CUAP. I. BEAMS AND PILLAIIS.

427
B
the joints (par. 1630y.),
and all the riveting be well executed, the beam will be equal in
sirength to one
"
of an entire length.
"
'Ihis construction may be carried to a 'pan of 'lO to
50 feet. In practice it is found necessary to confine the use of cells to spans exceeding
100 or 150 feet : within these limits the same olijeits are most etonomically obtained l>y
the use of thicker plates" (l)age -215).
"
The more nearly the bottom ajjproximates to a
solid liomogeneous mass, ihe better it is calculated to resist a tensile strain" (see pages 248
to 256 for full instructions as to riveting plates; and Kirkaldy, Experiments, ^S'c. page
196, for comparison of strength). Asthe bendin? moment of the load on agirder diminishes
from tie middle towards the ends, and the shearing force from the ends towards the
middle, it follows that the transverse sections of the bottom plates may be diminished
from the middle towards the ends, and that of the vertical web from the ends towards tlic
middle, so as to make the resistance to bending and shearing respectively vary according
to the saine law. Consequently, towards the centre of a girder for a large span, tl)e
bottom plate is usually increased by additional plates to secure the requisite strengtli in
the sectional area, giving the underside of the ])late a bellied form. C. Graham Smith,
ll'rought Iron Girder Work, deserves attentive [jerusal by the student. It is print.'d in the
British Architect, for June 1877, pages S82 to 385.
1629/"; The results of various testings of a new manufacture of girder patented about
1866 by iNIessrs. Phillips are here recorded. A double weiglit in a cast iron girder is re-
quired to give equal strength with one of wrought iron. A riveted plate girder is not ahvays
adaptable for general purposes. The new system consists in riveting plates to the top and
bottom flanges of rolled iron beams, and so strengthening

them as to obtain results apparently disparaging to ordinary

plate girders. The experiments noticed here in an abridged
form were on a patent girder of 22 lbs per foot run, with a web
plate, as A,
fig.
61;5o., and 20 feet bearing, as compared with
a riveted plate girder of 9 in depth; it gave a breaking weiglit
"
of 7 tons and a safe load of 4 tons ; the formula for the break-
^
g
^
ing weight of an ordinary plate girder would give
3^
tons.
L
,_
'
/"T^
'*^'
^^~rr^^
^^
When two of the 8-inch rolled girders were riveted together
'f
"
' " If
"
with a plate on the top, as B, the metal being about, 40 lbs.
per foot run, the girder was found to resist 20 tons, even then
not breaking, but becoming twisted. An ordinai-y riveted
plate girder of 40 lbs. per foot run, with a web of 12 inches,
with double angle irons of 3 inches by 3 inches and
h
inch
thick, would break with a strain of 9 tons. A simjile web
plate girder, with angle irons tO]) and bottom (fiy. 6t3A.),
Fife'-
6130.
gives C
=
60; a plate on top and bottom in adiliiio'i (j(?(/ 613/.
)
gives C = 75 ;
and a box beam
(fig.
6I3?n.) gives C = 80. The rolled girders made by the
Butterley Company give C = 57 to 88. The example A gives C
=
210; and the example
B, 300. Other experiments are required fully to prove the superiority of the new system
over the beams and girders of the old sections. The details of the above testings are given
in the Builder,
p. 148; Mechaidcs' Magazine,
p. 129; Engineeriiig,"^. 139; &c., all for the
year 1866.
Condition
of
Breaking Weight in the 3Iiddle.
<:rp
u
u Jt; F G H I
Fig. 613p. VARIOUS FORMS IN USE FOR BE.iMS, GIRDERS, AND IRONS.
-AppTication to the manufacturer selected must be made for any special lengths and
strengths of rolled iron joists and girders, riveted and compound, &c. The former can
be obtained from 3 inches deep by
1|
inches up to 22 inches deep by 8 inches, bein<T from
6 feet to 36 feet in length, with top and bottom flanges of usual proportions. The latter
can be obtained of the same lengths. One manufacturer advertises the following makes.

Rolled girders up to
19f
inches deep and to 38 feet long. Zore's patent girders up to
8 inches deep and to 34 feet long. Channel iron to 12 inches wide and to 32 feet long.
Angle iron to 12^ urited inches and to 30 feet long. Tee iron to 12 united inches aiid
to 30 feet long. Flitch and .sandwich plates to 14 inches wide and to 36 feet long. Riveted
girders made up from stock to all sections. Bulb tees up to 10 inches deep. Rounds
to 61 inches. Squares to 5 inches. Flats to 14 inches. Chequered plates up to S feet by
4 feet.
The opinion is gaining ground that most of the constants in use for calculating the
strength of beair.s aie too high. A comparison of Trcdgold, Barlow, and Clark, will show