THE ENGINEER OF TO-DA 1
Some one has characterized the past age as
one of invention, the present as one of engineer•
We no longer wait for some genius to better
or cheapen our way of doing things. Instead of
taking observations from the outside and work
ing inward, men now work from principles and
build upon them .
It is not long since those who carried on
scientific investigation, as a means to practical
ends, were looked upon as being affected with al
most unpardonable vagaries. But it is no longer
so, as the demand for economy, of force and ma
terials increased 'rapidly, the inventive genius
could no longer• be waited for, and technical edu
cation became a ,necessity.
The development of technology has been
most pr►tent and stimulating. It has brought
about great changes in the industrial arts. It has
multiplied machinery for every kind of work;
it has extended highways beyOnd what, until re
cently, was thought possible; indeed, it is revo
lutionizing every field of industry.
The genius may still come to the front and
present startling results, but Edisons arc few. It is
by the sober, steady application of scholars in es
tablished principles of physics, that the solutions
of great problems are reached. To these we are
indebted for the Bessemer Converter, the various
uses of compressed air and many of the applica
tions of electricity. Indeed it is useless to attempt
to enumerate what has been accomplished by
thinkers, educated to think in these lines.
With every new process or invention, new
machinery is demanded. The steam engine of
Watt has probably increased a thousand fold the
industrial occupations of the world, which called
for the production of machines to work in iron,
wood and stone, in cotton, wool and silk.
The demand for engineers comes from every
department of industry.
• The civil engineer is called upon to con
THE FREE LANCE.
struct public works, such as highways, railroads,
water works, etc., the mechanical engineer
deals with machines, from the original de
sign of each part, through the detailed manu
facture to the complete structure, and to the op
eration of the machine itself; he must understand
the construction and equipment of mills and ma
chine shops ; he must know how to determine the
capabilities and efficiency of them and of the
materials of which they are made; he must be
able to design and build machines to meet the
emergency of the manufacturer. These are but a
few of the things he may be called upon to do.
There are numerous other fields of engineer
ing, such as hydraulic, giv, and electric, but in
all, the engineer is distinct from the artisan only
by the amount of his knowledge of scientific
principles, and his ability to apply these to the
complete solution of real problems as they arise.
We see all about us triumphs of engineering
skill overcoming natural obstacles, but where is
the untrained native talent, that could build an
East river bridge, or invent an air -brake, or de
velope the signal switch system, or any of the
thousands of examples of the applications of fa-•
miliar principles of science to the solution of
mechanical problems?
But a knowledge of physics, in the abstract,
is not sufficient to bring, about these results, it
Must be united with a practical command of ma
chinery, From this combination follow great re
sults. Then as another has said, "the same af
fluent good comes forth in the domain of me
chanics that abounded in the Middle ages when
the artist and artisan were one ; when Peter Vis
cher worked at black-smithing, and Michael An
gelo cut stone and Benvenuto Cellini hammered
silver and gold, each touching the iron, the stone
or the silver with a beauty and value, that all the
ages since have only enhanced."
That engineers should be handicraftsmen, of
no mean ability, with a thorough knowledge of
machinery, is now generally conceded.
The old institutions, which taught theory only,