Problem 252: Snail tale
Emmanuel Sniff owns KisskissChow, a very exclusive French restaurant that serves the most irresistible dishes with the best wines in the world. Everything from the two-ton chandeliers to the butterpat plates are perfect.
Usually on weekends, the line of movie stars and world leaders waiting to get in wraps around the block. But lately business hasn’t been so good. Frankly, the clientele has been rather disappointed. It seems the escargot, served with several dishes, has not been up to par. The little guys taste tres magnifique as always, but their appearance is, shall we say, rather ungroomed. Their shells are painfully dull, and look shabby. And the word about Emmanuel’s escargot is spreading rapidly around town.
Desperate to amend this insult to civilization, Emmanuel constructs a device to buff his snails. Starting late on a Tuesday night and working into the wee hours of the morning all week, he completes his snail shiner by daybreak Friday. But now he is wondering — will the device traumatize the snails, making them tense and chewy before cooking? The number of teeth on each gear is indicated — if Emmanuel cranks 120 times per hour, what kind of g-force will the snails experience?
Solution to problem 251: In vino, veritas, October, 2001.
Winners circle
Fun problem 250: Duck bill September, 2001 Total entries: 104 Number correct: 72 (69%) Winner: Eric Blom, Milwaukee Eric’s prize: MechPack-2000 software from UNIK Associates, Milwaukee, Wis., www.engineering-unik.com Reduce hours spent calculating to minutes. MechPack- 2000 helps determine the capacity of flat belts, size pulleys, convert belt speed to rpm, and quickly calculate many other useful factors.Puzzle us
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