Demystifying Mechanical Engineering

It is rather tortuous and dizzying, when Merriam-Webster, a dictionary almost as old as the profession of Mechanical Engineering, describes it as the branch of engineering concerned primarily with the industrial application of mechanics and with the production of tools, machinery and their products.

Our sole purpose today is to breathe new life into this definition, and to help get our heads around these complex words, with real day-to-day life applications of this handy craft.

At its infancy, mechanical engineering manifests in children's fascination with rotating objects.

Too young to perceive the passage of time, a bewildered child gazes at the hands of a clock in astonishment.

The engineer in the child takes her first steps, and leads it to the door knob each time an unseen hand causes a turning effect.

It is also a commonplace sight when our young ones turn the steering wheel and vroom in their imaginary vehicles.

Primary school eventually ushers these hungry minds through the gates of engineering, and serves them with its basic concepts.

They are fed with early theories surrounding terms like load, speed, force, mass, acceleration and inertia.

The journey promises to be one of merrymaking, amidst stories of a man conceiving the idea of gravity while seated under an apple tree, and his counterpart Archimedes who, upon noticing a rise in the level of water in his bath when he stepped into it, found his eureka moment.

Graduation to high school marks the onset of a new order. Old stories are cast aside and calculations emerge.

Where words did enough elaboration, numbers spring up and take their positions swiftly - and rightly so.

Suddenly the mind is tasked with: conceptualizing heat transfer and creating mental pictures of waves transmitting energy; dissecting matter to inspect their densities, mass, volumes, and providing a graphical representation illustrating the behaviour of these properties; monitoring with a piercing concentration, the pendulum's frequency of swing in an endeavour to establish its relation to time, gravity and the arm's length.

Continual demand for the brain to yield precise, step by step evaluations of physical mechanisms, leads the subject to a yearning for more, or to a deep contemplation of what really is the purpose of formal education.

A little thought here and there and the latter category of individuals easily jumps ship in pursuit of new passions, leaving the voyage to the willing; who through the unforgiving storms and lashes of the wind, still press ahead.

When finally the ship comes to shore, unafraid men and women march on to the land; taking on new challenges and while at it, earn the recognition of fellow countrymen as mechanical engineers.

They are entrusted with keeping alive the turbines in hydroelectric power stations, monitoring the pumps that transport crude oil, and petroleum products through pipelines, ensuring their safety, and much more.

Recognised or not recognised, certified or not certified, all those who have travelled the road, past and present, remain to be mechanical engineers at heart.

In life, our greatest teachers have had no classroom, chalk and blackboard, textbook or ruler; but with enthusiasm, warmth and care, they imparted to us lessons beyond price.

Though lacking accredited university degrees in education, these very masters and mistresses have earned honour, from the burning passion in their hearts. Their experience, hard work and dedication have been - and always shall be - a blessing to all.

In a similar vein, the definition of a mechanical engineer has been made too limited in its application.

The devoted plumber, who installs, repairs, and maintains drainage systems in our households; is as much a mechanical engineer as the man who lays out a plan and specifications for ventilation, and air conditioning systems in the superstructures at the capital.

The humble welder, who measures, cuts, shapes and joins metals, thereby securing the premises of his clientele with steel gates, metal doors, window frames and handrails in stairs and walkways; is as much a mechanical engineer as the man who installs the lifts and escalators.

The tireless Jua Kali artisan, who begins his toil every sunrise, and by the diligent employment of brain and muscle, becomes a master workman, producing essential domestic items from recycled scrap metal; is as much a mechanical engineer as the man who melts metals, and out of it manufactures iron sheets and cans.  

The downtown mechanic, with greasy hands and a dusty overall, whose manna rains from careful examination of errant behaviour in automobile, plant and farm machinery, and with spanner, pliers and screwdriver, attentively performs his role in nation-building; is as much a mechanical engineer as the great German who designs, develops, manufactures, and from nothingness, brings forth a Mercedes-Benz and engines that power factories world over.

The mechanical engineer in each of these persons may vary in degree or manifestation but nevertheless, all abide by the same principles and concepts. Alike they earn their fair supply of the daily bread, and alike they advance the world through mechanical engineering.

-The writer is a Mechanical Engineering student, University of Nairobi.