University of Maryland College Park - Terrapin / Reveille Yearbook (College Park, MD)

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EDITOR-IN-CHIEF AS PEOPLE SEE HIM.

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theories of physics that are taught us, in practical and daily uses by building en- gines or labor-saving appliances, or producing anything in metal that can be cast, rolled, pressed, machined or tooled into shape. A very good example of mechanical engineering, and a very familiar one, is the locomotive. Another, and one on a larger scale, may be seen in the planning and development of the great steel works of the Maryland Steel Company, at Sparrow ' s Point, Md. If a young man, seventeen or eighteen years of age, thinks he would like to go in for this sort of business and has during his boyhood, taken particular inter- est in the construction of anything he came across from a wind mill to a leaden steam engine, or dynamo, and has supplemented this thirst by going out of his way to see all kinds of things at work, and has spent his Saturdays hanging around some machine shop and foundry, or has been the principal actor in pick- ing up an innocent looking bit of black iron in some country blacksmith shop after school hours, it is safe to say he has that investigating spirit which is of primary importance in engineering. How is it to be learned? Well, one way is to put in an apprenticeship of four years, at the machine business, with some engineering firm to secure the practical details of the business, and spending the evenings and other leisure time, in se- curing the necessary theoretical knowledge. Another way, and quite an excellent one, is to enter a school of engineering and pursue the regular four year course; supplementing the theoretical and prac- tical instruction by working on Saturdays and during the sununer vacations with engineering establishments, as is now often being done. But as to the best method of learning, and of what it .should con.sist, has led to endless discus.sion among educators and engineers. That is, should the educa- tion be purely a theoretical one ; without any practical training — except a few laboratory experiments, or .should it be one in which the practical has been con- sidered on a par with the theoretical. It is well to divide this into three stages and to consider each. First — the purely theoretical stage, in which practice, or application of prin- ciples, has no part. vSecond — the semi-theoretical, in which the application is taught of theoretical truth to practice, and lastly — there is the actual instinct in the art it.self, the theoretical ])eing judiciously mixed with the practical. As an example, take the consulting engineering, or mechanical superintend- ent of any large establishment. If he is of the first mentioned stage, his work is likely to look most beautiful on i)aper, but when being constructed, it is often found that some of the work is to be of such .shape that it is impossible to con- struct, and in this way often wrecking a bu.sine.ss. He may l e of the cla.ss in the second stage, where his principles are correctly applied and the work successfully executed; but at such cost as to leave no mar- gin for the company. As stockholders do not i)ut their money into a business for 14

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love of the business, but for profit, there is likely to be trouble and some one may perhaps be without a position. If he is of the class composing the third stage — that is educated in the prin- ciples and the carrying out of the same in the actual construction of such as illus- trate these, or by the solution of practical problems and applying them so far as possil)le ; instead of spending the time in the solution of problems which can never have any practical value, he will obtain the sort of knowledge which will be of use to him in the planning of work, to estimate its cost — which includes the time, labor and material. To tell if a machine is doing what it should, and, if not, to be able to locate the fault and correct. The engineering schools of today are doing a noble work along the lines of combining the practical with the theoretical. The same mathematics are taught as formerly, but taught in manner so that the student sees the real value of it. Industrial drawing is taught as before, but along the lines and on such problems as the student is likely to encounter after leaving college. Applied mechanics is taught so that the problems have a real meaning to him. He now knows that if the driving wheel of a locomotive, or stationary engine, goes beyond a certain number of revolutions, the centrifugal force will be so great as to destroy the wheel, and that no wheel can be constructed of sufficient strength to withstand this force ; unless the force is limited. This is a cold sort of world, so learn thoroughly what you attempt. You will .soon learn that 3 ' ou are to be paid for what you can do and not for what you know. Engineering does not mean simply the ability to put lines on paper, to repre- .sent .something, to survey a piece of land, to execute a piece of machine work within one one-thousandth of an inch, or to calculate how much water will flow through a pij e in a certain time. The.se aie merely elementary. If you will take a catalogue containing an engineering course and turn to the outline of the course, you will notice subjects which appear to ha -e no bearing upon it. The investigator says I don ' t .see why I should learn french, german, civics, economics or history. How will the - assist me in earning a living ? The.se subjects are for the purpo.se of giving what is known as a liberal edu- cation. It is true the engineer of todaj- must be a si)ecialist — that is to concen- trate his efforts along certain lines — but he should have that sort of knowledge which will enable him to take a broad view of any sul)ject. But why .should the would be engineer know all of these, including analytics and calculus ? Why not ])ut him in the shop and let him learn to chip, file and to operate the various machines? That is the projier thing to do if the object is to make a machinist, or producer, out of him. But a new light is beaming now, which casts the shadows spelling the lines The cultured mind, The .skillful hand. 16