Old engineering books and collectables
Old engineering books and collectables
(OP)
Does anyone else collect old engineering books and other engineering related collectibles? I have a few power books that are over 100 years old. Good ones not filler. (Stienmetz, Clarke, Westinghouse stuff) I think they do a better job at explaining analysis than the books we have now where the insight gets lost due to easy access computer simulations. It is also kind of fun to track down the engineer who had signed his name in the book. In my really old books, the internet is no help at all in tracking someone down. I found a sterling silver 45 year Westinghouse sterling silver keychain with diamond in it for $20 on ebay that is kind of neat. The person started with Westinghouse around 1905. There is a lot of really neat Westinghouse stuff that just periodically shows up on ebay. It is kind of a shame that Michael Jordan tore that company apart. Anyways, what old engineering things do you guys have?





RE: Old engineering books and collectables
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JHG
RE: Old engineering books and collectables
I used to work in a number of New England cities and would always seek out the used book stores. Periodically widows of deceased engineers would "clean house" and dump book collections.
I am now 67 years old and am looking for a good final home for these old treasures. There are early books on power plant design, riveted boilers, steam turbines etc. I would hate to see these books destroyed.
I have considered contacting the local university engineering school ..... but I am not sure that they would help.
Aside from selling them off slowly on Ebay ...... does anyone have any other suggestions ???
mjcronin16 "at" gmail "dot com"
MJCronin
Sr. Process Engineer
RE: Old engineering books and collectables
good luck!
RE: Old engineering books and collectables
The very worst case is that you contact a second-hand bookstore. You might even get paid for it. The book eventually will find a loving home.
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JHG
RE: Old engineering books and collectables
Ted
RE: Old engineering books and collectables
I don't go out of my way to seek them out so much, and I don't do ebay, so I know I miss out on things. I do take note when they cross my path, though. I tend to only buy those I would spend time reading, rather than just having the spine visible on a shelf.
RE: Old engineering books and collectables
RE: Old engineering books and collectables
RE: Old engineering books and collectables
At some point in our lives, we all become "Collectables".
Mike McCann, PE, SE (WA)
RE: Old engineering books and collectables
I'm currently reading a volume of five books from the 1930s which discusses everything from building your own motors to power generation to lighting installations. I am hugely impressed how smartly turned out the craftsmen are - the electricians are in white shirts, ties, smart trousers and polished shoes. I barely manage that working in the office, never mind on site.
RE: Old engineering books and collectables
John R. Baker, P.E. (ret)
EX-Product 'Evangelist'
Irvine, CA
Siemens PLM:
UG/NX Museum:
The secret of life is not finding someone to live with
It's finding someone you can't live without
RE: Old engineering books and collectables
If you are ever in England DON'T go into a used book store.
I went into one in Birmingham and almost spent everything that I had.
Metallurgy books from the late 1800's.......
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
P.E. Metallurgy, Plymouth Tube
RE: Old engineering books and collectables
English bookstores attend book fairs here in Toronto Canada. I now have an interesting cookbook from the 1850s, and a book on household management from the 1820s. I agree. They are very dangerous. I also have Unsinkable Ships, a catalogue published just before they launched the Titanic.
A lot of the ships featured in the book did not survive WWI.
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JHG
RE: Old engineering books and collectables
John R. Baker, P.E. (ret)
EX-Product 'Evangelist'
Irvine, CA
Siemens PLM:
UG/NX Museum:
The secret of life is not finding someone to live with
It's finding someone you can't live without
RE: Old engineering books and collectables
--
JHG
RE: Old engineering books and collectables
John R. Baker, P.E. (ret)
EX-Product 'Evangelist'
Irvine, CA
Siemens PLM:
UG/NX Museum:
The secret of life is not finding someone to live with
It's finding someone you can't live without
RE: Old engineering books and collectables
RE: Old engineering books and collectables
Are you sayin' our wives view us as collectable? I guess this is what it means to be a trophy husband...
RE: Old engineering books and collectables
Powell's in Portland, OR had a bunch of really nice books on standards for hand drafting - which for the majority of my projects is exactly the scale I work on. I was limited only by the weight limit for my return baggage.
Please remember: we're not all guys!
RE: Old engineering books and collectables
Yes, and that's collect a bull!
Mike McCann, PE, SE (WA)
RE: Old engineering books and collectables
That's similar to what I do with some of my older books. The plant I work at was built in the early 1970s using proven technology of the day, i.e. the equipment was probably in manufacture since the 1960s and perhaps the 1950s or before. Modern books don't really cover the old equipment in any technical depth, and often just dismiss it as the stuff of yesteryear which belongs in a museum. Where the old books are especially helpful is when you're trying to understand why the design engineers of 40-odd years ago made one design choice rather than another, seemingly much more obvious, one. One thing I have concluded: some of these old timers were very very good at designing things.
RE: Old engineering books and collectables
My oldest early 20th century treasure is Sothern's "Verbal" Notes and Sketches For Marine Engineer Officers, Fourteenth Edition, Greatly Enlarged, Volume II. I haven't had any luck yet finding a copy of Volume I...
FWIW I did once ask a question about large steam engine balancing using the Yarrow-Schlick-Tweedy method, and recently downloaded and saved both "Steam Engines and Other Heat Engines" by J. A. Ewing and Dalby's "The Balancing of Engines," which between the two of them pretty well told me all I wanted to know, and way more than I could grasp...
CR
"As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another." [Proverbs 27:17, NIV]
RE: Old engineering books and collectables
Some of clever design I think comes from having constraints. Give someone very little and tell them to make due and they'll be forced to be clever. The director ,Terry Gilliam, has often said that his best ideas come out of having to make due with a small budget. Zero Theorem was done for 8-12 million or 2 episodes of Game of Thrones imho looks better than movies with budgets ten time that. CGI in general ,which is often looked at as this I can do anything tool, is one of the worst things to happen to movies.
RE: Old engineering books and collectables
One job I worked had a massive technical library, they had a shelf set up where they would get rid of their old texts for 25 cents a piece. I picked up some neat older texts there, but not quite the vintage that I really prefer (most were from the 50's or so).
RE: Old engineering books and collectables
I've picked up a few automotive texts from the 50s and 60s - nice plates
Oldest book I have is from the 1920s - Machine Sketching
RE: Old engineering books and collectables
RE: Old engineering books and collectables
If you're interested in the material and not the antiquity, check out Dover Books, who was republishing some of the classic texts in not-too-expensive paperback versions.
RE: Old engineering books and collectables
Leather bound and gilt-edged, it has a section devoted to "Laboratory Arts and Recipes". For instance, how to clean mercury; how to make stop-cock grease; how to make an acid-proof stain for lab tables. I got a kick out of "making cross-hairs from spider web" -- "the fibers of the egg nest of certain species are employed and may be obtained of most dealers in scientific apparatus". Times have changed!
RE: Old engineering books and collectables
RE: Old engineering books and collectables
Clear shipping tape. Nothing says "this book is useful" like obviously being repaired, frequently.
I bought my 21st edition Machinery's Handbook when I was in college. I have replaced it with the 26th edition, but it still is useful...
Next time, I get the heavier, large print version.
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JHG
RE: Old engineering books and collectables
RE: Old engineering books and collectables
And don't forget the eraser shield and circle/ellipse templates.
John R. Baker, P.E. (ret)
EX-Product 'Evangelist'
Irvine, CA
Siemens PLM:
UG/NX Museum:
The secret of life is not finding someone to live with
It's finding someone you can't live without
RE: Old engineering books and collectables
OMG ...I still have all of my old circle/ellipse templates.... same ones I have used for 30+ years.
They have been in continual use for sketches/figures for many years.
My son has been specifically instructed to place these firmly under my right arm when I am in the casket
MJCronin
Sr. Process Engineer
RE: Old engineering books and collectables
Thanks for the reminder. I just pulled out the eraser shield I keep in my briefcase. I needed to to check in some seams to see if gaskets were being engaged. Yes, they are. The eraser shield still is useful!
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JHG
RE: Old engineering books and collectables
John R. Baker, P.E. (ret)
EX-Product 'Evangelist'
Irvine, CA
Siemens PLM:
UG/NX Museum:
The secret of life is not finding someone to live with
It's finding someone you can't live without
RE: Old engineering books and collectables
I still have mine along with the complete draftman's set, including the drafting board from my Engineering Graphics course at North Carolina State University, circa 1964.
RE: Old engineering books and collectables
RE: Old engineering books and collectables
Dan