid reassembling," it was decided that a watch would be most suitable.
The trouble was that a watch is jewelry, and Professor with his extreme simplicity of taste would not like and probably would not use a watch of the ordinary character. At the same time he had often expressed his admiration for the wonderful works made by Jurgensen. He also admired very greatly the black finish on iron made by the Bauer Barff process. Accordingly, a set of Jurgensen works was procured and a special case made of Bauer Barffed iron, bearing on the cover a bas relief in gold of the first Straight-Line engine. The project was financed by voluntary subscriptions from the "boys."
THE FIRST SWEET DINNER
The date chosen for the dinner was one of the evenings during the latter part of the week of the New York meeting of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers in December, 1901. The dinner was held at the old "Arena." Professor had planned to go back to Syracuse the afternoon of the day for which the dinner was set, but Mrs. Sweet discouraged the idea and Mr. Armstrong persuaded him to stay over to help "talk to some men to whom he (Armstrong) wanted to sell an engine." We all gathered in a reception room, adjacent to the dining room, at an early hour, and Armstrong then brought in Professor to meet the men who were "to buy the engine." His surprise and delight in meeting again these men, many of whom he had not seen for twenty years or more, was something that will always be one of the pleasant recollections of my life. He went around the room greeting each one in turn with equal delight, but with varying degrees of surprise in the different cases. One man, not interested in engineering and whom Professor had not seen for nearly twenty-five years, came all the way from Cleveland to attend the dinner. After the greetings were over, we adjourned to the dining room, where the dinner was served. In deference to Professor's strong temperance convictions no wines or liquors of any kind were served, and I think that no one even smoked, but at the later meetings Professor insisted upon providing the cigars himself.
Albert W. Smith, then Dean of Leland Stanford University and now Dean of Sibley College, presided. No outside talent in the way of speakers was called in; a half-dozen or so of the "boys" had been given subjects and were called upon. Engineers are not always good speakers, but perhaps because in this case what they had to say came straight from their hearts, I think I have never heard speeches of such a high order of real excellence and suitability for the occasion as those were. The lamented John A. Hill was there, on account of Professor's long association with The American Machinist, and made a rattling speech, one or two sentences of which have always remained in my memory. One of them was that he believed "in holding the wake while the corpse was still alive and could have part of the fun," a fact we too often forget.
None of the speakers made the slightest allusion to any feature of the dinner except the reunion, until the last one, F. A. Halsey, now editor emeritus of The American Machinist. At the conclusion of a few well-chosen sentences Mr. Halsey drew from his pocket the case containing the watch and presented it to Professor "as a token of our affection and esteem." The old gentleman had been having as much fun as anybody out of the proceedings, but that was too much for him. He arose to his feet with the tears streaming down his cheeks and said, "Gentlemen, I had expected to make a few remarks but I cannot," and sat down. We sat around and talked to a late hour, and it was unanimously voted that the meeting was such a great success that we should hold one every year, and this was accordingly done.
OTHER DINNERS OF "PROFESSOR SWEET'S BOYS"
Every year, with the exception of 1911, when Professor was on a trip around the world, a fair-sized company of "the boys" met at dinner to do him honor. Once we had only eight or ten, but at most of the gatherings there were from fifteen to twenty-five or thirty. Considering that there were only about fifty on the whole list and that some of these were so far away or so circumstanced that they could never come, it will be seen that the percentage of the attendance compared with any other similar annual dinner was very high. In a good many instances men came a thousand miles or more simply for this dinner, and in one case a man came from Denver and in another from San Francisco. Considering that these gatherings were only informal affairs and that the sole attraction was meeting and honoring Professor once more, this fact constitutes as remarkable a commentary as anything could on the hold which he maintained on his friends. These dinners were repeated every year at the same time and place until 1910. In 1911 Professor was on a tour around the world, and no dinner was held. In 1912 Professor's eightieth birthday occurred, on Oct. 21, and in that year the American Society of Mechanical Engineers gave him the large dinner mentioned in his "Reminiscences," already quoted, in the United Engineering Building in New York. Thereafter the dinners were held at the Onondaga Hotel in Syracuse on Professor's birthday, as his increasing age made it more difficult for him to stand the strain of coming to New York. Up to the very last dinner the list increased of those who, by close association and affection for Professor, felt entitled to be enrolled, and in one case at least the second generation made its appearance at the dinners.
SOME OF PROFESSOR SWEET's ACHIEVEMENTS
As to Professor's great works, little can be said that the engineering profession does not generally know. At Cornell he had charge of the mechanical end of the first "dynamo" built in America, of which Professor Anthony designed the electric end, and he started there the manufacture of micrometer calipers, which he called "measuring machines," because he preferred the simple English name for everything. He also began there the making of limit gages and standard gages of hardened and ground steel, such as are now common, but which at that day were scarcely known. He not only had these gages made by the students, but he literally fathered their general introduction into shop practice, as well as that of many other mechanical refinements now in common use, but too numerous to mention here. A notable feature of his designing was that he achieved results by leaving things off rather than by putting them on. If somebody had accomplished a given result through the use of a lot of moving parts, he would scheme some simple way whereby the same result could be obtained with the aid of one or two parts.
THE ARTISTIC QUALITY OF HIS DESIGNS
Another feature of Professor's designing, which in a sense was connected with that last described, was his tremendous artistic sense. He had entered engineering through architecture and had realized fifty years ahead of the rest of the American world that true art in architecture consists of a harmonious adaptation of the mean employed to the end desired, not in the addition of superfluous parts for purposes of ornament only. He believed, and rightly, as we now know, that art in machine designing consists in the most direct and harmonious adaptation of the means at hand to the object desired. The fluting of columns, the ornamental paneling of flat surfaces and the like, the use of curves where a straight line would serve and, above all, where a stress was to be transmitted were customary in machine designs only twenty or thirty years ago, but they were all abominations in Professor's truly artistic sight. In matters of appearance, as well as in the mechanism used, he believed in the harmonious assembling of the essential and the absolute elimination of the unnecessary.
This is so much a feature of the best present-day designing that those familiar only with the present do not realize how different were the conditions previous to Professor's precepts and example concerning the beauties of simplicity. He had a saying, "Whatever is right, looks right"; and if something looked wrong, he would analyze it until he found what the wrong was. It is probable that he came nearer to criticizing the work of others in this direction than in any other except in matters involving moral turpitude, such as theft of another man's design or ideas, copying without acknowledgment and the like. In those matters, though he commonly did not say very much, the little he did say was greatly to the point and left the hearer in no doubt at all as to his meaning and his sentiments.
He was quick to acknowledge the merits of the work of others in truly artistic design, as in all other directions. I have heard him speak in terms of the greatest admiration of the splendid simplicity of the lines of the Centennial Corliss engine and of the work of some European designers in which art was served by suppressing ornamentation.
THE STRAIGHT-LINE ENGINE
In the brief autobiography previously quoted Professor mentions some of the details of the Straight-Line engine, but does not tell how remarkable was the workmanship or how radical was the design as compared with previous practice. At the time I was there, now nearly twenty-five years ago, he was using hardened and ground bushings for the valve gear, so that if a pin became worn, its bush was knocked off and a new one put on, while if the bore became worn, its bushing was knocked out and a new one inserted. In this way the life of these parts was indefinite. The main-bearing shells were solid, but had eccentric cheek pieces of hard babbitt fitted inside them so that rotating up these cheek pieces by liners behind the thick edge took up the wear, but left the center of the bearing surface unchanged. The valve stem was a bush of hard babbitt about two feet long, hand reamed to an exact fit on the ground valve stem. The babbitt bush was held in a gland, so that it could accommodate itself to the line of the valve stem; the piston-rod packing was the same, except much shorter. This construction made an absolutely tight joint, which was good for years without any adjustment whatever and with an irreducible minimum of friction. Special trams were invented, which centered themselves to the actual bore of the cylinder and permitted the main-bearing shell seats in the frame to be bored absolutely at right angles to the center line of the cylinder. Professor made a study of the action of oil in moving machinery; and when the Straight-Line engine was built, it was an engine with the lubricating system built into it instead of being an engine with some oil cups stuck on it. It is probable that the system of lubrication, which was an inherent part of that engine twenty-five years ago, has not been bettered since. He not only schemed simple ways to make the oil go where he wanted it to go, but equally simple ones that prevented it from traveling where he did not want it to go–for instance, the knife-edge rings mounted on the shaft close to the ends of the main-bearing shells and inside of hoods cast in the frame, which caught the oil thrown off by the knife-edges and returned it to the oil cellar in the base of the main bearing. These things are simple and obvious enough when they are once done, but those whose memory goes back so far will remember what a huge step in advance they constituted over anything that had been done up to that time. The question of the relationship between mathematics and engineers is one that has often been fought over. In the reminiscences already quoted Professor gives the disastrous results of the first attempt to teach him algebra. I doubt whether any subsequent one was more successful, for he knew nothing of that Science or of any higher mathematics. Yet by intuitive reasoning power, sometimes assisted by simple but marvelously ingenious applications of graphics, he achieved results that were positively startling. The best illustration of this is the story of him told by Mr. Armstrong. On one occasion during a call from some professor the latter spoke of the very difficult problem in geometry which the mathematicians had just succeeded in solving—namely, that if three circles of different diameters are drawn in any position in a plane and a pair of tangents are drawn to each side of each pair of circles and prolonged to their intersection, the intersecting points of all three pairs of tangents will lie in a straight line. Professor thought this over for a few minutes and said: "Yes, certainly, I can see that that is true."
The other professor said: "I guess you don't understand, Professor. This is a very difficult problem, and we have just finally accomplished its solution. I don't think it is as obvious as you think it is."
"Why, yes," said Professor, "of course it is obvious. Instead of three circles in a plane, take three balls, lying on a surface plate. Instead of drawing tangents, imagine a cone wrapped around each pair of balls. On top of the three balls lay another surface plate. It will rest on the three balls and will necessarily be tangent to each of the three cones. The apexes of all the cones must lie in the interesction of the two surface plates, and as the intersection of two planes is always a straight line, the apexes of the cones will lie in a straight line. It seems to me that this is perfectly obvious." So it was to a man who could think in those terms, but to how many of us, no matter what our mathematical training, would it be "obvious"?
This was characteristic of his method of attack on all new problems. He did not have to, and would not, play the game according to the accepted rules in such cases. He would strike out a method suited to the conditions, choosing a simple method of attack from a totally unexpected direction, and yet so logical that it could not for a moment be denied. Of course, problems did arise not capable of solution even in these ingenious ways, and these he would mull over in his mind. If he finally became convinced that he could not solve them, he had no more false shame about asking for assistance than would a boy in asking help of his father for his arithmetic lesson.
HIS EXTREME MODESTY
It is probable that no man ever achieved the standing in a profession that Professor had and yet was so unwilling to admit that he had it, or if he were forced to admit this, that he deserved it. His modesty was literally incurable. He came of plain people. He was neither proud nor ashamed of this origin; he simply recognized it as a fact. But that his achievements entitled him, not only to professional distinction, but that his ability and above all the charm of his personality qualified him to ornament a position in any society was something he could never be made to believe. With this same habit of mind went other characteristics. He had come up through the ranks as a mechanic, and he never felt that he was entitled to very much greater pay than a mechanic. He never permitted the StraightLine Engine Co. to pay him a salary bigger than would be expected by the foreman of a good-sized shop. He lived in the same simple way, which was very comfortable, without the slightest sign of meanness or niggardliness of any kind and yet without a penny being wasted or spent for ostentation.
As a sort of corollary to his own beliefs and conduct in this respect he felt very strongly that other people perhaps lived better than they should, spent more on their living than they were justified in doing. The point of view that, for most men to command a position or standing of a given kind, they had to live, in a broad way, up to certain standards, never appealed to him in the least. The fact even that a man by living too simply might shut himself off from the possibility of increasing his income out of all proportion to the increase in expenditure that it required never entered his head. He had an instinctive belief that it was wrong and nothing could alter that. He never made himself a bore by preaching his own beliefs, but once in a while he would let drop a sentence that meant volumes.
HIS KEEN SENSE OF HUMOR
Very often a man with high ideals of conduct is spoilt for human companionship by a sense of dignity that replaces or stifles his sense of humor. It was far otherwise with Professor. He had a keen sense of humor and could illustrate his point with a short story or a witty saying in a manner characteristically American, and a good story well told was sure of at least one appreciative hearer when he was present. I have seen him almost convulsed in a quiet, chuckling laugh over something that hit his fancy especially. At the dinner in October, 1915, one man told a number of stories, mostly Southern stories about negroes. These amused Professor so much that he wrote afterward to the story-teller and asked to have some of them written out for his further enjoyment.
Here again, perhaps, his modesty played a big part. He was never in his own mind a king amid inferiors, but one of a group from each of whom he could learn as eagerly as they could learn from him. This trait kept up his spirit of fellowship and made companionship agreeable, and leadership natural, to him.
HIS TIRELESS HELPFULNESS
I have already spoken of Professor's helpfulness, but I cannot refrain from reverting to this subject again, because it was so borne in upon me during my service with him. Nearly everybody in central New York who was doing anything mechanical, and a very large percentage of those in a vastly greater region, knew or knew about Professor. They would come in, exchange greetings, introduce themselves, if necessary, and proceed at once to outline the peculiar problem or difficulty that they had in hand at the time. This all went as a matter of course. The famous sign, "Visitors Always Welcome," engraved in the stone over the doorway, had its inception in Professor's temperament, and these people were as absolutely welcome as though they had been paid clients, though in over twenty years I never knew one of them so far to forget his dignity as to offer to pay for the help that he got. The idea that he should be paid never entered Professor's head, except when it was put there by someone else, and never stayed then. He got his pay in the interest that he took in the things brought to his attention. Sometimes a little fun of a quiet kind was mixed with the interest.
Two cases I remember that happened while I was there; they are only typical of thousands of others. A man came in greatly obsessed with the idea that the steam engine incurred a serious loss by the necessity of starting and stopping its reciprocating parts twice during every revolution. After he had explained his cure for the trouble, Professor said: "Now, you know it does not cost anything to push on a thing, no matter how hard you push, as long as the thing does not go anywhere. Take the case of the steam in a steam boiler. It is pushing on every square inch of the boiler's surface with a hundred pounds' pressure; but as long as the boiler does not give way, it does not cost anything." This was the simple but unshakable foundation upon which he proceeded to build up an explanation that removed the man's obsession without expense or even pain to himself.
A TYPICAL INCIDENT OF HIS HELPFULNESS
On another occasion a man came in, considerably excited over the amount of heat that the steam engine discharged as latent heat in the exhaust steam. On this occasion, as I guess happened pretty frequently, I broke into the conversation, because this trenched on the subject of thermodynamics, with which at that time I was quite fully loaded. This unfortunate individual had found that a pound of exhaust steam contained nearly one thousand thermal units. He had then gone to a professor in one of the universities and asked him how hot a thousand thermal units would heat four pounds of air, and the professor had calculated for him that it would heat the air to over a thousand degrees. We will hope that the questioner had not mentioned to the professor that the thousand degrees was to come from exhaust steam. With this information the man proceeded to line out a system whereby he could heat this quantity of air to that temperature and thereby increase its pressure and make it do a lot of useful work. I explained that a stern and natural law, known as the "second law of thermodynamics," stood in the way of all such feats and that the loss which he lamented was a part of the inevitable, natural losses incident to converting heat into work; moreover, that neither his scheme nor any other could prevent this loss unless the whole fabric of our scientific knowledge collapsed into a ruin. After he had gone, I said to Professor: "Did you want me to take so much of a hand in that discussion?" He said: "Yes, that was right. Get that idea out of that poor man's head and prevent his wasting his own, or somebody else's money."
HIS INSPIRATION IN THE SHOP
It is perhaps as remarkable a commentary as any upon Professor's character that in spite of this remarkable temperament, which generally implies an easygoing disposition and, therefore, poor ability in handling labor, he had a good idea of what a day's labor was and surrounded himself with subordinates who were able and willing to get it for him, always, of course, without any bulldozing, rough language or any of the other methods of the "hell-driver." To a great extent he got it because he had inspired the men in the shop with some of his own spirit and they were willing, without much driving, to give a fair day's labor for the fair day's pay that they always got. On one occasion, however, his foundrymen struck. Not being imbued with the modern doctrines of political economy, Professor fought this strike by simply paying off his men and refusing to talk to any of their representatives, organizers or others until they were ready to go back to work again, which they eventually did on his terms. This illustrates what I might better have said earlier, that his marvelous disposition did not obscure his judgment as to what was right for himself and his stockholders and that, if he were forced to fight, he would fight—not with violence, but with great determination —for what he believed to be right. I suppose that he would turn in his grave at my saying this, because the mention of war or personal conflict was utterly abhorrent to him. The point of view that our sons might come to a worse end than to lay down their lives in defense of the rights of their country or humanity—that, in short, there could be an ethical and moral side to war—was a point of view that could not be made to enter his head. When all is said and done, while I do not believe that the world knows now or will long remember half that Professor did for the furtherance of mechanical engineering in its broader sense, nevertheless it seems to me that in him his character exceeded his achievements. As a moral force in the world he was greater, because rarer, than his achievements. I can never forget his unfailing modesty, his absolute unselfishness, his helpfulness without thought of the cost to himself and the way he never preached, but unfailingly lived, the golden rule. To these things must be added his human personality and his magnetic power of attracting to himself a large percentage of the men he met, of holding their interest and affection for long years, generally for life, and of inspiring them with high ideals of conduct without ever mentioning the subject. Remember, too, his marvelous ability to instruct men technically and to broaden and simplify their methods of thought. These seem to me to be the outstanding characteristics which, possessed by a man whose achievements equal those of the greatest engineers of our time, put him upon a pedestal so that he overtops them all in those things that truly make for greatness.
Sibley Journal of Engineering, V31 # 4, Jan. 1917, pgs. 88-96


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College football odds and lines
How and what to watch for South Alabama vs. No. 25 Louisiana
The Ragin' Cajuns ground game should be on full display Saturday.
By Willkennedy5 Nov 14, 2020, 4:50am PST
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Photo by Michael Wade/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
The Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns look to improve on its 6-1 record as they welcome the South Alabama Jaguars to Lafayette on Saturday afternoon.
Louisiana has had a very good season so far, its only loss coming to now-#15 Coastal Carolina by just three points. The Ragin' Cajuns are built on its run game and its defense. The ground attack averages close to 200 yards per game, and is led by running backs Elijah Mitchell and Trey Ragas who have 948 yards and 11 touchdowns between them.
The team's rush defense is a bit suspect, giving up close to 200 yards per game, but the pass defense more than makes up for it. Through the air opposing QBs are completing just 52% of their passes, and only one QB has had a 250+ yard day against them. They get a lot of turnovers too, with at least two in six of their seven outings.
South Alabama will have a tough time defending as they give up over 150 yards per game on the ground. The Jags offense scores just 22 points per game, and to have a chance in this one it'll have to have a big day on the ground because of how good Louisiana's pass defense is. Look for Carlos Davis to get a heavy dose of carries on Saturday.
Game Time/TV Channel/Streaming
You can watch South Alabama vs. Louisiana on Saturday, November 14th at 2:00 p.m. ET on ESPN+, a separate subscription service that doesn't use a with a cable or streaming service login.
Point Spread, Totals, Odds, Trends
Point spread: South Alabama vs. Louisiana (-15.5)
Point Total: 53.5
Money line: South Alabama +475 vs. Louisiana -670
USA is 10-4-1 ATS in its last 15 games
The total has gone under in six of USA's last seven games
Louisiana is 1-5 ATS in its last six
The total has gone under in four of Louisiana's last five.
South Alabama: (22% of handle, 40% percent of bets)
Louisiana: (78% of handle, 60% percent of bets)
The Best Bet
The best bet here would be the under. Louisiana's ground game is good, but they don't score a lot of points. The Ragin' Cajuns should win, but it won't be a offensive showcase.
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Extreme inequality is bad for us all, but women are hurting most
By Kate HigginsOpinion
Mon., Jan. 22, 2018timer4 min. read
Next time you lace up your running shoes, consider who made them.
Lan stitches 1,200 pairs of shoes like yours each day in a factory in Vietnam.
Let that sink in for a moment: 1,200 pairs.
Lan's wage is so low, she not only can't afford a pair for her young son, but she doesn't see him and his baby sister for months at a time. While she toils for a dollar an hour, six days a week in the city, her children live with their grandparents in the Vietnamese countryside. Under pressure to meet daily targets for a leading fashion brand, she barely gets breaks or vacation time.
Some days, Lan works so hard, she faints on the job.
Meanwhile, it takes a CEO from the top five fashion retailers just over 11 days to earn what a Vietnamese garment worker like Lan makes in her lifetime.
This kind of extreme inequality is on the rise around the world, making it impossible for people to lift themselves out of poverty.
To put this in perspective, 82 per cent of the wealth created last year went to the richest 1 per cent of the population, while the 3.7 billion people who make up the poorest half of the world saw no increase. Nothing. Zero.
And while Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has repeatedly expressed concern about economic inequality in Canada, we also continue to see wealth amongst the superrich rise at a rapid pace. Oxfam calculates Canadian billionaire fortunes grew by $28 billion last year alone. That's enough to pay for universal child care and lift 4.9 million Canadians out of poverty.
The superrich are building massive wealth on the backs of the poorest workers — the majority of whom are women.
Here in Canada and abroad, women workers consistently earn less than men and do the lowest-paid and least secure forms of work. Oxfam has spoken to women who experience this in a variety of sectors, including the hotel industry. Female housekeepers in Toronto, the Dominican Republic and Thailand told us they live in fear of losing their jobs if they complain about low pay, working conditions or sexual harassment.
And some of the hardest work women do isn't even paid at all. They shoulder the vast majority of unpaid care work around the world — cleaning the house, tending to children, looking after sick and elderly family members. The McKinsey Global Institute estimates women contribute an estimated $10 trillion in unpaid care annually to support the global economy.
Tax cuts for the rich, tax havens, cuts in public services and a race to the bottom on wages and labour rights all hurt women more than men.
Reading all of this might make you feel powerless. What can you really do to change a global system rigged in favour of the superrich?
Well it turns out, a lot.
You can spread the word. You can demand better from the companies that produce the goods you buy. You can demand action from the politicians who get your vote.
As Prime Minister Trudeau meets with the rich and powerful in Davos for the World Economic Forum this week, he has an opportunity to move beyond words and take real, meaningful action.
Trudeau can press fellow leaders to limit returns to shareholders and top executives, and eliminate the gender pay gap. He can talk to CEOs — especially those who employ large workforces of poor women — about better wages and treatment for workers, as well as stronger sexual harassment policies.
But there is also work to do when he returns to Canada.
The government must raise taxes for corporations; close the loopholes that allow the superrich to avoid paying their fair share in taxes and crack down on those who stash their wealth in tax havens overseas. We need investments in social infrastructure, and better employment insurance and labour protections for those in precarious jobs.
These fundamental changes are not a pipe dream.
Just a few weeks ago, Iceland made it illegal for firms to pay women less than men. The government hopes to eliminate the gender wage gap entirely by 2020.
In 2010, Ecuador introduced a minimum "dignity wage" to cover basic costs of living, helping lift hundreds of thousands of people out of extreme poverty. That country now has one of the lowest unemployment rates in Latin America.
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Change is possible. We know what action we need to take to fight inequality and end poverty.
We owe it to women like Lan to create an economy that rewards work, not wealth. We owe it to Lan's daughter to one day be able to afford a pair of shiny new running shoes for her own kids.
Kate Higgins is the director of policy and campaigns at Oxfam Canada


Making all of your purchases with a debit card is a good way to avoid spending more money than you have and racking up debt. But it's not always the smartest way to pay. In fact, using a debit card at some places or in some instances can be dangerous.
That's because debit and credit card transactions are processed differently. And the protections aren't quite the same.
Under federal law, your liability for unauthorized credit card transactions is capped at $50. You're not responsible for any unauthorized transactions if your card number — rather than the card itself — is stolen, according to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).
You're not responsible for unauthorized debit card transactions if you report that your card is missing before someone uses it. Otherwise, you must report unauthorized charges within two days of learning that your card is lost or stolen to limit your liability to $50.
If you wait more than two days, you could be liable for up to $500 in unauthorized charges. After 60 days you could be on the hook for all unauthorized transactions made with your card, according to the FTC. Unlike with credit cards, you have to report unauthorized transactions with your debit card number within 60 days of your statement being sent to you to avoid liability.
So to protect the money in your bank account, here are nine situations when you should think twice before using your debit card.
Your chances of having your card information stolen is greater when you make purchases online because so many e-commerce sites have been compromised, said John Breyault, vice president of public policy, telecommunications and fraud at the National Consumers League. Plus, you could easily have viruses on your computer that can capture your information as you enter it online.
If a thief were to get your debit card information, you could contest any unauthorized charges. But that money typically isn't available to you while the bank is investigating your fraud claim, Breyault said. With a credit card on the other hand, those funds would still be available while the card company investigates.
When you check into a hotel it's not certain what final amount you will owe when you check out will be, due to restaurant charges or other fees charged to your room. So hotels will place a hold on a certain dollar amount above the room rate, said Nessa Feddis, senior vice president of consumer protections and payments with the American Bankers Association.
If you pay with a debit card, you won't have access to those funds temporarily, which could cause problems if don't have sufficient money in your account or didn't plan on spending more than the room rate, Feddis said.
Restaurants, like hotels, might authorize a higher dollar amount than your actual bill under the assumption that you'll leave a tip, Feddis said. It could take a few days for the actual amount — rather than the hold amount — to appear on your account balance.
However, a bigger reason to avoid using a debit card at a restaurant is that you are letting it leave your sight while the server takes it away to be swiped, said Bryan Jardine, director of fraud prevention solutions at security provider Easy Solutions. During that time, your card information could easily be stolen.
When you swipe your debit card at the pump, you're authorizing the gas station to withdraw money from your bank account — but not a specific amount because the authorization occurs before you actually fill your tank, Feddis said.
The gas station could, for instance, get authorization for $75 when you only end up pumping $25 worth of gas. However, there could be a hold on that $50 difference for up to a few days as the transaction is being processed, leaving you without access to that money, she said.
Gas stations also are targets for crooks that install devices on pumps to capture debit and credit card information as consumers swipe their cards — a process called skimming. They even install miniature cameras to view your PIN as you enter it. Then they can create counterfeit debit cards to drain your account. You won't be on the hook for fraudulent transactions if you report them quickly, but you might not have access to your money while the issue is being resolved. To avoid putting your card information at risk, Feddis said, pay inside the gas station for a specific dollar amount before you fill your tank.
Incidents of card and PIN skimming at non-bank ATMs — such as those located in convenience stores, hotels, restaurants or bars — soared 317 percent during the first four months of 2015 compared with the same period a year ago, according to credit scoring agency FICO.
These ATMs typically aren't monitored well, and owners of the establishments where they're located usually aren't trained to spot tampering, Breyault said. So it's best to avoid using your debit card to withdraw cash from one of these ATMS to lower your risk of having your card information skimmed.
ATMs at banks also are big targets for thieves that install skimming devices. In fact, compromises at bank-owned ATMs were up 174 percent the first four months of 2015 compared with the same period in 2014, according to FICO.
Before inserting your card into an ATM, look for signs that it might have been tampered with, including anything that's loose, crooked or damaged, according to the FBI. If something doesn't look right, don't use it. Instead, the FBI recommends using ATMs inside banks because they are less accessible to criminals looking to install skimmers.
Swiping your debit card at a self-service kiosk to pay for things such as parking or public transportation can be risky because these machines could easily be tampered with, Feddis said. If you notice anything suspicious — such as a card reader that is loose or poorly fitting — don't proceed with a transaction.
There are plenty of vacation rental property scams with the aim of getting travelers to hand over payment for fake listings. That's why you don't want to offer debit card information, which is a direct link to your bank account. Vacation rental listing sites such as HomeAway.com and VRBO.com recommend using a credit card as the most secure way to book a vacation rental because of the protections it offers.
Even legitimate properties require security deposits, so you might not want to tie up money in your bank account by using a debit card. Or you might have to pay in installments. Breyault said it can be easy to forget when you agreed to be charged for your installments, which could create problems for your account balance if you're paying with debit.
Think twice before linking automated payments for things such as magazine subscriptions or gym memberships to your debit card. "Small dollar payments that fly under the radar are so easy to forget," Breyault said. As a result, you might not to remember to budget for them and there won't be enough money in your account to cover them. Then you can get hit with overdraft fees.
"All of this comes with a caveat," Breyault said. "If you're going to use a credit card instead of a debit card, you need to do your best to pay the balance off each month." Regardless of which card you use, check your statements regularly for unauthorized charges and notify your financial institution immediately if you see any.


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Novel agents against Mycobacterium abscessus
Dr. Yossef Av-Gay
Dr. Yossef Av-Gay is a professor at the University of British Columbia and has been recently funded by Cystic Fibrosis Canada through the 2021 Grants & Awards Competition for his study, Hit to lead: Novel agents against Mycobacterium abscessus.
Therapeutic efficacy of polyphenols in experimental cystic fibrosis: their role in intestinal inflammation, oxidative stress and microbiota dysbiosis
Dr. Emile Levy
Dr. Emile Levy, a professor in the Department of Nutrition at the University of Montreal and Scientific Director of the Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition Unit at Le Centre hospitalier universitaire Sainte-Justine, recently received funding from Cystic Fibrosis Canada for his study, "Therapeutic efficacy of polyphenols in experimental cystic fibrosis: their role in intestinal inflammation, oxidative stress and microbiota dysbiosis." Cystic Fibrosis Canada awarded this funding as part of our 2021 Grants & Awards Competition and are looking forward to the results of the study.
Investigating the role of TMEM16A in compensating for defective CFTR function
Dr. Jin-A Lee
Dr. Jin-A Lee, from SickKids was recently awarded a two year research fellowship grant from Cystic Fibrosis Canada for her research study, A mutation-independent role of TMEM16A in airway cystic fibrosis therapy.
Research fellowships are awarded to applicants to our Grants & Awards Competition who have completed a PhD or MD degree within the last five years and are doing an independent research project in an academic lab. Dr. Lee hopes to identify the role of TMEM16A, which is a calcium-chloride channel, as well as determine the effects of upregulating TMEM16A in helping epithelial function. The ultimate goal is to find a way to target TMEM16A to help compensate for defective CFTR function in CF patients.
Dr. Lee's research relates to the community health priority: Cure CF with gene or stem cell therapies. It and also focuses on individuals who will not benefit from modulators.
Investigating non-invasive diagnostic for lung infections
In late 2021, we were able to co-fund with Michael Smith Health Research BC a three-year research trainee award for a researcher working to develop a non-invasive diagnostic for lung infections in CF. Dr. Shekooh Behroozian, a post-doctoral fellow at the University of British Columbia working in the laboratory of Dr. Jane Hill, received this award for her study, Development of a non-invasive diagnostic to detect bacterial pulmonary infections in patients with cystic fibrosis. This work aligns with our community health priorities: Improve airway infection detection and?treatment? and Predict and prevent pulmonary?exacerbations?.
Pseudomonas aeruginosa environmental sensing to establish chronic infection
Q&A with Dr. Cara Haney
Dr. Cara Haney is a professor at the University of British Columbia and has recently been funded with an Early Career Investigator award through Cystic Fibrosis Canada's 2021 Grants & Awards competition for her research study, Pseudomonas aeruginosa environmental sensing to establish chronic infection. Early Career Investigators are researchers who have recently opened an independent research laboratory at a university or hospital research institute. CF Canada has placed a priority on funding strong researchers who are early in their careers to help build and maintain a robust CF research community in Canada, now and into the future, with the skills we will need for the next generation of breakthroughs in CF.
In vivo exploration of Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus Interactions within Sputum of Cystic Fibrosis patients with Pulmonary Exacerbations.
Q&A with Dr. Amanda Morris
Dr. Amanda Morris, a research fellow at the Hospital for Sick Children, has recently been awarded a research fellowship from Cystic Fibrosis Canada for her study, In vivo exploration of Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus Interactions within Sputum of Cystic Fibrosis patients with Pulmonary Exacerbations.
Our research collaborations: working to improve access to therapies
Q & A with Dr. Christine Bear
Dr. Christine Bear is an award-winning researcher at the Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) in Toronto, who recently received funding from Cystic Fibrosis Canada to pursue her research study, Multi-site collaboration to validate use of patient-derived nasal cultures for expanding access to CFTR modulators. Dr. Bear hopes to find a way that Trikafta can be used for CF patients with mutations other than the most common F508del mutation. Through the use of nasal cells, there could be evidence that Trikafta can improve lung health for those who have been denied access due to their rare mutations.
Cystic Fibrosis Canada is proudly able to support this research thanks to a generous grant for basic science research from the Sarah Gordon Sutherland Memorial Fund. Our sincere thanks to the Gordon family for making this work possible.
Developing better treatments for Pseudomonas aeruginosa
Dr. Robert Hancock is the Killam Professor of Microbiology and Immunology and a Canada Research Chair at the University of British Columbia. He has published more than 700 scientific papers and has received several high-profile awards and honours in recognition of his work, including being appointed as an Officer of the Order of Canada in 2001. Dr. Hancock's research focuses on understanding and overcoming antibiotic resistance and developing new treatments for difficult-to-treat infections, like Pseudomonas aeruginosa.
UNDERSTANDING WHAT TRIGGERS THE START OF LUNG DISEASE IN PEOPLE WITH CYSTIC FIBROSIS
What I enjoy the most about my work is the process of discovery - the design of experiments and the development of experimental techniques that allow us to advance our understanding of CF.
ANTIBIOTIC TOLERANCE IN PSEUDOMONAS AERUGINOSA: HOW CAN ANTIBIOTICS BE MORE EFFECTIVE IN THE TREATMENT OF CHRONIC PSEUDOMONAS INFECTION?
A team of researchers from across Canada and the US, including Cystic Fibrosis Canada-funded Dao Nguyen from McGill University, recently published their study on the impact of chronic lung infections on lung inflammation. Specifically, they looked at the role of Pseudomonas aeruginosa bacterial adaptations in promoting lung inflammation.


102 backers pledged $11,665 to help bring this project to life.
2015 marks the 125th anniversary of the birth of Howard Phillips (H.P.) Lovecraft, and The H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival & CthulhuCon®-San Pedro returns for the sixth year at the exquisite art deco Warner Grand Theatre in historic San Pedro on May 1st, 2nd, and 3rd. Join us for three days of movies, music, games, art, authors, vendors, and so much more!
ONLY AVAILABLE TO KICKSTARTER DONORS!
Only while supplies last (14 left)!
IMAGE COMING FOR THE OFFICIAL T-SHIRT SOON!
Add $40 to your pledge (pay that much over the reward tier you select) if you want the HPLFF-SP 2015 work shirt.
If you want multiple shirts, just add that much more to your pledge, e.g., for one Enology shirt and a work shirt, add $65 to whatever your reward tier is.
If you want to join us and have your name read as part of the Friday night Festival Invocation--a new event that will involve giant tentacles the night after Walpurgis--add $10 to your donation.
For the first time, we are offering special Limited Edition commemorative glasses to celebrate the 125th Anniversary of Lovecraft's birth. Image of the glasses to come soon, but they are by the same artist who does these.
Pint glass - To add one American pint glass to your package, add $25 if picking it up at the festival (only) and $30 if you want it shipped (again, due to fragility).
The HPLFF started 20 years ago in Portland, Oregon by Andrew Migliore. After years of attending and contributing, filmmaker Aaron Vanek lost his mind and spawned an HPLFF in Los Angeles. Now madmen Cody Goodfellow and James Knouse have joined the adventure. This is a licensed franchise of the Portland fest, but each festival has its own distinct brand of madness.
Our last Kickstarter campaign was a huge help for us, but we need you again to grow even bigger!
All of the rewards below include a PDF of Lovecraft art.
Program and PDF ($10) - We will email you a PDF of our program as well as the PDF of Lovecraft art.
Livestream Level ($20) - You will have a PDF of the program, the PDF of art, PLUS access to our Livestream of events, not only of what is on stage, but backstage interviews as well. Movies will NOT be on the channel but we will provide you with a link to watch them (feature films not included). This is an all-digital package, nothing is mailed.
Friday ticket ($25) - One ticket to all Friday events, including a Kickstarter-exclusive poster.
Saturday ticket ($35) - One ticket to all Saturday events PLUS access to the Secret Screening afterwards. Nearly 24 hours of programming! Includes the KS exclusive poster.
Sunday ticket ($30) - Sunday means CthulhuCon®, where you will have access to all events including brunch catered by Happy Diner again (alcoholic drinks NOT included). We have expanded to Crafted this year for CthulhuCon®, so there will be lots of space, so much that we'll be showing movies, playing games, hosting an art contest, and hosting the infamous Cthulhu Prayer Breakfast. Includes the KS exclusive poster.
Friday and Saturday dual ticket ($60) - Tickets to both Friday and Saturday, including the Secret Screening but not CthulhuCon®. Includes one KS exclusive poster.
Ghoul Grab Bag ($30) - This reward contains our goodies: the official HPLFF-SP 2015 T-shirt and the Kickstarter Limited Edition poster. This is designed for people who cannot attend but want stuff. If you are attending and want shirts or more, use them as add-ons instead.
There in Spirit ($45) - This level combines the Ghoul Grab Bag and the Livestream viewing level, and is the ultimate for people who cannot physically attend but want to be a part of the festival. You will have the Ghoul Grab Bag and a program paper mailed to you.
Full weekend ticket ($80) - This is the main ticket to everything, and unlike the single or dual day tickets, this level includes the official HPLFF-SP 2015 shirt as well as the KS exclusive poster.
Improved full weekend ticket ($100) - For someone who wants a bit more than the full weekend ticket, you get the official T-shirt PLUS the Miskatonic University Enology shirt, a limited edition Reel Pass Ticket, the KS-exclusive poster, and access to reserved VIP seating in both the Warner Grand and the Secret Screening.
VIP Passes x2 ($250) - This reward level includes TWO VIP Reel Passes to the full weekend, VIP seating at both the Warner Grand and Secret Screening, a guided backstage tour of the theater, one VIP parking spot close to the theater on Friday and Saturday, TWO posters, TWO official HPLFF-SP 2015 shirts, TWO MU Enology shirts, TWO commemorative glasses (two wine or two pint or one of each), and one jar of Cthulhu Pickles.
Group Ticket Pack ($350) - This level includes FIVE tickets (not Reel Passes) to everything, five posters, five official HPLFF-SP 2015 shirts, and ONE VIP parking pass. It's like the full weekend ticket but cheaper and includes a parking spot. Bring your friends and everyone saves! If you get more than five people, add $70 for each person above five.
Hotel Package ($650) - For VIPs who want to stay overnight, this level is the VIP package (the $250 one) plus two nights at the Crowne Plaza hotel (two double beds or one king bed) on May 1 and 2. It does not include extras such as room service, gratuity, etc. You will also get FOUR glasses, two of each type and TWO official HPLFF-SP 2015 work shirts. This is two of every perk we have (six shirts, four glasses, two Reel Passes). You also get unrestricted access hang out in the green room.
The God/Goddess Level ($1000) - This level is for two people who want the ultimate H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival & CthulhuCon® experience. As the Hotel Package, but also: Two regular passes to the 20th Anniversary festival in Portland (which is guaranteed to sell out) in October, one giant marquee sized HPLFF-SP 2015 poster (only four of these are made), a window poster of "The Dunwich Horror", a story by Cody Goodfellow and a poem by award winning poet Bryan Thao Worra written for you, a very rare "Return to Innsmouth" poster and DVD, framed art by Ashley Russell and a complete autographed print set (five images) of "Pickman's Masterpiece" by Joshua Hoffine. You are also invited to a special role in the Friday Invocation and Sunday Prayer Breakfast if you wish.
Secret Screening - After the main festival Saturday night, we will have an after party that continues into early Sunday, showing unspeakable movies and live entertainment we cannot even talk about! For those who survived the Secret Screening last year, this year will be in a DIFFERENT LOCATION within walking distance of the Warner Grand Theatre (we desecrated the previous location too much).
PDF Art - We will email a PDF of Lovecraftian artwork as a PDF to our donors a few weeks after the festival. This features all or most of the art that we played onscreen as a slideshow in between movies.
LiveStreaming - We have improved our LiveStreaming capabilities and coverage from the first year; last year's stream seemed to work without complaints.
Official HPLFF-SP 2015 poster - We are working with the artist now for this image, and will present it as soon as possible.
Official HPLFF-SP shirts (Tee and workshirts) - We are working with the artist now for the image, and will show it off as soon as we can.
VIP Seating - We will mark off an area of the Warner Grand Theater and the venue of the Secret Screening for our VIPs to make sure you get a good seat.
VIP Parking - We have a very limited number of parking spots close to the theater. While parking is plentiful in the area, you won't have to refill your meter here.
Backstage Tour - During breaks or after the festival, our VIPs will get a guided tour of the marvelous Warner Grand Theatre.
Cthulhu Pickles - A jar of SPICY cuke spears from Wicked Pickles made just for the festival.
Reel Passes - EDIT: Our reel passes will NOT be wooden this year, but we will make them look nice and they are your souvenir with access to the whole festival.
Crowne Plaza Hotel - Guests will have a room reserved in their name by the festival, either one king bed or two double beds. The room will be covered for both Friday and Saturday night (May 1 and 2), but not any incidentals. If you wish to book your own room, we have a discount code available, use group code LFF when booking online before April 15 for a $60 discount per night.
STRETCH GOAL: THE DARKEST OF THE HILLSIDE THICKETS LIVE ALBUM!
If we reach $15,000, we will be able to record a LIVE ALBUM of the rock cosmic gods from Canada, Darkest of the Hillside Thickets! (their song "Shhh…" featured on Rock Band NerdCore expansion, seen below).
The Resurrected (aka Shatterbrain) (1991) - Legendary screenwriter and director Dan O' Bannon (Alien, Return of the Living Dead) directed a modern day adaptation of The Case of Charles Dexter Ward, starring Chris Sarandon and John Terry. It was taken from him and released in 1991 after being re-edited. Dan passed away in 2009, but his widow, Diane O'Bannon, will be attending the festival with the one and only director's cut of the movie; the one Dan wanted. This is not a completed picture, some effects and music cues are missing. But it is as close to O'Bannon's vision as you will see.
Just added: Peepshow Menagerie burlesque show (Lovecraft themed)!
Confirmed guests: artist Pete Von Sholly, authors Leslie Klinger, Gary Myers, Cody Goodfellow, Ian Welke, Kat Rocha, and S. P. Miskowski. More being added!
More programming information to be released as we confirm it, so be sure to check back or donate to get our updates!
The 2015 H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival®-San Pedro is sponsored by the San Pedro Historic Waterfront Business Improvement District (PBID), the Grand Vision Foundation, and Crafted at the Port of Los Angeles. It is produced and managed by HPLFF-SoCal, LLC as part of a license with Lurker Films, Inc. of Portland, Oregon.
All attendees of the H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival & CthulhuCon®-San Pedro are expected to abide by the Event Code of Conduct.
This will be the sixth year of the San Pedro H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival & CthulhuCon®, and our third Kickstarter campaign (the first two were successful). The festival will occur regardless of our Kickstarter campaign, as things are already locked. However, if not successful we will have to resort to personal funds to pay for the theater rental, insurance, staff, marketing, print rentals, guest travel and accommodations, and the many other expenses we accrue. Furthermore, none of our stretch goals will be attained, which is enough to drive us insane.
After this is over, assuming it is funded, we merely need to continue doing what we have done and are doing.
Thank you! We will send you the PDF of Lovecraft art.
Program an PDF (digital) - Emailed PDF of Lovecraft art and a PDF of the festival program.
LiveStream level - If you can't attend and just want to watch most everything we do like Unseen Forces from BEYOND. You can see the performances and interactive backstage interviews with guests, plus passwords for as many of the selected short films viewable online as we can get, accessible that weekend only. We'll also send you a PDF of artwork and a PDF of our program--all rewards are digital.
FRIDAY FUNGI OF YUGGOTH TICKET - One ticket to the festival on Friday, May 1st. A Kickstarter-exclusive poster will be held for you at the theater and the PDF of Lovecraft art emailed to you.
SUNDAY SHANTAK TICKET - One ticket to CthulhuCon on Sunday, May 3rd. Includes brunch. A Kickstarter-exclusive poster awaits you, plus the PDF of Lovecraft art will be emailed.
GHOUL GRAB BAG - You want the stuff! You get the official HPLFF-SP 2015 T-shirt, the Kickstarter-exclusive poster and the newspaper program mailed to you, and the PDF of Lovecraft art emailed.
SATURDAY SECRET SHOGGOTH PAL TICKET - One ticket to the festival on Saturday, May 2 PLUS you will be allowed entry to the Secret Screening events in the wee hours. A Kickstarter-exclusive poster awaits, plus the PDF of Lovecraft art emailed to you.
THERE IN SPIRIT - For those who cannot attend, you get the Ghoul Grab Bag reward, including (voided) tickets mailed to you plus exclusive access to the LiveStream of performances and interactive backstage interviews with guests, plus passwords for as many of the selected short films viewable online as we can get, accessible that weekend only.
FROM BEYOND DUAL REALITY TICKET - For those who want to attend Friday and Saturday only, this is the level for you. You will get the PDF of art and the Kickstarter-exclusive poster, plus tickets for Friday and Saturday, including access to the Secret Screening late Saturday night.
IA! FULL CTHULHU FHTAGN TICKET - One ticket to the entire festival: Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and the Secret Screening. Includes PDF of Lovecraft art, the Kickstarter-exclusive poster, an official HPLFF-SP 2015 T-shirt, and Sunday brunch. Poster and shirt waiting for you at theater.
SOLO SERVITOR OF THE OUTER GODS - You'll receive our special 2015 HPLFF-SP Reel Pass ticket (full access to the whole weekend, including brunch), access to reserved VIP seating at the Warner Grand and the Secret Screening, the PDF of Lovecraft art, a Kickstarter-exclusive poster, an HPLFF-SP 2015 AND a Miskatonic University Enology T-shirt from Lovecraft Wines.
DEEP ONE VIP SPECIAL - A great VIP package for two: two wooden VIP Reel Pass tickets for the full festival including brunch and the Secret Screening, VIP seating in the Warner Grand AND the Secret Screening, a guided backstage tour of the WGT on Friday and/or Saturday, VIP parking on Friday and Saturday (one vehicle), the PDF of art, two Kickstarter exclusive 2015 HPLFF-SP posters, two official HPLFF-SP 2015 T-shirts, two Miskatonic University Enology T-shirts, one jar of Cthulhu Pickles, PLUS a pair of limited edition HPLFF-SP 2015 glasses (pint or wine goblet or one of each).
HORDE OF STAR SPAWN OF CTHULHU FHTAGN GROUP TICKET PACK) - Five tickets to the entire festival: Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and the Secret Screening. Includes PDFs of Lovecraft art, five Kickstarter-exclusive posters, five official HPLFF-SP 2015 T-shirts, five Sunday brunch passes and ONE VIP parking space (because we want you to fight over it). Posters and shirts waiting for you at theater. You can add more tickets to this level at $70 per.
HASTUR THE UNSPEAKABLE HOTEL VIP PACKAGE - As the Deep One VIP package but also includes two nights' stay May 1 & 2 at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, located three blocks from the theater (does not cover extra charges such as room service, telephone, Pay-Per-View, tipping, etc.), unguided backstage access of the WGT + two pairs of limited edition HPLFF-SP 2015 glasses (both pint and wine goblet) and TWO official HPLFF-SP 2015 workshirts. You get two of every shirt and glass we make this year.
WE WORSHIP YOU LIKE A GOD LEVEL - All Hail! We give you everything: two etched wooden VIP Reel Passes to the full festival, reserved VIP seating in the theater and the Secret Screening, VIP parking, unrestricted backstage access, two passes to the 20th Anniversary HPLFF in Portland (does not include travel accommodations--this WILL sell out), two official HPLFF-SP 2015 shirts, two MU Enology shirts, two HPLFF-SP 2015 work shirts, two Kickstarter exclusive posters, two nights' stay at the Crowne Plaza Hotel (May 1 & 2), two limited edition HPLFF-SP 2015 wine goblets & two pint glasses, one marquee-sized (36" x 48") official HPLFF-SP 2015 poster (only three made), PLUS a marquee poster for the 1970 movie "The Dunwich Horror", one special short story written by Cody Goodfellow just for you, one poem written for you by Bryan Thao Worra, one ultra-rare autographed poster from "Return to Innsmouth" and a special remastered DVD of "Return to Innsmouth" (out of print on VHS), four framed art prints (10" x 13") by Ashley Russell, one complete set of "Pickman's Masterpiece" photo prints (5 total) by Joshua Hoffine (autographed), a jar of Cthulhu Pickles, and you will be featured (if you so choose) at the Friday Invocation (a NEW event at the HPLFF) and the Sunday Prayer Breakfast.


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"Attack On Humanitarian Workers In Rann Is Godless, Despicable" Buhari Says
President Muhammadu Buhari has said the attack on humanitarian workers in Rann, Borno State last night, more than ever shows Boko Haram insurgents as godless, brutish, and utterly to be despised.
"As I have always maintained, no true religion advocates hurting the innocent. To now further attack and kill those offering humanitarian aid is the height of bestiality. It is odious before both God and man," the President said, while sympathizing with the United Nations and other humanitarian agencies working at Rann, and in the country generally.
President Buhari affirms that such cowardly attacks can only bolster the determination of government to bring the Boko Haram insurgency to a decisive end, in the shortest possible time.
Boko Haram terrorists last night stormed the military base of the 3rd Battalion in Rann headquarters of Kala-Balge local government in Borno state at about 6 pm and engaged the military in a gun battle that lasted for 5 hours. The terrorists after the attack abducted three aid workers (2 from ICRC clinic team and 1 from UNICEF) in addition to killing a UNICEF doctor, and two workers from the International Organization for Migration.
Abubakar Shekau
Borno State
Chibok
Humanitarian Workers
Rann
Wilder Vows To Prove He Is World's Best Heavyweight Boxer Against Ortiz
'I Break The Internet': Why Fans Think Beyonce Is Shading the Kardashians On Her New Song


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Daesh is not just "blowback"
Submitted by cathy n on 8 December, 2015 - 8:45 Author: Gemma Short
The response from much of the left to parliament's vote to commence air strikes in Syria has been characterised less by their usual collapse into the "anti-imperialism" of supporting your enemy's enemy, than by an absence of commentary.
It is good that most of the left have shifted from an (at best) implicit backing of reactionary regimes as long as they clash with UK-US imperialism, or feel that such a position is no longer popular. Yet in most of the left, what has replaced this is either a lack of commentary on Daesh, or at worst an ill-explained ″blowback″ argument.
Socialist Worker editorialises that ″the same politicians lecturing us on the need to 'defeat Isis' are responsible for the destruction of Iraq and the group's rise. They set the region ablaze — now they're dousing it with fuel.″ Whilst the British and American state carry a large responsibility for the bloodbath that Iraq became, and the bombing campaigns being led by the UK, US and France now will not stop Daesh and may possibly make them stronger, painting the situation in the whole of the Middle East as simply the result of western imperialism ignores independent political tendencies. Social forces of the Middle East are not just simply passive pieces in the west′s game.
Protests against UK intervention were dominated by generic ″no more wars″ peace-nik politics. This is understandable from left-minded people as a reaction to the UK′s role in Iraq and Afghanistan, but actually the UK is not starting a war. A war is already going on in Syria, and has been for four years. Hundreds of thousands have died, four million refugees have fled to other countries, eight million are internally displaced. That is the result of the Assad regime, Daesh and other Islamist groups — not UK imperialism.
An article by political commentator and author Matt Carr posted on the Stop the War website has caused outrage with its apparently favourable equation of fighters joining Daesh with the International Brigades. The political comparison of choice, after Hilary Benn described UK-US airstrikes as in the spirit of the International Brigades, has been much analysed. Carr′s article states: ″Benn does not even seem to realise that the jihadist movement that ultimately spawned Daesh is far closer to the spirit of internationalism and solidarity that drove the International Brigades than Cameron's bombing campaign — except that the international jihad takes the form of solidarity with oppressed Muslims, rather than the working class or the socialist revolution.″
Carr is telescoping a large part of 21st century history into one sentence, and as a result makes a pretty ugly and clumsy comparison. He also lumps together all those travelling to the Middle East, to join a variety of groups, in the last 15 years. Most damningly, and making the article sit well with the Stop the War version of the world, he appears to be uncritical of the ″international jihad″ being about ″solidarity with oppressed Muslims″. Again this removes from the equation all independent political ideologies, and reduced political Islam to a ″blowback″ against oppression.
Yet there are some grains of sense in some of his article. His description of ″solidarity with oppressed Muslims, rather than the working class or the socialist revolution″ is true of much of the left who have, over the last period, abandoned a class analysis of Muslim-majority countries.
The left's failure to reach out to Muslim-background people in the UK on a class basis has left a political vacuum has been filled by the religious right.
The record of Chris Williamson
To build a healthy, vibrant and democratic left, we need to rid ourselves of charlatans...
Pitfalls of knee-jerk "blame Israel"
If there was evidence of Israel's involvement in attacks on tankers in the Gulf, then that...
Israelophobia is Stalinist regression
A review of Paul Kelemen's book The British Left and Zionism: History of a Divorce.
Omar has challenged left common sense; Liberals and anti-liberals.
Solidarity 387, 9 December 2015Syria


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Solution Summary: Knee Guards with Built-in Seat
Knee guards with a built-in seat is a kneepad with an attached seat to sit on during kneeling.
Knee guards with a built-in seat is an engineering control that may help reduce stress on the knees, shins, and ankles during kneeling. The knee guards have rigid plastic shin guards that extends down each leg. The knee guards and shin guards evenly distributes body weight, thereby reducing the amount of pressure on the knees and shins compared to traditional kneeling. Additionally, removable seats can be attached to the end of each shin guard so workers can sit.
Knee guards with built-in seats consist of three separate components: knee pad (K2S-250), shin guard (K2S-500), and Kraft Seat (K2S-1000).
K2S-250
The kneepad is made of ¾ inch EVA foam pad attached to high impact polycarbonate plastic. A quick-release hook and loop strap fixes the pad on to the knee. The kneepads can be used independently or they can be attached to shin guards and/or the Kraft Seat.
The shin guard features two adjustable lightweight ABS plastic rods that are on both sides of the shin. The end of the shin guard has a pad for the front of the ankle. The ankle pad is secured to the lower leg with a quick release hook and loop strap, allowing the worker to walk with the shin guards on. When kneeling, the plastic rods and ankle pad evenly distribute the body weight, which reduces pressure on the knees, shins, and ankles.
K2S-1000
The Kraft Seat attaches to the shin guards and extends behind the ankle approximately 8-10 inches. Each leg has a seat for the worker to sit on while kneeling. The Kraft seat weighs less than 2 lb and can be worn while walking.
Continuous kneeling can lead to numerous musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) of the knee and ankle. A prolonged kneeling position can cause prepatellar bursitis (housemaid's knee), causing swelling and pain in the front of the knee. Prolonged kneeling can also cause osteoarthritis of the knee which is a deterioration of the cartilage between knee joints. Sitting on the ankles while kneeling can cause excessive pressure on the ankle, which may result in pain and loss of function. Knee guards with built-in seats can help reduce excessive pressure on the knees, shins, and ankles by evenly distributing body weight on the kneepads, shin guards, and seat.
Kneeling causes pressure directly on the kneecap. This small contact area may cause MSDs. Knee guards with a built-in seat increases contact area by distributing pressure throughout the knees, shins, and ankles.
Knee guards with a built-in seat allows workers to sit comfortably rather than on their ankles. Sitting on the ankles causes excessive pressure through the ankle joint, which can result in pain and stiffness.
The manufacturer states, "No other knee pads on the market offer the protection of the K2S knee protection system… The Kraft Seat allows you to transfer your weight to its patented seat, rather than to your knees, your shins, and your ankles."
Safety and health experts believe that recurrent pressure on the knee can lead to bursitis (Dutton, 2008). Knee guards with a built-in seat can reduce the amount of pressure on the knee, which decreases risk of developing prepatellar bursitis.
Furthermore, applying pressure to a joint at its end range of motion can lead to adaptive lengthening of connective tissue. Lengthened connective tissue can lead to hypermobility, pain, and predispose the joint to injury (Dutton, 2008). By sitting on the ankles during kneeling, body weight forces the ankle into an end range of motion. If continuous, sitting on the ankles can lead to ankle MSDs. Knee guards with a built-in seat eliminates sitting on the ankles by providing a platform for the worker to sit on.
The K2S Kraft Seat has no effect on productivity.
Dan Anton, PT, PhD, ATC; and Kevin Wright, SPT – Eastern Washington University
Install and finish flooring
K2S Kraft Seat
To obtain information, visit http://k2skraftseat.com/ or contact 1-888-527-3220 http://k2skraftseat.com/?page_id=19
Standing Carpet Cutter