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A Comprehensive Introduction to
Engineering 9th Edition
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 Contents vii

7 Problem Solving   195

7.1 Introduction 195
7.2 Analytic and Creative Problem Solving 195
7.3 Analytic Problem Solving 198
7.4 Creative Problem Solving 205
7.5 Personal Problem-Solving Styles 214
7.6 Brainstorming Strategies 219
7.7 Critical Thinking 225
REFERENCES 227
EXERCISES AND ACTIVITIES 227

8 Graphics and Orthographic Projection 235

8.1 Introduction 235
8.2 Orthographic Projection 235
8.3 The Meaning of Lines 238
8.4 Hidden Lines 241
8.5 Cylindrical Features and Radii 242
8.6 Line Precedence 243
8.7 Freehand Sketching 244
8.8 Pictorial Sketching 245
8.9 Dimensioning 252
8.10 Scales and Measuring 254
8.11 Coordinate Systems and Three-Dimensional Space 257
EXERCISES AND ACTIVITIES 258

9 Computer Tools for Engineers 263

9.1 Introduction 263
9.2 The Internet 264
9.3 Word-Processing Programs 271
9.4 Spreadsheets 272
9.5 Mathematics Software 276
9.6 Presentation Software 284
9.7 Operating Systems 285
9.8 Programming Languages 285
9.9 Advanced Engineering Packages 287
REFERENCES 292
EXERCISES AND ACTIVITIES 293

10 Teamwork 297
10.1 Introduction 297
10.2 Engineers Often Work in Teams 297
10.3 Team Organizational Structures 303
10.4 Team Growth Stages 304
10.5 What Makes a Successful Team? 307

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 viii Contents

10.6 Team Leadership 309

10.7 Effective Decision Making 311
10.8 Attitudes Toward Team Experiences 314
10.9 Documenting Team Performance 315
REFERENCES 316
EXERCISES AND ACTIVITIES 317

11 Project Management 319

11.1 Introduction 319
11.2 The Triple Constraints 320
11.3 Student Example Project 321
11.4 Creating a Project Charter 322
11.5 Task Definitions 323
11.6 Schedule 324
11.7 Work Breakdown Structure 326
11.8 Network Diagrams 328
11.9 Critical Paths 330
11.10 Gantt Charts 330
11.11 Costs 332
11.12 Personnel Distribution 332
11.13 Documentation 333
11.14 Team Roles 333
11.15 Agile Project Management 335
REFERENCES 336
EXERCISES AND ACTIVITIES 336

12 Engineering Design 339

12.1 What Is Engineering Design? 339
12.2 The Engineering Design Process 341
12.3 Using the Engineering Design Process—ATM 352
12.4 Using the Engineering Design Process—Backpack 363
REFERENCES 369
EXERCISES AND ACTIVITIES 370

13 Technical Communications 373

13.1 Visual Communication 374
13.2 Oral Presentations 378
13.3 Written Documents 390
13.4 Revising and Editing 398
13.5 Conclusion 400
REFERENCES 400
EXERCISES AND ACTIVITIES 400

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 Contents ix

14 Ethics and Engineering 403

14.1 Introduction 403
14.2 The Nature of Ethics 404
14.3 The Nature of Engineering Ethics   414
14.4 Codes of Ethics and the Obligations of Engineers 419
EXERCISES AND ACTIVITIES 436

T H E FU N DA M EN TA L S O F EN GI N EER I N G
15 Units and Conversions 441
15.1 History 441
15.2 The SI System of Units 442
15.3 Derived Units 444
15.4 Prefixes 446
15.5 Numerals 447
15.6 Unit Conversions 448
15.7 Dimensional Homogeneity and Dimensionless Numbers 450
REFERENCES 453
EXERCISES AND ACTIVITIES 453

16 Mathematics Review 457

16.1 Algebra 457
16.2 Trigonometry 461
16.3 Geometry 464
16.4 Complex Numbers 468
16.5 Linear Algebra   471
16.6 Calculus 476
16.7 Probability and Statistics 481
EXERCISES AND ACTIVITIES 485

17 Engineering Fundamentals 493

17.1 Statics 493
17.2 Dynamics 500
17.3 Thermodynamics 506
17.4 Electrical Circuits 516
17.5 Economics 524
EXERCISES AND ACTIVITIES 533

18 The Campus Experience 551

18.1 Orienting Yourself to Your Campus 551
18.2 Exploring Your New Home Away from Home 551

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 x Contents

18.3 Determining and Planning Your Major 552

18.4 Get into the Habit of Asking Questions 552
18.5 The “People Issue” 553
18.6 Searching for Campus Resources   554
18.7 Other Important Issues 556
18.8 Final Thoughts 561
REFERENCES 561
EXERCISES AND ACTIVITIES 562

19 Engineering Work Experience 565

19.1 A Job and Experience 565
19.2 Summer Jobs and On- and Off-Campus Work Experiences 567
19.3 Volunteer or Community Service Experiences 568
19.4 Supervised Independent Study or Research Assistantship 568
19.5 Internships 569
19.6 Cooperative Education 570
19.7 Which Is Best for You? 576
EXERCISES AND ACTIVITIES 576

20 Connections: Liberal Arts and Engineering 579

20.1 What Are Connections? 579
20.2 Why Study Liberal Arts? 580
EXERCISES AND ACTIVITIES 584

Appendix A Nine Excel Skills Every Engineering Student Should Know 585
Appendix B Impress Them: How to Make Presentations Effective 605
Appendix C An Introduction to MATLAB 619

Index 645

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 Preface

You can’t make an educated decision about what career to pursue without adequate
information. Engineering Your Future endeavors to give you a broad introduction to
the study and practice of engineering. In addition to presenting vital information,
we’ve tried to make it interesting and easy to read as well.
You might find Chapter 2, “Engineering Majors,” to be a tremendous help to you in
determining what areas of engineering sound most appealing to you as you begin
your education. Our “Profiles of Engineers”, available on the Companion Website,
may also be of particular interest to you. It includes information from real people—
engineers practicing in the field. They discuss their jobs, their lives, and the things
they wish they had known going into the profession.
The rest of the book presents such things as the heritage of engineering; some
thoughts about the future of the profession; some tips on how best to succeed in the
classroom; advice on how to gain actual, hands-on experience; exposure to
computer-aided design; and a nice introduction to several areas essential to the study
and practice of engineering.
We have designed this book for modular use in a first-year engineering course that
introduces students to the field of engineering. Such a course differs in content from
university to university. Consequently, we have included many topics, too numerous
to cover in one course. We anticipate that several of the topics will be selected for a
particular course with the remaining topics available to you for outside reading and
for future reference.
As you contemplate engineering, you should consider the dramatic impact
engineers have had on our world. Note the eloquent words of American Association of
Engineering Societies Chair Martha Sloan, a professor emeritus of electrical
engineering at Michigan Technological University:

In an age when technology helps turn fantasy and fiction into reality, engineers
have played a pivotal role in developing the technologies that maintain our
nation’s economic, environmental and national security. They revolutionized
medicine with pacemakers and MRI scanners. They changed the world with the
development of television and the transistor, computers and the Internet. They
introduced new concepts in transportation, power, satellite communications,

xi

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 xii Preface

earthquake-resistant buildings, and strain-resistant crops by applying scientific

discoveries to human needs.
Engineering is sometimes thought of as applied science, but engineering is far
more. The essence of engineering is design and making things happen for the
benefit of humanity.

Joseph Bordogna, former president of IEEE, adds:

Engineering will be one of the most significant forces in designing continued eco-
nomic development and success for humankind in a manner that will sustain
both the planet and its growing population. Engineers will develop the new pro-
cesses and products. They will create and manage new systems for civil infrastruc-
ture, manufacturing, communications, health care delivery, information
management, environmental conservation and monitoring, and everything else
that makes modern society function.

We hope that you, too, will find the field of engineering to be attractive, meaning-
ful, and exciting—one that promises to be both challenging and rewarding, and one
that matches well with your skills and interests.
For the instructor’s convenience, there is an Ancillary Resource Center site with
support materials (PowerPoint figure slides and a test bank). This material may be
found at http://oup-arc.com/oakes-engineering-9e/.

New to the Ninth Comprehensive Edition

■■ Chapter 1 “The Heritage of Engineering” replaces “The History of Engineering.”

This chapter was rewritten to move away from chronicling historical engineering
achievements to describe engineering as a profession that has impacted so much
of our daily lives and to appreciate the rich and inclusive heritage of engineering
and engineers that contributed to what we see today. Diverse examples are used
to discuss themes of the heritage of engineering that span genders and cultures
with some discussion of the historical contexts to prompt ideas and allow for
further research and discussions. Themes that are discussed include how
engineers are making the world a better place and improving the human
condition as well as the importance of teamwork and communication now and
historically.
■■ Chapter 2, “Engineering Majors,” was updated to reflect current technological
advances, especially in the computer, electrical, and biological areas. Mobile
computing is discussed as an example. Nanotechnology and its influence have
also been reflected in the descriptions of the majors.
■■ Chapter 3, “A Statistical Profile of the Engineering Profession,” provides the latest
available data on the job market for engineers, recent starting salaries for the

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 Preface xiii

different majors, and a variety of related information. This material includes

updated college enrollment data trends, number of degrees awarded for the various
engineering majors, and career-long projections of salaries by employer size and
type, field of study, and geographical region. Updated information is also provided
concerning the diversity of the profession, and engineering graduate school data.
■■ Chapter 5, “Future Challenges,” was updated to include a list and description of
the National Academy of Engineering’s Grand Challenges. These descriptions,
used with permission from the National Academy, are the result of the academy’s
study of the most significant technological challenges of the day. These have been
added to the existing chapter and can be used as a standalone section or as part
of the existing chapter.
■■ Previously called “Visualization and Graphics, Chapter 8 is now titled “Graphics
and Orthographic Projection” and has been rewritten to be more concise and
practical. The text has been refocused to concentrate on techniques applied by
working engineers.
■■ Chapter 10, “Teamwork,” has been completely updated with new examples and
material. The chapter uses real examples from today’s leading companies,
including Netflix, Boeing, Tesla Motors, and Google.
■■ Chapter 11, “Project Management,” has been completely rewritten with
significant new material added. A sample student project is introduced and
developed, showing how a project plan can be developed using project
management tools. The application of Microsoft Project software is
demonstrated.
■■ Chapter 12, “Engineering Design,” was revised to help students gain insight into
the more practical aspects of learning the engineering design process. The 10-stage
process has been reduced to a more manageable five stages and includes an open-
ended case study that can be used in the classroom as is or with modification.
■■ Chapter 14, “Ethics and Engineering,” has been rewritten with the goal of
introducing ethics to future professional engineers in a lively, more accessible
way. In addition to systematically introducing the vocabulary and concepts
needed to understand the nature of professional ethics and the difference
between ethics and policy, the chapter now more directly confronts and clarifies
some of the most common questions and confusions students have about ethics,
including where professional ethical obligations come from, why the ethical
obligations of engineers are not merely matters of subjective opinion and
personal conscience, and why codes of professional ethics must be understood
not as arbitrary lists of rules but rather as a reflection of rational, intuitive
requirements on the practice of a learned profession. These insights about the
nature of professional ethics are now also reinforced in the revised explanation
and analysis of existing codes of engineering ethics as well as in the review
questions.
■■ Chapter 15, “Units and Conversions,” includes expanded sections on significant
figures and unit conversion along with numerical examples. A new section on
dimensionless numbers has been added. Several problems regarding
dimensionless numbers have been added to the end-of-chapter problems.

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 xiv Preface

■■ Chapter 16, “Mathematics Review,” presents brief yet concise reviews of many of
the mathematical concepts students will encounter in their engineering studies.
Improvements to previous editions include “in line expansion” of select example
problems, additional help with vector math, and a unit circle to accompany the
trigonometry section of the chapter.
■■ Chapter 17, “Engineering Fundamentals,” provides a review of specific math and
science applications that are fundamental to engineering studies. Select example
problems in this chapter also have more detailed “in line expansion” of solutions,
designed to encourage good problem-solving skills and problem documentation.
Included also in the revised chapter is a brief review of partial pressures in the
thermodynamics section.
■■ Appendix A, “Nine Excel Skills Every Engineering Student Should Know,” While
the number of skills is retained, the skills themselves have been completely
revised. Instead of focusing on “which button to click,” the skills are now
presented in a way that promotes everyday application as well as lifelong
learning.
■■ Appendix B, “Impress Them: How to Make Presentations Effective,” Given a
complete overhaul, this appendix now offers guidelines for making a powerful
presentation that will leave a lasting impression on the audience. The makeup of
a presentation is dissected, and plenty of good and bad examples are included.
■■ Appendix C, “An Introduction to MATLAB,” The programming section has been
significantly expanded. Learning to code is an art, and making an efficient and
elegant code is a lifelong pursuit—with this appendix serving as a starting point.

Acknowledgments

The authors are especially grateful to the reviewers whose opinions and comments
directly influenced the development of this edition:

Anil Acharya, Alabama A&M University

Spyros Andreou, Savannah State University
Asad Azemi, Penn State University
Jerome Davis, University of North Texas
Chris Geiger, Florida Gulf Coast University
Nolides Guzman Zambrano, Lone Star College
Dr. Dominic M. Halsmer, Oral Roberts University
Todd Hamrick, West Virginia University
Matthew Jensen, Florida Institute of Technology
Benjamin S. Kelley, Baylor University
Mark Keshtvarz, Northern Kentucky University
Dr. Raghava R. Kommalapati, Prairie View A&M University
Tanya Kunberger, Florida Gulf Coast University
Andre Lau, Penn State University

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 Preface xv

Dean Lewis, Penn State University

Jennifer Light, Lewis-Clark State College
Dr. James McCusker, Wentworth Institute of Technology
Deepak Mehra, Potomac State College
Christopher Miller, University of Akron
Melodee Moore, Florida A&M University
Ahad Nasab, Middle Tennessee State University
Herbert Newman, Coastal Carolina University
Dr. John H. O’Haver, University of Mississippi
Olayinka Frank Oredeko, Central Georgia Technical College
Reginald Perry, FAMU-FSU College of Engineering
Cherish Qualls, University of North Texas
James Rantschler, Xavier University of Louisiana
Dr. Farhad Reza, Minnesota State University
Bernd F. Schliemann, University of Massachusetts at Amherst
Gary Scott, State of University of New York
Yeow Siow, Purdue University at Calumet
Yiheng Wang, Lone Star College

We would also like to thank those reviewers who provided feedback for previous
editions:

Spyros Andreou, Savannah State University

Juan M. Caicedo, University of South Carolina
Matthew Cavalli, University of North Dakota
Rafael Fox, Texas A&M University–Corpus Christi
Keith Gardiner, Lehigh University
Chris Geiger, Florida Gulf Coast University
Yoon Kim, Virginia State University
Nikki Larson, Western Washington University
Keith Level, Las Positas College
Jennifer Light, Lewis-Clark State College
S. T. Mau, California State University at Northridge
Edgar Herbert Newman, Coastal Carolina University
John Nicklow, Southern Illinois University at Carbondale
Megan Piccus, Springfield Technical Community College
Charles E. Pierce, University of South Carolina
G. Albert Popson, Jr., West Virginia Wesleyan College
Ken Reid, Ohio Northern University
Nikki Strader, Ohio State University
Yiheng Wang, Danville Community College
Gregory Wight, Norwich University
David Willis, University of Massachusetts at Lowell
Shuming Zheng, Chicago State University
—The Authors

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 CHA P TER 1

The Heritage of Engineering

While writing this chapter, I was teaching a class over the Internet to engineering
professors in India. The class was about how to integrate design experiences
­(addressing needs of underserved people and communities) into undergraduate en-
gineering courses. I was excited when I finished that day’s class as we had had a
great conversation about how we can use engineering to meet human, community,
and environmental needs in India and the United States. The same ideas could
be ­applied to any country to make our world a better place. Today’s technology has
opened so many opportunities to make an impact in our communities, our coun-
tries, and our world. I ended the class thinking that this is really an exciting time to
be an engineer or an engineering student—with all of the technological tools we
have at our disposal and the exciting things we can do with them.
As I ended the class, I looked outside at the first snowfall of the year. Because of the
time difference between India and the United States, I have to teach the class very
early in the morning, so the sun was just coming up. The beautiful sunrise with the
falling snow got me thinking. I had just been talking with about 40 colleagues who
were literally on the other side of the world and spread out all over their country.
I was in Indiana, and our course facilitator was from Massachusetts. The incredible
technology that allowed us to discuss how to use technology to make a difference in
the world was created by engineers who had come before us. A generation ago, we
would have had to make a very expensive phone call to have that discussion. Earlier
generations would have had to communicate with letters on actual paper that were
physically carried from one place to the next. Technology has significantly changed
the way we communicate, as well as so many other parts of our lives. Those changes
were created and driven by engineers who started out a lot like you.
As I sat there in the warm house and watched the snow, I began to think about all
of the other ways that engineers have impacted us. The materials to make the house
to keep me warm were developed by engineers. The house is heated with an
­ultra-high-efficiency furnace that also protects the environment. The natural gas
burning in the furnace was found, extracted, refined, and piped to the house using
technology developed by engineers. The lights in the house were developed by engi-
neers. The appliances in the house all have computers to make them more efficient
and easier to use. Everywhere I looked I saw something that had been touched by
engineers . . . with the exception of the snowflakes falling outside, of course.

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 2 The World of Engineering

There are so many engineers who have made an impact in our daily lives, and
they came from many different places and backgrounds. I thought about them as I
moved through the day. I had to pick up my daughter from a friend’s house, and I
was grateful for Mary Anderson, who had invented the windshield wiper to clear the
snow from my car’s windshield. When I got to the first intersection, I thought about
Garrett Morgan, the African American inventor who developed the traffic light to
keep us safe on the roads. I was grateful for the computer and electrical engineers
who developed the technology in my hearing aids that allow me to have a conversa-
tion with my daughter when I picked her up.

1.1 Introduction

The impact of engineers on our everyday lives is incredible. Even our life expectancies
are so much higher in large parts due to the technologies that engineers have devel-
oped to provide safe drinking water, sanitation, accessible medicines, and much
more. Engineers have made an enormous impact on our world, and there are so many
opportunities yet to come. Today’s technology has given us the tools to address needs
and opportunities to make a difference in our world.
The purpose of this first chapter is to give you a sense of the strong heritage of the
engineering profession. We will provide a brief glimpse into some of those who have
come before you and a feeling of the incredibly exciting profession you are exploring.
This is not meant to be a comprehensive overview of the history of engineering, as
that would be a book in itself. Instead we use history to illustrate some of the diversity
and wondrous heritage of the engineering profession and highlight a few of the men
and women who have developed the amazing world of technology we live in today.

Definition of Engineering

Even if you already have a general knowledge of what engineering involves, a look at
the definition of the profession may give you some insight. The organization that ac-
credits engineering programs is called ABET, and they define engineering as:

The profession in which knowledge of the mathematical and natural sciences,

gained by study, experience, and practice, is applied with judgment to develop
ways to use, economically, the materials and forces of nature for the benefit of
mankind.

This definition places three responsibilities on an engineer: (1) to develop judg-

ment so that you can (2) help mankind in (3) economical ways. It places obligations on
us to address needs that benefit others and to make sure we don’t do harm. We seek to
provide economical solutions because if they are too expensive, they are out of reach
of people. Looking at case histories and historical overviews can help us see how

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 Chapter 1 The Heritage of Engineering 3

others have applied these principles before us and understand more about the profes-
sion we are entering. Study of history can also give us a sense of belonging to the
profession. There are engineers who come from the very kind of background you
come from and look a lot like you—or did when they were your age.
Definitions are important, but they don’t always inspire. The National Academy of
Engineering is a body of outstanding engineers who advise the federal government
on matters pertaining to engineering and technology. One has to be nominated and
invited to become a member of the national academy. This body studied the percep-
tions of engineering and engineers in the United States and came to the conclusion
that most people do not understand who we are and what great things we could do.
They produced a report entitled Changing the Conversation to help us communicate
the potential of engineering. Part of that report includes a positioning statement to
help guide our conversations. It reads,

No profession unleashes the spirit of innovation like engineering. From research

to real-world applications, engineers constantly discover how to improve our lives
by creating bold new solutions that connect science to life in unexpected, for-
ward-thinking ways. Few professions turn so many ideas into so many realities.
Few have such a direct and positive effect on people’s everyday lives. We are count-
ing on engineers and their imaginations to help us meet the needs of the 21st
century.

We need this positioning statement because engineers and engineering are often
misunderstood as a field. The contributions of engineers are not always seen, under-
stood, or appreciated. As illustration, I think of a class I teach that engages about
500 students per semester in designs to meet community needs locally and globally.
The students work together to develop designs, and they work with community part-
ners. I often hear them describe themselves as “not a typical engineer.” They like to
work with others, have a social life, and want to make a difference in the world. I love
that attitude, and I do wonder how I have 500 students who view themselves as “not
typical.” At least in our class they are typical and are very much more typical of engi-
neers and the overall engineering profession, what it is and what is should be. It may
not match the stereotypes, but it does match the heritage we have as engineers. We
have a strong knowledge of math, science, and technology and have to work with
many others to create solutions that can improve the human and environmental con-
ditions. It takes many different people to do that, and it always has and always will.
The following sections will explore history with examples of some of these diverse
engineers who were real people who have helped make the world a better place.

1.2 The Beginnings of Engineering: The Earliest Days

The foundations of engineering were laid with our ancestors’ efforts to survive and to
improve their quality of life. From the beginning, they looked around their environ-
ments and saw areas where life could be made easier and more stable. They found

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 4 The World of Engineering

improved ways to provide for food, through hunting and fishing. They discovered
better methods for providing shelter for their families and ways to make clothing.
Their main physical concern was day-to-day survival. As life became more compli-
cated and small collections of families became larger communities, the need grew to
look into new areas of concern and specialization.
If you look back at the definition of engineering given by ABET, you will notice a
statement: “The profession in which knowledge of the mathematical and natural
­sciences . . . is applied.” Prehistoric engineers applied problem solving and toolmak-
ing but did not have a grasp of the same mathematical principles or knowledge of
natural science as we know it today. They designed and built items more by trial and
error, testing, and intuition. They built spears that worked and others that failed, but
in the end they perfected weapons that allowed them to bring down game animals
and feed their families. Although they couldn’t describe it, they used principles of
aerodynamics and mechanical advantage to develop more efficient tools to hunt.
Since written communication and transportation did not exist at that time, little
information or innovation was exchanged with people from faraway places. Each
group around the world moved ahead on its own. It is inspiring to see how people
from all over the world developed innovations to improve the quality of life for their
families and their communities.
Transportation was another area where early engineers made an impact. The de-
signs of early boats, for example, inspire even today’s engineers. Breakthroughs in
transportation and exploration are being located ever earlier as we continue to make
discoveries about various peoples traveling long before we thought they did—­
influencing others and bringing back knowledge. Transportation was used to hunt
and fish, to move families, and to explore new areas. Polynesian boat designers, for
example, developed crafts that could sail great distances and allowed people to settle
many of the islands across the Pacific. Their use of mathematics and astronomy al-
lowed them to navigate great distances on their vessels that were designed for long
ocean voyages. Their vessels are still an engineering marvel today.

AC TIVIT Y Prepare a brief report that focuses on engineering in a historical era and
1.1 cultural area (for example, pre-Columbian Central America, Europe in the
Industrial Revolution, Mesopotamia). Analyze the events that you consider to
be engineering highlights and explain their importance to human progress.

1.3 Early Cities

As cities grew and the need to address the demands of the new fledgling societies in-
creased, a significant change took place. People who showed special aptitude in cer-
tain areas were identified and assigned to ever more specialized tasks. This
development gave toolmakers the time and resources to dedicate themselves to

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 Chapter 1 The Heritage of Engineering 5

building and innovation. This new social function created the first real engineers,
and innovation flourished more rapidly.
Between 4000 and 2000 b.c., Egypt in Africa and Mesopotamia in the Middle East
were two areas for early engineering activity. Stone tools were developed to help
humans in their quest for food. Copper and bronze axes were perfected through smelt-
ing. These developments were not only aimed at hunting: The development of the plow
was allowing humans to become farmers so that they could reside in one place and give
up the nomadic life. Mesopotamia also made its mark on engineering by giving birth to
the wheel, the sailing boat, and methods of writing. Engineering skills that were ap-
plied to the development of everyday items immediately improved life as they knew it.
During the construction of the pyramids (c. 2700–2500 b.c.) the number of engi-
neers required was immense. They had to make sure that everything fit correctly, that
stones were properly transported long distances, and that the tombs would be secure
against robbery. Imhotep (chief engineer to King Zoser) was building the Step
­P yramid at Sakkara (pictured in Fig. 1.1) in Egypt about 2700 b.c. The more elaborate
Great Pyramid of Khufu (pictured in Fig. 1.2) would come about 200 years later. These
early engineers, using simple tools, performed, with great acuity, insight, and techni-
cal rigor, tasks that even today give us a sense of pride in their achievements.
The Great Pyramid of Khufu is the largest masonry structure ever built. Its base
measures 756 feet on each side. The 480-foot structure was constructed using over
2.3 million limestone blocks with a total weight of over 58 million tons. Casing blocks

Figure 1.1 The Step Pyramid of Sakkara

Source: © iStockPhoto

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 6 The World of Engineering

Figure 1.2 The Great Pyramid of Khufu

Source: © iStockPhoto

of fine limestone were attached to all four sides. These casing stones, some weighing
as much as 15 tons, have been removed over the centuries for a wide variety of other
uses. It is hard for us to imagine the engineering expertise needed to quarry and move
these base and casing stones, and then piece them together so that they would form
the pyramid and its covering.
Here are additional details about this pyramid given by Roland Turner and Steven
Goulden in Great Engineers and Pioneers in Technology, Volume 1: From Antiquity
through the Industrial Revolution:

Buried within the pyramid are passageways leading to a number of funeral cham-
bers, only one of which was actually used to house Khufu’s remains. The gran-
ite-lined King’s Chamber, measuring 17 by 34 feet, is roofed with nine slabs of
granite which weigh 50 tons each. To relieve the weight on this roof, located 300
feet below the apex of the pyramid, the builder stacked five hollow chambers at
short intervals above it. Four of the relieving chambers are roofed with granite
lintels, while the topmost has a corbelled roof. Although somewhat rough and
ready in design and execution, the system effectively distributes the massive over-
lying weight to the sturdy walls of the King’s Chamber.
Sheer precision marks every other aspect of the pyramid’s construction. The
four sides of the base are practically identical in length—the error is a matter of

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 Chapter 1 The Heritage of Engineering 7

inches—and the angles are equally accurate. Direct measurement from corner to
corner must have been difficult, since the pyramid was built on the site of a rocky
knoll (now completely enclosed in the structure). Moreover, it is an open question
how the builder managed to align the pyramid almost exactly north-south. Still,
many of the techniques used for raising the pyramid can be deduced.
After the base and every successive course was in place, it was leveled by flood-
ing the surface with Nile water, no doubt retained by mud banks, and then mark-
ing reference points of equal depth to guide the final dressing. Complications were
caused by the use of blocks of different heights in the same course.

The above excerpt mentions a few of the fascinating details of the monumental job
undertaken to construct a pyramid with primitive tools and human labor. It was quite
a feat for these early African engineers.
As civilizations grew around the world, the need for infrastructure increased, and
it was the early civil engineers who met this challenge. Cities developed in many
places, including India, China, and the Americas. Early engineering achievements
can be seen even today in many places. For example, pyramids still stand in Latin
America as a testament to the skill and expertise of early Native American engineers.
Cities were constructed that included sophisticated infrastructure and building
techniques. One extraordinary example of ingenuity and skill that inspires many vis-
itors is the Incan city of Machu Picchu (Fig. 1.3) built on top of the Andes mountains
in Peru. Constructed in the 15th century at the height of the Inca Empire, it is an

Figure 1.3 Machu Picchu in present-day Peru

Source: Damian Gil/Shutterstock.com

01-Oakes-Chap01.indd 7 19/11/16 3:50 PM

 8 The World of Engineering

engineering marvel that used sophisticated techniques of dry-stone walls that fused
huge blocks without the use of mortar. The design of the city itself is based on astro-
nomical alignments that show mathematical and astronomical sophistication. The
site at the top of the mountains would have created significant engineering chal-
lenges, as well as providing for incredible panoramic views that can be enjoyed today.
Recreating that city would be a challenge even with today’s technology.

Engineering the Temples of Greece

The Parthenon (Fig. 1.4) was constructed by Iktinos in Athens starting in 447 b.c. and
was completed by 438 b.c. It is an extraordinary example of a religious temple.
­Engineers played a role in the religious aspects of societies all over the world. The
Parthenon was to be built on the foundation of a previous temple using materials sal-
vaged from its remains, making this an early example of recycling. The Parthenon
was designed to house a statue of Athena that stood almost 40 feet tall. Iktinos per-
formed the task that he was assigned, and the temple exists today as a monument to
engineering capability.
Structural work on the Parthenon enlarged the existing limestone platform of the
old temple to a width of 160 feet and a length of 360 feet. The building itself, constructed
entirely of marble, measured 101 feet by 228 feet; it was the largest such temple on the
Greek mainland. Around the body of the building Iktinos built a colonnade,

Figure 1.4 The Parthenon in Athens

Source: Rich Lynch/Shutterstock.com

01-Oakes-Chap01.indd 8 19/11/16 3:50 PM

Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
Text Page of Didot’s Racine, Paris, 1801 256
Firmin Didot. From Engraving by Pierre Gustave Eugène Staal
(1817–1882) 256
William Morris. From Portrait by G. F. Watts, R. A., in the National
Portrait Gallery, London. Painted in 1880 258
Sir Edward Burne-Jones, Bart. From a Photograph at the British
Museum 260
Text Page of Kelmscott Chaucer, 1896 262
Title Page of Doves Bible, London, 1905 265
Text Page of Doves Bible, London, 1905 267
The Sala Michelangiolo, in the Laurenziana Library, Florence 276
Dott. Comm. Guido Biagi, in 1924 278
Vestibule of the Laurenziana Library, Florence 280
Miniature Page from the Biblia Amiatina, R. Lau. Bibl. Cod. Amiatinus
I 288
Antonio Magliabecchi 293
Library Slips used by George Eliot while working on Romola in
Magliabecchian Library, Florence 296
 CHAPTER I

In Quest of the Perfect Book

 I
IN QUEST OF THE PERFECT BOOK

“Here is a fine volume,” a friend remarked, handing me a copy of The Ideal

Book, written and printed by Cobden-Sanderson at the Doves Press.
“It is,” I assented readily, turning the leaves, and enjoying the composite
beauty of the careful typography, and the perfect impression upon the soft,
handmade paper with the satisfaction one always feels when face to face with a
work of art. “Have you read it?”
“Why—no,” he answered. “I picked it up in London, and they told me it
was a rare volume. You don’t necessarily read rare books, do you?”
My friend is a cultivated man, and his attitude toward his latest acquisition
irritated me; yet after thirty years of similar disappointments I should not have
been surprised. How few, even among those interested in books, recognize the
fine, artistic touches that constitute the difference between the commonplace
and the distinguished! The volume under discussion was written by an
authority foremost in the art of bookmaking; its producer was one of the few
great master-printers and binders in the history of the world; yet the only
significance it possessed to its owner was the fact that some one in whom he
had confidence had told him it was rare! Being rare, he coveted the treasure,
and acquired it with no greater understanding than if it had been a piece of
Chinese jade.
“What makes you think this is a fine book?” I inquired, deliberately
changing the approach.
He laughed consciously. “It cost me nine guineas—and I like the looks of
it.”
Restraint was required not to say something that might have affected our
friendship unpleasantly, and friendship is a precious thing.
“Do something for me,” I asked quietly. “That is a short book. Read it
through, even though it is rare, and then let us continue this conversation we
have just begun.”
 A few days later he invited me to dine with him at his club. “I asked you
here,” he said, “because I don’t want any one, even my family, to hear what I
am going to admit to you. I have read that book, and I’d rather not know what
you thought of my consummate ignorance of what really enters into the
building of a well-made volume—the choice of type, the use of decoration, the
arrangement of margins. Why, bookmaking is an art! Perhaps I should have
known that, but I never stopped to think about it.”
One does have to stop and think about a well-made book in order to
comprehend the difference between printing that is merely printing and that
which is based upon art in its broadest sense and upon centuries of precedent.
It does require more than a gleam of intelligence to grasp the idea that the
basis of every volume ought to be the thought expressed by the writer; that the
type, the illustrations, the decorations, the paper, the binding, simply combine
to form the vehicle to convey that expression to the reader. When, however,
this fact is once absorbed, one cannot fail to understand that if these various
parts, which compositely comprise the whole, fail to harmonize with the
subject and with each other, then the vehicle does not perform its full and
proper function.
I wondered afterward if I had not been a bit too superior in my attitude
toward my friend. As a matter of fact, printing as an art has returned to its
own only within the last quarter-century. Looking back to 1891, when I began
to serve my apprenticeship under John Wilson at the old University Press in
Cambridge, Massachusetts, the broadness of the profession that I was
adopting as my life’s work had not as yet unfolded its unlimited possibilities.
At that time the three great American printers were John Wilson, Theodore L.
De Vinne, and Henry O. Houghton. The volumes produced under their
supervision were perfect examples of the best bookmaking of the period, yet
no one of these three men looked upon printing as an art. It was William
Morris who in modern times first joined these two words together by the
publication of his magnificent Kelmscott volumes. Such type, such
decorations, such presswork, such sheer, composite beauty!
This was in 1895. Morris, in one leap, became the most famous printer in
the world. Every one tried to produce similar volumes, and the resulting
productions, made without appreciating the significance of decoration
combined with type, were about as bad as they could be. I doubt if, at the
present moment, there exists a single one of these sham Kelmscotts made in
America that the printer or the publisher cares to have recalled to him.
 When the first flair of Morris’ popularity passed away, and his volumes
were judged on the basis of real bookmaking, they were classified as
marvelously beautiful objets d’art rather than books—composites of Burne-
Jones, the designer, and William Morris, the decorator-printer, co-workers in
sister arts; but from the very beginning Morris’ innovations showed the world
that printing still belonged among the fine arts. The Kelmscott books awoke in
me an overwhelming desire to put myself into the volumes I produced. I
realized that no man can give of himself beyond what he possesses, and that to
make my ambition worth accomplishing I must absorb and make a part of
myself the beauty of the ancient manuscripts and the early printed books. This
led me to take up an exhaustive study of the history of printing.
 JOHN GUTENBERG, c. 1400–1468
From Engraving by Alphonse Descaves
Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris

Until then Gutenberg’s name, in my mind, had been preëminent. As I

proceeded, however, I came to know that he was not really the “inventor” of
printing, as I had always thought him to be; that he was the one who first
foresaw the wonderful power of movable types as a material expression of the
thought of man, rather than the creator of anything previously unknown. I
discovered that the Greeks and the Romans had printed from stamps centuries
earlier, and that the Chinese and the Koreans had cut individual characters in
metal.
 I well remember the thrill I experienced when I first realized—and at the
time thought my discovery was original!—that, had the Chinese or the
Saracens possessed Gutenberg’s wit to join these letters together into words,
the art of printing must have found its way to Constantinople, which would
have thus become the center of culture and learning in the fifteenth century.

From this point on, my quest seemed a part of an Arabian Nights’ tale.
Cautiously opening a door, I would find myself in a room containing treasures
of absorbing interest. From this room there were doors leading in different
directions into other rooms even more richly filled; and thus onward, with
seemingly no end, to the fascinating rewards that came through effort and
perseverance.
Germany, although it had produced Gutenberg, was not sufficiently
developed as a nation to make his work complete. The open door led me away
from Germany into Italy, where literary zeal was at its height. The life and
customs of the Italian people of the fifteenth century were spread out before
me. In my imagination I could see the velvet-gowned agents of the wealthy
patrons of the arts searching out old manuscripts and giving commissions to
the scribes to prepare hand-lettered copies for their masters’ libraries. I could
mingle with the masses and discover how eager they were to learn the truth in
the matter of religion, and the cause and the remedies of moral and material
evils by which they felt themselves oppressed. I could share with them their
expectant enthusiasm and confidence that the advent of the printing press
would afford opportunity to study description and argument where previously
they had merely gazed at pictorial design. I could sense the desire of the
people for books, not to place in cabinets, but to read in order to know; and I
could understand why workmen who had served apprenticeships in Germany
so quickly sought out Italy, the country where princes would naturally become
patrons of the new art, where manuscripts were ready for copy, and where a
public existed eager to purchase their products.
While striving to sense the significance of the conflicting elements I felt
around me, I found much of interest in watching the scribes fulfilling their
commissions to prepare copies of original manuscripts, becoming familiar for
the first time with the primitive methods of book manufacture and
distribution. A monastery possessed an original manuscript of value. In its
scriptorium (the writing office) one might find perhaps twenty or thirty monks
seated at desks, each with a sheet of parchment spread out before him, upon
which he inscribed the words that came to him in the droning, singsong voice
of the reader selected for the duty because of his familiarity with the subject
matter of the volume. The number of desks the scriptorium could accommodate
determined the size of this early “edition.”
When these copies were completed, exchanges were made with other
monasteries that possessed other original manuscripts, of which copies had
been made in a similar manner. I was even more interested in the work of the
secular scribes, usually executed at their homes, for it was to these men that
the commissions were given for the beautiful humanistic volumes. As they had
taken up the art of hand lettering from choice or natural aptitude instead of as
a part of monastic routine, they were greater artists and produced volumes of
surpassing beauty. A still greater interest in studying this art of hand lettering
lay in the knowledge that it soon must become a lost art, for no one could
doubt that the printing press had come to stay.
Then, turning to the office of Aldus, I pause for a moment to read the
legend placed conspicuously over the door:
Whoever thou art, thou art earnestly requested by Aldus to state thy business briefly
and to take thy departure promptly. In this way thou mayest be of service even as was
Hercules to the weary Atlas, for this is a place of work for all who may enter
 ALDUS MANUTIUS, 1450–1515
From Engraving at the British Museum

But inside the printing office I find Aldus and his associates talking of
other things than the books in process of manufacture. They are discussing the
sudden change of attitude on the part of the wealthy patrons of the arts who,
after welcoming the invention of printing, soon became alarmed by the
enthusiasm of the people, and promptly reversed their position. No wonder
that Aldus should be concerned as to the outcome! The patrons of the arts
represented the culture and wealth and political power of Italy, and they now
discovered in the new invention an actual menace. To them the magnificent
illuminated volumes of the fifteenth century were not merely examples of
decoration, but they represented the tribute that this cultured class paid to the
thought conveyed, through the medium of the written page, from the author
to the world. This jewel of thought they considered more valuable than any
costly gem. They perpetuated it by having it written out on parchment by the
most accomplished scribes; they enriched it by illuminated embellishments
executed by the most famous artists; they protected it with bindings in which
they actually inlaid gold and silver and jewels. To have this thought cheapened
by reproduction through the commonplace medium of mechanical printing
wounded their æsthetic sense. It was an expression of real love of the book
that prompted Bisticci, the agent of so powerful a patron as the Duke of
Urbino, to write of the Duke’s splendid collection in the latter part of the
fifteenth century:
In that library the books are all beautiful in a superlative degree, and all written
by the pen. There is not a single one of them printed, for it would have been a shame to
have one of that sort.
Aldus is not alarmed by the solicitude of the patrons for the beauty of the
book. He has always known that in order to exist at all the printed book must
compete with the written volume; and he has demonstrated that, by supplying
to the accomplished illuminators sheets carefully printed on parchment, he can
produce volumes of exquisite beauty, of which no collector need be ashamed.
Aldus knows that there are other reasons behind the change of front on the
part of the patrons. Libraries made up of priceless manuscript volumes are
symbols of wealth, and through wealth comes power. With the multiplication
of printed books this prestige will be lessened, as the masses will be enabled to
possess the same gems of thought in less extravagant and expensive form. If,
moreover, the people are enabled to read, criticism, the sole property of the
scholars, will come into their hands, and when they once learn self-reliance
from their new intellectual development they are certain to attack dogma and
political oppression, even at the risk of martyrdom. The princes and patrons
of Italy are intelligent enough to know that their self-centered political power
is doomed if the new art of printing secures a firm foothold.
What a relief to such a man as Aldus when it became fully demonstrated
that the desire on the part of the people to secure books in order to learn was
too great to be overcome by official mandate or insidious propaganda! With
what silent satisfaction did he settle back to continue his splendid work! The
patrons, in order to show what a poor thing the printed book really was, gave
orders to the scribes and the illuminators to prepare volumes for them in such
quantities that the art of hand lettering received a powerful impetus, as a result
of which the hand letters themselves attained their highest point of perfection.
This final struggle on the part of the wealthy overlords resulted only in
redoubling the efforts of the artist master-printers to match the beauty of the
written volumes with the products from their presses.
These Arabian Nights’ experiences occupied me from 1895, when Morris
demonstrated the unlimited possibilities of printing as an art, until 1901, when
I first visited Italy and gave myself an opportunity to become personally
acquainted with the historical landmarks of printing, which previously I had
known only from study. In Florence it was my great good fortune to become
intimately acquainted with the late Doctor Guido Biagi, at that time librarian
of the Laurenziana and the Riccardi libraries, and the custodian of the Medici,
the Michelangelo, and the da Vinci archives. I like to think of him as I first saw
him then, sitting on a bench in front of one of the carved plutei designed by
Michelangelo, in the wonderful Sala di Michelangiolo in the Laurenziana Library,
studying a beautifully illuminated volume resting before him, which was
fastened to the desk by one of the famous old chains. He greeted me with an
old-school courtesy. When he discovered my genuine interest in the books he
loved, and realized that I came as a student eager to listen to the master’s word,
his face lighted up and we were at once friends.
 Dott. Comm. GUIDO BIAGI
Seated at one of the plutei in the
Laurenziana Library, Florence (1906)

In the quarter of a century which passed from this meeting until his death
we were fellow-students, and during that period I never succeeded in
exhausting the vast store of knowledge he possessed, even though he gave of
it with the freest generosity. From him I learned for the first time of the far-
reaching influence of the humanistic movement upon everything that had to
do with the litteræ humaniores, and this new knowledge enabled me to crystallize
much that previously had been fugitive. “The humanist,” Doctor Biagi
explained to me, “whether ancient or modern, is one who holds himself open
to receive Truth, unprejudiced as to its source, and—what is more important
—after having received Truth realizes his obligation to the world to give it out
again, made richer by his personal interpretation.”
This humanistic movement was the forerunner and the essence of the
Renaissance, being in reality a revolt against the barrenness of mediævalism.
Until then ignorance, superstition, and tradition had confined intellectual life
on all sides, but the little band of humanists, headed by Petrarch, put forth a
claim for the mental freedom of man and for the full development of his
being. As a part of this claim they demanded the recognition of the rich
humanities of Greece and Rome, which were proscribed by the Church. If this
claim had been postponed another fifty years, the actual manuscripts of many
of the present standard classics would have been lost to the world.
The significance of the humanistic movement in its bearing upon the
Quest of the Perfect Book is that the invention of printing fitted exactly into
the Petrarchian scheme by making it possible for the people to secure volumes
that previously, in their manuscript form, could be owned only by the wealthy
patrons. This was the point at which Doctor Biagi’s revelation and my previous
study met. The Laurenziana Library contains more copies of the so-called
humanistic manuscripts, produced in response to the final efforts on the part
of patrons to thwart the increasing popularity of the new art of printing, than
any other single library. Doctor Biagi proudly showed me some of these
treasures, notably Antonio Sinibaldi’s Virgil. The contrast between the hand
lettering in these volumes and the best I had ever seen before was startling.
Here was a hand letter, developed under the most romantic and dramatic
conditions, which represented the apotheosis of the art. The thought flashed
through my mind that all the types in existence up to this point had been
based upon previous hand lettering less beautiful and not so perfect in
execution.
“Why is it,” I demanded excitedly, “that no type has ever been designed
based upon this hand lettering at its highest point of perfection?”
 HAND-WRITTEN HUMANISTIC CHARACTERS
From Sinibaldi’s Virgil, 1485
Laurenziana Library, Florence (12 × 8 inches)

Doctor Biagi looked at me and shrugged his shoulders. “This, my friend,”

he answered, smiling, “is your opportunity.”
At this point began one of the most fascinating and absorbing adventures
in which any one interested in books could possibly engage. At some time, I
suppose, in the life of every typographer comes the ambition to design a
special type, so it was natural that the idea contained in Doctor Biagi’s remark
should suggest possibilities which filled me with enthusiasm. I was familiar
with the history of the best special faces, and had learned how difficult each
ambitious designer had found the task of translating drawings into so rigid a
medium as metal; so I reverted soberly and with deep respect to the subject of
type design from the beginning.
In studying the early fonts of type, I found them exact counterfeits of the
best existing forms of hand lettering at that time employed by the scribes. The
first Italic font cut by Aldus, for instance, is said to be based upon the thin,
inclined handwriting of Petrarch. The contrast between these slavish copies of
hand-lettered models and the mechanical precision of characters turned out by
modern type founders made a deep impression. Of the two I preferred the
freedom of the earliest types, but appreciated how ill adapted these models
were to the requirements of typography. A hand-lettered page, even with the
inevitable irregularities, is pleasing because the scribe makes a slight variation
in forming the various characters. When, however, an imperfect letter is cut in
metal, and repeated many times upon the same page, the irregularity forces
itself unpleasantly upon the eye. Nicolas Jenson was the first to realize this,
and in his famous Roman type he made an exact interpretation of what the
scribe intended to accomplish in each of the letters, instead of copying any
single hand letter, or making a composite of many hand designs of the same
character. For this reason the Jenson type has not only served as the basis of
the best standard Roman fonts down to the present time, but has also proved
the inspiration for later designs of distinctive type faces, such as William
Morris’ Golden type, and Emery Walker’s Doves type.
 Specimen Page of proposed Edition of Dante. To be
printed by Bertieri, of Milan, in Humanistic Type (8¼ × 6)

William Morris’ experience is an excellent illustration of the difficulties a

designer experiences. He has left a record of how he studied the Jenson type
with great care, enlarging it by photography, and redrawing it over and over
again before he began designing his own letter. When he actually produced his
Golden type the design was far too much inclined to the Gothic to resemble
the model he selected. His Troy and Chaucer types that followed showed the
strong effect of the German influence that the types of Schoeffer, Mentelin,
and Gunther Zainer made upon him. The Doves type is based flatly upon the
Jenson model; yet it is an absolutely original face, retaining all the charm of the
model, to which is added the artistic genius of the designer. Each receives its
personality from the understanding and interpretation of the creator (pages 22,
23).

Jenson’s Roman Type.

From Cicero: Rhetorica, Venice, 1470 (Exact size)
 Emery Walker’s Doves Type.
From Paradise Regained, London, 1905 (Exact size)

From this I came to realize that it is no more necessary for a type designer
to express his individuality by adding or subtracting from his model than for a
portrait painter to change the features of his subject because some other artist
has previously painted it. Wordsworth once said that the true portrait of a man
shows him, not as he looks at any one moment of his life, but as he really
looks all the time. This is equally true of a hand letter, and explains the vast
differences in the cut of the same type face by various foundries and for the
typesetting machines. All this convinced me that, if I were to make the
humanistic letters the model for my new type, I must follow the example of
Emery Walker rather than that of William Morris.
 During the days spent in the small, cell-like alcove which had been turned
over for my use in the Laurenziana Library, I came so wholly under the
influence of the peculiar atmosphere of antiquity that I felt myself under an
obsession of which I have not been conscious before or since. My enthusiasm
was abnormal, my efforts tireless. The world outside seemed very far away, the
past seemed very near, and I was indifferent to everything except the task
before me. This curious experience was perhaps an explanation of how the
monks had been able to apply themselves so unceasingly to their prodigious
labors, which seem beyond the bounds of human endurance.
My work at first was confined to a study of the humanistic volumes in the
Laurenziana Library, and the selection of the best examples to be taken as final
models for the various letters. From photographed reproductions of selected
manuscript pages, I took out fifty examples of each letter. Of these fifty,
perhaps a half-dozen would be almost identical, and from these I learned the
exact design the scribe endeavored to repeat. I also decided to introduce the
innovation of having several characters for certain letters that repeated most
frequently, in order to preserve the individuality of the hand lettering, and still
keep my design within the rigid limitations of type. Of the letter e, for instance,
eight different designs were finally selected; there were five a’s, two m’s, and so
on (see illustration at page 32).
After becoming familiar with the individual letters as shown in the
Laurenziana humanistic volumes, I went on to Milan and the Ambrosiana
Library, with a letter from Doctor Biagi addressed to the librarian, Monsignor
Ceriani, explaining the work upon which I was engaged, and seeking his co-
operation. It would be impossible to estimate Ceriani’s age at that time, but he
was very old. He was above middle height, his frame was slight, his eyes
penetrating and burning with a fire that showed at a glance how affected he
was by the influence to which I have already referred. His skin resembled in
color and texture the very parchment of the volumes he handled with such
affection, and in his religious habit he seemed the embodiment of ancient
learning.
After expressing his deep interest in my undertaking, he turned to a
publication upon which he himself was engaged, the reproduction in facsimile
of the earliest known manuscript of Homer’s Iliad. The actual work on this, he
explained, was being carried on by his assistant, a younger priest whom he