ASME Honors Sholes & Glidden Typewriter

It may be an afterthought in the age of ubiquitous computers, but the Sholes & Glidden typewriter, the first commercially successful mechanical writing machine, was a breakthrough of historic proportions when it was introduced in the 1870s. In October, ASME recognized that achievement in a ceremony that named the Sholes & Glidden typewriter as a Historic Mechanical Engineering Landmark.

The event took place at the Milwaukee Public Museum, which houses the typewriter in its extensive collection of industrial artifacts.

The Sholes & Glidden typewriter set off a revolution in the conduct of commerce and business, as well as in communications. Prior to the invention of the typewriter, business correspondence had to be conducted by handwriting. With the advent of the typewriter, the ability of a skilled operator to type uniform, easily read text at high speed, and to employ carbon paper to make multiple copies, created significant increases in efficiency and economy in the workplace.

In addition, the device’s popularity and the resulting demand for typists enabled women to enter the business world in unprecedented numbers.

It was in a machine shop in Milwaukee, in the mid-1860s, where Christopher Latham Sholes and Carlos Glidden went to work on a writing machine that they envisioned to be functional and reliable. Advancing ideas and concepts from earlier failed attempts to design a usable typewriter, the two inventors and a group of associates worked for nearly seven years, before introducing a model that entered into mass production in 1874.

The Sholes & Glidden typewriter introduced the Qwerty keyboard
and changed the world of manuscripts. Mark Twain submitted Tom
Sawyer typewritten.

The Sholes & Glidden featured a revolving cylindrical platen to serve as the paper carrier, a lever-action key mechanism, radial type bars, and inked ribbon, among other firsts in typewriter design. In addition, Sholes devised the Q-W-E-R-T-Y arrangement of keys to minimize the possibility of jamming.

The Q-W-E-R-T-Y configuration enabled a skilled operator to “produce original documents faster than possible by hand,” read a bronze plaque that ASME presented to the Milwaukee Public Museum at the ceremony.

Members of the ASME Committee on History and Heritage joined with Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele, and representatives of the Milwaukee Public Museum in a celebration of engineering achievement and local history. Among those attending the ceremony were Tommy Harris, director of community relations for Milwaukee County; ASME Past President Donald Zwiep; Thomas Fehring, History & Heritage Committee member; and Jay Williams, chief executive officer of the Milwaukee Public Museum.

The nearly 248 ASME landmarks—ranging from mills and industrial processes to steam engines and rockets—represent progress in the evolution of mechanical engineering and significance to society in general. Through its Landmarks Program, ASME encourages the preservation of historically important works.

In addition to its contributions to business efficiency, the typewriter played a critical role in the burgeoning of literature in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Mark Twain claimed in his autobiography that he was the first important writer to present a publisher with a typewritten manuscript, his 1876 novel The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.

Policy Internship Deadline Dec. 31

ASME is accepting applications for the 2012 Washington Internships for Students of Engineering program until December 31.

The WISE program offers a unique opportunity to third-and fourth-year engineering students to spend a summer in Washington D.C., learning about the interaction of technology and public policy. WISE interns are selected from a nationwide competition and spend nine weeks learning how government officials make decisions on complex technological issues and how engineers can contribute to legislative and regulatory public policy decisions. At the end of the nine weeks, interns produce a public policy paper on a topic of interest and then present their findings on Capitol Hill.

The 2012 WISE program will run from June 4 to August 3.

ASME President Endorses STEM Education Bill

A bill to improve student achievement in engineering, math, and other technologically oriented
subjects is working its way through the U.S. Senate. As a measure of support for the bill, ASME President Victoria Rockwell released a letter in October that urged the passage of the measure.

In the letter, addressed to Senator Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), who introduced the Preparing Students for Success in the Global Economy Act, Rockwell declared on behalf of ASME, “[we] look forward to working with you to support this critical legislation.”

The Merkley bill is part of a broader piece of legislation, the Elementary and Secondary Education Reauthorization Act, which has been taken up by the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee. As part of the broader measure, the Merkley bill is designed to reauthorize and strengthen the current Math and Science Partnership Program at the Department of Education. The bill’s objective is to improve student achievement in the subjects of science, technology, engineering, and math by providing an array of competitive grants to states and districts, which would transition to formula-based grants after a threshold funding level is reached.

“ASME believes that our nation’s continued leadership and prosperity will hinge on continued efforts like yours to prioritize robust funding for quality STEM education programs,” Rockwell wrote, “so that all students are scientifically literate and have the skills and training to compete for jobs in the 21st Century economy. We also commend your bill for being fiscally responsible by amending and improving an existing Department of Education program—the Math and Science Partnerships (Title IIB of ESEA)—rather than creating a wholly new initiative.

“Finally, we strongly support the bill’s focus on innovation through a variety of best practices such as hands-on engineering competitions, STEM Master Teachers, and innovative professional development models.”

Among the goals of the bill, which is designated S. 1675, are improving student engagement in, and increasing student access to, courses in STEM subjects; strengthening quality STEM instruction and professional development programs; and recruiting, training, and supporting highly effective teachers in STEM subjects.

The bill aims to close achievement gaps and prepare more students for college and careers in these fields.

Energy Committee Issues Two More Talking Points

The ASME Energy Committee has issued two more papers in its Energy Talking Points series, which raises fundamental questions regarding the future of energy and energy policy.

One of the latest papers, ETP 3, examines oil imports for the transportation sector. The rate of imports affects U.S. energy independence and the economy, the paper argues. Roughly $1 billion a day—or $360 billion a year—is spent by the United States to import petroleum. The U.S. Energy Information Agency forecasts that this level of expenditure will continue for the foreseeable future.

ETP 3 sees conservation as a short-term means of reducing imports. Among its recommendations are a reduction in highway speed limits and an increase in state and federal taxes on gasoline “to incorporate more of the full external costs of U.S. petroleum reliance into the price of the fuel.”

The paper also considers technological solutions, concluding, “Significant effort, resources, and incentives today must be directed to the development and use of alternative power and fuel systems for future vehicles and to alternative modes of transportation, including mass transit systems.”

The second new paper, ETP 4, discusses the nuclear fuel cycle. It estimates that the once-through fuel cycle practiced in the United States uses only 0.05 percent of uranium’s potential. The paper discusses such alternatives as reprocessing and switching to reactors capable of fissioning more isotopes of uranium than current reactors use.

“Advanced fuel cycles and advanced reactors will use 75 percent or more of the uranium,” the paper states. “Thus, projected supplies will allow uranium to be used as a major source of energy for thousands of years.”

ETP 4 recommends several actions, including “construction of a demonstration safeguarded spent fuel reprocessing facility and of a nuclear reactor designed to reduce the amount of radioactive material being stored and to extend the effective life of this valuable and limited resource.”

The first paper, ETP 1, examined signs that petroleum exports will end as soon as two decades from now. The decline in exports would be due, in part, to domestic consumption outstripping production in leading oil exporters.

ETP 2 examined energy sources and consumption. It identifies the transportation sector, which is almost entirely dependent on petroleum, as one which requires immediate attention. It also pointed out that electricity generation is the least efficient user of U.S. energy resources and a sector that may have the greatest potential for improvement through research and engineering.

The series of papers can be found on the ASME Web site, www.asme.org, by searching for “Energy Talking Points.”

The papers represent the views of the Energy Committee of ASME’s Knowledge and Community Sector and do not necessarily represent the views of ASME as a whole. The Energy Committee comprises 40 members from 17 ASME divisions.