[Leica] BOATING PAD - COMET

[philipprice80 at yahoo.com (Philip Price)]

Hi Tina, It is possible we have crossed paths !! Your husband may be 
interested to know I currently have a customer who makes a very hi-tech 
piece of hardware for a US aerospace company that is machined from aluminium 
50 % Silicon we developed this for the very low thermal expansion properties 
it?exhibits at?very low temperatures. Sorry I cannot tell you the 
application its used in but the piece of hardware helps to prevent the loss 
of airmans lives, both yours and ours. Kind regards Phil.
P.S. I was chatting to some guys from Reynolds Aluminum at the recent Paris 
Air Show ( Also got some great Paris street pictures a la Henri Cartier 
Bresson ! )




________________________________
From: Tina Manley <images at comporium.net>
To: Leica Users Group <lug at leica-users.org>
Sent: Wednesday, August 19, 2009 12:58:16 PM
Subject: Re: [Leica] BOATING PAD - COMET

At 05:03 AM 8/19/2009, you wrote:
> Ric / Jim, I work in the aluminium industry, and for many years I worked 
> for Alcan, which is how I got to spend three years in Riverside CA., and 
> where our daughter was born, she kept her US passport ! What I thought you 
> may find of interest is that the aluminium alloy used in hulls is an 
> aluminium 4 / 5 % Magnesium alloy in rolled form its extremely ductile, it 
> work hardens from forming, and was first invented in the early 1920 `s and 
> used on lifeboats for the ocean going liners of the day.. Another 
> interesting story about these alloys is that they were used to fabricate 
> the body panels on Land Rovers, this was due to steel being rationed in 
> Britain after the end of the Second World War, for some reason aluminium 
> was not.
> 
> I know this story as I started my career in the 1960 `s at the mill 
> supplying Rover, and there were still people there from the immediate post 
> war years who were involved in the development phase. Sorry, this is not 
> photography but these exchanges lead off into all sorts of different 
> directions, which makes being a LUGer so interesting !!! Kind regards Phil.

It's a small world.? My husband worked for the aluminum industry for many 
years - Reynolds, Alumax, Iralco, Venalum - and started his own engineering 
consulting firm Penta that worked with Alcan and most other aluminum 
companies.? His area was mostly recycling aluminum but we've visited 
aluminum plants all over the world.? Maybe our paths have crossed over the 
years!

Tina



Tina Manley
www.tinamanley.com 

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