Greatest Engineering Achievements of the 20th Century

Image from website

At the end of the year I like to gather information about the year's "greatest" inventions and innovations, and focus on those that are from the engineering fields of my students.

Last year I wrote about the top 5 finalists of the Engadget Insert Coin Competition (Posts from 29 December 2013 to 27 January 2014). The year before I wrote about Time magazine's "Best Inventions of the Year" (24 December 2012), which they publish every year in December.

This year, I decided to use information from a website created by the National Academy of Engineering (NAE), which has listed - and given information for - their choices for the 20 greatest engineering achievements of the 20th century.

The website: http://www.greatachievements.org/

The information is based on the book, A Century of Innovation: Twenty Engineering Achievements That Transformed Our Lives, by George Constable and Bob Somerville (2003).

Students can first brainstorm what they think the twenty greatest achievements were, and can discuss their choices. Many - if not most - of their choices will certainly be on the NAE's list.

These achievements are:

1. Electrification
2. Automobile
3. Airplane
4. Water supply and distribution
5. Electronics
6. Radio and Television
7. Agricultural mechanization
8. Computers
9. Telephone
10. Air conditioning and refrigeration
11. Highways
12. Spacecraft
13. Internet
14. Imaging
15. Household appliances
16. Health technologies
17. Petroleum and petrochemical technologies
18. Laser and fiber optics
19. Nuclear technologies
20. High-performance materials

For each achievement, there is a Timeline spanning the development from invention to present day, separate sections of information about the achievement, and an Essay written by an engineer from the field of achievement.

This last resource is particularly useful for students, since the essays can serve as models for students' own writing: about the history of an innovation, the impacts of the innovation, or as an overview of an innovation in their engineering field.

The material on the website is also very useful for reading skills, since students will certainly be motivated to read about an achievement of their choice.

Animated Engines

The Two Stroke Engine

In my last post I wrote about the website 507 Mechanical Movements, created and maintained by Matt Keveney.

He has also created a related website, Animated Engines, which is just as interesting and especially useful for engineering students.

The website: http://www.animatedengines.com




The Home page has 21 engines:

• Four Stroke
• Diesel
• Two Stroke
• Wankel 
• Atkinson 
• Gnome Rotary 
• Jet Propulsion 
• Steam Locomotive 
• Oscillating Steam 
• CO2 Motor 
• Coomber 
• Crank Substitute 
• Revolving Cylinder 
• Watt Beam 
• Grasshopper Beam 
• Unknown Beam 
• Newcomen Atmospheric 
• Two Cylinder Stirling 
• Single Cylinder Stirling 
• Ross Yoke Stirling 
• Low Differential Stirling

Each illustration leads to a separate page on which the engine is animated (in color), with an insert to control the speed of the animation, or to stop it. What is particularly useful (in addition to the animation itself) is further explanation of how the engine works.

For example, the Two Stroke Engine page first has the explanation, "The two stroke engine employs both the crankcase and the cylinder to achieve all the elements of the Otto cycle in only two strokes of the piston." Then separate aspects are explained and illustrated:

• intake
• crankcase compression
• transfer/exhaust
• compression
• power

Each of these aspects has a short description. For example, for intake:

"The fuel/air mixture is first drawn into the crankcase by the vacuum that is created during the upward stroke of the piston. The illustrated engine features a poppet intake valve; however, many engines use a rotary valve incorporated into the crankshaft."

In this short extract, there is the use of the passive (is first drawn into; the vacuum that is created), linking (first; during; however), topic-related technical vocabulary (fuel/air mixture; crankcase; vacuum; upward stroke; piston; poppet intake valve; rotary; crankshaft), and useful collocations (drawn into; vacuum created; upward stroke; incorporated into).

The entire explanation for this one engine is, of course, even more useful for engineering students as a model example of a process description that they can emulate in their own writing or presentations.

In addition to the engines, the website has a "How To" section in which Mr. Keveney explains how he makes these animations. Although he warns that, "What follows is only an outline. Please understand that this is not a complete tutorial," his explanation is in itself a useful process description (with step-by-step illustrations). Students who are interested in knowing more about how the animations are created can sign up for an update to be notified when Matt Keveney documents this technique.

507 Mechanical Movements - animated

A page from the book on the website

The homepage of the website 507 Mechanical Movements explains that "This is an online edition of the classic technical reference "Five Hundred and Seven Mechanical Movements" by Henry T. Brown.

This site contains the original illustrations and text from the 21st edition of the book, published in 1908. It also includes animated versions of the illustrations, and occasional notes by the webmaster."

The webmaster is Matt Keveney, who has developed the animated versions of the illustrated movements, and is still working on them. The website says that the "animated versions are not yet complete." The ones that are complete are in color. Visitors to the site can follow the developments by subscribing to the website.

Link to website: http://507movements.com/

This seems like a great resource for mechanical engineering students, as well as students of other engineering disciplines. I myself found the movement of the images hypnotic. There is a certain beauty in the precision of the movements.

Underneath each image is a short description of the movement and how it works. These short texts provide a model description of the movement shown, and could help students describe the features of machines that incorporate these movements. The specific vocabulary of movements is also very useful.

For example, these are the descriptions of two of the movements (I chose them because I found them particularly lovely to watch!):

• #123 (substitutes for the crank): Intended as a substitute for the crank. Reciprocating rectilinear motion of the double rack gives a continuous rotary motion to the center gear. The teeth on the rack act upon those of the two semi-circular toothed sectors, and the spur-gears attached to the sectors operate upon the center gear. The two stops on the rack shown by dotted lines are caught by the curved piece on the center gear, and lead the toothed sectors alternately into gear with the double rack.

•  #145 (cranks): Reciprocating curvilinear motion of the beam gives a continuous rotary motion to the crank and fly-wheel. The small standard at the right, to which is attached one end of the lever with which the beam is connected by the connecting-rod, has a horizontal reciprocating rectilinear movement.

There is an alphabetical index of the movements, as well as "thumbnails," which show 9 related movements on one page. A user can also move through the images one by one.

I plan to recommend this website to my students in preparation for their process description presentations, and also because I think they'll enjoy it as much as I do!

Two-year anniversary of this blog

It's now been 2 years since I started this blog (on November 30, 2012) and the reasons I started it are still valid today. Here are 3 reasons I mention in the About this blog section:

(1)  There are many textbooks available for engineering students learning English, but it's difficult to find one with material specifically focused on my students' particular technical areas.

(2)  Much of the language material on the web seems to focus on grammar and vocabulary skills in general, rather than the kind of language features my students encounter in their technical reading and writing.

(3)  I want to share the material I find with other English teachers who are working with students in technical areas, and to give those teachers a place to contribute what they find useful.

It is still difficult to find published material that is relevant for specific technical areas -- I think this is a major issue for ESP teachers in general.

And I still work with more than the "grammar and vocabulary" areas in the classroom, and when I do focus on language skills, I try to connect them to my students' specific engineering areas.

But over the past 2 years, I have started teaching in more engineering areas.

I started teaching ESP (as distinct from EAP - English for Academic Purposes) with classes for students of electronics engineering and of computer science. Then I had groups in mechatronics and robotics engineering and in biomedical engineering. When I started this blog, those were the groups I focused on.

Since then I have also been teaching students of international business engineering and of mechanical engineering. And in each of these areas, the levels have ranged from low-intermediate to advanced.

So my interest in finding relevant articles, videos, websites and other material that will engage my students keeps expanding.

It would be interesting to get input from readers of this blog to find out what areas of engineering your students are studying, and what kind of material you find most useful.

The ethics of robots

Isaac Asimov, a professor of biochemistry and a prolific author of science fiction and science books, introduced what is known as "The Three Laws of Robotics" in his short story "Runaround" - the first story in the collection I, Robot, 1942. The three laws are:

1. A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
2. A robot must obey the orders given to it by human beings, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
3. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.

He added another law, which precedes the first three:

0. A robot may not harm humanity or, by inaction, allow humanity to come to harm.

Today robots of all kinds are part of business, manufacturing, medical care, and almost all areas of society, so having a focus on ethical guidelines is even more important than when Asimov wrote his stories.

The problem with these laws today, however, is that they focus on the behavior of the robot -- instead of the behavior of the robotics engineer.

In considering the ethics of robots and robotics, there must also be a focus on the laws that are in place to ensure ethical behavior on the part of the engineers designing and building robots. However, it seems that laws have not yet advanced to the level of the robotics systems being built.

These considerations are the focus of a talk called "Robotics and the Law," given by Kate Darling, a Research Specialist at the MIT Media Lab. The talk is part of the Lightning Presentations available on FORA-TV.

The video (7:14): http://fora.tv/2013/11/20/Lightning_Presentations_Round_2

I wrote about FORA-TV in my blog of 3 November 2013 ("Great source of videos for the classroom") as an excellent source of short videos about many technical and engineering topics - as well as other topic areas.

The areas she focuses on in the video, which she calls the 3 issues, are:

• safety
• privacy
• social issues

In class discussions about this talk, my students have agreed that these three issues are also relevant to all the areas of engineering they could think of. So there's a lot of material here for the classroom.

Kate Darling

Kate Darling is an extremely interesting speaker - not only is she lively and well-spoken, but she is also passionate about her topic. And it shows. On the website "about.me," her description heading is: Mistress of Machines. Robot Ethics. Intellectual Property.

The description of her says:

"Research Specialist at MIT Media Lab. Fellow at the Harvard Berkman Center for Internet & Society and the Yale Information Society Project. Survived law school. Holds a doctorate in sciences. Passionate about the near-term societal impact of robotic technology, rethinking copyright and patent law, and caffeinated beverages."

http://about.me/katedarling

My students love this description, since it makes her sound very human, and very interesting.

World-changing ideas summit

"Imagination is more important than knowledge." - Albert Einstein

If we agree with Einstein, then the presentations at this summit will certainly serve as inspiration to students in any engineering area. On October 21, 2014 BBC Future presented "the first-ever World-Changing Ideas Summit, which will showcase the power of bringing forward-thinking leaders together to build a better tomorrow. Big ideas and major challenges in science, technology and health will be discussed by top minds."

Event website: http://www.worldchangingideassummit.com/

BBC Future website page with article announcing the summit:
http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20140917-ideas-that-will-change-the-world

The talks presented at the summit were filmed, and a number of them are now available on the BBC Future website: http://www.bbc.com/future/columns/world-changing-ideas

The talks available so far cover a wide variety of interests and engineering areas, and would probably appeal to most students.

1)  Everybody spies, or nobody does (5:19) - Bruce Schneier, Security Technologist & Chief Technical Officer, Co3 Systems Inc. He talks about why we need to choose between security and surveillance, saying that we can only build technologies that are secure for all users, or are vulnerable to all attackers.

2)  The future of the internet (18:50) - Julius Genachowski, former Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission and current Managing Director and partner at The Carlyle Group. He discusses what the future of the internet is: dark web, regulation, privacy ...?

3)  Is a robot world good for us? (17:54) - Kate Darling of MIT, Heather Knight of Carnegie Mellon Robotics Institute, Andrea Thomaz of Georgia Institute of Technology, and Fernando Orellana of Union College discuss the question of how we will relate to tomorrow's robots.

4)  Empowering the next generation of world-changing ideas (19:33) - Alfred Spector, Google's Vice-President of Research. He discusses the benefits of schooling fuelled by technology, and asks: In a world where information is all around us, how do we educate the next generation of innovators?

5)  Can Tech create a new Renaissance? (8:15) - Alexis Ohanian, Reddit founder, describes the internet's next big trend, citing everything from "To Kill a Mockingbird" to lolcats.

6)  Why colonize other planets? (6:44) - Jeffrey Hoffman, a retired astronaut who spent more than 50 days in orbit on NASA missions. He discusses the challenges facing space colonists.

7)  Why everybody needs a drone (9:07) - Mary "Missy" Cummings, former fighter pilot and current Director of Humans and Autonomy Laboratory, Duke University. Could drones allow us all to become pilots? Missy Cummings says they are a vital step that brings us closer to a world with flying cars.

8)  Just because we can live longer doesn't mean we should (24:35) - Ezekiel Emanuel, physician and bioethicist. He doesn't want to live past 75, and explains why he thinks extending later life is wrong.

The presentations are of varying lengths, but each one is presented clearly, with relevant visuals. Students can either choose which one they want to watch on their own - and report the information to the group - or choose one to watch together as a basis for discussion.

History of air conditioning

Willis H. Carrier (photo from ASME webiste)

In my last post, I wrote about the website of ASME - the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. It's a good source of material for many areas of engineering, but now that I'm teaching new groups of mechanical engineering students, I thought it would be a good idea to look through this website for specific texts that would be both interesting and relevant for them.

The article I've chosen is Global Cooling: The History of Air Conditioning.

The article: https://www.asme.org/engineering-topics/articles/technology-and-society/global-cooling-the-history-of-air-conditioning 

In the article it states, "In 2000, air conditioning/refrigeration was named among the 10 greatest mechanical engineering achievements of the 20th century, according to a survey of ASME members."

Students can brainstorm what they think the other 9 achievements are. (Answers: automobile, the Apollo mission to the Moon, power generation, agricultural mechanization, aeroplane (sic), the mass production of integrated circuits, CAD and CAM, bioengineering, and codes and standards.)

The text is a good example for students to use as a model of an essay explaining what the achievement is and why it is "great."

The organization is very clear: there's an introduction mentioning what it is and what it does; then a short note of the historical roots of the achievement; then "the first modern air conditioner" - who invented it, when, why and how; then how today's air conditioners have been updated and improved; and finally, plans for future innovations for the air conditioner. The end of the text (conclusion) summarizes the impact of the air conditioner: how it has changed "the quality of life in America and the industrialized world" and "played a major role in migration patterns and economic development in the U.S., allowing millions of people to live and work and establish businesses in locations known for their hot and steamy climates."

Students can brainstorm further impacts of air conditioning and refrigeration on society, the economy and technology. (See also the reference to the Infographic at the end of this post.) They could also use this text as a model for writing their own text about one of the other achievements in mechanical engineering of the 20th century that they brainstormed.

Students can also be guided to focus on the short technical descriptions of the various developments in innovations of air conditioning. For example:

• Borrowing from the concepts of mechanical refrigeration established in earlier years, Carrier’s system sent air through coils filled with cold water, cooling the air while at the same time removing moisture to control room humidity.
• In 1933, the Carrier Air Conditioning Company of America developed an air conditioner using a belt-driven condensing unit and associated blower, mechanical controls, and evaporator coil, and this device became the model in the growing U.S. marketplace for air-cooling systems.
• Today’s air conditioners, while operating on the same fundamental science as Carrier’s 1933 system, incorporate advancements in vapor compression, diagnostics and controls, electronic sensors, materials, and energy efficiency. Carrier’s new top-of-the line central air conditioner, the Infinity, is far different than the founder’s early models, featuring advanced components including a two-stage scroll compressor for quieter, more energy-efficient performance.
• In the next wave of technology development, Ingersoll Rand and other manufacturers will advance smart technologies to interface their systems with the national electric grid, allowing units to be regulated according to geography and changing weather conditions. Grid interoperability could push air-conditioning research down the pathway of fully variable speed systems, further reducing energy consumption.

Language work

The language of the text itself is also useful for focused work on collocations, adverbs, relative clauses, compound adjectives, linking/transition words, and a variety of verb tenses.

Collocations with energy / efficiency:

• energy efficiency
• energy-efficient performance
• energy efficiency standards
• minimum efficiency standards
• reduce energy consumption
• Seasonal Energy Efficiency Ratio (SEER)
• energy cost savings
• reduce energy usage
• reducing home energy consumption
• energy-efficient home

Adverb-verb collocations (and one adverb-adjective collocation):

• a manually powered rotary fan
• systems have progressively increased
• adjust home temperatures remotely by computer
• manufacturers have successfully increased
• the pathway of fully variable speed systems

Relative clauses (both restrictive and non-restrictive):

• These comfort units that homeowners activate ...
• ... has roots in second century China, where an inventor named ...
• ... Benjamin Franklin, who in 1758 conducted experiments ...
• ... Willis Haviland Carrier, a skilled engineer who began experimenting ...
• ... at Ingersoll Rand, Davidson, NC, which markets the popular ...
• ... control kits that automate the operation ...

Use of hyphens for compound adjectives: 

• a belt-driven condensing unit
• air-cooling systems
• new top-of-the-line central air conditioner
• a two-stage scroll compressor
• more energy-efficient performance
• air-conditioning systems
• web-enabled cell phones
• high-end models
• microprocessor-based diagnostic and control kits
• air-flow system
• off-site computers
• e-mail alerts
• energy-efficient home

Linking/transition words:

• as
• according to
• also 
• while at the same time
• the same ... as
• different than
• including
• particularly
• like
• in addition to
• further aiding
• further reducing
• while
• even

Verb tenses used:

• future with will
• present simple
• past simple
• present progressive
• present perfect progressive
• present perfect
• (use of gerunds)

The sentences with these tenses are good examples of the use of the tense in order to explain to students why these tenses are used.

For an interesting, colorful Infographic ("Air Conditioning Facts & History"), see the website of The Air Conditioning Company:

http://www.airconco.com/air_conditioning_facts/ 

The Infographic includes "Top 10 Fun Facts," which lists various other impacts of air conditioning.