University of Virginia Library

DRAFTING ROOMS.

The drafting rooms are abundantly lighted and are provided with solidly
constructed tables with locked drawers for instruments and materials. Each
student is assigned to a table and has a drawer for his exclusive use. The
regular Drawing Classes execute each one plate a week under the supervision
of the Instructors in Drawing. The more advanced students have such additional

drawings assigned by their respective professors as are needed for the full
development of the courses of study.

Careful attention is given to the training of the students in free-hand
lettering, in the conventional signs of mechanical drawing, in the proper
lay-out of drawings, and in neat and accurate execution. Exercises are required
also in tracing and in blue-printing, the rooms for which are conveniently
arranged and in close contiguity to the drafting rooms. While, however,
technical dexterity is demanded, the graphical method is taught and used primarily
as an indispensable instrument of research, the thoughtful mastery of
which is essential for the instructed Engineer.

The construction and theory of the Polar Planimeter, the Slide Rule, and
the Pantograph are carefully taught, and the student is trained in the practical
use of these appliances for the rapid and accurate production of estimates and
copies from finished drawings.