The PRESIDENT, introducing the authors of the papers, recalled that the Civil Engineering Department of Leeds University, under the direction of Professor R. H. Evans, had collaborated for many years with the late Mr. P. Mitchell, of Messrs. Dorman Long & Co., Ltd., on an extensive investigation concerning the stress distribution in a large welded girder, and the papers to be presented that evening were the outcome of that work. Mr. Mitchell had died early in 1949, and Mr. Ibbotson, who had been working with him, had continued the preparation of the paper.
The site of the factory extension to be described extends from North Woolwich Road to the River Thames and covers approximately eleven acres. A wharf extends along almost the whole of the river frontage and is provided with 2-ton travelling electric cranes. Although it was necessary for the owners to have access to this wharf for outgoing goods during the progress of the works, the wharf was not used to receive materials or plant, and all such traffic was by road. Frank G. Etches