Machine Design - 1948 Fifth Edition, 3rd Printing

By Louis J. Bradford, B.S., M.E., Professor of Machine Design at The Pennsylvania State College, and Paul B. Eaton, M.E., Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Lafayette College. New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.; London: Chapman & Hall, Limited, 1948. Fifth Edition, Third Printing, March 1948, as explicitly stated on the copyright page. Original burgundy-red textured cloth hardcover with gilt-stamped spine lettering, decorative gilt rules, and a blind-stamped publisher's device on the front board. Illustrated throughout with engineering drawings, industrial photographs, mathematical formulas, technical tables, and worked design problems. A substantial mid-twentieth-century engineering textbook devoted to the practical design and analysis of machinery and mechanical components. Subjects include material strength and fatigue, friction and lubrication, ball and roller bearings, clutches and brakes, shafts and couplings, gears, belts, chains, springs, flywheels, and structural machine elements. Particularly appealing are the period industrial photographs, including large Kingsbury thrust bearings, together with detailed mechanical drawings and extensive reference tables. The fifth-edition preface, dated September 1946, specifically discusses advances in metal fatigue, lubrication, and the design of aluminum components prompted by the expansion of the aircraft industry. Condition: Very Good+. An exceptionally attractive example for a technical textbook of this age. Original red cloth boards retain strong color and texture, with light surface rubbing, minor scattered marks, gentle edge and corner wear, and modest darkening to the spine. Gilt spine lettering remains bright and legible. Binding is exceptionally firm and secure. Interior pages are clean and well preserved, with mild age-toning. A previous owner's handwritten identification appears on the front free endpaper: "Gannaway, T. C. / Room 73 / Dorm #1." No other markings observed, apart from faint pencil notations visible on the contents page. No dust jacket present, likely as issued. Collector's Note" The fifth-edition preface provides a revealing snapshot of American engineering immediately after World War II. Its emphasis on aluminum components, aircraft-industry expansion, metal fatigue, and modern lubrication illustrates how wartime advances were incorporated into civilian engineering education. The former student's dormitory inscription adds a modest but evocative association with the book's original academic use.…