Location:
T171 .G42 G49x 1888-1899

Title:
Locomotive link motion. 20-inch planer. Bronze doors, built by students in the shops of the Georgia School of Technology.

Date:
1896

Content:
Photograph of students in the workshop on a plate following p. 20 of the Annual Catalogue of the Georgia School of Technology, Announcement for 1895-96.

History:
The Announcement for 1895-96 notes a major change to the management of the workshop when it notes, "At the beginning of the present school year it was deemed advisable to abandon the contract system in the management of the shops." They were accordingly made a part of the Department of Mechanical Engineering. The reason given was that "it was found that the exigencies of local trade filled the shops with a class of work which was not always adapted to the purposes of the most efficient instruction to the student." The change resulted as much from complaints lodged by local businesses, particularly to state legislators, that the school, with its unpaid student labor, underbid commercial competitors. The change is an important step in the evolution of the School from a predominantly trade school to an academic and research institution. The official reason given for the change, however politically expedient, places the instruction of the student above any considerations of commercial profit. Work shop practice remained extensive, however. The Announcement notes, "The Machine Shop is well equipped with lathes (two of which are very large ones), planers, grinding tools, universal milling machine with spiral attachment, shaping machine, and a large assortment of small tools in a tool room conducted strictly on the check system. To this equipment we are constantly adding tools of our own manufacture, having added this year a 20-inch by six feet iron planer of our own design upon which we received a silver medal at the Cotton States and International Exposition." The Announcment further notes that "All work of whatever kind in all departments (except of course the foundry) is done to working drawings. No haphazard, no chance, no 'beginning at nothing and ending nowhere' is allowed."