What is a Swizzle Stick?

[Dr.Vulpinus]

I recently came across the following NASA image of the instrument panels for the Gemini spacecraft.  I would like to draw your attention to part "A" in the upper left, to a specific component labeled "swizzle stick"

Repeated internet searches yield nothing helpful on the matter.  Anyone have any ideas what that is for?

 

[Steel]

"A swizzle stick, stowed by the overhead switch and circuit breaker panel, enables a pilot to position switches and rotate selectors on the opposite side of the cabin. With this arrangement, one pilot can control the complete spacecraft and temporarily free the second pilot of all duties." [1]

 

[1] NASA Project Gemini Familiarization Manual, 1966 Revision, Instrument Panels Section, https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/NASA_Project_Gemini_Familiarization_Manual

Edited July 10, 2017 by Steel

[razark]

It's not a Gemini-only piece of tech, either.

See: http://www.collectspace.com/ubb/Forum14/HTML/001149.html

 

[Dr.Vulpinus]

That is the greatest thing ever.

The most Kerbal sounding name for the most Kerbal of implements.

"Hey guys, what if one pilot can't work any more and the other pilot needs to do both jobs."

- Jeb: "Give 'im a stick"

"Well then what do we call it?"

-Jeb (sarcastically): "I dunno... swizzle stick?"

"Alright, problem solved"

Edited July 10, 2017 by Dr.Vulpinus

[mikegarrison]

A swizzle stick is for stirring cocktails. Apparently it leant its name to something in the Gemini cockpit.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swizzle_stick

This nicknaming is common. On our airplanes, the flap track fairings are often called canoe fairings.

The 737 APU inlet vortex generator has been called the "bicycle seat" for time immemorial.

Edited July 11, 2017 by mikegarrison

[YNM]

So, they always fly capsules to space with a cocktail stirrer ? How convenient.

[Brotoro]

The term did not originate with the Gemini prigram. In the book We Seven by the Mercury astronauts, one chapter about the Mercury capsule is titled "Seven Miles of Wire and a Swizzle Stick” that describes the use of a similar implement.

Edited July 11, 2017 by Brotoro

[HebaruSan]

So dialing wands are real?

 

[pxi]

As someone who grew up in the 80's, this is the only Swizzle Stick I remember, and frankly wouldn't seem out of place in a Kerbal cockpit.

[tater]

"Swizzle stick" predates manned rocketry by decades.

[magnemoe]

4 hours ago, tater said:

"Swizzle stick" predates manned rocketry by decades.

If you think of the cocktail pin it dates back to the 18 century. 

It might have been with some use on planes, probably an improved wooden stick to flip hard to reach switches. 

[tater]

Yeah, for cocktails. Pilots named it for what they really wanted, a drink, later.

[Confused Scientist]

'The swizzle stick was invented by Dr. Seuss in 1952...'

In all seriousness though, a swizzle stick was a cockpit accessory that was used to flip switches that you couldn't reach. This strikes me as being really difficult, and perfectly embodies the early early 1960s-early 1980s attitude of inventing manned space hardware that falls on the fine line between sounding useless and being useless. Some perfect examples of this are those complicated ideas (like a honeycomb grid and special boots) to keep your feet in the right place in zero gravity.

[radonek]

[mikegarrison]

On 7/13/2017 at 8:27 PM, Confused Scientist said:

the fine line between sounding useless and being useless

What a nice turn of phrase!