

Mystery photos from CERN's history - gioele
http://cds.cern.ch/journal/CERNBulletin/2014/43/News%20Articles/1955523

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pierrec
It's kind of confusing, but I take it many of these have already been solved?
For example, one picture is subtitled, "We have no sense of scale for this -
Is it some kind of pipe?", and clicking on it leads you to a precise
description of the pipe's role and a gallery containing an actual scale photo:

[https://cds.cern.ch/record/1765880/files/70-3-376.jpg?subfor...](https://cds.cern.ch/record/1765880/files/70-3-376.jpg?subformat=icon-1440)

(" _The grooves allowed circulation of the cooling fluid, in this case helium_
" \- that's some pretty serious cooling)

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timr
The BEBC was a giant cryostat, full of liquid hydrogen:

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_European_Bubble_Chamber](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_European_Bubble_Chamber)

My guess is that the cooling wasn't for heat related to the power itself
(though perhaps), but to act as a sort of "temperature lock" for the entry
point of an outside line. If heat can get in through the openings in the
cryostat, you risk boiling off the contents. So you surround the line with
something colder than liquid hydrogen, and ensure that the line inside the
cryostat isn't warmer than the contents.

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physiker
I just identified
[https://cds.cern.ch/record/1764794](https://cds.cern.ch/record/1764794) ,
let's see if the description gets updated.

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mef
What is it?

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scoot
I'm really not sure what to be more impressed with, the precision engineering,
(which really should not be possible with the technologies of the day - I'm
thinking specifically of the non-continuous structure on the mystery pipe that
neither casting nor latework could achieve); or the quality of the photography
overall.

Evern if some of the mysteries of what is on view are not solved, it's a
fascinating collection.

~~~
NamTaf
That pipe is almost certainly fabricated out of multiple parts. It isn't a
turned piece of solid bar. I'd guess it's a (relatively) thin pipe with a
thick flange on the end and rings that slide and lock on to the thinner part
of the pipe.

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rikacomet
The second last photo seems like something from the rolling tapes era?
Something to do with old-room size mainframes?

