What Is It? Blog

What Is It?

What Is It? is a place for engineers to test their knowledge (and sense of humor). Each week (or month, or...) the CR4 team will post an unidentified picture of an object, tool, animal, something. We're looking for your best (or funniest) guesses at what it might be in the comments.

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What Is It? for 11/12/12

Posted November 12, 2012 8:13 AM

This week's image brought to you by Lo_Volt!

Can you figure out what this is?

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SolarEagle
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#1

Re: What Is It? for 11/12/12

11/12/2012 9:00 AM

Looks like a truck load of high voltage transformers....

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WAWAUS
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#7
In reply to #1

Re: What Is It? for 11/12/12

11/12/2012 11:59 PM

The proportions don't look the same as the ones I've seen, but that doesn't mean much. This still looks the best guess to me......
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SolarEagle
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#15
In reply to #7

Re: What Is It? for 11/12/12

11/13/2012 12:04 PM

Probably on the way to the NE area in the US to restore service to victims of the storm, Sandy....

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ozzb
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#2

Re: What Is It? for 11/12/12

11/12/2012 11:07 AM

I 270

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PWSlack
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#3

Re: What Is It? for 11/12/12

11/12/2012 11:18 AM

Just an ordinary day on the M25?

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Lo_Volt
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#4
In reply to #3

Re: What Is It? for 11/12/12

11/12/2012 12:40 PM

In the US, the trucks (lorries for those of you in the UK) are supposed to stay to the right except when they're passing. Do they stay to the left in the UK?
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PWSlack
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#8
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Re: What Is It? for 11/12/12

11/13/2012 3:00 AM

Do keep up with the plot!

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ozzb
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#5
In reply to #3

Re: What Is It? for 11/12/12

11/12/2012 2:35 PM

Hey how did you get that trailer with Georgia tags on your side of the pond.

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#13
In reply to #5

Re: What Is It? for 11/12/12

11/13/2012 9:49 AM

You've got a much higher resolution copy of the image than I do if you can see anything more than the location of the tags, and a light color...

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#6
In reply to #3

Re: What Is It? for 11/12/12

11/12/2012 3:01 PM

I will vote this a GA... well played my friend, and well done!

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#9
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Re: What Is It? for 11/12/12

11/13/2012 3:50 AM

Ordinary?!!! Damned peculiar day on the M25 with that little traffic

Which is my left hand?

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Randall
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#10

Re: What Is It? for 11/12/12

11/13/2012 5:59 AM

Looks like a dead one of these:-

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English Rose
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#18
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Re: What Is It? for 11/12/12

11/14/2012 4:04 AM

Aaaarggghhh! Where The Doctor when you need him?!?!?

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tregster
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#11

Re: What Is It? for 11/12/12

11/13/2012 7:26 AM

Looks like high voltage breakers. Either Vacuum or SF6.
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tregster
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#21
In reply to #11

Re: What Is It? for 11/12/12

11/14/2012 9:04 AM

Like this example from Seimens. Very similar models are available from ABB, GE/Hitachi, etc.
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lonster
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#12

Re: What Is It? for 11/12/12

11/13/2012 8:55 AM

crown roast for Optimus-Prime?

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#14

Re: What Is It? for 11/12/12

11/13/2012 9:54 AM

It is a tractor / flatbed trailer carrying something on the freeway. I95 maybe?

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leveles
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#16

Re: What Is It? for 11/12/12

11/13/2012 12:42 PM

A number of a high voltage switching gear (at least 125kV, more like 250kV) on a flatbed track going somewhere.
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OldTechNewToys
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#17

Re: What Is It? for 11/12/12

11/13/2012 5:00 PM

A Fuel Injection manifold for a V14 engine for a new ship, bigger than the Titannic?
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Lo_Volt
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#19

Re: What Is It? for 11/12/12

11/14/2012 7:39 AM

I commute along a 20 mile section of I-95 through Maryland. In the wake of Sandy, I saw dozens of convoys of utility trucks and tree trimming crews headed northward. This truck was headed in the same direction and while it stood out among the others it wasn't hard to figure out where it was going.

At the point where I took the picture, the truck was less than thirty miles from the New Jersey state line. I'm sure it made some of the residents of northern New Jersey and New York very happy to see deliveries like this. There was a lot of damaged equipment.

I'm not a power distribution engineer (hence the moniker) so I'm not really sure what they are. My guess was a high voltage circuit breaker or switch. Solar Eagle's guess was pretty good, but these did not have transformer cores or cooling fans and each of them has 3 poles on each side. That puts tregster's answer on top. SE did get the destination correct.
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Lo_Volt
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#20

Re: What Is It? for 11/12/12

11/14/2012 7:42 AM

PS:

Actually it was a picture of a windshield wiper on an '07 Corolla.

Why was everybody looking at the truck?
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Users who posted comments:

dkwarner (1); Doorman (1); English Rose (2); JPool (1); leveles (1); Lo_Volt (3); lonster (1); OldTechNewToys (1); ozzb (2); PWSlack (2); Randall (1); SolarEagle (2); tregster (2); WAWAUS (1)

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