RSS Feeds
Letters to the editor
By Design News Staff -- Design News, April 5, 1999
OEM Directory
Your OEM directory has to be the best reference directory available. It's particularly handy when trying to locate hard-to-find manufacturers. It has really made a difference to us in this competitive world.
Hans Haller
PC-savviness no substitute
In reference to Paul Teague's editorial 2/15/99, you have hit the nail on the head! As a Senior Design Engineer for the leading HVAC company, I have known all too many new-hires with a Masters degree in mechanical engineering who have no knowledge of the basics of design and manufacturing. They do indeed know and want to show off their PC skills. But when asked to assist in the teardown and examination of any mechanical items, they look for a technician to do the actual work; they're too busy back at the PC honing those skills!
And how about communication skills? So often the same ME who is so adept at creating wonderful documents and spreadsheets is not able to present the data effectively. Do these engineers really know what "like" and "you know" really mean to me? Untrained. More harshly, uneducated.
Thanks for the great insight.
Richard J. Duell
Sr. Design Engineer, UTC Carrier Corp.
Syracuse, NY
Don't dumb-down profession
I regularly enjoy your editorials, but I think you missed the mark with "The Making of an Engineer." Your call for more hands on and less theoretical education is, in my view, short-sighted, and would lead to a "dumbing down" of the profession. Give me young engineers with strong math and applied physics skills any day; they will soon learn the needed hands-on skills. During my long career, I've seen that engineers with strong theoretical backgrounds generally grow and contribute more, catching new waves as technology changes.I've even been chagrined to see that some of the best "engineers" in the area of emerging technologies have physics degrees. If engineers are to be effective throughout their careers, they need the strongest possible base in applied theory.
As an aside, my small sampling of recent graduates has had excellent practical skills, perhaps better than earlier years.
Richard A. Fine
VP Engineering
Ioline Corporation
Underlying principles are taught
As an employee of a manufacturing company for nine years now, I can look back to when I started fresh from school and realize that most of the knowledge that I have gained came from on-the-job training. As a recent graduate, I was not able to read a hydraulic schematic, could not design a machine control circuit, or even program a PLC. These skills are now a foundation for the job I perform today. I do, however, feel that my college education gave me one invaluable thing: I learned how to learn. My schooling did teach me how to discover and comprehend the underlying principles of everyday problems that I run into.
Thanks for publishing such an informative magazine and allowing readers to view their insights and opinions.
Mike Nelson
mnelso@maytag.com
Step-by-step guide to pyramid building
In the 2/1/99 issue, you challenged readers to explain why the following no-problem problem cannot be solved: Using only superglue and off-the-shelf stepladders as materials, how high a pyramid is it possible to build?
The problem appeared solvable to me. I had merely to build a large pyramid from stepladders, record the process at each step, and extrapolate from the observed data to an idealized perfect stepladder pyramid.
So, I opened an account with Home Depot and cleaned out their stock of 31 stepladders. Hauling them home on top of my AMC Gremlin (16 trips), I laid them out on the lawn and cleared a level spot on my driveway.
I set up one stepladder and recorded this minimal pyramid. I added a second next to the first and hoisted a third on top for a remarkable, 3-stepladder pyramid. I recorded this achievement. Now, I was cooking.
I added a stepladder alongside the two at the base and a fifth stepladder above it to make a shape reminiscent of a trapezoid. I then grabbed stepladder #6 and began climbing up the steps of stepladder #4 with visions of an extraordinary 3-level, 6-stepladder pyramid in my head. I could almost sense a pattern emerging, and I knew that a breakthrough was imminent.
When--suddenly!--I was stymied. Right there, in clear, raised block letters: "Not a Step." The words could not be mistaken or denied. What's more, I discovered the same words were printed on every one of my 31 stepladders! Rapidly doing some unplanned extrapolation, I concluded that I could not buy a stepladder without those dire words. I was stopped dead in my tracks, unable to prove the rumored 3-level pyramid, nor to pursue whatever possibilities might exist beyond it.
I am not implying there is a conspiracy involved, but clearly the "Not-a-Step" edict aborts the entire process of establishing a physical baseline for stepladder pyramid height data extraction, and as such it benefits certain groups in society which for their own reasons have a vested interested in keeping this information from the public. Until these groups are exposed and the conspiracy broken, this problem cannot be solved.
Brad Congdon
Senior Design Engineer
Intel Corp.
Note: Opinions expressed are those of our readers and do not necessarily reflect the views of Design News.
Talkback
DN's Resource Center Get Free Information, Made Easy
-
Making a Better Fueling Fan … for Less with Dupont Delrin
DuPont Automotive Products | White Paper
Request Item -
Present State and Futuristic of Motor Drive Technology
Yaskawa Electric America | White Paper
Request Item
