Pre Autocad

[Aunt Phil]

Probably should explain for the young guys.
Back in ancient times engineers made mistakes directly onto paper.

This high torque 120 volt electrical tool employed a rubber rod to erase those mistakes without the associated fatigue known to happen when an engineer had to manually erase his screwup.  The erasing rods were quick change and about 6" long.

[rusty]

I've used those.
I must be ancient
Ergo...something -:P

They were great for electrical blueprints where you drew 17 linear feet of line and then realized that wire goes on another page.

Ever erased an entire sheet of paper because you don't have any more pages on the pad and the supply room is upstairs at the other side of the building?

(Say, I bet you could sell those again, advertise them as being 'green' devices that allow you to recycle your own paper...)
(Now that we have taught everyone 'new math' they won't be able to work out the carbon math anyhow...)

[Branson]

Naw, you aren't ancient.  I used to sell those in my grandfather's store.

[jimwrench]

 Yes I remember using those erasers. I also remember when they used those inking pens in the drafting sets. They were just going to pencil drawings when I started in 57. That was 1957 not 1857.

[Lewill2]

I still have one and I think I still have a box of the replacement erasers. I also still have the old style mechanical pencils, lead and a pointer/sharpener around some place. The thick lead mechanical pencils. We even used up old linen drafting paper that you inked drawings on but we were using pencils not ink. The good old days.

[johnsironsanctuary]

Ah, yes nothing clears the sinuses faster than a leak in the ammonia line to the blueprint machine. You could cure a minor blockage with the smell of fresh print. I didn't get involved until the mylar era. It was MUCH easier to erase than paper. I wasn't a designer, but made a lot of prints to send to customers. I still have my father in law's eraser and the wonderful little metal mask with all the different slots in it to keep you from screwing up the rest of the drawing. It is just like Aunt Phil's.

[Lewill2]

Remember Skum-X Drawing Cleaning Powder and the old stand by eraser dust bag to help keep the pencil drawings from smearing?

[Aunt Phil]

Some say to make mistakes permanent you need a computer.
I can disprove that with a bottle of India Ink.
I own this machine.

[Papaw]

AP, you reminded me that I have a Ridgway Set # 50 89 12 I bought a long time ago, just because it looked cool! I have no idea how to use any of it.

[Aunt Phil]

First thing you do is put a drop of ink into the little well, after screwing the appropriate wire in of course, then you sit that aside to dribble while you select the font strip you desire.

Then you put the T square in place and locate the font just above it.  If you have long lines of text it don't hurt to tape the $#%&^* Tsquare in position so it don't slide down the board.

Then you grab the pen and if it ain't dribbled all the ink out, you index the font and 2 pins on the pen, slide the font across the Tsquare to where you want the first letter, lower the pen to the paper and write the letter.  After that it's just a matter of reindexing letter by letter and inking letter by letter.  A good man can probably do 8 or 10 letters a minute.

Now you know why everybody invested in the Croix machines that spit strips of lettering out you just paste on.  I can make you a hell of a deal on one of them, but shipping will kill you.

BTW that little wood box of lettering tools cost over $250- in the 60s.

[Papaw]

I bought it with intentions of making a buck or two on it, but never found any sales to compare. I put in on a shelf until I saw your picture.

[johnsironsanctuary]

Autcad is for making massive mistakes very efficiently, but to make permanent mistakes, nothing beats pen and ink. I  saw a CAD  machined casting drawing with a tapped through hole that could not be accessed from either end.

JIS

[ron darner]

Instantly reminded me of this:

The Designer
The designer sat at his drafting board
A wealth of knowledge in his head was stored
Like "What can be done on a radial drill
Or a turret lathe or a vertical mill?"
But above all things a knack he had
Of driving gentle machinists mad.
So he mused as he thoughtfully scratched his bean
"Just how can I make this thing hard to machine?"
If I make this perfect body straight
The job had ought to come out first rate
But would be so easy to turn and bore
That it would never make a machinist sore
So I'll put a compound taper there
And a couple of angles to make them swear
And brass would work for this little gear
But its too damned easy to work I fear
So just to make the machinist squeal
I'll make him mill it from tungsten steel
And I'll put these holes that hold the cap
Down underneath where they can't be tapped
Now if they can make this it'll just be luck
Cause it can't be held by dog or chuck
And it can't be planed and it can't be ground
So I feel my design is unusually sound.
And he shouted in glee, "Success at last!
This goddam thing can't even be cast.',

Author unknown

[Papaw]

Spoken truth there, Ron!

[Aunt Phil]

Instantly reminded me of this:

The Designer
The designer sat at his drafting board
A wealth of knowledge in his head was stored
Like "What can be done on a radial drill
Or a turret lathe or a vertical mill?"
But above all things a knack he had
Of driving gentle machinists mad.
So he mused as he thoughtfully scratched his bean
"Just how can I make this thing hard to machine?"
If I make this perfect body straight
The job had ought to come out first rate
But would be so easy to turn and bore
That it would never make a machinist sore
So I'll put a compound taper there
And a couple of angles to make them swear
And brass would work for this little gear
But its too damned easy to work I fear
So just to make the machinist squeal
I'll make him mill it from tungsten steel
And I'll put these holes that hold the cap
Down underneath where they can't be tapped
Now if they can make this it'll just be luck
Cause it can't be held by dog or chuck
And it can't be planed and it can't be ground
So I feel my design is unusually sound.
And he shouted in glee, "Success at last!
This goddam thing can't even be cast.',

Author unknown

I've been on many jobs that SOB drew up.
Granted he was one of the best at what he did,
BUT
He NEVER figured on the talents of
UNSCREW Corp to make the damn
machine work in spite of his best efforts.

Designers can't hold a candle to weldors!