THE ENGINEERING EXPERIMENT STATION OF

THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS.

BY L. P. BRECKENRIDGE,

Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Director of the Engineering Experiment Station, University of Illinois.

The engineering experiment station at the University of Illinois has now been in existence nearly four years, having been established by action of the board of trustees in December, 1903. The first two years were largely a period of preparation and planning, the main efforts being directed to the extension of the equipment of the engineering laboratories. At the same time a beginning was made along a few important lines of investigation. The second two years have witnessed a general extension and elaboration of these investigations and the further extension of our equipment, until now we may be said to be fairly started on our work.

As many of the members of this Society are already familiar with the work of the station, it will not be necessary to go into detailed explanations. Concisely stated, the purpose of the station is to carry on investigations along various lines of engineering and to study problems of importance to professional engineers and to the manufacturing, mining, railway, constructional and industrial interests of the state. The organization consists of a staff of eight members, representing with the director the heads of the different departments in the college of engineering. The work

of the college and the station is thus very closely related.

There were two main factors leading up to the establishment of our station. In the first place, in all engineering colleges experimental work has been in progress for many years, and valuable results have been attained. We have all felt the desire to extend and improve our work. The main obstacle to true research work has been lack of funds. To extend our investigations so as to meet and solve the engineering problems of the state as expressed in demands for tests of its fuels, its constructive material, its railway operation, and its manufactured products was one of the factors in the recommendation resulting in the establishment of the engineering experiment station in connection with the college of engineering. In the second place, for a number of years the agricultural industry of Illinois has been greatly benefited by the work of the agricultural experiment station. During the first year of its existence this station was supported by the United States government. Subsequently, the increasing demands for investigations of various kinds rendered additional funds necessary, and the state was called upon for assistance. At present the agricultural experiment station receives regular support from the state at the rate of about $95,000 per annum. The benefits to agriculture resulting from its investigations are too well known to need comment. The expenditures of the state in its support have been repaid many times. Millions of dollars have been added to the wealth of Illinois through the investigations on corn breeding,

the soil surveys and fertility experiments and the work of eradicating insect pests. It is our hope that the engineering experiment station may stand in the same helpful relation to the great mining, transportation and manufacturing interests of Illinois. What has been done for agriculture may well be done for manufacturing. The state's investments in the agricultural experiment station have been rewarded with large dividends in the way of increased soil fertility and increased and improved agricultural products. Surely as large dividends await similar investments in the engineering experiment station. Important problems in agriculture have been and are being successfully solved by the agricultural experiment station. Important and difficult problems of engineering confront the manufacturer and power user, and press for solution. It is the aim of the engineering experiment station to assist in the solution of these problems and thus to aid and uplift the engineering industries of Illinois.

WORK ALREADY ACCOMPLISHED.

The first work undertaken by the engineering experiment station was an investigation of reinforced concrete and the properties of concrete affecting reinforced concrete construction. Considerable work has been done, making it one of the most extensive and systematic investigations on reinforced concrete made in this country. The work of the present college year on beams, T-beams, hooped columns, culvert pipe, etc., is expected to give valuable data on this type of construction. Various tests on timber and iron and steel have also been made.

The importance to Illinois manufacturing interests of information concerning the use of high-speed tool steels led the station to make investigations in this field. The drainage of earth roads was also a very natural subject to present to the people of this state. The resistance of tubes to collapse has been made the subject of most careful investigation by the department of physics. The extensive coal interests of the state coupled with the rapid growth of its manufacturing interests have suggested the extensive research work of fuel tests of Illinois coals which are in progress. There is evident necessity for investigations relating to track construction and timely experiments have been made on the holding power of railroad spikes. Much of the above work will be continued, but several new fields of investigation will be entered in the near future.

FACILITIES AND EQUIPMENT.

The various laboratories of the College of Engineering, viz., cement, electrical, hydraulic, materials testing, mechanical, physics, railway and road materials, are well equipped in their several departments for carrying on investigations of many kinds. Extensive equipment has been purchased and installed for the especial use of the different departments in connection with their investigations. The rapid growth in attendance in the college of engineering has made it necessary to extend its equipment considerably, and while the apparatus thus provided is intended primarily for purposes of instruction, much of it is available at certain times of the year for purposes of

investigation. When When a series of experiments has been concluded the equipment becomes a part of the regular laboratory to which it most naturally belongs.

The engineering experiment station is not quartered in any one building of the college of engineering, but its work and experiments go on wherever the needed facilities exist in the various departments. Neither is its work confined to the college of engineering nor within the limits of the university. Cooperation with other university departments, such as the college of science, state water survey and with the state geological survey enables it to complete many investigations, facilities for which are not available within the college of engineering. Cooperation with various departments of the federal government as well as with many industrial interests of the state is already assured.

CHARACTER OF WORK TO BE UNDERTAKEN.

In determining the character of the work which the station shall undertake, the most careful consideration will be given first to the needs and the interests of the state of Illinois. Fortunately Illinois is singularly favored in all the conditions requisite for a rapid and permanent industrial development, and its interests cover very wide fields of engineering activity. In view of its cheap and abundant fuel, its great agricultural wealth and its unexcelled facilities for the transportation of raw material and finished products, it is not surprising that Illinois is the second state in the union in agriculture and third in manufactures. With these great resources devolves upon us great responsibility in developing and husbanding them.