Three Major Landmarks in History of Mechanical Engineering - Coursework Example

There are several remarkable mechanical engineering accomplishments as selected by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, ever since it started the program in the year 1971. This selection is bestowed to existing systems or artifacts signifying an important technology in mechanical engineering. Heritage sites or specific locales of Mechanical engineering at which particular development or event took place with some building, machine, or complex of importance are occupied. Thus Mechanical engineering tradition collections may refer to a collection or museum that is made of associated objects of unique importance to, but not essentially a main progression step in chronological growth of mechanical engineering. This paper seeks to describe three major landmarks in history of mechanical engineering (Tianbiao, 2011). Boeing 367-80 The “Dash 80” as it was referred at Boeing is also popularly known as Boeing 367-80 is a first of its kind transport jet from America constructed to showcase the merits of jet airplane in terms of transportation of passengers. The Boeing 367-80 was the archetype for the 707 airliner and the KC-135 Stratotanker. It was made in a period of just less than 2 years from the launch of the project in 1952 and its rollout on the 14th of May 1954.The US $ 16 million expenditure was a huge risk for the Boeing Company since it did not have any committed clientele. They managed to build only one. In the late 1940s 2 developments inspired Boeing to start contemplating constructing a passenger jet; Foremost was the B-47’s maiden flight in 1947 and the second one was the 1949 de Havilland Comet’s maiden flight which was the world’s foremost jet airliner. A delegation led by Bill Allen, the then Boeing president, to Britain in the summer of 1950 witnessed the Comet Fly at Farnborough Air show and later on called on the de Havilland industrial unit at Hatfield, Hertfordishire the site of building the comets. This exposure made Boeing feel that it had gained the skill of podded and swept wing engines and which it saw as major technologies that would assist it to make advancements on the Comet. Thus in the year of 1950, Boeing cautiously built a design for a jetliner christened the Model 473-60C.Several airlines did not buy the idea due to lack of any experience with jet transports. They were also benefiting from aircrafts that were piston engined like Douglas DC-6, DC-4, Lockheed Constellation and Boeing Stratocruiser. Boeing’s strength lay on sales to the military and had not benefited from selling to civil airlines. The civil market was a domain of Douglas which apparently was adept at satisfying the requirements of airlines by developing and refining its assortment of propeller-powered aircraft and by 1950, they were busy marketing the approaching DC-7.The only way for Boeing to triumph over the airline’s doubt of the jet as well as of itself was to demonstrate to them a finished aircraft. To make a clear emphasis and make a difference from its earlier propeller-powered aircrafts that bore the 300-series numbers, Boeing wanted its first cohort of passenger jets to have different numbers. By then the 600-, 500- and 400- series had already been taken by other creations and missiles. It was then that Boeing decided that their jets would carry the 700-series and the very first series would bear the 707 series. Boeing finally committed itself to production and the decision was reached to design the model to be produced as 707 as a 6-abreast prototype, with a bigger diameter fuselage of 148 inches about (3.76m). The Boeing 367-80 rolled out of the industrial unit on the 15th of May 1954, 2 years after the approval of the project and 18 months after the building had started. The first flight took place on 15th of July 1954.The Dash 80 has been adapted as general experimental aircraft and has been utilised by Boeing for various tests involving new technologies. The Boeing 367-80 after doing 2350 hours in the sky and 1691 flights was retired from use in 1969 and subsequently placed in storage. The Dash 80 has got the following specifications; it has got a capacity of 3 crew members, it is 39.97 m long, has a wingspan of 39.88 m, it is 11.59m tall, wing area of 223 sq m, empty weight of 41,870 kg, loaded weight of 86,360 kg and a power plant of 4 times Pratt & Whitney JT3C turbojets,(44.5 kN) each. It has a maximum speed of 937 km/h at 25,000 ft, and a cruise speed of 886km/h whose range is 5683 km. The Dash 80 has a service ceiling of 43,000 ft and a 12.7m/s climbing rate (Lewis, Wickert, 2013). 2. Experimental Breeder Reactor 1 Another significant landmark in the history of mechanical engineering is the (EBR-1) or Experimental Breeder Reactor Number 1 is a research reactor that has been since decommissioned. It is also landmark in the history of the US, and is situated in the desert which is around 18 miles southeast of Arco, Idaho. Thus ,EBR-1 went live on 20th Dec 1951 at 1.50 pm hence becoming the first ever power-generating nuclear plant in the world and generated enough electricity to light up 4 light bulbs of 200-watts.It afterwards produced adequate electricity to be used in its building and went on to be utilised for experimental purposes till its decommissioning in 1964.Its construction began 1949 and the first design(carried out at Argonne National Laboratory) of the reactor was done by a group directed by Walter Zinn. In its initial stages, the plant was known as Zinn’s infernal Pile and Chicago Pile 4(CP-4). The installation of the rector took place in 195(first ever reactor in Idaho) and by 24th of August 1951, it began power production. Harvesting of atomic energy was successfully done on 20th of Dec the same year.The next day, the reactor generated adequate power to light up the whole building. Thus the plant generated 200kw of power out of 1.4 MW of heat. The sole purpose of the EBR-1’S design was not electricity generation but validation of the nuclear physics theory, which had suggested that there is a possibility of a breeder reactor. This hypothesis was confirmed in 1953 by the experiments done. Later on 29th of November 1955, during a coolant flow test there was partial meltdown of the reactor. It was later repaired for more experiments. Another nearby reactor christened BORAX-3 was for the first time linked to external loads, providing the city of Arco, Idaho with power in 1955 and subsequently became the first city ever to be powered by entirely on nuclear power.EBR-1 became also the world’s first ever breeder reactor and also the very first to make use of plutonium fuel in generation of electricity.Initially,EBR-1’s objective was proving that Enrico Fermi’s principle of fuel breeding ,a principle that illustrated a nuclear reactor generating most fuel atoms than the ones consumed.EBR-1 alongside proving this principle to be true ,it also generated electricity. Deactivation of EBR-1 was done in 1964 and a new reactor, EBR-2, replaced it. It was granted landmark status by President Lyndon Johnson and Seaborg Glenn on 25th of June 1965.Later on in 1965 was confirmed as a National Historic Landmark. In 2004, it was made an IEEE Milestone (Lewis, Wickert, 2013). 3. The Holyoke Canal System The Holyoke Canal System is a structure made up of power canals located in Holyoke, Massachussets.It has main canals referred to as the First level, second level and third level canals. The original predecessor to Holyoke’s canals goes back to 1827, the moment Hadley Falls Company was formed so as to manufacture cotton cloth. The looms of this company were powered by the water from a wing dam alongside River Connecticut’s Great Rapids. The modern day canals started in 1848, after the measurements of the river showed a potential power of water of six thousand cubic feet per second or 170 metres per second which is commensurate to 22,000 kW, sufficient to power over 450 mills. In the same year, there was a reconstitution of the company with an initial capital stock of US $ 4 million to build a new manufacturing center on the basis of the power of the local river. Over the next one decade, the company would build the region’s canal system and dam; lay out commercial, residential and industrial areas on its 445 ha of land. It would also construct and start operation of 2 cotton mills and a factory building textile machinery. A timber crib dam, (300m) in length was constructed in 1848, across the Connecticut River so as to make a diversion of the water into the canals, which failed just within hours and a replacement was done in 1900 by a dam which was granite-faced and about 46 m downstream from the first one. After the failure of the company in 1859, and its subsequent passing into receivership, Smith Alfred bought its hydraulic system formed the Holyoke Water Power Company, selling its stock to various investors. The company flourished and today the system of canal is 7.2 km long on 3 levels. Currently, the canals are used in generation of power as the water goes down level wise onto the river(Thomas, 1980). Thus the foremost canal comprises of 12 gates that regulates water flowing into the system, measuring 5 m long by 3m wide, weighs more than 4 tons, and a further 2 small gates at 3m by 1.4 m all being motorized by a water wheel. The canal is 43m wide with 6.7m depth of water at its starting point. It then extends eastward around a 100 feet sweeping south for more than 1.6km supplying the upper row of mills. Running parallel to the first canal and about 120m east is the second canal which starts at its south end, running north for over 1.6km.For its foremost 600m,it measures 43 m and narrows gradually to 30m.It has an average of 5m water depth. The 3rd and last canal starts at the south end of the 2nd level, and around 4m lower, extending 1082m; this canal is about 30m wide and 3m deep, and has an average elevation above the river changing between 23 to 28 feet (Thomas, 1980). Work cited Lewis Kemper, Wickert Jonathan. An Introduction to Mechanical Engineering 3rd edition. New York: Cengage Learning, 2013. Thomas, Fehring. Mechanical Engineering:A Century of Progress. New York: books.google, 1980. Tianbiao, Zhang. Mechanical Engineering and Technology:Selected and Revised Results of the 2011 International Conference on Mechanical Engineering and Technology,London,UK,November 24-25,2011. Wuhan: Springer, 2011. Read More