Caterpillar Inc Heavy Equipment CSR by GineersNow Engineering GineersNow Engineering Magazine November 2016 | Page 56

MECHANICAL ENGINEERS WHO
SHAPED THE MECHANICAL
INDUSTRY OF TODAY
Mechanical engineering is known as one of the oldest and broadest disciplines that applies and connects
the fields of engineering, physics, and material science to be used in design, manufacturing, analysis as
well as maintenance of mechanical systems.
This field of engineering requires a deep understanding of mechanics, kinematics, thermodynamics,
material science, structural analysis as well as electricity.
Here are some notable mechanical engineers who shaped the mechanical industry of today.
James Watt FRS FRSE
1736-1819 James Watt,
was a Scottish inventor,
mechanical
engineer,
chemist and scientist who
significantly
improved
Thomas
Newcomen’s
1712 Newcomen steam
engine with the Watt
steam engine in 1736.
His new team engine
was a very important to
the changes that were
brought about by the
Industrial Revolution in
both Great Britain and the
whole world. He is now
called the Father of the
Steam Age, as well as the
Founder of Mechanical
Engineering.
He is responsible for the
concept of horsepower,
and the SI unit of power,
Watt, was coined after
him.
James Hall Nasmyth
1808-1890 James Hall
Nasmyth was a Scottish
engineer,
artist
and
inventor who is well known
for his development of
the steam hammer. He
was the co-founder of
Nasmyth, Gaskell and
Company manufacturers
of machine tools.
Photo by TodayInSci
Photo by Britannica
56
NOVEMBER 2016
Mining Engineering and Its Importance
William George
Armstrong
1810-1900 William George
Armstrong, 1st Baron
Armstrong CB FRS was
an English industrialist,
scientist, inventor and
philanthropist who is the
founder of Armstrong
Whitworth manufacturing
concern on Tyneside.
He worked together
with
the
architect
Richard Norman Shaw in
building the Cragside in
Northumberland, which
was the first house in
the world that was lit by
hydroelectricity. He is
the inventor of modern
artillery, the hydraulic
crane,
hydroelectric
machine,
accumulator,
as well as the Armstrong
Gun.
Photo by
WondersOfWorldEngineering
Nikola Tesla
1856 –1943 Nikola Tesla
is more well known in
the field of electricity, but
he is a great mechanical
engineer as well. He is
also an electrical engineer,
physicist as well as a
futurist. He is well known
for his contributions in
the design of the modern
AC (alternating current)
electricity supply system.
He has designed and
invented
numerous
machines that has helped
the world, some of these
are the induction motor,
rotating magnetic field,
the Tesla coil, as well as
the Radio remote control
vehile (torpedo).
Photo by Wikimedia