Recently we were invited to visit the workshops at the National Motor Museum where they are working to restore the 1927 1000hp Sunbeam twin engines that hopefully be running again in March (more on that in a future post!). The Museum tells the story of the advancement of the motor cars and propelled transport, from penny farthings, to steam cars, to icons such as the … Continue reading BEAULIEU: VISIT REPORT
Planes, trains and automobiles: mechanical engineering archives now online Over 1900 images from the archives and historic book collection of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE) are now available online via VADS. From pictures of experimental cars, aeroplanes, engine designs, engineers portraits, railway locomotives and much more. Highlights include works of art of the Liverpool & Manchester Railway, images of Napier engines, design drawings of … Continue reading IMAGE LIBRARY ONLINE
Whether you are in Dundee, Devises, Doha or Delhi you can now gain access to key items held in the Institution of Mechanical Engineers archive collection, all for free, just by going online. Curated from our extensive physical collections, our Virtual Archive showcases a selection of models, items, drawings, notebooks, photographs and documents about the history of engineering and the Institution. We have captured 3D … Continue reading VIRTUAL ARCHIVE: ENGINEERING HISTORY ONLINE
The Institution has an illustrious list of over 200 Honorary Fellows, 1866 onwards, drawn from across the disciplines of science and engineering (called Honorary Members until 1968, Fellows thereafter). Almost a quarter were also our President. From 22 countries, they represent the international nature of engineering, including Gustav Eiffel (civil engineer) from France: others hail from China, Japan, New Zealand, America, India and the Netherlands. Inventive … Continue reading HONORARY FELLOWS
Announcing the launch of our new and improved archive catalogue, archive cat. Archive cat provides a gateway to 1000’s of records charting the history of the Institution and of mechanical engineering; the archive is open to all. Railway engineering, manufacturing, power plant development and automobile development are particularly well represented through personal and company papers. Personal papers of prominent mechanical engineers include those of George … Continue reading ARCHIVE CATALOGUE
2014 has been a year of great activity in the archive, pathing the way for exciting developments in 2015. This year cannot go past without mentioning those who lost their lives, while members of this Institution, during the First World War. We have commemorated them in a number of ways, through our Honour Roll and Engineers at War: from Home Front to Battle Front exhibition. … Continue reading 2014 REVIEW
May marked the 100th Anniversary of the car manufacturer Aston Martin: it is astounding to think that in a little over a century the car has gone from a little used and unaffordable product to one which has rapidly proliferated. The early development of the automobile was expensive and precarious, as is shown by the archives of Frederick Lanchester held at IMechE. From the 1830s … Continue reading LANCHESTER SUPERCARS
