Brooklyn Technical High School - Blueprint Yearbook (Brooklyn, NY)

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What's that, Sam? I forgot to put my tool bit in? Thanks. What's that you say? My automatic feed lever is in reverse? Whaddya mean? Watch, I'll show-. I guess you were right. Maybe I'd better get a new center. That one's no good any- more. ' At last! There it goes-not a bad cut, either, even if I do say so myself. How're you making out, Pete? What, you're fin- ished already? Here, let me measure it. Say, you're six thousandths off! Whaddya mean? My mike's just as good as yours. I paid sixty cents for it, it oughta be good. just take that job up to the teacher, and see what he says. Oh, he has marked MEMOIRS OF A LATHE it already. What did-Oh, 95? Pretty good job. I expect to get only about 90. There! The cut's finished. Now to stop the automatic feed. Hey! It doesn't stop! Cmere, Pete, quick! How do you shut it off? Say, you're turning the wrong knob! Oh. It stopped. Maybe you were right. Mr. Blenderman, will you work this, please? Yes, I know it's a little long, you see, I-What? Six thousandths undersize? But it's just right according to my micrometer! Look-! Er, did you say 65? Oh, you did. What, Sam? No, 65. Oh, well, we all can't get good marks, I guess. But I still think his micrometer is wrong! By HARRY BROWN, D51 MACHINE shop on the second floor of the Brook- Q A c lyn Technical High School X was my home for nine long H ' H I years. I belonged to a fam- - ily of twelve engine lathes. There I stood looking out over Fort Greene Park while class after class went by, each heaping abuses on me. At first I was happy. All this was new to me. The clamoring, the excitement, the rush and hubbub fascinated me. But after a few years the clamoring irritated me, the excitement unnerved me, and the tumult and chaos tired me so that I was exhausted when night came. During the day some of the definitely not-mechanically-inclined boys cursed me, flooded me with oil, threw my gears in while I was in motion, and strained my every bolt by forcing me to do impossible tasks. After a few years of this, I was worn out. I wished then that I could have been left to rest in the ground next to that little piece of copper. My gears were 16 half-stripped for the third time and I moved with a clank and a groan in every part of me, but there was no relief. Class after class came and went, each mistreat- ing me more than the last and still I looked over Fort Greene Park and longed for that bit of red-headed copper. Finally my plight was realized. I was taken out and sold for junk. Here I am now waiting my turn to be reborn. I had heard of this place from some of the older lathes in the room. They had told me that a great future awaited me here, that I would thrill to new experiences just as I had when I first arrived at Tech. What my future will be, I have no idea. Perhaps I shall be part of a battleship for the Navy, or a part of a bridge, or an automobile, or a dozen other different things. All I know is that it will be thrill- ing to find out. Here comes the crane,- I am up in the air-now over the fur- nace-the jaw is opening-down, down, down-the fire is rushing up towards me -I Wonder if I will ever see that piece of copper again-Goodbye.

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DISCOURSE ON GRAVITY By HOWARD BERNSTEIN, css Dear Diary, X 11 .,., . ERSONALLY I l'l3VC al- , QA' gi ways thought that the sup- gliyll ply of gravity that the 'V' jill. earth holds would some gf jg, day run short. Yesterday this tragic event occurred. About twelve o'clock noon people noticed that they were getting lighter and lighter. In three hours there was absolutely no gravity whatsoever. Walking down the street, I saw a car hurtling towards a man. Instinctively I shut my eyes. When I opened them, I saw the oddest sight I ever hope to see. The car had hit the man but since it had no weight it had not hurt him. But the car! It had used the man as a springboard and was hurtling towards the outer strato- sphere. Because it no longer had any weight it could not get hack to earth. The man in the car was doomed to go flying around the stratosphere till he died of old age. Everywhere I went I saw similar tragedies happening. It does not do any good to put lead in your pockets because lead is now no heavier than feathers used to be. The subways are full because the people think that is the only place where they are safe. I am now prac- tically the only person on earth who is above the surface. I saw a child throw a ball attached to a string into the air. When the ball came to the end of the string the child left the ground and went flying after it. It is getting pretty dark and I'll have to close this page. My keep- er says that if I don't go right to bed, he will put one of those uncomfortable jackets on me. Good night, dear Diary. MACHINE SHOP MONOLOGUE , , By JERRY GREENBERG, A43 AY, SAM, just look at those lathes! We'll have some I bet. And say, look at that big machine over there. I .H-H M wonder if we'll ever get to use thai. Those pulleys up there look complicated! Oh, well, I guess we'll learn all about this stuff sooner or later. Boy, I just can't wait 'til we start working those lathes! . . . How do you like that? Two weeks gone, and the motors haven't even been started yet! I'm sick of writing and draw- ing . . . Hey, fellows, didja hear what the teacher just said? We start work today! il q ' fun when we get started, I P I O Here are the assignments . . . Whoopee! I'm on the engine lathe. just let me at it! I-Im! Pretty complicated apparatus, if you ask me! Let's see. First, I gotta clamp on the lathe dog, then put the stock be- tween the centers . . . Oh, oh. It doesn't go. Hey, Mr. Blenderman, my work's too big for the lathe! Oh, I see. just move the tail stock back. Smart man, that Mr. Blenderman. There! All set up. Now to start the thing. I wonder which lever he said to use. That one doesn't work. This one didn't start it either. Ah, there it goes! That's funny. Nothing happened. 15

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BLIND MAN By RICHARD THORPE, A61, Scribe j:lll Q:-A OHN MARKWYN was . greatly annoyed. Worse, anger. But he restrained Q himself, so that the boys, Bill and Kipper, wouldn't notice it. They were really trying to cheer him up, by talking so much. his mood bordered upon .. r' ii? He had been cooped up in this dingy hotel for five weeks, now, and it had soured him. But that wasn't what bothered him most. What did bother him was his eyes. He couldn't see. Kipper was talking. It won't be long now, Mark. Soon as you can see again, we'll get back at 'em and do it proper. Do it proper, he thought. just be- cause he hadn't shot the guard right away, he had muffed a neat bank robbery. The guard had shot him, though, just nicked him properly across the head to make him blind. A door opened in the room. He jumped, startled. But Doc's voice re- assured him. How are you, Mark? He didn't an- swer and Doc went on. I know just how you feel. It's nine P. M. now, you haven't got much longer to wait. just take it easy. He cursed himself, silently. He was the most feared gunman and thief in the country, but he had missed a couple of thousand dollars, because he hadn't both- ered to shoot a man. He had shot him afterwards though, so the boys told him, but he hadn't known it at the time. The boys had seen that he was shot, that time at the bank, and they had taken him away before the cops came. He nearly went crazy when he found he was blind, but the boys had brought him here, where the cops wouldn't find him so easily. Then they brought Doc for him. Doc could be trustedg he was no squealer. Doc had said that he wasn't blinded for good. He could operate on him, and fix his eyes. So Doc had done it-for a price, of course. The boys had told him that the cops were combing the city for him. He'd been hunted before, but this was different. If they found him before he could see again, he would have to depend upon the boys, and Doc. But just in case, he was ready. His pistols were in their holsters at his shoul- ders. He kept them with him all the time: he never took them off. He heard Bill's voice, Wait till we go at it the next time, Mark. We'll kill everybody first. That wasn't intended as a joke. Bill meant what he said. But it angered him, just the same, to hear them talk,-and not see them. Bill's remark shattered his restraint. Shut up! he snapped at them viciously. Shut up! All of you! Get out! Take it easy, Mark, Doc warned in an alarmed voice. Get out! Okay, Mark. Okay. Bill spoke sooth- ingly. He heard them all go out, to the next room, and close the door behind them. To and fro-the length of the room- he strode nervously. He was tense. The room was quiet, now. Slowly, he drew a cigarette, put it to his lips, drew a match 17