o<l MONTHLY. I>* 
Vol. XVIII. 
COLOMBO, JULY 1st, 1899. 
No. 1. 
TESTING CEYLON TIMBERS. 
EYLON timber logs have 
frequently been tested both 
practically and scientific- 
ally. Mr. Henry Byrne, 
when chief assistant to 
Major Skinner, we remem- 
ber, published a series 
of tables with tests of a 
great variety of local tim- 
ber trees in logs, scant- 
lings, &c. But we suppose the most elaborate 
series of scientific tests is that which reaches 
us in the "Imperial Institute Journal" for May, 
being a report on the results of mechanical 
tests applied to a series of logs of timljer 
received from the Ceylon Government (by 
Professor W. C. Unwin, P.R.S., Referee to 
the Scientific and Technical Department of 
the Imperial Institute. We read: — "The whole 
of the samples (22 in number) were in a dry aJid 
Avell-seasoned condition, but some of them had 
serious drying cracks or shakes. No. 8 sample 
(Mandoi'a), and No. 20 (Halmilla) have a good 
elastic i-ange. No. 13 is an exceptionally light 
timber and— as would be expected — of rela- 
tively low strength. On the other hand. No. 
22 (Nedun) is a very heavy timber of relatively 
great strength. No. 16 (Ghomunti) is rather 
heavier than No. 22, but its strength is not so 
great. No. 1-1 (Walukina) is a rather light 
timber of good strength. The following tabu- 
lar statements give : — (1) The heaviness of the 
timbers ; (2) Their resistance to shearing along 
the fibres; (3) The crushing strength ; (4) The 
transverse strength ; (5) The deflections obser- 
ved in the bending tests ; and (6) The co-effi- 
cient of elasticity from the bending tests." 
We give the tables below :— 
REPORT ON THE RESULTS OF MECHANICAL TESTS APPLIED TO A SERIES OF LOGS 
OF TIMBER RECEIVED FROM THE CEYLON GOVERNMENT. 
(By Professor W. C UnvViN, F.E S., He/tree to the Scientific and Technical Department of the Imperial Institute.) 
Table I,— HEAVINESS. 
No. of 
Speci- 
men. 
Name of 
Timber. 
Locality. 
Weight of 
Timber ia 
pounds per 
cubic foot. 
1 (c) 
Sapu 
Ceylon 
do 
do 
2(c) 
Panah Ka ... 
do 
do 
do 
3(c) 
Gurukina 
do 
do 
do 
4(c) 
Vuinaviku 
do 
do 
do 
5(c) 
Satinwood ... 
do 
do 
do 
6(c) 
Milla 
do 
do 
do 
7 
Hauthai 
do 
8 
Mandora 
do 
9 
Ubberiya 
do 
10 
Jawenua 
do 
11 
Ddwata 
do 
12 
Margusa 
do 
13 
Luuumidella... 
do 
14 
Walukina 
do 
15 
Kanai 
do 
16 
Cliomunti 
do 
17 
Suriya 
do 
18 
Jak 
do 
19 
Del 
do 
20 
Halmilla 
do 
21 
Suriya Mara.. 
do 
22 
Nedun 
do 
54 86 
41 •75 \ mean 
41-07 J 41-41 
55-06 \ 
54 66 j" 
63 02 I po.fio 
62-23 I ^2 6 
40-58 
40 
Table II.— RESISTANCE TO SHEARING ALONG 
THE FIBRES. 
Shearing Stress. 
Pounds Tons, 
per sq 
in. 
753 
Area 
Loca- shared, 
lity. Sq. in 
Ceylon 4-010 
-58 ) 
■24 I 
64-66 I 
63-98 I 
60-81 \ 
61 03 / 
40-41 
64-32 
60-92 
48- 87 
59-70 
56- 71 
46- 11 
47- 33 
47-32 
20-39 
32-41 
63-31 
75-46 
50-33 
43-37 
48 09 
49- 93 
57- 01 
70-79 
No. of Name. 
Speci- 
men, 
1 (/) Sapu ... 
2 (/) Panah Ka .„ do 3-960 
3 (f) Gurukina ... do 3-999 
4 (f) Vuinauku ... do 3 960 
5 ((/) Satinwood ... do 3-999 
(g) Milla do 4-100 
(/) do do 4-240 
(A) do .. ... do 4-000 
Hauthai (') ... do 4-120 
Mandora (') ... do 3-984 
Ubberiya (') ... do 4-041 
Jawenna (') ... do 4-036 
DawataO .. do 3-880 
MargosaC) ... do 3-835 
Lunumidella (5) do 3-901 
Walukina (') ... do 4-096 
Kanai (') ... do 3-821 
Chomunti (') .. do 3-940 
Suriya (■) ... do 3-862 
Jak (') ... do 3-881 
Del(') ... do 3 744 
Halmilla ... do 4 0'28 
Suriya Mara (') do 3-880 
Nedun (') ... do 3-9'20 
745 
948 
486 
1,903 
1,147 
880 
984 
per sq. 
in. 
0-3359 
< I -.3325 
0-4-231 
0-2170 
0-8496 
0-5116 
0-.3936 
0-4392 
9 
0 
1 
2 
3 
4 
5 
6 
7 
8 
29 
20 
21 
1,013-4 0-452 
6-20-4 0-277 
1,066-6 0-476 
1,083-7 0-484 
1,075 0-480 
1,326-0 0-592 
478 0-21.3 
336-9 0-150 
9-25 0-413 
1,333 0 595 
9-26 9 0-414 
672 0-300 
1,236 0-551 
830-3 0-371 
1,283 0-572 
1,486 0-663 
(1) Nearly plane fracture. (») Rather ragged fracture. 
(3) Irregular fracture small knot. (4) Irregular fracture. 
(5) Fairly plane fracture. Broke party by tension. 
(') Very irregular fracture. 
