SECTION B MECHANICAL ENGINEERING 



(Hall 10, September 23, 3 p. m.) 



CHAIRMAN: PROFESSOR JAMES E. DENTON, Stevens Institute of Technology. 



SPEAKER: PROFESSOR ALBERT W. SMITH, Cornell University. 

 SECRETARY: MR. GEORGE DINKEL, JR., Jersey City, N. J. 



THE RELATIONS OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING TO 

 OTHER BRANCHES OF ENGINEERING 



BY ALBERT WILLIAM SMITH 



[Albert William Smith, Director of Sibley College, Cornell University, b. August 

 30, 1856. B.M.E. Cornell, 1878; M.M.E. Cornell, 1886; Post-graduate, Cor- 

 nell University, 1886-87. Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering, Sibley 

 College, Cornell University, 1887-91; Professor of Machine Design, Univer- 

 sity of Wisconsin, 1891-92; Professor of Mechanical Engineering, Leland 

 Stanford Junior University, California, 1892-1904. Member of American So- 

 ciety of Mechanical Engineers. Author of Materials of Machines; Element- 

 ary Machine Design.] 



THE problem of educating young men to take up the world's 

 work in engineering is a continually changing one. Engineering 

 continually increases in scope and complexity and keeps demand- 

 ing better trained and wiser men for the solution of its problems. 

 What are the technical schools to do to meet this demand? 



Engineering is not an exact science; the sum of knowledge on 

 which it rests is too meagre for exactness. Many of the factors of 

 an engineering problem are susceptible of exact determination 

 from known facts and mathematical deductions; others can be 

 approximately estimated; while others still are elusive and prone 

 to hide themselves, often successfully. Many a man has based an 

 engineering work involving the expenditure of large sums of money 

 upon an analysis in which one factor has eluded the "round-up." 

 Then when money was spent, when the idea was in cold metal, 

 this little cold-blooded factor came out, pointed a condemning 

 finger at the man and said: "This won't do, you forgot me!" 



I wish to make a slightly adapted quotation: "The mathemati- 

 cian in solving a problem takes into account all the factors that 

 appear; the engineer must consider all the factors there are." The 

 work of the engineer must not fail, or destruction of human life 

 and property results, and he is criminally responsible. He must 

 consider all the factors there are! 



As the sum of knowledge grows it becomes quite complete in 



