Preface

An experience of seventeen years in teaching pattern-making and kindered subjects has made me feel the great need of such a work as this which I now offer as a text-book for students in technical and manual training schools, and universities.

A number of excellent books on the subject have been published, to be sure, but most of them assume on their reader's part previous acquaintance with the fundamental ideas of pattern - making; such as do treat at all of the elementary part of the subject, happen to be works of an exhaustive character, which are consequently too expensive for use as text-books.

The present work, therefore, will, it is hoped, find a field of usefulness for itself.

It is of course to be recognized that as pattern-making is an art, it cannot be learned simply by reading any book on the subject; but only by practice. Still a textbook may afford valuable assistance even to the artisan.

This work, however, has a further and more important purpose,—that of imparting to the engineer or the draftsman the fundamental principles of pattern-making. For only as he is in possession of these can he make designs for patterns in accordance with which shop work can be performed in the most efficient and most economical manner.

The reader should also understand that this work, being designed only as an elementary treatise, in no way exhausts the subject. It is claimed however, that the examples of pattern-making submitted indicate, on the whole, the best methods of construction and those most easily understood by the student.

In preparing the body of this work, I have received many valuable suggestions which have been incorporated herewith, and which will have contributed to any success the book may attain. The works of many previous writers on the subject have been consulted also; for specific ideas derived from them credit should be given to Joshua Rose, M. E., J. McKim Chase, and P. S. Dingey.

In preparing the appendix considerable help was afforded me by the little book of W. F. M. Goss, on "Bench Work in Wood." With these few words of introduction, I leave the book to its readers with the hope that it will assist them to master the important subject of which it treats.
H. T. P.