Townsend's First Mentor, aka "Like father, like son"

[Jan Lundquist]

Townsend's father, Lewis K., "L.K." Brown was lovingly profiled in a homage to Zanesville's great citizens. He was, apparently, a gifted mathematician and sometime engineering consultant on projects of a "national nature."

He made his fortune selling fine sand, ground from Ohio granite, to sand mold casting firms of all types, including arms manufacturers. L.K. was a techie of his times, keeping abreast of the latest and best technologies and belonging to the Association of Mechanical Engineers, as well as that of Military Engineers.

He was also a member of the Geographical Society, the Scottish Rite Masons, and the Knights Templar. In other words, Lewis was a well-connected fellow.

We don't know what kind of national projects L.K. "consulted" for. But we should bear in mind that Roosevelt created the Works Progress Administration in 1935 to lift the economy by putting millions of Depression-struck unemployed back to work. The WPA funded infrastructure contracts in all 48 states, with the goal of giving employment to at least one person in a household that had applied for relief.

Subsequently, Lewis's DIL, Josephine, managed to swing a job with the Steubenville WPA, while Townsend's naval reserve assignment was to inspect the pier and seawall construction of the Great Lakes ports. I am not saying Lewis had anything to do with these assignments, but I suspect strings were pulled.

Curiously, though, the date of the wedding between L.K. and Mary Townsend is given as 1908. But Townsend was born in 1905 and "Mame' would have lost her social standing, had she ever given birth to an illegitimate child. She did not, ipso facto, this was, almost certainly. a typo.

The final comment i have about this article is that it has something of a "professional bio" flavor. Once the typewriter was invented, it didn't take long for the movers and shakers of the Age of Science (and Mass Production), that transitional era between the Industrial Age and the Digital Revolution, to invent the resume, the vita, and old boys club application forms. The developed the art of highlighting lifetime achievements in a shorthand easily understood by "those who know"

As I trawl through the pages of the Zanesville Times Recorder, I find articles about Townsend's work that scream "Proud Papa." Others are so detailed, they must have been authored by someone with a strong scientific foundation. I had thought that was Townsend, but knowing what I now know about L.K., perhaps not.

https://www.newspapers.com/article/the- ... 126658804/

[Jan Lundquist]

Molding sand sounds like a dull business to most of us, but the family firm provided one heckuva sandbox for Townsend's earliest scientific explorations. He had hands on training in the application of the scientific method to problem solving quests

Sand casting is one of the few available processes for metals with high melting temperatures such as steels, nickel, and titanium. Because of its flexibility, heat resistance, and relatively low cost, sand casting is the most widely used casting process.

Castings are produced by pouring liquid metal into a mold cavity. For a casting to be successful, the mold cavity must retain its shape until the metal has cooled and fully solidified. Pure sand breaks apart easily, but molding sand contains bonding material that increases its ability to resist heat and hold shape.*

MOLDING SAND PROPERTIES

• Strength The ability of the sand mold to hold its geometric shape under the conditions of mechanical stress.
  
  Permeability The ability of a sand mold to permit the escape of gases and steam during the casting process.
  
  Moisture Content Moisture content affects a mold’s strength and permeability: a mold with too little moisture may break apart, while a mold with too much moisture can cause steam bubbles to be entrapped in the casting.
  
  Flowability The capacity of the sand to fill small cavities in the pattern. High flowability creates a more precise mold, and is therefore useful for detailed castings.
  
  Grain Size The size of the individual particles of sand.
  
  Grain Shape This property evaluates the shape of the individual grains of sand based on how round they are. Generally, three grain categories are used in foundry sand:
  
  • Rounded Grain sands provide relatively poor bonding strength, but good flowability and surface finish.
    Angular Grains have greater bonding strength because of interlocking, but poorer flowability and permeability than rounded grain sands.
    Sub-angular Grains are the middle road. They possess better strength and lower permeability relative to rounded grains, but lower strength and better permeability than angular grains.
  Collapsibility The ability of the sand mixture to collapse under force. Greater mold collapsibility allows the metal casting to shrink freely as it solidifies, without the risk of hot tearing or cracking.
  
  Refractory Strength The mold must not melt, burn, or crack as molten metal is poured into it. Refractory strength measures the ability of molding sand to withstand extreme heat.

*Wouldn't this be a predecessor to today's high tech composite materials?