MECCA Week was a tradition at the University of Iowa College of Engineering for many years.  This celebration took place around St. Patrick’s Day, due to St. Patrick being the patron saint of engineers.   One popular event was the search for the Blarney Stone. It is named for the Blarney Stone in Ireland which, when kissed by leaning backward from a parapet in Blarney Castle, is said to give the “gift of eloquence.”

During MECCA week, the students of the engineering college would compete in order to find the Blarney Stone, a 13”x11”x6” piece of granite that is supposed to come from Ireland, a tradition which began in 1910. The stone would be hidden by the graduating class, and they would then give the underclassmen clues in the form of engineering problems to solve. Eventually, this tradition was turned into a competition between the law students and the engineering students to see who could find the Stone first. If the law students found it before the engineers, the engineers would be “in disgrace” for the entire year. MECCA week was the peak of the rivalry between the engineering students and the law students, with creative pranks abounding.

The search for the Blarney Stone was not easy, however. In 1912, the instructions for locating the stone were lost, and the Stone was not found until 27 years later when they finally resurfaced. Ironically, the Blarney Stone was found hidden in the basement of the Engineering Building. The stone was not found in 1947, either, necessitating the purchase of a new Blarney Stone by the class who had failed. Further complicating the search was the enormous area in which it could be hidden—anywhere within a 25 mile radius of Iowa City.

Can you solve these problems to find the stone? How about the one written in German?

Here are some articles written in the Daily Iowa about the search for the Blarney Stone:

From The Daily Iowan. 17 Mar. 1959.

Further Reading:

• MECCA Celebration 1915. The Transit. Volume 19.  http://sdrc.lib.uiowa.edu/eng/transit/transitV19/display.asp?p=63
• Putnam, K.S.  1911. St. Patrick’s Day Celebration. The Transit. Volume 16 (1911). http://sdrc.lib.uiowa.edu/eng/transit/transitV16/display.asp?p=90
• Daily Iowan Article from March 16, 1948.  http://dailyiowan.lib.uiowa.edu/DI/1948/di1948-03-16.pdf
• Daily Iowan From March 14, 1962 http://www.engineering.uiowa.edu/~mecca/DIart62.pdf
• MECCA History (College of Engineering) http://www.engineering.uiowa.edu/~mecca/history.htm
• MECCA 2001 http://www.engineering.uiowa.edu/~mecca/MECCA2001.pdf
• MECCA Memories and Comments: http://www.engineering.uiowa.edu/~mecca/MECCAmem1.pdf

References

• Kress, Kay. “Search for Blarney Stone Begins.” The Daily Iowan. 17 Mar. 1959. http://dailyiowan.lib.uiowa.edu/DI/ 1959/di1959-03-17.pdf
• “Kiss the Blarney Stone.” Blarney Castle. (n.d.). http://www.blarneycastle.ie/pages/kiss-the-blarney-stone
• http://blog.lib.uiowa.edu/eng/celebrating-engineers/

The College of Engineering celebrates E-Week in conjunction with National Engineers Week, February 16 – 22, 2014. During E-Week, a variety of student-organized activities help celebrate and recognize engineers and their contributions to society.

However, did you know that the College of Engineering founded a similar event more than 100 years ago? On March 17, 1910, the Associated Students of Applied Sciences organized a parade and a vaudeville show to honor St. Patrick, the patron saint and founder of engineering. Three years later, the event was renamed MECCA. The letters represented the five divisions of engineering (Mechanical, Electrical, Civil, Chemical, and Architectural) and spelled a word which denotes a place to which pilgrimages are made. For sixty years, MECCA Day was a lively annual homecoming for The College of Engineering students and alumni.

The Blarney Stone was the symbol of MECCA. The graduating class would hide a greenish colored rock, no larger than a baseball, for the underclassmen to find. Elaborate, mathematical calculations provided clues for locating the stone. In 1912, the Blarney Stone was hidden as usual but the directions were missing. Twenty-eight years later, the stone was recovered when the instructions were found.

Other traditions included parades, formal banquets and balls, satirical plays, beard contests and “Smokers.”

REFERENCES

“The Ninth Annual Engineers’ Banquet,” The Transit, Volume 16 (1911), p.85

“The MECCA Celebration – 1915,” The Transit, Volume 19 (1915), p. 63

“MECCA,” The Transit, Volume 25 (1921), p. 26

Iowa City Town and Campus Scenes, The University of Iowa Libraries Iowa Digital Library

What is more romantic than riding a Ferris wheel? Considering George W. G. Ferris, Jr. was born on Valentine’s Day in 1859, perhaps nothing. Ferris was an engineer who graduated from Rensselear Polytechnic Institute (Troy, NY) and founded the G.W.G. Ferris & Co. firm (Pittsburgh, PA) which tested and inspected metals for railroads and bridges. He is credited for creating the first large, steel amusement ride.

But was the Ferris wheel the first of its kind?

The 1893 World’s Fair was to be held in Chicago, and the fair’s organizers wanted to rival the Eiffel Tower which had been constructed for the Paris World’s Fair in 1889. Having recently ridden a fifty-foot wooden “observation roundabout,” which had been built and soon would be patented by William Somers, Farris was inspired to enter the competition with his paper-napkin drawing of an enormous park ride. The constructed 45-foot axle-wheel powered by two 1,000 horsepower steam engines was supported by two 140-foot steel towers and it carried thirty-six wooden cars, each car holding 60 passengers, 264 feet high into the air.

Because of its size, people were reticent to ride Ferris’ wheel. For safety measures, the enclosed cars were fitted with heavy iron screens, locked doors and fire equipment. Also, conductors rode in each car to answer questions and to calm nerves. During the World’s Fair, more than 1,750,000 passengers rode without incident.

REFERENCES

Books

• Circles in the Sky: The Life and Times of George Ferris by Richard G. Weingardt. ASCE Press, 2009
• Ferris Wheels: An Illustrated History by Norman D. Anderson. Bowling Green State University Popular Press, 1992

Newspapers

• “The Big Ferris Wheel.” The Alleghenian, 1 July 1893. Retrieved from Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, North Side: People: George Ferris
• “The Ferris Wheel Decided to Be an Infringement of the Somers Wheel.” Atlantic City Dispatch, 19 November 1893. Retrieved from America’s Historical Newspapers
• “Ferris Wheel Profits.” The Kansas City Star. 9 November 1893. Retrieved from America’s Historical Newspapers
• “The Ferris Wheel Turns and Mrs. Ferris Gives a Toast” from The Pittsburg Commercial Gazette, 17 June 1893. Retrieved from Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, North Side: People: George Ferris
• “A Great Rush to Chicago.” New York Times, 22 June 1893. Retrieved from ProQuest Historical Newspapers: The New York Times (1851 – 2009)

Patents

In 1893, Somers filed a lawsuit against Ferris for patent infringement; however, Ferris and his lawyers successfully argued that the Ferris Wheel and its technology differed from Somers’ wheel, and the case was dismissed. The U.S. Patent Office has issued more than 100 patents for various vertical amusement rides, but Ferris never patented his invention.

Somers, William. Roundabout. U.S. Patent 489,238, January 3, 1893 (Google Patents)

Compiled list of U.S. Patents for Ferris Wheels (Penn State)

Standards

In 1978, the American Society for Testing Materials (ASTM) formed the F24 committee to create standards for the design, testing, manufacturing, and operation of amusement park rides.

• Standard Practice for Ownership, Operation, Maintenance, and Inspection of Amusement Rides and Devices, ASTM F770, Sept. 1, 2013 (4 pages)
• Standard Practice for Measuring the Dynamic Characteristics of Amusement Rides and Devices, ASTM F2137, Aug. 1, 2013 (7 pages)
• Standard Practice for Design of Amusement Rides and Devices, ASTM F2291, Aug. 1, 2013 (52 pages)

Internet

• “The Big Wheel” from the Hyde Park Historical Society Newsletter, Spring 2000. Retrieved from Hyde Park Historical Society
• The History of Theme Park Inventions by Mary Bellis. Retrieved from About.com Inventors

Charles Darwin is known for his work on the theory of evolution but did you also know he spent time researching earthworms? Each year on Feb 12th, we celebrate Darwin Day as a celebration on the anniversary of the birth of the historical scientist Charles Darwin, who was born on February 12, 1809. Darwin is most well-known for his publication On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection in 1859. This publication was the first to rigorously describe biological evolution through natural selection (1).

In addition to being the founder of the theory of evolution, Darwin also began and ended his career with publications on earthworms.   His work with earthworms was also very controversial and was seen unfavorably in scientific circles.  Darwin experimented to show the intelligence and value of earthworms for crop production in a time when they were seen as pests that were dumb, blind, unpleasant, and slimy creatures. (2)

Darwin’s work with evolution along with Gregor Mendel’s work with genetics laid the ground work for modern biotechnology, genes, and heredity.  Bioengineers, today, hope to use the foundations of these works to cure certain hereditary diseases. (3)

Historic and current books on Darwin and the theory of evolution:

• Darwin, Charles. 1860. On the origin of species by means of natural selection, or The preservation of favoured races in the struggle for life. New York: D. Appleton and company. Main Library QH365 .O2 1860a. or NetLibrary
• Seward, A.C. (Albert Charles). Darwin and Modern Science: Essays in Commemoration of the Centenary of the Birth of Charles Darwin and of the Fiftieth Anniversary of the Publication of the Origin of Species. Champaign, Ill.: Project Gutenberg, (n.d.). NetLibrary Electronic Book 
• Ruse, Michael. Charles Darwin. Malden, MA : Blackwell Pub., 2008. Ebrary Electronic Book
• Darwin, Charles. Charles Darwin’s notebooks from the voyage of the Beagle. New York : Cambridge University Press, 2009. Main Library QH11 .D22 2009
• “Charles Darwin (1809-1882).”  BBC History. http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/darwin_charles.shtml

Books on Darwin and Earthworms:

• Darwin, Charles. 1838. On the formation of mould. Proceedings of the Geological Society of London. 2, 574-576.
• Darwin, Charles. 1881. The formation of vegetable mould through the action of worms, with observations on their habits. London: John Murray. Special Collections Stein Collection QL394 .D3 1896 
• Brown, George G., et al. 2003. With Darwin, earthworms turn intelligent and become human friends. Pedobiologica. 47, 924-933. Electronic Access through ScienceDirect
• Feller, Christian, et al. 2003. Charles Darwin, earthworms and the natural sciences: various lessons from past to future. Agriculture Ecosystems and Environment. 99, 29-49. Electronic Access through ScienceDirect

References:

1. “About Darwin Day.” International Darwin Day Foundation. http://darwinday.org/about/
2. Schils, Rene.  2012. How James Watt invented the copier: forgotten inventions of our great scientists. New York: Springer. 71-76. Engineering Library T15 .S35513 2012
3. Marx, J.L. (ed.) 1989. A revolution in biotechnology. New York: Cambridge University Press. pp. 2-4.
4. Charles Darwin by Lock & Whitfield. 1877. National Portrait Gallery, London.  http://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/use-this-image.php?mkey=mw62368

The world today would be a very different place without the inventions of Thomas A. Edison.  He was known as the Wizard of Menlo Park.

Edison had obtained 1,093 US Patents over 63 years from 1868 to 1931 (1,084 utility patents and 9 design patents).  Only 2 people hold more patents in the United States.  (1)

His research provided notable contributions to telegraphy, telephony, sound recording, electronic lighting, electric power generation and distribution, and the motion picture. (2) Edison’s first invention, in 1869, was an electric vote-recorder.  It was to allow Washington congressmen to vote “yes” or “no” but they were not interested so the invention proved unsuccessful.  (http://www.google.com/patents/US90646)

Other notable inventions include: (3)

STENCIL PEN: The stencil pen was the predecessor to tattoo pens.

PRACTICAL ELECTRIC LAMP: Edison’s carbon filament light bulb was the first commercially viable electric light. Previous versions were not as durable and used expensive materials such as platinum.

FRUIT PRESERVER: Edison designed a fruit preserver that sucked the oxygen out of the glass jars, producing vacuum-sealed jars of fruit.

KINETOGRAPHIC CAMERA: The camera showed successive photos in a rapid speed so as to make them appear to be moving.

A complete listing of all of Thomas A. Edison’s 1,093 patents:  http://edison.rutgers.edu/patents.htm

In addition to the patents issues in the United States, Edison also was issued 1239 patents by foreign governments. (4) 

To Learn More:

• Thomas A. Edison: Father of Invention, check out this video available through Alexander Street Press.
• Barksdale, Martha.  “10 Inventions by Thomas Edison (That You Never Heard Of)”  13 January 2010.  HowStuffWorks.com.
  
• The University of Iowa Libraries has 58 books/videos related to Thomas A. Edison.
  • Baldwin, Neil,. 1995. Edison, inventing the century. 1st ed. New York : Hyperion.  TK140.E3 B25 1995 Main Library.
  • Israel, Paul. 1998. Edison : A life of invention. New York : John Wiley.   TK140.E3 I87 1998 Engineering Library.
  • Friedel, Robert D., Paul Israel, and Bernard S. Finn. 2010.  Edison’s electric light : The art of invention.  Baltimore : Johns Hopkins University Press.  TK4351 .F75 2010 Engineering Library.
  • McFee, Inez Nellie Canfield,. 1922. The story of thomas A. edison. New York : Barse & Hopkins. Special Collections Iowa Authors Collection.
  • Stross, Randall E. 2007. The wizard of menlo park : How thomas alva edison invented the modern world. 1st ed.  New York : Crown Publishers.   TK140.E3 S76 2007 Main Library.
  • Edison, Thomas A., and Dagobert D. Runes. 1968. The diary and sundry observations of thomas alva edison. New York,: Greenwood Press  TK140.E3 A3 1948a Main Library.

References:

1. Love, Dylan. 2011. The 10 Greatest Inventors in the Modern Era.  Business Insider. May 6, 2011.  http://www.businessinsider.com/most-prolific-inventors-2011-5?op=1
2. Jenkins, Reese V. and Keith A. Nier.  1984. A Record for Invention: Thomas Edison and His Papers.  IEEE Transactions on Education. 27 (4): 191 – 197. http://proxy.lib.uiowa.edu/login?url=http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/articleDetails.jsp?arnumber=4321702
3. Aquino, Judith. 2011. Thomas Edison’s 31 Greatest Inventions. Business Insider. April 7, 2011. http://www.businessinsider.com/thomas-edison-inventions-light-bulb-and-30-more?op=1
4. Dyer, Frank Lewis, and Thomas Commerford Martin. 1910. Edison, his life and inventions. Volume 2. New York, London,: Harper & Brothers. Electronic Resource (NetLibrary).

The Lichtenberger Engineering Library is now highlighting the Winter Olympics. This exhibit features information related to the Winter Olympics in general and showcases some of the engineering components for the fifteen sports participating through a plethora of library resources.

The 22^nd Winter Olympics is scheduled to take place from February 6th to 23rd, 2014 in Russia, with events held in Sochi as well as in the resort town of Krasnaya Polyana.  The fifteen sports in these games include:  Alpine Skiing, Biathlon, Bobsledding, Cross Country Skiing, Curling, Figure Skating, Freestyle Skiing, Ice Hockey, Luge, Nordic Combined, Short Track Speed Skating, Skeleton, Ski Jumping, and Snowboarding.   More information can be found at: http://www.sochi2014.com/en. Engineering can be seen throughout the sports participating.  Examples of topics covered in the exhibit includes how BMW is helping to building the ultimate bobsled[1], how body mechanics can influence speed skating[2], and the creation of tracks for bobsled, luge, and skeleton[3].

1. Paur, Jason.  U.S. Bobsled Team Picks Up a Wild BMW-Designed Ride. Wired: Playbook. Feb 12, 2013. http://www.wired.com/playbook/2013/02/bmw-us-bobsled-2/
2. Houdijk, H, JJ de Koning, G de Groot, MF Bobbert, and GJ van Ingen Schenau. Push-off mechanics in speed skating with conventional skates and klapskates. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise. March 2000. 32(3): 635-641
3. Mossner, M., M. Hasler, K Schindelwig, P Kaps, and W Nachbauer. An approximate simulation model for initial luge track design. Journal of Biomechanics. March 15, 2011. 44(5): 892-896. doi: 10.1016/j.jbiomech.2010.12.001.

I hope you did and are doing well with finals and enjoyed the hot coffee, cocoa and cider served at the Engineering Library to help you keep awake during these grueling sessions.  In between exams I saw some of you putting together the LEGO blocks and it looked like you were having fun!  The LEGO blocks were for you from Kari Kozak head of the Library,

here are some of your LEGO creations.

Did you enjoy the LEGO exhibit in our exhibit case while taking a break from exams?

Now for some facts about holidays which I took from Wikipedia;

For constitutional reasons, the United States does not have national holidays in the sense that most other nations do, i.e. days on which all businesses are closed by law and employees have a day off.^[1] Pursuant to the Tenth Amendment, theU.S. federal government only has constitutional jurisdiction to establish holidays for itself, for certain federally chartered and regulated businesses (such as federal banks), and for the District of Columbia; and pursuant to the First Amendment, neither federal, state nor local government can require any business (other than those mentioned) or individual to observe any holiday. Otherwise, constitutional authority to create public holidays is a power reserved to the states. Most states also allow local jurisdictions (cities, villages, etc.) to establish their own local holidays.

As of 2012, there are eleven federal holidays in the United States, ten annual holidays and one quadrennial holiday (Inauguration Day).^[2] Pursuant to the Uniform Monday Holiday Act of 1968 (effective 1971), official holidays are observed on a Monday, except for New Year’s Day, Independence Day, Veterans Day, Thanksgiving, and Christmas.^[ 

If you’re interested in more information about holidays? you will find it at this site http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holidays_of_the_United_States.  But if you’d rather not be too serious about anything being on the verge of finishing exams here something more fun to read:  http://www.baltimoresun.com/features/bal-artslife-holiday-trivia,0,5910159.triviaquiz#ixzz2nw86F4Nh

Right now showing at the engineering library is an exhibit called The Cult of LEGO.  It shows what can be created with Lego and touches on the many books we have on LEGO at the library.

Lego is a popular line of construction toys manufactured by The Lego Group, a privately held company based in Billund, Denmark. The company’s flagship product, Lego, consists of colorful interlocking plastic bricks and an accompanying array of gears, minifigures and various other parts. Lego bricks can be assembled and connected in many ways, to construct such objects as vehicles, buildings, and even working robots. Anything constructed can then be taken apart again, and the pieces used to make other objects.

Lego began manufacturing interlocking toy bricks in 1949. Since then a global Lego subculture has developed, supporting movies, games, competitions, and six themed amusement parks. As of 2013, around 560 billion Lego parts had been produced.

There is a lot about the history of Lego on Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lego but suffice it to say that we show what can be built with LEGO by using sets designed by Dan Daly retired llHR Hydroscience and Engineering Librarian and Kari Kozak head of the Lichtenberger Engineering Library.  You will find Minifigs, creepy looking lairs, books with Angels, towers and Castles, battle ships, Star Wars, Reiman Gardens in Ames, The Hobbit, and what has become to be known as The Lego Universe.

For some books on LEGO creation check these out: http://ow.ly/rupD6; and http://ow.ly/ruAE6

Steel bridges : conceptual and structural design of steel and steel-concrete composite bridges / Jean-Paul Lebet, Manfred A. Hirt ; translated from the French by Graham Couchman.

Jean-Paul Lebet

Available at Engineering  Library (TG380 .L43 2013 )

The book is divided in 5 parts.

• The first part is the a general introduction to bridges and terminology and giving a historic background to steel bridges.
• The second part considers conceptual design.
• The third part is dedicated to analysis and design of the structural member of steel and composite bridges.
• The fourth deals with the peculiarities of other bridges such as railway bridges, bridges for pedestrians and cyclists and arch bridges.
• The final part contains a numerical example for a composite bridge.
• The guidance can be extended and applied to other types of structures.  The content of this book deals first of all, and in detail, with road bridges, followed by chapters with specifics of railway and bridges for pedestrian and cyclists.