I still have my dad’s slide rule; don’t use it much anymore.
My drafting and architecture classes in high school and college were with pencils & technical pens on a drawing board using a T-square, then parallel rule.
When I worked as a cartographer, it was all done on the drawing board. We had the blueprint machine that used ammonia–had to be careful changing the empty bottle for a full one; too big a whiff and the sinuses got pretty well cleaned out. [(-D]
I’ve tried some of the CAD programs, but I’ve never quite mastered them. I’ve gotten by for some permits, but dare say they have more capabilities than I’ve learned to take advantage of.
I reread this thread just to be sure I was remembering it correctly.
I see a number of us elders telling how it used to be, but I don’t see anyone complaining because it is not still done that way.
Remembering the past is not the same as resisiting progress or even just change.
I used to develop my own film, too. But I wouldn’t give up my Photoshop for anything. Nor would I give up any of my 5 computers, my dye sublimation printer, my color laser printer, or my photo quality ink jet printer.
There are still things I can do with a pencil and a pad of paper that I can’t do with a $$$ CAD program, because the computer-savvy geek who programmed it wasn’t mechanically savvy enough to know that I’d need that particular capability.[|(]
I love modern technology - when it works. But what do you do when the power goes out and you need to draw a flood-reinforcement buttress for an outdoor wall NOW!!![:O]
Kind of like the guy with the cruiser - a hugely powerful inboard-outdrive, but no oars, paddles or pole - and no fuel…[(-D]
Notice the smiley in my post. I was just joining the fun.
Nancy and I stopped to get gas yesterday and a car with two teenage boys pulled up to the pump next us. The booming music coming from the car sounded like it was loosening every screw and bolt that held it together. Nancy told me “don’t do it” as I looked their way and was about to tell them that we don’t want to hear that crap. I realized that years ago I used to ride around with
This is totally [#offtopic], but I think you’ll enjoy it…
Back when Lockheed’s Skunk Works was designing and (simultaneously) building the aircraft that became the SR71 (still the ultimate in speed and cruising altitude,) the assembly crew called the design office and reported that they’d need a part to reinforce the structure.[:I]
One of the design engineers went down to the floor and spent a couple of minutes sculpting a piece of cardboard with a pair of scissors. Finished, he handed it to the assembly chief and said, “Fabricate this from .060 stock. Then get the template back to me. I have to make a drawing from it.”[:-^]
I’ve heard that one before, and I still believe it.
I feel that I should take a picture of my K&E Log Log Duplex Decitrig just so the young un’s know what a real “calculator” looks like.
Now, young un’s let it be known that although I presently do process, mechanical and electrical design using Autodesk Autocad and Inventor, I designed my present layout using pencils (of various colors, a useful concept taught to me by a geology prof), a K&E drafting set, a K&E 36" bridge compass, one 45, one 30-60-90, the straight edge from a t-square, a engineers scale(no, its not a ruler and you don’t use it to draw a straight line), a plan measure, and last but not least, good old “Fade Out” sketch vellum (10 X 10 grid). Why? Because its easier and more fun that way and you have a sense of what you are designing versus just a graphic on a program.
Note, I also used the above mentioned slide rule as it does one thing very nicely that a calculator can’t do. When the C and D scales are alinged on a given ratio, the equivalent ratio can be read anywhere on the C and D scale. Works great for slopes, very easy to pick off any given horizontal distance needed for a given rise.[;)]
Chuck, the biggest problem young engineers have that we don’t is that without the paper training they cannot visualize very well, too much of that is done for them, especially with 3D modelling programs like Inventor.
“engineers scale(no, its not a ruler and you don’t use it to draw a straight line)”
I still have the scars on my knuckles from being rapped by the priests in class learning that lesson! Straightedges are for drawing lines, scales are for measuring them. [:)]
Even slide rules can fail when you need them most. When I was a freshman at engineering school and taking my first departmental chemistry exam, I dropped my new K&E super log log decieverything slide rule on the concrete floor. One one of the end brackets jammed making it impossible to move the center scale. The exam proctor refused to let me out of the room to get a replacement. Needless to say, I got an F. From then on I always carried two to exams. One Pocket and one 12 inch.
I have looked around and through magazine search engines but this appears to be a commodity that has never been covered much and there’s no scale drawings of some of the equipment I’ve seen advertised, especially the unique 2 spinecars connected by a single bogey that carry the open top or tarp covered roll-off containers (none for these either).
Looks like I’ll have to find a different method for figuring this out. I did get dimensions amd pictures from one company of their containers and I have to find the time to call another.
The joys of having the center piece fall out, or running out of scale on one end or the other led me to switch to a circular slide rule in senior year of high school. But at college I was forced to change back to linear because the Engineering Dept had standardized on teaching a particular KDE to all incoming freshman.
It was amazing how the tests changed when the first HP engineering calculators came out (my college sophomore year at the amazing group price of $325 for an HP-45). Until then, test questions were generally pre-computed to come out fairly close to even integers to avoid having to grade the slight differences encountered in slide rule readings on chain calculations. Knowing that was often a useful check on my solutions. Calculators changed tests because the math was repeatable from person to person, so the need for integer answers on tests disappeared. The coming of calculators also inspired the less forgiving professors to delightfully mark as wrong any answers with the incorrect number of significant figures.
Of course my kids don’t really believe there once was a world without graphing calculators, VCRs, Internet, and portable music devices besides an AM transistor radio. They think it’s all stories I make up to impress them.