Light Gauge steel news from the Americas

Starbucks recalls hazardous stainless steel brewers Starbucks announced this week that they have made a little mistake. The company announced the recall of about 73,000 “Starbucks Barista Aroma Stainless Steel Eight-Cup Coffee Brewers” sold between March 2005 and September 2006 because the brewers have defective wiring that can cause overheating, burning and melting, posing a potential fire hazard. The recall was in response to 23 consumer reports from customers whose brewers melted. For a full refund and a coupon for a free pound of coffee, customers who purchased this defective product can visit www.starbucks.com. You may not have a functional coffeemaker with which to brew your complimentary coffee, but it sure does smell good. Slab spill stops traffic A Massillon Ohio truck driver was cited Thursday after his tractor-trailor accidentally dumped 44,252 pounds of steel slabs in Harmony Township on Route 65. The truck was carrying 26 slabs, all 6 feet wide and 20 feet long, weighing about 2,000 pounds each. The slabs were not properly secured, and the nylon straps that were supposed to be holding them came off. Traffic was backed up on the road until police began directing motorists around the mess. Eventually, road crew workers used a forklift to move the load. The 59-year old truck driver was cited by Beaver County police with failure to secure a load. What is thinner than a human hair but stronger than steel? According to a UC Riverside biology professor featured in the History Channel program “Modern Marvels: World's Strongest” this week, the answer is spider silk. The episode discussed this substance, which some scientists believe is the future of rope, showing how scientists gather the silk from a live spider and learn about its amazing properties. “Collectively, spider silks are some of the toughest natural fibers known,” said Cheryl Hayashi, associate professor of biology at UC Riverside.” Spider silk, several times stronger than steel, is already used for a wide variety of products such as super-strong body armor, specialty rope, and surgical microsutures. These are the kinds of things you learn when you are up until 3AM watching the History Channel. Trucking company to pay pretty penny for bridge damages This week in Astoria, Oregon, a truck carrying a log-yarder that exceeded the height limit across the New Youngs Bay Bridge did major damage to the superstructure that controls the drawbridge when it ripped loose a steel brace on one of the towers which keep the bridge from swaying. After a citizen reported the incident, police stopped the truck at the end of the bridge. Digital images of the damage were sent to the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) structural engineers in Salem within minutes. The engineers gave the OK for traffic to continue on the bridge unless the area was hit by a major storm. The ODOT says that the repairs to the bridge will be long and lengthy, costing at least $60,000. The repairs will be billed to the company that owns the truck responsible for the damage. A few years ago, a similar incident took place, but police were never able to catch the culprit, so the $40,000 repair bill came out of the ODOT's budget.