Spiral Staircases

Mr. J. A. DERRINGTON (Associate-Member) said that although the design of foundations for tall buildings had caused consulting engineers to think afresh, contractors’ engineers had not been inactive in designing and constructing plant which could be used for the installation of deep cylinder foundations, In particular, the type which could provide a shaft with an enlarged base at depths of 80 feet in London clay was noteworthy and he proposed to show a short colour film of this plant at work which he hoped would interest members.

1. Prologue Textbooks on statics, even when intended for schoolboys, still seem to retain something of that air of formality andetachment associated with Victorian works on geometry. Forces are very disembodied and act either on infinitely small particles or on strictly rigid bodies. And this climate, I fear, still reflects, and is reflected in, the teaching of statics in schools. Sir Alfred Pugsley

The large scale examination of structural safety has received an appreciable momentum since the end of the last war. During the course of such study, it was confirmed that according to the current convention a design can be made after a vigorous analysis based on well founded theories, yet the so called ‘ safety ’ of such a design is still an enigma ; and the ‘ safety ’ of its constituent members is neither uniform nor discernible. It is evident that the link between the analysis and the design, both of which are major components of design philosophy, is too weak. Hsuan-Loh Su