This Victorian-era handbook for civil engineers presents sketches and brief descriptions of more than 1,900 mechanical devices. Contents include gears of all kinds, chains and links, cranes, cutting tools, pumps, water wheels, turbines, and much more — all the elements of the increasingly sophisticated industrial and mechanical world of the late 19th century.
Originally published in 1890 as
The Engineers'
Sketch Book of Mechanical Movements, Devices, Appliances, Contrivances, and Details
, this volume was "classified and arranged for reference for the use of engineers, mechanical draughtsmen, managers, mechanics, inventors, patent agents, and all engaged in the mechanical arts." Today it retains its appeal for historians of science, tinkerers, and all enthusiasts of old machinery.