Excerpt from History of Bridge Engineering History is very fully taught in Schools of Architecture, but up to the present, very little time or thought has been given in the Engineering Schools to the History of Engineering, which is cer tainly quite as worthy of attention. The absence of such courses is generally ascribed to insufficient time and the dearth of litera ture. A need for this book is therefore evident, especially as there is at present no other on the subject in the English language. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

Excerpt from De Pontibus: A Pocket-Book for Bridge Engineers For a railway company, the most satisfactory method of building bridges is either to have a permanent, competent bridge engineer in its employ, or to retain some specialist of established reputation to prepare specifications and complete detailed plans (not working drawings, however) for all its bridges, and to provide competent inspectors to see that during manufacture, shipment, and emotion the plans and specifications are strictly followed. The necessity for the specialist to stand between the pur chaser and the manufacturer Of structural steel is, as a general rule, not appreciated by the purchaser, unless he has already had some experience in letting contracts for and in the building of steel structures without engineering aid in the designing and supervision. When the purchaser puts himself in the hands of the manufacturer, he is pretty sure to get the worst of it for if the contract be let by schedule prices the strue ture is liable to be loaded down with useless metal, while if the contract he let for a lump sum the structure will probably be ruined by having the metal skinned out of it, especially in the most important parts, viz., the details. Moreover. The manufacturer is seldom capable of evolving a truly first-class design, for the reason that his training has always been in the line of his own pecuniary interests, which are to obtain the maximum Of pay for the minimum of structure; so that, even when given all the metal and money that he could ask for when preparing a design, he would not succeed in making a really good one, simply because of not knowing how. On the other hand, the specialist should stand between the contractor and the purchaser, so as to see that the latter does not take any undue advantage of the former by means of a harsh or unjust interpretation of the specifications, especially when the contractor has suffered loss or delay on account Of causes beyond his control. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

Excerpt from American Railroad Bridges The existing and the accepted types of bridges in use to-day on American railroads being the results of a true evolution, no attempt to present them intelligently would be complete without a brief sketch of the past history of bridge; in America. The rapid development of the new world and the enormous number of bridges that has been built within the limits of the nineteenth century, have furnished us with a wide experience, from which we have been able to select the good and reject much that was bad or undesirable. The pioneer life, not only of the earlier settlers, but of each genera tion to the present day, has developed to a high degree the energies, ingenuity and self-reliance of the American people. These pioneers were compelled to be men of all trades. Their limited resources and the lack of time or opportunity to seek for past precedents, impelled them to solve each problem anew. They, thought with vigor and were not fettered with the trammels of science, before they were capable of ex erting their mental faculties to advantage, as Sir Joseph Banks wrote to Thomas Paine in 1788.[from transactions or american society or CIVIL engineers. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the "public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. To ensure a quality reading experience, this work has been proofread and republished using a format that seamlessly blends the original graphical elements with text in an easy-to-read typeface. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

Excerpt from On Some Common Errors in Iron Bridge Design The steady though moderate demand for this small treatise and the approaching exhaustion of the first edition have led to the preparation of a second edition, amplified and brought up to date. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.