Our profession is the Basis of britain’s economic prosperity
The media and internet have a big part to play in giving people a more realistic perception of the modern engineering environment. Also, I admire what individual engineers are doing to explain the satisfaction they get from their jobs (Editor’s Comment and “Let’s engineer a better brand,” PE April). But I fear that the problem is a peculiar failure of the British people, including many business people, to understand that engineering is the basis of all prosperity.
Without modern production machinery, there would be almost no manufactured products or services, and there would be no people surplus to the requirements of the productive sector of the economy to provide any of the public services that are highly valued. So how is this misperception of engineering to be corrected?
It can be done only by explaining or demonstrating the benefits from engineering since World War Two. They are the reason why the surplus discretionary income of an average UK family increased from 38% in 1962 to 56% in 1992. It then fell to 50% following the reduction in the manufacturing proportion of GDP from 22.5% in 1992 to 12% in 2012, while the financial and banking services contribution to GDP increased as a result of globalisation, with little social value.
Monetary values can be put on many gains made by engineering developments that affect household bills. For example, boiler efficiencies have increased. Without those improvements, gas bills would have been more than double the present level. Similarly, electricity generation efficiency has increased, with natural gas replacing coal. Car mileage per gallon has also hugely reduced the cost of travel.
Without engineering improvements, public services would be even more unaffordable than they are now. These sorts of facts need to be broadcast.
John Davis, Swanage, Dorset
Beyond Brunel
Recently, for the third time, doctors manipulated equipment inserted in my groin and threaded through into my heart so that they could disrupt faulty electrical circuits that were causing arrhythmia. During the five hours that I was on the operating table, I speculated what the operating theatre would look like without all the equipment designed and built by engineers. I suppose I would have been on a wooden block, with the doctors wondering where to plunge the knife – or, more likely, in a wooden box.
One of the reasons that so many youngsters, especially girls, find engineering unattractive is that the subject is usually mentioned in connection with television programmes about the wonders created by Brunel and his like. Much as I enjoy these, they do suggest that engineering is only involved in large, greasy pieces of machinery, mostly completed in the 19th century.
Whenever modern inventions are mentioned, it’s usually with reference to the scientists who use them, not about the engineers who create them. The Hubble telescope was designed and built by scientists – not to mention the rocket that put it into space in the first place.
There is scope for a series of TV programmes highlighting the engineering achievements involved in everyday life. Those for whom dirty hands are not attractive might then see the possibilities of a fascinating and rewarding career as an engineer.
Bob Seager, Chey, France
Get sport onside
“Let’s engineer a better brand” (PE April) encourages engineers to become more engaged in media activities. As a sports engineer who is involved in public engagement, I couldn’t agree more.
I was particularly interested in Dr Shini Somara’s question about why more wasn’t being done to publicise the engineering expertise that helped our athletes at the London Olympics. The application of engineering and technology to sport is an exciting area which has excellent potential to generate public interest in the profession, change attitudes and challenge preconceptions.
Sports engineers are working hard to promote their work – one example is the website sportstechnologypodcast.com. But more could be done by the institutions, wider engineering community and schools to promote this field, and others, to the next generation of engineers.
Dr Tom Allen, Sheffield
Parliamentary role
I raised the issue of the dearth of engineers in parliament with my MP. He told me that his fellow parliamentarians were also concerned about their need to rely on outside advisers.
I suggested that more liaison should take place between the House of Commons and the institutions, to encourage potential candidates to come forward. A cross-party effort and cross-discipline approach is needed – it is no good having an engineering contingent from one institution or one party.
So how might the selection agents of the political parties meet experienced engineers who are seeking a mid-life change in direction? Forums such as the National Engineering and Construction Recruitment Exhibition at the NEC give the opportunity for mature engineers seeking a change of job to meet up with potential employers. The institutions have a stand at these forums. Surely space could be found for representatives of the political parties. This would also publicise to newly graduated engineers that a change of direction can be made, later in their life, to one where they might influence national policy.
The engineer’s voice needs to be heard in the corridors of power. Rational decisions need to be made in a timely manner rather than as a costly quick fix. Party managers are reviewing lists of candidates for the next election. Will there be any engineers among those names? It is up to you.
Roy Mason, Ulverston, Cumbria
Climate complexity
A strategy of adapting to climate change will not be easy and may never succeed, as temperatures are set to increase exponentially rather than in a straight line (Editor’s Comment, PE March). The reasons for this are twofold. Firstly, human-generated releases of greenhouse gases have been going up exponentially. Secondly, warming temperatures trigger the release of greenhouse gases from natural systems. These emissions could potentially dwarf current human emissions.
Control engineers will quickly realise the potential for a positive feedback system to become established and for runaway climate change to become a reality. This ‘catastrophic climate change’ explains the large predicted increase in temperatures of between 3°C and 5°C by the end of this century.
As climate change progresses, no sooner will we have built one flood defence than extreme weather will increase another notch and overwhelm it, or the circumstances could change completely and we could end up with drought.
Root-cause analysis is required – we should try and stop climate change before it gets to the point of no return. I suggest as essential reading Six Degrees by Mark Lynas, which reviews the evidence on climate change.
Iain Siekman, Hamilton, Lanarkshire
Rail vision: The planners of HS2 should learn the lessons of HS1
Astronomy lesson
The original rationale for the HS2 project was to provide a high-speed link between London and the other main centres of the country. The premise was that the link would spread the wealth and influence of London to the provinces. This is almost certainly the opposite of the truth.
There are many examples of double stars where one massive star draws material from a nearby and smaller star through superior gravitational attraction. The big star grows until it eventually explodes in a supernova. Similarly, London pulls economic, social and industrial action into its mass. Providing another high-speed link into the city will simply increase that activity. Many of the technical premises for HS2 are suspect. There are alternatives being offered by groups of professionals who see the problem in more rational terms.
The proposed HS2 scheme will consist of a spine with branches. If the spine fails in any way, the whole will grind to a halt. There is no redundancy; no alternative routes. The correct way to solve this problem is to create multiple links between nodes. This approach could also encourage economic activity between equal partners other than London.
Creating better connections between Bristol and Manchester, Leeds and Newcastle, or Felixstowe and Birmingham would make much more sense. Such links would promote real alternatives to London.
Colin Walker, Coventry
Integration opportunity
With the publication of Sir David Higgins’ report on HS2, it would seem that we have not yet learnt from our experience south of the river. HS1 has been integrated into the rail network of Kent via links at Ashford International and at Ebbsfleet International, and has regenerated areas served by the local high-speed trains.
The idea of extending phase one of the project is welcome, and will regenerate areas to the east and west of Crewe. But there is a missed opportunity to include a hub similar to those at Ashford and Ebbsfleet. Such a hub could be located where the HS2 route crosses the old Oxford/Bletchley/Bedford line. It would bring a much-needed boost, with a local network of Javelin-style trains linking to the high-speed network, giving fast access to the North, South and even continental Europe and beyond.
Higgins is right that we cannot continue to tinker with the existing Victorian infrastructure and hope that it will serve us well for another 150 years. But we need to ensure that we integrate that old network into the 21st-century replacement.
James Wilson, New Romney, Kent
Straying off-track
Francis Cowell may be right about Brunel’s ‘skimping’ in building the ‘stayed suspension’ Saltash Bridge as a broad-gauge single-track – though should not the directors of the Cornwall Railway take the blame (Letters, PE April)?
But Brunel can hardly be arraigned for driving the Severn Tunnel through flooding ground. The tunnel was built by the Great Western between 1873 and 1886, years after Brunel’s death in 1859.
The article “Reversed signal” in the same issue gave a good overview of the efforts to secure level crossing safety, but then displayed an old picture of my local crossing at Porthmadog with a caption about “computers and cameras” when this one, being right by the station, is one of the few that are locally monitored and operated by the train crew themselves before they proceed across it.
Bob Rainbow, Porthmadog, Gwynedd
Unfair on Brunel
Francis Cowell states that railway electrification would need to be stopped at Exeter due, as I understand him, to “Brunel’s cheap coastal route” (Letters, PE April). I really cannot see why this route is ‘unelectrifiable’ – seems simple enough to me!
The risk of wash-outs remains, regardless of whether the line is electrified or not, while any diversion should be built with electrification in mind.
Cowell criticises Brunel for building the Royal Albert Bridge single track, but I suggest it is timely to remind members that “Engineers can do for a pound what any fool can do for ten!”
Moving on, it is unfair to credit Brunel with the challenge of building the Severn Tunnel. That was engineered by Sir John Hawkshaw and not started until 14 years after Brunel had died!
Whilst the builders did indeed break into a giant freshwater spring, far from continuously flooding, it is worth recording that thanks to continuous pumping the Severn Tunnel has never flooded since it opened. And again, with good clearances, electrifying the railway through it should be a simple piece of engineering.
However, if Cowell can suggest a way of boring his replacement parallel (double track?) tunnel and associated railway connections for less than the cost of continuously running some electric pumps I am sure the world will beat a path to his door.
Simon Marshall, Loughborough
Palace revisited
The article on the Crystal Palace brought waves of nostalgia (Archive, PE March). In my youth – I am nearly 89 – I lived close to ‘the palace’ and occasionally went there with my parents. There were concerts, organ recitals and speedway contests, and the parkland was full of interest.
One disappointment is never having taken the trip to the top of one of the two towers built at either end of the main construction. The views from these heights must have been brilliant. Sadly, these towers were demolished. The popular view was that they would constitute too prominent a landmark for the German air force.
Nostalgia apart, I do hope that the Crystal Palace will be reborn and a structure worthy of its predecessor – an elegant symbol of British architecture, engineering and cultural prowess – built on the Sydenham Hills.
Bill Jordan, Budleigh Salterton, Devon
Tackling tyre wear
Robin Firth’s comments reminded me of a method for spinning aeroplanes’ wheels in advance of landing to minimise the tyre wear at the point of landing (Letters, PE April). Small blades were included in the wheel-hub design. These caught the passing air flow and spun the wheels up from the time the landing gear was lowered.
I recall seeing video of this design being demonstrated on a commercial aircraft, eliminating the puff of smoke at landing. I don’t know what happened to the idea, but it didn’t seem to make it into general use.
Ian Wattie, Edinburgh
Get in a spin
I gave thought to the problem raised by Robin Firth many decades ago and also recognised that pre-spinning the wheels during the landing approach would significantly reduce tyre wear (Letters, PE April).
However, my proposed solution didn’t require hydraulics or electric motors. I visualised a simple air jet generated by the forward motion of the aircraft being directed at the tyre periphery thus causing it to spin.
I seriously considered patenting my idea, but at the time my hectic professional and personal life intervened.
John Bennett, Steyning, West Sussex
Pelton wheel plan
Robin Firth suggests spinning aircraft wheels by hydraulic or electric motors to save on rubber when landing (Letters, PE April).
The solution could be simpler than that. Persuade tyre manufacturers to add rings of small scoops on the tyre walls, so that the tyres spin like Pelton wheels when they are lowered into the high-speed air before landing.
A deal between the airline and manufacturer – so that part of the saving in tyre replacement is shared with the maker to compensate for the extra cost of the tyre – should do the trick.
Robin Colby, Little Goodstone, Bickington, Devon
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