Found on sale last Saturday (2011Jul02)

[drawoh]

I was searching through Curries in Mississauga for a lead holder to replace the old one I had just broken, and I found something that will interest some of the older engineers.

Historically, these were used to work out the resizing factor of artwork to be printed in newspapers and magazines. I thought all of this stuff was being done on computers nowadays. I guess there must be a few hard core traditionalists out there.

This is the best I can do with my cellphone.

JHG

 

[ewh]

I have a pair of proportional dividers that saw much use when having to work from copies with no known scale. I would find a feature that I knew the size of and go from there.

"Good to know you got shoes to wear when you find the floor." - [small]Robert Hunter[/small]

 

[dhengr]

I’ve used a proportional dividers before, but I often do something slightly different these days. Find something with a dimension on it, or something I know the size of, as Ewh suggests; then using an engineers scale, on an/on the incline btwn. the two dimension lines, I divide this into 10ths, 12ths, or 16ths; and draw parallel lines through these marks; and I have my own proper scale for whatever the funny scale of the copy or print is. The 10ths might be 10ths of an inch or foot; the 12ths might be inches per foot when the dimension I divided into 12ths was one foot.

 

[zelgar]

I think a lot of modelers still use these (e.g., for toy rail-road sets, model cars) and for games (e.g., war games, role playing games).

 

[msquared48]

Ever run across a Planimeter in the last few years?

Mike McCann
MMC Engineering

 

[berkshire]

msquared48
The last time I used one of these was 1963.
Just for kicks and grins, I did a google search,and behold about 30 of them showed up on eBay in the vintage and antiques section.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Antique-Vintage...553?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2a12156d49

B.E.

The good engineer does not need to memorize every formula; he just needs to know where he can find them when he needs them. Old professor

 

[msquared48]

I think the last time I did was in '69 or '70. I was generating reservoir area-volume curves and man was it handy. I learned to add and subtract then!

Mike McCann
MMC Engineering

 

[berkshire]

msquared48
You have to admit that they were a lot quicker than using mid-ordinate rule or simpsons.
B.E.

The good engineer does not need to memorize every formula; he just needs to know where he can find them when he needs them. Old professor

 

[drawoh]

msquared48,

I used a planimeter for analyzing PV curves, while engine testing in college. That was quite a lot time ago.

JHG

 

[Compositepro]

And if you didn't have a planimeter, you could use scissors to cut out your area and weigh the paper.

 

[Debaser]

Woah...for a while there I thought I'd joined the pipe and slippers brigade, sitting in their Bath chairs, what with this misty-eyed talk of planimeters.

Fortunately I was thinking of the bright, shiny and cutting-edge electronic planimeters;

http://www.aaisurvey.com/zen1/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=280_282

 

[msquared48]

Debaser:

Obviously, you are not in command of "the force"...

The knowledge of the physics of the planimeter will put you on a different plane of the universe.

Mike McCann
MMC Engineering

 

[jmw]

Pantographs..... the last one I saw looked like it had been built by someone who loved castings and hammerite paint finishes.

It would reluctantly be lent out by the chief engineers and otherwise kept in its wooden case, under lock and key.

Not sure I like the modern plastic stuff on e-bay.

JMW

http://www.ViscoAnalyser.com

 

[moon161]

Exactly, used one to calculate % photo & artwork enlargement at a student paper. Artwork would be shot to B&W lith or 4 color separation by a repro camera at the printers. They went digital, I'm sure not too long after I left.

 

[bridgebuster]

I have a lot of engineering relics at home: proportional divider, pantograph, planimeter, highway curves, truck turning templates, ruling pens, electric eraser, etc.

Does anyone remember the Ames lettering guide?

 

[jmw]

Letraset.
I have stacks of the stuff mouldering away somewhere.

Sticky tape of various widths and sticky circles with holes so you can lay out PCBs.



JMW

http://www.ViscoAnalyser.com

 

[KENAT]

I suspect a lot of us have 'engineering relics at home' - just look in the mirror.;-)

Posting guidelines faq731-376

http://eng-tips.com/market.cfm?

(probably not aimed specifically at you)
What is Engineering anyway: faq1088-1484​

 

[drawoh]

bridgebuster,

I saw a pantograph is a graphics catalogue recently, possibly from the aforementioned Curries.

I don't know where my Ames lettering guide is.

JHG

 

[bridgebuster]

"I suspect a lot of us have 'engineering relics at home' - just look in the mirror"

Looks like we're showing our age :-(

A few years ago one of the younger engineers asked me "do you have one of those things that measures angles?"

 

[trainguy]

And I thought pantographs were that thing on electric trains and trams that contacts the overhead catenary...

tg