Innovation – the endless frontier: historical modes of engineering science

Abstract

In this article we argue that knowledge production in industrial settings does not follow neat schemata, such as the linear model or the Mode 1/Mode 2 dichotomy. Rather than moving from research to market via development, innovation and production, it is an iterative process where information and knowledge move back and forth between different actors and milieus. Engineering science is a many-sided practice carried out at different institutions and is largely driven by a need for continuous novelty. By means of a detailed historical case study of industrial R&D in the area of engine design we document how theoretical knowledge encountered on-the-spot observations, how well educated engineers met ordinary bus drivers and how engineering test procedures clashed with economic interests. Our story line is about ‘crossover’ processes, trial-and-error ‘research’, recursive development loops, and flexibly acting innovation networks.

Keywords:

• research policy
• diesel engineering
• Mode 2
• history of technology

Notes

For an overview of other parables and metaphors that have been launched to describe the R&D process (e.g. wave cycle, chain, travel, firework), see Braun-Thürmann (2005, 31).

The quote is from French (1995).

The quote is from Ricardo (1936, 3).

Like the word ‘Laboratory’, the word ‘research’ is taken from the same letter; ibid.

Letter from Harry R. Ricardo to Mr W. Arthur of the American Brown-Boveri Corp., 16 December 1926, in RCE file ‘Anglo-Saxon Petroleum Co. Ltd. A.21. December 1924–December 1928’. (RCE henceforth refers to the archive of Ricardo Consulting Engineers Limited, Shoreham-by-Sea, West Sussex, Great Britain).

The rest of this section is primarily based on material from the RCE file ‘Anglo-Saxon Petroleum Co. Ltd. A.21. December 1924–December 1928’.

Letter from Harry R. Ricardo to Mr Andrew Agnew, Shell Co. (undated, probably late January 1925) in RCE file (ibid.).

Letter from Harry R. Ricardo to Messrs. Thomassen & Co., N.V. Macine-en-Motorenfabrik, De Steeg, the Netherlands, 15 February 1927, in RCE file (ibid.).

Ibid.

Letter from Harry R. Ricardo to Mr Wyndham Jones, Anglo-Saxon Petroleum Co., 26 October 1926, in RCE file (‘Anglo-Saxon Petroleum Co. Ltd. A.21. December 1924–December 1928’).

‘Suggested lines of development of high speed diesel engines’, Manuscript, 30 June 1927, in RCE file (ibid.).

E.N. Soar, ‘The history of bridge works’, December 1975; manuscript in RCE file.

This and most information in this section is taken from RCE file ‘A.E.C. Ltd. December 1925–December 1932. A.10.’

Letter from Harry R. Ricardo to G.J. Rackham of AEC, 25 April 1930, in RCE file (ibid.).

Letter from Harry R. Ricardo to R.A. Lister & Co., 10 October 1928, in RCE file ‘Lister R.A. & Co. Ltd., L110, November 1925–December 1929’.

Letter from G.J. Rackham of AEC to Harry R. Ricardo, 15 May 1930, in RCE file ‘A.E.C. Ltd. December 1925–December 1932. A.10’.

Letter from G.J. Rackham of AEC to Harry R. Ricardo, 11 September 1930, in RCE file (ibid.).

Letter from G.J. Rackham of AEC to Ricardo & Co., 20 September 1930, in RCE file (ibid.).

Letter from A.T. Evans of Ricardo & Co. to C.B. Dicksee of AEC, 30 September 1930, in RCE file (ibid.).

Letter from A.T. Evans of Ricardo & Co. to C.B. Dicksee of AEC, 30 September 1930, in RCE file (ibid.).

Unsigned report, 25 November 1930, in RCE file (ibid.).

RCE log book ‘A.E.C. 6 Cyl: 106 mm × 146 mm. C916C. Also A.E.C. 6 Cyl 105 mm × 146 mm Comet Mk. III. (from page 15)’. (1935–1937: 2 February 1937).

Ibid.: 21 April 1937.

This and the following quotes in this section are taken from RCE log book ‘A.E.C. 6 Cyl: 106 mm × 146 mm. C916C. Also A.E.C. 6 Cyl 105 mm × 146 mm Comet Mk. III. (from page 15)’. (1935—1937: 27 April 1937).

Ibid.: 6 May 1937.

Ibid.: 18–19 May 1937.

Ibid.: 8 June 1937.

This section is primarily based on RCE file ‘AEC Mk III* Head Road Tests, January 1934–July 1937’.

‘Report (No. 1086) on Comparative Road Tests of the Ricardo ‘Star’ MK III and the Standard MK III Comet Combustion Chambers on the 7.58 litre AEC Oil Engine. Manuscript written by C.W.R. Smith in 1937, in RCE file (ibid.).

Ibid.

Ibid.

Ibid.

Ibid.