How Mechanical Engineering Inventions Have Changed Society

Instead of having a group ME 195b session to cover this topic, we have some materials for you to check out online. We could spend weeks delving into this subject. In this module, we’ll look at an overview of some inventions that changed society and also look in more detail at one invention as a case study.

• Start by reading the introduction and prologue to the book “Great Inventions That Changed the World,” by James Wei at Princeton University (John Wiley and Sons, 2012)

It can be found here: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/9781118342749.fmatter/pdf (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.

• Next, for an overview of multiple inventions that changed society, watch Inventions that Shook the World Part 1 – Discovery (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.There are many videos about inventions that changed society. This particular video from Discovery World looks at inventions from the earlier parts of the 1900’s.
• Finally, let’s focus on one mechanical invention in particular. We’ll read an article about how the washing machine changed life for women here in the US. (Green, C, 2016, “Agitated to Clean: How the Washing Machine Changed Life for the American Woman, McNair Scholars Research Journal, Vol 12, No 1.) It can be found here: http://scholarworks.boisestate.edu/cgi/viewcontent…

Assignment: Consider a technology in the Mechanical Engineering field invented outside of the U.S. (a) Describe the cultural and social factors in that country that led to this technology’s invention. (b) Describe how this invention has evolved and influenced the culture of the U.S. You must include at least two references. Minimum word count: 300

This covers GE learning outcome 2 for area V: “Students shall be able to identify the historical context of ideas and cultural traditions outside the U.S. and how they have influenced American culture.”

Correct use of English is a fundamental requirement for your papers to be graded. If errors in English make it difficult for a grader to understand your sentences or is off-topic, your paper will be returned to you for further work on its English, and your grade for the paper will be a zero until it is resubmitted with corrected English. If your assignment is returned for an excessive number of grammatical errors, you will be allowed to rewrite and resubmit it within two weeks of the original return date. If not resubmitted by the date set by your instructor, you will receive a zero (0) for the writing assignment.

ME 195b Writing Assignment 1