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THE DEPARTMENT OF MECHANICAL AND INDUSTRIAL ENGINEERING
ACOMMUNICATION from Professors DeVolson Wood and Still-man W. Robinson to the Regents in December, 1868, requested the establishment of a course in mechanical engineering and asked that a description of the program and of the requirements for the degree of mechanical engineer be inserted in the Catalogue. On motion of Regent Sill the request was granted (R.P., 1864-70, p. 312). This is the first mention of mechanical engineering at the University of Michigan.
For admission the student was required to pass the general examinations for entrance to the scientific course and freshman mathematics. In the sophomore year the schedule included French, Surveying and General Geometry, Descriptive Geometry, Calculus, English, and History. In the junior year French, Philosophy of History, Perspective Drawing, Calculus, Astronomy, Machine Drawing, and Kinematics were required. The senior year included Physics, Theory and Use of Instruments, Principles of Mechanism, Strength of Materials, Drawing, Theory of Frames, Geology, Metallurgy, Theory and Construction of Prime Movers, and Millwork and Machines. Instruction was also given in the theory of pattern making, molding and machine shop practice, plans, elevations, sections, and drawing of machinery.
Apparently, the venture was not entirely successful, for in the Regents' Proceedings of June, 1870, it was resolved "that the degree of Mechanical Engineer…be and the same is hereby abolished, and the course of Civil Engineering be so extended as to include the main part of the course of Mechanical Engineering as heretofore prescribed." This arrangement was continued for eleven years, with Wood teaching the courses in mechanical engineering until he resigned in 1872. The following quotation from his report of that year gives an interesting description of the methods he used in teaching:
In the course of these lectures I introduced a novel mode of instruction, in order to exercise [the]…inventive faculties [of the students]. I assigned to them a problem, the character of which I was certain they were not familiar with, and asked them to solve it, make a drawing to represent their idea, accompany it with a specification, and report it to me. As soon as all had solved it who were able to, I reviewed their solutions and criticized them before the class, indicating the valuable points as well as the objectionable features. The following may serve as an example: — After describing the construction and operation of the ordinary D valve, and showing particularly that in order to open a port so as to reverse the stroke of the piston, the valve, up to the point of opening the port, is moving in the opposite direction from the piston, I asked the class to invent such an arrangement of parts as that the valve would open the port correctly if it moved the same way as the piston. In this way nearly all the working parts of the steam engine were considered, and problems assigned which involved modifications. The problems were simple, and were intended as a means of instruction, and not as puzzles. In their solution they not only became familiar with what exists, but also learned other possible ways of accomplishing the same end, and in connection with the criticisms, learned why a particular combination was used. In a class of thirty there would often be fifteen or twenty different solutions; but sometimes there would not be more than five or six different ones. The Class also read all that part of Warren's "Machine Construction