Mechanical Engineering back issues from January 2007:
by the numbers
Jan 01, 2007; ... From the year 2000 to 2005, manufacturing jobs declined by about 18 percent in the United States. Nearly every job category saw a drop, except for pharmaceuticals. Jobs in textile mills were among the biggest losers-registering a 42 percent decline. By 2014, home health care aide is the job ...
letters
Jan 01, 2007; ... Less Enthusiasm for H^sub 2^ To the Editor: Engineering design projects such as the one described by Benjamin R. Johnson in Letters in the September 2006 issue are excellent for teaching young engineers how to do good engineering design. I congratulate Mr. Johnson on winning first prize ....
The Robot That Knew Just Enough
Jan 01, 2007; ... The four-legged robot in the engineering lab at Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y., looks a bit like something out of a nightmare: a mechanical spider or a crawling hand. But the robot can do something that mechanical engineers have only dreamed about for decades. The robot learns how to move in ...
Asian Solar Power in Canada
Jan 01, 2007; ... The Japanese unit of a Chinese manufacturer has struck a distribution deal to market solar power equipment in Canada. Suntech Power Holdings of Wuxi, China, a manufacturer of photovoltaic cells and modules, said that its subsidiary, MSK Corp., has reached an agreement with ARISE ...
Antenna Solutions Firm Makes Two Purchases
Jan 01, 2007; ... A manufacturer of antenna solutions, electromagnetic interference shielding products, telematics, and thermal management solutions, Laird Technologies, is branching out. The St. Louis-based company last month made a pair of acquisitions: Steward Inc. and Coollab AB, which trades as ...
MUSEUM HONORS BLACK DESIGNERS
Jan 01, 2007; ... Chicago's Museum of Science and Industry will honor African- Amerian industrial designers with a six-week interactive exhibit, Designs for Lr/e,will start later this month. The exhibit, part of the Museum's annual Black Creativity program, hopes to focus attention on a career that bridges the ...
Clear the Runway
Jan 01, 2007; ... Runway debris, known in the airport industry as foreign object debris, or FOD, can be as small and seemingly innocuous as a broken suitcase wheel, a bolt, or a discarded plastic bag. But small, lost parts have the potential to do serious, sometimes catastrophic, damage to aircraft. A ...
Contract Anticipates New Aircraft Rules
Jan 01, 2007; ... In anticipation of forthcoming U.S. Federal Aviation Administration and European Aviation Safety Agency rules, Airbus has awarded Parker Hannifin Corp. of Cleveland the fuel tank inerting system contracts for the Airbus A400M military transport aircraft and Airbus long-range and single-aisle ...
Briefly Noted
Jan 01, 2007; ... BorgWarner Inc. of Auburn Hills, Mich., has nearly doubled the size of its engine group manufacturing facility in Pyongtaek, South Korea. The 90,000-square-foot plant, which opened in 2003, will manufacture engine timing systems for Hyundai and Kia. Annual volumes are expected to exceed three ...
Robot Swarm
Jan 01, 2007; ... JUST KEEP THEM AWAY FROM the potato salad. Researchers from a European research agency. Information Society Technologies, have developed minirobots that act in a swarm, much like ants. Although these robots' cooperative behavior was inspired by the actions of the tiny ant, their ability ...
Navigating Wider
Jan 01, 2007; ... WHEN IT COMES TO COMPUTER peripherals, $500 is a tough nut to make. Most people wouldn't expect to pay that much for a mouse, for instance. So it's hard to compete with a mouse, even it you tell people that your piece of hardware manipulates images and navigates virtual spaces quicker and more ...
Post-Party Cleanup
Jan 01, 2007; ... YES, THIS ROBOT COULD ONE DAY unload your dishwasher. But would it wash your windows? By programming a robot with software that enables it to pick up objects it has never seen before, scientists at Stanford University in California say they're one step closer to creating a real-life ...
Now That's Different
Jan 01, 2007; ... ALTHOUGH THIS VEHICLE HAS three wheels, that's about the only way it resembles a tricycle. With two wheels in front and one in the back, the Brudeli 625L combines features of a four-wheeled vehicle and a motorcycle, according to its inventor, Geir Brudeli. It could become street legal in ...
One Big Grid
Jan 01, 2007; ... SCIENTISTS AND RESEARCHERS involved in the TeraGrid project met face-to-face, many for the first time, at an Indianapolis conference late last year devoted to the grid. The TeraGrid marries the supercomputing power of eight institutions: the San Diego Supercomputer Center, Texas Advanced ...
Non-Human Brain
Jan 01, 2007; ... MAN IS NOT A MACHINE, thank goodness. Machines, like robots and computers, can only carry out tasks or solve problems that are rooted in algorithms-a mathematical set of rules the robot follows. But because humans aren't powered by calculation, students sometimes have a hard time ...
Robotic Unloading
Jan 01, 2007; ... ROBOTS RUNNING AMOK and destroying property may be a staple of science fiction films, but they aren't welcome in factories, warehouses, or any other places where automatic guided vehicle forklifts-essentially, robot forklifts-are used. Now Transbotics, a Charlotte, N.C., manufacturer of ...
Briefly Noted
Jan 01, 2007; ... Catform and Catstamp, a suite of software for design, simulation, and costing of sheet-metal components, is now compatible with Catia version five release 17. The suite is from Forming Technologies Inc. of Oakville, Ontario. * A maker of engineering analysis software, Ansys Inc. of Southpointe, ...
software exchange
Jan 01, 2007; ... Protected Files Capability: Pinion Desktop protects information shared in the normal course of business by imposing permissions on Autodesk drawing, SolidWorks eDrawing, portable-document format, tagged-image file format, and Word files. The permissions restrict how recipients may use ...
What's New in X2
Jan 01, 2007; ... The CAD/CAM software known as Mastercam, from CNC Software Inc., has been updated as X2. Based on Mastercam X, X2 will look largely familiar to its users, but the things that have changed are intended to make machining easier. More toolpaths have been added to X2. Finishing options now ...
New Polymer Designed to Take the Heat
Jan 01, 2007; ... GE Plastics has launched a new family of high-temperature engineering resins. The new polymers, branded Extern, combine outstanding heat resistance with very good processability, the company says. Potential applications range from semiconductor wafer handling and oil and gas processing to ...
Eye on the Size
Jan 01, 2007; ... When it goes to trade shows, National Instruments Corp. of Austin, Texas, can draw a crowd with its machine vision demonstrator. Why? After all, the device does exactly the type of simple, repetitive jobs usually reserved for trade show exhibits: It sorts three sizes of ball bearings, each ...
Radar Controls Pneumatics
Jan 01, 2007; ... Looking for a faster, more accurate way to position pneumatic linear drives? Germany's Festo AG & Co. KG says its new microwave sensors not only deliver 0.02 millimeter resolution, but also improve equipment flexibility, run in hostile environments, and reduce the need for ...
Cold Casings
Jan 01, 2007; ... A little more than a year ago, a string of companies approached Steven Moore, co-owner of Chesapeake Plastic Manufacturing in Lusby, Md., all with a similar proposition-produce molds with a lead time of just two to three weeks. Unfortunately, his company couldn't do the job, nor could anyone ...
Economy CNC
Jan 01, 2007; ... A Wisconsin company has decided that if there is a personal computer, there should be a personal computer numerically controlled milling machine, too. The company, Tormach LLC in Waunakee, Wis., has come out with one that it calls the PCNC 1100 and offers for less than $7,000. According ...
Very Light and Fast
Jan 01, 2007; ... Developments in materials, production methods, and turbine design have spawned a new class of business jet. At least one aircraft maker had a lot to be thankful for this past Thanksgiving. The day before the holiday, the Federal Aviation Administration awarded Cessna Aircraft Co. a ...
Where Does CAM Stand?
Jan 01, 2007; ... Researchers are pushing to get more manufacturing assistance from the computer. You've just wrapped up your part design and you've certainly earned a break. But don't shut down your computer just yet. You may not be through. Depending on which computer-aided design system you ...
the rebirth of cool
Jan 01, 2007; ... The Montreal Protocol dictates that in four years new equipment cannot use the refrigerant R-22. Meeting that deadline is one thing; finding ways to keep us-and the planet-cool in a century is another. By international agreement, industry around the globe is preparing to stop using the ...
the injunction factor
Jan 01, 2007; ... A power that patent holders once held over infringers isn't as certain these days. By Jeff Woller Sometimes a patent case rips through the news like a tsunami-you can't avoid it if you want to. Other times, far-reaching patent cases make a splash minded only by patent attorneys and a ...
The Consumer Guide to Industrial pH and ORP Instrumentation
Jan 01, 2007; ... The Consumer Guide to Industrial pH and ORP Instrumentation. David B. Mills. Copperhill and Pointer Inc;, 8 Perth Ave., Chestnut Ridge, NY 10977. 2006. 107 payes. Softcover. $250. ISBN 918-1-932095-09-8. This book is the latest in a series of this publisher's guides intended for people ...
Functional Reynolds Stress Modeling
Jan 01, 2007; ... Functional Reynolds Stress Modeling. Joan G. Moore and John Moore. Pocaliontas Press Inc., P. O. Drawer F, Blackburg, VA 2406.1-1020. 408 pages. $90. ISBN 0-926487-21-3. According to the authors, there is finally enough data to study the functionality of the parameters in Reynolds stress ...
Mechanics of Solids and Materials
Jan 01, 2007; ... Mechanics of Solids and Materials. Robert J. Asaro and Vlado A. Lubarda. Cambridge University Press, 40 W. 20th St., New York, NY 10011-4211. 2006. 860 pages. $/25. ISBN 0-521-85979-4. In this book, the authors seek to provide a modern and integrated treatment of the foundations of solid ...
Transport Phenomena in Multiphase Systems
Jan 01, 2007; ... Transport Phenomena in Multiphase Systems. Amir Faghri and Yuwen Zhang. Academic Press, an Elsevier imprint, 30 Corporate Dr., Suite 400, Burlington, MA 0180.1. 2006. 1,030 pags. $89.95. ISBN 0-12-370610-2. Transport phenomena are the mechanisms by which energy and mass are dissipated or ...
Design of Hazardous Mechanical Structures, Systems and Components for Extreme Loads
Jan 01, 2007; ... Design of Hazardous Mechanical Structures, Systems and Components for Extreme Loads. John D. Stevenson and Ovidu Coman. ASME Press, Three Park Ave., New York, NY 10016-5990. 2006. 300 pages. ASME members, $99; retail, $125. ISBN 0-7918-0242-6. This volume addresses the critical issue of ...
Welding Metallurgy and Weldability of Stainless Steels
Jan 01, 2007; ... Welding Metallurgy and Weldability of Stainless Steels, John C. Lippold and Damian J. Kotecki. John Wiley & Sons Inc., 111 River St., Hoboken, NJ 07030. 2005. 362 pages. $115. ISBN 0-471-47379-0. This book is. according to the publisher, the first one in more than two decades to ...
Introduction to Asymptotic Methods
Jan 01, 2007; ... Introduction to Asymptotic Methods. Jan Awrejcewicz and Vadim A. Krysko. Chapman & Hall/CRC, Tayhr & Francis Group, 6000 Broken Sound Parkway NW, Suite 300, Boca Raton, FL 334872742. 2006. 256 pages. $89.95. ISBN 1-58488-677-3. Among the theoretical methods for solving many ...
Engineering Acoustics
Jan 01, 2007; ... Engineering Acoustics. Michael Möser. Springer-Verlag, 233 Spring St., New York, NY 10013. 2003. 294 pages. $89.95. ISBN 3-540-20236-6. This hook presents the foundations of what nowadays seems necessary to make our environment quieter-in buildings as well as in the open air. Fundamental ...
product information
Jan 01, 2007; ... Machine safety BANNER ENGINEERING CORP., MINNEAPOLIS. MINN. The company's 2006-07 machine safety products catalog has more than 300 full-color pages, organized into seven main sections: safety light screens, two-hand control modules, safety modules, safety interlock switches, emergency ...
NO LIFE ON MARS
Jan 01, 2007; ... Hydrogen peroxide can bleach hair, propel rockets, and wipe out microbes. And that's why a University of Michigan professor of atmospheric and space science believes that we shouldn't expect to meet a Martian anytime soon. Mars is thought to have been formed with the same ingredients ...