Hi Will,

I know we are story telling and it’s off topic, but hey, it’s a reading entertainment site isn’t it!

Well, I looked into those super bolts. There are wild like you said.
Using a tapered body sleeve to take up the clearance around the bolt left to get them assembled.
That makes for a very interesting fastener system to lock the joint from creep.
Using several smaller bolts to “jacking” them into its stretch mode without the twisting torque on a
fastener was interesting too.

That reminded me of what I did to keep a thief from stealing another generator off my Harley back in the mid seventies.
I drilled and tapped only one hole into the head of bolts and into the engine casing.
I Installed a set screw that went into the case and along side and engaging the body of the bolt with its threads.
In effect, it’s keyed the bolt into the case at its torqued up value.
One has to shear a hardened set screw by trying to shear it. The bolt head that will not even begin to move a speck to rotate loose or tighter to snap.
No thief’s, in the pocket hand wrench can do that.
I never wanted to try a breaker bar to see if I could get it started either. It’s an unproven idea.
50 years and a hundred thousand miles later, I never had another “easily stolen” one from my bike though.
I do have to remember to use an Allen wrench, as it’s not easily seen either! (:-)

A lot of changes from the mid eighties with my temporary position with Southern Cal Edison Power Co. overhauling steam turbines.
Brutal work using 5” slugging hex wrenches and 20 lb. sledgehammers for disassembly.
These through studs had a deep hole from one end.
We depth micro measured before and after we used 1-1/2” drive air impacts to set the initial tightness.
Then when heated the stud by inserting Cal rods. We then rotated the nut X more degrees of turn.
Measured again after it cooled to read the amount stretch.
Redo the ones to make them all the same within a tolerance.
I never found out how much or what tolerances they shot for.
They were good at hitting what they told us to do, first time, on lots of those fasteners.

Yep, I decided I didn’t want to become part of the traveling Steam Division, nicknamed “Animals” with Edison.
Some generating plants are in the deserts and they have to keep their wrenches in buckets of water, so they can handle them.
Other plants are nuclear and those guys got to volunteer to “glow in the dark” for the over time money.
Those guys, Live in their own pull behind trailers and ate lots of bologna sandwiches.
This is in the mid eighties.
Very very loyal and hard working employees but they did make two thousand-plus dollars, for a minimum of seven day week, after week.
Oh yes, Many were divorced too!

In the seventies, I used to machine gear boxes as big as a VW car would fit inside of.
On those we used 1-1/2 standard bolts and a hydraulically driven torque device.
They were far smaller and didn’t have the heat that a 1200 pound steam system has.


Did you also see the reinvention of the “Bellville” washer system by the Swedes?
Tapered serrated teeth on the faces along with the spring action. Anti-rotation and maintaining tension inclusively. I noticed the doubling down to do it too!

You are correct about very wild “patents” happening.
I also loved your statement to those bean counters, against the designers, while saying, “Mother-may I”
Use this? (:-)

Phil