The Greenville journal. [volume] (Greenville, Ohio) 1850-1918, 1917-03-29

these big compression members. When
l first studied your fathers drawings,
l wondered if he had made the lacing
strong enough to hold the webs"
THAT matter was very thoroughly
gone into" said Meade quickly. ut
was the very point which l myself h ad
questioned, but father is absolutely
confident that we provided latticing
enough to take up all the stresses. |
looked into that matter myself" he
went on with much emphasis.
Il guess IFS all right" said Curtiss
lightly. 81 examined the webs and lac
ings carefully this afternoon. They
seem to be as right as possible"
"Those trusses," said Abbott emphat-
ically, twill stand forever. You need
not worry about that"
Are you going to finish this job on
time" asked Severence, the vice presi-
dent You know the financial end of
it is mine, and much depends upon the
date of completion"
"That depends upon you people at
the shop, doctor. If you get the stuff
here to me I'll get it in place in short
order" answered Abbott.
"We aren't worrying about anything
with you and Meade on the job, Alb
bott," said the colonel genlally.
Eyes, you are, father" said the girl.
ever since the International has been
started you have scarcely been able to
give a thought even to me. I'm tired
| of it. l hope the old thing will soon
be finished, so that we can all go back
TO normal life again"
u hope sO too" assented the colonel,
"and / guess you are right. The fact
"a the bridge is an 0bSession with us
3II. 1t is the biggest job the Martlet
has ever handled. Indeed, 1t Is the
biggest thing In the world. It's the
longest cantllever, the greatest span,
the heaviest truSseS, the"
"I've heard all about it," interrupted
the girl, waving him into silence, lever
since you began it. Sometimes think
it's beginning to Obsess me, too"
"You don't look like it," whispered
Meade, Under cover Of the general
laugh that greeted her remark.
what do l look like?" she whis-
pered back quickly in return.
But Meade had no opportunity to
tell her.
ut Is not exactly a subject for din.
ner conversation" said the colonel with
sudden gravity, "Eut all of us here
even you, my dear, must realize how
much that bridge means to us. / wont
go so far as to say that its failure
would ruin u.s. but it would be hard for
us to survive"
"Havc you ever known anything that
my father designed to fail?" asked
Meade somewhat hotly.
mo, and that is why we took his
plans in spite Of"
"In spite Of what, sir?"
"In spite of Curtiss here and some
others"
"Mr. Curtiss," said Meade, turning
to the chief engineer, "if it will ado
| any llluS w SOuL pCdSO VA AAAhNJ VII
assume my full sh are Of responsibility
for the matter. YOU know the books
by Schmidt-C -Chemnitz, the great Ger
man aTIGge engineer?"
CurtiSs nodded.
eat first THAT is. we-thought thai
there might possibly be weakness il
those compression members, but
checked them with the methods he ad
vOcates and then submitted the figures
to my father, and then he went through
the whole calculation and applied co
efficients he felt to be SAFE"
"Tm willing to take your father
judgment in the matter rather thar
Schmidt Chemnitz', or anybody's," sale
Curtss, $50 successful has been his ca
reer."
"Now that have seen the member
In place have no doubt that they vii
stand" said the colonel.
"Sure they WILL" added AbSott witt
supreme and contagious confidence, al
assurance which helped even Meade t,
: believe.
"Of course we all know" said Doc
tor Severence, who had been lonl
enough in touch with engineering t
3 learn much about it, shat there is al
2 ways more or less of experimenting 4
: the design Of q new thing like this"