26 J. H. MAIDEN. 
ings of the Section. Following are some notes on recent work 
accomplished, or in progress, by some of our local engineers. 
In the Engineering Laboratory of the University of Sydney, 
Professor Warren has been engaged in investigations on the 
strength and elasticity of materials. He has devised an apparatus 
for testing the strength and elasticity of metals at various tem- 
peratures, =a 1s ee ieee using this apparatus for testing copper. 
Al ts have been made to test the strength 
of thie’ various siethvods used for staying locomotive fireboxes. A 
special machine is in course of construction for testing the vibrat- 
ing strength of materials in which the stresses alternate between 
tension and an equal compression. This is considered to be an 
improvement on the Wohler and Bauschinger machines, as it 
enables ordinary bars, prepared as in tension specimens, to be 
rotated in the machine under stresses produced with a constant 
bending movement. It is also proposed to use the machine for 
investigating the change in the so called elastic limit, when sub- 
jected to alternating stresses. A series of experiments is also 
in progress on the strength and elasticity of beams, and columns 
of brickwork and concrete. Numerous appliances have been 
added for making minute measurements of strains and for draw- 
ing autographic diagrams, while experiments are also in progress 
to ascertain the flow of water through orifices and canals. 
Railway Survey and Construction Work since May 1896.— 
Following is a brief outline of the work carried out by Mr. Henry 
Deane, Engineer-in-Chief for Railways, our in-coming President, 
during the past year :—Trial survey work done has been as 
under—Condobolin to Broken Hill, completed during the year 
two hundred and ninety-four miles out of a total of three hundred 
and seventy-three and a-half miles ; Woolabra to Collarendabri, 
completed eighty and three-quarter miles ; Singleton to Jerry's 
Plains, completed twenty-three miles ; Galong to Burrowa, com- 
pleted seventeen and three-quarter miles; Moree to Inverell, 
south route, completed thirty-three and a-half miles ; Belmore to 
Liverpool with alternative junction at Cabramatta, completed 
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