Why are Blueprints Called Blueprints?
Have you ever wondered why blueprints are called blueprints? The answer is surprisingly simple. The first blueprint was developed in 1842 by John Herschel, an American chemist, astronomer and photographer ...
The Alexander Kielland Platform Sinking
On 27 March 1980, the offshore oil platform Alexander Kielland was, as a floating crew accommodation, supporting drilling operations by the Edda 2/C in the North Atlantic. There were 212 off-duty oil platform workers aboard that evening ...
Engineering Oddities: The Leaning Tower of Pisa
The Leaning Tower of Pisa has experienced many phases of construction and attempted remedies throughout its history. Its construction began in 1173 AD, and by the end of this initial phase, a tilt was already noticeable ...
The Piper Alpha Disaster
Located about 120 miles northeast of Aberdeen, Scotland, the Piper Oil Field was one of the first deepwater oil reservoirs to be exploited in the North Sea. The surprisingly productive oil field contributed significantly to the economy of the United Kingdom by ...
Engineering Ingenuity of the Ancient Romans
While the Ancient Greeks are often lauded for their contributions to many fields such as poetry, philosophy, and mathematics (to name a few), the incredible engineering feats of the Ancient Romans were instrumental in their infrastructural and organizational efforts, and these ingenuities are employed by engineers even today ...
Collapse of the Willow Island Cooling Tower
In the 1970s, power companies began building many new coal-fired electrical power plants in the Ohio Valley to feed the growing industry in that region. These power plants were close to coal mines, so the electricity they generated was less expensive than nuclear or hydroelectric ...
Digitally Signing and Sealing Your Plans
Digital Signatures are added with the aid of a third-party authentication program, which both ensures that the Professional Engineer is the one signing the document and prevents future repudiation. The authentication programs can vary, but they function by assigning an individual “certificate” that verifies identity ...
Airplane Propeller-Induced Flutter
One night in September 1959, a Lockheed Electra L-188A turboprop aircraft with 28 passengers and 6 crew apparently disintegrated mid-flight over Buffalo, Texas. The Electra was new at the time, the first large turboprop airliner built by a United States aircraft company ...
3D Printing for Engineers: An Introduction
3D Printing is a field of rapidly growing significance that offers advantages attractive to the Engineering profession. The global 3D Printing market size was estimated to be worth $11.58 billion in 2019 and is projected to reach $35.38 billion by 2027 ...
The DuPont Buffalo Plant Explosion
It should have been a day of routine maintenance on November 9, 2010 at the DuPont plant in North Tonawanda, New York. Tank 1, which normally contained 10,000-gallons of polyvinyl fluoride (PVF), a slurry used in manufactured countertops, had been cleaned and inspected in preparation for repairs ...