I. Read the text about mechanical engineering and find answers to the following

questions:

1. What is civil engineering?

2. What trend laid the foundation for a new branch of engineering called mechanical engineering?

3. What does mechanical engineering deal with?

The term “engineering” is a modern one. However, the art of building houses, palaces, temples, pyramids and other structures was known as far back as many thousand years ago. Now we call it civil engineering. The former included the building of houses, roads, bridges, etc., the latter - the building of fortifications and military devices. As the time went on the art of civil engineering was enriched with new achievements of science. It grew into a profession that required college training. Nowadays civil engineering may be spoken of as an important branch of national economy. It deals not only with the building of houses, bridges, roads, tunnels, dams, water systems, etc., but also with the construction of railroads, underground railways, industrial structures, land, water and air transport, etc.

It is well known that with the invention of the steam engine and the growth of factories a number of civil engineers became interested in the practical application of the science of mechanics and thermodynamics to the design of machines. The result was that they separated themselves from civil engineering and called themselves “mechanical engineers”. It was that trend that laid the foundation for a new branch of engineering, the one that was called mechanical engineering.

At present mechanical engineering occupies a prominent position. Mechanical engineering deals with the design and construction of steam engines, turbines, refrigerators and air-conditioning devices. Conveyors, escalators and elevators are also designed by mechanical engineers. And again, it is the mechanical engineer that designs machine tools for various operations and it is he who applies these machine-tools for various operations and it is he who applies these machine tools in various production processes.

Mechanical engineering is an engineering discipline that involves the application of principles of physics for analysis, design, manufacturing, and maintenance of mechanical systems. Mechanical engineering is one of the broadest engineering disciplines.

It requires a solid understanding of core concepts including mechanics, kinematics, thermodynamics, fluid mechanics and energy. Mechanical engineers use the core principles as well as other knowledge in the field to design and analyze motor vehicles, aircraft, heating and cooling systems, watercraft, manufacturing plants, industrial equipment and machinery, robotics, medical devices and more.

Text E

I. Read the text about history of mechanical engineering and find answers to the following questions:

1. What influenced mechanics in ancient Greece?

2. Who invented a seismometer?

3. Who was the first to develop an escapement mechanism?

4. What era is called Islamic golden age?

5. What is Islamic golden age famous for?

6. When and where did mechanical engineering become a separate field within engineering?

Applications of mechanical engineering are found in the records of many ancient and medieval societies throughout the globe. In ancient Greece, the works of Archimedes (287 BC–212 BC) and Heron of Alexandria (10–70 AD) deeply influenced mechanics in the Western tradition. In China, Zhang Heng (78–139 AD) improved a water clock and invented a seismometer, and Ma Jun (200–265 AD) invented a chariot with differential gears. The medieval Chinese horologist and engineer Su Song (1020–1101 AD) incorporated an escapement mechanism into his astronomical clock tower two centuries before any escapement could be found in clocks of medieval Europe, as well as the world’s first known endless power-transmitting chain drive.

During the years from 7th to 15th century, the era called islamic golden age, there have been remarkable contributions from muslims in the field of mechanical technology, Al Jaziri, who was one of them, wrote his famous “Book of Knowledge of Ingenious Mechanical Devices” in 1206 presented many mechanical designs. He is also considered to be the inventor of such mechanical devices which now form the very basic of mechanisms, such as crank and camshafts.

During the early 19th century in England and Scotland, the development of machine tools led mechanical engineering to develop as a separate field within engineering, providing manufacturing machines and the engines to power them. The first British professional society of mechanical engineers was formed in 1847 thirty years after civil engineers formed the first such professional society. In the United States, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) was formed in 1880, becoming the third such professional engineering society, after the American Society of Civil Engineers (1852) and the American Institute of Mining Engineers (1871). The first schools in the United States to offer an engineering education were the United States Military Academy in 1817, an institution now known as Norwich University in 1819, and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 1825. Education in mechanical engineering has historically been based on a strong foundation in mathematics and science.

Field of mechanical engineering is normally considered the broadest of all engineering disciplines. Work of mechanical engineering can be seen from the bottom of the oceans to the farthest boundaries of space which man has ever been able to reach.

Text F

Read the text about education of mechanical engineers and find answers to the following questions:

1. What is the main difference in mechanical engineering programs in North and South America?

2. Why are the most undergraduate mechanical engineering programs in the USA accredited by the Accreditation Board of Engineering?

3. What are postgraduate degrees of mechanical engineers?

Degrees in mechanical engineering are offered at universities worldwide. In China, India, and North America, mechanical engineering programs typically take four to five years and result in a Bachelor of Science (BSc), Bachelor of Technology (BTech), Bachelor of Engineering (B.Eng), or Bachelor of Applied Science (B.A.Sc.) degree, in or with emphasis in mechanical engineering. In Spain, Portugal and most of South America, where neither BSc nor BTech programs have been adopted, the formal name for the degree is “Mechanical Engineer”, and the course work is based on five or six years of training.

In the U.S., most undergraduate mechanical engineering programs are accredited by the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET) to ensure similar course requirements and standards among universities. The ABET web site lists 276 accredited mechanical engineering programs as of June 19, 2006. Mechanical engineering programs in Canada are accredited by the Canadian Engineering Accreditation Board (CEAB), and most other countries offering engineering degrees have similar accreditation societies.

Some mechanical engineers go on to pursue a postgraduate degree such as a Master of Engineering, Master of Science, Master of Engineering Management (MEng.Mgt or MEM), a Doctor of Philosophy in engineering (EngD, PhD) or an engineer’s degree. The Master’s and engineer’s degrees may or may not include research. The Doctor of Philosophy includes a significant research component and is often viewed as the entry point to academia.

Part III

I. Make a comment on the quotations given below.

Modern science and techniques have taught mankind at least one lesson:

1. “Nothing is impossible”. Lewis Mumford (American philosopher).

2. “It is only when they go wrong that machines remind you how powerful they are”. Clive James (Australian critic)

II. Answer the following questions:

1. What is an innovation? How do you understand this word?

2. What role do innovations play in our life? Think of some innovations that has had the greatest influence on our life?

III. You are going to read the text about the Industrial revolution. Choose from the list A-E the sentence which best summarizes each part of the text. There is one extra sentence that you do not need to use.

A. It was Louis-Augaste Blanqui who introduced the term “Industrial Revolution” in the 1830s.

B. The greatest innovations of the Industrial Revolution were made in textile industry, iron founding and the invention of a steam engine.

C. It was James Watt who invented the improved steam engine.

D. The Industrial Revolution marked a major turning point in human society: almost every aspect of daily life was eventually influenced in some way.

E The causes of the Industrial Revolution were the increase of a workforce, less labour, intensive production in agriculture, the migration of population to cities, the development of international trade, creation of financial markets, the scientific and technological revolution.

Text A

Industrial Revolution

1. The effects of the Industrial Revolution

The Industrial Revolution was a period in the late 18th and early 19th centuries when major changes in agriculture, manufacturing, production and transportation changes had a profound effect on the socioeconomic and cultural conditions in Britain. The changes subsequently spread throughout Europe, North America, and eventually the world. The Industrial Revolution marked a major turning point in human society; almost every aspect of daily life was eventually influenced in some way.

In the later part of the 1700s there occurred a transition in parts of Great Britain’s previously manual-labour-based economy towards machine-based manufacturing. It started with the mechanisation of the textile industries, the development of iron-making techniques and the increased use of refined coal. Trade expansion was enabled by the introduction of canals, improved roads and railways. The introduction of steam power (fuelled primarily by coal) and powered machinery (mainly in textile manufacturing) brought up the dramatic increases in production capacity. The development of all metal machine tools in the first two decades of the 19th century facilitated the manufacture of more production machines for manufacturing in other industries. The effects spread throughout Western Europe and North America during the 19th century, eventually affecting most of the world. The impact of this change on society was great.

The First Industrial Revolution, which began in the 18th century, merged into the Second Industrial Revolution around 1850, when technological and economic progress gained momentum with the development of steam-powered ships, railways, and later in the 19th century with the internal combustion engine and electrical power generation.

2. The term Industrial Revolution

The term Industrial Revolution applied to technological change was common in the 1830s. Louis-Auguste Blanqui in 1837 spoke of la ré volution industrielle. Friedrich Engels in The Condition of the Working Class in England in 1844 spoke of “an industrial revolution, a revolution which at the same time changed the whole of civil society”.

3. The causes of the Industrial Revolution

The causes of the Industrial Revolution were complicated. The Revolution was an outgrowth of social and institutional changes brought by the end of feudalism in Britain after the English Civil War in the 17th century. As national border controls became more effective, the spread of disease was lessened, thereby preventing the epidemics common in previous times. The percentage of children who lived past infancy rose significantly, leading to a larger workforce.The British Agricultural Revolution made food production more efficient and less labour-intensive, forcing the surplus population who could no longer find employment in agriculture into cottage industry, for example weaving, and in the longer term into the cities and the newly developed factories. The colonial expansion of the 17th century with the accompanying development of international trade, creation of financial markets and accumulation of capital are also cited as factors, as is the scientific revolution of the 17th century.

The presence of a large domestic market should also be considered an important driver of the Industrial Revolution, particularly explaining why it occurred in Britain.

4. The greatest innovations of the Industrial Revolution

The beginning of the Industrial Revolution is closely linked to a small number of innovations, made in the second half of the 18th century. These innovations were made in textile industry, iron founding and the invention of a steam engine.

Text B

Steam power

Read the text about the development of a steam engine and fill in the chart below:

Inventor	Invention	Year of invention
1. James Watt	a) vacuum and pressure water pump	b) the turn of the 19^th century
2. Thomas Savery	c) high pressure non-condensing steam engine	d) 1778
3. Richard Trevithick and Oliver Evans	e) improved steam engine	f) 1698

The improved steam engine invented by James Watt was initially mainly used for pumping out mines, but from the 1780s was applied to power machines. This enabled rapid development of efficient semi-automated factories on a previously unimaginable scale in places where waterpower was not available.

The development of the stationary steam engine was an essential early element of the Industrial Revolution; however, for most of the period of the Industrial Revolution, the majority of industries still relied on wind and water power as well as horse and man-power for driving small machines.

The first real attempt at industrial use of steam power was due to Thomas Savery in 1698. He constructed and patented in London a low-lift combined vacuum and pressure water pump, that generated about one horsepower (hp) and was used as in numerous water works and tried in a few, but it was not a success since it was limited in pumping height and prone to boiler explosions.

A fundamental change in working principles was brought about by James Watt. He had succeeded by 1778 in perfecting his steam engine, which incorporated a series of radical improvements, notably the closing off of the upper part of the cylinder thereby making the low pressure steam drive the top of the piston instead of the atmosphere, use of a steam jacket and the celebrated separate steam condenser chamber. All this meant that a more constant temperature could be maintained in the cylinder and that engine efficiency no longer varied according to atmospheric conditions. These improvements increased engine efficiency by a factor of about five, saving 75% on coal costs.

Nor could the atmospheric engine be easily adapted to drive a rotating wheel, although Wasborough and Pickard did succeed in doing so towards 1780. However by 1783 the more economical Watt steam engine had been fully developed into a double-acting rotative type, which meant that it could be used to directly drive the rotary machinery of a factory or mill. Both of Watt’s basic engine types were commercially very successful, and by 1800, the firm Boulton & Watt had constructed 496 engines, with 164 driving reciprocating pumps, and 308 powering mill machinery; most of the engines generated from 5 to 10 hp (7.5 kW).

The development of machine tools, such as the lathe, planing and shaping machines powered by these engines, enabled all the metal parts of the engines to be easily and accurately cut and in turn made it possible to build larger and more powerful engines.

Until about 1800, the most common pattern of steam engine was the beam engine, built as an integral part of a stone or brick engine-house, but soon various patterns of self-contained portative engines (readily removable, but not on wheels) were developed, such as the table engine. Towards the turn of the 19th century, the Cornish engineer Richard Trevithick, and the American, Oliver Evans began to construct higher pressure non-condensing steam engines, exhausting against the atmosphere. This allowed an engine and boiler to be combined into a single unit compact enough to be used on mobile road and rail locomotives and steam boats.

Unit II

TECHNOLOGICAL PROCESSES

Part I

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