Chronicles of Mechanical Engineering in the United States (Paperback)

Thomas Fehring

ISBN 10: 0791885089 / ISBN 13: 9780791885086

Edité par American Society of Mechanical Engineers,U.S., Fairfield, 2021

A propos de cet article

Paperback. From the time it was organized in 1880, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers recorded aspects of the history of the mechanical engineering profession and the careers of some of its notable practitioners. The Society's historical efforts were formalized in 1971 with the creation of a History and Heritage Committee. This volume commemorates the fiftieth anniversary of the formation of that committee and collects, in a single place, many of the historical contributions published over the past fifty years in ASME's flagship magazine, Mechanical Engineering. In preparation for the United States' bicentennial year, and later the Society's centennial, the editors of Mechanical Engineering contracted with engineer-historian Fritz Hirschfeld for a long series of articles about the county's early mechanical engineering heritage and the lives of notable mechanical engineers, particularly those associated with ASME's founding. Hirschfeld's articles form the foundation of this volume. To supplement Hirschfeld's work, the editors have added numerous other historical articles published in Mechanical Engineering. The engineering innovations described by these articles have been enormously important to the development of modern technological society, and the stories behind their development should be of interest to engineers interested in the history of their profession, as well as anyone interested in American history. Collects, in a single place, many of the historical contributions published over the past fifty years in ASME's flagship magazine, Mechanical Engineering. The engineering innovations described by these articles have been enormously important to the development of modern technological society. Shipping may be from our Sydney, NSW warehouse or from our UK or US warehouse, depending on stock availability.

N° de réf. du vendeur 9780791885086

Détails bibliographiques

• Titre: Chronicles of Mechanical Engineering in the United States (Paperback)
• Éditeur: American Society of Mechanical Engineers,U.S., Fairfield
• Date de parution: 2021
• Langue: anglais
• ISBN à 10 chiffres: 0791885089
• ISBN à 13 chiffres: 9780791885086
• Reliure: Paperback
• État de l'article: new

A propos de ce titre

Synopsis

One of the leading contributors of historical articles to ME over the past fifty years was Fritz Hirschfeld. In preparation for the United States' bicentennial year in 1976, the editors of Mechanical Engineering contracted with engineer-historian Hirschfeld for a series of articles on the county's early engineering history. Just a few years later, as the Society was nearing its centennial in 1880, the editors again turned to Hirschfeld and asked him to write a series of articles about the founding of ASME and important early mechanical engineers. Hirschfeld's articles, collected here, provide the foundation for the early portion of this volume.

Building upon Hirschfeld's foundation, we selected a wide assortment of other articles about aspects of mechanical engineering history in the United States from the Revolutionary War until recent times. We largely limited our selections to those articles published in Mechanical Engineering magazine during the last fifty years (i.e., 1971-2021). Even for this period, the volume does not include all such articles due to limitations in length and editorial judgments. For instance, some articles duplicated coverage of specific events or innovations. In such cases we picked what we deemed the best, or most comprehensive of overlapping articles. We also decided to focus this volume on the history of mechanical engineering in America. We thus excluded articles on historical developments largely occurring outside the United States. At some future time, we may "harvest" both pre-1971 ME articles and unselected post-1971 articles, as well as articles focusing on non-American mechanical engineering achievements, for a separate collection or collections.

Of the more than seventy articles collected in this volume, well over ninety per cent were drawn from issues of ME published during the past fifty years. Five pieces, however, were drawn from outside that chronological limit or from other sources. We have, for example, included a 1933 biographical article from ME about American engineer George H. Corliss. Corliss's innovations in the design and manufacture of steam engines and related devices helped establish the United States as a major player in the manufacture of prime movers. Corliss was considered by his contemporaries to be such a significant figure in mechanical engineering circles in the United States that we elected to include him. He was, after all, asked to serve as the first president of ASME-an offer which he declined. A second exception is another biographical article, one on Edwin Reynolds, a significant steam engine designer. It was authored by Thomas Fehring, one of the editors of this volume. Reynolds worked for a time for the Corliss Steam Engine Company, as did other notable American engineers such as Erasmus Darwin Leavitt (second president of ASME) and Alexander L. Holley (one of the founders of the Society), before moving to Allis-Chalmers. Reynolds made significant improvements in steam engine design. He was president of ASME in 1902-03, and three of his steam engines have been designated as Historic Mechanical Engineering Landmarks by the Society.