§76 liEtoRT— 1903. 



publication, but it Would not concern itself with data relating to tlie 

 actual waggons and other matters of a purely military character. 



As a result the Transport Committee replied favourably, and arrange- 

 ments, it is hoped, will now be made by which important work will be 

 carried on by that Committee, thereby avoiding the very heavy expense 

 to meet which it is difficult to raise funds from private sources. 



Small Screw Gcmge. — Report of the Committee^ consisting of Sir 

 W. H. Preece (Cloairman), W. A. Price (Secretanj), LordKELViN, 

 Sir F. J. Bkamwell, Sir H. Tuueman Wood, Major-Gen. Webber, 

 Col. Watkin, Lieut.-Col. Crompton, A. Stroh, A. Le Neve 

 Foster, 0. J. Hewitt, G. K. B. Elphinstone, E. Rigg, C. V. 

 Boys, J. Marshall Gorham, 0. P. Clements, W. Taylor, Dr. 

 R. T. Glazebrook, and Mark Barr, appointed to consider means 

 by which Practical Effect can tie given to the introduction of the Screw 

 Gauge irroposed Jnj the Association in 188i. 



This Connnittee was originally appointed at the York meeting of the 

 British Association in 1881, and, after considerable labour, they made 

 their final rejwrt at the Montreal meeting in 1884, reconmiending a very 

 useful series of small screws, which were very generally adopted for watch 

 and electrical apparatus. At the Ipswich meeting of the British Associa- 

 tion in 1895 the Committee was reappointed to consider complaints that 

 screws of the British Association thread proposed b}' the Committee 

 in 1884 were not interchangeable. It appeared to the Committee that the 

 difficulty arose from want of some ready means of constructing gauges for 

 testing the screw thread, and they endeavoured, during the years 1896-9, 

 to remedy this by the construction of a series of such gauges. The edges of 

 the thread, as is well known, are rounded at the crests and roots, and great 

 difficulty was experienced in obtaining satisfactoi'y gauges for such a form, 

 while it was stated that a flat-topped thread could be accurately made, and 

 gauged with comparative ease. At the Dover meeting, in 1899, this Com- 

 mittee reported recommending that they should be reappointed for the 

 purpose of considering whether the British Association form of thread for 

 small screws should be modified. This recommendation was adopted, and as 

 a result the Committee reported at the Bradford meeting, in 1900, that it 

 was desirable to replace the present form of screws from No. to No. 11, 

 by one having a flat top and bottom to the thread. It was pointed out 

 that in the belief of the Committee such screws would, owing to the inevit- 

 able rounding at the edges, be interchangeable with the old stock in the 

 majority of cases, and that only where great care had been taken to work 

 cli)sely to the old standard would any difference be noticed, so that practi- 

 cally while the B.A. small screw gauge had a flat-topped thread, the 

 B.A. screios would still have rounded tops and bottoms. After making 

 recommendations to the above eflfect the Committee was reappointed 

 to obtain a set of the proposed screws, with tools and gauges for a com- 

 pai'ison with the present ones. Additional members were added, and new 

 light was thrown on the matter by their assistance. On the one hand, it 

 appears that gauges can be constructed readily and accurately only if the 

 thread be flat topped. On the other, that screws made with any ordinary 

 form of screwing tackle will have round tops, but that the form of these 

 tops will vary and may vary to such an extent as to prevent the inter- 



