Brass Monkey

[Bumper]

In the heyday of sailing vessels, all war ships and many freighters carried iron cannons. Those cannons fired round iron cannon balls. It was necessary to keep a good supply of ammunition near the cannons, but measures had to be taken to keep them from rolling about the deck. The best storage method devised was a square based pyramid with one ball on top, resting on four, resting on nine, which in turn rested on sixteen. Thus a supply of thirty cannon balls could be stacked in a relatively small area adjacent to the cannon.

There was only one problem - how to prevent the bottom layer from rolling out from beneath the others. The solution was a metal plate called a “monkey”, with sixteen round indentations, spaced to accommodate the bottom layer of cannon balls. However, it was found that if this plate was made of iron, the iron cannon balls would quickly rust to it and become immovable. The solution to the oxidation problem was to make the “monkeys” out of brass, which would not adhere to the iron cannon balls, despite corrosion.

Unfortunately, due to its significantly elevated coefficient of expansion, brass will contract and expand much more readily than iron with changes in temperature. Consequently, when the temperature dropped too far, the indentations in the brass plate would shrink so much that the iron cannon balls would roll right off the monkey.

Thus, it was quite literally, “Cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey!” And all this time you’ve had off-coloured thoughts, haven’t you?

[Moe418]

Originally Posted by Bumper

In the heyday of sailing vessels, all war ships and many freighters carried iron cannons. Those cannons fired round iron cannon balls. It was necessary to keep a good supply of ammunition near the cannons, but measures had to be taken to keep them from rolling about the deck. The best storage method devised was a square based pyramid with one ball on top, resting on four, resting on nine, which in turn rested on sixteen. Thus a supply of thirty cannon balls could be stacked in a relatively small area adjacent to the cannon.

There was only one problem - how to prevent the bottom layer from rolling out from beneath the others. The solution was a metal plate called a “monkey”, with sixteen round indentations, spaced to accommodate the bottom layer of cannon balls. However, it was found that if this plate was made of iron, the iron cannon balls would quickly rust to it and become immovable. The solution to the oxidation problem was to make the “monkeys” out of brass, which would not adhere to the iron cannon balls, despite corrosion.

Unfortunately, due to its significantly elevated coefficient of expansion, brass will contract and expand much more readily than iron with changes in temperature. Consequently, when the temperature dropped too far, the indentations in the brass plate would shrink so much that the iron cannon balls would roll right off the monkey.

Thus, it was quite literally, “Cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey!” And all this time you’ve had off-coloured thoughts, haven’t you?

Huh...I didnt realize the Beastie Boys were that old...