Errol Groff

I am preparing a research assignment for my students on this subject.
Looking for suggestions as to names which might be used as search
terms or links to sites that would be appropriate.

I don't have suggestions for electronic research, but the main English history
was written up in the late 1800s by Samuel Smiles, from whom we get most of the
info on Henry Maudslay, James Nasmyth, and like. I don't have the text
references, but the titles are close to "industrial biography," and "lives of
the engineers."
In the U. S. Joseph Roe's 1916 "English and American Tool Builders" is still a
standard. The mentioned article from the 100 year issue of Am Machinist is
good. Mid-20th-century texts by academics are Robert Woodbury's "Studies in
the History of Machine Tools," and Abbott Payson Usher's "A history of
Mechanical Inventions."

One form of electronic research might be for the students to learn to search
for patents electronically, using the free Alternatif software available
through the U. S. Patent and Trademark Office site. All of the mechanical
patents from 1790 top present are now available (minus those lost in the Patent
Office fire of 1836-7?).

Imo, the history and the hands on shouldn't be at opposite poles of the
curriculum. Learning the mechanical history "can be" an excellent way to
learn to think about more than the mere operation of the tools.
Frank Morrison