"Reg Edwards" wrote in message
...


SNIP

I sometimes think that the relatively few engineers between 1790 and 1890
performed greater engineering feats than the many who followed them into
the
present age of electronic and genetic engineering. They devoted the whole
of
their lives to their work.

As for us poor souls, the best we can manage is haggling about imaginary
SWR
and conjugate matches which were all sorted out 120 years back. But it's
all
good fun.

Cheers, Reg.




That was back in the days when fantastic claims were settled with a working
model. If you wanted to argue about the efficiency of a venturi, or the
strength of a gear tooth profile, you built it and then actually used it. If
your drill bit stayed sharp longer, or you pumped more water with less coal,
you won your argument.

We spend a lot of time now arguing about how well the computer model
replicates reality, and whether the math has enough variables accounted for.
Working models seem so old fashioned.


Ed
wb6wsn