Links to Online Downloadable Books

[MechMan183]

I don't know if any of you are aware, but Google has put a crap ton of old 19th century and early 20th century books on subjects such as steam engines, steam engineering, mechanical engineering, foundry work, machining, mechanical drawing, patternmaking, etc...onto their Google Books feature. Many of them are quite big too (over 300 pages), with some huge, like 900 to 1000+ pages. They can read online, or downloaded as PDFs. There is also a specific one I have found on model engineering, called "Model Making" by Raymond Francis Yates, which is about model engineering. It's 433 pages. Here is the link: https://play.google.com/books/reader?printsec=frontcover&output=reader&id=xLE3AAAAMAAJ&pg=GBS.PP1

To download, you'll see in the upper-left-hand corner a link that says "Exit." Click that and a page will come up listing books you've recently viewed. You should see the book you just "exited" from listed. You'll notice that next to its title is what looks like a three dot colon symbol. Click on that and you will then see the option to download. Do this for all such books.

I will list some of them that I have downloaded thus far:

1) A Descriptive Treatise on Constructive Steam Engineering
2) A Steam Engineering Library
3) A Textbook on Mechanical Engineering
4) A Textbook on Steam Engineering
5) Applied Electricity for Practical Men
6) Electricity, Generators, Motors
7) Elementary Manual on Steam and the Steam Engine
8) Jig and Fixture Design
9) Machine Shop Primer
10) Machinery Pattern Making
11) Mechanical Drawing for Colleges and Universities
12) Mechanical Drawing Self Taught
13) Modern Engineering Practice Mechanical Drawing
14) Modern Foundry Practice
15) Modern Steam Engines
16) Modern Steam Practice and Engineering
17) Pattern-Making by G.H. Willard and Fred Duane Crawshaw
18) Patternmaking: A Treatise on the Construction and Application of Patterns by Joseph A. Shelly
19) Practical Pattern Making
20) Planer Work
21) Planing and Milling
22) Practical Stationary Engineering
23) Textbook of Mechanical Engineering
24) The Amateur Mechanic's Practical Handbook
25) The American Machinist Shop Notebook
26) The Art of Patternmaking
27) The Complete Practical Machinist
28) The Pattern Maker's Assistant
29) The Principles of Pattern Making
30) The Progressive Machinist
31) The Screw Cutting Lathe: How to Select, Set Up, Adjust, and Operate
32) The Young Mechanic
33) Wood Working, Wood Turning, Patternmaking, Green Sand Molding, Core Making, Dry Sand and Loam Work, Cupola Practice, Mixing Cast Iron
34) Wood Pattern Making by Horace Purfield (think I found this on the Internet Archive)
35) Working Chilled Iron

 

[kquiggle]

Thanks for sharing - that's a nice list and I will definitely be looking up a few of them. Google Books is a great resource; there is so much available that sometimes it's hard to find the relevant stuff among the millions of books available. It's also interesting that so much of what was written around 1900 (or even earlier) is still relevant today, and even the stuff that is outmoded is still historically interesting.

You mentioned the Model making book - are there any others you have found particularly worthwhile?


I have also compiled a list of books (and sources for books) which you can find here:

https://sites.google.com/site/lagadoacademy/useful-links?pli=1

 

[MechMan183]

One thing as well, but print versions of quite a number of these books can be found for sale as a few publishers specialize in re-printing many of these old books. Here is an example of what I mean:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/1174133147/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

Many other such books are available too. So if you find books on Google Books that you'd like a print version of, it might be available. Just check Amazon and so forth.

Thanks for sharing - that's a nice list and I will definitely be looking up a few of them. Google Books is a great resource; there is so much available that sometimes it's hard to find the relevant stuff among the millions of books available. It's also interesting that so much of what was written around 1900 (or even earlier) is still relevant today, and even the stuff that is outmoded is still historically interesting.

A lot of these books are probably helpful for model engineering, as a lot of books that are outdated in terms of patternmaking, foundry work, machining, etc...in terms of what industry today uses, are nonetheless very useful for the home shop, at least from what I understand. Google makes it where when you look at a particular book, like Amazon, similar books are listed. So if you look at a 19th or early 20th century book, other such books are listed along the bottom as well.

Here is another link to the model making book, and you can see additional similar books listed at the bottom (most written by the same author):

http://books.google.com/books/about/Model_Making.html?id=xLE3AAAAMAAJ

From a historical standpoint, it is especially interesting to see how the textbooks of back then looked. All pencil drawings usually, some crude, others highly-detailed, and/or black-and-white photographs, as opposed to today's textbooks with their colorful computer graphics illustrations and very clear photographs.

You mentioned the Model making book - are there any others you have found particularly worthwhile?

I actually haven't had the time to read any of these books yet so I can't say how many are per se worthwhile to me (I am a beginner at model engineering and machining).

I have also compiled a list of books (and sources for books) which you can find here:

https://sites.google.com/site/lagadoacademy/useful-links?pli=1

Coolbeans, thanks for the information.