Old engineering & mathmatics stuff...

[3rd_gear_Ted]

Originally Posted by flatbutt

I did my first programming in Fortran. I learned the HARD way that one should number their cards in sequence.

The card format was EBDIC
Extended Binary Coded Decimal Interchange character

[herr_oberst]

Originally Posted by masraum

I've wanted a circular slide rule for years (since I realized they were a thing). My birthday is this month, and they've been on my mind for the past month or two, so I finally got around to buying one.

This will probably be here towards the end of the week.

Heck. I thought you were going to show us your new Curta!!

[Rusty Heap]

Being a retired Electrical Engineer, it's puzzling (and F'in Frustrating) at times how very little little people actually know, understand, and can grasp electrical theory. Yes you have to learn what a Amp Watt and Volt are. People use AC and DC electricity every waking second of their life. Should be basic Jr High schooling.

[cockerpunk]

we had a giant wooden slide rule up in a classroom when i was in college, presumably to be used to teach how to use them.

we took it down one day and tried to figure out how to use it, pre google, and couldnt figure it out.

this was around 2008ish.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by herr_oberst

Heck. I thought you were going to show us your new Curta!!

No, but I did get one of these a while back.

[fanaudical]

I'm glad to see this thread still kicking.

Does anybody here actually have a Curta? Pics if you've got one, please...

And in case anybody cares, Rotring is making the 600 again!:

https://www.rotring.com/pens-pencils/pencils/rotring-600-mechanical-pencil-1/SAP_1904443.html

[herr_oberst]

Have you used the Rotring 600 in 0.5? Is lead breakage a problem? Thats my number one complaint about 0.5 mechanical pencils and I would pay the 25 bucks Rotring is asking for one, if that one problem was solved.

[fanaudical]

I have an old 600 that's been dropped too many times and the tip got bent beyond repair - it just powders lead.

I bought one of the new 600's in 0.5mm a few months ago. It hasn't left my home office desk. I've never dropped it. It doesn't break lead.

[zakthor]

I have a book by a house builder where everything was ‘computed’ using an angle square. It was clear he was clever but also that he literally couldnt do the math. It was an enjoyable read.

Something similar, im too young and have had solvers and speadsheets my entire career. Who does linear algebra by hand? The charm is that it scales and computers can do it.

Matrix math on a handheld is novel but also useless, and serious stuff today the linear algebra is symbolic. Point is it might be possible to build apollo without computers and large screens, but really soon its the process of using inadequate tools that dominates.

I always had an hp on my desk, eventually loved a wp34 for simple stuff, but if it took more than a minute id use a spreadsheet so i could review my work.

With google sheets and automatic cloud storage its become a habit i don’t regret. I wonder how future generations will relate?

[CurtEgerer]

I went to engineering school in the transition period between slide rules, etc. and computers/calculators (late 70s/early 80s). So I never used a slide rule. Here is a cool Texas Instruments Ti 59 I bought at an estate sale. The guy was an engineer for Dow Chemical. Included were several dozen program cards for various things he did. Most are dated 1980. And it all works - even the thermal printer! I was always an HP guy and used similar programmable HP calculators over the years.

[CurtEgerer]

Through about the mid-80s we were still drawing by hand. I started out as a draftsman (ink on mylar).

And remember, they're not pencils, they're lead holders

[herr_oberst]

Originally Posted by CurtEgerer

Through about the mid-80s we were still drawing by hand. I started out as a draftsman (ink on mylar).

And remember, they're not pencils, they're lead holders

Lifetime supply! I still have - and use frequently - my Koh-I-Noor Technograph lead holders and after 40 plus years they still work perfectly.

[CurtEgerer]

Probably in the early 80s I bought a Casio FX-820. At the time, this was about the coolest thing around! I did some programming on it and used it for some hydrology calcs I was doing at the time. I found this NOS one a few years ago.

[CurtEgerer]

In the 70s I spent countless hours using the K&E Leroy lettering system. The title blocks and other major labels were done with this system. Notes and dimensions were done freehand.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by CurtEgerer

I went to engineering school in the transition period between slide rules, etc. and computers/calculators (late 70s/early 80s). So I never used a slide rule. Here is a cool Texas Instruments Ti 59 I bought at an estate sale. The guy was an engineer for Dow Chemical. Included were several dozen program cards for various things he did. Most are dated 1980. And it all works - even the thermal printer! I was always an HP guy and used similar programmable HP calculators over the years.

Very cool!

I had an HP 32SII (RPN). It was killed in a move or storage or something. It looks like they are available out there. I have RPN calc apps on my PC and phone. RPN just makes so much more sense to me, seems super efficient. I've debated getting one of the HPs off of ebay, but I suspect it'd be close to $100 to get one in good working shape, and it would mostly sit around unused.

I had a TI-Voyage 200 for a while. It would solve differential and integration problems.

[mjohnson]

Originally Posted by masraum

Very cool!

I had an HP 32SII (RPN). It was killed in a move or storage or something. It looks like they are available out there...

The successor is the 35something. I "graduated" my 32SII to home use for preservation. The new version has (for all I can tell as a simple user) the same functionality but the physical interface just isn't the same.

[CurtEgerer]

Life before AutoCAD The office I worked in early on was an engineering department at a municipality, about 1/3 this size. Smoking was allowed and we had 2 guys who smoked cheap cigars. It was horrible but that's the way it was.

[masraum]

I think this would fit on the "engineering" side of things. I like to measure things. I used to have a really nice personal weather station (damn, I wish I'd kept it!), I like full gauges in my cars regardless of level of appliance.

I've been able to pick up some stuff to measure things in the last year at really good deals.

I've had the vernier caliper for years. I'm not even sure where I got it, but I'm pretty sure that it was free. I got a Starrett 0-1" micrometer at the same time that's not in the photo. I've got, I think, an old Lufkin 2-3" micrometer in a box somewhere too that I acquired in the past year or two.

When I got the Starrett 12" dial caliper, I realized that I had to get a 6" because a dial caliper is so much easier to read than the vernier. I bought the Sears because I didn't think I'd be able to get a Starrett at a reasonable price, and then bam, 6" Starrett at a reasonable price. And both of the Starretts are "good ones" (made in USA).

I'd never heard of Brown & Sharp, so bought one of those just because. Starrett 0-1" micrometer, just because it was so cheap, came with a standard, and has a patent date from 1897.

I just got the "The Executive Pocket Chum" in the mail today. There have been times when I needed something from the hardware store, but taking the 6" caliper was a pain. The pocket chum (would probably be a very different product with a name like that if it was sold today) will be great for that sort of thing.

[kaufmanp]

Originally Posted by CurtEgerer

Life before AutoCAD The office I worked in early on was an engineering department at a municipality, about 1/3 this size. Smoking was allowed and we had 2 guys who smoked cheap cigars. It was horrible but that's the way it was.

I did similar, internship working at a small materials handling engineering design consultants maybe 10 -15 people.
Even the principal worked on a drawing board, preparing accurate design layouts and calculations, which were all hand done with the aid of a HP calculator maybe.
The inertern or junior engineers would then check the design calculations against the design codes etc. as well learn how to draw. That's the way we learnt our trade, that was mid to late '70s plus plenty of smoke stains on the ceilings.
Now it's a lot, lot different and the drafting tools, engineering software available are at a whole different level.
________________________________
Peter Kaufmann
'04 Subaru WRX modified
'73 Porsche 911e Targa 2.7 mfi
'73 Porsche 911t Coupe 2.8 webers

[CurtEgerer]

^^^ which reminds me of one of the most useful tools: the electric eraser. There were constant revisions to the designs and the need for precision erasing and re-drawing. That was always fun!