[pct-l] disposing of fuel canisters?

[Bob Bankhead]

are these same "geniuses" went on to design the o-rings for the external fuel tanks on the NASA space shuttle?
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Carl Siechert 
  About thirty years ago, back in my young-and-stupid days (not to be confused
  with my current old-and-stupid days),

  my college roommates, all mechanical engineering students, thought it would
  be really cool to blow up a Bleuet butane stove cartridge. They hatched a
  plan to suspend a Bleuet cartridge over a burning Svea--mine. These
  brilliant engineers convinced me that all the force would go outward, and
  that my sturdy Svea would be unharmed. We went out to the beach at Montana
  de Oro State Park on a dark night, set up a tripod (made from the table legs
  of our already sparse furnishings) to suspend the cartridge, lit the stove
  and placed it under the cartridge, and took cover behind a big sand dune. 

  As I recall, it took several minutes, during which time these geniuses wondered
  if we should approach and raise the flame. Then it blew: a ball of blue
  flame probably 15 feet across! And my stove? The downward force of the
  explosion bent the burner stem where it leaves the tank, and it pushed the
  control valve so that it punctured right through the top of the tank.