Engineering in Society (1985)

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EVOLUTION OF AMERICAN ENGINEERING 17 2 Evolution of American Engineering This discussion of the historical background of the engineering profession in America represents an attempt to seek out the profession's roots in society. The intention is not to provide history for its own sake, but to determine within the context of historical events and periods whether the engineering "supply" system has been functional or dysfunctional, elastic or rigid in responding to societal demands.1 Focus will be on development of the major branches of engineering and their supporting educational and professional structures. We will examine selected cases of social interaction and institutional development within these disciplines through the end of World War II and then draw some preliminary conclusions based on that analysis. DEVELOPMENT OF THE STRUCTURE Birth of the Technological Society: 1790–1850 The introduction of technology2 to America roughly coincided with its break away from British political control (Pursell, 1981). This coin 1 Works listed in the bibliography at the end of the report offer a more extensive and detailed treatment of the history of engineering in America. The appendix to this report provides additional historical information and analysis as well. 2 "Technology" here refers to the mathematically oriented, machine-based technology that we think of today in connection with that term—as distinct from the handicrafts and making of implements that characterized the technology of Colonial settlers and native Americans. 

EVOLUTION OF AMERICAN ENGINEERING 18 cidence of two revolutions was caused partly by the rapid growth of technical knowledge and applications taking place in Europe at that time. For several decades after attaining independence, the young nation relied heavily on European engineers and European ideas to conduct its internal improvements projects and to stimulate its fledgling industries. As late as 1816 there were on average only two American engineers in each state (and even these were nearly all self-designated as such) (Noble, 1977). During the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries there were two types of engineering activity conducted in the United States. The most prominent was civil engineering, which encompassed such public works as the building of canals, roads, and forts, and the installation of water supply systems for cities. The second type was what would eventually come to be known as mechanical engineering, but which was at this early stage more accurately described as skilled-mechanic work; typically, a machine-shop owner functioned as producer/entrepreneur for a certain line of metal goods, introducing new techniques as his patrons' needs and his own inventiveness prompted. Of the two types, the civil engineer was significantly more professional in the modern sense, as technical and mathematical training figured more prominently in his background and daily work (Noble, 1977). In addition, the civil engineer during this period had a much broader range of professional involvements. An American engineer such as the British-born and German- educated Benjamin Latrobe, for example, might not only build canals and municipal waterworks, but also design public buildings, dig navigational channels in rivers, and design or direct a variety of industrial establishments (Pursell, 1981). Both types of engineering activity were often prompted by military needs. The drive for continental expansion was inseparable from military aims, and weapons were often a machine shop's largest product line. Civil engineers also had the first engineering school curriculum offered in America. When Thomas Jefferson established the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in 1802, he encouraged its graduates to devote themselves to public works—to form a corps of civil engineers. For many years this corps was the backbone of American engineering: most railroad engineers, for example, were graduates of West Point (again illustrating the close relation between expansion and the military). However, the increasing scale of civil engineering projects and industrial development throughout the early nineteenth century dictated a need for a larger and more versatile engineering education system (Pursell, 1981). A second school offering the engineering degree did not appear until 1824, when the Rensselaer School (later RPI) was 

EVOLUTION OF AMERICAN ENGINEERING 19 opened; this institute offered manufacturing-oriented training to mechanics and machinists, as well as civil engineering courses. However, there was at the time considerable entrenched opposition on the part of academics to the introduction of experimental science—let alone the "useful arts," or applied science—within the classical curriculum. Consequently, despite an evident need, no additional institutes or technical courses of any real consequence emerged until 1845, when pressure from industry and individual industrialists became strong. One of the most significant American contributions to technological development came early in this period. Out of the machine-shop culture grew the "American System" of manufacturing based on the production of uniform, interchangeable parts, which was enthusiastically promoted by Eli Whitney and others from 1799 on (Pursell, 1981). As this approach to manufacturing took hold, it made more modern products available at lower cost to more Americans, thus speeding up economic growth and simultaneously enhancing the role of the mechanic/engineer. After the successful completion of the Erie Canal in 1825 there was a rapid increase in economic expansion activities: more canal building, more railroads and machinery industries. Both of these developments increased the demand for engineers and engineering products. The linking of regional railroads (culminating, in the 1850s, in a continental rail network) opened up mass markets and a need for mass production of goods. The Industrial Revolution in America now began in earnest. As the nation expanded, the mobility of the population increased, especially in a westward direction. The size and number of farms in newly opened areas strained the ability of the thinly distributed population to manage the production of crops. Meanwhile, urban populations were increasing five times faster than the rural population (Pursell, 1981), and the demand for food to be sent to cities over the new transportation networks increased accordingly. These trends led to a severe labor shortage in agriculture—particularly during the harvest, when demand for labor peaked. To meet this need Silas McCormick in 1831 developed the horse-drawn "automated" reaper. Similarly, Samuel Morse pursued a solution to the problem of transmitting messages between cities and across the long distances being opened up by railroads; in 1844 his efforts resulted in the telegraph (the first large-scale and commercially important use of electricity and the forerunner of modern communications). The development of technology in this early period thus proceeded through the application of available (usually imported) technical knowledge to gradually emerging societal needs. Innovation was a hap