1800 Mechanical Movements, Devices and Appliances (Dover Science Books)

I keep buying this book. I keep it at my desk and give it away every year or so to young engineers anxious to reinvent mechanical solutions. Here is fodder for the seeking mind.I've consulted these old designs for over 50 years to consider solutions. The trained eye, personal experience and the need to bring solve mechanical problems make these old books relevant. Some solutions are elegant, some are fraught with inefficiency that make them their own sort of application curious, all of the designs have worked for their purpose to make the collection.The visual enjoyment and puzzle aspect to visualize just how these solutions work make them fun. No need to reinvent the variable transverse drive.

basically this is a vast collection of various mechanical designs, showing how previous people have solved problems. There is little critique of the designs, so some may prove weak, or difficult, but it is an excellent sourcebook for ideas. in this age of CAD and modelling, it's not hard to take ideas from this book, and test them in your designs. There is some repetition in the designs (less than 5% of the designs) but once you look at the designs there are subtle differences which may matter in your work.

In order to cram that many mechanical bits into so few pages, the illustrations are frequently small, but intensely detailed. You'll find several of them on each page. This is great reference material for steampunk, sci-fi, and fantasy artwork, but since each device has only one illustration, it would be next to useless as a technical manual. There is a huge array of different devices - from tiny gears to giant steamworks - so as long as you're browsing for inspiration, this is a great book to have on hand.

Being a mechanical engineer, this little handbook is awesome for a bathroom companion!I always used to break open everything in order to figure out how it worked at the fundamental level, and then my parents bought me K'Nex and Legos so I wouldn't break as many devices around the house lol.When I got into college, I realized that 'mechanical engineering' is basically a grown up version of playing with K'nex and I couldn't have been happier with my choice!Now this book entertains me for hours!

I love these types of books that give a brief (1 paragraph) and diagram about some machine used in the past (1700's, 1800's, 1900's). I have probably 8 other books of this kind. This book had some devices, that I had not seen before. It does not give the details of size, shape, how to make, how to use. Just a diagram.If you like mechanical devices, this is a good book for you. If you are looking for plans or directions on how to build mechanical devices this isn't the best source.

If you like mechanical contraptions of all kinds this is a book you will enjoy. The text is very limited so you will have to exercise your inner mechanical genius to figure out how things work, which in reality is not that difficult in most cases.

excellent work

This is a beautiful interpretation of many antiquated designs illustrated well and easily used to breed thoughts during a design session. An absolute must read for any mechanical engineer looking for creative ways to create mechanical motion.