How Valid is the Book in Your Library?

Hen,

My most beloved book is my Mechnaical Engineer's Handbook. It is now fallen apart, with one cover off and many pages loose. It was published in 1930. I'm thinking about buying a 1945 or so edition.

I also had one of those (until somebody decided I don't need it) I can't remember the date. It had rope drives, wooden pipes and much much more.

Either out of date due to ownership, or due to the fact that I love a used bookstore

But then mine are not occupational - I work in software efforts, and I collect things like this:

I've noticed that road construction around here has advanced quite a bit over the last 40 years. I ran a scraper (large earth mover with an engine in front and back with a 50 cu. yd. pan in the middle) 40 something years ago, and even on compacted fill dirt, we only put down 6" - 8" of #2 gravel before applying 3" - 4" of asphalt.

Now it seems that 12" - 18" of gravel is used when the soil load bearing capacity is good, according to former practices, but now is not good enough for current standard practices. Of course, I'm talking about grinding up old roads and refurbishing/rebuilding them.

I guess old standards are just that -- old standards.

Today's roads carry heavier traffic and loads than what they used to. Forty years ago you hardly saw a semi pulling 2 trailers. Sometimes you'll see one during the day, and at night you'll see a few with 3 trailers. The Tuner Turnpike between Oklahoma City and Tulsa is always being rebuilt. They'll start at the OKC end, and work their way towards Tulsa. When they get to this end, they have to start over at the other end.

The new standards for roads probably follow the same principles as the old standards: so much depth of the road bed required for a given load averaged over a given period of time.

I don't have many old books relating to technology, engineering or science. I did hang on to my physics and meteorology texts from community college. I think the oldest books I have are a primer on BASIC and a ham radio test study manual, both from the late 1970's.

What's a library?

Look it up in your Funk & Wagnell's!

I have an Estimators Guide from the 1930s that still works today insofar as labor hours are concerend. The material price is surpisingly accurate given inflation etc.. I also have Audens' 4 book series that I would not be without. My Dad had a concrete home study course that is a bit above common knowledge. ( Mud pies don"t change much) Lost but not forgotten was an 1880s treatise on pitfalls one could encounter.

"Here, there is Wisdom"

We used to have three sets of encyclopedias in my old family's house from the 1960's: American People's Encyclopedia, Book of Knowledge, and Book of Science.

Men had not landed on the moon but there were lots of ideas on how it might be done; there were a facts from history that were later proven wrong; predictions about the future that were far off the mark.

Dad decided to donate them to a public high school near our home a few years ago. I said that the books were outdated and probably shouldn't be given away because it might be teaching the wrong things.

But, looking back, it gave an insight to how people in the 1960's saw things in that era and can serve as a comparison for today. Outdated but still useful but read carefully before accepting anything from them.

regards,

Vulcan

My oldest "reference" book is the 1918 SAE Handbook. Interesting to look at the auto practices of the time, but it has been a while since I've browsed through it. At work I did use a 1928 bridge book as a historic ref. for a drive on a 1919 movable bridge, to get an idea why they designed things the way they did in the "good old" days. I also had a 1940's vintage insulation handbook that discussed the relative advantages of horsehair, cork, and asbestos insulation.

Some of the older books are handy when dealing with older buildings and eqipment. And fun to browse through for historical perspective.

My cousin is a librarian in Long Beach, CA.

She says there is always competition from new titles for the shelf space in the library similar to those in the grocery store. She stated that old reference books were easy targets for replacement since "the facts contained in them were no longer true". However, she was always surprised that these books were among the first to be purchased at the annual used book sale!

Seems as if old reference books have special lives like Jellicle Cats.

Hello Hendrik,

"The roads department are doubling the road passing about 100m from my house and of course I am acting as a road inspector."

Would that be Jean Avenue (M 34), Leonie Street or Louise Street? I'm betting on Jean Ave.

The Casagrande soil classification is still in use today, so your book is still valid. My book is "Fundamentals of Soil Mechanics" by Donald W. Taylor, Associate Professor of Soil Mechanics at M.I.T. published in 1948. My copy is the sixth printing, dated September 1952. It also contains the Casagrande Soil Classification for Airport Projects.

Some things never change.

Hi ba/ael

Indeed Jean Avenue (M 34). Are you familiar with the area?

It is for the additional traffic from the South east of Pretoria to the Gautrain station.

Our dolomite soil is really bad, The chalk humps dissolve over time and cavities are formed just below the surface resulting in sinkholes. (up to 80m deep),

The train will be running through our area on stilts with piling going down to solid (dolomite) bedrock 40 to 80 m deep.

The book may be valid but the equipment is outdated.

Hi Hendrik,

Only as familiar as Google Earth permits.

Seems like a very expensive railway with such deep piles but I guess you can't afford to have trains falling into eighty meter deep sinkholes.

I hope you don't fall into an eighty meter deep sinkhole...or even an eight meter deep sinkhole. Scary stuff!

"Railway Junction Theory and Practice", by C.F. Wethmath, published in 1917. The mathematics is as applicable today as it ever was, even if no-one uses 9ft straight switches in bullhead rail any more.

A 1947 copy of "The Chemical Engineer's Handbook" by Perry makes interesting reading.

"The theory of heat engines" about 1936.....

Charity bookshops are a recommended source of invaluable material. A crisp "Kempe's Engineer's Yearbook 1990" for £2GBP?!

There are several others.