Readers of The Structural Engineer will be pleased to learn how much interest and attention the very able address by Mr. E. F. Sargeant, to the Yorkshire Branch of the Institution, last year, has attracted. Mr. Sargeant, as Chairman of that Branch, chose as his subject “The Romance of Silica,” and dealt with it in a particularly fascinating manner, as may be judged from the text of his address, which was published in The Structurcrl Engineer for June last. It was, in December, made the subject of an article on the “leader” page of The Times, and we understand that Mr. Sargeant likewise received a highly congratulatory letter from Sir Robert Hadfield in the course of which Sir Robert commented on the amount of time that must have been involved in writing so instructive a paper, which interested him the more in so far as he had himself evolved and invented silicon steel, and expressed his high appreciation of Mr.Sargeant’s own “fascinating and instructive paper.”
The subject of chairman’s address is usually something to do with the particular branch of Engineering that he has been, or is connected with, and often is a review of his experiences and work in that particular branch. My own experience has been in Architecture, Dock and Harbour Engineering, Works Engineering, Housing, Reinforced Concrete and Cement, and it would certainly take rnore than the time allotted to me in a Chairman’s address to review my experiences in these various branches of Constructional Engineering. G McLean Gibson
Sir,- Is there not a demand for a publication of steel details for buildings only(apart from other engineering practice), say a series of loose sheets in, a small portfolio?-taken from drawings with few photographic reproductions and following up-to-date conditions, standardised as much as possible and very little letter press; also dealing with roofs of all types and spans to 100 ft., floors, girders, theatrical conditions, frame buildings, etc., on the lines of the “Practical Exemplar of Architecture,” by Mervyn McCartney.
THE CHAIRMAN (Mr. H. J. Deane, Past President) said he might possibly add to what Mr. Burns had said in connection with “ slump,’’ referred to on page 440. Some might wonder why the engineers carrying out this work should have made a point of having this slump taken, but Mr. Burns, quite rightly, had not mentioned the question of specification. He had been dealing solely with the difficulties and intricacies of foundations which were rather out of the ordinary. I n order, however, to obtain satisfactory results, bearing in mind the fact that the Contractors desired to use chutes for placing the concrete, one had to arrange a specification which would meet these conditions, and at the same time give the amount of strength that was necessary for the work in general.
In single storey buildings of the shed type, the vertical loads on the columns are generally small, while the overturning moments clue to wind forces are relatively large. The stability moments are supplied in one of three ways:- (l) by means of a portal frame such as a knee braced truss with the bases of the columns considered as being hinged. (2) by means of a portal frame with fixed bases to the columns. (3) by means of fixed beams to the columns, the connections of tile roof trusses to the columns being considered hinged. In methods (2) and (3) the design of the steel bases and the concrete foundations is all important, and it is the purpose of this article to deal with the design of the type of symmetrical base and foundation in common use. G J Voce
Welding has long been considered as the art of uniting pieces of similar metals by ham- mering or compression when raised to a temperature short of the fusing point; but today a broader interpretation must be accepted to include autogenous soldering in which fusion occurs, and any added metal is similar to the pieces to be joined together in firm union. Such autogenous soldering has long been practised with lead. J Caldwell