Mechanical engineer

“ All machinery, whether it be printing-presses or automobiles or steam-engines, is the work of mechanical engineers, though in the matter of automobiles this has become a profession by itself, one of the minor branches known as automotive engineering. The mechanical engineer as a rule works26 within doors, just as the civil engineer works out of doors, and his work, consequently, is more confining. ”

“ If a mechanical engineer invents an improvement on any of the appendages of a steam-engine, such as the valve-gear, the condenser, the steam-chest, the walking-beam, the parallel motion, or what not, he is not obliged, in order to make himself understood, to describe the engine, nor the particular appendage to which the improvement refers, nor its mode of connection with the principal machine. These are already familiar to others skilled in that kind of machinery. He may begin at the point where his invention begins, and describe what he has made that is new, and what it replaces of the old. ”

“ The perfection of modern machine-tools is such that the utmost possible precision is secured, and the mechanical engineer can calculate on a degree of exactitude that does not admit of a deviation beyond the thousandth part of an inch. ”

“ As is seen above, the course of instruction in mechanical engineering includes some trade education. The engineer is dependent upon the machinist, the founder, the patternmaker, and other workers at the trades, for the proper construction of the machinery and structures designed by him. He is himself, in so far as he is an engineer, a designer of constructions, not a constructor. ”

“ But another conclusion follows more irresistibly, namely—that the mechanical engineer who devotes his attention to the construction and management of massive machinery, such as pumps, hydraulic and lever presses, looms, and steam-engines, whether locomotive, marine, or other, must, in order to be master of his profession, be thoroughly familiar with every step of their construction; and such familiarity can only be acquired by a course of practical study in the machine-tool shop. ”

“ No matter in which branch a man may go, always he will find evidence of the presence some time of the mechanical engineer. The mechanical engineer dominates all the other branches,37 as has been said before. He is given second place in the order of the branches merely because the civil engineer happened to be the first and oldest kind of engineer to be given recognition as a profession. ”

“ Every mechanical engineer knows, often enough to his cost, that he enters upon a new class of difficulties when he has to recognize it as a normal state of things with any machinery he is designing that portions of it are brought violently to rest. ”

“ Although the introduction of the planing machine into the workshops of mechanical engineers yielded results of the highest importance in perfecting and economising the production of machinery generally, yet, as the employment of these valuable machine tools was chiefly intended to assist in the execution of the larger parts of machine manufacture, a very considerable proportion of the detail parts still continued to be executed by hand labour, in which the chisel and the file were the chief instruments employed. ”

“ We are far from having described all the implements of the mechanical engineer, or even all the more interesting ones; for example, we have given no account of the powerful lathes in which great masses of iron are turned, or of the analogous machines, which, with so much accuracy, shape the internal surfaces of the cylinders of steam engines, of cannons, &c. ”

“ Yet this remarkable contrivance, with all its massive steel beams and chains and cog wheels, employs no other principles than the simple ones of lever and pulley and inclined plane that we have just examined. The power that must be applied to produce a given effect may be calculated to a nicety. The capacities of the machine are fully predetermined in advance of its actual construction. But of course this is equally true of every other form of power-transmitter with which the modern mechanical engineer has to deal. ”

“ He who would accomplish most in the profession of the mechanical engineer must best combine scientific attainments—and especially experimental knowledge—with mechanical taste and ability and a good judgment refined by engineering experience. ”

“ It is not enough that he should be able to compute the stresses on the various members of a bridge y and even to produce a creditable design; he must know how to erect it without killing his men and without ruining the contractor. If he is a mechanical engineer, he must have that practical knowledge of workshop methods that will enable him to design an engine or machine that will not only work when made, but which can be constructed at a reasonable cost. ”

“ Measurements across accurately lapped plugs in the holes, showed the greatest deviation from truth to be 0.0002 inch, and running from that to accuracy so great that no error was measurable. This same work with buttons would have required considerably more time.
Machinery is the leading journal in the machine-building field and meets the requirements of the mechanical engineer, superintendent, designer, toolmaker and machinist, as no other journal does. Machinery deals exclusively with machine design, tool design, machine construction, shop practice, shop systems and shop management. ”

“ The study of kinematics has been considered for nearly 80 years as a necessary part of the mechanical engineer's training, as the dozens of textbooks that have been published over the years make amply clear. ”

“ The diversity of the mechanical work around a refinery is remarkable, and the engineer in charge must be a man of exceptional mechanical ability, as his duties include not only steam, electrical and civil engineering, but construction engineering of an advanced character. ”

“ Mechanical engineering is a profession whose medium of endeavor lies in the metals. Mechanical engineers shape things out of iron or steel or brass or other metal compositions, and put these things into engines or machines for service. ”

“ The machine tools did all the working (for the thinking had been embodied in them beforehand) , and they turned out all manner of geometrical forms with the utmost correctness. This sort of training educated the faculties of the lads, and trained their ideas to the perception of exactness of form, at the same time that it gave them an intimate acquaintance with the nature of the materials employed in mechanical structures. The rapidity with which they thus acquired the efficiency of thoroughly practical mechanics was surprising. ”

“ Circumstances had changed, mechanical engineering had made much progress; the tools required and trained workmen were to be found in the workshops of the leading mechanists, the founder's art was so advanced that casting had been substituted for cutting, in making the change wheels, even of screw-cutting engines, and therefore it was very probable that persons would be found willing to undertake to complete the Difference Engine for a specific sum. ”

“ Where they showed the possession, in any special degree, of a true mechanical faculty, I was enabled to select from the working labourers the most effective men to take charge of the largest and most powerful machine tools—such as planing machines, lathes, and boring machines. The ease and rapidity with which they caught up all the technical arts and manipulations connected with the effective working of these machines was extraordinary. ”

“ Such are among the triumphs of modern mechanical engineering, due in a great measure to the perfection of the tools by means of which all works in metal are now fashioned. These tools are themselves among the most striking results of the mechanical invention of the day. They are automata of the most perfect kind, rendering the engine and machine-maker in a great measure independent of inferior workmen. For the machine tools have no unsteady hand, are not careless nor clumsy, do not work by rule of thumb, and cannot make mistakes. ”

“ General handiness is one of the many valuable results that issues from the practice of handling the variety of materials which are more or less employed in mechanical structures. At the time that I refer to, the skilful workmen employed in the engineering establishments of Scotland (which were then comparatively small in size) were accustomed to use all manner of mechanical tools. ”

“ Dynamical engineering can be divided into mechanical engineering, which covers the construction of all prime motors, the transmission of power, and the use of machines422 and machine tools. Closely allied is electrical engineering, the art of the transformation and transmission of energy for traction, lighting, telegraphy, telephoning, operating machinery, and many other uses, such as its electrolytic application to ores and metals. ”

“ The machine shop has a steam engine of 16 horse power, two engines and three plain lathes, a planer, a large drill press, a pattern shop, a blacksmith's shop, all of the machinery having been built on the spot. The carpenter's shop is likewise supplied with necessary machine tools, such as saws, planers, tenoning machine, whittlers, etc., the power being furnished by the machine shop. At the date of the last University report, there were 41 students in the courses of mechanical engineering, 41 in those of civil engineering, 3 in mining engineering, and 14 in architecture. ”

“ It is a good and a safe rule to examine an engine over a pit before starting out. When this is done properly and regularly, the habit is unmistakably the mark of a good engineer.
That an engine may be properly examined over a pit, it is necessary that it should be placed in such a position that every part of it may be seen and inspected without having the machinery moved. ”

“ An efficient engineer must certainly be able to determine any practical question that may arise in the management, not only of his engine and boiler, but also in that of such shafting, pulleys, gear wheels, etc., as may constitute the driving gear connected with the engine. ”

“ It must be admitted, too, that the sense of the reality of this separation has been felt not only by Engineers or others actually engaged in machine design, but also by those theoretical writers who have had any practical knowledge of machinery, in spite of the increasing tendency in the treatment of mechanical science to thin away machine-problems into those of pure mechanics. ”

“ It is even kind to engineers like Watt, Fulton and Stephenson, who have conspicuously and directly affected society at large. But little is known, even among mechanics, of the men whose work was mainly within the engineering profession, and who served other engineers rather than the general public. The lives and the personalities of men like Maudslay, Nasmyth and Eli Whitney, can hardly fail of interest to the mechanic of today. They were busy men and modest, whose records are mainly in iron and steel, and in mechanical devices which are used daily with little thought of their origin. ”

“ The chief engineer of any electric plant, of any municipal water-works, of any railroad, of any steamship must have the most profound and intimate knowledge of the details of construction and the method of operation of the machine committed to his charge. Recognition of this fact by the engineering profession is so complete and perfect as to be almost unconscious; and no man whose reasoning faculties had been trained by the exact methods of engineering could forget it for a moment. ”

“ EMINENT ENGINEERS. By DWIGHT GODDARD. Everyone who appreciates the effect of such great inventions as the Steam Engine, Steamboat, Locomotive, Sewing Machine, Steel Working, and other fundamental discoveries, is interested in knowing a little about the men who made them and their achievements. Mr. Goddard has selected thirty-two of the world's engineers who have contributed most largely to the advancement of our civilization by mechanical means, giving only such facts as are of general interest and in a way which appeals to all, whether mechanics or not. 280 pages. 35 illustrations. ”

“ The improvement so much to be desired, will speedily follow upon the discontinuance of grinding. Recourse must then be had to the natural process. The surface plate and the scraping instrument will come into constant use, affording the certain and speedy means of attaining any degree of truth which may be required. A higher standard of excellence will be gradually established, the influence of which will be felt throughout all mechanical operations, while, to the mechanic himself, a new field will be open, in which he will find ample scope for the exercise of skill, both manual and mental. ”

“ Inspect carefully also the inside springs and axle boxes, specially the latter. See that the fireman oils them; if he does not, you are to blame.
The ash-pan, piston rod, smoke box, etc., all need to be looked at with care, for to run right the engine must start right, and this brings us to the most important thing of all—the condition of the fire before leaving the round house, for there is no other one thing on which an engineer's good name, success and future prospects depend so much as on the condition of the fire at the beginning of the day's work. ”

“ There is no trade or occupation which calls forth the inventive faculty to a greater degree than the machinist's. Whether it be in the direction of making some new tool, needed in some special work, or in devising a particular movement, or mechanical expedient, the machinist must be prepared to meet the issues and decide on the best structural arrangement.
Opportunities also come daily to the workers in machine shops to a greater extent than other artisans, because inventors in every line bring inventions to them to be built and experimentally tested. ”