# Engineer



## rickles23 (Oct 13, 2006)

In my research I have been looking for the origin of Engineer.

What I have so far is:

Master of Engines = Engynour = Engineer

Any help would be welcome.

Regards


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## John Williams 56-65 (Feb 12, 2008)

rickles23 said:


> In my research I have been looking for the origin of Engineer.
> 
> What I have so far is:
> 
> ...


May I suggest that on ships with two engines you have one engineer and another engineer


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## Tmac1720 (Jun 24, 2005)

Easy really...... Engineer.....derived from engine genie or in other words an magician with the oily bits (Thumb)


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## R58484956 (Apr 19, 2004)

A clever man with mechanical components. Can fix anything.


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## benjidog (Oct 27, 2005)

There is a Wikipaedia article which claims the origin goes back to at least 1325: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Engineering.

I am surprised that Tmac doesn't remember it. 

Brian


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## chadburn (Jun 2, 2008)

An Engineer repairs things when they are broken rather than swopping it for a spare, that's a mechanics job.


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## rickles23 (Oct 13, 2006)

Thank you gentlemen, that should keep me going.

"The word “engine” itself is of even older origin, ultimately deriving from the Latin ingenium"

So I was on the right track. Now back to the Princess Marie-Jose..
Regards


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## Tmac1720 (Jun 24, 2005)

benjidog said:


> There is a Wikipaedia article which claims the origin goes back to at least 1325: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Engineering.
> 
> I am surprised that Tmac doesn't remember it.
> 
> Brian


*remember it ?* it wuz me what *writ it !* [=P] (LOL) and anyway I has me lunch at twenty five past one


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## John Williams 56-65 (Feb 12, 2008)

chadburn said:


> An Engineer repairs things when they are broken rather than swopping it for a spare, that's a mechanics job.


I quite agree with this sentiment. The word engineer covers a multitude of trades in todays world. Frinstance I needed some work done under guarantee on my washing machine a couple of weeks ago. The young lady at the other end of the telephone made an appointment and said she would get an engineer round to fix it a few days later. When he came he took a look at it and decided it needed a new part. He took the old part out and went out to his van and brought in a replacement. Sign here he said and was gone within twenty minutes. ENGINEER? I don`t think so. There is a certain cache to the word engineer and there are many who call themselves just that. There seems to be plenty of them in the entertainment business. Sound engineer! The man who sets the sound levels and places the microphones. Lighting engineer! The man who sets up the lights. The list is endless,but engineers they are not.
Even so there are many different forms of engineer such as Marine Engineer Mining Engineer, Bridge Building Engineer etc. These are people who can legitimately call themselves engineers but the mere mechanics of this world are just that, and no more.


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## geoff smith 1932 (Apr 12, 2008)

A man who can make a bicycle out of two old oil drums.


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## Jack Glover (Jul 2, 2008)

Remember the engineer's motto.

* If at first it does not work, Use a bigger hammer *


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## Duncan112 (Dec 28, 2006)

When I was a Cadet at South Shields we had a lecturer, Geoff Ralph, who used to start every lesson (or so it seemed..) with a discourse on how "Engineer" was etmyologically descended from the French ingénieux for ingenious and how we would need to be ingeneous when we found how few spares the ship owner supplied us with. This seems to be related to Rickles' ingenium.


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## Magic Fingers (Jun 1, 2008)

Based on your beliefs, the first engineer was a guy called God. I believe he must have been a marine engineer as he made the seas and fishes. No other engineer could have done that. We are all his disciples.


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## surfaceblow (Jan 16, 2008)

Victor Bolher's favorite class statement was "A sign of a Good Marine Engineer was not how good he worked with tools but how he worked with out them."


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## Philthechill (May 8, 2007)

*S.S. Fazilka.*

The quote mentioned by Surfaceblow could have been written with the "Fazilka" incident in mind.

An incredible feat of engineering ingenuity and one that I find, whenever I re-read the account, leaves me filled with admiration for the men who carried-out this amazing at-sea repair.

I, no doubt along with many other engineers who are part of SN, have been involved in quite a number of at-sea breakdowns/repairs but nothing to compare with Fazilka's repair! Salaams, Phil(Hippy)


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## roymuir (Feb 24, 2006)

The Fazilka was used to carry troops from India to South africa during the Boer war. She left Port Natal on Jan 30th 1900 to make the return trip to India. Four daus after passing through the Mozambique Channel the tail shaft broke. The shaft had broken in two places partially rupturing the stern tube, so the first requirement was to shift ballast and get the stern out of the water. Attempts were made to rig sails but progress was slow and after an attempt to tow, the engineers under Mr. Brown worked in intolerable conditions to repair the shaft. The repairs were complicated and after various failures it was decided to take down the high pressure engine and use the bottom end brasses as a clamp. This was effective in holding the shaft and then the rear end breakage was connected by a Thomson coupling.Using the low pressure engines only the Fazilka was able to make Colombo at a speed of 9knots. This was one of the most heroic ship repairs at sea and the Engineers were rewarded accordingly. John Macdonald, the 4th Engineer receiving a Gold watch and the sum of £30.

Fazilka was wrecked on 31 October 1919, on the east coast of Great Nicobar Island. She was on a voyage from Penang to Calcutta, carrying passengers and a general cargo.
(From Wikipedia)
Regards, Roy.


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