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|  | |  | | | Invention by Design; How Engineers Get from Thought to Thing | | | | | SKU:
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Usually ships in 1 business days | | | | | | Henry Petroski's previous bestsellers have delighted readers with intriguing stories about the engineering marvels around us, from the lowly pencil to the soaring suspension bridge. In this book, Petroski delves deeper into the mystery of invention, to explore what everyday artifacts and sophisticated networks can reveal about the way engineers solve problems. Engineering entails more than knowing the way things work. What do economics and ecology, aesthetics and ethics, have to do with the shape of a paper clip, the tab of a beverage can, the cabin design of a turbojet, or the course of a river? How do the idiosyncrasies of individual engineers, companies, and communities leave their mark on projects from Velcro® to fax machines to waterworks?Invention by Design offers an insider's look at these political and cultural dimensions of design and development, production and construction. Readers unfamiliar with engineering will find Petroski's enthusiasm contagious, whether the topic is the genesis of the Ziploc baggie or the averted collapse of Manhattan's sleekest skyscraper. And those who inhabit the world of engineering will discover insights to challenge their customary perspective, whether their work involves failure analysis, systems design, or public relations. Written with the flair that readers have come to expect from his books, Invention by Design reaffirms Petroski as the master explicator of the principles and processes that turn thoughts into the many things that define our made world. | | | |
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| | Product Details | | Author: | Henry Petroski | | Paperback: | 256 pages | | Publisher: | Harvard University Press | | Publication Date: | September 01, 1996 | | Language: | English | | ISBN: | 0674463684 | | Product Length: | 9.23 inches | | Product Width: | 6.15 inches | | Product Height: | 0.66 inches | | Product Weight: | 0.86 pounds | | Package Length: | 9.0 inches | | Package Width: | 6.0 inches | | Package Height: | 0.8 inches | | Package Weight: | 0.8 pounds | | Average Customer Rating: |  based on 8 reviews |
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| | Customer Reviews | Average Customer Review: ( 8 customer reviews )
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
17 of 18 found the following review helpful:
 Well Worth Reading Jan 23, 2006
By Bill Bazik
The author of this book starts out by saying, "As simple as familiar objects may seem at first glance, their conception, development, manufacturing and marketing may pose great difficulties". He goes on to prove that this is true by citing the histories of some very familiar items.
His first example is the ordinary paper clip. Literally hundreds of improvement patents have been issued, yet it is still not "perfected". The most common clip was given its present form by a company called Gem Ltd. in the last century and is still referred to in the industry as the "Gem" clip. Inventors are still trying to overcome its negative features. The author lists several shortcomings such as its tendency to tear paper, requiring its loops to be spread when clipping on, and its habit of slipping off thick stacks of paper.
Next he considers the common wood-cased pencil. When wax was added to the lead for smoother writing and added to the wood for easier sharpening, the lead often separated from the wood and would break when the pencil was used or even when dropped. Etching the lead surface and coating it with a suitable chemical solved this problem. However, overcoming the BOPP (Broken-Off Pencil Point) problem has not been as easy. Understanding why points fracture as they do is far from as simple as you might think.
His next case history is that of the zipper. In patent literature, they go back to 1851! The description of its evolution is fascinating. There is a great sketch of the tooling that applies the zipper teeth to the fabric.
The author notes how ideas often come unexpectedly -- but usually to individuals who can see the idea's potential. He relates how de Mestral, after walking his dog in the Alpine woodlands, saw cockleburs on his trousers and on his dog's fur -- and saw the potential for what became Velcro.
Yet another captivating case history is the section on plastic zippers. He details the story from an inventor in Denmark, to British investors, to refugees from Romania, to a Japanese inventor who extruded tubular film with grips -- which became the familiar Ziplock.
The author notes how the acronym, MAYA, has become the buzz term for designers. It stands for Most Advanced Yet Acceptable. In other words, if your invention is too different from present designs, it may not find acceptance.
The history of aluminum cans provides fodder for another exciting chapter. Here is a product that must use a very minimum of material and still safely resist 100 pounds per square inch of pressure. However, it must readily "fail" when the pop-top is actuated. Some 100 billion(!) beverage cans are made each year. Think what a design savings of a few percent of aluminum would be worth to the industry.
The sketch of Alexander Bain's facsimile machine of 1843 will shake up those who think the fax machine is the latest thing in technology. In this rundown on the evolution of the fax, the author notes how consumers often decide the winning technology. He cites the victory of the VHS video cassette over the technically better (picture quality) of the Beta cassette.
When inventing and engineering, the human factor must never be forgotten. A computer-controlled airplane crashed because a pilot mistook a rate-of-descent display reading of 33 for 3.3!
That an art is old and simple does not mean design caution is not required. A Roman aquaduct in 97 AD delivered 40 million gallons of water daily to Rome. Yet when New York's World Trade Center, 110 stories high, was completed in 1973, it was found that the water pressure was not high enough to properly flush toilets on the observation deck!
There are no equations or computations in this book -- it is an easy read. It beautifully conveys the lesson that there are no "simple" inventions -- and no such thing as "routine" designing.
13 of 14 found the following review helpful:
Very Interesting, but a bit slow and drawn out. Nov 15, 2004
By Aaron C. Artrip
Invention by design is a complex book written about simple everyday things we use. Things like paper clips, aluminum cans, mechanical pencils, zippers, airplanes, bridges, and more. The Author, Henry Petroski did a very good job on writing about all of these objects. The book goes on to explain the nature of the design, engineering, and concepts put behind the objects.
Pros: Very Interesting
Good information
Very Descriptive
Ideas and concepts never thought of to be use in the
everyday items.
Cons: Very Slow and Drawn out.
At times can be a bit boring
Overall Review: A- book. Many good facts and alot of useful
information. A tiny bit slow, but overall, a good
read.
Recommendations: I would recommend this book to a friend who may
be interested in any basic form of Engineering,
like myself.
17 of 21 found the following review helpful:
A very enjoyable and great teaching book! Apr 30, 2002
By Mary P. Smith
Want to know the facts behind the everyday things we use? Invention by Design, by Henry Petroski, is a very interesting book. It explains how items used by people daily were thought of and created. This book explains how familiar items such as paper clips, aluminum cans, zippers, mechanical pencils, bridges, buildings, and more were constructed. Invention by Design also describes how certain inventions and constructions were improved though the years by different inventors and engineers.
I thought this book was very good and interesting, especially since I enjoy studying and learning about mechanical, civil, and architectural engineering. I would recommend this book to anyone, but someone with no interest in engineering may not find this book to be very enjoyable. On a ten point scale I would give Invention by Design an eight. I give it an eight because some objects that Petroski describes are not very complex, and in my opinion not worth discussing. That made certain parts of this book a little boring.
2 of 2 found the following review helpful:
Very Detailed and Interesting Dec 02, 2007
By Dennis Latimer
This book was very thought provoking and showed me the immense amount of time and revision it takes to create a simple, everyday product. It helped me realize how small and mostly overlooked items, are complex and wonderfully designed.
A paper clip, for example, is only a small piece of wire, cut to the right length, and bent into the appropriate shape. Yet it took years of progress and revision to create the most cost effective and visually appealing product. The first metal paper clips were called "Gems". They were larger and required more metal to produce. Today, engineers have designed a smaller paper clip that only loses only 2% of its gripping ability, yet uses 1/3 less metal.
Pencil lead is another example. It was originally so fragile that writing with it was almost useless. Different methods of cutting the lead and covering it with different materials have helped this problem. Lead will always break, but reducing the frequency helps to make writing with it more efficient and less frustrating.
Zippers are another interesting invention that took a long time to develop but were very effective once used. Instead of having to button and button, tie and untie, or hook and unhook, zippers allow you to simply pull up to put together or pull down to take apart. Although there are shortcomings of this product, such as getting stuck or being uneven, they greatly changed how people think about fastening clothes or other items, such as plastic bags.
These are only three examples. He continues on to inform about more complex products such as aluminum cans, airplanes, and bridges. Each of the topics he explains helps show how engineering plays such an important role in everyday lives. I recommend this book to whoever is interested in engineering or is interested how things around them came to be, have been improved, and now are incorporated into our everyday lives.
1 of 1 found the following review helpful:
What engineering is Feb 15, 2012
By Vincent Poirier
Engineers build and design everything from zippers, paper clips, and beer cans to bridges, waterworks, and airplanes. What can such disparate items possibly have in common that they each fall under the heading of engineering?
There's more to it than just fiddling about with plans and models. Engineers think and engineers do. They understand the abstract principles fundamental to one area and then extend these principles to a wide variety of non-obvious applications.
The book devotes a chapter each to several aspects of engineering and illustrates abstract ideas with concrete examples: paper clips and design, pencils and analysis, zippers and development, aluminum cans and failure, fax machines and networks, airplanes and computing, waterworks and society, bridges and politics, and finally buildings and systems.
Chapter two looks at stress analysis of cantilever beams (beams that come out of a wall at a 90 degree angle, e.g. to support a veranda) and how this relates to making better pencils.
In chapter eight, Petroski describes the place of engineering in society. Building a bridge is usually a large scale public project, and the politics of selecting sites and securing funds matter as much as the technical concerns of selecting a design and material.
Each chapter develops the main theme that engineering is much more than tinkering or mastering technical skills. It is the art that gets us from thought to thing.
Vincent Poirier, Tokyo
See all 8 customer reviews on Amazon.com
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