Honors Assembly

To the Editor: On Wednesday, Nov. 8, during the International Mechanical Engineering Congress and Exposition, an event will take place that you won't want to miss — the Honors Assembly, an impressive and dramatic audiovisual experience.

This year, the Assembly provides the platform for the conferral of nine honors and awards: the ASME Medal, Henry Laurence Gantt Medal, Melvin R. Green Codes and Standards Medal, Soichiro Honda Medal, Honorary Membership, James N. Landis Medal, Bernard F. Langer Nuclear Codes and Standards Award, M. Eugene Merchant Manufacturing Medal of ASME/SME and the Ralph Coats Roe Medal.

The Assembly will be followed by a reception and dinner, during which you will have the opportunity to socialize with the award recipients and other attendees. This part of the evening provides members with the opportunity to talk to those colleagues — old friends and new — you have missed during the hectic first days of the meeting.

On behalf of ASME International, I hope you will join us for this special evening.

Ward O. Winer, chair
ASME Committee on Honors

More on Gun Safety

To the Editor: I commend you on a well-researched and fairly written article in August: "Childproof Handgun Design Takes Students Outside Engineering World."

The story was entirely news-based — it had none of the editorial "spin" so commonly found in other stories about guns, and was, consequently, appreciated that much more. It was refreshing to read a story about gun safety with the obvious attention to detail that you gave it.

That said, I do have to express my disappointment with the photo chosen to go with the story. NRA's three basic rules of gun safety — rules that should be followed independently of any

mechanical safety device included on a firearm — are: 1) Always keep the gun pointed in a safe direction; 2) Always keep your finger off the trigger until ready to shoot; and, 3) Always keep the gun unloaded until ready to use.

Bryan Rydingsward unfortunately does both himself and his project a grave disservice by allowing himself to be photographed with his finger on the trigger.

No mechanical device, however well-designed, is going to be 100 percent operable 100 percent of the time. That is why gun safety should always be a conscious, thought-out process, with a mechanical safety as an additional measure.

Joe Kerper
National Rifle Association
Community Service Programs
Fairfax, Va.

Giving Proper Credit

To the Editor: Henry Baumgartner's July article on the U.S.S. Albacore (AGSS569) fails to mention her creator's name, Charles "Swede" Momson.

In "The Terrible Hours" by Peter Maas (Harper-Collins) full credit is accorded to Momson for the novel, hydrodynamic hull design that maximized underwater performance. The experience gained with Albacore provided the design principles for building the ballistic and attack submarines that followed.

Certainly, thanks are due to those named in the article for their roles in preserving Albacore as an engineering landmark. First and foremost, however, recognition is due the engineer who conceived, designed and supervised the building of this engineering landmark, Charles "Swede" Momson.

Warren E. Ibele
U.S.S. Sea Robin
Alexandria, Minn.

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