Simple but Complex

摘要

At the risk of losing all credibility amongst the NDT News readership, I have to admit that tea is my favourite drink. There is nothing quite like it to start the day, nor to help you wind down when you get back home. But tea needs to be made correctly. Tea made by dunking a tea bag in a cup can never beat tea made in a tea pot. So the other day, I dusted down a tea pot which had been used more for decoration than tea making and set about making a cuppa. When the tea had brewed sufficiently I poured it out. Or rather, I tried to pour it out. Instead of pouring smoothly, the tea came out in spurts. It splashed in the mug and out over the work top. How hard is it to design a tea pot that works? "Here's my handle, here's my spout. Tip me up and pour me out." A spout: a projecting tube or lip through or over which liquid can be poured from a container. What this definition doesn't add is 'in a controlled manner'. Replacing the projecting tube with a lip still doesn't always solve the problem. How many times have you paid over the odds in a service station for a pot of tea for one or even two, only to watch the tea pass over the lip and down the outside of the tea pot on to the table?