But it is not enough to view the subject from the standpoint of theory alone. If we stopped here we should have nothing but mechanisms, mere laboratory machines, simply structures of ingenuity and examples of fine mechanical skill. A machine may be correct in the theory of its motions; it may be correct in the theoretical proportions of its parts; it may even be correct in its operation for the time being; and yet its complication, its misdirected and wasteful effort, its lack of adjustment, its expensive and irregular construction, its lack of compactness, its difficulty of ready repair, its inability to hold its own in competition - any of these may throw the balance to the side of failure. Such a machine, commercially considered, is of little value. No shop will build it, no machinery house will sell it, nobody will buy it if it is put on the market.

Thus we see that, aside from the theoretical correctness of principle, the design of a machine must satisfy certain other exacting requirements of a distinctly business nature.

II. Production

From this point of view, Machine Design is the practical, marketable development of mechanical ideas. Viewed thus, the theoretical, skeleton design must be so clothed and shaped that its production may be cheap, involving simple and efficient processes of manufacture. It must be judged by the latest shop methods for exact and maximum output. It must possess all the good points of its competitor, and, withal, some novel and valuable ones of its own. In these days of keen competition it is only by carefully studied, well-directed effort toward rapid, efficient, and, therefore, cheap production that any machine can be brought to a commercial basis, no matter what its other merits may be. All this must be thought of and planned for in the design, and the final shapes arrived at are quite as much a result of this second point of view as of the first.

As a good illustration of this, may be cited the effect of the present somewhat remarkable development of the so-called "high speed" steels. The speeds and feeds possible with tools made of these steels are such that the driving power, gearing, and feed mechanism of the ordinary lathe are wholly inadequate to the demands made upon them when working the tool to its limit This of design as used for the ordinary tool is expected to stand up to the cuts possible with the new steels. Hence, while the old designs were right for the old standard, a new one has been set, and a thorough revision on a high-speed basis is imminent, else the market for them as machines of maximum output will be lost.

From these definitions it is evident that the designer must not only use all the theory at his command, but must continually inform himself on all processes and conditions of manufacture, and keep an eye on the tendency of the sales markets, both of raw material and the finished machinery product. This is what in the broadest sense is meant by the term "Mechanical Thought," thought which is directed and controlled, not only by theoretical principle but by closely observed practice. From the feeblest pretenders of design to those engineers who consummate the boldest feats and control the largest enterprises, the process which produces results is always the same. Although experience is necessary for the best mechanical judgment, yet the student must at least begin to cultivate good mechanical sense very early in his study of design.

Invention

Invention is closely related to Machine Design, but is not design itself. Whatever is invented has yet to be designed. An invention is of little value until it has been refined by the process of design.

Original design is of an inventive nature, but is not strictly invention. Invention is usually considered as the result of genius, and is announced in a flash of brilliancy. We see only the flash, but behind the flash is a long course of the most concentrated brain effort. Inventions are not spontaneous, are not thrown off like sparks from the blacksmith's anvil, but are the result of hard and applied thinking. This is worth noting carefully, for the same effort which produces original design may develop a valuable invention. But there is little possibility of inventing anything except through exhaustive analysis and a clear interpretation of such analysis.

Handbooks And Empirical Data

The subject matter in these is often contradictory in its nature, but valuable nevertheless. Empirical data are data for certain fixed conditions and are not general. Hence, when handbook data are applied to some specific case of design, while the information should be used in the freest manner, yet it must not be forgotten that the case at hand is probably different, in some degree, from that upon which the data were based, and tinlike any other case which ever existed or will ever again exist. Therefore the data should be applied with the greatest discretion, and when so applied will contribute to the success of the design at least as a check, if not as a positive factor.

The student should at the outset purchase one good handbook, and acquire the habit of consulting it on all occasions, checking and comparing his own calculations and designs therefrom. Care must be taken not to become tied to a handbook to such an extent that one's own results are wholly subordinated to it. Independence in design must be cultivated, and the student should not sacrifice his calculated results until they can be shown to be false or based on false assumption. Originality and confidence in design will be the result if this course be honestly pursued.