In consequence of the great success attained by my previous engineering publications, and at the request of a large number of Engineers, Technical School Teachers, Students, and Mechanics, in all parts of the United Kingdom, I have pleasure in issuing this book of "Sketches of Engine and Machine Details," and trust that it will prove as successful as my other works.

Sketching plays such an important part in all engineering examinations, as well as in the everyday occupations of the engineer and draughtsman, that it is of the greatest importance that students and apprentices should be trained to answer practical questions by means of neat and proportionate sketches. One of the objects of this book is to supply suitable examples, fully worked out, showing students exactly the kind of thing required, and another is to give dimensioned details of the most recent practice in the shops.

With the wealth of material at my disposal, some difficulty has been experienced in selecting what was most suitable for the purpose of the work, but I hope that this may have been so managed, as to furnish a book valuable not only to the student, but to all interested in Mechanical Science.

I wish to express my best thanks to the eminent engineers and engineering firms (whose names appear in the body of the work) for kindly supplying me with working detail drawings of their most recent practice, and to Professor Unwin, Professor Adams, Messrs. Cryer and Jordan, and Messrs. Low and Bevis, for a few sketches taken from their works.