The Latch

This report describes the development of improvements on an electrohydraulic mechanical scram-latch system for the Mark I Naval Reactor. The latch proper was revised to include a rolling disengagement which permitted the use of bearing surfaces of ample size and radii to carry both static and shock loads. The low energy required to release this latch permitted a reduction in size and complication of the hydraulically operated latch actuator. This advantage was also present in the design of an electrically operated scram valve. The scram valve is of the rotary-plug type to achieve hydraulic balance and low inertia.

About one woman’s fine, hard life at the racetrack, Kick the Latch–with its ruthless concision and artful mysteries–is lightning in a bottle Kathryn Scanlan’s Kick the Latch vividly captures the arc of one woman’s life at the racetrack—the flat land and ramshackle backstretch; the bad feelings and friction; the winner’s circle and the racetrack bar; the fancy suits and fancy boots; and the “particular language” of “grooms, jockeys, trainers, racing secretaries, stewards, pony people, hotwalkers, everybody”—with economy and integrity. Based on transcribed interviews with Sonia, a horse trainer, the novel investigates form and authenticity in a feat of synthesis reminiscent of Charles Reznikoff’s Testimony. As Scanlan puts it, “I wanted to preserve—amplify, exaggerate—Sonia’s idiosyncratic speech, her bluntness, her flair as a storyteller. I arrived at what you could call a composite portrait of a self.” Whittled down with a fiercely singular artistry, Kick the Latch bangs out of the starting gate and carries the reader on a careening joyride around the inside track.