The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1888-12-15
HOW TO BECOME A MECHANIC.
Some Directions of Use to Young Men
Learning Trades.
From Wood and Iron.

From Wood and Iron.
Perhaps no question in the whole range
of mechanics is asked with so much earn
estness and usually receives so meager re-
ply as that from the young man who asks:
How can | become good mechanic" In
nearly every case the young man asking
this question feels that the circumsta ceS
surrounding him absolutely prohibit the
idea of his attendance at any of the technl-
cal schools, and in his despair of finding any
way himself, he turns to the editor of some
mechanical journal. Too often he is told
to read such and such book, regardless of
the fact that the reading of no one,n or a
dozen books, nor hundred books will make
mechanic of him.
AS one who has been compelled to get all of
his mechanical information without personal
assistance from any one, it may not be out
of place for us to outline such plans as have
been of the most help to us. The best of all
mechanical educators of to-day is the me-
chanical journal. Let the young man who
wishes to become mechanic subscribe and
pay for one or two such journals as have
a special bearing upon what he wishes to
learn. We say pay for it because there is a
moral influence of having paid for what he
is getting that will cause him TO obtain more
real information from one journal SO OBJ
tanned than from a dozen which may be
given him. Each number should be read
carefully, and every article studied SO thor
oughly as to be certain that there are no
points not understood.
Nor is this ALL Each statement made
should be carefully compared with every
day experience, and when items of infor-
nation are conveyed that have no direct
relationship to his present surroundings he
should enter upon experiments or carefully
retain the remarks until he can find such an
opportunity. 1t is by the careful compari-
son of others statements with ones own
practical experience that the best and truest
knowledge of mechanics comes. Books on
various subjects are also of great advantage
to the young mechanic In fact, they be-
come a necessity, if he wishes to develop
far in mechanical science; but as a great
number of minds are wiser than any one
mind, so is the technical journal, which is
the reflex of many minds, better than the
book, which is the reflex of only one mind.
On the practical side of the question the
yonng mechanic should carefully study the
machine with which he comes in daily con-
tact. A long time spent in the study Of a
single machi g may seem like waste of time
to the beginner, but if he thoroughly under
stands but one machine, he has Travelled a
long road toward the comprehension of all
machines. By the understanding of a ma
chine is meant not only understanding how
Dub now IL Is Inc U0lck-
ness and kind of metal, the size of bolts, the
proportions and general arrangements of
parts. TIE best way to go about the study
of a machine is to carefully make a set of
drawings of it, letting everything in the
drawing be of the exact size and proper
ton that is in the actual machine. Having
made this drawing, the next study, and the
one that will give the test to native ability,
is to locate in the machine the amount,
Ii, 1ofth oC Nr oiY,cf hat
upon it when in operation, and see
if the proportions are i'll true relationship TO
these strains.
If he finds in his work what are apparent
weaknesses in the machine let him then
carefully watch it in operation, with every
nerve on the alert, and see If Re can detect
these as actual weaknesses. If this work is
made and studied out faithfully, without
the assistance of any one it will be of vastly
more benefit to him than anything he could
possibly learn in a college. Having ex-
tracted all the information possible from
the first machine, let him take another of
somewhat different class and go through it
in the same way. A comparison of the
strains and proportions in one machine to
the strains and proportions in the other will
give some idea of the latitude exercised by
designers If the young man has the true
mechanical instincts, his investigation will
will see a wide vista of thought opening up
before his mind. which in after years will
bring forth good fruit,
Such work is not impossible nor even hard
for the young man who has to work ten
hours a day for his living. If he has any
real desire, real ambition to become good
mechanic his spare moments. morning, noon
and night, will be turned upon his investi-
CATIONS, and even in so short time as a
few months he will find that he has made
wonderful progress. The watchword of
advance is. think. Think in all times and
places Remember that one hours earnest
thought upon subject on which you have
been reading is worth ten extra hours of
reading upon it. The mechanic who will
persistently study and think on his business
will not down. He will certainly come to
the front even though he were confined in
the walls of prison.