NX class torpedo launchers

[Mikey]

For that matter, is there any evidence they're even capable of beaming an item from pad to a remote location, rather than vice versa?

Yep, at least TNG+ era. I recall seeing site-to-site transport in TNG+, though my memory is less certain in TOS/movie era.

[McAvoy]

I wonder if they ever used the transporter to beam parts into where it should be installed. Would ceetainly make refits easier and faster.

[Tyyr]

For a lot of parts that would require accuracies of thousandths of an inch.

[Lighthawk]

Transporters can pull apart and reassemble living creatures...I would certainly hope they are more accurate than just thousandths of an inch.

I think it's been discussed here before, but I think transporter welding, if such a thing can be done, would be one of the more useful ways to employ a transporter in construction.

[Mikey]

How would you use a transporter to weld something? Doesn't welding generally require the application of a buttload of heat?

[Lighthawk]

Weld in the sense of taking two objects and affixing them together. Use the transporter beam to rearrange the atoms of two objects at the point where they touch so that they flow seamlessly into each other, and thus become one solid piece.

[Tyyr]

Yes, it puts you back together with extreme accuracy but I also recall plenty of times where the transporter put someone back together fine, but in the wrong place.

The big issue with using transporters in these alternate methods is the extreme amount of energy required to do it.

[Lighthawk]

Of those times it dropped someone in the wrong spot, how many were due to outside interference though?

And doesn't the transporter already use an insane amount of energy just as is?

[Tyyr]

Outside interference or not why utilize a system for installing spare parts that might have the side effect of materializing the part five meters to the right in crewman Lynch's head instead of in the Jefferies tube where you need it? Most of the times they landed somewhere they weren't expecting to they didn't know ahead of time it would have that effect.

The transporter by virtue of what it does would have to consume a ridiculous amount of power. So why use all that energy when you can just have a crewman carry a part where it needs to go and install it?

[Lighthawk]

Ah well, if you're talking about something a person can carry around, I certainly agree, transporting it is overkill. If you're moving something that is weighed in the tons though, I'd say the energy was well used.

Did a transporter mishap ever drop one object into another? I can't recall an instance. Hell, I can't even recall a time a mis-aimed transport didn't still put the transportee feet first on the ground instead of several meters in the air and upside down. Unless there is some crazy luck going on, I have to wonder if the system has some fail safes to prevent either mishap.

[Tyyr]

The Last Outpost, Georgi materialized several feet off the ground, upside down, hanging from something.

A large object being trasported around does make some sense, though I'd question what parts a ship would be carrying that would be so large transport is necessary to get them into place. However getting something close to in place is way different than installing it via transporter.

[Mikey]

Remember that we're originally talking about ENT-era transporters, which were probably far more unreliable, missing some failsafes that later ones had, and were almost universally mistrusted by the people who would use them.

though I'd question what parts a ship would be carrying that would be so large transport is necessary to get them into place.

I thought LH was talking about construction/upfitting, such as would take place in drydock.

However getting something close to in place is way different than installing it via transporter.

I tend to agree - and the transporter is right out when an actual installation including connecting conduits, power lines, etc. is involved. I think if a piece large enough is at question, the transporter would essentially be a big crane or derrick - get the thing to where it needs to go, and then have skilled labor actually install it.

[Captain Seafort]

Yep, at least TNG+ era. I recall seeing site-to-site transport in TNG+, though my memory is less certain in TOS/movie era.

They did pad-to-remote site routinely in TOS - every time an away team beamed down. The reason I ask the question is that the only time I can recall them using the transporter in Enterprise was to transport items or individuals to the ship rather than from it.

[Griffin]

Did a transporter mishap ever drop one object into another? I can't recall an instance.

I swear someone was beamed into the floor, or have I just made that up?

[Captain Seafort]

I swear someone was beamed into the floor, or have I just made that up?

I think you're remembering the image correctly, but it was due to the floor turning into quicksand and then resolidifying in WNOHGB.