October 4, 1894] 



NA TURE 



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portant hand and machine tools, and to give him some manual 

 skill in the use of the same. For this purpose, the student, 

 during a specified number of hours per week, works in the 

 shops under the direct superintendence of the Professor of Me- 

 chanical Engineering, aided by skilled mechanics. The courses 

 commence vviih graded exercises, and gradually lead up to the 

 making of joints, members of structures, frames, iS:c. , finally 

 concluding in the iron-working department with the manufac- 

 ture of tools, parts of machines, and, if possible, with the 

 building of complete machines. 



The machine shop and engine room (Fig. 4), an extremely 

 good equipment, including twelve metal lathes for the special 

 use of students, one large centre lathe, planing, s-haping, 

 universal milling, drilling and tapping machines, and all neces- 

 sary centering and grinding machines. The shop, which is 

 also used for fitting, contains seventeen vices and a very com- 

 plete assortment of tools. All the machinery consists of types 

 selected from the best manufacturers in England and America. 



The hydraulic laboratory contains a tank twenty-eight 



by weight of «.-.ier in each of these, or in all the tanks, may be 

 observed at a glance by means of an indicator on the wall of 

 the laboratory. Experimental work under high pressures up to 

 150 lbs. per square inch is tendered possible by a connection 

 with the high-level reservoir of the city. By means of a stand- 

 pipe with special fittings for pipes, nozzles, valves, &c., investi- 

 gations can be made under any pressure from zero up to the 

 maximum. Any desired head may be kept constant by means 

 of a water-pressure regulator, designed lor this laboratory. 

 Pipes from six inches in diameter downwards, can also be led 

 from this stand-pipe for a distance of about sixty feet, so that 

 experiments on the frictional resistance to the flow of water in 

 pipes can be carried out under varying pressures. Another 

 special feature of this laboratory is an impact machine, designed 

 by Prof. Bovey, for measuring the power and investigating the 

 efficiency of water-jets in combination with buckets of difierent 

 forms and sizes. The laboratory is also to have a set of pumps 

 specially designed for experimental work and research. These 

 pumps are 1 1 be adapted to work under all pressures up to 



Fig. 4.— Macliine Shop. 



by five by five feet square, perfectly flush on the inside, 

 and specially designed for investigations as to the action of 

 water under low pressures. The tank is provided with specially 

 designed valves and gauges, which do not interfere in the 

 slightest degree with the stream-line flow, and by means of 

 which variations in pressure in difTerent horizontal sections and 

 under dift'erenl conditions of flow, can be observed with accuracy. 

 The tank has also fixed to it a recording hydraulic gauge, which 

 lias been designed to make one, two, four, eight, or twenty-four 

 revolutions in a specified time. The tank discharges into a 

 watercourse about forty feet long and five feet wide. This 

 course may be divided up into one, two, or more compartments, 

 each compartment being carefully calibrated so that the amount 

 of the discharge can be easily estimated. At the end of the 

 course, provision is made for inserting weirs of various forms 

 and dimensions. Over these weirs the water Hows into large 

 measuring tanks, which have been carefully calibrated, and each 

 of which has a capacity of about 250 cubic feet. The volume 



120 lbs. per square inch, and at all speeds up to the highes 

 found practicable, with valves of the best kind and proportions. 

 The equipment of the laboratory also includes a Venturi water- 

 meter, water-meters of other kinds, gauges and gauge-testers, 

 and in fact all the apparatus necessary for the scientific investi- 

 gation of the properties of water and water-meters, and all 

 kinds of hydraulic apparatus. 



The main apparatus in the testing laboratories (Fig. 5) 

 consists of a 75-ton Emery testing machine, with a capacity for 

 tension specimens up to 66 in. in length, for compression speci- 

 mens up to S5 in. in length, and for transverse tests up to 60 in. 

 between bearings ; a loo-ton Wicksteed testing machine (Kig. 

 6), with a capacity for tension specimens up to 72 in., for com- 

 pression specimens up to 48 in. in length by 10 in. square ; an 

 Unwin testing machine for torsional, transverse, and tensile 

 testing ; an angle cathetometer (this instrument was specially 

 designed and elaborated for the testing laboratory by Messrs. 

 Nalder Bros., under the direction of Prof. Bovey, to enable 



NO. I 30 I, VOL. 50] 



