Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

He Blows Things Up So You Don't Have To

Posted by simoniker on from the bang-bang-it's-chuck-cramer dept.

Red Wolf writes "Popular Science reports on what is possibly the world's coolest job. During his 19 years as a laboratory technician for Underwriters Laboratories, Chuck Cramer has set coffeemakers on fire, knocked computers off desks, short-circuited fans, and blown up everything from toasters to curling irons - all in the name of consumer safety."

5 of 308 comments (clear)

  1. Sheesh, all that.. by cenobita · · Score: 5, Insightful

    ..and things like that still happen to those of us who buy the damned things!

  2. Protect them from themselves? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    They're not protecting consumers from themselves, but rather from poor manufacturing.

    1. Re:Protect them from themselves? by der_joachim · · Score: 5, Insightful

      They're not protecting consumers from themselves, but rather from poor manufacturing.

      Not necessarily. People do stupid things all the time. If you drive a car while drunk, is it the car manufacturer's fault if you drive into a tree and are severely wounded? No. The same goes for household appliances. If a consumer is doing potentially dangerous things with his or her household applicances, it is (at least it should be) his or her own responsibility if something bad happens.

      Unfortunately, these things happen all the time. In the netherlands, several thousands of such accidents are reported. Darwin would turn in his grave.

      der Joachim

      --
      Geek runner, motorcyclist and professional know-it-all
    2. Re:Protect them from themselves? by SN74S181 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      But you've failed to note that the proposed solution would kill those people.

      It isn't simply a matter of changing their behavior. Eliminating them from the road would be fine, too.

  3. UL approval means less than it used to by Markmarkmark · · Score: 5, Insightful

    IMHO, UL approval has gotten too regimented and isn't worth what it used to be worth. Now component makers get UL approval for their components (power supply, power cord, etc.) and then a manufacturer buys this component, uses it in some design that the folks at UL never even saw. Of course the manufacturer still slaps that UL logo right on the box.

    Also, UL can be a bad thing for some manufacturers. Many national chains (Wal-Mart etc.) will not carry anything electrical if it doesn't have that UL logo. The testing costs money and takes time which can put small companies at a disadvantage. If your creation is so innovative that UL's quickie lab doesn't quite know what to make of this thing from a company they've never heard of, then it may take a long time (longer than your capital lasts) to get your new widget into national distribution.