An Abbreviated History of
Engineering Communication
ENGR 1555
Dr. Darrell Wallace
Youngstown State University
(c) 2008, Darrell Wallace
Earliest Weight Standards
(c) 2008, Darrell Wallace
Earliest Engineering
Communication
•Technical drawings likely date back to 6000 BC
•Formal length, Cubit, used as common length of measure
(between 18 and 19 inches)
•Cubit standardized to “Royal Cubit” (approx. 18.24”)
around 4000 BC
•Biblical records
1.5 x 1.5 x 2 cubits
Standard cubits
300 x 50 x 30 cubits
(c) 2008, Darrell Wallace
Great Pyramid (circa 2500 BC)
(c) 2008, Darrell Wallace
Mesopotamia (2150 BC)
(c) 2008, Darrell Wallace
Greco-Roman Standards
Use of cubit faded
One thumb width (unciae), later
“standardized” to 3 barley grain
lengths
Olympic foot
1000 double steps (mille)
Tablet with standardized
olympic “foot”
(c) 2008, Darrell Wallace
Origins of the Concept of
Projection
(c) 2008, Darrell Wallace
Archimedes of Syracuse
(287-211 BC)
•Student of Euclidean geometry
•One remaining notebook
•Mathematician, astronomer,
engineer, philosopher
(c) 2008, Darrell Wallace
Archimedes’ Screw
Egyptian terracotta
figurine, circa 30BC
Pompeian fresco, circa 79AD
(c) 2008, Darrell Wallace
Archimedes’ Concepts
Illustrated by Art
GIVE ME A PLACE TO STAND AND I WILL MOVE THE EARTH
A remark of Archimedes quoted by Pappus of Alexandria in his "Collection“ (Synagoge, Book VIII,
c. AD 340 [ed. Hultsch, Berlin 1878, p. 1060]).
Wall painting in the
Stanzino delle
Matematiche in the
Galleria degli Uffizi
(Florence, Italy). Painted
by Giulio Parigi (15711635) in the years 15991600.
(c) 2008, Darrell Wallace
Vitruvius on Archimedes
(1st century AD)
Vitruvius (c. first century BC), De Architectura, Book X, Chapter VI, The Water
Screw
1. There is also the method of the screw, which raises a great quantity of
water, but does not carry it as high as does the wheel. The method of
constructing it is as follows. A beam is selected, the thickness of which in
digits is equivalent to its length in feet [16 digits = 1 foot]. This is made
perfectly round. The ends are to be divided off on their circumference with the
compass into eight parts, by quadrants and octants, and let the lines be so
placed that, if the beam is laid in a horizontal position, the lines on the two
ends may perfectly correspond with each other, and intervals of the size of one
eighth part of the circumference of the beam may be laid off on the length of it.
Then, placing the beam in a horizontal position, let perfectly straight lines be
drawn from one end to the other. So the intervals will be equal in the directions
both of the periphery and of the length. Where the lines are drawn along the
length, the cutting circles will make intersections, and definite points at the
intersections.
CONSTRUCTION OF THE WATER SCREW
2. When these lines have been correctly drawn, a slender withe of willow, or a
straight piece cut from the agnus castus tree, is taken, smeared with liquid
pitch, and fastened at the first point of intersection. Then it is carried across
obliquely to the succeeding intersections of longitudinal lines and circles, and
as it advances, passing each of the points in due order and winding round, it is
fastened at each intersection; and so, withdrawing from the first to the eighth
point, it reaches and is fastened to the line to which its first part was fastened.
Thus it makes as much progress in its longitudinal advance to the eighth point
as in its oblique advance over eight points. In the same manner, withes for the
eight divisions of the diameter, fastened obliquely at the intersections on the
entire longitudinal and peripheral surface, make spiral channels which naturally
look just like those of a snail shell.
3. Other withes are fastened on the line of the first, and on these still others, all
smeared with liquid pitch, and built up until the total diameter is equal to one
eighth of the length. These are covered and surrounded with boards, fastened
on to protect the spiral. Then these boards are soaked with pitch, and bound
together with strips of iron, so that they may not be separated by the pressure of
the water. The ends of the shaft are covered with iron. To the right and left of
the screw are beams, with crosspieces fastening them together at both ends. In
these crosspieces are holes sheathed with iron, and into them pivots are
introduced, and thus the screw is turned by the treading of men.
4. It is to be set up at the inclination corresponding to that which is produced
in drawing the Pythagorean right-angled triangle: that is, let its length be
divided into five parts; let three of them denote the height of the head of the
screw; thus the distance from the base of the perpendicular to the nozzle of the
screw at the bottom will be equal to four of those parts. A figure showing how
this ought to be has been drawn at the end of the book, right on the back.
I have now described as clearly as I could, to make them better known, the
principles on which wooden engines for raising water are constructed, and how
they get their motion so that they may be of unlimited usefulness through their
revolutions.
(c) 2008, Darrell Wallace
Pre-Renaissance
Multiple Points of View
(c) 2008, Darrell Wallace
Early Perspective
(c) 2008, Darrell Wallace
Renaissance
The renaissance period set the stage for the concept of
“perspective” to be developed:
•Universe viewed as “clockwork” and governed by mechanical
laws and order
•Observability of scientific phenomena and nature
•Emphasis on individual point of view
Key figures:
•Leonardo
•Newton
•Massaccio
•Donatello
(c) 2008, Darrell Wallace
Filippo Brunelleschi
(1377-1446)
(c) 2008, Darrell Wallace
Leon Battista Alberti
(1404-1472)
lPublished first treatise on perspective, Della Pittura, in
1435.
l"a painting is the intersection of a visual pyramid at a
given distance, with a fixed center and a defined position of
light, represented by art with lines and colors on a given
surface."
(c) 2008, Darrell Wallace
Single Point Perspective
and Scale
l Projected image is easy to calculate. Based on
 height of object (AB)
 distance from eye to object (CB)
 distance from eye to picture plane (CD)
 and using the relationship CB : CD as AB : ED
(c) 2008, Darrell Wallace
Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528)
•
German
Renaissance artist
•
Concept of similar
triangles described
both geometrically
and mechanically in
widely read treatise
by Albrecht Dürer
(1471-1528).
Albrecht Dürer, Artist Drawing a Lute, 1525
(c) 2008, Darrell Wallace
Renaissance Representation of
Archimedes’ Screw
A woodcut from an edition of Vitruvius's (c)De
Architectura by Fra Giocondo(Venice, 1511).
2008, Darrell Wallace
Leonardo DaVinci (1452-1519)
•Master of the Renaissance
•Painter, sculptor, architect,
engineer, and scientist
•Documented natural mechanics
•Predicted future technology
•Used art to effectively
communicate and document
technical information
(c) 2008, Darrell Wallace
Leonardo – Working Sketch of
Sequine Press
(c) 2008, Darrell Wallace
Leonardo – Giant Crossbow
(c) 2008, Darrell Wallace
Leonardo DaVinci
(c) 2008, Darrell Wallace
Leonardo – Design Notes
(c) 2008, Darrell Wallace
Leonardo – War Chariot
(c) 2008, Darrell Wallace
Galileo Galilei (1564-1642)
•Astronomer, physicist
•Declared heretic
•Extensive notebooks
(c) 2008, Darrell Wallace
Galileo’s Notes on Motion
A page from Galileo’s notes, now
on display in an Italian Museum.
The drawing above is a
reproduction of the faint drawing
in the open area of the note page.
(c) 2008, Darrell Wallace
Galileo –
Scribbled Calculations
(c) 2008, Darrell Wallace
Renaissance Machine
circa 1580
Concept for a perpetual
motion machine drawn in
perspective.
(c) 2008, Darrell Wallace
Gaspard Monge (1746-1818)
•French mathematician specializing in
descriptive geometry
•Studied perspective in depth
•Pioneer of multi-view orthographic projections
3-dimensional objects can be
represented by combinations
of elevations and plan views
(c) 2008, Darrell Wallace
First Industrial Revolution
•1775 – James Watt (Steam Engine – Improvement
over Newcome)
•1785 – Edmund Cartwright (Power Loom)
•1793 – Eli Whitney (Cotton Gin)
•1797 – Henry Maudslay (Screw Cutting Lathe)
•1813 – Francis Cabot Lowell (Textile Mill)
•1836 – Morse Telegraph
•1876 – Bell Telephone
•1899 – Marconi Wireless Telegraph
(c) 2008, Darrell Wallace
The Instigator and the
Innovator
Francis Cabot Lowell
(1775-1817)
Eli Whitney
(1765-1825)
(c) 2008, Darrell Wallace
Timeline (1935-1948)
1935 – American Standards Association (ASA) publishes American
Standard Drawing and Drafting Room Practices (5 pages on
dimensioning, 2 Paragraphs on tolerancing)
1940 – Chevrolet publishes the Draftsman’s Handbook, first
publication to significantly address positional tolerancing
1944 – British Military adopts positional tolerancing standards
1945 – U.S. Military ordnance manual on dimensioning and
tolerancing introduces use of symbols instead of notes
1946 – ASA Publishes second edition of American Standard Drawing
and Drafting Room Practices, still little mention tolerancing
1948 – British Publication Dimensional Analysis of Engineering
Design, first comprehensive standard using concepts of true position
tolerancing
(c) 2008, Darrell Wallace
Timeline (1949- 1994)
1949 – U.S. military adopts MIL-STD-8, standard for dimensioning
and tolerancing
1953 – Revised standard, MIL-STD-8A is released – uses seven basic
drawing symbols and a methodology of “functional dimensioning”
1957 – 1966 – Conflicting American standards cause complexity and
inefficiency
1966 – American National Standards Institute (ANSI) issues unified
standard, ANSI Y14.5
1973 – ANSI Y14.5 replaces all tolerancing notes with symbols
1982 – ANSI Y14.5 updated
1994 – ANSI Y14.5 updated (current revision)
(c) 2008, Darrell Wallace
Summary of Objectives
Gain a perspective (pun intended) on the
history of engineering communications
Appreciate the complexity of technical
communication throughout antiquity
Recognize the relative infancy (150 years out
of nearly 10,000) of functional dimensional
tolerancing
Understand some of the historical motivations
for various standards and techniques we
embrace today
(c) 2008, Darrell Wallace