Assume v. Presume

Trev said:
Shear pin?
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Exactly what I thought, or even "fusible pin", but "frangible" seems to describe more of a total-self-destruction-by-design concept that a Crunchie bar would have (if it had been designed intentionally for that purpose).

I bet if we were to examine one of these supposedly frangible pins, we might call it something else. It's probably just a matchstick locating the bar at a point of very local equilibrium.
 
Black Hole said:
I have not heard of "frangible" before (despite being an engineer, and it not being queried by the iOS spell check).
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Surprised at you BH, being an engineer and all. Have you never seen one of these ?
sprinkler_class1pg5pic1.jpg

The thing containing the red liquid is a frangible bulb.
 
Not forgetting the technicians who fix washing machines or collect the refuse. This is heading towards a "give engineers protected status" debate again, unfortunately if it was reserved for members of the relevant chartered institution I wouldn't qualify.
 
Trev said:
Mechanics fix cars. People with a degree don't usually fix cars for a living.
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People with degrees clean, cook, wait and do other minimum wage jobs these days. With a massive debt.
 
Shear is a specific mechanical direction (eg. across or possibly twisting a bolt rather than tension or compression).
Fusible is a melting thing.
Frangible suggests (to me) a deliberately weak link without being specific about how it can fail.

I've certainly heard it, and possibly used it, in the past. Not often, but more than once.
 
Can you name a fusible something or other that does not involve some sort of melting/vaporisation?
 
Fusible link.

I thought these were intended to let go if the mechanical forces became too great, but web research indicates they are a fire protection mechanism. Ah well - I am an electronics engineer who dabbles with mechanics rather than a mechanical engineer by education.
 
4291 said:
Frangible just means easily broken.
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I didn't read it that way: that is more fragile than frangible.

I understand frangible to mean not only fragile but also as breaking up into tiny pieces when broken, by design. A fragile object might be like a glass vase, which is easily broken. A frangible object, on the other hand, would shatter as well as breaking, as a safety feature.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frangibility

I assume that is the objective at Badminton, to break easily. However, looking at the description, the pins do not disintegrate at all, they just break easily. Fragile doesn't seem to be a good word to describe that. I suppose frangible is the correct word, but meaning easily broken, by design?

Would toughened glass windscreens be described as frangible? Modern jousting lances?
 
Sounds good to me. I still think that if we were to examine this supposedly frangible pin, it would turn out to be shearable instead.
 
Black Hole said:
Sounds good to me. I still think that if we were to examine this supposedly frangible pin, it would turn out to be shearable instead.
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Sorry, BH, I was still editing when you replied. I agree, it looks like it is shearable, but I think the operative part is in being designed to be fragile.
 
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