In actual practice the only information which the designer has, upon which to base his design, is the object to be accomplished. He must choose or originate suitable devices, develop the arrangement of the parts, make his own assumptions regarding the operation of the machine, then Analyze and Theorize, Modify and Delineate each detail as he meets it.

This, it will be found, is a very different matter from taking some familiar piece of machinery, such as a pulley, or a shaft, or a gear, as an isolated case, the load being definitely given, and proceeding with the design. This is easily done, but is only half the problem, for machine parts, such as pulleys, gears, and shafts, do not confront the designer tagged or labeled with the conditions they are to meet. He is to provide parts to meet the specific conditions, and it is as much a part of his designing method to know how to attack the design of a machine as it is to know how to design the parts in detail after the attack has reduced the members to definitely loaded structures. The whole process must be gone through, the preliminary sketches, calculations, and layout, all of which precede the detail design and working drawings; and no step of the process can be omitted.

It is for this reason that the present case used for illustration is carried out quite thoroughly. The student should make himself familiar with every step of the designing method as applied to this simple case of design. More complex problems, handled in the same way, will simplify themselves; and when the point is reached where confidence exists to take hold of the design of any machine, however unfamiliar its object may be, or however involved its probable detail appears, the student has become the true designer. It is the knowing how to attack a problem, to start definite work on it, to go ahead boldly, confident that the method applied will produce results, that gives command .of the design of machinery and wins engineering success.

Tho special case which has been chosen to illustrate the application of the principles stated in the foregoing pages is ideal, in that it does not represent any actual machine at present in operation. Probably builders of hoisting machinery have devices which would improve the machine as shown. In detail, as well as arrangement, they could doubtless make criticism as manufacturers. The arrangement as shown is merely intended to bring out in simplest form the common elements of transmission ma. chinery as parts of some definite machine, instead of as isolated details. The design is one entirely possible, practical, and mechanical, but special attention has been paid to simplicity in order to enable the student to follow the method closely, for the method is the chief thing for him to acquire.

The student is expected to refer constantly to Part II for a more formal and general discussion of the simple machine elements involved in the case considered. Part II is intended to be a simplified and condensed reference book, carried out in accordance with the method of machine design as specified in Part 1. The student should not wait until he has completed the study of this part before taking up Part II, for the latter is intended for use with the former in the solution of the problems.

In the case of power transmission about to be studied, the running, conversational method employed assumes that the student is in possession of the matter in Part II on the subject considered. Thus, in the design of the pulley, reference to the subject of "Pulleys " in Part II is necessary to follow the train of calculation; in designing the gear, consult "Gears;" in calculating size of shafts, see "Shafts," etc., etc.

Problem

A machine is to be designed to be set on the floor of a building to drive a wire rope falling from the overhead sheaves of an elevator or hoist. Without regard to details of this overhead arrangement, for its design would be a separate problem, suppose that the data for the rope are as follows:

Load on rope......................5,000 pounds.

Speed of rope..................... 150 feet per minute.

Length of rope to be reeled in...... 200 feet.

We shall further assume that the driving power is to be an electric motor belted to the machine, that the required speed reduction can be satisfactorily obtained by a single pair of pulleys and one pair of gears, and that a plain band brake is to be applied to the drum.

With this data we shall proceed to work out the detail design of the machine.

Preliminary Sketch

The first thing to do is to sketch roughly the proposed arrangement of the machine.

This might appear like Fig. 1 except that it wonld have no dimensions in addition to the data given above. If the scheme seems suitable, the next step is to make such preliminary calculations as will give further data, exact or closely approximate sizes, to be put at once on the sketch, to outline the future design.

Rope And Drum

Referring to tables of strength of wire rope (Kent's Pocket Book gives the manufacturers' list), we find that a 5/8- inch cast-steel rope will carry 5,000 pounds safely, and that the proper size of drum to avoid excessive bending of the rope around it is 27 inches diameter.

Allowing 1/8 inch between the coils as the rope winds on the drum, the pitch of coil will be:

¾ inch as shown in sketch, Fig. 2. The length of one complete coil is, practically, 27 x 3.1416/ 12 =7.07 feet. To provide for 200feet will require 200/7. 07 =28 + coils.

To be safe, let us provide for 30 coils, for which a length of drum (30x¾) + ¾=23¼ inches is required.

The space for brake strap may be assumed at 5 inches, and the thickness to provide necessary strength determined later in the design. The frictional surface of the strap may be of basswood blocks, say 1¼ inches thick, screwed to the metal band. The diameter of brake surface may be 28 inches.