Don't do anything until you have read this book!

I might qualify the above statement by saying that if you are an amateur it will pay you to scan the following pages before you try to do mechanical
things.

The idea I have tried to carry out is to parallel the case of the locomotive engineer. You know, of course, that he did not build the engine he drives but he knows every part of it, exactly how it works, how to run it to get the most power, or speed, or both, out of it with the highest fuel economy and, further, if he should have a breakdown on the road he knows just how to make whatever repairs are needed to go on with his run.

I have presupposed that you know how to use ordinary tools (though I have explained the mode of operation of a few that relate to the art of measuring) and I have not told how to make the various devices and machines described but what I have gone into is how things are constructed, how to make simple calculations to get the result you want, how the machine works, how to run it to get the most light, heat or power out of it at the least cost for fuel, upkeep and expenditure of labor, how to repair it when something happens, and, lastly, how to buy it.

A further purpose of this book is to tell about the kinds of materials that are used in building and the appliances that are employed in operating a home or a farm so that if you are a householder or a husbandman you can enjoy all the benefits of the electrical and mechanical arts known that make for the comfort, convenience, economy and safety of yourself and family and so make life worth living.

A. Frederick Collins.
600 Riverside Drive,
New York City.