SECTION VI 

 8. INDUSTRIAL RESEARCH BY MECHANICAL ENGINEERS 



By Harvey N. Davis and C. E. Davies 



President of the Stevens Institute of Technology, Hoboken, N. J.; and Secretary of The American Society of Mechanical 



Engineers, New York, N. Y., respectively 



ABSTRACT 



Tliis report describes the functions performed by 

 mechanical engineering research skill in various phases 

 of industry. The information in this report, obtained 

 by correspondence from over 400 individuals in 55 

 different industries, reflects the views of industry itself 

 about the part played by mechanical engineers in 

 research and reveals the widely varying understanding 

 of men in industry about the purposes and values of 

 research. 



The conclusions of the report are : 



Many correspondents emphasize the difficulty of 

 attempting to classify industrial research activities 

 according to the particular engineering or other dis- 

 ciplines within wliich they fall or according to the 

 particular academic training of those engaged in them. 



While testing of raw materials, of work in process, or 

 of finished product involves activities that are usually 

 of a routine rather than a research nature, a considerable 

 amount of true research is often found associated with 

 or inspired by these inspectional activities. 



Research with respect to the materials, equipment, 

 methods, and processes of manufacture is one of the 

 commonest and most important types of activity of 

 mechanical engineers in industrial research today. 



Development of better products and of new products 

 is a second very important type of research. On it all 

 progress in the essentially mechanical industries 

 depends. 



Opinions differ widely as to where, if anywhere, a line 

 should be dra^vn between normal engineering design, 

 engineering development work, and research. It is the 

 opinion of the writers of this report that research 

 activities and the research spirit and technique should 

 be broadly, rather than narrowly, conceived. 



Research, and particularly field-research, for new 

 uses and new markets for old products is of the greatest 

 importance. 



Fundamental research, broadly defined as including 

 data gathering as well as investigations of a more purely 

 theoretical nature, is very common in industry, and is 

 very often an activity of mechanical engineers. 



Research in universities and engineering schools 

 which is partly or wholly paid for by individual indus- 

 trial chents or cooperating industrial groups consti- 

 tutes an important part of the great volume of industrial 

 research. 



Management can well be thought of as a branch of 

 mechanical engineering. It is certainly a type of work 

 in wliich a great many mechanical engineers are 

 engaged. It is a field in which much is being done 

 that well deserves to be called research. It is a field 

 in which much more organized research should be 

 undertaken by industry. 



The formal organization of a company's research 

 activities varies widely as between companies of dif- 

 ferent sizes and amounts of experience in research, but 

 not in any significant way as between different industries 

 as such. 



While the activities of public utihties seem to differ 

 in kind from those of factories, the differences are 

 probably more apparent than real, and the research 

 activities of utilities are as diverse and important as 

 are those of manufacturing establishments. Research 

 in management is probably relatively better developed 

 among public utilities than in industry generally. 



The writers of this report suggest for the considera- 

 tion of those interested in industrial research the thesis 

 that everything that anybody in industry does in 

 the coiu'se of his daily work is either routine or research. 

 It is suggested that the universal acceptance of this 

 thesis as a matter of definition would do much to 

 clarify the thinking of industry with respect to the 

 fundamental basis of its present prosperity and future 

 security. 



Introduction 

 Basis of This Report 



The purpose of this report is to describe the functions 

 performed by mechanical engineering research skill in 

 328 



various phases of industry. The wide usefulness of 

 mechanical engineering research has made it necessary 

 to secure aid from a surprising variety of industries. 

 Information has been obtained from organizations 



