2009-2010 Program We hope you enjoy this year's program. Please note the day for our monthly meetings is Wednesday (in most cases), generally the second Wednesday of the month. Please use our online reservation form or contact Chairman Gary Haupt 508-809-5132. Please make your reservations no later than the Monday before each meeting. Contact one of the Chapter officers if you have suggestions for a meeting topic.

Contech Research is an independent test and research laboratory founded in February 1981 and is located in Attleboro, MA. They are dedicated to servicing the electronics industry relative to interconnection evaluation, testing, and research as well as assisting customers during the selection process. The laboratory is composed of over 14,000 sq ft of space with specifically designed areas dedicated to: Vibration, Mixed Flowing Gas, Electrical Characterization, Environmental Testing, Failure Analysis, and Mechanical Testing. Contech offers a wide range of services in the field of testing, applied research, product evaluation, and interconnection technology for the national and international electronics industry. Their engineering expertise covers materials characterization, accelerated life testing under controlled thermal, environmental, and vibration conditions, as well as electrical characterization and performance testing. In simple terms, Contech knows about electrical connections and knows how to tell the difference between good ones and bad ones. If you are wondering why anyone bothers to worry about the reliability of electrical connections, think about how often you have dropped your cell phone or plugged a memory card into a camera or charged up any number of cordless widgets or how much vibration and corrosion and thermal cycling takes place under the hood of your car. In today’s technology, the density and complexity of electrical connections is really pretty impressive. When you consider how much electricity and how many zeros and ones are transmitted across “plug and play” connections, it is a good thing that engineers have worried about this stuff.

Dinner: Spumoni’s Restaurant, First floor, Order from select Menu w/ Beverage & Desert
Exit #2A I-95 (MA) on to Newport Ave. < 0.25 miles on Left

Cost: Members $25, ASM Retirees $15, Guests $30

DINNER: Coddington Brew Pub, 210 Coddington Hwy., Middletown, RI
Entrée Choices: Fish & Chips, Shepherds Pie, Baked Sole, German Sausages, or Chicken Parmigiana (all include: Salad, Coffee, Rolls, Butter, and Ice Cream)
COST: For Tour, Tasting, and Dinner:
Members & Spouses $25, ASM Retirees $15, Guests $30

The Narragansett Bay Commission (NBC) is a regional sewer authority that serves 10 communities in the Providence, Rhode Island metropolitan area. From 1992 to 1999, the NBC developed a comprehensive facilities plan to abate Combined Sewer Overflow (CSO) pollution in the Upper Narragansett Bay. In 1999, a final plan was accepted which included two tunnels, five CSO interceptors, 12 sewer separation projects, a wetland facility, and a wastewater treatment facility upgrade. The program was to be constructed over 20 years in three sequential phases.

Phase 1 of the program included a 16,284-foot-long, 26-foot-diameter, 230-foot-deep storage tunnel; adits; drop shafts; ancillary facilities; and a pump station. Construction of Phase 1 began in 2001 and was completed in November 2008. Seven near surface sites divert and convey combined sewer flow to the deep storage tunnel. The near surface sites consist of diversion or interceptor relief structures, consolidation conduits, screening structures, approach and vortex structures, and drop and vent shafts.

After sixteen years of planning, design and construction, the NBC’s tunnel system is on-line and protecting the waters of Narragansett Bay. The CSO tunnel is the first part of a three phase combined sewer overflow program designed to reduce contaminant loading to Narragansett Bay and it’s tributary urban waterways. Modeling performed during the design phase of the tunnel project estimated that the volume of combined sewage discharged to Narragansett Bay would be reduced by 38% annually once the tunnel was completed. Currently, the area known as Upper Narragansett Bay is regulated as a conditionally approved shell fishing area, open to shellfish harvesting in dry weather conditions. The model also indicated that shellfish closure days in the northern part of Upper Narragansett Bay (Area A) could be reduced by 13-39 percent once the CSO tunnel became operational, and closure days for the southern part of Upper Narragansett Bay (Area B) would decrease by 38-58 percent. Now that the dust has settled, how effective has the tunnel been in reducing the frequency and quantity of combined sewage loading to the receiving waters and has the project met expectations regarding reducing shellfish and beach closure days?

By consent decree, the NBC is tasked with evaluating and documenting its environmental impacts on Narragansett Bay. Although one year may not be enough time to quantify the long term impacts, some benefits can be seen in this short time. The success of the NBC CSO tunnel is already evidenced by a program that reduced the time period of shellfish closures following a rain event. Through a new agreement reached by the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management and the US Food and Drug Administration, the DEM is now allowed to re-open Conditional Areas A & B to shellfish harvesting as soon as post-storm water quality monitoring data demonstrates it is safe to do so, expediting the benefits associated with NBC’s tremendous investment in construction of the Phase I CSO storage tunnel.

The tunnel start-up procedures and performance to date, as well as the results of the monitoring program, observed water quality improvements and NBC’s schedule for further CSO abatement, will be presented to the group by Richard Bernier, P.E.; Director of Construction Services. A tour of the tunnel pump station facilities will be conducted by Mr. Bernier and Philip Albert, Chief Environmental Engineer.

The presentation and tour commence at 6:00PM sharp, followed by dinner at the Cactus Grille on Allens Avenue; approximately two blocks south of Ernest Street.

Directions:
· From Providence, take Rt. 95 South to Exit 18 (Thurbers Avenue).On the exit ramp, bear to the left, pass under Rt. 95 and continue to Allens Avenue.
· Turn right and take Allens Avenue south for two traffic lights to Ernest Street. Take a left on Ernest Street and proceed a short distance to the Narragansett Bay Commission facility at Fields Point.
· From points south of Providence, take Rt. 95 North to Exit 18 (Thurbers Avenue). On the exit ramp, bear to the right and continue to Allens Avenue.
· Turn right and take Allens Avenue south for two traffic lights to Ernest Street. Take a left on Ernest Street and proceed a short distance to the Narragansett Bay Commission facility at Fields Point.

Dinner to follow the tour at

Cactus Grille, 800 Allens Avenue, Providence, RI 02905

MENU

Appetizers
Chips and Salsa on each table, Small House Salad with Honey Balsamic Vinaigrette

Entrée Choices
Chipotle Lime Chicken
Grilled boneless chicken breast marinated in a tequila lima sauce and topped off with chipotle tomato cream sauce. Served with potato and vegetables or rice and beans.

Blackened Diablo Chicken
Spicy blackened chicken breast grilled and finished off with our mild, smokey Diablo sauce. Served with potato and vegetables or rice and beans.

Sirloin Steak Tips
Marinated sirloin tips grilled with caramelized onions and mushrooms. Served with mushrooms and mashed potatoes.

Burritos
Large flour tortilla filled with your choice of filling (pulled chicken, pulled beef or veggies) and a generous dose of rice, beans and cheese. Topped off with a Mexican sauce and served with homemade tomato salsa, corn salsa and sour cream.

Dessert
Choice of fried ice cream or cheesecake chimichangas

Soft drinks are included, beer alcohol and wine are extra

The premier museum devoted to the preservation of the history of the culinary and hospitality industries. Tour begins at 6PM. Dinner follows at 7:30.

Come and experience

* A diner museum
* A stove museum
* A pantheon of chefs
* The New England Tavern
* Kitchen gadgets & appliances
* Presidential palate & state dinners
* Culinary showpieces

Dinner to follow the tour at:

Cav Restaurant

The dinner will consist of a buffet menu with miniature quiche appetizers, along with almond encrusted brie; salad with raisins, walnuts and Gorgonzola cheese; fresh baked breads; pasta with grilled vegetables; chicken tempura with fusion sauce; and chocolate dipped miniature eclairs for dessert.

Members $25, Spouses $15, ASM Retirees & Students $15, Guests $30

Location: 9 Tow Road, Wareham, MA. Exit 21 I-195, North on to Rte 28

Time: 6 PM tour, Dinner following the tour.

Dinner: Lindsay’s Family Restaurant, 3138 Cranberry Highway, Rte 6 & 28
Menu: Tossed Salad, Choice of 3 Entrée’s, Dessert: Gingerbread w/ real Whipped Cream
Entrée Choices: Fresh Baked Chicken Florentine with Mornay Sauce
Crab Cake topped with Creamy Seafood Sauce
Lemon Crumb Baked Schrod
All served with real mashed potatoes & fresh vegetable. Coffee or tea

Cost: Members $25, ASM Retirees $15, Guests $30 Includes Tour & Dinner

The legendary sword known as the Damascus Steel intimidated the European invaders into the 'Holy Lands' of the Islamic civilization throughout the Crusades (AD 1095-1270). Blacksmiths in Europe attempted to match the steel, using the pattern welding technique of alternating layers of steel and iron, folding and twisting the metal during the forging process. (Pattern welding was a technique used by sword makers from around the world, including Celts of the 6th century BC, Vikings of the 11th century AD and the 13th century Japanese.) In some cases, the European blacksmiths etched the blade or overlaid the surface of the blade with silver or copper filigree to imitate the characteristic watery lines of the Damascus steel blade. Some scholars credit this search for the Damascus steel process as the origins of modern materials science. But the European blacksmiths never duplicated the solid core Damascus steel, and the secret of its construction was lost even to the Islamic blacksmiths in the mid-18th century.

These “secrets” may have been lost, but this forging “art” was not forgotten. Larry Theroux of T Blade Forge is a modern day bladesmith who specializes in the forging of knives from “Dasmascus” or pattern-welded steel. He will tell you – “I enjoy making knives as a hobby. What I like most is the roaring fire in my gas forge and the ringing of steel on the anvil, as I shape pieces into the form I desire.  As my knives are forged to shape, no two will ever be identical. The steels that I prefer are pattern welded / Damascus which I make in my shop, high carbon (1075, 1084, 1095) and carbon-alloy (5160).” Larry is a member of the American Bladesmithing Society (ABS) and Northeast Cutlery Collectors Association (NCCA).

Larry forged his first knife in 2003 out of an old leaf spring from a pickup truck. The end result was a double edge dagger with a blade length of 10” and width of 1-7/8”.  He showed it to his father, who immediately thanked him for the gift. As Larry fondly muses – “ What could I do except make him a sheath to go with it!”

Larry, along with two of his knife forging colleagues - Domenic “Kook” Paolucci and George “Indian George” Rebello - will demonstrate Damascus blade forging techniques in Larry’s West Warwick forge shop, using the pattern-welded billets he has made.

Larry is employed at Thielsch Engineering, Cranston, RI as an ASNT Level II examiner in Radiography, Penetrant, Visual, and Magnetic Particle Inspections; with a background in AWS welding inspections. Earlier in his professional career, Larry worked as a welder at Electric Boat in Groton, CT.

Limited to first 30 registrants
Reservations may be made beginning March 30.
More details to follow

Topic: Materials for Flight Control of the Next Generation Aircraft
In the 1990's, significant technological advances and breakthroughs in enabling material systems have resulted in a new generation of flight control systems which create micro/mini-scale actuators to produce large scale flow control over a variety of aerodynamic surfaces.

Location: Radison Harbor Hotel, 220 India Street, Providence RI 02903
Social Hour: 6:00 pm
Buffet Dinner: 7:00 pm
Speaker: 8:00 pm
Cost: Cost: ASM Members $25, ASM Retirees/Students $15, Guests $30