Norwich bulletin., 1922-08-03
CIVIL ENGINEER PALMER
 ADDRESSES ROTARY CLUB

 TheN'ivi Engineer and His Work was the topic of an interesting talk by Shep- ard B. Palmer before the Norwich Rotary club at the regular monday luncheon at the Wauregan hotel on Wednesday, Mir Palmer spoke of the value of engineers to the world at large and how we depend upon the judgment of the engineer for our safety. MT. Palmer spoke as fol-
 lows:
 It is noticeable that many members of this club in presenting their profession before these meetings claim that their profession is & very ancient one and some have gone back even to Adam. For that reason I may be pardoned in al- so claiming to belong to one of the old est for there is no doubt but that Noah besides being a good naval arch itect was also goou engineer. famili- ar with the theory of the strength of materials and had the ability to design structure which would fulfill the re- quirements of his day. And from that time to this the engineer while not known by that name. has had hand in the great developments of civilization and some Of the structures built by them centuries ago are still in use But these enduring structures are very rare for while they may be constructed to last for years the changing customs and times are very liable to render them obsolete and they must be replaced by something better and more suitable to changed conditions. Probably nothing better illustra tes this thay1 the high ] way construction of the pas& years. What was called a finely constructed highway twenty years a@o will not meet the present traffic at all.
 Perhaps it is rather hay Tn the minds Of some just what an engineer is and what he does. Some think engineering is going out and stakine out huildtnr lot or ~iving the grades for a sidewalk
 but that is sr~veyiT,e and not engineer Ing. Az an illustration when a pie is brought to the. table and passed to you
 10 serve. # is a simple matte 10 cut 1t into six pieaes. s1rveyirg but when there is only one pic and two or three 1 extra persons come in it~ts a real en- gineer who can cut t Into seven or nine
 pieces while all look on and then
 have AvArv one satisfied that an equal
 distribution has been made. The en- gineHr plans and executes the work ] r-- ov' "A ~~c1 n~anaplA of real aood
 engineering which came to my atten- u1. A few yn9-rs a~o the Ia rreSt tro'-
 lev. company in the state decided to
 operate lerge cars carrying crushed
 stone on their lines. The general man. i ager sAnt in the sketchA4 of the new car with the capacity and weights. to
 the chief fne'neeer with instructions to
 make the bridres on the lines safe for this heavier type of car ..
 This was 2 simple engineering ques- ton. but when the stresses on the bridges caused bv the new car were cal
 cuiated and it was seen that the corn pany would have to spend -tl1ousa andS of. dollars to make them safe the chief engineer thought there nus be some way to save this money and after stud 7
 reported to the general manager that if his mecha nical engineer would re- design the car. changing the truck cen
 ters and lengthen;ng out the wheel base so as to distribute the load near Ii ly all the bridges would pass This was
 easiiv done and thousands ot dollars
 saved the company, It was also sl.oa-n
 that the engineer must not always do Ss he is told but should show his em- - CT at3>tter way.
 There are many branches of civI en-
 "!:.t,r.r= a few being. municipal nigh WI: ,t+ary> hydraulic. bridge and in
 dustrial, and each one is a study in it. self. We trust ourselves to the en- , i-eineers in more ways than we realize out a thought ef its safety, we are go-
 ing over something some engineer has
 studied on. The water We drink is brought to us through pipes and from reservoirs some engineer has planned The wastes from a city are taken away in engineering structures. The i'm. {, proved highways we use are planned by the engineers and numerous other things
 In 3 small town an engineering firm is called upon to take part in nearly all branches of engineering and can | nat Snecia1ize on any one To show how diversified these calls are the followinE are some of the things which our firm have either finished during the past i. s months ar are at work on now:
 Sewage of state institution witt TOO persons, including septic and dos