Only elementary math skills are needed to follow this manual, which covers many machines and their components, including hydrostatics and hydraulics, internal combustion engines, trains, and more. 204 black-and-white illustrations.

CUSTOMER REVIEWS (Average Customer Rating: 4.5 based on 6 reviews)

Extremely Useful

As a Mechanical Engineering student I found the book to be extremely useful. I was already familiar with most of the theories from Dynamics and Statics, but it was cool to see how non textbooks refer to certain things (IE rather than saying the pivot point they call it the fulcrum). While we generally go over gear theories and calculations in Dynamics, we certainly don't get into their classifications so that was another useful piece of knowledge that I picked up. The last two chapters were extremely knowledgeable, since neither was in any of my textbooks. The last two chapters covered power trains and the internal combustion engine and were surprisingly in depth. I would highly recommend this book for any Engineering student seeking to get an out of the textbook perspective on your Mechanics classes, or to pick up some information on the inner workings of the engine.
January 12, 2008

Amazingly simple book

Are you looking for a book that will help get more mechanically minded? This is it. This book is written for Navy personnel, yet it is relevant to anyone who needs to know more about simple machines. Check out the table of contents.
November 04, 2007

Simple and Straightforward

I don't know how the military does it, but somehow they are able to train people quickly and effectively whereas academia gives long-winded answers that get most students lost in derivations.

Buy this book if you, like me, want to understand simple machines (levers to engines). It's straight to the point, the way I like it.
July 22, 2007

How basic machines work

Old but good. Explains things well and although the illustrations are a bit dated (so are Da Vinci's!), it is a very good and interesting book.
February 24, 2007

Good but Outdated

Good basic info about the internal combustion engine but could use a revision. There is alot of talk about the side valve, Briggs and Stratton type engines but very little discussion about overhead valves and NO information about overhead cam engines. Other than the need for a revision this is a pretty decent book.
September 19, 2006

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