Torque Power Live Steam Models Hyattstown, Box 144-D R. F. D.,
Ijamsville, Maryland 21 754
Hi There Young Engineers:
By the time most of you read this, Christmas and New Years will
long be forgotten. But this Christmas will be remembered for a long
time by myself and my family, as shortly before Christmas my Father
most of you know from past articles, my Dad is the inventor of the
Micro-Fret guitar which he manufactures at his factory in
Frederick, Maryland. At the present time, I am working in his place
at the Factory and will be for some time.
Several years ago I started collecting old books. I now have
about twenty, dating from 1882 to 1910 and ranging from grammar
school books to steam engineering, electrical engineering and
mechanical engineering books. The two oldest books I have are on
electrical engineering 1882-1884. These books contain a great deal
of Thomas Edison’s work in electricity and Alexander
Graham Bell’s work along with numerous other inventors.
About a year ago I was given a book called Stromberg’s Steam
Users Guide, published in 1895. In the preface of the book, the
author explained that this was an updated version of Zwickers
Practical Instructor which was published in 1891. Oddly enough this
past summer I got a copy of Zwicker’s book which is something I
thought I would never run across. The two books are primarily about
stationary power plant operation.
For some reason old books like these seem to be much more clear
and understandable than modern books. Maybe it is because there are
so many line drawings to help explain the written text. Collecting
old books like these is something many of you might find very
interesting.
Well, this is all for now.
