PREFACE
TO
THE FIRST EDITION.
Few are gifted with a memory so retentive, as not
to require the aid of written formulae, in working
out the numetous calculations constantly necessary
in the profession of an Engineer. But I am not
aware of any book providing formulae, to which on
all ordinary emergencies he may easily refer, and
which conoisely and comprehensively furnish data
for the various and rapid calculations so constantly
needful in his work.
To a certain extent these requirements are
supplied by Adcock’s, Weale’«, and Templeton’s
pocket-books; but these manuale, however gene-
rally useful and admirable» are not sufficiently
comprehensive and portable for the purposes
aimed at in the present publication.
When younger members of the profession have
asked me to recommend some concise and compre-
hensive manual for ordinary operations, I have
felt myself unable to make a satisfactory selection.
I had myself experteaced the want of such a
manual, and the consequent necessity of labour
:xnd search into various sources of information;
in which what I needed waa frequently either
mixed up with extraneous matter, aiianged in
unpractical form, or clothed in mathematical terms
ao abstruse as to render it almost valueless.
This experience has led me from year to year to
compile aiwi note down for my own use many for-
mulae and memoranda. These, after considerable
additions and careful revision, I now publish as a
poeket manual, with the hope that other engineers
may find it as useful to them as it has been to me.
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