: Why did you need the 5 figure log tables?

I was designing the support steelwork for the main steam safety valves
in a 4 x 660MW power-station. Although it was roughly square with a
boiler and generator in each corner in fact it was slightly twisted by a
handfull of degrees, and every corner was at a different angle. That
meant I had to calculate the angles accurately so that the steelwork
fitted properly. It was complicated by the fact that although we knew
the empty and running weight of the valves we didn't really know what
the loads were as the valves opened. There was a theory that instead of
the normal 25 tons running weight the load could reverse and push the
valves up as they blew off. It was quite important not to let the valves
move because they'd tear the pipework off the boiler -- and I had seen
the results of that in my first few weeks of being an apprentice there.

It took about a week to calculate and draw each corner but today,
actually even nearly 40 years ago, I could do it in a couple of hours
with the right (ie expensive) program on a computer. Being part of a
team developing such a program was my third job three years later.

Mike