Keeping machines running — engines, drivetrains and bearings, and the diagnostic habit of finding the actual fault.
9 topics · 16 curated works
No prior grounding assumed.
Putnam's Automobile Handbook
H. Clifford Brokaw & Charles A. Starr · 1913
Argues that most engine trouble can be found by systematically ruling out fuel, compression and ignition in that order, rather than guessing at a…
+1 more at this level
Assumes you know the vocabulary.
Dyke's Automobile and Gasoline Engine Encyclopedia
A. L. Dyke · 1902
Organises automobile knowledge as an alphabetical reference rather than a course, on the premise that a mechanic in the field needs to look up a…
+6 more at this level
Primary sources and full treatments.
Bicycles and Tricycles: An Elementary Treatise on Their Design and Construction
Archibald Sharp · 1896
Analyses the bicycle's frame, gearing and steering through applied mechanics, establishing that stability and efficiency follow from calculable…
+6 more at this level
12 of 16 works
H. Clifford Brokaw & Charles A. Starr
Argues that most engine trouble can be found by systematically ruling out fuel, compression and ignition in that order, rather than guessing at a cause.
about 5 hours to readlink checked 17 Sept 2026United States Navy
Trains an engine-room watchstander to read gauges and instruments as symptoms of a machinery casualty in progress, treating diagnosis as a routine watch skill rather than a specialist's afterthought.
link checked 17 Sept 2026A. L. Dyke
Organises automobile knowledge as an alphabetical reference rather than a course, on the premise that a mechanic in the field needs to look up a specific system, not read a narrative.
link checked 17 Sept 2026J. B. Davidson
Argues that the small gas and oil engines then replacing farm animal power should be selected and maintained by measured performance rather than by a dealer's claims.
link checked 17 Sept 2026United States Department of the Army
Teaches vehicle systems from underlying physical principles — combustion, gearing, electrical circuits — so a mechanic can reason about a design they have never serviced before.
link checked 17 Sept 2026United States Navy
A Navy rate training manual on diesel and gasoline engine theory and shipboard maintenance, giving a modern instructional counterpart to Dyke's 1902 encyclopedia in the field's Foundations topic.
link checked 17 Sept 2026United States Navy
A Navy rate training manual on machine-shop repair work, covering the toolroom, lathe and shop-repair skills that keep shipboard machinery running rather than the engines themselves.
link failing as of 17 Sept 2026United States Department of the Army
A later revision of the Army's automotive theory manual, updated for post-war vehicle systems and giving a modern counterpart to Victor Page's 1912 engineering treatise on the same topic.
Richard T. Barrett
Derives bolt torque and preload from thread geometry and material strength, arguing that a fastener's holding power is a calculable engineering property rather than a matter of tightening it hard.
link checked 17 Sept 2026Archibald Sharp
Analyses the bicycle's frame, gearing and steering through applied mechanics, establishing that stability and efficiency follow from calculable geometry rather than trial and error.
link checked 17 Sept 2026Leonard Archbutt & R. Mountford Deeley
Argues that a lubricant should be selected by tested viscosity and chemical behaviour under load, not by the animal, mineral or vegetable origin its name implies.
link checked 17 Sept 2026Victor W. Pagé
Treats maintenance and repair as following directly from a correct understanding of design, arguing that an owner who understands why a part is shaped as it is will diagnose its failure faster.
link checked 17 Sept 2026