This Day in History (1974) Eliminating Trial and Error

From the March 27, 1974, edition of The Arabian Sun

Eliminating trial and error by divers working against time when tying in lengths of submarine pipe with pipe spools containing critical angles is the purpose of this "jig," designed and fabricated by Ras Tanura Maintenance services. 

The device consists of two universal joints, a centerpiece that telescopes and end plates that lock into place after acute angles between pipe lengths have been aligned mechanically on the Gulf floor. 

Brought to the surface, the jig tells metal fabricators and welders precisely what angles should have been built into connecting pipe spools they are making for the new Abu Sa'fa underwater pipeline for which the device was created by, from left, Ahmed al-Azhir, foreman, Boiler, Machine and Sheet Metal Shops; Machinist Hamden Zahrani; Hamed Ali, supervisor, Fabrication and Welding; Yahya Qumaish, foreman, Weld Shop; Hassan al-Mossiri of the Fabrication Segment, and Ali al-Salih, Layout Segment, Weld Shop.

Also on this date

2020 — North Macedonia becomes the 30th member of NATO

2009 — The dam forming Situ Gintung, an artificial lake in Indonesia, fails, killing nearly 100 people

1981 — The Solidarity movement in Poland stages a warning strike, in which at least 12 million Poles walk off their jobs for four hours

1976 — The first section of the Washington Metro opens to the public

1975 — Construction of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System begins

1958 — Nikita Khrushchev becomes Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union

1915 — Typhoid Mary, the first healthy carrier of disease ever identified in the United States, is put in quarantine for the second time, where she would remain for the rest of her life

1886 — Geronimo, Apache warrior, surrenders to the U.S. Army, ending the main phase of the Apache Wars

1871 — The first international rugby football match takes place when Scotland defeats England in Edinburgh

1794 — The United States government establishes a permanent navy and authorizes the building of six frigates

1625 — Charles I becomes King of England, Scotland, and Ireland, as well as claiming the title of King of France