Originally Posted by
Redback
In response to popular request I have aggregated the clues so far: I am running short of new clues and I know that at least two people already have the answer!
I am looking for a link between Enola Gay and Hollywood (the Movie Industry). Hint - it has nothing to do with movies about either the aircraft or its mission.
The link relates to a component used in aircraft and in other applications
The company that made the component referred to also made a twin cylinder motor cycle, as well as other products for the aerospace industry
I am looking for is a person whose career ranged from Hollywood to the aerospace industry.
Some people run away to joint the circus, this guy left the family act to take up engineering which (according to accounts) he was very good at.
Before leaving to take up engineering as a clue he joined the family act when his brother joined the army
The person I am looking for shares a name with a very famous WW1 fighter pilot
Terry
I've been out of town for the past week, as I indicated in my last post. Okay; since no one else wants to step forward; I believe the answer is Herbert Manfred "Harpo" Marx. If I'm correct, I'll post a new question. BTW; I think this was a great question, and Terry deserves high marks for coming up with it. Until I was researching this question, I never knew Harpo Marx had this side of his life. Thanks; Ernie P.
Herbert Manfred "Zeppo" Marx (February 25, 1901 – November 30, 1979) was an American actor, theatrical agent, and engineer. He was the youngest of the five
Marx Brothers. He appeared in the first five Marx Brothers feature films, from 1929 to 1933, but then left the act to start his second career as an engineer and theatrical agent. Zeppo Marx was a multi-millionaire due to his engineering efforts.
Offstage, Marx had great mechanical skills and was largely responsible for keeping the Marx family car running. Marx later owned a company which machined parts for the war effort during
World War II,
Marman Products Co. of Inglewood, California, later known as the Aeroquip Company. This company produced a motorcycle, called the
Marman Twin and the
Marman clamps used to hold the "
Fat Man"
atomic bomb inside the
B-29 bomber,
Bockscar. He also founded a large theatrical agency with his brother
Gummo, and invented a wristwatch that would monitor the pulse rate of cardiac patients and give off an alarm if the heartbeat became irregular.
A Marman clamp is a type of heavy-duty
band clamp; it allows two flat cylindrical interfaces to be simply clamped together with a ring clamp. It is sometimes also known as a "Marman ring".
A common use for Marman clamps is as quick-disconnect connectors in flexible aircraft fuel lines.
Marman clamps are used extensively in
spaceflight systems, and are common mechanical
load transfer and
clamping mechanisms for connecting the
upper stage and the
satellite payload of
space vehicles, for example on the
Cassini Plasma Spectrometer on the
Cassini orbiter. They may also be used to join stages of a booster rocket.
Early separation systems using Marman clamps used
explosive bolts for release. These have problems of unpredictability, the need to contain debris and difficulties in testing them. A more recent approach uses a screw thread. The tension of the clamp band itself is used to power the unscrewing of a central bolt, when released by a
NASA standard initiator (NSI), a pyrotechnic pin puller.
The Marman clamp was first produced by Herbert Marx, better known by his stage name of
Zeppo Marx; it was manufactured by his company,
Marman Products.
At the time it was designed to secure cargo during transport. The U.S. Military used it to transport the
atomic bombs used at the end of the Second World War.
Marman clamps are found in many modern moving vehicles, though the
screw band type clamp is becoming more popular.
The name is often incorrectly spelled "Marmon".