Ratholing – When Acoustic Cleaners Come Into Their Own

According to Wiktionary (the wiki-based open content dictionary), ratholing is an uncountable noun - ie. it has no plural form just as, for example, the word 'information'. According to Wiktionary and a range of other sources on the web, ratholing has several meanings and all of them poles apart!

The average person in the street might never have heard of the word ratholing but speak to any of the following and they will know the word well:

a) a poker player

b) a computer network/server technician

c) a cement plant manager

A poker player will be accused of ratholing if they have been seen removing poker chips from the table whilst a poker game is being played. This is just one of many poker card tricks used by poker players.

A computer network/server technician will encounter ratholing in an entirely different context as the term relates to the process where a proxy server identifies a client who is causing problems by generating too much traffic and is subsequently blacklisted.

A cement plant engineer worries about ratholing in silos and hoppers at the plant. Also referred to as funnel flow, ratholing in this context is when the silo or hopper is emptied and the central core of the cement inside drops but an outer ring close to the side walls remains and doesn't drop and empty. Ideally the plant manager needs to see all the cement emptied from the silo or hopper and the best way to avoid this kind of ratholing is to use acoustic cleaners.

I can’t say that I’m familiar with definitions a) and b) but when it comes to silo cleaning, I’m proud to have done my fair share of combat against ratholing!