Engineering Education
by
Apprenticeship
To the extent that you can
separate
engineering from mechanics, the profession grew slowly at first:
- 1850 512 engineers in
the
United
States
- 1880: 8,261
- 1900: 45,000
- 1930: 230,000
- 1985: over 1.5 million
Civil Engineering:
With a couple of exceptions
developed
to meet military needs, there were no engineering schools until the
1860s.
- Engineering was
learned by
apprenticeship,
and there was not a clear distinction between an engineer and a
mechanic.
Most engineers were entrepreneurs, not employees of larger businesses
(there
weren't yet any large businesses except the railroads
- Bridges were built by
the
local
carpenter, and the canals built for water-powered grain mills or to
carry
boats short distances around rapids did not use much technology. They
were
often built with local businessmen or civic leaders (the first canal on
the Merrimack at Amoskeag was build by a judge of common pleas) who had
no experience.
image
source
First major project initiated
was
the Middlesex canal--27
miles joining the Charles River with the junction
of the Concord and Merrimack, with 20 locks, 8 aqueducts, and 48
bridges. Map
, History, Visitor Center
- Chartered in
1793 by
Boston
merchants who wanted to bring more trade through Boston.
Director: Loammi
Baldwin, a retired colonel who dabbled in cabinetmaking,
surveying
and experimentation and had a Harvard-education in Latin and Greek.
- A local surveyor and
magistrate,
Samuel Thompson, set out to survey the route, using a compass, his eye,
and his best judgment. In one 6 mile stretch he measured the
route
with a rise of 16 1/2 feet. A later survey turned up a descent of
25 feet.
- You can't build a
major
canal without
specialized knowledge
- They had only simple
tools: axes,
hoes, shovels, mattocks, crowbars, scythes, and pitchforks, cold
chisels
for cutting stone.
- They did not know
how to
excavate
efficiently, how to seal the canal so that it would not leak, or what
was
the best shape for retaining walls and the best material for locks.
- They did not know
how to
make mortar
that would hold under water or how to design the machinery to open and
close the valve gates of the locks.
- They needed an expert.
In
1793 they hired William Weston, an experienced Englishman who had
recently
come to America to supervise the construction of a canal in
Philadelphia.
- He agreed to come to
Boston in the
summer of 1794 because the Philadelphia project had run out of
money.
For six weeks work and travel time he was paid $2107.60.
- sent in advance the
key
instruments--a
spade, an improved wheelbarrow, and his own leveling instrument
-
- The wheelbarrow got
lost
in transit,
and no one could figure out how to use the leveling instrument until
Weston
arrived himself.
- When he arrived he did
the
necessary
surveying and taught the locals how to solve their problems--taught
them
the specialized knowledge of canal engineers
- sealing the canal by
puddling with
clay in many thin layers
- he arranged for
machinery for the
lock gates to be cast in a foundry in New York from molds he made
himself
- The Middlesex canal
was
finally
successfully completed in 1803 at a total cost of $1,164,200. It
was a moderate financial success, but, more important, the investors
profited
by increased trade through Boston. "The trip to New Hampshire
took
five days, and passage back to Charlestown took four days, and while
the
cost of carrying goods from Boston by a team of oxen was $20 per ton,
the
rate of boating freight on the canal cost from $5 to $13." (
source
)
- Three people who
worked
with Weston
went on the be successful canal engineers--Loammi Baldwin's son Loammi
Baldwin Jr., Benjamin Wright, and Robert Brooke
Middlesex
Canal
image
credit
A similar story could be told
about
the Erie canal. Erie
Canal History
- Planning for the Erie
canal began
about 1804, construction authorized in 1816 after much unskilled study.
- Completed in 1825--at
363
miles
the longest canal in the world.
- Also a major source of
engineering
training--by
1825 all but one principal engineer had worked their way up in the
canal
system and at least 11 of the 24 principal engineers went on to other
engineering
work.
Oliver Evans
Flour Mill
Mechanical Engineering
- the first American
factories were
built by British millwrights who came over to make their fortune
despite
laws prohibiting export of machines or emmigration of machine-builders.
- Shortly after 1800 the
itinerant
machine-builder began to give way to businesses that did something more
like engineering.
- Around 1810
businesses
began to
be set up to repair and build steam engines, particularly for steam
boats.
- Between 1814 and
1825
some textile
factories got into the business of building
machines for others as well
- starting about 1825
successful machine
builders began to establish their own businesses.
- These were often
very
unspecialized
before 1860, making all sorts of heavy and light machinery in the same
shop.
- But they were also
interested in
innovation--their owners were inventors and engineers and entrepreneurs
all at the same time, and they constantly sought to improve the
machines
they built. They turned to science and began to develop
engineering
theory to provide the background they needed for new designs.
- the engineers who had
trained this
way resented the development of engineering schools--they felt schools
would make it too easy to become an engineer and that engineers must
know
how to make the things they designed.
- By the 1850s some
engineers were
worried about professional status. The machine shop owners were
not--they
often came from the social elite and they had the status of owning
their
own business. They tended to scorn school-educated engineers: in
1876 Ashbel Welch said "Time was there was some truth in the saying,
that
the stability of a structure was inversely as the science of the
builder." (Florman p. 46)
- But the engineers who
worked for
railroads found themselves treated as mechanics, and they sought to
establish
their status by drawing a line between the mechanic and the
engineer.
They argued that the railroads needed the benefit of well-trained
engineers
with scientific knowledge. They started the move towards
professional
organization with the establishment of a Mechanical Engineering section
in The Railroad Journal starting in 1853 (the American Society
of Mechanical Engineers was founded in
1880).
What are the advantages and
disadvantages of learning by apprenticeship?
What is the role of science
in apprenticeship education?
Keep in mind that specialized
knowledge is not necessarily scientific knowledge
- why does Florman say
the
courtship
between science and technology was stormy?
- when does the marriage
take place?
Why?
This page written and copywrite Pamela
E. Mack
last updated 8/30/05