Transactions of the American Society of Civil Engineers Part 17

Mr. Snelling's reference to the use of explosives in blasting operations should be of interest to all civil engineers, as well as to mining engineers, as should Colonel Dunn's discussion concerning the means adopted to safeguard the transportation of explosives.

Since the presentation of the paper, Congress has enacted a law establishing, in the Department of the Interior, a United States Bureau of Mines. To this Bureau have been transferred from the Geological Survey the fuel-testing and the mine accidents investigations described in this paper. To the writer it seems a matter for deep regret that the investigations of the structural materials belonging to and for the use of the United States, were not also transferred to the same Bureau. On the last day of the session of Congress, a conference report transferred these from the Geological Survey to the Bureau of Standards. It is doubtful whether the continuation of these investigations in that Bureau, presided over as it is by physicists and chemists of high scientific attainments, will be of as immediate value to engineers and to those engaged in building and engineering construction as they would in the Bureau of Mines, charged as it is with the investigations pertinent to the mining and quarrying industries, and having in its employ mining, mechanical, and civil engineers.

FOOTNOTES

[Footnote 1: Presented at the meeting of April 20th, 1910.]

[Footnote 2: "Coal Mine Accidents," by Clarence Hall and Walter O.

Snelling. Bulletin No. 333, U.S. Geological Survey, Washington, D.C.]

[Footnote 3: "The Explosibility of Coal Dust," by George S. Rice and others. Bulletin No. * * *, U.S. Geological Survey.]

[Footnote 4: "Notes on Explosives, Mine Gases and Dusts," by Rollin Thomas Chamberlin. Bulletin No. 383, U.S. Geological Survey, 1909.]

[Footnote 5: "Prevention of Mine Explosions," by Victor Watteyne, Carl Meissner, and Arthur Desborough. Bulletin No. 369, U.S. Geological Survey.]

[Footnote 6: With a view to obtaining a dust of uniform purity and inflammability.]

[Footnote 7: "The Primer of Explosives," by C. E. Munroe and Clarence Hall. Bulletin No. 423, U.S. Geological Survey, 1909.]

[Footnote 8: "Tests of Permissible Explosives," by Clarence Hall, W. O. Snelling, S. P. Howell, and J. J. Rutledge. Bulletin No. * * *, U.S. Geological Survey.]

[Footnote 9: "Structural Materials Testing Laboratories," by Richard L. Humphrey, Bulletin No. 329. U.S. Geological Survey, 1908; "Portland Cement Mortars and their Const.i.tuent Materials," by Richard L. Humphrey and William Jordan, Jr., Bulletin No. 331, U.S. Geological Survey, 1908; "Strength of Concrete Beams," by Richard L. Humphrey, Bulletin No. 344, U.S. Geological Survey, 1908.]

[Footnote 10: "Fire Resistive Properties of Various Building Materials," by Richard L. Humphrey, Bulletin No. 370, U.S. Geological Survey, 1909.]

[Footnote 11: "Purchasing Coal Under Government Specifications," by J. S. Burrows, Bulletin No. 378, U.S. Geological Survey, 1909.]

[Footnote 12: "Experimental Work in the Chemical Laboratory," by N. W.

Lord, Bulletin No. 323, U.S. Geological Survey, 1907: "Operations of the Coal Testing Plant, St. Louis, Mo." Professional Paper No. 48, U.S. Geological Survey, 1906.]

[Footnote 13: Also Bulletins Nos. 290, 332, 334, 363, 366, 367, 373, 402, 403, and 412, U.S. Geological Survey.]

[Footnote 14: "Tests of Coal for House Heating Boilers," by D. T.

Randall, Bulletin No. 336, U.S. Geological Survey, 1908.]

[Footnote 15: "The Smokeless Combustion of Coal," by D. T. Randall and H. W. Weeks, Bulletin No. 373, U.S. Geological Survey, 1909.]

[Footnote 16: "The Flow of Heat through Furnace Walls," by W. T. Ray and H. Kreisinger. Bulletin (in press), U.S. Geological Survey.]

[Footnote 17: The a.s.sumption is made that a metal tube free from scale will remain almost as cool as the water; actual measurements with thermo-couples have indicated the correctness of this a.s.sumption in the majority of cases.]

[Footnote 18: "Heat Transmission into Steam Boilers," by W. T. Ray and H. Kreisinger, Bulletin (in press), U.S. Geological Survey.]

[Footnote 19: "The Producer Gas Power Plant," by R. H. Fernald, Bulletin No. 416, U.S. Geological Survey, 1909; also Professional Paper No. 48 and Bulletins Nos. 290, 316, 332, and 416.]

[Footnote 20: A Taylor up-draft pressure producer, made by R. D. Wood and Company, Philadelphia, Pa.]

[Footnote 21: "Coal Testing Plant, St. Louis, Mo.," by R. H. Fernald, Professional Paper No. 48, Vol. III, U.S. Geological Survey, 1906.]

[Footnote 22: A report of these tests may be found in Bulletin No.

* * *, U.S. Geological Survey.]

[Footnote 23: "Illuminating Gas Coals," by A. H. White and Perry Barker, U.S. Geological Survey.]

[Footnote 24: "Gasoline and Alcohol Tests," by R. M. Strong, Bulletin No. 392, U.S. Geological Survey, 1909.]

[Footnote 25: "Washing and c.o.king Tests," by Richard Moldenke, A. W.

Belden and G. R. Delamater, Bulletin No. 336, U.S. Geological Survey, 1908; also, "Washing and c.o.king Tests at Denver, Colo.," by A. W.

Belden and G. R. Delamater, Bulletin No. 368, U.S. Geological Survey, 1909.]

[Footnote 26: U.S. Geological Survey, Professional Paper No. 48, Pt.

III, and Bulletins Nos. 290, 332, 336, 368, 385, and 403.]

[Footnote 27: Professional Paper No. 48, and Bulletins Nos. 290, 316, 332, 343, 363, 366, 385, 402, 403, and 412, U.S. Geological Survey.]

[Footnote 28: "Peat Deposits of Maine," by E. D. Bastin and C. A.

Davis. Bulletin No. 376, U.S. Geological Survey, 1909.]

[Footnote 29: U.S. Geological Survey, Pittsburg, Pa.]

[Footnote 30: Chief Explosives Chemist, U.S. Geological Survey.]

[Footnote 31: Lieutenant-Colonel, Ordnance Dept., U. S. A.]