HVAC and The Slide Rule..!!

[screwed]

HVAC and The Slide Rule..!!

Just recently, we had to undertake a site visit as part of a HVAC bidding pre-qualification exercise. In all, there were six company representatives, including ourselves. At this stage, I must admit that I am getting a little long in the tooth at 56 next birthday, but when you own the company who cares….!!

Normally, one of our engineers would have undertaken this task, however, he was off sick, and I was the only person available. (Our company consists of 17 employees).

On the way out of the office, I picked up a laminated psychometric chart, marker pen, pencil, notebook, and my companion of the last 32 years, a Keuffel & Esser Decilon 10 inch slide rule.

So there I was in the pre-qualification meeting, surrounded by the commercial young guns in their late twenties and early thirties, business suits, palm pilots, PDA’s, MBA’s, laptops, and cell phones etc… There was talk of business synergies, corporate values, environmental stewardship, goals and objectives, and payback models..etc..etc..etc.

About 10 minutes into the meeting, the corporate engineer arrived, and dropped the bombshell, we would all accompany him on an unscheduled plant visit, where we would examine the locations and equipment in question, and he would explain their technical concerns first hand.

All of the young guns (to a man) were relying on laptops and PDA’s, none had a simple spiral bound notebook or pencil with them!!

I supplied each of them with a sheet of paper from my notepad, and the corporate engineer (customer) managed to rustle up a couple of pencils for those devoid of any legacy writing device at all!! (Pencil or Ball Pen).

For us the tour went very well, and we reconvened in the customers conference room about 45 minutes later.

Owing to the customers perceived urgency of the situation (customer perception of events and requirements are hugely important), they needed a ballpark estimation concerning the magnitude of airflow volumes, the cooling capacity required in tons of refrigeration, equipment sizing, and the electrical load impact in terms of both active and reactive current and power.

To say that there was a great wailing and gnashing of teeth from the assembled suits would have been a massive understatement!! With excuses ranging from, no available software installed on the various PDA’s, laptops etc., one suit even tried to engage the corporate engineer in a cell phone conversation with one of HIS engineers some 100 miles away.

While this was going on, I removed the psychometric chart etc from by brief case, lastly taking removing the Decilon from its scabbard, and placing it along with the rest of the items on the conference table.

The corporate engineer (customer) who was about 4-5 years younger than me at about 50-51 I guess, and his reaction was one of disbelief, “Is that a K&E slip stick?”

I handed the Decilon to him. Evidently, he had owned one during his college and university years, but had not seen a slide rule for the last twenty years or so.

Anyway, we worked through the customers technical concerns in about 10 minutes, using a standard psychometric chart, slide rule, notebook and pencil.

The slide rule and psychometric chart calculations had a massively intimidating impact upon the suits, which were adrift without their “Software” or pre-programmed graphing calculators.

Looking back on this turn of events, I now know how Arthur must have felt when he withdrew Excalibur from the stone. I had the same feeling as I pulled the Decilon from is scabbard during that meeting.

In closing, were we lucky…???? Sure we were, things may have turned out different if the customers corporate engineer had not turned up unexpectedly.

Anyway next week, we are up for pre contract discussions with the client, and Max, the corporate engineer is on his way to buy a slide rule….a Decilon of course..!!!


SJY

 

[pennpoint]

screwed
Great Story!!!
I too was an owner of a bamboo and ivory K&E. But it became a victim of a divorce. I got the scheath.
It was good you dazzled those little %$#@*& and without batteries too. I think the others left with a lesson (extra batteries+ software and at least a pen and paper tucked under the notebook). You did good! I wish you continued success.
Looking Forward to Retirement
pennpoint

 

[ClydeMule]

Hi guys!

I am one of those little %$#@*&'s. I can let go the whole slide rule/graphing calcultator thing. But not being to use a psych chart! Come on. Those guys give young %$#@*&'s a bad name.

My dad had a slide rule when I was a kid. I remember playing army and wanting to be the general so I swiped the slide rule holster and shoved a stick in it as my sidearm.

I think I will take a lesson from you though and dig up that old slide rule.

Clyde

 

[twainagain]

The issue is competence and capacity. I'm happy to have a slip-sticker on staff any day.

That said, I hope everyone isn't surprised that there are tons of us "suits" who rebuilt engines as childhood projects, who were mechanical fitters in college, who knocked out our engineering degrees, bagged our MBAs easily, and, now, spend tons of our time decrying the inability of some "engineers" to
think on their feet,
to keep orders of magnitude straight in their heads, or
to understand their work more deeply than "that's what the spreadsheet gave me."

So, it's not the suit or the MBA that matters; it is the mindset that matters. For example (from the story), we should be pretty concerned about anyone who can't take notes on his PDA; a PDA, like a slide rule, is easier to carry than to understand.

Don
suit for life

 

[screwed]

Hello All,

This issue is not really about the slide rule at all, anyone with a standard psychometric chart , a $10 dollar Casio calculator and a grasp of the subject could have done the job just as well, but without the presence and impact the slip stick.

You can't fake it when you’re up front with a slide rule.

Another issue is the present blind reliance on software boxes by people without the basic skills needed to get a feel for the numbers, operations involved, and the orders of magnitude of the result.

The box must be right is the developing syndrome, and God forbid if the batteries fail..!!

PDA's are useful, however, not when you are clambering over equipment and eye balling a sick HVAC installation, a good olde spiral bound notebook, with plenty of hand written notes and sketches is the order of the day..


Regards

Alan

 

[MintJulep]

Unfortunately I was schooled after the emergence of the electronic calculator, and hence never really learned how to use a slide rule.

However, to twain's point, I spent plenty of time building go-karts from discarded lawn mowers as a youth, and later real cars and now, along with twain decry the ability of too many engineers to be able to think.

I have sat in numerous meetings with a psych chart, cheap calculator and note pad asking questions like "my rough calculation shows that the numbers you just presented are off by about a factor of five, can you check your calculations please?" and getting odd stares from the opposite side of the table.

I was once even asked how I was able to calculate something so fast without a computer.

I will also admit that I now rely strongly on the computer because it is generally faster and easier, but I haven't forgotten how to do anything by hand.

 

[IRstuff]

Reliance on computers is nothing new. 30 yrs ago, when the electronic computing power had to be paid for on time-share, there was already over reliance on believing in computer results.

But, I think that part of the problem is that most graduates don't have sufficient experience in the field or lab and essentially have no physical grasp of the phenomenology.

Your young tadpoles could probably do with a some time in the lab making measurements and testing hardware.

TTFN

 

[quark]

Screwed!

It is a nice post to read (and you are not a misnomer) But the end result, as I think, is the result of pure nostalgia. If any of your competitors had the software installed on his laptop, the result might have been different.

But isn't picking up the slide rule not deliberate? As you correctly suggested in your second post, a calculator is a better gadget than a slide rule. I was lucky to see only one dusty slide rule in my life sofar on top of a shelf in the engineering store. (ofcourse I took it as a piece of collection)

It is said that Hipparchus discovered Precession of Equinox in 125 BC with Astrolabe (a straw attached to a simple protractor) and a conservative estimate states that it could not have been discovered till 18th century AD otherwise (if we have to trust the gizmos only).

This doesn't necessarily mean we should go for backward integration of technolgy, but strong basics are always vital. Perhaps you could have worked better, had you carried a laptop yourself.

I am in opposition to some of the points raised here. My question is why slide rule and why not Trachtenberg's Speed System of Calculation?

Anyhow, good post.

Regards,

 

[screwed]

Hello All,

Why the slide rule?? The simple answer to that question is that for on site conditions, the slide is rule perfectly adequate, and delivers acceptable results.

Incidentally, the slide rule estimates obtained during the meeting were +5% up in terms of airflow, and equipment capacities, when compared with a computer simulation. This had nothing to do with slide rule accuracy (for this application two digits after the DP is just fine) but rather to the so called rules of thumb used when considering such on site estimates.

The use of the slide rule can have a massively intimidating impact upon younger engineering/commercial people. Most of them have trouble with, as one correspondent puts it "thinking on their feet",
and an utter reliance upon software driven solutions,
whose results are rarely questioned, however,
erroneous they may be.

Why the slide rule really...?? yes you guessed it, I am an enthusiast who never made the complete jump to the electronic calculator...and I have a collection of
50 or so slip sticks.

Incidentally, we are having the annual slide rule world championships (yes it still exists) at the following location:-

World Championship Slide Rule
Competition will be Saturday, October 11, 2003 in Arlington, Texas

Here is the schedule of events:
9 am to 12 noon: Get acquainted, slide rule discussions, buy & sell 12 noon to 1 pm: Lunch (deli sandwiches, chips, & drinks. $5 per person) 1 pm to 2 pm: Live Auction
2:30 pm to 3 pm:

World Championship Slide Rule Competition
3 pm: World Championship Trophy Award Ceremony
Admission is free.

I will not be competing this year...just not good enough..

Best Regards All,

Alan