Free summaries
Engineering & Technology — page 9
497 public-domain engineering & technology books, summarised. Page 9 of 11.
Direct Conversion of Energy
William R. Corliss
Eliminating spinning shafts and heavy pistons, solid-state systems transform thermal, chemical, and solar energy straight into usable electricity. This concise 1968 educational primer surveys the underlying physics and practical engineering behind the silent power revolution of the early space age.
Glass and Glass Manufacture
Percival Marson
A transformative industrial craft unfolds as common sand, driven by high heat and exact chemistry, becomes the clear, vital material shaping modern civilization.
Newark College of Engineering Bulletin, v. 11, No. 4, December 15, 1938
Newark College of Engineering
Precision, discipline, and industrial utility drive a rigid system designed to transform young students into competent technical professionals.
Shipbuilding from its beginnings. Vol. 3 (of 3)
E. van (Emile) Konijnenburg
A visual ledger of maritime engineering, this third volume documents how human hands shaped timber and steel to conquer rivers, coasts, and open seas. Across centuries of technical draftsmanship, the structural lines of vessels reveal the evolution of global navigation.
Central-Station Electric Lighting: With Notes on the Methods Used for the Distribution of Electricity
Killingworth Hedges
Electric light is not merely a scientific novelty but a commercial venture, requiring robust engineering and careful financial planning to succeed. This work examines the transition of electricity from experimental display to a reliable public utility.
The Gyroscopic Compass: A Non-Mathematical Treatment
T. W. (Thomas Wightman) Chalmers
A spinning wheel, constrained by gravity and the Earth’s own rotation, becomes a surprisingly reliable guide for the navigator, provided one understands the delicate dance of forces keeping it true.
Die Casting: Dies—Machines—Methods
Chester L. Lucas
Precision manufacturing of metal components relies upon the sophisticated intersection of metallurgy, mechanical engineering, and meticulous tool-making. This instructional text provides a foundational look at the early twentieth-century processes, machinery, and design principles required to produce finished,…
Light and Colour Theories, and their relation to light and colour standardization
Joseph W. (Joseph Williams) Lovibond
Color is not merely an aesthetic quality, but a measurable, scientific property of matter that can be standardized through rigorous analysis of light absorption.
A Treatise on Staff Making and Pivoting: Containing Complete Directions for Making and Fitting New Staffs from the Raw Material
Eugene Edward Hall
Mastering the balance staff is a test of patience, where a single miscalculation can render hours of meticulous lathe work entirely worthless. This guide offers the precise technical discipline required to transform raw steel into the beating heart of a timepiece.
Milestones in the Mighty Age of Steam: The Grasshopper and the Corliss
Anonymous
The roar of industry once ran on iron and steam, a legacy preserved in the quiet halls of a Dayton park. Here, two mechanical titans tell their stories, bridging the gap between raw nineteenth-century ambition and the modern world.
Scientific American, September 29, 1883 Supplement. No. 404
Various
This collection of technical reports captures a pivotal moment in the industrial age, documenting the rapid evolution of mechanical engineering, material science, and public infrastructure at the close of the nineteenth century.
Steel
William Metcalf
This manual offers a grounded, practical guide to the properties and manipulation of steel, bridging the gap between scientific theory and the daily realities of the forge. It remains a foundational, expert distillation of industrial craftsmanship from the late nineteenth century.
Plain Concrete for Farm Use
T. A. H. (Thomas Arrington Huntington) Miller
To build a structure that endures, one must master the precise alchemy of cement, water, and aggregate while respecting the unforgiving physics of setting stone.
Preliminary Specifications: Programmed Data Processor Model Three (PDP-3): October, 1960
Digital Equipment Corporation
An architecture of silicon, switches, and core memory takes shape in a blueprint that promises raw speed without theoretical fluff.
Wonderful Development of Peter the Great's Pet Projects, according to His Last Will and Testament.: American Invention as an Aid to Russia's Grasp on Asiatic Territory
W. Gannon
A quiet, industrious American invention provided the technological key that allowed the Russian Empire to project its power across the formidable, landlocked barriers of Central Asia.
The platinum metals
Arthur Douglas Lumb
A definitive geological and industrial survey, this text meticulously maps the global occurrence, extraction, and varied commercial applications of the platinum group metals during the early twentieth century. It serves as a rigorous historical baseline for understanding the scarcity and strategic importance of…
Scientific American Supplement, No. 613, October 1, 1887
Various
The pursuit of empirical truth defines this collection, where the Victorian era’s boundless faith in observation meets the nascent complexities of modern industrial and medical science. It serves as a meticulously detailed record of a world transitioning into the twentieth century.
The story of rope
Plymouth Cordage Company
A silent, ubiquitous companion to civilization, the humble rope carries the weight of history in its fibers, from the rigging of ancient sailing ships to the modern machinery of the industrial age.
Scientific American Supplement, No. 441, June 14, 1884
Various
This collection of technical reports and engineering studies serves as a vibrant snapshot of late nineteenth-century industrial progress and scientific inquiry. It captures a pivotal moment when theoretical physics began to reshape the physical world.
The Thompson-Houston System of Electric Lighting
H. T. (Harry Thomas) Cory
The Thompson-Houston System of Electric Lighting serves as a technical time capsule, capturing the transition from steam power to the dawn of the electrical age. It provides a clear, foundational look at how early dynamos and arc lamps were engineered and maintained.
The Panama Canal
Harry Clow Boardman
A hundred-year engineering nightmare takes concrete shape as American steam shovels and calculated logistics slowly replace tropical disease, political gridlock, and financial ruin across the narrow Panamanian Isthmus.
A boy's text book on gas engines
Fay Leone Faurote
To demystify early motoring for the rising generation, this 1908 instructional guide breaks down complex mechanics into accessible analogies, demystifying pistons, valves, and spark plugs for young readers.
Astronomical Instruments and Accessories
William Gaertner and Company
Precision brass gears, hand-scraped iron beds, and optical glass form the invisible scaffolding that brings distant stars into human focus.
Instructions for the Management of Harvey's Sea Torpedo
Frederick Harvey
A specialized mid-nineteenth-century naval manual details the assembly, mechanical firing mechanisms, deck handling, and night-attack tactics for towing towed explosive charges against heavily armored warships.
Water Power for the Farm and Country Home
David R. Cooper
Small creeks and forgotten streams can liberate rural properties from manual labor when harnessed through practical engineering.
Electric railways
American School of Correspondence
High-tension current hums overhead while copper brushes spark against heavy cast-iron wheels, capturing a pivotal historical moment when electric streetcars transformed early twentieth-century transit through rigorous mechanical and electrical engineering.
The Woman's Part: A Record of Munitions Work
L. K. Yates
Crossing social boundaries and mastering complex machinery, British women step into wartime factories to sustain the nation’s defense.
Paper & paper making, ancient and modern
Richard Herring
Before paper became a common surface for writing, human thought relied on bulky stone, fragile leaves, and costly animal skins.
The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 02, No. 13, November, 1858: A Magazine of Literature, Art, and Politics
Various
This collection of mid-nineteenth-century essays, reviews, and fiction captures a nation in the midst of rapid mechanical expansion and intense political soul-searching. It stands as a sophisticated snapshot of the intellectual preoccupations that defined an era.
The Fireless Locomotive
Anonymous
A brief account of industrial innovation records how smoke-free steam engines once swept through factory grounds to preserve clean air and green spaces.
The hardwood finisher
Unknown
This technical manual serves as an essential guide for nineteenth-century artisans, providing systematic instruction on the professional preparation, staining, and finishing of various domestic hardwoods used in building and cabinetry.
Transactions of the American Society of Civil Engineers, vol. LXVIII, Sept. 1910: The Site of the Terminal Station. Paper No. 1157
George C. Clarke
This technical account documents the massive civil engineering feat required to clear the site for Manhattan’s Pennsylvania Terminal in the early 20th century. It is a precise, unsentimental record of industrial transformation.
Report of the Hoosac Tunnel and Troy and Greenfield Railroad, by the Joint Standing Committee of 1866
Tappan Wentworth
The Hoosac Mountain stands as an unyielding barrier to nineteenth-century progress, demanding a relentless and costly struggle to pierce its granite heart. This official legislative account documents the state’s complex, years-long endeavor to complete a monumental railroad tunnel.
Specifications for street roadway pavements: with instructions to inspectors on street paving work
Samuel Whinery
Providing a rigorous framework for municipal infrastructure, this guide serves as a manual for the precise construction and inspection of city roadways. It balances technical standards with the practical realities of managing large-scale public contracts.
The Fifteen Watt Tungsten Lamp
Clair Elmore Anderson
The early tungsten lamp often flared with a sudden, startling brilliance when first switched on, a phenomenon this laboratory study meticulously documents and explains for the burgeoning field of electrical engineering.
A manual of pyrotechny
G. W. Mortimer
This guide serves as a practical, technical manual for the 19th-century enthusiast, detailing the chemistry and mechanical construction required to master the art of recreative fireworks.
A few secrets of the metallurgist simply told
Gerald Watson Hinkley
Understanding the hidden nature of steel requires looking past the surface of a finished blade to the molecular transformations occurring within. This practical guide demystifies the industrial science that turns raw iron into the backbone of modern machinery.
Observations on the Automaton Chess Player Now Exhibited in London, at 4 Spring Gardens
Oxford graduate
A mechanical marvel, clothed in the robes of a Turk, challenges the greatest minds of the nineteenth century to a game of chess, leaving observers to question the boundary between cold clockwork and human intellect.
Elementary Course in Woodwork: Designed for use in high and technical schools, with one hundred and thirty-four illustrations: First Edition
George Alexander Ross
This technical manual offers a systematic, step-by-step introduction to the fundamentals of carpentry and joinery, bridging the gap between basic tool handling and the complexities of professional patternmaking.
The Wonderland of Trinidad
Barber Asphalt Paving Co.
The island of Trinidad holds a natural wonder of such scale that it has fueled global infrastructure for generations. This account reveals how a remote tropical lake of asphalt became a cornerstone of the modern built environment.
Rough and Tumble Engineering
James H. Maggard
Becoming a competent engineer for farm and traction engines is a matter of common sense, vigilance, and practical habits rather than high-minded scientific theory. Mastery comes from understanding the machine through daily, hands-on experience.
Bamboo, Considered as a Paper-making Material: With remarks upon its cultivation and treatment. Supplemented by a consideration of the present position of the paper trade in relation to the supply of raw material
Thomas Routledge
A visionary proposal for solving the Victorian era’s desperate paper shortage, this technical treatise argues that bamboo and sugar-cane waste are the untapped keys to an industrial future.
How to become an inventor
Aaron A. Warford
A hands-on guide for the curious youth, this book offers a practical gateway into the Victorian-era workshop, demystifying the mechanical and scientific wonders of the natural world. It serves as both a manual for amateur engineering and a primer on the foundational laws of physics, chemistry, and optics.
The Future of Road-making in America
Archer Butler Hulbert
The crumbling dirt paths of the early twentieth century were more than mere inconveniences; they were anchors dragging on the prosperity and spirit of the American nation. This collection of essays offers a blueprint for replacing that isolation with a modern, interconnected system of highways.
Remarks on a Pamphlet Lately published by the Rev. Mr. Maskelyne, Under the Authority of the Board of Longitude
John Harrison
A pioneering horologist fights back against institutional neglect and academic arrogance to defend his life's work of measuring time and longitude across the open sea.
Telephone troubles
Edward Mahon Wev
Tracing electrical faults through intricate wiring and stubborn switchboards requires patience, precise testing methods, and a disciplined ear for the subtle clicks of a telephone receiver.
A Pioneer Railway of the West
Maude Ward Lafferty
When workmen unearth a rusted bar of iron in a Kentucky freight yard, a forgotten era of American ingenuity comes rushing back to life.
Boynton bicycle railway system
Boynton Bicycle Railway Company
This technical document outlines the design, development, and purported benefits of a late-19th-century monorail system. It serves as both a manual for potential investors and a spirited argument for revolutionizing the American railroad.