WHAT’S HAPPENING
Exactly: How Precision Engineers
Created the World
By Simon Winchester, published by William Collins, 416pp
Book review by Graham Jeffery
First published in hardback in 2018, this book aims to chronicle, albeit
in summary, the development and progression of engineering precision.
A copy of the 2019 paperback edition was sent to me as a present by
my son, who thought that the subject matter would be of real interest to
me, following my career in gas turbine design with Rolls-Royce. Initially,
I was encouraged by the enthusiastic reviews quoted in the yleaves.
In his prologue, Winchester makes what, at rst sight, appears
to a totally incorrect statement. He asserts: “the more precise the
manufactured piece, the greater the tolerance that will be needed”. I
initially interpreted ‘greater’ as meaning the same as ‘wider’, the term
that I, as an engineering designer, would apply to a tolerance band. However, in the next paragraph
he refers to a shoe as, “a thing of very low tolerance,” which immediately revealed what is for me
idiosyncratic terminology.
In chapter 5, the author compares and contrasts the work of Henry Ford and Henry Royce, making
the point that Ford demanded total interchangeability of parts for production line assembly, while
Royce relied on craftsmanship to achieve his perception of perfection. In the rst few paragraphs of
this chapter, the author grossly oversimpli es the issue of problems he experienced with a couple
of Rolls-Royce motor cars in relation to the company being “sold off to the German company
Volkswagen.” That the Pym’s Lane works of the former Rolls-Royce Motors at Crewe was sold to VW
is a fact. However, as VW was unable to acquire the rights to the name, Bentley automobiles are now
produced at Crewe; while Rolls-Royce automobiles are produced at Goodwood, under BMW.
In chapter 6, Winchester interleaves the invention of the jet engine by Frank Whittle with the events
of 4 November 2010, when Qantas ight QF32 suffered an uncontained engine failure, just a few
minutes out of Singapore. The author is quite correct in ascribing the root cause of the event to the
fatigue failure of an incorrectly-machined oil feed tube end tting and the resultant oil re. However,
his description of the mode of failure of the intermediate pressure turbine disc, which burst in
overspeed, is woefully inadequate and incorrect. Also, in an associated illustration, the caption refers
to ‘ ve nozzle guide vanes in a jet engine, fashioned from single-crystal nickel alloy’. They are not
NGVs – the acronym by which Rolls-Royce knows them – and would not be single-crystal if they were:
they are, in fact, high pressure turbine blades, which would be single crystal castings.
Also in chapter 6, the author refers to Frank Whittle winning prizes, ‘the most valuable of which,
at around half a million dollars, he decided generously to split with Hans von Ohain’, the pioneer of
the jet engine in Nazi Germany. The actual prize is not identi ed, but I contacted Frank Whittle’s son,
Ian, who suggested that this comment refers to the Charles Stark Draper Prize, which was awarded
by the US National Academy of Engineering jointly to both recipients in 1991. There was, therefore,
no question of Whittle having had any decision in the matter. He did, however, generously share with
colleagues a small portion of the £100,000 award made to him in 1948 by the UK government. By the
way, it was Ian Whittle who piloted a Boeing 747 into Hong Kong’s Kai Tak Airport in 1987, with his
father on the ight deck behind him, as the author mentions: that anecdote is, at least, quite correct.
In chapter 7, Winchester moves on from the optics of camera lenses to consideration of the
trials, tribulations and optical correction of the Hubble Space Telescope. In referring to its launch by
the space shuttle Discovery, the author harks back to the Challenger disaster, which, he states, was
caused by the failure of a seal that allowed ‘fuel to leak from a solid rocket booster’. The leak was
actually of hot combustion gases, a fact with which viewers of TV documentaries might be familiar.
Having read the book, I found myself in agreement with the more critical comments posted on
Amazon. I was entertained, but certainly not engrossed, as I was, for instance, by Longitude, Dava
Sobel’s book about Harrison and his chronometers. However, Exactly is not a scholarly historical work.
In general, I was rather disappointed by the book’s lack of detail. In those areas where I have some
knowledge and experience, its accuracy was unfortunately lacking, which makes me wonder whether
there might be other inaccuracies elsewhere.
Raspberry
ripens early
A new version of the Raspberry Pi
modular computer has launched,
a year earlier than predicted. The
Raspberry Pi 4 features a 1.5GHz
quad-core 64-bit ARM processor, dual
monitor support, and an OS overhaul.
Modules start from $35 for the bare
CPU with 1GB of SDRAM; $120 buys
the desktop kit with 4GB RAM, mouse
and keyboard (but no screen): see
also www.is.gd/fedeyo. Of the new
product, the company, founded by IED
President Pete Lomas FREng HonFIED,
says: “For the rst time we provide a
PC-like level of performance for most
users, while retaining the interfacing
capabilities and hackability of the
classic Raspberry Pi .”
Letter to the editor
As soon as I saw the previous issue’s
Asides (‘Double Dovetail’, p5,
July-August), it brought to mind a
carpentry exercise that my granddad
completed some 90 years ago. He was
a carpenter and as I recall also worked
on wooden propeller blade shaping
at Yate’s Parnalls Aircraft Factory.
I remember him showing me these
(probably 45 years ago), asking “How
do you think I got that in there”?
As an ex-designer and chief
engineer for Rolls-Royce, I have often
encountered the ‘re-invention of the
wheel’ at design reviews. Still, it would
be interesting to know who came up
with this puzzle in the rst place.
-Paul Davis BSc BA MIED
Letters are welcome; please send
them to the editor (details p2).
www.ied.org.uk 29
/fedeyo
/www.ied.org.uk