Mississippi State University - Reveille Yearbook (Starkville, MS)

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Mechanical Engineering Mechanical Engineering, as understood today, includes the design and construction of steam engines and steam boilers, gas and gasoline engines, complete power plants, machine tools, hoist- ing and conveying machinery, cranes of usual types, rolling mill machinery, automobiles, steam- boats, heating and ventilating appliances, and all other types of machinery for manufacturing purposes. The young apprentice in a commercial shop acquires knowledge slowly and with difficulty. He learns the use of a particular machine or to do a certain piece of work, and once having learned this, he is kept working at it to gain skill and rapidity. In the technical school the student is taught the use of the machine, the principles of its construction, the nature of the material worked, and the errors to avoid. After learning this, he is allowed to pass to the explanation of some other process. The technical school should be just as well equipped as the commercial shop, but the equipment serves a very different purpose. The object of the equipment is the production of in- telligent working people and not the production of salable commodities. When shop construc- tion is used to further commercial ends, its loses its educational value. The student often looks upon the commodity produced as the real purpose of his shop training work, but when he is grown to manhood it becomes apparent to him that the strict training received in the making of these models was only a method of ingraining the habit of accuracy, care, self-reliance, and neatness, in addition to the general dexterity of hand and a greater love of work. Realizinig the great importance of this practical training, the policy of the college is to require all students who graduate to take shop instruction at some time during their respective courses. Ǥ CLASS IN BRIDGE DESIGN Laboratory and shop courses are given to supplement and re-enforce the work given in the class- room. This method of bringing the hand and mind to work together lies at the basis of all true technical education. Practical instruction is given in woodwork, pattern making, forge and foundry work, machine work, and in experimental laboratories to all engineering students. In the laboratories, the shops, and the central power plant are various types of apparatus and machinery for experimental and research work. The equipment of the department for teaching the different branches of the work is being en- larged as funds are available, and as the number of students enrolled increases. Civil Engineering Engineering is the direction and control of the forces and materials of nature for the economic use and benefit of mankind; or, as someone has sad: Engineering is the art of doing, in a short time and with a small amount of money, what any fool could do if he had unlimited time and money available. The two principal problems in our agricultural development today are the education of the farmers, and the keeping of the farmers on the farm. The latter problem is almost entirely an engineering one, and the first touches engineering at many points, 29 gg

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ELECTRICAL LABORATORY Electrical Engineering The courses offered by the Electrical Engineering department thoroughly equip the students for development into engineers in any phase of the profession. The junior year is devoted principally to the study of direct currents and direct current ma- chinery. The scope of the courses are broad, including concentrated classroom work, accom- panied by practice in the laboratory. The latter develops the student ' s self-confidence and en- ables him to observe the results of the principles which he studied in the classroom. The theory and characteristics of alternating current are covered in the latter part of the year. The senior year is devoted to the study of the alternator, followed by motors, transformers, converters, synchronous motors, condensers, metering devices, and control equipment. This oc- cupies the fall semester. The spring semester is devoted to the study of some of the different phases of the industry, such as power transmission, illumination, and electric railways. The laboratory, shown above, is one of the most completely equipped, from the standpoint of variety of apparatus, in the South. It is constantly being added to as new apparatus is developed, and the student is given every opportunity to become thoroughly conversant with its equipment.

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Tfe[REVEILLEli922 Experience shows that men will stay on the farm if living conditions are made tolerable — if they can have a share of the conveniences of the city. Here enters the engineer, building better farm buildings, constructing good highways, making possible light, heat, water, and power service in farm buildings, improving sanitary conditions and generally helping to improve country life. With the enormous industrial production and development of today are required large in- dustrial plants and the rebuilding and enlargement of many existing structures. The design and construction of factories, office buildings, dam s, power houses, bridges and viaducts, is the work of the structural engineer. The most economical structure may not be that one which has the lowest first cost. Each problem offers a number of solutions, and the engineer must visualize them all and study each carefully with a view to safety and ultimate economy. Like other engineers his scientific training must have some of the humanistic subjects with it in order that he may visualize the ultimate purpose of his work. Civil engineering as distinct from electrical and mechanical engineering covers highway construction and maintenance, drainage engineering, railroad engineering, structural engineering as applied both to steel and concrete, flood prevention and control, water power and water supply engineering, city planning and other allied subjects. . ■ ' WKPj J® Jhf He iff V DUSTING COTTON FOR BOLL WEEVIL Civil engineering offers a splendid opportunity for the exercise of creative imagination, for scientific study, and for leadership and direct service to the public. The mechanical and electrical engineer follow the track of the civil engineer in the development of civilized com- munities. The civil engineer is the pioneer in uncivilized countries as well as the foundation of civil life in large cities. School of Agriculture For the next quarter century the most rapid development in American agriculture will take place in the South. Great changes in our farm organization are in sight. We are to see the volume of business per man assume entirely new proportions. Good pastures grazed by good livestock combines cheap lands and scarce labor with profit. Hay crops furnish valuable feed with small labor requirements, and our tendency is toward a greater production of this crop. The mechanical cotton picker may parallel the cotton gin in economic importance. The special- ization of labor on the one hand and the diversity of enterprises on the other may enable the cotton belt farmer to handle many times the land area per man that he is now doing. We are N