Timbers of the Empire

IN 1883 the first edition of Kidder’s Architects’ and Builders’ Handbook appeared. It was then called a pocket-book, and could be carried in a coat pocket of ordinary size. The seventeenth edition, 1921, is more than three times as thick, although it is printed on thinner paper in smaller type. In the 1906 edition the following statement, appeared in the Preface: “At the time the first edition was written, the term ‘Architectural Engineering’ had not been used in the present application, and the term ‘Structural Engineering,’ when used, referred almost exclusively to bridge work." Ernest McCullough

EVERY engineer, and every architect knows the value of the factor of safety in modern building. It is the wise precaution the constructive mind takes against the failure of matter in fulfilling its purpose. It may be only an approximation. Safety is so important that no one dare stress his material to its ultimate limit. Some factor of safety is an undisputed truth to the rational mind. There is another factor that is at least of equal importance. We have many vague notions about it; many fallacies; much discussion; but no fundamental and obvious truth that is self-evident to the rational mind. James O'Hanlon Hughes

ALL bridge structures belong to one or other of four primary types, the suspension bridge, arch, supported girder and cantilever. Although these primary types have become differentiated into a large number of variations conforming to special requirements dictated by topography of site, exigencies of traffic, properties of materials and possible methods of erection, yet such variants are the outcome of a gradual evolution dating back to pre-historic times. Professor J. Husband