engineers

[RDfella]

My friend George ran a smallish engineering shop in the late 60's & 70's. He then, in partnership with a German inventor, moved to larger premises (about 80,000sq ft) with a vast array of machines (pre CNC). When his partner died suddenly, he reverted to his original 'shop, which he ran until recently. His work was mainly repair - take a gearbox gear in and pick up a replacement a week later reasonably priced - especially as he probably had to first make the cutter. He had mills, surface & cylindrical grinders, slotters, spark erosion, pantographs etc. etc. He also did a lot of work for inventors, developing ideas and making prototypes. I remember one occassion when a world-known inventor had toured the UK, USA & Europe trying to find someone to make a prototype. They all told him it couldn't be done. When asked, George said he could make it - and he did, albeit with a bit of lateral thinking.
I have often sought his advice when starting a project and he has done small jobs for me when I haven't had the appropriate machinery. Such as engine camshafts - I draw these up (having calculated lift, dwell and acceleration) then make a 5x scale hardboard template. Over to George to cut a master cam on his pantograph from which I can then grind the cams proper.  I used the same approach when recently making the ratchet for the project's starter. He cut me a master for the pawls and gave me some work-hardening spring steel from which to make them.  He is simply the best engineer I've ever known.

Well, today I went to visit him, knowing he hadn't been well and having heard from a mutual friend that things weren't good. I don't know how long he's got, but he won't see the year out. Which is very sad for two reasons - I'll lose a friend and engineer with far superior knowledge / ability than myself, but also the community will lose a person the likes of which aren't being replaced today. These days people leave university with loads of qualifications, but they can't actually do anything. My son has a Bsc in engineering with CAD and other trimmings. Ask him to make a blind square hole (eg socket) and he wouldn't know where to start. Had a very wealthy person drop by the other day (he has a large collection of expensive classics) and he remarked that his visits to Aston Martin and other similar places demonstrated wonderful premises but staff who knew nothing. Lotus was similar in the days when Ron Hickman (B&D workmate) worked there. Why is it people in sheds can produce amazing stuff (and many outstanding inventions over the decades) but the posh premises and qualified personnel can't?

[muskrat]

G'day RD.
The answer is simple. Young'uns these days don't want to get their hands dirty!
Yes REAL engineers are a dying breed.
Cheers

[berger]

i know loads with degrees but no common sense, car sales people who know  nothing about cars but can tell you lots about the gadgets,  and retired engineers who had no interest in engineering once they had left work, the fella next door has a degree in engineering and works at a gear cutting firm. he's about 38 years old and can't even reverse his car!!! he has no hobbies at all, even the tiny shed he keeps the lawn mower in is falling to pieces ,---  funny old game isn't it

[Joolstacho]

Dying Art? Dying Engineers. If only we could bottle it.
It makes me think of dear ol' Norm Trigg (well known to Velocette people), who recently passed away.
Norm spread his encyclopedic knowledge of Velos and other marques very generously, but those who spent some time with him know that the amount of knowledge he took to the grave is monumental! If only we could have bottled it.

[Colsbeeza]

RD, It is sad to lose such a valuable person.
The term engineer is not usually applied these days to people with such skills - at least in Oz.
Engineers with degrees are required for design and project management, Cad and computer skills, Gantt charts etc are important and crawling up the greasy pole. A soul-destroying activity. Most design is done on computers - outside firms contracted to make things.
Those with the skills we value start out as fitters and machinists, then go into their own businesses in their area of most interest. They are totally free to develop those skills to suit themselves. They are always in very close contact with their customers and there is no confusion over the task at hand. They don't fit in a corporate environment.

[Black Sheep]

My eldest grandson has a masters degree in engineering. You should see the state of his bicycle. I recently had him (under close supervision) set the tappets on the tractor. He's still not sure which way you turn a spanner to undo a nut. But, will he ever need to get oily fingers?

[muskrat]

G'day Fellas.
When I was a third year apprentice the foreman came to me with a drawing (and the "engineer") to make a test unit. I studied the drawing and said this will not work. The engineer was adamant all the dimensions were correct. I made the piece as per drawing. Yes, it leaked like an A10 rockerbox. The foreman then said for me to correct it (another day on the lathe and $$$ of stainless). Worked as it should.
Cheers

[Greybeard]

I believe it's common to confuse education with intelligence. I looked for a definition of intelligence and found this:

'Intelligence is a very general mental capability that, among other things, involves the ability to reason, plan, solve problems, think abstractly, comprehend complex ideas, learn quickly and learn from experience.'

[Colsbeeza]

Muskrat,
Back in the early 80's I asked a very clever fitter in the workshop to make me an object and provided him with a sketch. He rarely asked for any clarification and was a self-starter. For weeks I walked past the workshop to see a mechanical object in creation. It was about 10 metres wide. After a few weeks I looked closely and thought it looked familiar - and the penny dropped  . He had mistaken millimetres for metres. It was for a microscope slide.
Nobody came up smelling like roses on that occasion.
Col

[Greybeard]

... the penny dropped  . He had mistaken millimetres for metres. It was for a microscope slide.

😁
So did you look for a mahoosive microscope?

[Colsbeeza]

No GB. It crossed my mind for a fraction of a second. I was Plant Engineer of a small hand-blown glass works, and responsible for the budget. It was well and truly blown out that month.
Col

[orabanda]

Every cemetery is full of people who couldn't be replaced......
 

[RDfella]

Every cemetery is full of people who couldn't be replaced......

Which is probably why the world is going to hell in a handcart .....

[BagONails]

Well RDFella it is a small world.

Way back in the early eighties, I was a junior manufacturing engineer just come out of my Ford apprenticeship and was working at a small overflow engine plant in Plumstead, sarf London on the site of the old Woolwich Arsenal.  There was a lovely old fella there, an engineer who I quickly realised was in fact a real boffin, a very clever man although "a bit different". His name was Ron Hickman and I slowly got to know him a bit. He was the only guy in the place who could get the Transit rear axle line to run as it was supposed to!  although I don't think he ever mentioned he'd worked for Lotus so there you go there was even more to Ron than any of us knew.

There was a story going around that he had actually invented the B&D Workmate, something that he never confirmed or denied to me but it was a pretty strong rumour. Apparently he was the inventor as I found out years later in a TV documentary which exposed the terrible way he was treated. Maybe he was a little naive but it was his invention and he initially tried to make it himself but needed the backing, sales and marketing clout of a bigger company behind him so he showed the idea to Black & Decker and they told him essentially that it would never catch on. Within a year or so it was in production and I don't think he ever really got the recognition or much else owed to him. I don't want to say too much as I don't have all the facts of the case but Ron was certainly badly affected by it all and was never properly himself afterward.  I think he pretty well bankrupted himself fighting them and had a breakdown as result. All in all a very sad story.

[RDfella]

Re Hickman:
He indeed worked at Ford before moving to Lotus as a production engineer and general manager. He headed the team that designed the Elan (great cars - pig to work on but handled like a racing car). Leaving Lotus in 1967 he moved to Hertfordshire where he worked for Cunard. After Black & Decker had seen the potential, he made millions from the workmate and retired to Jersey. His old secretary / legal bod is a very good friend of mine. Plenty of detail about Ron on wiki.