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Formulas for Machinists and Inspectors

Titaniumboy

Plastic
Joined
Mar 27, 2010
Location
Northern California
Has anyone ever heard of a book by P.R. Nolen titled Math and Measuring written back in 1982? I have a pdf copy of the book but would love to get my hands on the real book.

This book is densely packed with a mind boggling array of math formulas of interest to us who are machinists, or even those of us who are only "wanna be" machinists. Math and Measuring would also be useful for those involved in inspecting machined parts.

A couple of pages picked at random:

Page 13 – Distance from Point in Triangle to Vertices
Page 37 – Measuring Tapered Holes
Page 73 – Radius Polygons
Page 104 – Compound Sine Plate – Location of Origin
Page 133 – Circle Tangent to Line Thru a Point
Page 175 – Circle Tangent Line and Circle
Page 198 – Circle Tangent to Two Circles
Page 235 – Sphere Tangent to Three Tangent Spheres

Math and Measuring is completely handwritten, albeit in the neatest penmenship that I have seen in a long time. All formulas shown also include completely worked out examples.

I'm not sure if this was ever a bona-fide book. There is no ISBN number that I can find, and I've only seen Math and Measuring as a loose set of copied pages. This set of loose pages was given to one of the machining instructors at the local community college where I've been taking machining and CNC classes. Last year one of the students was able to scan the loose pages and make the attached pdf.

Normally I don't post copyrighted material, but in this case I'm afraid that Math and Measuring is much more likely to be an orphaned work than a copyright infringement. I've done an extensive search for P.R. Nolen on the Internet and have not come up with very much. Given that Math and Measuring is now 30 years old, and the lack of info on P.R. Nolen, I'm posting this pdf in the hopes that this gentleman's book will survive in some form. I assuming that P.R. Nolen is now deceased and it would be a shame if his life work were to disappear completely.

[Direct link removed. Refer to copyright policy. This work is currently under copyright. - TRL]

Titaniumboy
 
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Did you try inquiring at the library of congress, cause every book published should have a copy at L.C.. My wife is an author and every book she has had published needed 2 copies sent to the Library of Congress.
 
Sorry for the copyright infringement. Try this indirect link instead Math and Measuring - P.R. Nolen

doug8cat - Good idea about the Library of Congress as I had not checked there. Unfortunately, it appears not EVERY book published is at the Library of Congress. I get the impression that this book was done at this guys kitchen table and sold by him directly.

Titaniumboy
 
I get the impression that this book was done at this guys kitchen table and sold by him directly.
The drawings alone show a lot of work went into that book. It's interesting that it has an index at the end, but is missing a table of contents at the front (which would be very useful in a book like this). Unfortunately, the problem with a self-published book is a lot like the problem of information on the internet -- there can be errors. At least with the internet there's a chance someone might have posted a correction to an error they found, but that isn't the case for a book like this. You're counting on the author having filled 236 pages with formulas and calculations without having made any mistakes. At least, no mistakes with whatever formula you're about to rely on to make something in your shop.
 
Seems like it would be definitely accurate and much quicker to use an inexpensive CAD program.
True, if one has access to a computer at the time the calculation is required. :D

A CAD program is less likely to have errors, since it's fully algorithmic, and could be checked against numerous data sets during Alpha and Beta testing.

I still have a Dietzgen log-log-decitrig slip stick in my desk drawer for emergencies. It doesn't need batteries. :willy_nilly:

- Leigh
 
I still have a Dietzgen log-log-decitrig slip stick in my desk drawer for emergencies. It doesn't need batteries. :willy_nilly:

- Leigh


I have my dad's K & E "log log duplex decitrig". He used it when he was in the navy. In 1942 it was the state-of-the-art calculating instrument; it's interesting to think about that.
 
I was wondering if anyone could share what the formula was to do a rotation and elevations based on point locations.
Attached is a .png picture of what I am looking to do. The website where I found that calcultor was i-logic.com

Thank YouCapture.jpg
 
I was wondering if anyone could share what the formula was to do a rotation and elevations based on point locations.

Is one of the points the center of rotation? If not then trig. combined with degrees per diameter should do ya just fine.

I am from Provo, Utah.

Just trolling now, waiting for an interesting thread to pop up. :D

Robert
 
[Direct link removed. Refer to copyright policy. This work is currently under copyright. - TRL]

How is this book still under copyright when everyone involved is dead?

I found out more about how this book came to be written. According to a knowledgeable source, P.R. Nolen was employed as an inspector for machined parts. He would write down an inspection layout and procedure whenever he came across something new or unique. After retirement, he complied all of his sheets together and wrote this book and two others. It was clear that this book (and the two others) were a labor of love and the culmination of a lifetimes worth of experience and knowledge.

Already an elderly man, he evidently rented a booth at the Westec Machine Show for one year sometime between 1982 and 1987, and offered these books for sale. My source liked the Math and Measuring book so much that he ended up buying a book for each of his apprentices for a total of 30 books.

At some point my source ended up lending his only copy of Math and Measurement to somebody, and - long story short - never got the book back. Desperate for another copy, he ended up going to Hawthorne California while on a business trip to Los Angeles and went to P.R. Nolen's house. When he got to P.R Nolen's house, he found out that P.R. Nolen had already passed away sometime around 1987. My source found P.R. Nolen's very frail, very elderly mother still living at the address shown in the back of Math and Measuring.

When questioned about buying more books, P.R. Nolen's elderly mother had no idea that her son had written any books whatsoever. My source convinced the mother to let him search the garage and other likely spots, but was unable to find any more of Nolen's books.

Given the elderly mothers advanced years and health, my source said she couldn't have been around for more than a couple more years, probably passing away sometime in the early 1990's. Whoever the new owners of the Hawthorne residence were, they were undoubtedly faced with clearing an entire house of P.R. Nolens and his mothers possessions. I can clearly see in my minds eye somebody coming across boxes of P.R. Nolen's books during the cleanup, and , seeing that they were "only some boring math books", tossing all of these books unceremoniously into a dumpster.

P.R. Nolen obviously self-published this book, didn't even bother to obtain an ISBN number, had the book professionally bound, and tried to self-promote the books for one year at Westec. He probably shouldn't have put the 1982 copyright verbiage in the book, thus running afoul of the rules here at Practical Machinist.:wall:

The pdf file for Math and Measurement can found at Projects In Metal at the bottom of the first post. Normally the pdf file is visible, but I just checked and the pdf isn't showing up until you log in. I'll notify the admin at Project in Metal that there is a problem.

Titaniumboy
 
How is this book still under copyright when everyone involved is dead?
Visit the Copyright Office website http://www.copyright.gov
They have some basic information distilled from the DMCA and earlier law. Click on Copyright Basics under About Copyright at the upper left.

For works created on or after January 1, 1978, the copyright expires 70 years after the death of the author.
Since the author included a 1982 copyright notice in the work, the earliest the copyright could expire would be 1982+70 = 2052 (if he died in 1982).

- Leigh
 
Its good that you post copyrighted material,How is this book still under copyright when everyone involved is dead.
Thanks for sharing.It is good that you clear various things about copyright here.
 








 
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