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Engineering in History Part 2 (The automobile industry and changes in…
Engineering in History Part 2
Steam Power
Started in Britain in the mid eighteenth century
• Thomas Savery
Patented a primitive (pistonless) steam engine in 1698
• 1712 Thomas Newcomen developed a practical atmospheric
engine to harness steam power.
James Watt more than doubled Newcomen engine efficiency
Introduced a separate condenser
end of 1700’s, 500 Watt and Boulton engines were in Britian
spread of industrialization
British loss of technical leadership (from 1850 onwards)
Complacency and conservatism of its society
• Undervaluing and neglecting practical and commercial applications
• Preoccupation with individually fitted final products discouraged standardisation
• Dominance of steam engine delayed the development of other forms of power.
• Restrictions by railway lobby on road transport (including a law that required a man
with a flag to walk in front of any road vehicle)
• Germany:
• Push to expand foreign trade and emphasis on exporting industrial products
• Promote education relevant to industrialisation
• Manufacturers set up their own industrial research laboratories
Japan
• Latecomer
• Meiji restoration (1868) saw Japan move from a Feudal society to a market
economy.
The Steam engine was NB. Interplay between new means of production and growing requirements of industry
The industrial revolution – social impacts
Social and economic impact of the industrial revolution
• Population of England and Wales:
• 1750: 6 million;
• 1800: 9 million;
• 1850: 18 million…
Decline in death rate
better transport improved food procurement,
Child Labour
Automation and subsequent job losses
Engineering in the modern era
The automobile industry and changes in production
o Taylor scientific management
o Modern manufacturing
o Engineering and infrastructure
o Case Studies
•Internal combustion engine
• Most common in vehicles and portable machinery
• 4 stroke engine: Conceived by Beau de Rochas (1862)
• 4 stroke engine: 1st made to work by Nikolaus Otto
(1876)
The automobile industry and
changes in production
Gotlieb Daimler
1st motorcycle 1885
William Maybach
1st carburettor (Patent 1909)
Charles Kettering
Electric starter (1912)
Rudolph Diesel
Compression engine
Difficulty with fuel injection
Diesel powered ships from world war 1
Impact of the automobile
• It reduced the need for people to live near railway lines and stations as long as there were roads to connect them
• It created mobility on a scale never seen before (Modern
endurance horseback riding = 80-160km in a day (single rider, no wagon)
• Changed city life and accelerated the expansion of cities into suburbs
• Negative impact:
Traffic congestion, Atmospheric pollution, Fatalities and injuries
The automobile industry and
changes in production
Social impacts
Collingridge (1980) – the initial understanding of any new technology is so limited that
control can only be arbitrary
Automobile
• Early control measures for dust, frightening horses and scaring cows
• But missed the problem of road toll
• By the year 2000 automobiles killed 25-30million people approaching that of the two
world wars)
Taylor scientific management
Developed by Frederick Taylor, pursued by Henry Ford
Division of labor, allowing just amount of skills to be purchased as needed for each subdivided element of the task
Time and motion study to find the best and quickest way of doing work and to allocate time for doing it
Modern manufacturing
1890 - 1900 Manufacturing replaced agriculture as the
leading source of economic growth in the US
In 2010 china contributed 19.8% of worlds output
4th Industrial Revolution
• 1st : Steam Power
• 2nd: Electric Power to create mass production
• 3rd: Digital Revolution
• 4th: Embedded Technology
• Artificial Intelligence
• Biotechnology
• Nanotechnology
Engineering and infrastructure
Infrastructure
The larger a project, the wider its consequences
• Engineers are being drawn into debates on social topics
Water
•Desalination?
• Larger Dams?
• Cross Border Deals
•Electricity
• Fossil: Nuclear vs Coal vs Gas
• Renewable? : Solar, Wind