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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
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OP
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858 |
" I have found a wing of his house turned into a hospital for sick men, and there I once spent a week in the company of two dismal nurses and a specialist in "Sprue."
I haven't seen this word in a long time, and don't remember much about it. I'll go look it up.
So I looked it up. No board member would care to read the long paragraphs I found But I found one that gives an idea of the collection of symptoms and problems involved.
"Celiac sprue is a chronic digestive disorder in which damage to the lining of the small intestine leads to the malabsorption of minerals and nutrients."
It must have been very mysterious when Kipling learned the name.
When I worked in a foundry summers to get money for college, a sprue was the place in mould where the molten metal was poured in. And after the casting had cooled, and the mould taken apart, the casting had protrusions formed when the molten metal cooled in the channel of the sprue in the mould. These had to be removed carefully to avoid damaging the casting.
\Sprue\, n. [Etymol. uncertain.] 1. (Founding) (a) Strictly, the hole through which melted metal is poured into the gate, and thence into the mold. (b) The waste piece of metal cast in this hole; hence, dross.
2. (Med.) Same as {Sprew}.
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Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 7,210
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 7,210 |
sprue to me means the piece that held all the parts together in the plastic models that I used to build.
formerly known as etaoin...
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
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OP
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858 |
Dear etaoin: that of course was an extension from the sprue in metal casting moulds. When pig iron is cast, the little channels which connect the pigs would be similar to the plastic rod to which you plastic parts were attached.
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