oversize flight cases


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Posted by Mary Ann on September 18, 2003 at 09:49:38:

(I posted this below but decided to put it up here too)
I think that if the best tuba flight cases out there violate the size rules for airlines....there is something wrong. Like, if I pay close to $1000 for a case that the airlines won't accept, duh.
So maybe it's time for someone to try a new style of design for a flight case, one that isn't based on the "mega padding" line of thought.
If I were desiging a flight case, I would think "suspension." I'd have some kind of restraint system that was elastic enough to hold the body of the horn without dents, and un-elastic enough to keep it from touching the walls of the case. The bell would be surrounded only by air; the suspension system would keep the bell "floating," since most of the mass is in the body/valves.
Any takers? Engineering schools have contests like this all the time...design a box that will allow you to drop a raw egg from a 2nd story window without breaking the egg. If they can protect an egg, we should be able to protect a tuba. I'm seeing something with damped progressive springs between heavy parts of the tuba and the case wall....if this were done right, you should be able to have it survive the Gorilla treatment.
MA



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