January 8, 2009

Regarding Don Vorwerk’s letter “MPG Squabbles” (Nov. 6), I have heard many people say auto mileage would improve significantly if only we would go back to manual transmissions

Digital prototypes help speed the design of custom packaging machinery at Pearson Packaging Systems, Spokane, Wash. Previously, the firm created 2D drawings of machines from customer specs.

Data network with intrinsic immunity to noise comes in handy for a 14- m-long carbon-fiber winder used to make components for challenging applications such as rigging for racing yachts

A digital open-loop vector drive lets a three-axis vertical-machining center run at top speed without fear of a spindle fault. The Personal CNC or PCNC from Tormach LLC in Waunakee, Wis.

Matlab Programming for Engineers, Beginning C++ Through Game Programming, The Elements of Mechanical Design

This is what the made-to-print division of Atlantic Fasteners, W. Springfield, Mass., found when a customer asked them to split a 12-in.-diameter pipe lengthwise

Southern Visions Systems offering one of their Streamview LR Portable high-speed camera kits as a prize to the person who writes the best 100-word explanation

The Savannah River National Lab, Aiken, S.C., recently replaced a 1950s era coal-burning steam generating plant with a state-of-the-art facility that will burn biomass, mostly wood from the local logging industry

PaperDisplays, printed-electronic displays from Swedish-based research institute Acreo, (acreo.se), are to be manufactured in volume by Soligie in Savage, Minn.

Engineers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute have developed a coating that makes solar cells more efficient

Researchers at the National Institute of Standards (NIST) and the University of Colorado have built the first noiseless and tunable (4 to 8-GHz) amplifier

A European manufacturer built lamps intended for retirement and nursing homes that used light emitting diodes (LEDs)

Weld-On Hinge, from H.A. Guden Co. Inc., Ronkonkoma, N.Y., Big machinable glass-ceramic slabs cast: Corning Glass Works has produced large pieces of its Macor machinable glass ceramic, Welding positioner lies down on the job: A positioner developed by General Electric Co.

Warmth is an important sensory attribute in product design and a subtle but integral part of branding.

A Bias Charge Roller (BCR) system for electrophotographic equipment is said to offer a more eco-friendly alternative to the corona wire

Independent study by FEV GmbH found that timing belts in automotive timing assemblies better reduced CO2 and gave more ride comfort than did chains. In a 1.6-liter gas engine, a belt drive reduced fuel consumption

Engelbart is known as the inventor of the computer mouse, but, as he says, that innovation was incidental to a much larger vision of collective intelligence

Larry, the Cable Guy strikes again

We’ve all had days when we just didn’t feel like working. If you’re going to make up an excuse, we suggest you skip these which were actually used, according to a survey of HR professionals.

British firm, Falx Air is looking to develop a hybrid electric tiltrotor personal aircraft that will go up to 230 mph