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As an Electronics Engineer during the 1950's in Australia I was involved in design work associated with industrial control.

 

A large company in Melbourne had purchased an immense piece of machinery from Germany to process their products. It filled a room some 60 feet long, a minefield of relays solenoids  switches and push buttons.

 

They wanted it electronically controlled to make it more adaptable.

 

I completed the job and it worked like a dream, much quicker to change from one product to the next.

 

Several months later I got a call to say that the machinery had completely stopped.  I checked the electronics and they were working perfectly, it was obviously a mechanical problem. After many phone calls to the machine makers in Germany without a remedy it was decided to fly a technician out to Australia.

 

I met him at the airport with an interpreter. He was a very small man carrying only an attaché case.

A group of macho Australians had gathered at the factory awaiting his arrival and at the sight of this tiny man carrying only an attache case one of them looked across at me and let go a typical Australian oath.

" Christ cobber we’ve all had a go at fixing the problem, what do you think this little bugger is going to do".

 

The German spoke.

He wants all the metal covers removed. The exposed mass of gears and levers were over whelming. The little man, in complete silence began to walk along the length of the machine occasionally  stopping and peering inside. Then, about half way down, he opened his attaché case and took out a copper hammer.

Touching a section of the machine with his fore finger, to get a location, he gave it swift blow with the hammer, “Bang” The machine immediately sprang into life. After everything else had failed (I believe) “that"  was the action of a specialist. As the German was leaving the room another uncouth remark.

 

" I hope you're going to leave us with that bloody hammer

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