Read Barnaby's Shorts (Volume One) Page 5


  *******

  Memo to Don Martin, Marketing Director

  (Jan 29th)

  cc Barrie Dean, Concepts and Market Development Group; Sally Winter, Advertising and Promotions

  Re the pendulum toy

  Don,

  Sorry for the delay in getting back to you. I’m running about three days behind at the moment. Haven’t even seen my desk for a week.

  I’ve got some problems with the new project. (What are we calling it? ‘To - n - Fro’ or ‘Bak - n - Forth’?)

  Typical of the ‘Con and M.D. group’ to gloss over the detail. Anyway, just for starters:-

  1 Attachment to the horizontal beam (branch???? What size? What angle? What shape? or are we supposed to provide a universal fitting???)

  2. The hinge mechanism. What angle is this supposed to rotate through? What weather protection? Lubrication? Bearings?

  3. The rods. Materials? Anti corrosion? Torsional rigidity? Connections to the hinge? Connections to the platform? (and don’t even think about making it in sections).

  4 The platform. Materials? Dimensional stability? Finish?

  5. I’ve got problems with the power source too. (Parent power????) Rechargeables is the best way, but you’ll have to gear it down about 100 times.

  and as for keeping it under £20, forget it.

  Let me know what you want us to do. We’re pretty overloaded already as I told you last week. We’ll need a budget, of course, to mock up a prototype. 10k should do it. Don’t reckon we’ll be able to do much before the end of March, though.

  J.

  John Dwyer, Manufacturing Technology and Design