For
the engineers among us who understand that the obvious is not always the
solution, and that the facts, no matter how implausible, are still the
facts ...
A complaint was received by the Pontiac Division of General Motors:
"This is the second time I have written you, and I don't blame you for
not answering me, because I kind of sounded crazy, but it is a fact that
we have a tradition in our family of
ice cream for dessert after dinner each night. But the kind of ice cream
varies so, every night, after we've eaten, the whole family votes on
which kind of ice cream we should have and I drive down to the store to
get it. It's also a fact that I recently purchased a new Pontiac and
since then my trips to the store have created a problem. You see, every
time I buy vanilla ice cream, when I start back from the store my car
won't start. If I get any other kind of ice cream, the car starts just
fine. I want you to know I'm serious about this question, no matter how
silly it sounds: 'What is there about a Pontiac that makes it not start
when I get vanilla ice cream, and easy to start whenever I get any other
kind?'"
The Pontiac President was understandably skeptical
about the letter, but sent an engineer to check it out anyway. The
latter was surprised to be greeted by a successful, obviously
well-educated man in a fine neighborhood. He had arranged to meet the
man just after dinner time, so the two hopped into the car and drove to
the ice cream store. It was vanilla ice cream that night and, sure
enough, after they came back to the car, it wouldn't start.
The
engineer returned for three more nights. The first night, the man got
chocolate. The car started. The second night, he got strawberry. The car
started. The third night he ordered vanilla. The car failed to start.
Now the engineer, being a logical man, refused to believe that this
man's car was allergic to vanilla ice cream. He arranged, therefore, to
continue his visits for as long as it took to solve the problem. And
toward this end he began to take notes: he jotted down all sorts of
data, time of day, type of gas used, time to drive back and forth, etc.
In a short time, he had a clue: the man took less time to buy vanilla
than any other flavor. Why? The answer was in the layout of the store.
Vanilla, being the most popular flavor, was in a separate case at the
front of the store for quick pickup. All the other flavors were kept in
the back of the store at a different counter where it took considerably
longer to find the flavor and get checked out.
Now the question
for the engineer was why the car wouldn't start when it took less time.
Once time became the problem -- not the vanilla ice cream -- the
engineer quickly came up with the answer: vapor lock. It was happening
every night, but the extra time taken to get the other flavors allowed
the engine to cool down sufficiently to start. When the man got vanilla,
the engine was still too hot for the vapor lock to dissipate.
Moral of the story: even insane-looking problems are sometimes real.
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