[BITList] blueprint

[HUGH]

Colin,

In my last I failed to say I haven't a clue where the "Lorne" in Lorne Sausage comes from.

On the blueprinted engine subject, I'd guess whoever started it thinks assembling an engine to a drawing, as opposed to sticking a bit on as it goes past on an assembly line, confers benefits on it. Maybe so, but they confuse the ancient and long obsolete art of blueprinting with more modern usage. I started my engineering apprenticeship with Kincaid in 1949, and the only blueprint I ever saw was a few years later buried in Kincaid's archive.  This was dug out in connection with a repair job to some old engine.  They still flash "blueprints" in poorly researched films, the kind where the "secret plans" of the entire submarine/spacecraft/dastardly plot are contained in a rolled up sheet of paper about A2 size with not a trace of blue on it.  When I told my journeyman in my 5th year I was moving to the DO, he said, "It's a dead end job - we don't need drawings."  It was cynicism, the old "oil and water" divide, but it was true as far as engine assembly went - they were only consulted when all else failed.

Hugh.
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