Issue 5

My real purpose here is to ask the Institution of Structural Engineers for help and when I have made clear what the work of the Building Research Station means-especially in its application to industry-I trust this help will be forthcoming. Dr. R.E. Stradling

The CHAIRMAN said everyone in the room had very much enjoyed the description of the apparatus. He was quite sure a number of those present wanted to speak and ask questions. He had himself made a number of notes; he was afraid it would take the rest of the evening if he attempted to go through them. He must say he had been very much impressed personally with the very useful work that was going on at the laboratory. He wasure the Institution of Structural Engineers would welcome the very kind invitation they had received from Dr. Stradling, and hoped that during the course of the early summer, or perhaps a little later, they would be able to arrange a visit for members to see over the laboratory. He was sure this would add very much to their own knowledge, and he hoped they would he able to contribute somewhat to the work which was going on under Dr. Stradling's care.

In the last article I drew the distinction between “ ferro-concrete couchant ” and "ferro concrete rampant.” This is a very important distinction, for it implies there are two Principal modes in which ferro-concrete mav find expression. The champions of theie diverse structural modes have separated themielves into two schools which at the present moment are warring with one another. Those who insist that ferro-concrete should be rampant on all occasions are apt to imagine that buildings in which this material is employed in an unsensational manner are lacking in modernity while, on the other hand, the conservatives who like ferro-concrete to be “ couchant ” regard with little favour any attempts to make a merely mechanical invention an excuse for stylistic novelties. A. Trystan Edwards

It has been interesting and instructing to read in recent issues of The Structural Engineer, papers and the discussions thereon, in which references were made to the qualities from an anti-corrosive point of view of the numerous types of paints in use at the present time. H. Pontet

Transport Costs. In these days of keen competition, it is remarkable how rarely transport costs receive the attention that they deserve. A.J. Knight

There are many old ideas which have been exploded in recent years, and one of them is that it is necessary to aerate cement to make it slow setting; the usual method used to be to lay the cement out on a dry floor for a month or so. This is quite unnecessary with modern cements, as the time of setting is arranged during the manufacture, and the sooner the cement is used after delivery has been made, the better. Professor Duff Abrams made a series of experiments over 4 1/2 years, showing the effect of storage of cement under various conditions. Cement stored in a shed in the laboratory yard, gave an average strength ratio for the ages at which the tests were made:- G. McLean Gibson

The treatment usually given in text books for calculating the reinforcement necessary in reinforced concrete slabs takes no account of the effect of the support of the slab at its sides as well as at its ends. Ewart S. Andrews