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The Vancouver Maritime
Museum has a collection of more than 170,000 objects
including 35,000 artifacts, 20,000 books, 262 original
paintings/artwork and 114,000 photographs This online
collection gives you access to just a few of our
hidden and not so hidden treasures.
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Category Index >
Category:
Instruments and Equipment > Artifact: Weigh Scales Used to Build PX-15 BEN FRANKLIN
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Weigh Scales Used to Build PX-15 BEN FRANKLIN
Category: Instruments and Equipment
During the design and construction of the research submersible PX-15 BEN FRANKLIN, Bureau Piccard engineer Erwin Aebersold was responsible, among many other things, for accurately plotting the weight of the craft. This was essential to balance or trim the sub at neutral buoyancy when the time came to dive. If the sub was too heavy or too light, it would not function.
The perfection and exquisite design of PX-15 and Aebersold's dedication are reflected in this artifact -a small scale used by Aebersold to weigh all the small parts that went into the submersible. These, as well as the large parts, many weighing many tonnes, were factored into the final calculations - which ended up being only fifty pounds out in a 130-ton craft!
The scales are a gift of Mr. Aebersold, and were presented with other memorabilia during the 2003 reunion at the Vancouver Maritime Museum of the PX-15 BEN FRANKLIN crew and the team who built and supported the craft on its historic 1969 Gulf Stream Drift Mission. |
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[ print version ]
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