I hear at Tek in New Orelans that the Singapore Navy is very unhappy wiht the Cis Lunars they bought a while back ( notice we do no hear any glowing stories out of that transaction), have thrown in the towel on this device, and are seeking alternative equipment from Carlton. I further hear that at the time , the price they were given looked very good next to the price of the real thing, but then they found out the hard way. Can anyone confirm if this is true? -----Original Message----- From: Bill Mee <wwm@sa*.ne*> To: cavers <cavers@cavers.com> Cc: rebreather@nw*.co* <rebreather@nw*.co*>; "Cost effective home improvement" <freeattic@co*.ci*.uf*.ed*>; techdiver@aq*.co* <techdiver@aq*.co*>; George Irvine <kirvine@sa*.ne*> Date: Tuesday, January 12, 1999 6:03 PM Subject: Defective Copies was Theft of WKPP scooter designs I can conjure a mental image of Mr. Aerospace Engineer Bill Stone fumbling around the stolen WKPP Gavin scooter, dial caliper in hand, gleefully clucking to himself while transcribing dimensions and observational notations. Like a Soviet era spy, who had just hijacked the plans for an American vacuum cleaner, Stone was no doubt congratulating himself on how he cleverly outsmarted George Irvine and the WKPP. His henchboy ,Jason Richards, had come through for him this time around. Stone, who never had any interest in actually paying the WKPP for their scooters went to great lengths to steal a scooter which he could then copy. The date was Dec. 1996 and from the looks of things and the notations on the drawings, Stone poorly understood what he was looking at. What is more remarkable is that a socalled material engineer could demonstrate such a complete misunderstanding of common PVC and mechanical construction of a submarine pressure hull. Despite being hugely incensed over Stones treachery George and I were rolling around laughing uncontrollably over many of the meticulously documented examples of this brilliant engineers unmitigated, pompous, self important stupidity. Thirty five mechanical drawings later, Stone had finally redesigned the WKKP scooter, oblivious to most all of the subtle nuances incorporated by the original designer, Bill Gavin. Nevertheless, Stone proudly adorned the drawings with the Cis Lunar Logo, as if this blatant unacknowledged act of plagiarism was his own creation. For those of you who think we have been unfair to this miserable individual I suggest you consider that these actions were taken in 1996, long before the advent of the current Wakulla II fiasco. We have also observed tremendous similarities between the WakII fatman scooter and the original machined aluminum prototype design of Irvines. This one of a kind aluminum unit which was created just prior to building the first production round of Gavin scooters. Mike Bruic has disclosed that Aerospace Engineer Stone has neglected to place bulkheads between the motor compartment and the nickel metal hydride battery packs, despite the obvious warnings of severe battery off gassing. Any naval engineer, particularly those involved in the design and manufacture of electric underwater vehicles understands this most rudimentary of precautions. Not our Bill Stone, who in his condescending arrogance knows far better. Given this background why should you believe anything which comes out of this project? We have already determined that the bottom time data logs of the Mk 5s are highly suspicious and probably doctored. What else in the Wakulla II repertoire has been purloined or fabricated? In the case of the scooters it is highly unfortunate that no one will get the last laugh. These things, when well designed and properly assembled require tremendous care and caution in handling and maintenance. The poorly designed and shoddily assembled Wakulla II units are potential death traps. What next? -- Send mail for the `techdiver' mailing list to `techdiver@aq*.co*'. Send subscribe/unsubscribe requests to `techdiver-request@aq*.co*'.
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