Christopher Wright--
Mechanical Engineer by Fortunate Necessity
Curious Character and Devoted Machead by Avocation
(shown here in a past life...)
FYI-
E-Mail: chrisw@skypoint.comLast updated Sept 21, 1999
So why bother with a Web page?
Mainly as an effort to sniff out mutual interests and perhaps some revenue, since one such interest--mechanical engineering--helps pay my bills. If you might need engineering services--design engineering, finite element analysis, expert testimony or the like--we should chat.
Crass commercial matters aside, it's always nice to hear from anyone else in the trade. The Internet is a great place to meet colleagues and bounce around some shop talk.
We could also chat if you're interested in any cultural stuff (with links):
- History
- Travel
- Politics
(But take heed- I incline to the liberal, Molly Ivins being one of my favorite columnists. You'd find this out for yourself soon enough-we can leave it alone if you like ;->)
- Natural History or Astronomy
and of course
So drop a line or check out some interesting web links
The Engineering Biz:
"Engineering is the process of communicating instructions, based on scientific and mathematical principles, so that artisans may take materials found in nature and give them a specific usefulness."
Ray Peabody, who would surely have been thrilled by the Internet, told me this at a time when I didn't understand that he was talking about a process, not an occupation. It's the best characterization of engineering, and as good a model for professional practice as ever I've heard.
I've been in private engineering practice for about 12 years following a fortunate (well-disguised at the time) layoff which brought 20+ years of direct employment to an end. My practice includes design engineering, structural mechanics, pressure vessel and piping engineering and some heat transfer. I also provide failure analysis and expert testimony in the general area of mechanical design and failure analysis.
Although I love it and I'm quite good at it, I do take some pride in not being defined by my work. OTOH, we all have to pay for groceries, so click any or all of the following.
- A resume for your reading enjoyment. Print off a copy if you like or I'll s-mail you a fancy copy.
- Links to commercial finite element software and shareware I've run across or used. (If you know of others e-mail me)
- Links of general mechanical engineering interest and some particularly for us Machead engineers.
- Some sources for materials info including welding sites
- Product and vendor listings for designers
- Publications; Technical bookstores and such
- And a couple of articles--
- Machanical engineering (Heh-heh--get it?) An article from Mechanical Engineering Magazine used by permission. Some live links to matters of engineering interest.
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- Finite element analysis and the Mac A paper I wrote for the MacSciTech (regrettably defunct) 1995 SEAM conference, provided with the permission of MacSciTech.
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If you run into any trouble with this page or just feel like chatting, here's how: chrisw@skypoint.com
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