Back in the days of wooden ships and iron men:
It was necessary to keep a good supply of cannon balls near the cannon
on old war ships. But how to prevent them from rolling about the deck
was the problem. The best storagemethod devised was to stack them as a
square based pyramid, with one ball on top, resting on four, resting on
nine, which rested on sixteen. Thus, a supply of 30 cannon balls could
be stacked in a small area right next to the cannon.
There was only one problem -- how to prevent the bottom layer from
sliding/rolling from under the others. The solution was a metalplate
with 16 round indentations, called a Monkey. But if this plate were made
of iron, the iron balls would quickly rust to it. The solution to the
rusting problem was to make Brass Monkeys.
Few landlubbers realize that brass contracts much more and much faster
than iron when chilled. Consequently, when the temperature dropped too
far, the brass indentation s would shrink so much that the iron cannon
balls would com e right off the monkey.
Thus, it was quite literally, cold enough to freeze the balls off a
brass monkey. And all this time, you thought that was a vulgar expression,
didn't you?
"Stolen from someone on Ford-Trucks.com"
It was necessary to keep a good supply of cannon balls near the cannon
on old war ships. But how to prevent them from rolling about the deck
was the problem. The best storagemethod devised was to stack them as a
square based pyramid, with one ball on top, resting on four, resting on
nine, which rested on sixteen. Thus, a supply of 30 cannon balls could
be stacked in a small area right next to the cannon.
There was only one problem -- how to prevent the bottom layer from
sliding/rolling from under the others. The solution was a metalplate
with 16 round indentations, called a Monkey. But if this plate were made
of iron, the iron balls would quickly rust to it. The solution to the
rusting problem was to make Brass Monkeys.
Few landlubbers realize that brass contracts much more and much faster
than iron when chilled. Consequently, when the temperature dropped too
far, the brass indentation s would shrink so much that the iron cannon
balls would com e right off the monkey.
Thus, it was quite literally, cold enough to freeze the balls off a
brass monkey. And all this time, you thought that was a vulgar expression,
didn't you?
"Stolen from someone on Ford-Trucks.com"
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