Recently added articles from Mechanical Engineering:
tomorrowland today
Aug 01, 2008; Falcioni, John G ... In a landscape fertile in technology lies a place where the future has become outdated. The location is nestled within a make-believe world, in a magical kingdom where a mouse rules and real engineers roam. It's a place where imagination has no boundaries for those who visit or for those ...
letters
Aug 01, 2008; Anonymous ... Module, Not Rocket To the Editor: Steven Kerno is wrong when he says Apollo 1 3 had a problem with the Saturn V ("The Efficient Frontier," March). In NASA parlance, the problem was with the service module, not the Saturn V rocket. Good crisis management saved the crew. It is sad ...
Setting a New Bearing for the American Market
Aug 01, 2008; Easton, Peter ... In a plan to strengthen its position in the American market, SKF of Goteborg, Sweden, has signed an agreement to acquire PEER Bearing Co. and its manufacturing operations in China and Thailand. PEER manufactures mainly deep groove ball bearings and tapered roller bearings. PEER is based ...
Smart Material Handling Systems
Aug 01, 2008; Easton, Peter ... A supplier of smart material-handling assembly conveyor systems and software-driven warehouse and distribution systems said that it has received orders for automated conveyors from two global manufacturers of vehicles. The company, Paragon Technologies Inc. in Easton, Pa., said the ...
Robots Near the Million Mark
Aug 01, 2008; Brown, Alan S ... The world added 118,000 new industrial robots in 2007, boosting the global population of industrial robots close to the 1 million mark, according to the statistical department of the International Federation of Robotics, which represents trade groups from more than 15 ...
Deal Made for Mercury Removal System
Aug 01, 2008; Easton, Peter ... One of the largest independent power producers in the United States, Reliant Energy Inc., has signed a contract that will put the Mer-Cure mercury removal system, introduced last year by Alstom, into several power plants in Pennsylvania. The deal follows the successful launch of Alstom's ...
Manufacturer Acquires 3 Companies in a Week
Aug 01, 2008; Hutchinson, Harry ... A company based in Sweden that supplies measurement systems acquired three companies, all during the last week of June. The company, Hexagon AB in Nacka Strand, Sweden, also bought one of its U.S. distributors earlier in the month. On June 27, Hexagon said it had acquired all outstanding ...
The Snail Express
Aug 01, 2008; Thilmany, Jean ... Call it true snail mail. Researchers at Bournemouth University in Poole, England, are challenging the societal obsession with e-mail speed. As part of a project they call RealSnailMail, they're using live snails as a means of sending e-mail. Visitors to the project's Web site, ...
Looks Like Drilling, Feels Like It, Too
Aug 01, 2008; Thilmany, Jean ... SURGICAL RESIDENTS IN AUSTRALIA have the chance to practice medical drilling techniques in a simulator with software that gives them the sense of touch. Medic Vision Ltd. of Melbourne has incorporated a haptic device that provides virtual touch to its Mediseus Surgical Drilling ...
Minimal Retooling
Aug 01, 2008; Thilmany, Jean ... MACHINE TOOL OPERATORS RARELY get clean CAD files. To ensure that the tools can properly read CAD designs, the operators must make several manual tweaks to the files they get from mechanical engineers. To ease this type of cleanup, HS Die & Engineering Inc. of Grand Rapids, Mich., ...
news & notes: Briefly Noted
Aug 01, 2008; Anonymous ... Duke Energy of Charlotte, N.C., has expanded its wind operations with the acquisition of Catamount Energy Corp. The price was $240 million plus assumed debt. Catamount Energy, based in Rutland, Vt., was formed in 1992. Since 2001, the company has focused on developing wind projects in the U.S ....
Floating on Air
Aug 01, 2008; Thilmany, Jean ... THE CARDINAL VIRTUE OF the gyroplane is its ability to do nearly everything a helicopter can do at less cost. The rotating wings of a helicopter are directly driven by the engine, enabling it to hover. The rotating wings of the gyroplane are free-spinning, meaning it can't hover, though ...
Sewage Sensors
Aug 01, 2008; Thilmany, Jean ... IN SOUTH BEND, IND., a computer network is reaching into the sewer. Engineers from Purdue University and the University of Notre Dame are working with a private company to create a wireless sensor network to prevent raw sewage in South Bend from overflowing into waterways, especially ...
Deflecting an Asteroid
Aug 01, 2008; Thilmany, Jean ... CHANCES ARE HIGH THAT an asteroid is hurtling toward Earth even now. Chances also are also high that, when it enters the atmosphere, it will disappear harmlessly in a streak of light. But if and when the big one hits, Bong Wie wants us to be ready. "In the early 1990s, scientists around ...
Disaster Relief That Comes in a Tent
Aug 01, 2008; Easton, Peter ... A research and development company specializing in advanced t thermal control and energy conversion, Mainstream Engineering Corp., was recently awarded a contract by the U.S. Air Force to build a highefficiency, integrated, Self Sufficient Tent system. The agreement is for $750,000 over two ...
Pipeline Seals Mimic Blood Platelets
Aug 01, 2008; Brown, Alan S ... What do blood cells have to do with fixing holes in undersea oil pipelines? Everything, according to Brinker Technology Ltd. of Aberdeen, Scotland. The result is a technology that detects, seals, and signals the location of leaks in a single step. The technology takes its cue from the ...
Shared Quality
Aug 01, 2008; Thilmany, Jean ... A STANDARD OF QUALITY is laudable, but it can work only if all pertinent players keep that standard in mind as they move forward. To ensure that designers and manufacturers are almost literally on the same page, General Motors has implemented a Web-based software system that uses a ...
software exchange
Aug 01, 2008; Anonymous ... Airfoil Suitability Capability: With VisualFoil 5, users can quickly determine the suitability of airfoil cross-section shapes for incorporation in wings, spoilers, struts, rudders, and other aerodynamic or support structures. Users can select efficient shapes during the conceptual ...
Safe Elderly Exercise
Aug 01, 2008; Thilmany, Jean ... TWO SYSTEMS NOW UNDER development could help elderly people exercise more safely and could watch them for falls. Researchers at the University of Missouri Center for Eldercare and Rehabilitation Technology in Columbia, Mo., are working on a system that monitors older adults for signs of ...
computing: Briefly Noted
Aug 01, 2008; Thilmany, Jean ... Altima Software of Cupertino, Calif., has released Everest 2009 Team Edition, data management software designed for enterprise CAD users. * CADLearning by 4D Technologies of Bedford, N.H., has released its AutoCAD 2009 video tutorial series, available online or via DVD. * AutoForm Engineering ...