Engineering Spelled Out

This article presents an alphabetical order as a type of abecedary of brief essays on concepts and practices that are central to mechanical engineering. Codes and Standards is one of the topics, which highlights that the development of standards is generally identified as a sign of professionalism, in which voluntary committee efforts go toward writing standards that are adopted widely. The Mechanical Engineering essay explains that with the rise of specialization, civil engineers focused on alignment, grades, roadbeds, and bridges, and mechanical engineers on locomotives and rolling stock. The development of such divergent interests led to the feeling that the civil engineering societies that initially encompassed all of non-military engineering could not satisfy an increasingly diverse membership. Hence, new and more specialized societies began to be established in the middle of the nineteenth century. The Symbols of Engineering essay explains that the legal profession is symbolized on many a courthouse façade by a representation of blindfolded Justice holding a pair of scales—and sometimes a sword in her other hand—an image that also has roots in Greek culture.