The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1901-03-17

lives only FOR truth ana the discovery o.
natures laws; the inventor, eager to appl,
these discoveries to money-making ma
chimes and processes. and the engineer
trained In mathematical investigation an
in knowledge of the physical conditions
which govern his profession. which is th'
mechanical application of the laws OF ma
ture.
Engineering is sometimes divided Int
civil, military and naval engineering. The
term civil engineering. which will be her,
described, is often used by writers as GOV
ernig structural engineering only, but II
has a much wider meaning.
The logical classification is: statical en-
cheering, including that of all fixed bodies
and dynanical. covering the movement o
ali bodies by the development and appli
cation of power.
Statical engineering can be again Subdi'
vided into structural engineering. or thai
of railways. highways. bridges, foundations
tunnels. buildings. etc: also. into hydraulic
engineering, which governs the application
of water TO canals, river improvements
harbors. the supply of water to towns and
for irrigation. disposal of sewage. etc.
Dynamical engineering can be divided
into mechanical engineering, which covers
the construction of all prime motors. the
transmission of power. and the use OF ma
chimes and machine tools: Closely allied is
electrical engineering, the art of the trans
formation and transmission of energy for
traction, lighting, telegraphy. telephoning.
operating machinery and many other uses,
such as its electrolytic application to ores
and metals.
Then we have the combined application
Of ~statical. mechanical and electrical en-
gineering to what is now called industrial
engineering, or the production of articles
useful to man. This may be divided into
agricultural, mining, metailurslcal anu
chemical engineering.
Surely this is a vast field, and can only
be hastily described in the sketch which We
are about to give.
This is the Oldest of all. We have not
been able to surpasS the works of the past
in grandeur or durability. The pyramids Of
Egypt sti1l stand. and will stand for thou
sands of years. Roman bridges. aqueductS
and ewers still perform tLeir duties. Jo-
seph's canal still irrigates Lower Egypt.
The great wall of China. running for LOO
miles over mountains and plains. contains
40, O00, 900 cubic yards Of materials. and is
the greatest Of artificial works. No modem
building compares in grandeur with st.
Peters, and tho medieval cathedrals
shame our puny limitations.
These mighty works were built to show
the piety of the church or to crafty the
pride of Kings. Time and money were of
no account. All this has now been changed.
Capital controls, and the question of time.
money and usefulness rules everything.
Hence come scientific design and labor-sav-
ing machinery.
The engineer of our modern works first
calculates the stresses on all their parts.
and proportions them accordingly, SO that
there is no waste OF material. Hand labor
has given place to steam machinery. All
parts arc interchangeable. so that they
can be made and fitted together in the
least possible time, as is seen every day
in the construction of a steel-framed office
building. Our workmen receive much higher
wages than in the PAST, while time and
cost have been diminished.
Building Railways the Greatest
Feat of the Century.
The greatest engineering work of the
Nineteenth Century was the development
of the railway system. which has changed
the face of the world. Beginning in 1880
with the locomotive Of George Stephenson.
It has extended with such strides that. aft
er seventy years there are $4,000 miles of
railways in the world, OF which 10000
are in the United States. Their cost
is estimated at forty thousand millions of
dollars. Of which ten thousand millions be-
long to the United States.
The rapidity with which railways are built
In the United States and Canada contrasts
strongly with what has been done In other
countries. Much has been written Of the
of Russia in building 1900 miles Of
railway in five or six years. In the
United States an average of 6.l47 miles was
completed every year during ten successive
years, and in 1887 there were built L, 1852
The physical difficulties overcome in
Siberia are no greater than rave been over
here.
This rapid construction is due to several
causes, the most potent of which has been
the need Of extending railways over great
with little money. Hence they
were built economically, and at first in not
as solid a manner as those of Europe. Steep
er gradients, sharper curves and lighter rails
were used. This rendered necessary a diff
ferent kind Of rolling stock suitable to such
construction. The swiveling truck and
equalizing beam enabled our engines to run
safely on tracks where the rigid European
engines would soon have been in the ditch.
Our cars were made longer. and by the use
Of longitudinal framing much stronger. A
great economy came from the use of an
nealed cast-iron wheels. with hardened tires.
all in one piece, instead of being built UP of
spokes. hubs and tires in separate parts.
These wheels now seldom break. and cost
much less than European wheels. As there |
are some II 100000 car wheels in use in the
United States the resulting economy is
great.
1t was soon seen that longer cars would
carry a greater proportion of paying load,
and the more cars that one engine could /
in n train the less would be the cost, |
It was not until the invention by Bessemer |
1864 of a steel Of quality and cost that |
made 1t available for rails that much heavier |
ears and locomotives could be used. Then |
,ame a rapid Increase. As soon as Bessemer |
rails were made in this country, the cost |
,eil from sli5 per ton to $50. and now to s26. |
Before that time q wooden car weighed |
sixteen tons and could carry a paying load
twenty-five tons. The thirty-ton engine |
those days could not draw on a level |
over thirty cars. weighing 1880 tons.
The pressed steel car OF to-day weighs no
more h the wooden car. but carries a
paying load of fifty tons. The heaviest en-
zines can now draw on a level 100 steel cars.
Weighing $500 tons. In the one case. the
,ayirg load of an engine was $50 tons; now
t is 5000 tonA
Steep grades soon developed a better
rake system. and these heavier trains have
ed to the invention OF the automatic brake
worked from the engine, and also automatic
saving time and many lives. The
Of our railways has been greatly
increased by the use of electric block sig
,als.
The perfecting Of both the railway and its
olling stock has led to remarkable results.
We have 10 accurate statistics Of the
arly operation of American railways. In
S67 Poor's Manual estimated their total
reight tonnage at s75. 000.0 900 and the total
reisht receipts at 800. 600. 600. This was an
verage rate per ton of $3.50.
In 1899 Poor gives the total freight tonnage
I 9i5.7ss.9l tons. and the freight receipts
I es23, 436. 3l4. or an average rate per ton of
cents. Had the rates of 1867 prevailed,
he additional yearly cost to the public
rocid nave been H.275. ooo. 900, or sufficient to
eplacc the whole railway system in two and