Publisher description
Engineering, General; In my experience, practising engineers - especially
those concerned with innovation - continuously need quantitative information,
especially orders of magnitude, directions and sense of values. In this
loose-leaf book of convenient size (which acts as a companion to a scientific
calculator) we aim to produce an open-ended collection of directly usable
'leaves'. Each leaf describes one topic, and includes definitions, units (both
SI and Imperial), methods and formulae to determine values. Thus each leaf is
an aide-memoire and as such contains the minimum text on explanation and
derivation; instead it relies on graphical and diagrammatic presentation. These
are fundamentally sound and not 'rule of thumb' values. The equations presented
are suitable for incorporation into spreadsheet calculation/computing. Their
access may well be quicker than trying any search on the Internet. Hitherto,
finding the required equations and methods of treatment for calculations has
presented a real challenge. The usual sources are text books or reference
books. The former are likely to be an author's discourse on subjects on which
he/she is a specialist, with practical usage not being the prime purpose: while
the latter are collections chosen by a group of authors, covering a wide range
of subjects containing material which may be irrelevant to a specific enquiry.
In real life, engineers are likely to have become separated from access to the
library of their student days, and their lecture notes which may well have been
inadequate or mislaid. Origins The origins of this work go back to the time
when Professor Michael French and myself were members of the UK Design
Council's Committee on Engineering Design Education, which was published as The
Moulton Report in 1976. I started on the idea of a loose-leaf 'personal
organizer'-style pocket book containing an array of leaves each containing the
distillate for ready calculation (use) of one topic in mechanical engineering.
An essential feature of my proposed system is that the choice of topics springs
from the repeated use by experienced engineers. As Director (from 1984-2000, and Chairman 1988-91) of the Smallpiece Trust
(a UK-based independent charity which promotes engineering as a career to young
people) whose purpose includes enhancing the education of engineers, I was able
to secure their support for my idea. I set up a part-time collaboration at my
home with Jacques Grosjean, who was about to retire in 1988 as Head of Applied
Mechanics in the School of Engineering at the University of Bath and himself a
practising engineer. We were later joined by Dr Geraint Owen, Lecturer in
Design and Manufacturing, of the Department of Mechanical Engineering of the
University of Bath: and myself being currently a practising engineer and
Honorary Doctor of the University (1971). During our work on the leaves two
related collections evolved and have been published by the Smallpeice Trust.
These were especially for undergraduate engineering students and were entitled
'Engineering Science Basics' and 'Mechanical Engineering Formulae'. These
contain also the derivations of the equations. For the present work, reverting to my original purpose of the leaves, we
are indebted to the Royal Commission for the 1851 Exhibition and much
appreciate their invaluable support. We acknowledge with thanks the kind
permission of the Smallpeice Trust to use some of the material from the
previous publications, coming from the same authors. We also acknowledge the
support in the initial production of the leaves of Hadleys Limited, Essex, UK.
We authors, as mechanical engineers, especially appreciate that the Institution
of Mechanical Engineers after due consideration have decided to publish this
originating 'The Moulton Formulae and Methods'. We look forward to further
packs of leaves. Notes on Using the 'The Moulton Formulae and Methods' Leaves
The Countents pages show the subject chapters covered in this collection of
leaves. Additional leaves may be added in future when published, or the user
may insert his/her own. Find beneath the chapter heading the title of your
interest and the corresponding leaf number (in green). The easiest way to locate the appropriate leaf is to view the pack of
leaves from the back, when the numbers are located on the bottom left-hand
corner of each leaf. The format of each leaf is essentially constant, with one
topic as indicated by the Title at the top of the leaf, and all the symbols
used are tabulated in both SI and Imperial units. The key equations are boxed
and coloured yellow. Dr Alex Moulton CBE, MA (Cantab), FREng, RDI
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The Moulton Formulae and Methods: Directly Usable for Calculations in Mechanical Engineering
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