The Iron Ring is a ring worn by many Canadian engineers as a symbol and reminder of the obligations and ethics associated with their profession. The ring is presented in a private ceremony known as the Ritual of the Calling of an Engineer. [1] [2] Qualification for the obligation ceremony is either completion of a CEAB accredited engineering program or meeting the academic standard for licensure with a provincial engineering regulator. The concept of the ritual and the rings originated from H. E. T. Haultain in 1922, with assistance from Rudyard Kipling, who crafted the ritual at Haultain's request. [1] [3]
The ring symbolizes the pride engineers have in their profession, while simultaneously reminding them of their humility. The ring serves as a reminder to the engineer and others of the engineer's obligation to live by a high standard of professional conduct. However, the ring is not a symbol of qualification as an engineer; engineering qualifications are determined by provincial and territorial licensing bodies. [4]
The Iron Ring originated from H. E. T. Haultain, a mining engineering professor at the University of Toronto. On 25 January 1922, Haultain proposed that engineers take an ethical oath. [5] From 1922 to 1925, the structure that would administer the oaths, or "callings," was organized. Known as the Corporation of the Seven Wardens, the organization was named in honour of the first seven presidents of the Canadian Society for Civil Engineers. [6]
The text of the calling was written by English poet Rudyard Kipling, at the request of Haultain. Haultain asked Kipling to author the calling partly because of Kipling's poem The Sons of Martha, which paid tribute to an engineer. [7] Kipling's calling sought to emphasize the responsibilities of an engineer, affirming their responsibility to "not henceforward suffer or pass, or be privy to the passing of, Bad Workmanship or Faulty Material." [7] Kipling's calling also affirmed that an engineer must not compromise their work, in spite of external pressures; and was a call for professional unity between engineers. [7]
On the 25 April 1925, Haultain administered the first Ritual of the Calling of an Engineer in the University Club in Montreal. [2] [7] A second ritual was administered in Toronto on 1 May 1925. [7] Iron Rings are awarded to engineers during the ritual, in reference to "[their] Honour and Cold Iron," a phrase used in the calling. [8] A myth persists that the initial batch of Iron Rings was made from the beams of the first Quebec Bridge, a bridge that collapsed during construction in 1907 due to poor planning and design by the overseeing engineers. [2] [9] [10] However, the initial batch of Iron Rings were actually produced by World War I veterans at Christie Street Military Hospital in Toronto. [8]
The Wardens originally considered expanding the ritual to the United States. However, they later ruled against expansion, fearing a loss of control over the ritual. [11] Efforts to secure control of the ritual were made in 1935, when the obligation was copyrighted, and the Corporation of the Seven Wardens formally incorporated in 1938. [11]
The Iron Ring is made from either iron or stainless steel. [9] It is intended to be worn on the little finger of the working (dominant) hand. [9] There, the facets act as a sharp reminder of one's obligation while the engineer works, because it could drag on the writing surface while the engineer is drawing or writing. [8] This is particularly true of recently obligated engineers, whose rings bear sharp, unworn, facets. Protocol dictates that the rings should be returned by retired engineers or by the families of deceased engineers. Some camps offer previously obligated or "experienced" rings, but they are now rare due to medical and practical complications.
The Iron Ring is small and understated, and was designed as a constant reminder, rather than a piece of jewelry. The Rings were originally hammered manually with a rough outer surface. The modern machined ring shares a similar design as a reminder of the manual process. Twelve half-circle facets are carved into the top and bottom of the outer surface, with the two sets of facets offset rotationally by fifteen degrees.
The Ritual of the Calling of an Engineer is the ceremony where graduating engineers participate in the "calling," and receive their Iron Rings. The ritual is intended to invoke the moral, ethical and professional commitment of an engineer, with the ring provided as a reminder of this obligation. The ceremonies are private affairs with no publicity. Invitations to attend are extended to local engineering alumni and professional engineers by those who are scheduled to participate. Some universities extend an invitation to witness the ceremony to anyone in the engineering profession; however, engineers that have not undergone the ritual are not permitted to participate in it. Some graduating engineers choose to receive a ring passed on from a relative or mentor, giving the ceremony a personal touch.
The rings are given during the ceremony held at individual universities, each assigned one of 28 camps of the Corporation of the Seven Wardens. Because iron deteriorates turning the finger black and making the ring fit more loosely, all camps except Toronto have stopped conferring rings made of iron and have switched to stainless steel rings. At the Toronto camp, the individual ceremonies held at the University of Toronto, Toronto Metropolitan University, Ontario Tech University, and York University continue to provide recipients with a choice of rings made of iron or stainless steel.
Based upon the success of the Iron Ring in Canada, a similar program was created in the United States, where the Order of the Engineer [12] was founded in 1970. The organization conducts similar ring ceremonies at a number of U.S. colleges, in which the recipient signs an "Obligation of the Engineer" [13] and receives a stainless steel Engineer's Ring (which, unlike the Canadian Iron Ring, can be smooth and not faceted). The first such ceremony occurred on June 4, 1970, at the Cleveland State University under the supervision of Lloyd Chancy. [14]
The NTH Ring is a ring awarded by the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, formerly Norwegian Institute of Technology (NTH), to graduates of their Masters of Science in architecture or engineering programs.
Joseph Rudyard Kipling was an English journalist, novelist, poet, and short-story writer. He was born in British India, which inspired much of his work.
Stainless steel, also known as inox, corrosion-resistant steel (CRES), and rustless steel, is an alloy of iron that is resistant to rusting and corrosion. It contains iron with chromium and other elements such as molybdenum, carbon, nickel and nitrogen depending on its specific use and cost. Stainless steel's resistance to corrosion results from the 10.5%, or more, chromium content which forms a passive film that can protect the material and self-heal in the presence of oxygen.
The Hippocratic Oath is an oath of ethics historically taken by physicians. It is one of the most widely known of Greek medical texts. In its original form, it requires a new physician to swear, by a number of healing gods, to uphold specific ethical standards. The oath is the earliest expression of medical ethics in the Western world, establishing several principles of medical ethics which remain of paramount significance today. These include the principles of medical confidentiality and non-maleficence. As the seminal articulation of certain principles that continue to guide and inform medical practice, the ancient text is of more than historic and symbolic value. It is enshrined in the legal statutes of various jurisdictions, such that violations of the oath may carry criminal or other liability beyond the oath's symbolic nature.
Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the limitations imposed by practicality, regulation, safety and cost. The word engineer is derived from the Latin words ingeniare and ingenium ("cleverness"). The foundational qualifications of a licensed professional engineer typically include a four-year bachelor's degree in an engineering discipline, or in some jurisdictions, a master's degree in an engineering discipline plus four to six years of peer-reviewed professional practice and passage of engineering board examinations.
Polytechnique Montréal is a public research university affiliated with the Université de Montréal in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The school offers graduate and postgraduate training, and is very active in research. Following tradition, new Bachelors of Engineering (B.Eng) graduating from Polytechnique Montréal receive an Iron Ring, during the Canadian Ritual of the Calling of an Engineer ceremony.
The Order of the Engineer is an association for graduate and professional engineers in the United States that emphasizes pride and responsibility in the engineering profession. It was inspired by the success of the Ritual of the Calling of an Engineer, a similar and much older Canadian ceremony, and has 245 active links across the United States.
The Quebec Bridge is a road, rail, and pedestrian bridge across the lower Saint Lawrence River between Sainte-Foy and Lévis, in Quebec, Canada. The project failed twice during its construction, in 1907 and 1916, at the cost of 88 lives and additional people injured. The bridge eventually opened in 1919.
The Ritual of the Calling of an Engineer is a private ritual, authored by Rudyard Kipling, in which students about to graduate from an engineering program at a university in Canada are permitted to participate. Participation may also be permitted for Canadian professional engineers and registered engineers-in-training who received training elsewhere. The ritual is administered by a body called The Corporation of the Seven Wardens. As part of the ritual each participant is conferred the Iron Ring.
The little finger or pinkie, also known as the baby finger, fifth digit, or pinky finger, is the most ulnar and smallest digit of the human hand, and next to the ring finger.
Henry Petroski was an American engineer specializing in failure analysis. A professor both of civil engineering and history at Duke University, he was also a prolific author. Petroski wrote over a dozen books – beginning with To Engineer is Human: The Role of Failure in Successful Design (1985) and including a number of titles detailing the industrial design history of common, everyday objects, such as pencils, paper clips, toothpicks, and silverware. His first book was made into the film When Engineering Fails. He was a frequent lecturer and a columnist for the magazines American Scientist and Prism.
Herbert Edward Terrick Haultain was a Canadian engineer and inventor.
The McMaster Faculty of Engineering is a faculty located at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario. The faculty was established in 1958 and was the first engineering program to developed problem-based learning curriculum. It currently has seven departments in chemical engineering, civil engineering, computing and software, electrical and computer engineering, engineering physics, material science and engineering and mechanical engineering. The faculty offers bachelors, masters, and doctoral degrees.
Engineering traditions in Canada are diverse. Many of the traditions are practised at the engineering departments of Canadian universities, where student organisations continue to practise traditions started by other engineers in previous years.
Engineering ethics is the field of system of moral principles that apply to the practice of engineering. The field examines and sets the obligations by engineers to society, to their clients, and to the profession. As a scholarly discipline, it is closely related to subjects such as the philosophy of science, the philosophy of engineering, and the ethics of technology.
The Engineer's Ring is a ring worn by members of the Order of the Engineer, a fellowship of engineers who must be a certified Professional Engineer or graduated from an accredited engineering program. The ring is usually a stainless steel band worn on the little finger of the dominant hand. This is so that it makes contact with all work done by the engineer. Rings used to be cast in iron in the most unattractive and simple form to show the nature of work. The ring symbolizes the oath taken by the wearer, and symbolizes the unity of the profession in its goal of benefitting mankind. The stainless steel from which the ring is made depicts the profession's strength.
A pinky ring is any ring worn on the pinky, or little finger, of either hand. A pinky ring may have special significance conferred by the wearer's office or professional association, but may also may be worn purely for fashion. Signet rings, which hold their own meaning, are often worn on the pinky.
Santería, also known as Regla de Ocha, Regla Lucumí, or Lucumí, is an Afro-Caribbean religion that developed in Cuba during the late 19th century. It arose amid a process of syncretism between the traditional Yoruba religion of West Africa, the Roman Catholic form of Christianity, and Spiritism. There is no central authority in control of Santería and much diversity exists among practitioners, who are known as creyentes ("believers").
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