ENGINEERING 



2906 



ENGINEERS 



practical training to be taken, 

 whether wholly or in part, before 

 the university course, while in 

 some universities provision is made 

 for a " sandwich " course, in which 

 the engineer takes his workshop 

 training during the summer months 

 of each year, and his theoretical 

 training during the six winter 

 months. 



Bibliography. Hydraulics and its 

 Applications, A. H. Gibson, 1908 ; 

 A Practical Treatise on Bridge Con- 

 struction,! 1 . C. Fidler, 4th. ed. 1909 ; 

 The Steam Engine and Other Heat 

 Engines, J. A. Ewing, 3rd. ed. 1910 ; 

 Civil Engineering as applied in Con- 

 struction, L. F. V. Harcourt, 2nd. 

 ed. revised by Henry Fidler, 1910 ; 

 Surveying and Surveying Instru- 

 ments, G. A. T. Middleton, 3rd. ed. 

 1912 ; Natural Sources of Energy, 

 A. H. Gibson, 1913 ; The Gas, Petrol 

 and Oil Engine, D. Clerk, rev. ed. 

 1909-13 ; Strength of Materials, A. 

 Morley, 4th ed. 1916 ; The Principles 

 of Electrical Engineering and Their 

 Application, G. Kapp, 1916, etc. 



Engineering. London illus- 

 trated weekly journal devoted to 

 all branches of the engineer's work, 

 and giving full attention to the 

 theoretical, practical, and econo- 

 mic sides. It was founded in 1866 

 by Zerah Colburn, the editorship 

 passing early in 1870 to William 

 H. Maw, M.Inst.C.E., and James 

 Dredge. On the death of Mr. 

 Dredge in 1906, B. A. Ra worth, 

 who had for many years acted as 

 assistant editor, was appointed 

 joint editor with W. H. Maw, a 

 position he occupied until his death 

 in 1919. He was succeeded as joint 

 editor by Alex. Richardson, M.P. 

 The volumes of Engineering con- 

 tain a valuable record of develop- 

 ments in the construction of steam 

 and other prime movers, as well as 

 in the manufacture and treatment 

 of steel and other products em- 

 ployed by the engineer. / 



Engineer Officer. Commis- 

 sioned officer of the British navy. 

 He is a technical specialist, respon- 

 sible for the running of all main 

 and subsidiary machinery in a war- 

 ship and the control of the engi- 

 neering workshops and repairs 

 aboard. In the smaller vessels he 

 frequently also performs the duties 

 of accountant officer. Since 1903 

 engineer officers have been trained 

 as executive officers and are com- 

 petent to take executive duties and 

 rise to the highest ranks in the 

 navy. They enter training like 

 other naval cadets, pass through 

 Osfcorne and Dartmouth, where the 

 general course includes engineer- 

 ing, spend eight months on a train- 

 ing cruiser and qualify as midship- 

 men. Having been commissioned 

 and spent one to three years in the 

 ranks of sub-lieutenant and lieu- 

 tenant, those who volunteer for 



specialist branches take a course 

 at the Royal Naval College, Green- 

 wich, and' the engineers then take a 

 further course at the engineering 

 school at Keyham, near Devonport. 

 An engineer officer is distinguished 



Engineer Officer. Cuff badges of 

 officers in British navy. Left, sub- 

 lieutenant: right, vice-admiral 



by wearing strips of purple cloth 

 between the bands of gold lace 

 denoting his rank. 



Engineers, Royal. Technical 

 corps of the British army, popu- 

 larly termed the Sappers. The ori- 

 gin of the corps is of considerable 

 antiquity. There was until 1716 a 

 Chief Engineer who was responsible 

 for the care of all engines of war 

 and had headquarters at the Tower 

 of London before 1350. The ord- 

 nance department was constituted 

 a separate unit in 1450, but the 

 Engineers were responsible for the 

 guns until 1716, when the Royal 

 Artillery was established. 



The corps may be said to have 

 originated in its modern form in 

 the company of military artificers 

 raised by Sir William Green at 

 Gibraltar in 1772, which, during 

 the long siege, distinguished itself 

 in the construction of galleries on 

 the north face of the Rock and by 

 the repair of breaches made by the 

 enemy's fire. 



In peace time the corps is organ- 

 ized as field, signal, bridging, sur- 

 vey, fortress, railway, printing, and 

 postal companies 

 and troops de- 

 scriptions which 

 indicate the wide 

 activities of the 

 units and which 

 have been con- 

 tinually aug- 

 mented as science 

 has played a more 

 and more impor- 

 tant part in warfare. During the 

 Great War, special companies were 

 added, whose duty it was to inves- 

 tigate and direct the use of poison 

 gas and the measures adopted to 

 counteract it. Meteorological com- 

 panies were responsible for informa- 

 tion regarding the weather which 

 was essential for aviation and 

 valuable in ordinary strategy. 



The corps does not take the field 

 as a unit, but sends detached com- 

 panies to organize the signal and 

 communication services, etc., of 



Royal Engineers 

 badge 



divisions and other units, advise on 

 the construction of trenches, super- 

 intend and organize large defence 

 works, entrenchments, mining of 

 enemy positions, and the destruc- 

 tion of communications in a retreat. 



During the long periods of trench 

 warfare the Engineers were chiefly 

 employed in tunnelling and mining, 

 At one stage of the war they used 

 the geophone, an instrument for 

 magnifying the sounds of enemy 

 mining. Later they were provided 

 with the seismomicrophone, which 

 transmitted sounds from as ma<ny 

 as fift}' gallery faces to a central 

 station, which was situated in a 

 place of safety. This saved the 

 many casualties formerly entailed 

 by listening at each face. Also their 

 work included the improvement 

 of the communications, organizing 

 and manning searchlight stations, 

 and the duties previously outlined. 

 In the advance of August to Novem 

 ber, 1918, they erected in the battle 

 area 326 steel bridges (the longest 

 having a 180 -ft. span), 213 heavy 

 timber bridges capable of carrying 

 loads of 17 to 30 tons, and necessary 

 for tanks, as well as hundreds ot 

 lighter bridges suitable for fighting 

 units and first line transport. 

 In addition to serving in France 

 and Flanders, the Engineers were 

 conspicuous by their intrepidity 

 and persistence in the campaigns 

 in Italy, Salonica, Egypt, Gallipoli, 

 Palestine, and Mesopotamia. On 

 the outbreak of the Great War the 

 Corps of Royal Engineers totalled 

 1,808 officers and 23,521 other 

 ranks. In November, 1918, its 

 strength was 17,711 officers and 

 322,739 other ranks, its casualties 

 in killed, died, and missing during 

 the war exceeding 1, 100 officers and 

 17,500 other ranks. 



A memorial to the services of the 

 Engineers in the Great War and to 

 the fallen is to take the form of (a) an 

 educational scheme for the benefit 

 of all ranks and all branches of the 

 corps as at present constituted ; and 

 (6) a monumental memorial in Lon- 

 don. The cost of the entire scheme 

 was estimated to be 150,000. Its 

 motto is Ubique (Everywhere). 

 See illus. facing p. 614. 



Engineers, SOCIETY OF. British 

 learned society. Established in 

 1854, it was incorporated in 1910, 

 when it was amalgamated with the 

 Civil and Mechanical Engineers' 

 Society, dating from 1859. It 

 exists to further the interests of the 

 engineering profession. The society 

 consists of fellows, members, and 

 associates, and its head offices are 

 t 17, Victoria Street, Westminster, 

 S. W. One of the largest of the trade 

 unions was known until 1921 as 

 the Amalgamated Society of Engi- 

 neers. See Trade Unions. 



