Abstract
THIS work is one of the series of Finsbury Technical Manuals, and teaches how all ordinary patterns required by sheet metal-workers can be set out on one geometric principle. It is the first work in which the setting out of such patterns has been systematized. The manufacture of every article in common use is treated as a separate problem, but the principle in all cases is that the parts composing it shall be set out mathematically, so that any worker having become accustomed to cut out his work on this principle could equally apply it to new forms. The first chapters are of the most elementary character, so that the work is not necessarily above the head of ordinary mechanics. That the book is an admirable manual there can be no question, but whether such a book will be widely consulted appears doubtful. In the opinion of two of the chief tinplate workers in Birmingham the knowledge it imparts will save time and prevent waste of material, which results when the rule of thumb and guess-work are in vogue, whilst the workman using it will gain confidence, and his value be increased by the certainty of his pattern working out true. Nevertheless, the great mass of workmen in metals are not yet educated up to the use of such a work, and in all probability in a centre like Birmingham it will only fall into the hands of managers of manufacturing establishments and a limited number of first-class workmen. It is a book, however, that must be required by the artisan more and more to meet the rapid strides of education, and it will, we hope, command a satisfactory sale.
Metal Plate Work: Its Patterns and their Geometry.
By C. T. Millis. (London: E. and F. Spon, 1887.)
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[Book Reviews]. Nature 36, 340 (1887). https://doi.org/10.1038/036340b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/036340b0