this explains a lot about steam engines.

Rhinochugger said:
My thinking is that they would have used a 3/4/5 triangle to get a short horizontal from an accurate perpendicular (plumb line) then used crude optical ranging gear to extend the line over a distance.
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How did they navigate over see 4000 years ago? in those instruments lays your answer. after the 345 triangle method
 
I would not rely on AI to design anything.
Recent experience I was creating a computer program using AI to write the code and when it did not work I spent 2 days troubleshooting it.
The troubleshooting ending up just repeating itself.
When I called enough the AI bot produced a different bit of code that worked almost immediately.
My experience is that AI bots have the mentality of 5 years olds but are good at producing code which for a computer illiterate like me is helpful.
Just have to explain what you want to do in clear concise instructions hence the 5 year old mentality.

I use a serviette or a beer coaster to do all my planning.
 
justme igor said:
I learned how to work (read and write as we say) with one without computer....yes now these days they come with a gps signal and computer to do a job like where to put the pounding poles for the fundation, they can even set hights for bridges, curves in roads in a couple of hours......

And then they ask: where are the skilled workers?!?!?!?
Sometimes going forward is going backwards, 40 years ago a carpenter was a real trade, now? oyu can hold a hamer? than you are a carpenter....
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Yebbut, these guys who can do all that, and set tunnelling machines to bore through with incredible accuracy, they are today's skilled workers as well.
 
GAP said:
I would not rely on AI to design anything.
Recent experience I was creating a computer program using AI to write the code and when it did not work I spent 2 days troubleshooting it.
The troubleshooting ending up just repeating itself.
When I called enough the AI bot produced a different bit of code that worked almost immediately.
My experience is that AI bots have the mentality of 5 years olds but are good at producing code which for a computer illiterate like me is helpful.
Just have to explain what you want to do in clear concise instructions hence the 5 year old mentality.

I use a serviette or a beer coaster to do all my planning.
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All the nest BR IT systems were born on the back of a beer mat generally after the morning meeting had failed to get any accord, beer always worked!
 
Paul M said:
I thought they used a U shaped pipe, filled th the tops with water, it was level when the water stayed in both ends
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That's the prinicple, and for a building of importance, they may well have actually built a solid pipe that acted as a permanent level, but even that would have required making waterproof - vitrified in some way - pipework sections (round or square) that could be joined together.

Roman building construction for their underwater heating tended to rely on ducts rather than pipes - but it's an interesting line of research :nod::nod:
 
justme igor said:
Often it is way easier to draw with just a pencil and a ruler, but the houses that are build now are a bit more complex than 40 years ago.
That is what keeps impressing me, its not a small machine.
And yes ancient engineers did great things just with a pencil, roman ingenuity, to much examples to place them here
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What is more complex about today's homes is the technology, not the structure itself. I'm not disagreeing with you that a machine can print out a set of drawings in a New York Minute. Toward the end of my career, CAD drawings were becoming more common. I found them harder to decipher than hand made drawings.

One funny story I have is about the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Some time back in the '70s, a large piece of art was brought into the museum. The only way it could bypass the front entrance, which was Muntz Metal ( a copper alloy ) and glass about forty feet high, was to cut through the mullions in order to remove enough of the entrance to get the art into the building.

By cutting the entrance they compromised the structure, so over time, wind and doors opening and closing caused the facade to buckle. It was my task to survey the situation and make sketches of possible solutions, which I did quite extensively. But a structural engineer was required to put his stamp on the drawings in order for the work to proceed.

Not only did the engineer redraw what I had already drawn, but he put his name on the drawings along with his stamp and took full credit for the ideas I had given him.....:swear:.....I've seen scenarios like this play out throughout my career as a master carpenter, to other good men. NO GOOD DEED GOES UNPUNISHED.
 
Madman said:
What is more complex about today's homes is the technology, not the structure itself. I'm not disagreeing with you that a machine can print out a set of drawings in a New York Minute. Toward the end of my career, CAD drawings were becoming more common. I found them harder to decipher than hand made drawings.

One funny story I have is about the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Some time back in the '70s, a large piece of art was brought into the museum. The only way it could bypass the front entrance, which was Muntz Metal ( a copper alloy ) and glass about forty feet high, was to cut through the mullions in order to remove enough of the entrance to get the art into the building.

By cutting the entrance they compromised the structure, so over time, wind and doors opening and closing caused the facade to buckle. It was my task to survey the situation and make sketches of possible solutions, which I did quite extensively. But a structural engineer was required to put his stamp on the drawings in order for the work to proceed.

Not only did the engineer redraw what I had already drawn, but he put his name on the drawings along with his stamp and took full credit for the ideas I had given him.....:swear:.....I've seen scenarios like this play out throughout my career as a master carpenter, to other good men. NO GOOD DEED GOES UNPUNISHED.
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Over here that would also be fairly normal, but related to the issue of Professional Indemnity Insurance which, for professional designers in this country is not as straightforward as it is for contractors. There are overarching requirements in common law and, for Architects in their Royal Charter - it's a legal backwater which is rich pickings for the lawyers. It is an area that I had to investigate in depth when we were tendering for very large support contracts for the MoD where they suddenly brought in a main contract requirement of 'fit for purpose'. In this country, an Architect (and they must be chartered RIBA to call themselves an Architect) cannot sign a design as fit for purpose - as part of their Royal Charter they have a 'duty of care' which, in some instances, is wider than the definition of fit for purpose, but obviously clashes.

Needless to say, discussing this with MoD's contract team was like walking through treacle :mask::mask:
 
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