Posted just a few moments ago.... Jim
---------- Forwarded Message ---------- Subject: Copy of Mechanical Engineering Date: Tue, 30 Apr 2002 17:59:48 -0400 From: James Frysinger <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: ... Dear ..., Thank you very much for sending me that complimentary copy of Mechanical Engineering, 2002 May. I received it just yesterday. I have to say that my initial reaction was "Oh, dear!" I've seen extracts from the magazine before and have talked to others about ASME and ME magazineb before, but this is the first time I've seen a complete copy of the magazine. I'm aghast. It was like slipping back into the 1950s with all of those non-SI units permeating the magazine. Epitomizing the problem was an article on page 16, "X-Ray of Shipwreck Could Save Artifacts". According to the article, the Swedish team decided that the Vasa artifact should be kept in conditions where the temperature is maintained below 68 �F. I can assure you that the Swedes, home of Anders Celsius himself, would not have used the Fahrenheit temperature scale! Rather, I'm certain that the source for the article said "less than 20 �C", which is the equivalent temperature. Was the author of this article concerned that professional, licensed mechanical engineers in America would not know the Celsius temperature scale? Fortunately the article on raising the Kursk was much better, though the author still felt obliged to explain many quantities that were stated in terms of SI units (e.g. "... some 195 km, or 120 miles, away"). And the author, Peggy Chalmers, kept giving pressures in bars! She could have sounded more deft and more consistent in her use of the SI if she had used pascals. For example, the "600-1,500-bar" waterjet supplies a stream of water at a pressure of 60 MPa to 150 MPa. And the "250-bar backup" to the buffer cylinders would supply 25 MPa of backup. With those exceptions, Chalmers wrote a very nice article, properly using SI units. Therefore, hers was the most easily understood and up to date article in this copy of ME. Is there anything I can do to help? I serve on metric standards committees for the American Welding Society and for the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (a society of which I'm a Senior Member), as well as an IEEE/ASTM committee (for maintaining IEEE/ASTM SI 10). Does the ASME have a similar committee? I would like to see ASME rapidly progress to the point where its journal is entirely in SI, with non-SI equivalents provided only if need be for the more unusual quantities with which MEs might not be familiar (such as those relating to light or magnetism). Any ME worth his or her salt should be able to understand and use the SI. And Stan Jakuba has provided an excellent article to help them get up to speed on it. As the journal now stands, it makes American MEs look quite dated and behind the times. If I were a foreign contractor, one look at this magazine would give me severe reservations about using American mechanical engineering companies. I feel that this is an issue that is incredibly important to the ASME for the sake of presenting a professional appearance. Jim Frysinger -- James R. Frysinger University/College of Charleston 10 Captiva Row Dept. of Physics and Astronomy Charleston, SC 29407 66 George Street 843.225.0805 Charleston, SC 29424 http://www.cofc.edu/~frysingj [EMAIL PROTECTED] Cert. Adv. Metrication Specialist 843.953.7644 -------------------------------------------------------
