Drawing and Blueprint Reading is an up-to-date text written from the student's point of view. It has many features which will help the instructor and the beginning student.
Each new drafting term is defined when introduced; these terms are included in Section 23, Blueprint Reader's Dictionary. Sentences are short, and each paragraph treats a single concept or new idea. Because the text is divided into short learning units, the student can grasp the fundamentals with great ease and understanding. Another feature that has proved useful to teachers and students is Section 25, How to Grade Your Drawing. Section 25 takes the guesswork out of grading and helps the student evaluate the quality of his drawings.
Color, which is a feature of the McGraw-Hill publications in Industrial Education, serves as an important teaching aid in both the text and the illustrations. In this book color is used to highlight good drawing practices and to pinpoint specific information on drawings. In most cases color is used to distinguish construction lines from the visible lines in the drawing. In Sections 5 and 18 it also emphasizes the application of dimensioning rules.
Jay D. Helsel, co-author of Programmed Blueprint Reading and Architectural Drafting Transparencies prepared many of the technical illustrations. The quality of these illustrations sets this text apart from others in the field.
Another outstanding feature of this text is an accompanying Teacher's Manual which contains seven outlines of courses of study for various teaching situations. It also contains the answers to many of the more difficult problems. Both beginning teachers and those with years of experience have found the Teacher's Manual to be very useful.
The number of problems has been approximately doubled by adding Section 26 to this edition. There are enough problems to last through a three year cycle without assigning the same problem twice. Problem solving rather than problem copying is an important feature of this section. Solution of the new problems requires a wide range of ability from elementary through advanced work. The text thus provides for individual differences. Many of the problems include projects the student can make in the shop. These problems present real and interesting projects to the student so that he can realize the many uses for sketching and drawing. Drawing and Blueprint Reading stresses the practicality of drawing as a meaningful communication subject for everyone in our industrial society from the average citizen to the technician, scientist and engineer. The problems in this book typify this practical approach to drawing.
Since students cannot do effective shop work until they can read blueprints and follow printed instructions, they will save time by completing Sections 1 through 5 and Section 8 before attempting such work. Sketching is treated as a foundation for mechanical drawing and blueprint reading. Therefore students can avoid errors by sketching problem solutions before attempting to do the problem with instruments.
In preparing this book, I am indebted to Estell Curry, Supervisor of Industrial Education in Detroit, Michigan, and to the drawing teachers of Detroit who contributed valuable suggestions for new subject matter; to Richard W. Shackelford for experimental work on How to Grade Your Drawing; and to Miss Dorothy Valla for secretarial work.
SHRIVER L. COOVER