WILLIAM SIEMENS, / R.S. 145 



since which event the applications of this superior material show 

 a most extraordinary rate of increase. Not only do we travel 

 upon steel tyres, running over steel rails, but at least one of our 

 leading railway companies, the London and North Western, has, 

 under the able management of Mr. F. "W. "Webb, constructed as 

 many as 748 locomotive engines, including boiler, frame, and 

 working parts, entirely of that material, excepting only the fire- 

 boxes, which are still made of copper. In France, also, much 

 attention has been given to the introduction of steel for machinery 

 purposes, and there, as well as in the United States, Germany, and 

 Holland, that material is used largely in the construction of 

 bridges and other engineering works. 



In this country the application of steel for structural purposes 

 has occupied the attention of some of our leading civil engineers 

 for many years, and Sir John Hawkshaw, when called upon to 

 construct a railway bridge at Charing Cross in 1859, proposed 

 the use of steel in order to lighten the structure. He was pre- 

 vented, however, from carrying his idea into effect by the rules of 

 the Board of Trade, which provide that wrought material of any 

 kind shall not be weighted either in compression or extension to 

 more than 6 tons per square inch. Repeated efforts have been 

 made since that time to induce the Board of Trade to adopt a new 

 rule, in which the superior strength of steel should be recognized, 

 and in order to facilitate their action a committee was formed, 

 consisting of Mr. William Henry Barlow, Capt. Galton, and 

 others, who carried out with the pecuniary aid of leading steel 

 manufacturers a series of valuable experiments, showing the limit 

 of elasticity and ultimate strength of various steels. The results 

 obtained are published separately in "Experiments on the 

 Mechanical and other Properties of Steel by a Committee of Civil 

 Engineers." 



At the instance of Mr. Barlow, the British Association appointed 

 a further Committee to promote the object of obtaining for steel 

 its proper recognition, and this has led finally to the appointment, 

 under the sanction of the Board of Trade, of three gentlemen, 

 viz., Sir John Hawkshaw, F.R.S., and Mr. William Henry Barlow, 

 F.R.S. (who were nominated by the Council of the Institution of 

 Civil Engineers), and of Colonel Yolland, F.R.S., of the Board of 

 Trade, who have agreed upon a report recommending the use of 



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