You had better explain what a 'slide rule' is as well Danny!!...I really must try to get a copy of these books, which we have discussed before.
Another saying...'An optimist says the glass is half full...a pessimist that it is half empty...while an Engineer says it is too big'...Ian
email (option): julie@wright52.plus.com
I'm sure if you visit many other 'developed' and 'third world' countries you will find no shortage of the skills under discussion. It is just a sad fact that in this country (run by Barristers, 'professional' politicians and money men) a choice was made some while back that manufacturing and the skills that go with it was neither necessary nor desirable in the new 'post industrialist' age. In the new model the service and financial sectors would provide all the wealth and jobs....
Not a brilliant plan as it has turned out..not everyone was suitable for employment in those sectors that were to be our sole means of generating wealth..and then their was the greed and incompetence of the Bankers.
This narrow view of the world has meant manufacturing has been left to 'wither on the vine',has not been supported in any way and the educational system (also run by people with no understanding of Industry) has produced generations of children who largely believe that physical work is demeaning and 'second rate'..as they have been taught.
When I started my Engineering career,along with thousands of other school leavers at the time, a large percentage of the population were involved in manufacturing and related trades and were highly skilled in those areas.
Now less and less people have any understanding or interest in how all the things they use are made and how they work...and Engineering is destined to become a totally lost art that we rely entirely on others to carry out for us...sad, sad, sad...Ian
email (option): julie@wright52.plus.com
I still work in engineering, one of the few companies still running in this area. We have a factory in China but the management (there's a misnomer if ever there was one) have admitted it was not the economic miracle they were looking for. We shipped thousands of robot welded parts from there and found two major problems. One was the quality of the steel and the second was that they added two extra welds to the cross members for 'strength'. As most welders will know, adding weld for strength is the wrong thing to do, allowing stresses to move across the welded area into an unsuitable area. That's why gussets have a gap, for instance between the headstock and frame of a chopped bike.
I did an apprenticeship with the gas board and then worked as a mechanical fitter for many years and one of the things I saw amazed me that British industry did not go sooner. A lack of investment in machinery and people killed it as surely as a bullet to the brain. British Timken had machines with 'War Production' cast into it and we took guesses as to which war.......
email (option): stinkypete80@hotmail.com
Hi Jeff..The word 'engineer' covers a wide range of disciplines in the English language context. The word derives from the Latin word 'Ingenium' meaning 'skill' or 'talent'.
The dictionary gives the following description..in the profession of applying scientific principles to the design, construction and maintenance of machines etc.(Mechanical Engineering), Buildings, bridges,roads etc. (Civil Engineering).. and there are similar descriptions for Electrical Engineering, Chemical Engineering etc. etc.
My training as a Mechanical Engineer took the form of a 5 year apprenticeship..this meant I was taken on by a company involved in one of the relevant disciplines and they trained me in the basic principles, theory and all aspects of the practical side of Mechanical Engineering. I did one years basic training, three years of general mechanical engineering, one years specialisation (in the last year) and one day and one evening a week at college for the whole 5 years.
After the successful completion of that I was awarded my indentures...this was the original 'contract' that I had signed between myself and my Employer at the beginning. I also got a certificate which confirmed my qualification as a trained Mechanical Engineer...I was then a 'Time Served' Engineer
At that time you could not obtain employment as an Engineer at any level without presenting those documents.
From that basic point there were further opportunities to obtain higher and more specialised qualifications but these were optional and only limited by your own ambition and abilities.
It was generally accepted that after the 5 year apprenticeship you were qualified but you would then spend many more years improving and refining your skills and knowledge base.....Ian
email (option): julie@wright52.plus.com
My official basic title is 'Mechanical Engineer (Toolmaker)'.
The 'Toolmaker' part refers to my specialisation (which was decided at the beginning of my apprenticeship, based on my qualifications from school)and as the training was to a higher and wider skill level I was required to achieve a higher technical qualification.
My classification as an apprentice was also different to, for example, a 'fitter and turner' apprentice. Toolmakers were 'Technician Apprentices', the rest 'Craft Apprentices'.I think this difference was in recognition of the fact that back then the Toolmaker was considered the most highly trained 'Hands On' worker in all engineering factories...Ian
email (option): julie@wright52.plus.com
I'm just a bungling amateur. It's usually a case of "engine 'ere, engine there" in my workshop.
You say that Rik...but someone who builds a really nice bike without the benefit of formal training has really completed a more difficult task. There are some clever people about...and some crap 'qualified' engineers
...Ian
email (option): julie@wright52.plus.com