May 12, 1905.] 



SCIENCE. 



723 



tempting to reinforce a concrete which will 

 not of itself develop a fair degree of 

 strength, and they throw very serious 

 doubts upon the wisdom of using certain 

 types of diagonal reinforcements in beams. 

 The paper will probably be published in 

 the Engineering Record. 



Owing to the absence of Mr. Richard L. 

 Humphrey, consulting engineer, of Phila- 

 delphia, his paper on 'Some Notes on the 

 Manufacture and Testing of Cement' was 

 read only by title. 



In a paper on 'The Menace to the En- 

 trance of New York Harbor,' by Lewis M. 

 Haupt, consulting engineer, Philadelphia, 

 after reviewing the different projects which 

 have been carried on by the general govern- 

 ment for the improvement of the channels 

 leading into the lower bay, the author 

 showed by means of charts that in the past 

 century the inlet to Jamaica Bay has 

 moved seven miles to the west, and also 

 that the spit at Sandy Hook has advanced 

 about a mile, and is now moving into the 

 bay, depositing half a million yards of 

 sand every year. It was held that these 

 encroachments upon the entrance to New 

 York harbor formed a menace which could 

 no longer be overlooked. The author found 

 a remedy in a single reaction training wall 

 which would concentrate the ebb of the 

 currents and prevent the continued deposit 

 of drift which threatens to convert Coney 

 Island and Manhattan Beach into lagoons. 

 The estimated cost of this would be but 

 one-half of the present contract for dredg- 

 ing the channel, which it is stated can not 

 be maintained, as it fills up very rapidly. 

 The paper was subsequently read before 

 Section E ; and extracts of it were pub- 

 lished in the New York daily papers and 

 caused much discussion in both engineering 

 and commercial circles. 



At the conclusion of this paper, Section 

 D joined the meeting of Section I to listen 

 to a paper and discussion on 'Specializa- 



tion in Manufacturing' by Alexander E. 

 Outerbridge, Jr., metallurgist of William 

 Sellers & Company, Incorporated, of Phila- 

 delphia. The paper gave data from actual 

 experience, showing the enormous econ- 

 omies, as well as limitations, of the modern 

 methods of concentrated effort and capital 

 in a single production, as compared with 

 older methods in general practise. The 

 paper will be found in full in the January 

 issue of the Annals of the American Acad- 

 emy of Political and. Social Science. 



On Wednesday afternoon after luncheon 

 the members of the section, in charge of 

 competent guides, visited the new electric 

 power station of the Philadelphia Electric 

 Company. This station presented a nota- 

 ble illustration of the many uses of con- 

 crete, of which the most novel was prob- 

 ably the installation of the high tension 

 wires and fuses in vertical cases made of 

 monolithic concrete construction. 



Later the members visited the high pres- 

 sure fire service plant of the city of Phila- 

 delphia. This plant is notable in that the 

 large triplex power pumps are operated 

 by gas-engines supplied with artificial gas 

 from the city mains. No standby losses 

 are incurred, full pressure is available in 

 two minutes from the time the fire alarm 

 is sounded, which is much sooner than the 

 company can get to the hydrant nearest to 

 the fire. The quantity of water is much 

 larger than could be obtained by the nor- 

 mal number of fire engines, while ample 

 provision in the way of valves has been 

 made for the bursting of mains. 



On Thursday morning, owing to the ab- 

 sence of the author, paper number seven, 

 on 'Some Notes on Ventilating Problems,' 

 by Charles B. Dudley, of the Pennsylvania 

 Railroad Co., Altoona, Pa., Avas read by 

 title only. It was followed by an interest- 

 ing paper by C. J. Zintheo, professor of 

 farm mechanics, Iowa State College, Ames, 



