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THC  AMERICAN    SOCIETY  OF  M  ECMANICAL    ENGINEERS 


A  HISTORY  OF 

THE  AMERICAN  SOCIETY  OF 

MECHANICAL  ENGINEERS 

FROM  1880  TO  1915 


BY 

FREDERICK  REMSEN  BUTTON,  Sc.  D. 

Secretary  of  the  Society,  1883-1906 

President,  1906 

Honorary  Secretary  from  1907 


PUBLISHED  BY  THE  SOCIETY 

29  WEST  39th  STREET 

NEW  YORK  CITY 

1915 


TJ 

I 

^T?  H  y 


SEP?    1971 


"-Its 


•ny  Of  lo*: 


<»^-; 


This  History  of  The  American  Society  of  Mechanical 
Engineers  covering  one-third  of  a  century,  from  1880  to 
the  beginning  of  1915,  has  been  prepared  under  the  direc- 
tion of  the  Council.  It  has  been  carried  out  under  a  com- 
mittee composed  of  Prof.  John  E.  Sweet,  one  of  the 
founders  of  the  Society,  Charles  Wallace  Hunt,  Ambrose 
Swasey,  Frederick  Remsen  Hutton,  Past-Presidents  of  the 
Society,  and  Henry  Harrison  Suplee.  The  Committee  is 
greatly  indebted  to  Mr.  Suplee  for  pioneer  work  in 
gathering  material.  The  final  preparation  of  the  History 
was  committed  to  Professor  Hutton,  who  served  the 
Society  as  its  Secretary  from  1883  to  1906  and  as  Presi- 
dent in  1906-1907.  He  has  been  Honorary  Secretary  of 
the  Society  since  1907. 


CONTENTS 


PAOE 

Chapter  I 

Introduction  1 

Chapter  II 

The  Preliminary  Steps  Before  the  First  Meeting 9 

Chapter  III 

The  First  Meeting.     The  Organization 15 

Chapter  IV 

Some  Principles  of  Society  Philosophy 22 

Chapter  V 

Standing  Committees  of  the  Society 70 

Chapter  VI 

Presidents  of  the  Society.    Some  Significant  Administrations 77 

Chapter  VII 

The  Council  of  the  Society:     Vice-Presidents,   Managers,  Secre- 
taries and  Treasurers 134 

Chapter  VIII 

Some  Early  Members  of  the  Society — Honorary  Members 153 

Chapter  IX 

Some  Notable  Papers  Read  Before  the  Society 161 

Chapter  X 

Internal  or  Office  Activities  of  the  Society  for  the  Benefit  of 
Members   167 

Chapter  XI 

The  Headquarters  of  the  Society 173 

Chapter  XII 

The  Meetings  of  the  Society  and  What  Has  Made  Them  Memorable  195 

Chapter  XIII 

Early  Monthly  and  Local  Meetings 219 

V 


CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Chapter  XIV 

European  Trips,  Joint  Meetings  and  Engineering  Congresses 226 

Chapter  XV 

The  Library  of  the  Society 267 

Chapter  XVI 

Some  Professional  Standards  Eecommended  by  Committees  of  the 
Society    278 

Chapter  XVII 

Professional  Sections,  Local  Groups,  Student  Branches,  Affiliates. .   290 

Chapter  XVIII 

Historic  Gifts  to  the  Sdeiely 296 

Chapter  XIX 

Prizes  and  Medals 307 

Chapter  XX 

The  John  Fritz  Medal — United  Engineering  Society 309 

Appendix 

The  Mechanical  Engineer  and  the  Function  of  the  Engineering 

Society    312 


A  HISTORY  OF 

THE  AMERICAN  SOCIETY  OF 

MECHANICAL  ENGINEERS 


A  HISTORY  OF 

THE  AMERICAN  SOCIETY  OF 

MECHANICAL  ENGINEERS 

CHAPTER  I 
Introdtjctobt 

The  concept  of  an  American  Society  of  Mechanical 
Engineers  took  shape  in  the  winter  of  1879-1880. 

At  that  time  there  were  two  engineering  societies  in 
existence  in  the  United  States.  The  American  Society  of 
Civil  Engineers  had  been  founded  in  1852  and  on 
January  1,  1880,  its  total  membership  was  601.  The 
American  Institute  of  Mining  Engineers  had  been  or- 
ganized in  1871  and,  on  the  same  date,  it  numbered  1,031 
members.  The  transactions  of  both  these  societies  were 
broad  in  their  scope,  but  there  were  many  who  felt  that 
in  neither  organization  did  the  engineers  of  production 
and  of  the  factory  and  power  plant,  and  the  designers  and 
managers  of  the  producing  machine  shop  gather  in 
sufficient  numbers  to  induce  the  preparation  of  papers 
and  the  presentation  of  discussion  in  these  particular 
fields.  At  a  little  dinner  in  1879  one  of  the  contributors 
to  a  mechanical  journal  met  several  of  the  officers  of  its 
company.  A  series  of  articles  which  had  appeared  in 
the  publication  were  discussed  and  one  of  the  partici- 
pants said,  **I  would  give  a  ten  dollar  bill  to  meet  the 
author  of  these  papers  and  get  acquainted  with  him;  I 
like  his  style,  and  I  think  he  must  be  a  good  fellow." 
Another  said,  ''That  contributor  is  as  anxious  to  meet 
you  as  you  are  to  meet  him. ' '  It  was  then  recommended 
that  the  journal  cooperate  in  getting  up  a  subscription 

1 


2        THE  AMERICAN  SOCIETY  OF  MECHANICAL  ENGINEEES 

dinner  at  which  these  contributors  might  be  brought  to- 
gether for  mutual  acquaintance. 

The  idea  of  mutual  acquaintance  broadened  out  into 
the  larger  purpose  of  a  Society  through  which  engineers 
could  contribute  their  experience  for  record  and  their 
creative  work  in  design,  and  secure  a  discussion  of  their 
problems  and  achievements.  The  British  journals, 
known  as  the  Engineer  and  Engineering  of  London,  were 
then  established ;  the  Scientific  American  with  its  supple- 
ment, the  Journal  of  The  Franklin  Institute,  and  Van 
Nostrand's  Eclectic  Engineering  Magazine,  together 
with  certain  specialized  railroad  papers  and  textile 
journals,  were  in  the  field,  but  were  necessarily 
hampered  by  the  limitation  of  technical  journalism  as  to 
the  permissible  length  and  acceptable  content  in  engi- 
neering papers.  It  had  not  then  become  the  custom 
for  engineers  to  contribute  to  periodicals  of  the  weekly 
class.  Mr.  John  C.  Hoadley*s  work  in  testing  the  pump- 
ing engines  of  New  England  waterworks  was  published 
in  pamphlet  form  as  a  municipal  document.  The  records 
of  Mr.  E.  D.  Leavitt's  successes  and  economies  in  big 
engines  at  Lynn  and  Lawrence  were  not  easy  to  find. 
Builders '  catalogue  literature  had  scarcely  begun  or  was 
on  a  very  unimportant  plane.  Prof.  R.  H.  Thurston  had 
contributed  his  reports  of  tests  on  furnaces  burning  wet 
fuel  to  the  Society  of  Civil  Engineers  and  Mr.  Alex.  L. 
Holley  had  presented  papers  to  the  Mining  Engineers 
on  the  machinery  for  the  Bessemer  steel  industry.  There 
was  no  organization  of  a  distinctly  professional  sort  as 
yet  for  the  mechanical  engineer. 

The  volume  of  professional  literature  in  English  re- 
lating to  mechanical  engineering  in  its  modern  sense 
was  decidedly  limited  up  to  this  time.  The  libraries 
of  the  mechanical  engineers  doubtless  contained  the 
notable  Manuals  of  Prof.  R.  H.  Thurston,  covering  the 
design  of  the  steam  boiler  and  the  steam  engine. 
Joshua  Rose,  Egbert  P.  Watson  and  Coleman  Sellers 
had  made  contributions  with  respect  to  tools  and 
machine  shop  methods.    John  Richards  had  a  book  on 


A  HISTORY  OF  THE  SOCIETY  3 

Woodworking  Tools,  and  Professor  Willis*  Treatise  on 
Mechanism,  and  Goodeve's  Mechanism  covered  well  the 
ground  of  which  they  treated.  The  textbook  on  strains 
in  material  was  Bindon  B.  Stoney's  Treatise  on  Strains; 
Eankine's  books  and  Weisbach's  Mechanics  of  Engi- 
neering were  the  storage  warehouses  of  formulae  as  re- 
spects dynamic  problems.  Certain  French  and  German 
professors  had  written  on  machine  design  and  Professor 
Reuleaux's  Kinematics  had  appeared.  Zeuner  had 
written  his  Valve  Gears  and  his  Warmetheorie.  D.  K. 
Clark  had  published  his  Manual  of  Rules,  Tables  and 
Data ;  in  Germany  Redtenbacher  had  issued  his  Machine 
Design,  and  in  England  Professor  Unwin  had  produced 
his  work  on  the  same  subject.  John  Bourne  and  John 
Farey  of  England  had  written  historical  treatises,  but 
practice  had  far  outrun  them  and  was  making  little 
record  of  such  progress.  Trautwine  and  Haswell,  Nys- 
trom  and  Molesworth  were  known  for  their  Pocket- 
Books;  and  notable  work  of  research  had  been  done  by 
Benj.  F.  Isherwood  (Engineering  Precedents),  and 
Charles  H.  Loring  and  Charles  E.  Emery  had  made  their 
historic  investigations  for  the  navy  and  other  govern- 
mental departments.  There  was,  however,  no  central 
organization  to  bring  such  material  together  and  to  claim 
it  for  its  own.  Spon's  Encyclopedia  and  Knight's  and 
Appleton's  Dictionaries  were  in  most  libraries. 

The  Centennial  Exposition  in  1876  in  Philadelphia 
was  responsible  for  a  national  quickening  in  mechanical 
matters  and  for  a  growing  sense  of  latent  power.  The 
big  central  Corliss  engine  of  Machinery  Hall  was  a 
splendid  object  lesson  and  this  Exposition  was  signalized 
by  the  single  valve  automatic  engine  with  flywheel  gov- 
ernor designed  by  John  C.  Hoadley,  by  Professor  Sweet's 
design  of  the  Straight  Line  engine,  and  by  a  series  of 
boiler  tests  by  Charles  E.  Emery,  Charles  T.  Porter  and 
Joseph  Belknap.  These  all  marked  epochs  in  the  engi- 
neering history  of  the  United  States.  Moreover,  in  the 
fifteen  years  since  the  Civil  War  the  enormous  increase 
in  size  and  productivity  of  industrial  plants  had  just 


4         THE  AMERICAN  SOCIETY  OF  MECHANICAL  ENGINEEBS 

begun.  The  Land  Grant  colleges  had  their  graduates  of 
a  dozen  years  practising  their  profession  and  by  the 
natural  processes  of  promotion  the  products  of  the  older 
schools  of  engineering  had  attained  positions  of  trust  and 
influence. 

It  was  at  this  juncture  that  correspondence  was  be- 
gun between  Prof.  John  E.  Sweet  and  Mr.  Jackson 
Bailey,  then  editor  of  the  American  Machinist  of  New 
York,  looking  to  the  formation  of  a  national  society  to  be 
devoted  to  the  advancement  of  mechanical  engineering. 
The  Machinist  had  been  started  in  1877  and  at  its  office, 
96  Fulton  Street,  New  York,  Mr.  Bailey  arranged  to 
have  Professor  Sweet  prepare  a  list  of  persons  to  whom 
invitations  should  be  sent,  asking  them  to  come  to  a 
conference  at  the  Machinist's  office  to  discuss  this  ques- 
tion. Professor  Sweet  with  characteristic  modesty  re- 
quired much  persuasion  to  issue  such  a  call  on  his  own 
initiative.  In  fact  a  personal  visit  from  Mr.  Bailey  to 
him  at  Syracuse  was  necessary,  Mr.  Bailey  being  in- 
structed to  place  the  services  of  the  American  Machinist 
at  Professor  Sweet's  command  in  furtherance  of  the 
plan.  The  result  of  this  visit  was  that  steps  were  taken 
for  the  active  development  of  plans  for  such  a  meeting. 

Instead  of  acting  alone,  Professor  Sweet  communi- 
cated with  Mr.  Alexander  L.  HoUey  and  Prof.  R.  H. 
Thurston,  and  it  was  arranged  that  a  call  for  a  meeting 
be  issued  by  Professor  Sweet.  As  will  be  seen  by  the 
following  copy  of  the  call,  it  was  thought  best  not  to 
make  the  matter  too  public  until  the  extent  of  the  re- 
sponse should  be  ascertained.  The  letter,  one  of  the 
original  copies  of  which  has  fortunately  been  preserved, 
read  as  follows : 

11  Eldridge  Street,  Syracuse,  N.  Y. 

January  18,  1880. 
Dear  Sir, 

It  having  been  suggested  by  several  prominent 
engineers  that  a  national  sissociation  of  mechanical  en- 
gineers would  be  desirable,  and  a  meeting  for  the  purpose 
of  taking  steps  to  organize  such  a  society  being  in  order, 
your  presence  is  hereby  requested  at  the  office  of  the 
American  2lachini$t,  96   Fulton  Street,  New   York,   the 


A  HISTORY  OF  THE  SOCIETY 


sixteenth  day  of  February,  1880,  at  1  o'clock  sharp,  at 
which  time  the  necessary  steps  for  organizing  such  an 
association  will  be  made. 

Any  inquiries  in  regard  to  the  meeting  wiU  be  cheer- 
fully answered. 

Please  avoid  allowing  this  to  be  made  public. 

Very  truly  yours, 
{Signed)  John  E.  Sweet. 

These  letters,  sent  out  during  the  latter  part  of 
January  1880,  led  to  a  meeting  on  the  date  set,  February 
16, 1880,  in  the  editorial  rooms  of  the  American  Machinist 
on  the  third  floor  of  the  building  at  the  southeast  corner 
of  Fulton  and  William  Streets  in  the  City  of  New  York. 
The  effort  resulted  in  an  attendance  of  thirty,  with 
letters  from  eighteen  others.    The  list  is  appended: 


Baldwin,  Stephen  W. 
Barnard,  George  A. 
Church,  William  Lee 
CopELAND,  George  M. 
Copeland,  Charles  W. 
Coon,  J.  S. 
Couch,  A.  B. 
Emery,  Charles  E. 
Fish,  John 
Forney,  M.  N. 
Grimshaw,  Robert 
Hemenway,  F,  F. 

HiNES,  D.  S. 

Hoffman,  Wm.  H. 
holley,  a.  l. 

Letters  were  read  from : 
Cooper,  John  H. 
Hague,  Chas.  A. 
Hill,  J.  W. 
hoadley,  j.  c. 
Kent,  William 
Le  Van,  W.  Baenet 
Lyman,  E. 
Norman,  Geo.  H. 
Parks,  E.  H. 


Kraus,  H.  T.  C. 
Leavitt,  E.  D.,  Jr. 
Lyne,  Lewis  F. 
Newton,  C.  C. 
Odell,  W.  H. 
Pickering,  T.  R. 
Porter,  Chas.  T. 
Smith,  Frank  C. 
Sweet,  John  E. 
Trowbridge,  W.  P. 
Watson,  Egbert  P. 
Webber,  Samuel  S. 
Webber,  Samuel 
Wolff,  Alfred  R. 
Worthington,  Henry  R. 


Penney,  Edgar 
Pond,  Frank  H. 
Richards,  Chas.  B. 
Robbins,  a.  H. 
See,  J.  W. 
SwASEY,  Ambrose 
Warner,  Worcester  B. 
Williams,  W.  J. 
Woodward,  F.  G. 


It  may  be  interesting  to  glance  briefly  at  the  me- 
chanical engineering  standards  and  achievements  of  this 
period.  The  battle  of  the  three-high  roll  train  for  the 
steel  mill  against  the  two-high  reversing  mill  had  only 
recently  been  fought.    The  Holley  type  of  smelting  plant 


6        THE  AMERICAN  SOCIETY  OF  MECHANICAL  ENGINEERS 

for  the  Bessemer  practice  was  contesting  with  the  John 
Fritz  design  for  supremacy.  All  Bessemer  steel  was 
acid.  The  Lucy  furnaces  of  Pittsburg  were  in  the  height 
of  their  importance  as  rapid  producers  of  pig-iron.  The 
Bush  Hill  Iron  Works  of  Philadelphia  and  the  name  of 
Robert  Moore  were  identified  with  steel  and  iron  works 
machinery.  Waterworks  pumping  was  still  done  with 
Gornish  pumps  or  by  big  beam-engines,  and  Mr.  Worth- 
ington's  arguments  to  secure  consideration  for  his  tj^e 
of  horizontal  duplex  non-flywheel  pumps  for  this  service 
had  the  old  conservatism  to  overcome.  Worthington 
pumps  of  large  capacity  were  still  something  of  a 
novelty.  The  New  York  Steam  Company  was  beginning 
to  introduce  the  HoUy-Lockport  system  of  distribution 
of  high-pressure  steam  through  pipes  buried  in  the 
street  with  definite  anchorages  against  expansion;  and 
Mr.  Charles  E.  Emery  had  just  completed  his  re- 
searches as  to  the  best  non-conducting  material.  William 
Sellers  and  Company  of  Philadelphia  were  urging  the 
flat  top  for  the  shears  of  lathe  beds,  as  against  the  in- 
verted V-type  of  the  New  Englander,  and  had  introduced 
the  worm-gear  drive  for  planers. 

Geo.  H.  Corliss  had  a  practical  monopoly  of  large 
New  England  mill-engines,  although  the  Brown  engine 
of  Fitchburg,  Woodruff  and  Beach,  and  the  Putnam 
Machine  Company  were  pressing  him  hard,  and  the 
rivalries  of  the  Harris-Corliss  and  Hewes  and  Phillips 
types  were  in  the  field.  The  Ohio  types  of  Corliss  were 
little  known  outside  their  own  territory.  Edison  was 
installing  isolated  plants  for  electric  lighting  with 
Armington  and  Sims  or  Sweet  Straight  Line  engines. 
A  downtown  central  station  for  the  sale  of  lighting 
current  was  about  to  be  built  in  New  York.  Mr.  Edward 
Weston's  regulator  for  variable  demand  of  current  was 
the  successful  solution  for  small  plants,  and  a  big  battery 
of  lamps  was  installed  to  take  excess  current  in  larger 
installations.  Charles  T.  Porter  was  having  his  high- 
speed engines  built  under  contract  on  orders ;  the  Con- 
tinental Iron  Works  had  a  shipyard,  although  they  were 


A  HISTORY  OF  THE  SOCIETY  7 

swinging  over  to  gas  works  machinery ;  John  Roach  and 
Sons  were  operating  the  Morgan  Iron  Works  and  build- 
ing marine  engines  in  New  York  and  ship  hulls  at 
Chester,  Pa.  Air  compressors  of  small  capacity  were 
built  by  both  Rand  and  IngersoU  for  their  rock  drill 
business,  but  for  little  other  use.  Mackintosh-Hemphill 
and  Company  of  Pittsburgh,  and  the  Cuyahoga  Works  of 
Cleveland  had  a  large  part  of  the  blast-furnace  ma- 
chinery work  of  the  Middle  West  of  that  day.  Fraser 
and  Chalmers  of  Chicago  had  the  lion's  share  of  the 
machinery  for  the  mining,  smelting  and  ore-dressing 
business  of  the  West  and  South  America. 

The  great  development  of  the  big  engine  for  deep 
mining  by  the  Calumet  and  Hecla  Company  was  on  Mr. 
Leavitt's  drawing  boards  at  Cambridgeport,  and  I.  P. 
Morris  and  Company  were  the  important  builders  of  big 
machinery  in  their  territory.  The  Delamater  Iron 
Works  of  New  York  were  just  about  to  pass  from  the 
manufacture  on  special  orders  and  designs  for  John 
Ericsson  and  others,  to  the  production  of  standard  ma- 
chinery of  uniform  or  repeated  duplicate  type.  Duplica- 
tion of  standard  forms  by  milling  machine  and  turret 
lathe  was  an  established  art  in  New  England  for  gun 
parts  and  sewing  machines;  the  yearly  output  of  type- 
writers was  not  large  and  was  made  by  two  or  three 
concerns  only.  Engines  of  large  cylinder  volume  were 
to  be  found  in  slow-moving  blowing  engines  of  the  in- 
verted vertical  or  horizontal  type  for  blast  furnaces; 
in  the  beam  engines  for  paddle-wheel  driven  vessels  and 
for  waterworks  pumping  engines.  Locomotive  boilers 
had  the  narrow  fire-box  which  followed  the  necessity  of 
keeping  it  between  the  frames,  except  where  the  Wootten 
type  for  fine  anthracite  slack  had  made  its  way.  The 
compound  inverted  vertical  type  of  engine  was  the  stand- 
ard for  transatlantic  deep-water  screw-propelled  ships. 
All  locomotives  were  simple  single-expansion  engines, 
with  Stephenson  link  motion  for  the  valves.  All  power 
plants  were  isolated  units.    The  gas-engine  was  in  small 


8        THE  AMERICAN  SOCIETY  OF  MECHANICAL  ENGINEEES 

sizes  only,  single-cylinders  with  sliding  valves  and  few  in 
use.    There  were  no  motor  vehicles  of  any  type. 

Mr.  Samuel  Webber,  named  in  the  foregoing  list,  was 
almost  the  only  exponent  of  turbine  waterwheel  prac- 
tice, although  there  were  many  builders  of  small  wheels 
in  an  empirical  way,  in  New  England  and  Ohio.  Of  the 
others  who  were  present  at  this  preliminary  conference, 
Messrs.  Grimshaw,  Hemenway  and  Odell  were  experts 
specializing  in  the  application  of  the  indicator  to  the  slow 
or  moderate  speed  engines  of  that  day.  Mr.  Forney  was 
easily  the  best  informed  person  on  the  locomotive  engine. 
Mr.  Thos.  R.  Pickering  in  Connecticut  was  making  and 
marketing  his  design  of  steam  engine  governor  with  flat 
spring  arms.  Mr.  George  H.  Norman  was  a  success- 
ful and  wealthy  builder  of  private  waterworks  for  towns 
and  villages.  Professor  Trowbridge  had  recently  be- 
came professor  of  mechanical  engineering  at  Columbia 
University,  having  previously  been  vice-president  of  the 
Novelty  Iron  Works  of  New  York,  of  which  the  veteran 
Horatio  Allen  had  been  president.  Horatio  Allen  ran 
the  first  locomotive  imported  from  England  which  drew 
a  train  of  cars  on  this  side  of  the  Atlantic.  Messrs. 
Couch  and  Newton  represented  machine-tool  building; 
Messrs.  Leavitt,  Copeland,  Porter,  Sweet,  Worthington 
and  Coon  were  in  the  class  of  designers  of  engines.  Mr. 
HoUey  was  the  exponent  of  the  mechanical  engineering 
of  steel  production.  Messrs.  Lyne  and  Watson,  together 
with  the  American  Machinist  staff,  represented  the 
modest  technical  journalism  of  that  day.  It  was  a  rep- 
resentative gathering  in  many  ways,  but  could  not  have 
realized  its  own  significance. 


CHAPTER  II 
The  Preliminary  Steps  Before  the  First  Meeting 

The  conference  summoned  by  Professor  Sweet  at  the 
American  Machinist  office  at  96  Fulton  Street,  New  York, 
on  February  16,  1880,  was  called  to  order  by  him,  and 
Mr.  Alexander  L.  Holley  was  nominated  for  chairman. 

Mr.  Holley  was  a  man  of  most  pleasing  personality, 
a  universal  favorite  by  reason  of  his  character,  his  gifts 
and  his  unselfishness.  He  was,  moreover,  a  most  talented 
and  persuasive  speaker.  Mr.  Samuel  S.  Webber,  a 
young  son  of  the  veteran  Samuel  Webber  of  Charles- 
town,  New  Hampshire,  was  chosen  as  Secretary. 

Mr.  Holley  made  an  opening  address  on  the  Field  of 
Mechanical  Engineering,  covering  his  conception  of  it 
and  the  type  of  man  from  which  such  a  society,  if  organ- 
ized, might  draw  its  membership.  The  engineer  of  fixed 
works,  usually  called  the  civil  engineer,  he  said,  has  his 
structures  built  for  him  by  mechanical  means.  The 
military  engineer  has  his  fort  or  gun-carriage  made  by 
machines.  In  bridge-building  the  shop  is  the  economic 
factor ;  in  mining  the  work  of  mining  ore  is  done  by  the 
machine  drill,  the  steam  hoist,  the  power  transportation 
system.  In  metallurgy  and  the  rolling-mill,  in  the 
foundry  and  the  forge,  there  are  thousands  of  special  ma- 
chines and  tools  at  once  presented  to  the  mind.  In  rail- 
ways and  in  transportation  by  water  the  structures  and 
the  working  are  all  in  the  field  of  mechanics  and 
dynamics,  and  the  railway  master  mechanics  are  one  of 
the  largest  defined  classes  of  mechanical  engineers. 

In  agriculture,  architecture,  and  in  the  industries  in 
general,  the  textile  mill,  the  paper  mill  and  the  factory 
of  all  kinds,  the  motive  power  and  most  of  the  equipment 
are  the  creative  and  the  operative  burden  of  the  me- 


10      THE  AMERICAN  SOCIETY  OP  MECHANICAL  ENGINEERS 

chanical  engineer.  Hence,  the  Society  proposed  should 
find  no  lack  of  membership  material/ 

Mr.  HoUey  also  reviewed  the  advantages  and  char- 
acter of  such  an  organization  as  proposed,  dividing  them 
as  follows : 

(a)  The  collection  and  diffusion  of  knowledge 

(&)  The  advantages  from  personal  acquaintance 
among  the  members 

(c)  The  educational  value  of  the  habit  of  writing 
papers  and  of  debate  upon  them 

{d)  The  significance  of  the  endorsement  of  a  high 
quality  of  elected  membership. 

Finally  he  referred  to  the  tendency  of  mechanical 
engineering  in  America  to  combine  the  professional 
scientifically  trained  mind  with  the  qualities  of  leader- 
ship in  the  processes  of  production,  so  that  the  engineer 
is  often  also  a  business  man.  Hence,  the  necessity  was 
plainly  present  to  his  mind,  that  membership  should  be 
sought  for  two  classes:  for  the  professional  man  en- 
gaged in  an  office  practice,  either  by  himself  or  in  the 
employ  of  an  industrial  corporation;  and  for  the  exec- 
utive type  of  man  whose  compensation  was  for  his 
talents  and  success  on  the  business  side  of  industry.  The 
Junior  membership  for  the  young  man  in  the  shop  and 
for  the  young  graduate  of  engineering  schools  was 
obviously  necessary.  He  urged  the  policy  of  a  member- 
ship vote  on  candidates,  the  significance  of  representa- 
tive engineers  for  office  in  the  new  organization,  and  the 
advisability  of  frequent  meetings.  The  value  of  the  first 
papers  as  setting  a  standard  of  excellence  for  the  future 
and  securing  interest  for  the  Society  and  its  work  was 
his  closing  word. 

There  were  no  published  minutes  of  this  preliminary 


*It  may  be  interesting  to  compare  the  viewpoint  of  this  address  with 
the  address  of  the  President  of  the  Society  on  laying  down  his  of&ce  in 
1907,  in  which  the  development  of  the  mechanical  engineer  during  a  period 
of  twenty -five  years  is  discussed  in  detail:  The  Mechanical  Engineer  and 
the  Function  of  the  Engineering  Society,  Trans.  Am.  Soc.  M.  E.,  vol.  29, 
p.  627,  reproduced  as  an  Appendix  to  this  History. 


No.  96  Fulton  Street,  New  York.    Place  of  Preliminary  Meeting 


A  HISTOBY  OF  THE  SOCIETY  11 

meeting,  but  from  manuscripts  and  other  sources  there  is 
a  record  of  a  discussion  as  to  the  name  to  be  given  to  the 
new  body.  Professor  Trowbridge,  familiar  with  the 
practice  at  that  time  in  Yale  University,  urged  the  term 
''dynamical"  in  lieu  of  "mechanical"  as  the  qualifying 
adjective  for  the  proposed  type  of  engineer,  on  the 
ground  that  the  higher  field  of  such  persons  was  the 
generation  and  control  of  power.  The  inevitable  con- 
fusion with  the  name  dynamo  as  a  machine  for  converting 
mechanical  energy  into  electrical  was  argued  against  this 
suggestion,  and  finally,  at  the  suggestion  of  Mr.  Chas.  W. 
Copeland,  the  meeting  accepted  the  name,  American  So- 
ciety of  Mechanical  Engineers,  following  the  example  set 
by  the  American  Society  of  Civil  Engineers,  already  well 
and  favorably  known. 

This  meeting  thus  practically  decided  that  there  was 
to  he  such  a  society;  it  only  remained  to  formulate  the 
details. 

The  first  step  was  to  appoint  a  committee  to  draw 
up  the  basis  of  organization  and  formulate  its  rules ;  this 
was  done  by  making  Messrs.  Henry  R.  Worthington, 
Eckley  B.  Coxe,  Jackson  Bailey,  Genl.  Quincy  A.  Gill- 
more,  Prof.  W.  P.  Trowbridge,  M.  N.  Forney  and  A.  L. 
Holley  such  a  committee.  A  committee  to  nominate 
officers  under  such  organization  was  appointed  also,  con- 
sisting of  Messrs.  A.  L.  Holley,  John  L.  Sweet,  E.  D. 
Leavitt,  C.  T.  Porter  and  H.  R.  "Worthington.  An  ad- 
journment was  then  taken  to  April  7  to  hear  the  reports 
of  these  committees,  to  act  thereon  and  to  effect  a  perma- 
nent organization  thereunder. 

It  may  be  helpful  to  stop  a  moment  to  consider  who 
these  men  were  who  had  in  their  hands  the  creation  of  the 
first  standards  and  policies  of  the  new  society,  and  the 
selection  of  the  first  officers,  who  were  to  guide  its  initial 
procedure. 

Mr.  Alexander  L.  Holley  had  brought  over  the  Bes- 
semer process  from  England  and  was  the  first  consulting 
engineer  for  the  Bessemer  association  which  had  been 
formed  to  administer  and  control  the  patents  and  ma- 


12      THE  AMERICAN  SOCIETY  OF  MECHANICAL  ENGINEERS 

chinery.  He  had  broken  away  from  the  slower  British 
standards  of  machinery  and  had  created  a  distinctly 
American  plant,  utilizing  gravity  largely  in  handling  the 
fluid  metal  and  hydraulic  power  in  cranes  and  con- 
vertors.  Beside  his  engineering  ability  he  was  a  man  of 
rare  personal  qualities.  He  had  been  active  in  the  In- 
stitute of  Mining  Engineers  and  was  a  member  of  the 
Civil  Engineers.  He  was  then  in  the  prime  of  his  life  and 
full  of  intense  professional  activity. 

Mr.  Henry  R.  Worthington  was  the  founder  of  the 
duplex  pump  industry,  and  the  originator  of  the  type  of 
pump  using  no  flywheel  to  carry  the  piston  past  its  dead 
point  at  the  end  of  the  stroke.  He  had  succeeded  in 
convincing  municipalities  and  villages  that  his  system 
was  reliable  and  of  low  operating  cost  when  its  initial 
cost  was  considered.  His  hair  and  beard  had  grown 
white. 

Mr.  Eckley  B.  Coxe  was  a  mining  engineer,  owner  and 
operator.  He  had  translated  Weisbach's  Mechanics  of 
Engineering  into  English  and  was  a  leader  in  the  In- 
stitute of  Mining  Engineers.  A  splendid  figure  of  a 
man,  philanthropic  among  his  work  people,  his  State  had 
sent  him  to  its  legislature  and  he  was  a  power  in  his 
bailiwick.  The  new  Society  made  him  its  president  in  the 
year  when  the  country  was  celebrating  the  four- 
hundredth  year  of  its  discovery  and  many  foreigners 
were  to  be  expected.  Educated  in  Germany  and  in 
France,  he  was  well  and  favorably  known  on  both  sides 
of  the  Atlantic. 

Genl.  Quincy  A.  Gillmore  was  an  authority  and  writer 
on  cements,  paving  stone,  masonry  and  similar  details 
of  fixed  structures,  a  trained  army  officer  and  a  civilian 
practitioner. 

Mr.  M.  N.  Forney  was  trained  under  Ross  Winans 
and  Benj.  H.  Latrobe  on  the  Baltimore  and  Ohio  Rail- 
road. He  had  been  a  leading  figure  in  journalism  as 
editor  of  the  Railroad  Gazette  and  had  compiled  his  well- 
known  Catechism  of  the  Locomotive.  He  was  a  leading 
spirit  in  the  Railway  Master  Mechanics  Association  and 


A  HISTOBY  OP  THE  SOCIETY  13 

the  Master  Car  Builders  Association;  had  served  on 
many  of  their  important  committees  to  formulate  stand- 
ards of  practice,  and  was  an  expert  on  the  conduct  of 
technical  conventions. 

General  Trowbridge  was  a  West  Pointer,  a  specialist 
in  fortifications  of  cities,  professor  at  the  Sheffield  School 
of  Yale  University  and  later  at  Columbia  University, 
where  he  was  laboring  at  the  time  of  his  death.  He  was 
a  man  of  the  soundest  judgment  and  broad  experience. 

Mr.  E.  D.  Leavitt  was  best  known  for  his  notable 
successes  in  the  design  of  high-duty  compound  pumping 
engines  for  city  waterworks  service ;  he  was  then  on  the 
point  of  completing  The  Superior,  the  great  engine  for 
the  Calumet  and  Hecla  Copper  Mining  Company.  He 
stood  for  high  economy  in  slow  stroke  engines  and  with 
an  elaborated  valve-gear,  just  as  Mr.  Charles  T.  Porter 
stood  for  economy  in  the  type  operating  at  high  rotative 
speeds  with  simple  valve  gear. 

Mr.  Jackson  Bailey  represented  the  practical  type  of 
engineering  as  it  had  developed  in  the  machine  shop  and 
the  factory.  He  stood  also  for  the  advantages  which  the 
new  movement  was  to  offer  to  technical  journalism  and 
for  the  effective  cooperation  in  the  new  Society  of  the 
American  Machinist. 

Prof.  John  E.  Sweet  had  been  for  several  years  the 
beloved  head  of  the  shop  department  of  Cornell  Uni- 
versity. He  had  recently  resigned  to  enter  on  the  manu- 
facture of  his  design  of  the  Straight  Line  engine,  em- 
bodying certain  new  solutions  of  the  problems  of  stress  in 
the  bed-plate,  of  governing,  and  of  long  life  of  details  of 
construction  and  adjustment. 

These  men  were  the  founders  of  the  Society.  Two 
of  them,  Holley  and  Worthington,  were  made  Honorary 
Members  in  Perpetuity  by  vote  of  the  Council  after  the 
death  of  Mr.  Holley  in  1882  (Mr.  Worthington  died  in 
1880).  Professor  Sweet  (long  may  he  survive)  is  un- 
doubtedly entitled  to  a  similar  honor. 

On  the  evening  of  this  day  of  the  preliminary  con- 
ference, the   gentlemen  who   had  thus   far  taken  the 


14      THE  AMEEICAN  SOCIETY  OF  MECHANICAL  ENGINEEES 

initiative  gathered  for  a  dinner  at  the  Astor  House  at 
Broadway  and  Barclay  Street  in  New  York  to  talk  their 
achievement  over  and  plan  for  the  next  steps  to  be  taken. 
A  menu  of  this  dinner  is  preserved  in  the  archives  of  the 
Society. 


CHAPTER  in 
The  First  Meeting.    The  Obganization 

The  preliminary  conference  of  February  16,  1880, 
decided  that  there  was  to  be  an  American  Society  of 
Mechanical  Engineers.  It  appointed  committees  to  draft 
by-laws  to  organize  the  new  body,  and  to  present 
a  board  of  officers  for  its  first  year,  such  committees  to 
report  at  a  meeting  for  organization  on  April  7. 

Mr.  HoUey  in  cooperation  with  Professor  Thurston 
conferred  with  President  Henry  Morton  of  the  Stevens 
Institute  of  Technology  in  Hoboken,  N.  J.,  with  the  result 
that  Dr.  Morton  invited  the  holding  of  the  meeting  in  the 
large  assembly  hall  of  the  Institute,  thus  adding  another 
helpful  factor  to  the  success  of  the  movement.  A  photo- 
graph of  this  hall  as  it  then  appeared  and  before  the 
later  extensive  alterations  were  even  projected  will  be 
studied  with  interest. 

Mr.  Holley's  call  as  chairman  of  the  preliminary  con- 
ference for  the  organization  meeting  was  issued  on 
March  15.  It  went  not  only  to  those  represented  at  the 
February  meeting,  but  to  a  number  of  others  among  the 
acquaintance  of  the  committees  who  were  likely  to  be  in- 
terested. 

The  meeting  was  called  for  eleven  o'clock  on  April  7. 
Mr.  Holley  was  detained  by  illness,  but  Mr.  Henry  R. 
Worthington  took  the  chair,  and  Mr.  James  C.  Bayles, 
editor  of  the  Iron  Age,  was  chosen  to  act  as  secretary. 

Eighty  persons  responded  to  the  call  for  this  meeting, 
among  them  the  following : 

Bacon,  P.  W.  Bayles,  J.  C. 

Bailey,  Jackson  Bogakt,  John 

Baldwin,  S.  W.  Briqgs,  Robt. 

Barnard,  George  A.  Brown,  C.  H. 

Barrows,  Wm.  E.  Buchanan,  Chas.  G. 

15 


16       THE  AMERICAN  SOCIETY  OP  MECHANICAL  ENGINEEES 


Burden,  Jas.  A. 
Church,  Wm.  Lee 
Cloud,  J.  W. 
Collins,  C.  C. 
CoPELAND,  Geo.  M. 
Cotter,  John 
Couch,  A.  B. 
Davis,  David  P. 

DURFEE,  W.  F. 

Emery,  A.  H. 
Ewer,  B.  G. 
Faur,  a.  Fabee  du 
Firmstone,  F. 
Fish,  John 
Forney,  M.  N. 
Galloupe,  F.  E. 
Gill,  John  L.,  Jr. 
Grimshaw,  Robt, 
Hayward,  H.  S. 
Hawkins,  G.  C. 
Hemenwat,  F.  F. 
Hewitt,  Wm. 
Hill,  H.  A. 
Hoffman,  W.  H. 
Hunt,  R.  W. 

ISBELL,   ChAS.  W. 

Jones,  Washington 
Keppy,  Frederick 
Leavitt,  E.  D.,  Jr. 
LeVan,  W.  B. 
Leverich,  G. 
Logan,  W.  G. 
Lyne,  Lewis  F. 
Mallory,  G.  B. 
Melvin,  David  N. 
Miller,  Horace  B. 
Moore,  Chas.  A. 


Moore,  L.  B. 
Morton,  Henry 
Nason,  Carleton  W. 
Newton,  C.  C. 
Parson,  H.  E. 
Pickering,  Thos.  B. 
Porter,  Chas.  T. 

POWEL,  S.  W. 

Richards,  Chas.  B. 
Richards,  F.  H. 
Robinson,  S.  W. 
Rose,  Joshua 
Scott,  John 
Scranton,  W.  H. 
See,  Horace 

SOULE,  R.  H. 

Sperry,  Chas. 
Stearns,  Albert 
Strong,  Geo.  S. 
Sweet,  John  E. 
sweetland,  w.  l. 
Tabor,  Harris 
Terry,  Charles  P. 
Thomas,  Ed.  W. 
Thompson,  Chas.  T. 
Vanderbilt,  a. 
Wallis,  John  M. 
Ward,  John  F. 
Ward,  W.  E. 
Webber,  Samuel  S. 
Weightman,  W.  H. 
Wells,  Eben  F. 
Wheeler,  F.  M. 
Wheelock,  Jerome 
White,  Jos.  J. 
Wiley,  W.  H. 
Wood,  DeVolson 
Worthington,  H.  R. 


This  list  brings  names  from  outside  the  narrower 
limits  of  the  first  reunion.  Professor  Robinson  was  at 
the  Ohio  State  University  at  Columbus ;  C.  H.  Brown  was 
the  designer  of  the  Brown  Engine  at  Fitchburg;  Frank 
Firmstone  represented  blast-furnace  engineering  around 
Easton,  Pa. ;  James  A.  Burden  was  of  the  Burden  Iron 
Works  of  Troy ;  J.  W.  Cloud  stood  for  the  motive  power 
practice  of  the  Pennsylvania  Railroad ;  R.  H.  Soule  was 
superintendent  of  motive  power  for  the  West  Shore 
Railroad;  Albert  Stearns  stood  for  chemical  manufac- 


Assembly  Hall,  Stevens  Institute  of  Technology,  Hoboeen,  in  1880. 
president  morton  on  the  platform 


A  HISTORY  OF  THE  SOCIETY  17 

turing;  Washington  Jones,  a  veteran,  and  Chas.  T. 
Thompson,  much  his  junior,  represented  I.  P.  Morris  of 
Philadelphia ;  W.  F.  Durf ee  had  been  identified  with  iron 
metallurgy  and  the  early  struggle  of  the  Kelly  steel  pro- 
cess, and  was  then  engineer  for  the  Wheeler  and  Wilson 
sewing  machine  in  Bridgeport ;  R.  W.  Hunt  was  engineer 
for  the  Troy  Bessemer  plant;  S.  W.  Baldwin  was  agent 
for  the  Pennsylvania  Steel  Company ;  Wm.  H.  Wiley  was 
an  ex-railroad  man  with  a  war  record  as  officer  of 
artillery,  in  which  he  had  risen  to  the  rank  of  major, 
and  was  later  to  serve  the  Society  as  Treasurer  for  many 
terms;  Mr.  Ward  was  making  bolts  and  nuts  at  Port 
Chester  and  was  the  first  man  to  build  and  live  in  a 
cement  concrete  residence;  Jerome  Wheelock  was  build- 
ing engines  in  Worcester ;  Horace  See  was  winning  fame 
as  a  shipbuilder  in  Philadelphia ;  Robert  Briggs  of  Phila- 
delphia had  established  a  standard  pipe  thread  and 
system  of  pipe  fittings ;  Geo.  S.  Strong  was  planning  his 
corrugated  locomotive  firebox  and  his  complicated  but 
economical  valve  gear ;  David  P.  Davis  was  shortly  to  be 
in  charge  of  the  engineering  of  the  telephone  and  its  ex- 
changes; Harris  Tabor  was  soon  to  bring  out  his  im- 
provement in  the  steam  engine  indicator,  the  second  not- 
able advance  in  it  since  Chas.  B.  Richards  had  changed  its 
form  from  the  early  design,  in  order  to  meet  Mr.  Chas.  T. 
Porter's  need  for  an  instrument  to  test  the  distribution 
of  steam  at  high  rotative  speed,  and  following  the  work 
of  Mr.  Joseph  W.  Thompson  of  the  Buckeye  Engine  Com- 
pany. There  were  others  also  who  had  won  distinction, 
each  in  his  own  field.  Mr.  Charles  A.  Moore  represented 
the  business  end  of  the  profession,  at  the  head  of  a  suc- 
cessful supply  house,  distributing  manufactured  engi- 
neering products  and  contracting  for  engineering  instal- 
lations. 

In  his  opening  address,  Mr.  Worthington  reported 
two  decisions  reached  in  the  conferences  which  had  pre- 
ceded the  meeting.  The  first  was  that  a  policy  of  broad 
interpretation  of  the  troublesome  problem  of  eligibility 
to  membership  had  been  settled  by  ruling  against  a 


18      THE  AMERICAN  SOCIETY  OP  MECHANICAL  ENGINEERS 

specific  wording  of  qualifications,  leaving  the  Council 
free  when  acting  as  a  membership  committee  to  settle 
each  case  by  itself.  The  Society  did  not  create  a  Mem- 
bership Committee  for  many  years  (1904),  but  the 
Council  had  one  for  its  own  convenience  long  before  the 
Constitution  recognized  it  and  fixed  its  method  of  pro- 
cedure. The  policy  of  broad  interpretation  of  the 
eligibility  requirement  has  been  one  of  the  corner-stones 
of  the  success  of  the  Society.  Nothing  could  have  been 
more  fatal  than  the  forcing  of  a  Procrustean  uniformity 
of  training  and  experience. 

The  other  policy  was  that  of  recognizing  that  the  gov- 
erning Council  of  the  Society  should  be  the  persons  who 
would  know  best  whether  the  Secretary  of  the  Society 
when  he  was  found,  was  a  person  whose  methods  were 
building  up  the  Society  or  blocking  its  progress.  If  he 
was  elected  by  the  Society  at  large,  it  would  be  difficult 
to  make  changes  which  the  best  interests  of  the  Society 
might  require,  without  a  publicity  for  the  reasons  for 
such  change  from  which  both  parties  would  shrink.  On 
the  other  side,  gusts  of  prejudice  or  favoritism  among 
the  voting  membership  should  not  be  capable  of  unseat- 
ing a  Secretary  simply  by  the  processes  known  to  skilful 
and  assiduous  electioneering.  It  was  best  therefore  to 
take  the  office  of  the  Secretary  out  of  Society  politics, 
and  make  him  the  appointee  of  the  elected  officers  who 
form  the  Council.  The  Council  also,  having  definite  ad- 
ministrative responsibility  as  well  as  legal  obligations, 
would  be  cautious  and  painstaking  in  choosing  their 
executive  to  a  degree  which  the  irresponsible  voter  at 
large  could  neither  recognize  nor  live  up  to.  Subsequent 
experience  has  fully  justified  the  wisdom  of  this  decision, 
and  the  plan  then  inaugurated  has  been  the  example  of 
all  later  organizations. 

The  Committee  on  By-Laws  then  presented  its  report 
through  Mr.  M.  N.  Forney.  There  seems  little  doubt 
that  these  rules  were  drafted  by  Mr.  HoUey,  and  sent  for 
criticism  to  his  colleagues,  and  found  acceptable  by  them. 
The  ideas  embodied  the  successful  features  of  method  in 


A  HISTORY  OF  THE  SOCIETY  19 

use  by  the  then  existing  engineering  societies,  with  the 
additions  and  changes  to  meet  the  special  group  of  con- 
ditions. It  may  be  said  in  the  light  of  later  knowledge 
and  experience  that  they  did  not  differentiate  between 
the  organic  law  of  such  an  organization,  and  the  detail 
of  procedure  under  it.  The  headings  were:  (a)  objects, 
(b)  membership,  (c)  procedure  of  election,  (d)  fees  and 
dues,  (e)  officers  of  the  Society,  (/)  procedure  of  elec- 
tion of  officers,  (g)  meetings,  (h)  papers,  (i)  amend- 
ments. There  was  a  wise  simplicity  about  them,  and 
some  features  deserving  special  comment  will  be  re- 
viewed in  a  later  chapter. 

At  once  an  interesting  question  arose  in  this  gather- 
ing of  eighty  men.  Who  were  qualified  to  vote  on  the 
adoption  of  the  proposed  report  and  its  rules  for  con- 
duct of  the  Society,  and  who  could  vote  and  elect  the 
officers  to  be  reported  as  recommended  by  the  other  com- 
mittee soon  to  be  heard  from!  The  question  was  dis- 
cussed back  and  forth,  until  Mr.  W.  F.  Durfee  arose.  He 
was  a  distinguished  student  of  antiquarian  Americana, 
and  stated  that  the  method  followed  by  pioneer  pilgrims 
could  be  presented  in  the  following  syllogism: 

Major  Premise :  The  highest  authority  states :  '  *  The  earth  is 
the  Lord 's  and  is  the  inheritance  of  the  Saints. ' ' 

Minor  Premise:    We  are  the  Saints! 

Conclusion:  There  could  be  no  question  to  whom  the  earth 

belonged. 

Amid  much  laughter  the  meeting  decided  by  a  rising 
vote  that  all  who  were  then  present  and  those  who  had 
attended  or  sent  letters  to  the  preliminary  meeting  and 
who  subsequently  qualified  by  paying  the  required  initia- 
tion fee  of  $15,  were  proposed  by  the  Committee  on 
Organization  as  charter  members  and  were  entitled  to 
vote.  The  Rules  were  thereupon  adopted,  and  made  the 
organic  law  of  the  new  Society.  This  adopted  the  name 
of  the  Society,  also  as  incorporated  into  the  first  article. 

The  Committee  to  nominate  officers  for  the  first  year 
under  the  adopted  Rules  had  sought  a  name  for  presi- 
dent which  should  stand  for  achievement  in  mechanical 


20       THE  AMERICAN  SOCIETY  OF  MECHANICAL  ENGINEERS 

engineering  which  was  conspicuously  American  and 
which  should  be  so  recognized  abroad.  The  one 
preeminent  person  in  this  group  was  Mr.  Geo.  H.  Corliss 
of  Providence,  R.  I.  He  had  introduced  a  trip-valve  gear 
in  1849,  and  had  many  successful  mill  installations  as 
well  as  notable  steam  economy  to  his  credit.  His  valve 
gear  had  been  copied  and  modified  and  re-designed  in  all 
industrial  Europe,  and  an  important  engine  builder  of 
Belgium  had  received  an  exposition  medal  "for  his  suc- 
cessful adaptation  of  the  inventions  of  one  Corliss,  an 
American."  But  the  juncture  was  an  unfortunate  one. 
Mr.  Corliss  had  just  had  an  unpleasant  experience  in 
relation  to  an  acceptance  of  an  engine  and  was  vexed 
with  the  representatives  of  his  profession.  He  did  not 
cooperate  easily  with  colleagues  by  temperament;  and 
his  letter  of  refusal  of  the  honor  would  have  been  called 
"sassy"  by  the  irreverent.  Messrs.  Holley  and  Sweet 
with  characteristic  modesty  refused  peremptorily  to 
undertake  the  duty  of  representing  the  new  movement 
publicly  and  of  making  such  addresses  as  the  new  presi- 
dent must  be  ready  to  make.  Hence,  the  choice  fell  upon 
Prof.  Robert  H.  Thurston,  a  naval  engineer  during  the 
Civil  War,  with  an  engine-builders'  training  ashore,  the 
author  of  textbooks  of  acceptance  and  repute  both  at 
home  and  abroad,  and  then  the  head  of  the  engineering 
department  of  Stevens  Institute  of  Technology.  Always 
ready  in  speech,  felicitous  in  expression  and  much  be- 
loved for  his  genial  personality  and  tact,  he  made  an  ideal 
choice  for  the  difficult  first  year.  The  full  ticket  pre- 
sented by  the  Committee  was  as  follows : 

PRESIDENT 

Robert  H.  Thurston 

Stevens  Institute  of  Technology,  Hoboken,  N.  J. 

VICE-PRESIDENTS 

Henry  R.  Worthington New  York 

Coleman  Sellers Philadelphia,  Pa. 

BcKLEY  B,  CoxE Drif ton,  Pa. 

QuiNCY  A.  GtLLMORE U.  S.  Army 

Wm.  H.  Shock U.  S.  Navy 

Alexander  L.  Holley New  York 


A  HISTORY  OF  THE  SOCIETY  21 

MANAGERS 

Wm.  p.  Trowbridge New  York 

Theo.  N.  Ely Altoona,  Pa. 

John  C.  Hoadley Lawrence,  Mass. 

Washington  Jones Philadelphia,  Pa. 

Wm.  B.  Cogswell Syracuse,  N.  Y. 

Francis  A.  Pratt Hartford,  Conn. 

Charles  B.  Richards Hartford,  Conn. 

S.  B.  Whiting Pottsville,  Pa. 

TREASURER 
Lycurgus  B.  Moore 96  Fulton  Street,  New  York 

It  was  understood  that  Mr.  Lycurgus  B.  Moore, 
treasurer  of  the  American  Machinist  Company,  elected 
Treasurer  of  the  Society,  should  continue  to  act  as  its 
Secretary  and  without  compensation,  as  he  had  been 
doing  during  the  preceding  months,  until  a  successor 
should  be  chosen. 

This  first  ticket  shows  also  Mr.  Holley's  administra- 
tive hand,  and  his  first  memorandum  of  recommendations 
has  been  modified  above  only  in  one  or  two  exceptions. 
The  representative  character  of  the  persons  chosen  will 
be  apparent:  Messrs.  Thurston  and  Trowbridge  stood 
for  engineering  education;  Messrs.  Sellers  and  Pratt 
for  the  machine  tool  designer  and  builder ;  Messrs.  Coxe 
and  Whiting  for  the  mechanical  engineering  of  mining; 
Messrs.  HoUey  and  Cogswell  for  metallurgy  and  chem- 
ical engineering;  Messrs.  Hoadley  and  Jones  for  the 
builders  of  engines  large  and  small;  Messrs.  Ely  and 
Richards  for  the  railway  and  the  manufacture  of  small 
arms;  Messrs.  Gillmore  and  Shock  for  the  achievements 
of  mechanical  engineering  in  the  army  and  navy. 

The  meeting  then  adjourned,  referring  to  the  Council, 
which  consisted  of  the  newly  elected  officers,  all  details 
to  be  considered,  and  the  arrangements  for  the  first  pro- 
fessional meeting  in  the  autumn. 

The  next  step  was  the  promotion  of  membership  and 
the  discussion  of  policies  in  advance  of  such  a  meeting. 


CHAPTER  IV 

Some  Peinciples  of  Society  Philosophy 

The  original  rules  of  The  American  Society  of  Me- 
chanical Engineers,  as  provided  by  Mr.  Holley  at  the 
meeting  of  organization  on  April  7,  1880,  incorporated 
and  formulated  certain  principles  which  were  in  fact  a 
philosophy  for  the  conduct  of  such  a  body.  Around  these 
standards  the  years  have  developed  additional  inter- 
pretations or  deductions  by  a  process  of  normal  growth. 
Some  of  these  it  may  be  serviceable  to  emphasize. 

The  Rules  of  1880  were  slightly  amended  from  time 
to  time,  notably  in  1884,  1894  and  1904.  The  most 
significant  change  was  that  of  1894,  whereby  the  dues  of 
all  members  were  increased  by  $5  per  year.  The  Junior 
dues  were  raised  from  $5  to  $10  and  the  Member's  dues 
from  $10  to  $15.  The  initiation  fee  was  increased  from 
$15  to  $25  for  Members  and  from  $10  to  $15  for  Juniors. 

The  original  policies  of  administration  were  not 
amended  to  any  great  extent  until  1904.  At  this  time 
and  after  a  year's  work  of  an  important  and  assiduous 
committee,  of  which  Messrs.  C.  W.  Hunt,  Henry  R. 
Towne,  R.  H.  Soule,  Jesse  M.  Smith,  D.  S.  Jacobus,  Geo. 
M.  Basford  and  F.  R.  Hutton  were  members  from  time 
to  time,  a  new  instrument  was  created  and  submitted  to 
the  Society  in  which  was  recognized  the  distinction  be- 
tween the  fundamentals  of  Society  law  capable  of 
amendment  only  by  vote  of  the  entire  membership  after 
exhaustive  discussion  and  full  apprehension  of  the  issues 
involved;  and  another  group  of  standards  of  procedure 
which  should  be  capable  of  more  easy  amendment.  The 
standards  of  the  first  group  were  called  the  Constitu- 
tion. The  standards  of  the  second  group  were  called 
By-Laws   and  were   created   for   the  guidance   of  the 

22 


T 


A  HISTORY  OF  THE  SOCIETY  23 

officers  charged  with  the  administrative  conduct  of 
Society  affairs  and  of  the  members  where  they  come 
in  touch  with  it.  The  By-Laws  would  be  amendable  by 
the  Council  but  without  consulting  necessarily  the  mem- 
bership at  large,  whose  interests  and  rights  would  not  be 
affected  by  such  changes.  There  was  also  a  third  group 
of  precedents  and  standards  aiming  to  secure  uniformity 
in  the  way  in  which  office  and  convention  business  was 
carried  on. 

The  revision  of  1904  introduced  also  a  great  change 
in  policy  and  principle  whereby  the  duties  of  Society 
administration  would  be  apportioned  among  a  group  of 
Standing  Committees.  Previous  to  this  the  policy  had 
been  to  make  the  Secretary  of  the  Society  not  only  thfl 
executive  of  the  legislation  by  the  Council,  but  also  a 
sort  of  prime  minister  originating  policies  and  recom- 
mending them  for  adoption  by  the  Council.  This  made 
the  Secretary  something  of  a  foster  brother  in  a  large 
family.  But  the  great  growth  of  the  Society  about  the 
beginning  of  the  twentieth  century  made  the  time  seem 
ripe  to  change  from  the  personal  to  the  more  official  con- 
duct of  Society  business.  With  this  exception  and 
without  attempting  to  make  the  discussion  conform  to 
any  historic  succession  or  any  contemporary  character 
as  to  developments  on  different  lines,  the  following 
.  headings  will  be  referred  to  in  detail : 
1^  (a)  The  membership,  grades  and  qualifications 

(h)  Presentation  of  papers  at  meetings 

(c)  The  Journal 

(d)  The  copyright  of  papers  presented  at  meetings 

(e)  The  danger  of  self-advertisement  in  papers 
(/)    The  procedure  at  Society  meetings 

(g)  Registration  at  meetings;  program 

(h)  Entertainment  of  the  Society  at  meetings 

(i)  The  banquet  at  conventions 

(j)  Vive  voce  legislation  at  meetings 

(k)  Standards  created  by  committees 

(l)  Insignia  of  the  Society,  seal,  badge,  diploma,  card 

(m)  Necrological  notices. 


24      THE  AMERICAN  SOCIETY  OP  MECHANICAL  ENGINEERS 
THE  MEMBERSHIP,  GRADES  AND  QUALIFICATIONS 

Broadly  speaking  there  are  two  great  philosophies 
under  which  a  national  society  of  professional  men  may 
be  organized.  While  the  distinction  is  not  exact  and  to 
this  extent  misleading,  the  one  philosophy  may  be  called 
British  and  the  other  German.  The  British  philosophy 
seeks  for  a  professional  solidarity  which  can  be  secured 
only  by  a  union  of  membership  reasonably  homogeneous 
in  character.  It  seeks  to  have  membership  in  the  organi- 
zation a  sort  of  "cachet"  or  guarantee  of  a  high  standard 
of  professional  qualifications.  This  implies  a  rigid 
scrutiny  of  the  achievements  of  all  candidates  for  mem- 
bership in  the  Society  before  they  can  be  admitted.  It 
carries  with  it  a  minimum  age  limit  in  order  that  profes- 
sional reputation  shall  be  secured  before  the  candidate 
applies  for  membership.  It  involves  a  loyalty  to  an  or- 
ganization national  in  character  which  shall  be  superior 
to  any  adherence  to  local  groups  or  sections,  if  such 
there  be. 

The  other,  which  has  been  called  above  the  German 
philosophy,  is  that  the  engineering  society  is  a  great  pub- 
lishing association  whose  prime  function  and  purpose  is 
the  procuring,  printing  and  circulating  of  professional 
literature.  The  members  are  subscribers  to  this  expense 
of  publishing,  and  accomplish  by  their  union  what  indi- 
vidually they  could  not  do.  There  is  less  adherence  to 
the  ideal  of  professional  achievement,  but  rather  to  the 
advantage  of  frequent  local  assemblies  for  exchange  of 
ideas  and  for  the  mutual  advantage  which  is  supplied 
most  effectively  by  organizing  sections  or  groups  or 
branches,  which  will  meet  frequently  and  will  be  made 
up  of  members  of  kindred  interests.  There  is,  of  course, 
a  middle  path  where  both  ideals  are  sought  and  where  a 
library  and  a  center  of  influence  will  be  the  obvious  func- 
tions of  central  executive  offices  and  the  national  body 
will  seek  to  secure  the  advantage  from  the  strength  of  the 
constituent  units. 

The  founders  of  The  American  Society  of  Mechanical 


HONORARY  MEMBER    IN    PERPETUITY 
DECEASED   FOUNDER   OF  THE  SOCIETY 


A  HISTOEY  OF  THE  SOCIETY  25 

Engineers  selected  the  first  ideal  and  purpose,  and  have 
adhered  thereto.  It  has  made  the  candidate  for  member- 
ship in  the  Society  undergo  a  strict  scrutiny  on  the  basis 
of  a  proposal  backed  by  five  Members.  After  scrutiny  by 
the  Committee  on  Membership,  the  name  of  the  candidate 
is  published  so  that  if  anything  is  known  which  is  unfav- 
orable to  such  candidacy,  it  may  be  revealed  under  proper 
confidential  safeguards.  At  first  the  voting  on  members 
was  carried  on  by  letter  ballot  with  full  information  as 
to  professional  achievement.  The  practical  and  economic 
difficulties  connected  with  this  method  of  election  in  a 
society  of  large  size,  due  to  the  cost  of  election,  printing 
and  postage,  have  induced  a  change  whereby  the  final 
action  is  taken  by  the  Council  of  the  Society. 

Grave  difficulties  faced  the  organizers  of  the  Society 
in  deciding  upon  the  criterion  of  eligibility.  The  condi- 
tions of  production  in  the  United  States  are  different 
from  those  in  Europe.  The  Society  came  into  being  when 
the  manufacture  of  standard  products  of  special  ma- 
chinery and  the  use  of  jig  and  template,  combined  with 
a  fine  subdivision  of  labor,  had  proved  its  economy  by  its 
successful  operation  in  New  England  and  elsewhere.  The 
manufacture  of  gun  parts,  sewing  machines,  locks,  type- 
writers, bicycles  and  the  like,  leading  up  to  the  manu- 
facture of  steam  engines,  machine  tools  and  locomotives 
on  that  principle,  had  made  it  clear  that  commercial  suc- 
cess lay  in  eliminating  the  special  design  of  each  unit, 
limiting  the  number  of  sizes,  and  substituting  for  contract 
manufacture,  the  production  and  sale  of  large  numbers  of 
duplicate  units,  uniform  and  standardized.  The  principle 
was  insisted  on  that  the  buyer  was  not  to  be  allowed  to 
modify  the  standard  of  the  seller  by  imposing  his  whim 
as  to  form  or  his  preference  for  personal  originality  in 
arrangement.  The  principle,  however,  had  not  been 
formulated  at  the  time  as  that  of  the  American  system 
of  production,  that  it  was  the  seller  who  created  the 
specifications  for  the  product  which  he  submitted  to  the 
buyer.  The  other  and  older  system  still  largely  prevalent 
in  Europe,  is  to  have  the  buyer  write  the  specifications 


26       THE  AMERICAN  SOCIETY  OF  MECHANICAL  ENGINEERS 

and  send  them  to  the  producer  to  bid  on.  The  buyer  and 
his  engineer,  as  consultant,  are  expected  to  enforce  such 
requirements  on  the  manufacturer  as  to  productive  pro- 
cesses as  the  engineer  might  impose. 

This  economic  principle  that  economy  of  production 
lies  in  making  a  standard  product  which  is  ready  before 
it  is  sold  or  contracted  for,  has  had  an  effect  on  the  work 
and  duties  of  the  mechanical  engineer  in  America  in 
many  directions.  He  is  less  of  a  shop  craftsman  and 
more  of  a  worker  with  his  brain,  a  creator  and  an  execu- 
tive. He  is  less  an  office  practitioner  and  more  a  re- 
sponsible scientific  leader  in  the  production  process  itself. 
In  fact,  the  consequence  of  the  great  aggregations  of 
capital  which  have  been  a  feature  of  American  progress 
has  been  to  force  the  corporations  to  employ  the  entire 
time  of  persons  of  ability  and  experience  who  fifty  years 
ago  would  have  been  serving  as  consulting  engineers  for 
many  individual  producers  but  in  the  exclusive  service  of 
none.  Thence  it  follows  in  modern  practice  that  an 
increasing  number  of  mechanical  engineers  will  be  com- 
bining machinery  already  designed  by  others,  and  will  be 
to  a  less  degree  creating  for  themselves  from  the  lowest 
unit  up  to  the  aggregate  machinery  of  the  plant  as  a 
whole. 

The  founders  of  the  Society  foresaw  this  tendency 
with  rare  clearness  of  vision  and  shaped  their  policy  ac- 
cordingly. The  Society  would  have  been  a  small  one  and 
of  limited  influence  had  its  membership  been  restricted 
to  the  type  of  consulting  or  creative  engineer  alone.  The 
factory  engineer  is  more  and  more  a  manager  of  men, 
and  for  him  the  various  developments  of  his  great  plant 
are  the  tools  of  his  professional  achievement.  The  engi- 
neer must  be  what  he  is  often  called,  a  business  man. 

Furthermore,  there  was  a  duty  owed  by  the  Society  to 
the  Juniors  in  age  and  engineering  experience.  The 
Society  means  more  to  a  Junior  than  his  membership  or 
his  dues  or  his  capacity  to  contribute  papers  can  mean  to 
the  Society.  This  grade  must  exist  also  to  provide  for 
the  recent  graduate  of  the  engineering  schools  to  whom 


A  HISTORY  OF  THE  SOCIETY  27 

Society  membersMp  and  its  privileges  of  acquaintance 
with  the  leaders  of  the  profession  and  of  visits  to  engi- 
neering centers  will  have  the  greatest  value.  Later 
(1907)  came  the  idea  of  the  Student  Branch  whereby  the 
candidate  for  an  engineering  degree  can  be  enrolled  in 
the  Student  Branches  of  the  various  engineering  schools 
and  universities,  with  the  privileges  of  a  badge  (1909) 
and  a  subscription  to  the  monthly  Journal  of  the  Society. 

The  Associate  grade  was  first  established  to  fit  the 
needs  of  the  business  man,  not  an  engineer,  who  was  in- 
terested and  desirous  of  cooperating  with  engineers  by 
reason  of  his  financial  and  commercial  relations.  Later 
the  idea  was  extended  (1908)  to  include  also  engineers 
who  were  in  important  positions  but  too  young  in  years 
to  be  eligible  to  the  Member's  grade.  Editors  were  also 
elected  to  this  grade,  patent  experts  and  attorneys,  and 
some  teachers  of  engineering.  Still  later  the  embarrass- 
ments from  this  double  use  of  the  term  of  Associate 
brought  about  the  creation  of  the  grade  of  Associate- 
Member  (1912)  to  meet  the  case  of  a  man  in  too  re- 
sponsible a  position  to  be  classed  as  a  Junior,  and  by  age 
and  duties  not  yet  in  the  full  Member's  grade.  Under 
this  policy  the  Associate  is  not  supposed  to  be  eligible  for 
transfer  to  the  Member's  grade. 

The  Member's  age  was  put  at  thirty  years  as  a  mini- 
mum limit  in  1890,  and  in  1914  was  placed  at  thirty-two 
years.  A  later  qualification  or  precedent  introduced  the 
idea  of  sole  and  responsible  professional  charge  of  work 
as  necessary  for  the  Member.  It  was  explained  that  such 
responsibility  in  general  meant  that  the  member  did  not 
as  a  rule  have  to  submit  his  professional  work  to  a  re- 
vision by  an  official  superior  who  could  thereby  make 
himself  responsible  for  the  excellencies  (and  also  for  the 
defects)  of  the  Member's  professional  work. 

The  early  rules  provided  originally  that  Members  had 
to  be  proposed  by  three  and  seconded  by  two  others  in 
the  same  grade.  The  seconders  did  not  have  to  know  the 
candidate  but  must  have  confidence  in  the  work  of  the 
proposers  and  approve  their  action.    In  1890  it  was  ruled 


28       THE  AMERICAN  SOCIETY  OF  MECHANICAL  ENGINEERS 

that  the  entire  group  of  live  proposers  must  know  the 
candidate  well  enough  to  answer  urgent  questions  as  to 
his  eligibility.  Juniors  were  proposed  by  three  members 
only  and  no  seconders  were  required,  a  plan  which  still 
remains  in  force. 

The  Council  was  at  first  a  committee  of  the  whole 
on  membership.  A  sub-committee  of  the  Council  was  ap- 
pointed about  1888  to  scrutinize  the  applications  and  en- 
dorsements of  the  proposers  before  the  names  were  sub- 
mitted to  the  full  board.  Such  subdivision  was  made  im- 
perative by  the  increasing  volume  and  importance  of 
Council  business.  This  sub-committee  on  membership 
in  the  Council  was  developed  into  the  standing  Member- 
ship Committee  by  the  revision  of  the  Constitution  in 
1904. 

The  duty  of  electing  members  to  the  Society  by  letter 
ballot  was  given  to  the  Members  and  Associates  by  the 
first  rules.  The  policy  was  a  middle  course  between  that 
then  followed  by  the  Civil  and  Mining  Engineers.  It 
made  the  voting  membership  primarily  responsible  for 
the  quality  of  the  enrolled  membership.  It  exposed  every 
candidate's  professional  record  to  a  scrutiny  as  of 
Argus'  eyes.  It  was  a  measure  of  popular  and  demo- 
cratic control  and  government.  Lists  of  names  only  were 
sent  out  at  first ;  later  the  record  of  professional  experi- 
ence was  appended  to  each  name.  Finally  the  profes- 
sional service  sheet  was  made  a  separate  document  from 
the  ballot  list  so  that  those  interested  might  retain  these 
biographical  notices  for  their  information  and  for  future 
use. 

The  last  stage  which  is  in  operation  at  this  writing 
is  the  procedure  of  voting  members  into  the  Society  by 
the  Council  after  the  membership  has  been  advised  of 
their  candidacy  in  The  Journal  and  opportunity  has  been 
given  to  show  cause  why  such  persons  should  not  be  ad- 
mitted. The  candidate  will  then  pass  four  scrutinies :  his 
proposers  must  act  first,  then  the  Committee  on  Mem- 
bership, then  the  members  at  large,  should  they  desire 
to  do  so,  and  lastly  the  members  of  the  Council  who  will 


A  HISTORY  OF  THE  SOCIETY  29 

cast  the  final  and  declarative  ballot.  This  plan  saves 
much  office  expense  in  printing  and  postage ;  and  with  the 
great  numbers  now  on  every  ballot,  it  is  believed  that  it 
secures  equal  if  not  even  more  effective  scrutiny. 

At  first  two  negative  ballots  and  later  seven  cast 
against  a  name  prevented  an  election.  There  have  been 
very  few  cases  where  the  right  of  the  member  to  cast  a 
black-ball  has  been  used  to  work  out  a  grudge  or  obtain 
revenge  for  some  alleged  wrong.  While  a  provision  has 
always  existed  to  enable  the  Council  to  right  an  injustice 
in  an  adverse  vote,  an  experience  of  some  years  has 
shown  that  the  membership  has  usually  been  right  where 
it  exercised  its  strength  in  this  way.  When  the  member- 
ship voted  on  candidates,  a  negative  vote  of  2  per  cent 
of  the  ballots  cast  would  defeat  an  election. 

The  votes  of  the  members  were  at  first  scrutinized  by 
tellers  appointed  at  the  meeting  of  the  Society  after  it 
had  convened.  There  were  advantages  in  notifying  the 
member  elected  in  time  so  that  he  might  arrange  to  be 
absent  from  his  work  and  attend  the  meeting  then  in 
progress.  This  resulted  in  the  practice  of  closing  the 
voting  three  or  four  days  in  advance  of  the  date  set  for 
the  meeting.  The  tellers  could  then  be  appointed  in  ad- 
vance, the  ballots  counted  and  immediate  advice  could 
be  sent  to  the  candidate  of  the  favorable  action  on  his 
name.  The  meeting  was  formally  notified  by  the  tellers 
as  though  they  had  just  acted  under  the  previous  system, 
and  the  procedure  of  election  was  consummated  by  a 
formal  declarative  act  of  the  President  to  the  meeting. 
The  By-Laws  in  1904  made  the  Tellers  of  Election  ap- 
pointees of  the  President  for  the  Society  year  before 
their  services  were  required  and  crystallized  the  former 
practice.  For  several  years  a  number  of  ballots  for 
membership  were  issued  during  the  year  and  for  con- 
venience these  were  usually  printed  on  paper  of  different 
colors  so  that  there  might  be  no  confusion.  At  present 
the  Council  elects  members  at  its  monthly  meetings. 

Many  members  regarded  the  duty  of  electing  members 
to  the  Society  to  be  somewhat  formal  so  far  as  they  were 


30       THE  AMERICAN  SOCIETY  OF  MECHANICAL  ENGINEERS 

concerned,  particularly  when  the  practice  prevailed  which 
called  for  no  act  of  the  voting  member  except  to  return 
the  list  of  names  in  an  envelope  by  mail.  There  was  a 
short  period  when  the  member  was  instructed  to  mark 
an  affirmative  cross  in  front  of  each  name  on  the  ballot. 
This  requirement  led  to  confusion  and  was  abandoned 
for  the  simpler  practice  of  making  the  affirmative  vote 
one  in  which  the  name  was  left  unmarked  on  the  voting 
list.  Formerly  only  about  20  per  cent  of  the  membership 
voted  for  candidates. 

The  first  applications  for  membership  were  letters. 
The  first  printed  form  of  application  blank  was  a  dupli- 
cate letter  sheet  8  inches  by  10  inches  in  size.  The  four- 
page  note  sheet  was  adopted  in  1890.  The  applications 
of  all  members  except  the  very  earliest  are  on  file. 

PRESENTATION  OF  PAPERS  AT  MEETINGS 

The  original  method  of  presenting  papers  before  an 
audience  was  the  reading  from  a  manuscript  by  the 
author  or  by  the  Secretary  of  the  Society  from  the  plat- 
form at  the  meeting.  This  may  be  called  the  ''natural" 
method.  If  illustrations  were  required,  the  author  or  the 
Society  had  wall  diagrams  made  on  paper  or  linen  with 
greater  or  less  elaboration,  or  the  author  crudely  made 
the  necessary  sketches  upon  the  blackboard  which  must 
always  be  an  article  of  platform  furniture.  An  early 
apparatus  for  diagrams  was  a  map  frame  to  carry  spring 
shade  rollers  and  on  the  rollers  was  a  black  silicate  sur- 
face on  which  the  diagrams  were  painted  in  white  lines. 
These  diagrams  were  a  great  burden  and  expense.  There 
were  many  assembly  halls  ill-adapted  for  their  exhibition 
because  the  walls  must  not  be  defaced.  Many  meeting 
halls  are  badly  lighted,  particularly  in  the  day-time,  so 
that  many  persons  could  not  see  charts.  There  was  often 
little  time  for  the  draftsman  to  make  wall  charts  before 
the  meeting  and  in  any  case  they  must  be  reproduced 
again  for  the  Transactions  and  any  technical  journals 
wanting  to  use  them. 


A  HISTOEY  OF  THE  SOCIETY  31 

Little  argument  is  required  to  present  the  disadvan- 
tages of  this  system.  The  tedium  of  prosy  reading  is 
hard  to  bear.  Many  engineers  are  not  trained  to  read 
pleasantly  or  to  fill  large  halls  with  the  voice.  Mathe- 
matical papers  cannot  be  followed  even  by  experts.  In- 
telligent discussion  is  marred  or  diluted  by  a  failure  to 
grasp  exactly  what  the  author  says.  There  were  few 
copies,  or  only  one  for  use  by  the  journals  who  might 
desire  to  republish. 

The  argument  for  the  system  is  that  the  content  of 
the  paper  is  presented  to  the  listener  for  the  first  time 
at  the  meeting  and  is  therefore  a  novelty  to  him.  He  must 
attend  in  person  the  meeting  where  it  is  read  if  he  wants 
to  hear  it.  The  meeting  is  therefore  alleged  to  offer 
greater  attraction  than  under  the  plan  of  printing  and 
distributing  the  papers  by  mail  previous  to  the  meeting. 
On  the  other  hand  if  intelligent  discussion  is  the  object 
sought  to  make  a  meeting  interesting,  the  participants 
in  debate  should  have  an  opportunity  to  consult  their 
records  and  data  on  the  topic  in  question  before  leaving 
home,  and  far  more  valuable  contributions  will  be  made 
if  the  proposed  discussion  is  elaborated  under  more 
favorable  conditions  than  on  the  floor  of  a  meeting. 

The  first  steps  of  progress  away  from  the  natural 
method  were  taken  when  the  second  Secretary  of  the  So- 
ciety was  elected  in  1883.  The  papers  were  set  up  in 
galley  form  for  the  Cleveland  meeting  in  that  year  by 
the  Society's  printer  and  were  brought  in  this  shape  to 
the  convention  for  those  present  to  read  and  study.  The 
paper  was  read  in  full  as  before  and  there  was  no  advance 
distribution,  but  every  one  interested  had  a  copy  in  his 
hand.  This  move  was  enthusiastically  approved  by  the 
journals.  Accompanying  this  manifolding  of  the  text 
was  the  plan  of  reproducing  the  drawings  or  diagrams 
by  photo-engraving  processes  or  redrawing  by  the  wax 
process  from  blueprints  or  photographs.  The  half-tone 
or  Ives  engraving  process  was  then  just  coming  in.  These 
cuts  were  made  as  for  the  book  illustration  of  the  paper 
when  published  and  prints  were  made  in  a  sufficient 


32       THE  AMERICAN  SOCIETY  OF  MECHANICAL  ENGINEERS 

number  to  distribute  to  every  one  at  the  session  when  the 
paper  was  read.  The  journals  were  allowed  to  have  re- 
productions from  these  blocks  at  their  cost,  plus  10  per 
cent.  The  wall  diagram  had  disappeared  and  every 
member  could  study  the  clear  illustrations  closely.  For 
discussion  viva  voce  the  blackboard,  however,  must  re- 
main, and  contributed  discussion  could  rarely  be  illus- 
trated for  lack  of  time.  These  two  moves  were 
enthusiastically  approved  by  the  journals.  They  now  had 
all  that  heart  could  desire  except  the  text  of  the  oral 
discussion  at  the  meeting,  which  they  had  to  secure  labori- 
ously for  themselves. 

The  following  successive  steps  of  method  of  presenta- 
tion of  papers  after  this  were  easy  and  unavoidable : 

(a)  The  printing  of  the  paper  and  its  illustrations  as 
for  the  Transactions  in  pamphlet  form ;  and  having  these 
pamphlets  on  hand  at  the  headquarters  of  the  meeting, 
to  be  taken  by  the  members  and  also  distributed  at  the 
full  reading.  All  members  present  received  both  paper 
and  diagrams. 

(b)  The  distribution  of  such  advance  pamphlets  by 
mail  to  those  members  who  said  they  would  be  in  at- 
tendance at  the  meeting.  So  many  members  left  their 
papers  at  home  and  had  to  be  supplied  with  additional 
copies  at  the  meeting  that  there  was  duplicate  distribu- 
tion at  each  session  as  in  the  first  case. 

(c)  The  advance  distribution  by  mail  to  all  members 
of  the  Society  whether  they  had  or  had  not  announced 
their  purpose  to  attend  the  meeting  or  made  any  requests 
for  such  pamphlets.  This  involved  also  the  necessity  of  a 
second  distribution  of  copies  at  the  meeting. 

This  system  compels  authors  of  the  papers  at  any 
meeting  to  send  in  their  manuscript  and  illustrations 
usually  thirty  days  in  advance  of  the  date  of  the  meeting. 
Some  authors  find  it  temperamentally  difficult  to  turn  out 
work  except  under  the  pressure  of  the  last  limits  of  avail- 
able time.  But  this  system  may  be  regarded  as  the  high 
water  mark  of  the  philosophy  of  securing  well-considered 


THE    AMERICAN     SOCIETY   OF   MECHANICAL   ENGINEERS 


A  HISTOBY  OF  THE  SOCIETY  38 

and  pointed  discussion  of  papers  by  interested  experts. 
In  comment  on  this  system  it  may  be  said  in  its  favor: 

(a)  Every  member  gets  Ms  Society  papers  fresh  from 
the  press  as  soon  as  they  are  issued 

(6)  Every  member  is  treated  alike  by  an  automatic 
process  and  those  residing  at  a  distance  get  the  same 
return  in  the  matter  of  papers  and  publication  matter  as 
those  who  reside  close  to  the  Society  headquarters  or  to 
the  place  of  meetings  and  reading 

(c)  Every  member  is  relieved  from  exertion  to  take 
action  in  order  to  get  his  Society  papers 

(d)  Well-considered  discussion  with  data  from 
sources  of  reference  in  a  library  or  works  is  stimulated 

(e)  Discussion  can  be  invited  from  persons  particu- 
larly qualified  to  speak  who  perhaps  are  not  to  be  present 
in  person  at  the  meeting  or  may  not  be  members  of  the 
Society  at  all 

(/)  The  tedium  of  full  reading  of  the  paper  becomes 
unnecessary,  particularly  if  the  voice  is  monotonous,  slow 
and  hardly  audible.  If  this  plan  is  followed,  the  paper 
can  be  presented  in  abstract  or  by  title  and  the  time  so 
saved  can  be  devoted  to  live  discussion 

The  considerations  in  opposition  are : 

(o)  It  is  costly  in  regard  to  paper,  presswork  and 
postage 

(h)  All  papers  are  not  of  equal  interest  to  every 
member ;  to  send  papers  which  do  not  interest  a  member 
and  which  he  consigns  to  waste  is  extravagant  and  foolish 

(c)  If  all  papers  are  read  by  all  members  before  the 
meeting,  the  charm  of  anticipation  and  novelty  is  dissi- 
pated. Why  should  a  member  attend  a  meeting  for  the 
presentation  of  papers  when  he  can  in  his  library  more 
cheaply  and  with  less  exertion  taste  what  the  meeting  is 
to  set  forth? 

In  weighing  these  advantages  and  attendant  draw- 
backs, the  Society  has  regarded  that  the  stimulus  to  dis- 
cussion of  advance  distribution  outweighs  by  far  any  of 
its  disadvantages.  Next  to  that  was  the  saving  of  time 
and  the  stimulating  of  interest  in  a  liveliness  of  discus- 


34      THE  AMERICAN  SOCIETY  OP  MECHANICAL  ENGINEEBS 

sion  for  which  time  was  allowed  and  which  came  fresh 
from  the  attrition  of  minds  in  conference. 

As  an  administrative  question  this  system  of  advance 
distribution  and  full  oral  discussion  meant  that  the  text 
of  all  papers  printed  before  the  meeting  must  be  kept 
standing  in  type  after  the  meeting  until  all  contributed 
discussion  had  been  revised  and  such  revised  form  had 
been  sent  to  the  author  for  his  closure  of  the  debate.  The 
entire  membership  therefore  did  not  receive  the  complete 
revised  debate  until  the  bound  volume  was  distributed, 
although  any  member  could  have  reprints  from  the  com- 
bined papers  and  discussion  when  the  plates  were  made. 

The  method  of  revising  the  stenographer's  report  of 
discussions  at  the  meeting  was  to  have  him  make  his  type- 
written report  in  duplicate  at  first  and  later  in  triplicate. 
One  copy  was  kept  as  the  Secretary's  original.  The 
duplicate  was  numbered  by  paragraphs  in  parallel  with 
the  original  and  was  then  cut  up  and  classified  by  the 
names  of  the  participants.  Each  participant  then  re- 
ceived his  share  by  mail  and  might  correct  or  rewrite 
what  he  was  reported  to  have  said.  Three  weeks  were 
usually  allowed  to  the  debating  members  and  a  week  to 
the  author.  Hence  the  first  complete  papers  which  had 
been  discussed  were  ready  to  be  sent  to  the  printer  about 
one  month  after  the  meeting  had  closed. 

THE  JOURNAL.    THE  TRANSACTIONS 

By  the  system  discussed  above,  the  papers  and  their 
discussions  were  sent  to  the  members  on  request  or  as 
a  matter  of  routine.  Other  communications  from  the 
Society's  office,  covering  news  items,  dates  and  programs 
and  routine  communications  of  general  interest,  were 
individually  circularized  and  sent  by  third-class  mail  as 
often  as  necessary  or  desirable.  These  were  items  of 
expense  for  job  printing,  and  the  pamphlets  could  not 
demand  the  second-class  rate  or  regular  postage  which 
would  be  given  to  stated  issues  to  subscribers. 

In  1907-1908  the  Society  created  its  Journal  of  ten 


A  HISTORY  OF  THE  SOCIETY  35 

or  twelve  issues  in  each  year.  It  was  intended  to  effect 
the  distribution  of  all  papers  to  all  members  as  by  all 
previous  pamphlet  processes,  and  in  addition  to  secure 
prompt  issue  and  distribution  of  all  contributed  discus- 
sion as  soon  as  read  without  waiting  for  the  complete 
paper;  and  also  to  be  the  channel  of  communication  be- 
tween the  Society  headquarters  and  all  members  on  all 
professional  matters  of  Society  concern.  This  included 
pretty  much  everything  which  had  hitherto  been  trans- 
acted by  circular  letter,  leaving  in  the  individual  class 
only  the  procedure  of  election  of  officers  and  communica- 
tions relating  to  the  collection  of  income.  By  the  fact  of 
stated  issue  the  second-class  postage  rate  could  be  secured 
and  a  considerable  economy  effected.  The  Journal  could 
also  become  a  publication  worth  while  to  non-members  in 
a  subscribing  class,  and  thus  again  enabled  to  under- 
take new  functions  of  usefulness  to  the  membership. 
Among  these  directions  of  activity  for  The  Journal  may 
be  listed: 

(a)  Editorial  report  by  the  Secretary  of  the  Society 
to  its  members  and  others  on  the  activities  in  progress 
and  incidents  at  headquarters  with  comment  thereon. 
This  will  keep  members  at  a  distance  in  touch  with  the 
Society  and  maintain  the  warmth  of  their  interest  in  its 
affairs  and  welfare 

(b)  Editorial  comment  and  report  on  current  inci- 
dents outside  of  the  Society  but  along  engineering  or 
allied  professional  lines.  This  will  be  of  greatest  signifi- 
cance to  designers  and  those  making  scientific  research. 

(c)  Editorial  or  direct  intercourse  between  members 
through  the  Society  office,  in  topical  discussion,  query  and 
answer,  and  brief  record  of  fact  or  procedure  for  the  com- 
mon welfare 

(d)  Digests  or  short  summaries  of  papers  presented 
before  other  societies  at  home  and  abroad,  and  particu- 
larly translations  from  papers  in  foreign  languages  ap- 
pearing both  in  periodicals  and  in  transactions  or  bul- 
letins 

(e)  Bibliographies   or   summaries    of   literature   in 


36      THE  AMERICAN  SOCIETY  OF  MECHANICAL  ENGINEERS 

books  and  periodicals  on  particular  topics  and  engineer- 
ing matters,  especially  indices  of  selected  topics 

(/)  Book  reviews  and  criticisms 

It  has  not  been  possible  at  the  time  of  the  preparation 
of  this  paragraph  to  enter  upon  all  of  these  lines  of  ac- 
tivity, but  the  summary  of  papers  from  foreign  period- 
icals has  been  regularly  issued,  and  with  the  practice  of 
giving  so  far  as  practicable  the  data  and  results  embodied 
in  the  original  paper  instead  of  a  mere  description  of 
their  contents.  As  the  library  of  the  Society  shall  be 
developed  and  particularly  the  concept  of  the  joint 
library  of  all  engineering  societies  under  the  Trustees 
of  the  United  Engineering  Society,  the  usefulness  of  The 
Journal  can  be  greatly  increased,  making  it  a  directory 
of  engineering  information  along  professional  and 
technical  lines.  The  Journal  will  always  be  differentiated 
from  the  commercial  or  trade  newspapers,  in  that  the 
latter  will  be  specialized  as  news  distributors  respecting 
enterprises  or  products,  dealing  also  with  the  commercial 
side  of  the  profession.  The  time  or  novelty  element 
enters  also  into  the  activities  of  the  trade  newspaper. 
The  Society  Journal  on  the  other  hand  will  also  be  sought 
in  its  highly  developed  state  by  persons  not  members  of 
the  Society,  serving  in  this  way  to  make  its  work  and 
value  more  widely  known. 

Furthermore,  The  Journal,  or  reprints  from  its  pages, 
can  be  used  at  meetings  of  the  Society,  at  meetings  of 
Student  Branches,  geographical  groups  or  professional 
sections.  It  will  doubtless  before  long  contain  engineering 
matter  which  there  will  be  no  time  to  present  and  discuss 
at  even  the  multiplying  number  of  reunions  of  members 
in  the  various  cities. 

The  increasing  circulation  of  The  Journal  by  the  in- 
crease of  membership  and  the  growth  of  the  subscribers' 
list  opened  the  door  to  the  canvass  for  advertisers  in 
its  issues  and  the  attendant  income  devotable  to  Society 
uses  and  needs.  This  became  at  once  a  commercial  suc- 
cess, since  The  Journal  is  in  a  distinctly  preferred  class, 
as  it  is  not  thrown  away  at  once  or  remains  unread,  but 


A  HISTORY  OF  THE  SOCIETY  37 

is  in  the  class  which  remains  upon  desk  and  table 
ready  to  be  consulted,  not  once  but  frequently.  The  types 
of  the  advertisements  included  are :  Power  plant  equip- 
ment, power  transmission,  hoisting,  elevating  and  con- 
veying machinery,  industrial  railway  equipment,  metal 
working  machinery,  machine  shop  and  foundry  equip- 
ment, pumping  and  hydraulic  machinery,  electric  power 
equipment,  air  compressors  and  pneumatic  tools. 

The  keynote  of  the  work  of  the  Society  in  connection 
with  advertising  in  The  Journal  has  been  to  render 
service  to  the  advertiser.  It  was  felt  at  the  outset  that 
anything  resembling  an  effort  to  induce  manufacturers 
who  were  members  of  the  Society  to  advertise,  simply 
because  they  were  members,  would  be  taking  an  unjusti- 
fiable position  and  one  subject  to  severe  criticism.  This 
view  early  led  to  the  adoption  of  what  has  been  called 
Condensed  Catalogue  pages,  which  consist  of  engineering 
data  from  the  catalogues  of  manufacturers,  paid  for  and 
inserted  among  the  advertising  pages  of  The  Journal 
and  later  distributed  in  book  form.  When  thus  issued 
they  constitute  a  convenient  desk  book  for  reference, 
covering  a  wide  variety  of  appliances  and  giving  sufficient 
information  for  preliminary  layouts  of  mechanical  plants 
without  having  to  consult  manufacturers '  catalogues. 

Various  other  useful  plans  have  been  followed,  among 
them  the  preparation  and  issue  of  Directory  Cards,  con- 
venient for  reference  and  containing  brief  statements  of 
the  main  products  of  different  manufacturers.  The  busi- 
ness of  the  advertising  department  is  done  mainly  by 
correspondence. 

The  Transactions  is  the  official  name  of  the  bound  and 
indexed  volume  of  papers  with  their  appended  discus- 
sions which  are  the  result  of  the  assembling  of  the  mem- 
bers at  Society  Meetings.  They  embody  for  reference 
and  record  so  much  of  the  work  of  any  year  as  the 
Committee  on  Publication  decides  to  be  worthy  of  such 
permanent  preservation.  At  present  it  is  limited  to  one 
volume  a  year,  but  its  inconvenient  size  and  weight  is 
likely  soon  to  lead  to  the  issue  of  more  than  one.    It  is 


38      THE  AMEBICAN  SOCIETY  OF  MECHANICAL  ENGINEEBS 

bound  in  half  morocco  and  is  sent  to  every  member  of 
any  grade.  The  value  of  the  Transactions  has  been 
the  great  claim  of  the  Society  for  recognition  outside  of 
its  own  members,  and  it  is  the  glory  of  the  Society  that 
they  should  have  been  kept  all  through  the  years  on  an 
elevated  plane. 

Monographs  have  been  issued  in  addition  to  the 
Transactions,  perhaps  the  most  notable  of  which  is  the 
Autobiography  of  Mr.  John  Fritz,  Honorary  Member 
and  Past-President  of  the  Society.  This  is  the  first  of 
what  it  is  hoped  will  be  a  creditable  series  of  such  Society 
publications  through  the  years. 

THE  COPYEIGHT  OP  PAPERS  PRESENTED  AT  MEETINGS 

A  problem  or  principle  to  be  thought  out  arose  as 
soon  as  papers  began  to  be  submitted  to  the  Society. 
The  question  was  threefold : 

(o)  Should  the  Society  reserve  to  itself  the  copyright 
of  author's  papers  in  all  their  forms  of  publication 

(fe)  Should  the  author  have  the  right  to  reserve  to 
himself  any  financial  advantage  from  his  labor  in  pre- 
paring the  paper  that  it  might  be  presented  through  the 
Society 

(c)  Should  the  technical  journals  have  the  right  of 
republication  of  such  papers  in  their  current  issues 
immediately  after  the  presentation  of  the  paper  before 
the  Society  without  invading  the  copyright  obligations 
of  any  of  the  three  parties  interested 

The  Society  should  plainly  have  control  over  the  use 
to  be  made  of  papers  read  before  it.  It  should  not  be 
used  as  a  medium  of  advertising  business  interests ;  yet 
on  the  other  hand  its  reputation  would  be  extended  and 
its  influence  exerted  for  good  if  in  addition  to  the  official 
publication  in  a  pamphlet  or  in  a  bound  volume,  a  paper 
could  also  be  made  to  reach  the  thousands  whom  the 
technical  magazines  serve.  The  author's  principal  re- 
turn from  a  scientific  paper  should  be  in  reputation  and 
the  recognition  of  good  work  by  his  colleagues.  It  is 
often  the  case  on  the  other  hand  that  the  research  or  the 


A  HISTORY  OP  THE  SOCIETY  39 

conclusions  which  the  paper  embodies  may  have  cost  the 
client  or  the  corporation  who  has  authorized  and  financed 
them  a  sum  on  which  they  may  consider  themselves  en- 
titled to  an  interest.  Some  will  not  regard  a  reputation 
for  breadth  of  view  as  an  asset  which  a  corporation  can 
capitalize. 

The  technical  journals  took  a  keen  interest  in  the 
discussions  on  amendments  to  the  rules  which  should 
wisely  dispose  of  this  question.  Dr.  James  C.  Bayles, 
then  editor  of  Iron  Age  and  associated  with  Mr.  David 
Williams,  was  a  principal  advocate  of  the  broad  policy 
of  widest  publication.  It  was  finally  settled  that  the 
Society  was  to  claim  no  exclusive  copyright  except  in 
the  form  of  the  completed  bound  volume  of  the  Trans- 
actions; but  that  the  privilege  of  immediate  republica- 
tion of  papers  read  and  discussed  before  meetings  of  the 
Society  should  be  allowed  to  those  who  might  desire  to 
do  so.  This  policy  precluded  the  practice  of  an  author's 
selecting  the  journal  which  should  first  publish  his  paper 
to  the  disadvantage  of  others.  It  was  left  to  the  Secre- 
tary to  see  that  all  journals  were  treated  alike.  This 
necessity  led  to  a  policy  adhered  to  for  many  years  and 
first  recommended  by  the  practice  of  the  American 
Machinist,  that  there  should  not  be  appointed  to  service 
on  Society  committees  or  to  office  in  the  Council,  any  rep- 
resentative of  technical  journalism.  This  was  not  so 
much  for  fear  of  any  undue  advantage  to  such  a  journal 
from  an  intimate  knowledge  of  Society  affairs,  as  to  pre- 
vent any  feeling  on  the  part  of  other  journals  that  there 
might  be  such  advantage  to  the  person  so  appointed. 
With  the  growth  of  the  Society  this  practice  fell  away, 
and  later  methods  of  publication  and  the  growing 
strength  of  the  journals  themselves  made  this  form  of 
the  problem  of  no  significance. 

THE  DANGER  OF  SELF-ADVERTISEMENT  IN  PAPERS 

Business  or  commercial  interests  could  not  fail  to 
see  what  neat,  effective  and  unobtrusive  forms  of  ad- 
vertising would  be  offered  by  having  the  matters  in 


40       THE  AMEEICAN  SOCIETY  OF  MECHANICAL  ENGINEERS 

which  they  were  interested  presented  in  papers  before 
the  new  Society.  This  recognition  may  take  form  in 
many  ways,  beginning  with  a  pressure  upon  their 
engineers  to  keep  in  the  area  of  strong  illumination  by 
the  frequent  offering  and  reading  of  good  papers,  down 
through  less  defensible  methods  to  the  frank  advertising 
write-up  of  a  new  invention,  product  or  design.  It  is  not 
defensible  to  say  that  a  paper  will  not  be  accepted  from 
an  engineer  who  is  financially  interested  in  the  subject 
which  he  presents,  or  who  is  in  the  employ  of  such 
persons  as  their  designer  and  creator  of  solutions  of  new 
problems.  It  is  often  the  case  that  the  men  are  best 
informed  on  any  subject  whose  business  makes  them  so. 
The  Society  needs  and  in  debate  will  ask  for  just  the 
knowledge  and  experience  which  producer  and  user  are 
best  qualified  to  furnish.  If  the  opposition  to  personal 
interest  was  adhered  to,  the  difficulty  would  be  dodged 
by  having  the  paper  chargeable  as  an  advertising  or  pro- 
moting contribution  presented  by  some  other  member 
who  could  not  be  charged  with  having  a  personal 
interest.  In  the  same  group  of  problems  is  that  offered 
when  the  monopoly  of  the  patent  system  has  been 
secured  for  the  design  and  invention  of  the  product  so 
that  rights  to  use  it  can  only  be  secured  through  the 
patentee.  Shall  this  Society  refuse  papers  of  real  value 
because  some  one  may  be  commercially  or  financially 
benefitted  by  their  reading? 

The  first  principle  to  be  adopted  was  that  papers 
should  not  be  accepted  which  discussed  new  propositions 
as  yet  untried  in  practice.  This  ruled  out  processes  not 
scientifically  sound,  inventions  which  could  not  be  made 
to  work,  and  mere  ideas.  Once  in  a  long  while  through 
the  years  a  great  invention  will  come  before  the  Society 
in  a  paper  which  it  will  honor  that  body  to  accept  before 
it  has  been  put  to  the  crucial  test.  Such  was  Sir  Henry 
Bessemer 's  paper  on  his  New  Pneumatic  Process  for 
Making  Steel.  Should  such  a  rare  case  arise,  the  pre- 
cedent may  be  weU  departed  from,  but  in  general  the  re- 


iS_j:2^^cA^^^ 


HE   AMERICAN    SOCIETY  OF  MECHANICAL   ENGINEERS 


A  HISTORY  OF  THE  SOCIETY  41 

striction  is  sound  and  should  prevent  the  Society  and 
its  standing  from  being  used  as  factors  to  enlist  capital 
by  persons  of  the  promoter  class. 

A  second  and  broader  requirement  was  that  the  paper 
must  present  facts  and  data  of  scientific  value  and  not 
merely  opinions  or  commendatory  language  by  an 
author."  Some  trade  catalogue  literature  would  fall 
under  this  last  heading,  but  a  trade  catalogue  which 
presents  reliable  scientific  facts  and  data  becomes  pro- 
fessional literature.  Hence,  the  form  in  which  the  paper 
appears  will  often  have  more  to  do  with  its  acceptability 
than  a  conformity  to  an  arbitrary  standard  as  respects 
its  contents. 

A  third  and  broader  and  perhaps  more  compre- 
hensive principle  has  been  that  a  paper  which  embodied 
an  application  of  a  newly  discovered  law,  or  a  new  ap- 
plication of  an  old  law,  must  necessarily  benefit  whoever 
is  fortunate  enough  to  avail  himself  of  it.  The  greater 
economy  or  efficiency  will  be  that  which  results  from  the 
closer  conformity  to  natural  law.  The  Society  could  not 
prevent  the  advantage  sure  to  follow  from  the  step  of 
progress  by  refusing  to  accept  the  publication  of  the 
paper.  Conversely,  the  Society  could  not  help  it  if  this 
step  of  progress  worked  to  the  disadvantage  of  those  who 
would  be  left  behind  by  the  march  of  advancement.  It  is 
not  advertising  to  make  public  a  fact. 

In  many  departments  of  applied  science  it  costs 
money  to  make  research  into  the  facts  which  make  for 
progress.  Corporations  make  such  investigations  and 
research  for  their  own  interest  and  may  properly  claim 
that  any  advantage  to  themselves  resulting  therefrom  is 
to  be  kept  as  their  personal  property.  It  is  impossible 
to  commend  too  highly  the  practice  of  some  corporations 
which  have  directed  their  engineers  to  present  to  the 
world  the  results  of  such  researches  as  contributions  to 
progress  along  these  lines,  in  the  form  of  papers  before 
the  Society.  It  is  not  so  long  ago  that  material  in  this 
class  would  have  been  jealously  guarded  as  an  asset  of  its 


42      THE  AMERICAN  SOCIETY  OP  MECHANICAL  ENGINEEBS 

originators.  It  might  have  been  kept  so  had  there  been 
no  Society  to  receive,  value  and  record  it.  It  is  in- 
creasingly true  that  with  the  advance  of  professional 
standards,  a  man  who  seeks  to  use  the  Society  for  selfish 
ends  and  personal  purposes  or  who  allows  himself  to 
be  so  used,  does  himself  and  his  interests  more  harm 
than  good. 

Belonging  also  under  this  same  heading  is  the 
practice  and  philosophy  as  to  the  reprinting  and  sale  of 
papers  read  and  discussed  which  may  be  of  commercial 
advantage  to  the  author  or  to  those  to  whom  he  is  re- 
lated in  business.  The  Society  has  taken  the  same  view 
referred  to  above,  that  it  cannot  be  responsible  for 
physical  laws  nor  for  the  fact  that  for  some  one  these 
laws  are  acting  to  advantage.  No  permanent  benefit 
would  be  secured  to  competitors  by  suppressing  the  new 
discovery  or  adaptation;  it  would  get  out  in  other 
channels;  and  the  Society  is  benefited  by  being  itself  a 
channel  for  the  dissemination  of  facts  of  progress. 

There  are  only  two  limitations.  First,  the  publica- 
tion must  be  complete,  including  the  discussion,  and 
without  any  garbling  or  omissions,  so  as  to  be  in  the  form 
in  which  it  appears  in  the  official  volume.  It  must  include 
any  points  raised  which  may  appear  to  work  to  the  dis- 
advantage of  the  topic  under  discussion.  This  is  to  main- 
tain the  judicial  attitude  as  respects  the  matter  and  re- 
move the  possibility  of  a  charge  that  the  Society  has  lent 
itself  to  the  work  of  advocating  any  one 's  interests.  The 
other  requirement  is  that  the  Society  shall  do  the  re- 
printing under  its  own  formularies  and  headings,  in  its 
own  type  and  under  its  own  standards.  The  person 
benefited  may  print  separately  any  introduction  or  fore- 
word and  insert  it  as  a  leaflet  if  desired,  but  such  trans- 
mittal paragraphs  must  not  be  made  a  part  of  the  paper, 
nor  may  the  person  benefited  print  the  paper  as  a  paper 
with  its  own  headings  and  in  its  own  type.  The  reasons 
for  these  restrictions  will  be  apparent;  the  policy  has 
worked  safely  and  well. 


A  HISTOBY  OF  THE  SOCIETY  4S 

THE  PBOCBDUEE  OF  THE  SOCIETY  MEETINGS  PROGBAM 

A  convention  of  professional  men,  members  of  a 
national  or  international  society  should  have  at  least  the 
following  five  sides  to  it,  or  as  many  of  them  as  possible : 

(a)  The  professional  side,  involving  papers  and  dis- 
cussions and  Society  business. 

(b)  The  social  side,  giving  members  a  chance  to  meet 
their  colleagues  and  acquaintances.  This  is  particularly 
significant  to  the  younger  men,  and  the  older  men  owe  it 
to  the  younger  to  favor  it. 

(c)  The  visits  to  engineering  or  industrial  productive 
plants. 

(d)  The  hotel  side,  involving  comfortable  housing 
and  food. 

(e)  The  excursion  side,  involving  visits  of  a  non- 
professional sort  to  points  of  scenic,  historic  or  other 
personal  interest. 

The  extremes  of  the  above  list  are,  at  one  end,  the 
compact  series  of  professional  meetings,  three  sessions 
for  papers  in  each  day,  unrelieved  by  any  relaxations 
outside  of  the  convention  hall,  and  at  the  other  extreme 
the  so-called  ''junket,"  when  the  members  come  together 
for  a  good  time,  all  frolic  and  social  intercourse  and 
excursions,  and  the  reading  of  papers  is  made  a  sec- 
ondary feature  or  forgotten  in  the  pressure  of  other 
occupations.  Wisdom  lies  in  a  safe  middle  path,  where 
the  enthusiastic  devotee  to  engineering,  earnest  in  his 
determination  to  get  all  he  can  from  a  meeting,  shall  not 
feel  disappointed  because  the  meeting  was  a  frivolity  and 
he  has  wasted  precious  time;  and  where,  on  the  other 
hand,  he  who  seeks  relief  from  the  exactions  of  his 
office  shall  not  feel  that  he  has  only  changed  his  latitude 
and  longitude,  but  is  in  the  same  high-pressure  atmo- 
sphere as  before.  Plainly,  however,  if  anything  is  to  be 
omitted  from  an  over-full  program  of  a  meeting,  it  will 
be  the  non-professional  excursion. 

The  attitude  of  a  society  towards  the  proportioning  of 
these  elements  will  be  greatly  affected  by  the  presence 


44      THE  AMEEICAN  SOCIETY  OP  MECHANICAL  ENGINEERS 

or  absence  of  the  ladies  of  the  families  of  members.  The 
American  Society  of  Mechanical  Engineers  has  favored 
the  presence  of  ladies  at  its  meetings  from  the  very  be- 
ginning. It  followed  in  the  first  instance  the  precedents 
of  the  Civil  and  Mining  Engineers.  It  did  so  for  the 
pleasure  of  all  parties  in  their  presence.  But  as  time 
went  on  there  emerged  certain  advantages  from  their 
presence  amounting  to  a  philosophy  of  Society  manage- 
ment.   Among  these  were : 

(a)  The  woman  is  the  social  factor  in  the  life  of  most 
busy  men.  She  keeps  track  of  things  the  man  will  forget. 
She  has  time  to  devote  to  amenities  involving  sacrifice 
of  her  energies  which  he  finds  it  difficult  to  make.  She 
keeps  alive  acquaintance  and  friendship  which  he  is 
prone  to  neglect. 

(b)  The  woman's  pleasure  in  the  Society  meetings 
will  be  an  argument  to  bring  the  member  with  her,  when 
he  would  perhaps  otherwise  allow  pressure  of  other 
reasons  to  prevent  his  attending.  A  man's  wife  is  thus 
an  agent  of  the  Society  to  secure  his  bodily  presence  and 
participation  in  discussions  to  which  he  is  particularly 
competent  to  contribute  in  a  valuable  way. 

(c)  The  feminine  influence  of  the  right  sort  is  always 
a  restraining  one,  keeping  the  atmosphere  of  the 
meetings  on  a  high  level  and  preventing  the  noise  and 
vulgarity  to  which  some  men  descend  when  they  forget 
to  restrain  themselves  and  when  they  are  just  a  lot  of 
men  together. 

(d)  The  only  argument  against  the  presence  of 
women  at  the  meetings  has  been  that  as  a  class  they  are 
self-conscious  as  to  differences  in  wealth  or  permissible 
expenditure  for  ornament  or  dress,  in  culture  and  in 
social  position,  to  an  extent  which  men  ignore  or  which 
does  not  exist  for  them.  So  far  as  differences  in  educa- 
tion are  concerned,  these  distinctions  are  rapidly  disap- 
pearing; so  far  as  the  other  differences  may  have  ever 
existed,  they  are  of  no  account.  The  restraint  of  the  men 
from  smoking  at  banquets  is  a  difficulty  to  be  met  by 
substituting  some  other  form  of  social  festivity  for  the 


A  HISTOEY  OF  THE  SOCIETY  46 

formal  dinner.  This  will  be  referred  to  later  in  another 
connection. 

Taking  up  now  the  general  question  of  the  propor- 
tions to  be  allotted  to  the  five  points  of  view  of  a  society 
meeting,  it  may  be  said  that  if  there  were  no  professional 
papers  there  would  be  no  occasion  for  a  meeting.  With 
papers  printed  and  distributed  to  all  members  and 
possible  participants  in  debate  on  them,  the  professional 
necessity  for  the  meeting  is  for  discussion  and  additional 
contributed  matter  on  the  topics  of  papers,  and  the  re- 
cording of  experience  in  the  solution  of  the  problems 
which  the  paper  starts.  At  first  the  satisfactory  solution 
was  to  give  two-thirds  of  each  day  to  papers  and  one- 
third  to  excursion  experiences.  That  is,  there  would  be 
a  professional  session  morning  and  evening,  and  a  visit 
to  an  engineering  plant  in  the  afternoon.  If  some  social 
function  was  assigned  to  the  evening,  then  the  sessions 
for  papers  and  debate  would  be  held  in  the  morning  and 
afternoon,  and  the  plant  visit  cut  out.  If  the  plant  visit  or 
excursion  called  for  both  morning  and  afternoon,  it  was 
always  put  at  the  end  of  the  week's  program  and  after 
the  papers  and  professional  discussions  had  been  com- 
pleted. Later,  while  keeping  to  the  general  philosophy 
of  morning  sessions  for  indoor  sessions  and  of  afternoon 
visits  out-of-doors,  the  multiplication  of  sections  and 
specialized  topics  has  compelled  synchronous  holding  of 
sessions  in  different  rooms  and  halls,  and  the  member 
must  choose  which  of  two  or  more  papers  under  discus- 
sion at  once  he  will  prefer  to  hear.  Synchronous  sessions 
are  held  to  enable  many  papers  to  be  presented  without 
extending  the  number  of  days  which  the  complete  pro- 
gram will  require.  They  seem  inevitable  and  are  the 
normal  method  to  follow  where  a  wide  range  of  topics 
and  of  interests  is  represented.  They  are  costly  to  pro- 
vide for,  and  require  a  specially  equipped  convention 
hall,  or  several  of  them. 

For  the  success  of  the  social  side  of  a  convention, 
seven  factors  have  been  found  necessary  and  serviceable : 

{a)  A  convention  headquarters,  preferably  in  the 


46      THE  AMEEICAN  SOCIETY  OF  MECHANICAL  ENGINEERS 

hotel  where  the  members  are  staying.  Such  headquarters 
form  a  rallying  point,  to  which  old  and  new  members  may 
come  and  register  their  names,  find  out  who  are  in  at- 
tendance and  receive  all  bulletins  and  necessary  papers, 
tickets,  badges  and  the  like. 

(fe)  That  so  far  as  possible  all  members  in  attendance 
be  housed  in  the  same  hotel. 

(c)  That  such  hotel  be  equipped  with  a  generous  and 
hospitable  foyer  where  the  members  can  lounge  and 
smoke  between  the  stated  events  of  the  program;  or,  if 
the  hotels  cannot  furnish  this,  the  same  sort  of  oppor- 
tunity may  be  given  at  the  convention  hall.  It  is  tedious 
to  sit  for  hours  listening  to  papers  and  debate ;  to  relieve 
this  tedium,  let  the  member  leave  the  audience  room  and 
find  relaxation  in  a  corridor  while  the  paper  which  does 
not  interest  or  concern  him  is  in  progress. 

(d)  That  the  program  be  not  arranged  with  such 
fullness  that  members  are  in  breathless  haste  to  be 
present  on  time  at  program  assignment  No.  2  as  soon 
as  No.  1  is  concluded.  A  hasty  meal  in  a  crowded  dining 
room  with  overburdened  service,  followed  by  a  rush  to  be 
on  time  for  the  starting  of  an  excursion  does  not  favor 
the  making  of  acquaintances. 

(e)  That  one  excursion  or  visit  to  a  plant  per  day 
be  provided  (or  a  limited  number  of  choices).  For  all 
members  to  go  together  to  a  point  of  common  interest  is 
much  more  serviceable  than  to  have  the  party  divided 
into  a  large  number  of  divergent  groups. 

(/)  That  the  arrangements  be  such  as  to  favor  a  free 
circulation  among  the  members  of  the  party  on  excur- 
sions. This  means  that  a  trip  by  unit  train  or  by  boat  is 
better  than  trips  in  carriages,  motors  or  by  separate 
trolleys. 

(g)  That  some  one  or  several  people  on  a  committee 
make  it  a  business  to  see  that  strangers  or  members  of 
limited  acquaintance  are  introduced  with  tact  and  discre- 
tion, so  as  to  be  made  to  come  out  of  the  shells  of  diffi- 
dence or  self-distrust  into  which  shy  people  are  prone 
to  retire. 


A  HISTOEY  OF  THE  SOCIETY  47 

REGISTRATION  AT  MEETINGS 

Perhaps  no  one  factor  has  had  more  to  do  with  the 
social  success  of  meetings  of  The  American  Society  of 
Mechanical  Engineers  than  the  development  of  its 
system  of  registering  members  in  attendance  at  these 
meetings.  Such  registration  has  an  official  and  legal 
significance  so  that  there  can  be  no  question  before  the 
law  as  to  the  presence  of  a  voting  quorum,  or  as  to  the 
persons  who  took  action  on  any  question  brought  up  at 
such  meeting.  Above  and  beyond  this,  however,  in 
practical  influence  is  the  social  advantage  of  effective 
enrollment. 

At  the  first  meeting  of  the  Society  in  the  autumn  of 
1880,  registration  was  secured  by  passing  a  sheet  of 
letter  paper  from  hand  to  hand,  with  the  request  that 
each  man  present  sign  it.  There  was  no  office  or  head- 
quarters of  the  Society  at  this  meeting  other  than  the 
convention  hall,  but  at  no  one  time  was  every  member 
present  at  any  particular  session  so  that  this  system  was 
unavoidably  incomplete.  This  first  roster  of  members 
present  at  a  meeting  has  been  framed  and  hung  in  the 
Society's  rooms. 

The  next  step  was  the  preparation  of  a  register  book 
like  a  hotel  register  of  guests.  Members  and  guests 
signed  their  names,  their  home  address  and  their  location 
during  the  convention.  The  Society's  registers  under 
this  system  have  been  preserved  and  are  interesting  ex- 
hibitions of  autographs  of  men  of  professional  eminence. 

The  difficulty  with  the  hotel  register  plan  was  the 
slowness  of  the  process  when  a  large  number  desired  to 
sign  the  book  at  the  same  time.  This  kept  members 
standing  in  line  tediously  and  in  many  cases  after  the 
work  of  the  convention  had  begun  in  the  audience  room. 
It  was  overcome  in  1904  by  the  obvious  expedient  of 
registering  on  individual  card  slips,  so  that  as  many 
could  register  at  one  time  as  there  were  places  or  clerks 
at  the  registration  counter.  The  registration  slip  was 
made  with  carbon  transfers,  at  first  autographically  by 


48       THE  AMEEICAN  SOCIETY  OF  MECHANICAL  ENGINEERS 

pencil,  and  later  by  the  use  of  typewriters;  this  made 
the  card  catalogue  of  the  members  in  attendance  in 
manifold.  The  system  has  been  in  use  ever  since  that 
year  and  can  hardly  be  improved  upon  for  the  purpose 
in  hand.  It  was  devised  for  the  very  large  meeting  in 
joint  session  of  the  Institution  of  Mechanical  Engineers 
of  Great  Britain  with  the  American  Society  in  Chicago 
and  these  details  are  due  to  Messrs.  Louis  A.  Gillet  and 
Francis  W.  Hoadley,  with  the  Secretary  of  that  period. 

The  convenience  of  having  transcripts  from  the  hotel 
register  of  members  in  attendance  early  suggested  the 
plan  of  printed  slip  lists  arranged  alphabetically  from 
the  register  list  and  distributed  at  headquarters  during 
the  course  of  the  meeting,  usually  at  three  intervals. 
This  enabled  everyone  to  know  at  first  hand  who  was 
present,  but,  of  course,  the  individual  could  only  be 
identified  through  some  common  friend  or  by  the  awk- 
wardness of  inquiry  from  some  one  who  by  chance  might 
know  both  parties. 

The  good  taste  of  the  officers  of  the  Society  had  been 
opposed  from  the  start  to  the  type  of  flamboyant  silken 
banner  which  is  often  worn  on  the  coat  of  members  en- 
rolled at  a  convention.  The  well-nigh  faultless  artistic 
taste  of  the  French  in  1889  had  equipped  the  visitors  to 
Paris  and  its  exposition  of  that  year  with  a  lapel  button 
of  unusually  aesthetic  type.  The  Americans  were  not 
slow  to  appropriate  the  advantages  of  this  idea  for  the 
annual  meeting  of  that  year.  An  identification  badge  of 
this  type  is  of  the  greatest  convenience  on  excursions  and 
in  passing  members  of  an  excursion  party  on  public  con- 
veyances. Reproductions  and  derivatives  of  the  French 
emblem  were  used  for  a  year  or  two  thereafter  and  there 
may  still  be  found  cuff  buttons  in  use  which  were  the 
convention  badges  of  this  period.  The  lapel  button  was 
restricted  to  members,  and  guests  had  a  pin  with  the 
initials  M.  E.  worked  into  a  scroll,  which  they  were  per- 
mitted to  wear  as  a  designating  emblem. 

The  next  development  from  the  lapel  button  badge 
and  the  printed  alphabetical  list  of  names  was  the  plan 


^.  7<  44r^a^ 


t^  q. 


PRESIDENT     1885 


THE   AMERICAN    SOCIETY  OF    MECHANICAL  ENGINEERS 


A  HISTORY  OF  THE  SOCIETY  49 

of  numbering  the  lines  of  the  convention  register  or  of 
the  registration  card  so  that  each  man  registered  a  num- 
ber as  well  as  his  name.  He  wore  this  number  on  a 
small  celluloid  shield  attached  to  his  lapel  button.  Hence 
by  consulting  the  printed  list  any  numbered  man  could 
be  identified  by  name  by  those  who  remembered  a  face 
but  could  not  at  once  recall  the  name.  The  approach 
of  the  members  to  each  other  was  assured  and  the 
awkwardness  of  shyness  and  self-distrust  removed. 

The  next  and  final  step  was  taken  during  the  ad- 
ministration of  Mr.  James  Mapes  Dodge  and  at  his  sug- 
gestion and  initiative.  This  was  to  substitute  for  the 
numbered  button  in  the  lapel  a  fixture,  into  which  could 
be  slipped  the  name  of  the  member  printed  in  sufficiently 
heavy  faced  type  to  be  usefully  legible.  This  plan  is  the 
highest  development  of  the  policy  and  principle  of  self- 
introduction  and  identification  at  a  meeting.  The  in- 
fluence of  this  quick  identification  by  name  at  conven- 
tions has  been  so  significant  and  valuable  in  promoting 
the  social  success  of  meetings  that  it  can  scarcely  be  over- 
estimated. 

ENTERTAINMENT  OF  THE  SOCIETY  AT  MEETINGS 

The  problem  of  large  meetings  of  the  Society  for  the 
reading  of  papers  and  other  purposes  has  presented 
some  difficulties  from  the  very  start  and  certain  prin- 
ciples have  had  to  be  followed  in  legislating  for  them. 

The  Annual  Meeting  of  an  incorporated  society  is 
signalized  under  the  Civil  Law  in  most  of  the  States  by 
the  election  of  its  officers  for  the  year  and  the  report  of 
the  members  with  respect  to  the  finances  of  the  Society 
and  its  work  for  the  year.  It  must  be  held  either  really 
or  nominally  within  the  borders  of  the  state  which  has 
created  the  corporation.  Hence  The  American  Society 
of  Mechanical  Engineers  must  hold  its  Annual  Meeting 
in  the  State  of  New  York  and  since  it  has  had  an  office 
headquarters  in  New  York  City,  that  city  has  been  the 
convention  city  for  the  Annual  Meeting. 

The  other  meeting  is  usually  called  the  Semi- Annual 


50       THE  AMERICAN  SOCIETY  OF  MECHANICAL  ENGINEERS 

Meeting  and  is  held  about  six  months  after  the  Annual 
Meeting.  It  is  usually  convened  in  some  city  or  place 
where  adequate  hotel  accommodations  can  be  found  for  a 
large  number,  and  also  with  regard  to  points  of  engi- 
neering or  other  interest  and  so  that  those  who  jfind  it 
diflScult  to  attend  the  New  York  meeting  by  reason  of  the 
cost  of  the  journey,  the  long  absence  from  duty  or  for 
other  reasons,  can  attend  the  Spring  Meeting  with  less 
sacrifice  of  time  and  of  traveling  expense.  This  has  re- 
sulted for  many  years  in  a  general  policy  of  having  the 
Spring  or  Semi-Annual  Meeting  at  some  point  West 
of  that  where  the  geographical  center  of  gravity  of  the 
area  covered  by  the  membership  might  lie  in  any  year. 
This  point  lies  in  Western  Pennsylvania  or  Eastern 
Ohio. 

This  policy  has  not  been  rigorously  followed  but  is 
departed  from  for  any  reasons  of  weight,  such  as  to 
bring  a  Spring  Meeting  into  New  England  once  in  a 
series  of  years  and  to  enable  the  Society  to  visit  Wash- 
ington or  a  city  in  Canada  during  a  season  of  attractive 
weather.  The  problem  of  comfortably  accommodating 
large  numbers  in  the  hotels  of  a  locality  must  influence 
the  selection  of  convention  cities  and  render  unavailable 
a  group  of  places  otherwise  most  desirable. 

Hotel  facilities  are  most  easily  found  at  summer 
resorts  and  the  experiment  has  been  tried  at  rare 
intervals  of  going  to  such  a  meeting  place  where  there 
would  be  no  distractions  of  an  engineering  sort  from  the 
sessions  for  the  reading  of  papers  and  where  full  op- 
portunity could  be  given  for  social  intercourse.  The  ob- 
jections to  this  plan  have  been  that  the  absence  of  engi- 
neering points  of  interests  has  made  earnest,  busy  men 
feel  that  they  did  not  win  adequate  return  for  the  time 
spent  away  from  office  and  business.  There  are  others 
to  whom  the  scenic  attractions  of  ocean  or  mountain  do 
not  make  an  appeal.  In  such  meetings  the  social  side 
will  inevitably  dominate  and  there  are  those  to  whom 
this  is  an  objection.  Notable  exceptions,  of  course,  are 
certain  historic  cities  or  those  such  as  Washington,  D.  C, 


A  HISTORY  OF  THE  SOCIETY  51 

where  the  associations  and  general  interest  are  para- 
mount and  the  engineering  interest  of  less  importance. 

The  first  method  of  selecting  the  place  of  meeting  was 
the  acceptance  of  an  invitation  from  a  group  of  members 
resident  in  a  city  or  area,  asking  the  Society  or  the 
Council  to  choose  their  center  as  a  meeting  place.  Such 
an  invitation  has  usually  behind  it  a  double  motive.  On 
the  part  of  members  it  is  the  desire  to  show  personal 
and  professional  hospitality  to  friends  and  colleagues. 
The  officials  of  the  city  and  its  Board  of  Trade  or 
Chamber  of  Commerce  who  concurred  in  the  invitation 
recognize  that  acquaintance  and  familiarity  with  the 
capacities  and  products  of  the  city  will  be  of  commercial 
and  industrial  advantage  to  it.  This  advantage  will  be 
both  subjective  within  the  city  and  objective  outside  of 
it.  Some  cities  have  organized  committees  which  seek 
to  bring  conventions  to  it  for  the  advantages  of  the 
hotels,  railways  and  general  reputation  and  publicity. 
The  Council  in  a  few  cases  has  itself  taken  the  initiative 
when  in  its  opinion  the  interests  of  local  industry  or  the 
reputation  of  the  Society  would  be  helped  by  a  meeting  in 
a  locality  and  perhaps  in  one  where  there  were  few  or  no 
resident  members.  Such  meetings  have  been  those  held 
in  certain  places  of  the  South,  at  Niagara  Falls,  and 
elsewhere. 

The  objection  to  the  first  policy  has  been  the 
existence  of  a  real  or  fancied  obligation  that  such  an  in- 
vitation given  to  the  Society  imposes  on  the  local  mem- 
bership or  the  local  industries  an  unavoidable  expendi- 
ture of  money  for  excursions  or  other  entertainment  of 
various  kinds.  These  difficulties  grew  with  the  increas- 
ing size  of  the  Society  and  the  number  of  members  at- 
tending its  conventions.  There  finally  resulted  a  second 
and  now  existing  policy  that  the  Council  should  appoint 
the  place  of  meeting  independent  of  any  invitation  from 
members  or  from  any  convention  or  promotion  bureau 
in  the  city  itself.  The  convenience  and  timeliness  or  ad- 
visability of  such  appointment  should  always  be  ascer- 
tained beforehand.  The  initiative,  however,  lies  with  the 


52       THE  AMERICAN  SOCIETY  OF  MECHANICAL  ENGINEERS 

Society  itself  and  should  impose  no  burden  (deemed  un- 
avoidable because  self-assumed)  as  respects  the  ex- 
pense attaching  to  carrying  out  the  program  of  the 
meetings.  This  policj''  is  the  one  now  in  force  and  has 
so  much  to  commend  it  that  it  will  be  changed  only  for 
reasons  which  do  not  now  appear  cogent. 

The  activities  attaching  to  a  meeting  of  the  Society 
fall  into  two  separate  groups.  The  one  is  the  professional 
work  of  the  program,  which  includes  a  hall  for  the  con- 
vention and  the  reading  and  discussion  of  papers,  the 
stenographers  to  report  the  meetings,  the  incidental 
printing  and  expense  for  registration  office  and  the 
Secretary's  official  obligations.  The  other  group  con- 
tains those  features,  which  may  be  classed  as  entertain- 
ment or  hospitality  and  include  the  invitation  to  works, 
the  transportation  to  these  or  on  excursions  to  other 
objective  points,  the  lunches  or  collations  to  be  served  on 
excursions  or  at  any  receptions  or  similar  functions,  and 
music  if  it  is  to  be  supplied  at  any  time. 

It  is  outside  the  arena  of  discussion  that  the  Society 
itself  should  meet  the  expenditures  in  the  first  group 
from  its  funds,  so  as  to  cover  all  matters  which  have  to 
do  with  material  which  goes  into  the  Transactions,  such 
as  papers,  discussions,  minutes  and  rental.  All  members 
of  the  Society  are  benefited  by  these  features  of  a 
meeting  whether  they  are  present  in  the  body  or  not, 
and  they  are  a  proper  charge  upon  dues  and  other 
Society  income.  It  is  not  so  clear  how  the  expenses  shall 
be  met  which  are  for  the  pleasure  only  of  those  who  are 
present  at  the  meeting  in  person  and  those  who  are  guests 
of  members  or  of  the  Society  or  its  hosts,  and  may  be 
assembled  for  purposes  not  directly  in  line  with  the 
objects  for  which  the  Society  exists. 

Two  possible  methods  seem  to  be  open,  and  a  third 
which  combines  them.  The  first  is  for  the  members  resi- 
dent in  the  city  where  the  meeting  is  to  be  held  to  con- 
tribute or  to  solicit  from  industries  interested  or  to 
secure  from  both  sources  what  the  ambition  of  the  com- 
mittee on  arrangements  decides  to  be  necessary.    The 


A  HISTORY  OF  THE  SOCIETY  53 

standard  is  set  by  entertainments  in  other  cities,  or  by 
the  civic  and  social  pride  of  the  leading  men.  The 
visitors  are  then  completely  in  the  position  of  guests  of 
the  resident  members  and  industries  and  are  put  in  the 
position  of  being  under  an  obligation  which  they  can  only 
return  when  their  own  city  becomes  the  host ;  and  where 
members  live  in  places  where  no  convention  will  ever  be 
assigned,  such  a  debt  of  obligation  can  never  be  canceled 
but  becomes  cumulative  as  the  years  go  by.  The  other 
extreme,  or  alternative  plan,  is  to  make  each  member 
attending  a  convention  pay  for  his  share  of  the  expenses 
of  entertaining  him  and  any  guests  whom  he  may  invite, 
and  to  deny  to  the  members  who  are  hosts  of  the  visiting 
members  the  privilege  of  doing  anything  in  the  way  of 
local  courtesies  which  cost  money.  The  local  committee 
may  secure  transportation  at  reduced  rates  in  the  city,  and 
organize  excursions  to  points  of  engineering  interest; 
but  they  must  not  pay  for  such  facilities,  nor  solicit  the 
gift  of  them  from  transportation  companies,  nor  ask  for 
free  special  trains  or  boats  for  excursions.  The  mem- 
bers of  the  Society  and  their  guests  are  to  pay  their  own 
way  and  by  purchased  tickets  of  admission  are  to  bear 
the  expenses  of  luncheons,  collations,  music  and  decora- 
tions and  similar  outgo. 

This  plan  avoids  the  embarrassments  of  obligation  to 
either  party,  and  the  dangers  from  an  extravagant 
standard  for  the  entertainment  of  visitors,  possible  in  a 
large  city  with  many  resident  members,  but  impossible 
in  the  smaller  city  or  where  the  resident  membership  is 
limited.  The  objections  to  this  latter  plan  are  that  it 
commercializes  the  relations  of  host  and  guest  in  a  way 
disagreeable  to  many.  It  permits  the  member  of 
moderate  means  to  exclude  himself  from  certain  features 
of  the  convention,  and  so  draws  a  line  of  class  distinction 
which  should  be  absent  in  such  a  coming-together  of  engi- 
neers. It  frustrates  and  antagonizes  the  instinct  of 
generous-minded  hosts,  or  of  those  who  would  feel  it 
a  privilege  and  opportunity  to  bear  a  share  in  entertain- 
ing friends  and  colleagues  who  have  come  to  their  city  on 


54      THE  AMERICAN  SOCIETY  OF  MECHANICAL  ENGINEERS 

the  initiative  of  the  Society  and  its  organization  of  a 
meeting  there.  It  has  the  further  and  practical  difficulty 
of  compelling  the  loc9,l  committee  of  arrangements  to 
inform  itself  in  advance  as  to  how  many  persons  propose 
to  buy  the  necessary  tickets  of  privilege  for  each  element 
of  the  entertainment  program,  or  else  to  arrange  to 
guarantee  any  deficit  or  gap  between  the  numbers 
anticipated  and  the  numbers  of  cash  purchasers  who  may 
or  may  not  elect  to  participate. 

The  difficulties  attaching  to  both  plans  will  be  most 
acute  in  the  case  of  an  Annual  Meeting  where  the  neces- 
sity for  entertainment  and  social  opportunity  recurs 
from  year  to  year,  or  with  considerable  frequency.  This 
makes  the  first  plan  burdensome,  and  points  to  the  work- 
ability of  the  second  plan  in  this  case,  in  spite  of  the  ob- 
jections to  it.  There  are  grave  difficulties  attaching  to 
the  idea  of  assessing  every  member  in  a  territory  within 
which  a  meeting  is  to  be  held,  with  the  purpose  that  the 
Society  shall  collect  it  through  its  channels  and  subject 
to  the  penalty  attaching  to  non-payment  of  dues  to  the 
organization.  This  further  makes  classes  of  membership 
and  claims  of  privilege  or  their  absence,  which  should 
not  exist.  It  remains  true  that  a  member  who  attends 
a  meeting  at  a  distance  from  home  spends  much  more 
than  he  will  be  likely  to  subscribe  if  the  meeting  was  held 
at  his  home  city.  This  constitutes  an  argument  for  the 
first  plan ;  but  it  does  not  apply  in  the  case  of  those  who 
would  not  attend  the  meeting  in  any  case  or  wherever  it 
was  held.  Such  might  properly  object  to  the  assess- 
ment plan  for  the  expenses  of  a  meeting. 

In  the  light  of  present  wisdom,  a  combination  of  these 
alternatives  seems  to  offer  the  least  objections.  Let 
each  member  attending  a  meeting  pay  his  transportation 
or  excursion  expenses  for  himself  and  his  guests;  and 
if  a  banquet  or  a  costly  reception  is  an  approved  feature, 
require  cards  of  admission  which  shall  similarly  be  paid 
for.  This  policy  reduces  the  number  of  "camp- 
followers"  and  simplifies  the  problem  which  they  present 
to  the  local  committee.    On  the  other  hand,  it  permits  the 


A  HISTORY  OF  THE  SOCIETY  55 

local  members  to  find  an  outlet  for  their  hospitality  by 
providing  collations  or  luncheons  on  the  excursions  at 
which  the  visitors  shall  be  the  guests  of  the  hosts  without 
imposing  the  requirement  of  a  purchased  ticket. 

A  special  problem  in  this  class,  but  a  much  simpler 
one  is  presented  as  respects  expenditure  in  connection 
with  monthly  or  other  meetings  of  local  groups  of  mem- 
bers or  meetings  of  professional  sections  held  at  times 
other  than  those  of  the  stated  Annual  or  Semi- Annual 
Meetings.  The  Society  should  plainly  provide  in  its 
budget  for  the  professional  expenses  of  such  meetings, 
such  as  rentals,  stenographer,  reports  and  minutes  and 
some  printing  and  postage.  Other  expenditures  of 
purely  individual  or  social  significance  to  the  members 
concerned  should  as  obviously  be  provided  for  by  sub- 
scription among  those  who  benefit  by  it.  There  are  here 
no  outsiders  in  any  number  to  be  considered  or  provided 
for.  While  such  gatherings  are  Society  meetings,  they 
are  not  meetings  of  the  Society  in  the  formal  and  legis- 
lative sense. 

Under  the  foregoing  general  principles,  for  many 
years,  a  Society  convention  provided  for  five  profes- 
sional sessions  in  three  days.  Under  the  pressure  of  the 
wider  interests  and  greater  number  of  papers  offered  in 
later  years,  synchronous  meetings  of  sections  of  groups 
have  been  provided  whereby  the  number  of  sessions 
could  be  increased  but  not  the  over-all  length  of  the  con- 
vention in  days.  The  objection  to  this  is  that  members 
interested  in  topics  in  contemporaneous  discussion  must 
choose  which  of  the  sessions  they  will  attend  in  person 
and  there  are  many  places  where  it  is  difficult  to  find 
separate  rooms  for  sessions  at  the  same  hours.  It 
seems,  however,  to  be  the  direction  of  normal  growth 
and  development.  There  still  must  survive  in  many 
places  the  formality  of  an  address  of  welcome  from  a 
civic  personage  at  an  opening  session  but  little  by  little 
this  is  sure  to  disappear.  It  is  made  of  the  least  futility 
by  convening  such  sessions  on  a  Tuesday  evening  so  that 
Society  business  may  begin  with  a  rush  on  "Wednesday 


56      THE  AMERICAN  SOCIETY  OF  MECHANICAL  ENGINEERS 

morning  and  can  be  ended  on  Friday  at  noon.  The  Tues- 
day evening  after  the  preliminary  numbers  can  also  be 
utilized  for  a  reunion  of  a  simple  sort,  intended  to  renew 
old  acquaintance,  and  enable  the  local  membership  and 
their  ladies  to  meet  the  visitors  and  be  ready  for  the  later 
features  of  the  program.  Then  will  follow  professional 
sessions  on  Wednesday  morning  and  evening,  and  on 
Thursday  and  Friday  mornings.  Wednesday  and 
Thursday  afternoons  are  then  available  for  visits  to 
engineering  plants  or  other  points  of  interest,  and 
Thursday  evening  may  be  utilized  for  a  distinctively  so- 
cial  function  if  it  is  so  desired.  Thursday  evening  may 
supply  time  for  a  professional  session  instead  of  Friday 
morning,  leaving  Friday  free  for  an  all-day  excursion  or 
visit.  Experience  shows  that  neither  executive  officers 
nor  members  find  three  separate  sessions  a  day  to  be 
productive  of  efficiency.  Tired  members  and  jaded  officers 
do  not  make  a  successful  session. 

THE  BANQUET  AT  CONVENTIONS 

The  Society  followed  at  first  and  for  some  years  the 
English  practice  of  giving  to  the  social  feature  of  the 
meeting,  usually  on  Thursday  evening,  the  form  of  a  sub- 
scription banquet.  Such  formal  functions  were  features 
of  the  meetings  at 

Hartford  May  1881 

Altoona August 1881 

New  York   November  1882 

Cleveland May  1883 

Pittsburgh    May  1884 

New  York    November   1885 

Chicago  May 1887 

New  York   December    1912 

New  York   December    1913 

New  York   December    1914 

Mr.  Alex.  L.  HoUey,  founder  of  the  Society,  was  a  de- 
lightful after-dinner  speaker  who  had  made  the  reunions 
of  the  Institute  of  Mining  Engineers  delightful  memories 
to  those  privileged  to  enjoy  them.  It  was  at  the  Hart- 
ford dinner  in  1881  that  he  made  his  memorable  address 


PAST-PRESIDENT 


THE  AMERICAN    SOCIETY  OF  MECHANICAL    ENGINEERS 


A  HISTORY  OF  THE  SOCIETY  57 

on  The  Inadequate  Union  of  Science  and  Art,  full  of 
epigram  and  sound  sense.  It  was  in  this  speech  that  he 
spoke  of  the  Corliss  locomotive,  which  as  a  recent  college 
graduate  he  ran  between  Providence  and  Stonington, 
Conn.  Its  complicated  valve  gear  was  full  of  lock  nuts  and 
springs.  It  had  a  fondness  for  coming  into  the  terminal 
with  one  side  out  of  action  and  a  violent  preference  for 
going  dead  over  an  open  trestle  in  winter  with  icy  water 
below.  Dr.  James  C.  Bayles,  also  a  delightful  memory 
of  the  Mining  Engineers '  banquets,  seconded  Mr.  Holley 
in  making  the  after-dinner  function  a  delight.  After  Mr. 
Holley 's  death  and  Dr.  Bayles 's  departure  from  the  edi- 
torial chair,  his  withdrawal  from  the  Society  and  later 
his  death,  the  burden  and  usually  the  failure  to  provide 
attractive  after-dinner  speakers  turned  the  attention  of 
the  Secretary  and  the  program  makers  to  the  dis- 
advantages of  the  banquet  as  a  social  feature.  In  the 
list  of  such  disadvantages  may  be  included: 

(a)  It  will  necessarily  be  a  subscription  feature. 
Those  who  feel  the  necessity  for  economizing  in  their  ex- 
penditure, or  whose  expenses  are  being  paid  for  the  sake 
of  the  professional  return  at  the  meeting,  will  stay 
away.  The  Society  is  at  once  stratified  and  divided  into 
classes,  one  of  which  gets  more  from  a  meeting  than  the 
other. 

(6)  A  banquet  is  a  success  when  one  is  well-seated; 
a  dismal  failure  if  one  is  not.  If  seated  among  friends 
already  made,  there  is  no  progress  effected  in 
acquaintance.  The  new  and  unacquainted  member  makes 
little  headway  for  no  one  seeks  him  for  a  neighbor. 

(c)  The  hard  and  fast  formality  of  the  seating  at 
table  does  not  favor  a  broadening  of  acquaintance  and 
its  growth.  The  banquet  therefore  fails  of  the  larger 
and  more  valuable  part  of  its  object. 

(d)  Speakers  fail  more  often  than  they  succeed. 

(e)  The  banquet  is  a  great  deal  of  trouble,  dispropor- 
tionate to  the  return  in  advantage. 

(/)  It  is  safest  and  cheapest  to  serve  it  without  wine ; 
tobacco  smoking  in  the  presence  of  the  ladies  of  the  party 


58       THE  AMERICAN  SOCIETY  OF  MECHANICAL  ENGINEEES 

is  bad  form  and  will  be  refrained  from ;  and  yet  both  of 
these  standards  will  be  objected  to  by  some.  If  they  pro- 
test to  the  extreme  of  staying  away  from  the  function, 
the  first  objection  is  reinforced. 

For  these  reasons  the  banquet  was  replaced  by  the 
reception.  It  was  made  a  function  whereby  every  mem- 
ber and  guest  was  formally  conducted  and  introduced  to 
the  President  of  the  Society  and  to  its  Secretary.  In  addi- 
tion at  the  Annual  Meeting  the  President-elect  and  the 
Honorary  Secretary  with  their  ladies  are  added  to  the 
reception  line  and,  at  the  Semi-Annual  Meetings,  the 
Chairman  of  the  Local  Committee  and  the  presiding 
Vice-President  where  there  are  contemporaneous 
sessions  held,  are  also  placed  in  line.  After  the  for- 
malities of  introduction  and  handshaking  are  over, 
music,  dancing  and  a  supper  follow.  The  freedom  of 
intercourse,  the  wide  participation  of  all  members,  the 
invitation  feature  for  the  local  membership  who  are  en- 
tertaining the  Society,  and  its  effectiveness  for  its  pur- 
pose are  emphatically  valid  arguments  in  its  favor.  It 
is  particularly  advantageous  to  the  young  member  of  the 
Society  and  to  members  and  ladies  who  have  not  attended 
many  meetings  hitherto.  The  young  member  will  always 
be  a  unit  in  the  class  of  listeners  at  a  banquet,  rather 
than  in  the  participant  class. 

VIVA  VOCE  LEGISLATION  AT  MEETINGS 

Another  principle  of  the  philosophy  of  administra- 
tion in  a  national  society  of  engineers  which  became 
visible  in  time,  was  the  futility  of  getting  the  Society  in 
session  at  conventions  to  pass  resolutions  asking  some 
other  body  to  take  some  action.  This  was  notably  ap- 
parent when  the  proposition  was  made  to  urge  the  United 
States  Congress  or  one  of  its  committees  to  take  some 
admirable  action  in  relation  to  engineering  matters,  or 
the  prosecution  of  governmental  research.  This  policy 
appeared  first  in  regard  to  the  establishment,  or  re- 
vivifying, of  a  commission  to  test  the  materials  of  con- 
struction; and  again  to  relieve  the  unendurable  conges- 


A  HISTOEY  OF  THE  SOCIETY  59 

tion  in  the  United  States  Patent  Office ;  in  opposition  to  a 
compulsory  introduction  of  the  metric  system  of  meas- 
ures ;  and  again  in  connection  with  what  was  then  called 
the  Naval  Personel  Bill,  to  secure  the  same  standing  and 
relative  rank  for  officers  in  the  staff  and  the  line ;  and  in 
many  other  similar  opportunities.  Able  and  enthusiastic 
advocates  have  offered  well-worded  resolutions  on  the 
floor  of  the  sessions,  for  the  Society  to  pass  with  a  view 
to  putting  itself  on  record,  and  for  such  action  to  be 
transmitted  to  the  arena  of  debate  in  Congress  to 
strengthen  the  arguments  on  one  side  or  the  other.  The 
best  critics  and  of  the  soundest  judgment  have  held  that 
votes  and  resolutions  of  this  class  do  not  count  for  much ; 
and  are  therefore  of  disadvantage  to  the  Society  in  a 
lowering  of  its  dignity.  Persons  acquainted  with  the  real 
meaning  of  such  a  *Hown  meeting"  vote  know  that  it 
is  not  representative  of  the  Society  as  a  whole,  but  of  only 
a  relatively  small  number;  furthermore,  a  skilfully  pre- 
sented plea  in  such  a  meeting  can  win  an  affirmative  vote 
from  the  unthinking  and  easily  led,  no  matter  how  ill- 
advised  the  content  of  the  resolution.  It  would  be  much 
better  to  have  the  matter  in  question  referred  to  some 
deliberative  body,  such  as  the  Council,  to  consider  it  in 
all  its  aspects,  and  then  to  formulate  such  action  as 
such  careful  consideration  would  suggest.  In  matters 
relating  to  national  legislation,  the  wise  precedent  was 
early  established  that  the  form  which  the  Society  in- 
fluence should  take  might  better  be  the  sending  of  per- 
sonal letters  from  the  prominent  men  of  the  Society  to 
the  legislators  whom  they  knew  personally,  covering 
their  advocacy  of  the  proposed  policy  or  bill.  Such  per- 
sonal letters  were  of  more  value  than  bundles  of  resolu- 
tions, which  any  legislator  knows  can  be  secured  with 
little  effort  and  consequently  have  corresponding  lack  of 
weight. 

The  same  or  a  parallel  line  of  reasoning  and  pro- 
cedure has  prevailed  in  the  handling  of  Society  questions 
where  deliberate  consideration  as  to  the  wisdom  of 
taking  action  has  been  required.    The  forum  of  the  open 


60       THE  AMERICAN  SOCIETY  OF  MECHANICAL  ENGINEERS 

meeting  is  not  the  best  place  to  form  wise  opinions,  and 
particularly  under  the  pressure  of  a  powerful  person- 
ality or  a  group  of  them  pressing  their  advocacy  of  their 
views  of  the  question.  Even  so  intermural  a  question  as 
the  formation  of  a  professional  committee  to  examine 
a  subject  and  report,  and  particularly  the  constitution  of 
such  a  committee  in  order  that  all  interests  may  be  fairly 
representative,  is  a  matter  which  a  wise  and  sound  pre- 
cedent refers  from  the  Society  meeting  to  the  Council 
with  power. 

To  meet  and  avoid  some  of  the  difficulties  surround- 
ing a  viva  voce  vote  on  important  questions,  the  Society 
has  followed  the  precedent  of  the  letter  ballot  in  some 
cases.  This  was  assumed  in  the  earlier  forms  of  the  Con- 
stitution of  the  Society  and  was  specifically  incorporated 
into  the  provisions  of  the  revision  of  1904.  Every 
member  can  then  impress  and  express  his  views,  and 
not  only  those  present  at  a  particular  place.  Many  on 
the  other  hand  must  be  imperfectly  informed  as  to  the 
considerations  and  arguments  to  be  advanced  when  the 
question  is  a  controversial  one ;  votes  may  be  influenced 
by  the  parties  willing  to  spend  the  effort  to  electioneer 
for  votes  and  who  always  present  only  one  side  of  the 
case.  Some  members  will  not  vote  in  any  case  where  they 
do  not  feel  adequately  informed. 

The  election  of  officers  is  always  by  letter  ballot  to 
give  every  member  the  feeling  that  he  has  a  voice  in  the 
formulating  of  the  Society's  policy  through  the  persons 
whom  he  votes  into  office.  Amendments  to  the  Constitu- 
tion are  also  always  effected  by  letter  ballot,  although 
the  early  Constitution  gave  to  the  majority  present  at 
an  Annual  Meeting  the  privilege  and  duty  of  the  declara- 
tive act  to  amend.  The  only  two  questions  outside  of 
this  group  which  have  been  submitted  to  letter-ballot 
have  had  to  do  with  the  attitude  of  the  Society  towards 
a  proposed  compulsory  introduction,  either  into  govern- 
mental departments  or  upon  the  nation  as  a  whole,  of 
the  metric  units  for  measurement  of  lengths,  which 
would  make  the  use  and  retention  of  gages  and  standards 


A  HISTORY  OF  THE  SOCIETY  61 

based  on  the  English  inch  or  the  standard  illegal  in  in- 
dustry.   The  first  action  was : 

Resolved,  That  the  Society  deprecate  any  legislation  tending  to  make 
obligatory  the  introduction  of  the  metric  system  of  measurement  into  our 
industrial  establishments;  also  that  the  Secretary  be  instructed  to  com- 
municate the  sentiment  of  this  resolution  to  any  one  concerned  in  procur- 
ing such  legislation;  and  further  that  a  copy  of  this  resolution  be  sent 
to  the  Anti-Metric  Society  of  Cleveland,  Ohio/ 

The  vote  on  this  resolution  was  135,  of  which  111 
voted  ''Aye."    The  membership  was  then  about  250.^ 

The  second  letter-ballot  in  this  class  was  ordered  in 
1902;^  the  vote  as  classified  by  the  tellers  who  counted 
it  showed:  In  favor  of  the  adoption  of  the  Metric 
System  as  the  only  legal  standard  in  the  U.  S.,  103  (being 
20%) ;  against  adoption  of  the  Metric  System  as  the  only 
legal  standard  in  the  U.  S.,  363  (being  80%) ;  in  favor 
of  legislation  which  would  promote  adoption  of  the 
Metric  System,  153  (being  33%);  against  such  legisla- 
tion, 311  (being  66%);  the  substitution  of  the  Metric 
System  for  the  English  would  be  detrimental  to  business, 
243  (being  58%) ;  such  substitution  not  detrimental,  145 
(being  42%);  such  substitution  would  be  advan- 
tageous, 89. 

The  membership  of  the  Society  was  over  2,500  at 
this  time,  and  of  this  number  only  514  voted,  or  a  few 
over  20  per  cent.  In  both  these  cases  the  ballot  was 
rather  an  expression  of  opinion  than  a  legislating  vote. 

STANDARDS  CREATED  BY  COMMITTEES  OF  THE  SOCIETY 

It  was  the  expressed  wish  of  those  who  founded  the 
Society  that  when  it  came  to  its  own,  it  should  be  able 
to  speak  with  authority  on  professional  matters,  and 
not  as  the  scribes  identified  with  some  personal  interest. 
The  representatives  of  all  branches  would  have  a  horizon 
or  judgment  much  broader  than  those  of  any  one  or  two 
persons,  however  highly  specialized  in  their  own  line. 
From  this  grew  the  idea  of  having  the  Society  create 


^Trans.,  vol.  2,  p.  9,  1881. 

*Ibid,  p.  4. 

'Trans.,  vol.  24,  p.  76,  1902. 


62       THE  AMERICAN  SOCIETY  OF  MECHANICAL  ENGINEERS 

standards  of  procedure,  of  method  or  design,  which  after 
scrutiny  and  possible  attack  in  the  Society  should  then 
be  accepted  as  having  value  as  recommendations.  After 
such  scrutiny  the  standard  would  have  an  acceptability 
and  a  value  much  greater  than  that  of  any  individual 
recommendation. 

The  activities  of  the  Society  in  this  connection  are 
listed  in  Chapter  XVI,  but  a  problem  and  a  philosophy 
respecting  such  standards  may  properly  receive  atten- 
tion here.  The  usual  procedure  to  secure  consideration 
of  a  proposed  standard  has  been  for  the  person  in- 
terested in  its  creation  to  contribute  a  paper.  This 
paper,  or  the  discussion  of  it,  would  commonly  embody 
a  resolution  referring  to  the  Council  the  expediency  of 
appointing  a  committee  to  consider  and  report  their  rec- 
ommendations. The  committee  would  then  be  created 
if  the  Council  acted  favorably  on  the  resolution  of  refer- 
ence, and  it  would  select  competent  persons  to  give 
weight  and  scope  to  its  report. 

What  should  the  Society  do  with  such  report  of  the 
committee  if  it  embodied  a  recommendation  of  one  or 
more  standards? 

Two  courses  would  appear  to  be  open.  One  would  be 
to  receive  the  report  if  acceptable  and  by  vote  of  the 
meeting  or  by  letter  ballot  of  the  Society  to  adopt  the 
recommendations  of  the  committee  and  make  their  action 
that  of  the  Society  as  a  whole.  This  is  followed  by  cer- 
tain societies.  The  other  plan  is  to  receive  the  report, 
order  it  upon  the  record  of  the  meeting  and  print  it  in 
the  Transactions,  but  to  refrain  from  any  action  which 
would  be  construed  or  known  as  an  adoption  of  the  re- 
port and  its  recommendations.  This  action  carries  with 
it  a  weight  and  recommendation  but  no  further  obliga- 
tion. 

The  Society  adopted  the  latter  policy  after  a  most 
valuable  debate  in  1885,  on  the  presentation  of  the  J5rst 
committee  report  recommending  a  standard  method  for 
the  testing  of  steam  boilers.  The  reasons  for  this  decision 
never  to  adopt  a  report  as  official  action  have  included : 


A  HISTORY  OF  THE  SOCIETY  63 

(o)  No  report  or  standard  is  properly  labeled  as 
adopted  by  a  national  society  when  such  action  is  taken 
by  a  relatively  small  minority  of  the  entire  membership 
assembled  at  a  convention,  and  voting  viva  voce  from  its 
floor. 

(b)  Such  vote  to  adopt  must  therefore  be  a  letter 
ballot  of  the  entire  body  to  be  properly  representative 
of  the  Society  as  a  whole. 

(c)  Relatively  few  of  such  voters  of  a  letter  ballot 
are  qualified  by  experience  on  the  subject  matter  to  vote 
intelligently  in  the  affirmative,  or  to  antagonize  its  posi- 
tions by  a  negative  vote.  By  far  the  greater  number 
voting  will  do  so  because  the  committee  reporting  has 
their  confidence ;  the  committee  has  worked  hard  and  the 
report  represents  its  matured  judgment.  Such  a  letter 
ballot,  therefore,  has  not  so  much  greater  real  weight 
than  the  report  of  the  qualified  committee,  or  the  affirma- 
tive vote  of  the  open  meeting. 

(d)  Should  the  adopted  standard  be  an  article  of 
manufacture  by  any  persons  or  corporation,  the  Society 
is  taken  into  a  sort  of  implied  business  partnership  in 
the  production  and  sales  of  such  an  adopted  standard. 
No  business  move  could  be  more  shrewd  than  to  succeed 
in  inducing  the  Society  to  favor  such  vested  interests  in 
production;  where  low  moral  standards  prevail  it  is 
conceivable  that  an  effort  might  be  made  to  buy  the 
adoption  of  such  a  standard. 

(e)  The  procedure  to  modify  or  replace  a  standard 
as  knowledge  and  industrial  conditions  advance  should 
require  a  letter  ballot  of  the  entire  voting  membership 
if  such  a  standard  has  been  adopted  by  the  Society.  It 
might  easily  be  made  difficult  to  secure  the  necessary 
majority  of  the  entire  Society  to  favor  such  reconsidera- 
tion. The  Society  therefore  stands  committed  to  some- 
thing outworn,  and  hence  to  its  prejudice  and  dis- 
advantage. 

(/)  Controversies  between  interests  involved  in  the 
adoption  or  the  defeat  or  the  reconsideration  of  stand- 
ards will  bring  into  the  Society  the  atmosphere  of  the 


64      THE  AMERICAN  SOCIETY  OP  MECHANICAL  ENGINEEES 

market-place.  The  Society  is  a  professional  body,  not  a 
commercial  one,  and  should  keep  to  its  own  high  plane 
of  thinking  and  activity. 

{g)  It  is  conceivable  that  the  Society  might  be  made 
a  party  in  a  suit  for  pecuniary  damage  done  to  some  one 
bj^  its  action  in  adopting  a  standard  which  entailed  ex- 
pense to  one  who  was  making  a  differing  standard,  or 
which  invaded  his  business  prosperity.  The  Society  was 
without  any  pecuniary  interest  in  the  premises  whatever, 
but  being  an  incorporated  body  it  is  liable  to  suit,  and 
to  a  judgment  against  it  if  such  suit  was  won  on  the 
basis  of  an  official  action  taken. 

INSIGNIA   OF    THE   SOCIETY,   SEAL,   DIPLOMA,   BADGE, 
MEMBERSHIP  CARD 

The  Society  was  incorporated  under  the  laws  of  the 
State  of  New  York  on  December  1,  1881.  It  became 
necessary  to  design  a  seal  to  be  affixed  to  official  instru- 
ments. The  accepted  design  was  that  of  the  lever  of 
Archimedes  which  was  capable  of  lifting  the  world 
should  an  adequate  fulcrum  be  found.  The  suggestion 
was  that  the  union  of  men  of  science  could  be  the  place 
on  which  to  rest  the  influence  which  the  Society  sought 
to  wield.  The  globe  rests  on  the  shorter  arm  of  the 
lever.  When  later  a  separate  library  association  was 
thought  advisable  (Chapter  XV),  the  same  line  of 
thought  placed  a  lifting  jack  under  the  world  globe 
and  the  orderly  pile  of  books  was  the  resting  place  for 
the  base  of  the  jack.  This  design  of  the  world  and  the 
lever  was  formed  into  an  intaglio  die,  by  which  paper 
could  be  embossed,  and  it  was  thus  affixed  to  certificates 
of  membership  and  cards  of  introduction.  It  has  also 
been  used  for  many  years  on  envelopes,  mail  wrappers 
and  the  Society's  publications  to  give  an  individuality 
to  the  matter  emanating  from  Society  headquarters. 

THE  DIPLOMA  OR  CERTIFICATE  OF  MEMBERSHIP 

The  Council  authorized  or  directed  in  the  first  year  of 
the  Society's  existence  that  the  member  on  election  should 


A  HISTORY  OP  THE  SOCIETY  05 

be  entitled  to  a  certificate  or  diploma  signed  by  the  Presi- 
dent and  the  Secretary  and  with  the  Society's  seal  affixed 
which  would  certify  to  the  fact  of  his  election  and 
membership  in  the  proper  grade.  The  philosophy  of  the 
certificate  or  diploma  is  two-fold.  If  framed  and  hung 
on  the  wall  of  an  engineer's  office,  it  is  a  publicity  docu- 
ment attesting  without  speech  to  the  functions  of  this 
Society,  tending  to  excite  interest  in  an  organization  of 
such  exalted  aim  and  possibly  a  desire  on  the  part  of  the 
beholder  to  join  also.  On  the  other  hand,  it  is  a  silent 
witness  for  the  holder  of  such  a  diploma  and  testimony 
that  five  other  engineers  knew  him  well  and  favorably 
enough  to  allow  the  use  of  their  names  in  his  candidacy 
before  the  Society  and  when  his  name  was  submitted  to 
the  voting  authorities  of  the  Society,  there  was  nothing 
said  or  known  to  militate  against  his  election.  The  cer- 
tificate and  the  membership  which  it  evidences  are  a  sort 
of  "cachet"  as  the  holder's  engineering  and  other  quali- 
fications. 

The  certificate  is  printed  from  a  plate  or  stone  in 
ornate  style  20  by  24  inches  in  size,  with  the  name  of  the 
member  engrossed  thereon  and  his  grade  of  membership ; 
it  is  signed  by  the  President  in  office  at  the  time  of  elec- 
tion, sealed  with  the  official  seal,  and  countersigned  and 
attested  by  the  Secretary's  signature.  Its  wording  is  as 
follows : 

THE 
AMERICAN  SOCIETY  OF  MECHANICAL  ENGINEERS 

Incorporated  1881 
This  is  to  Certify  that 


of 


The  American  Society  of  Mechanical  Engineers,  an  or- 
ganization for  promoting  acquisition  of  that  Knowledge  which 


66       THE  AMERICAN  SOCIETY  OF  MECHANICAL  ENGINEERS 

is  necessary  to  the  Mechanical  Engineer  to  enable  him  most 
effectively  to  adapt  the  achievements  of  Science  and  Art  to 
the  use  of  mankind. 

Witness  our  bands  and  Seal  at  New  York  this 

day  of  19 

President  Secretary 

MEMBERSHIP  CARD 

The  membership  certificate  is  not  portable.  It  was 
early  thought  that  a  useful  purpose  would  be  served  if 
the  Society  was  to  furnish  to  its  elected  members  a  card 
of  introduction  bearing  the  signature  of  the  Secretary 
as  a  means  of  authenticating  him  and  to  carry  also  the 
signature  of  the  holder  so  as  not  to  be  transferable  to 
unauthorized  hands.  After  the  card  was  signed  by  the 
member  it  was  returned  to  the  Society  office  and  the 
paper  embossed  by  the  die  seal  as  an  additional  protec- 
tion and  authentication.  It  was,  of  course,  an  identifica- 
tion card  in  case  of  emergency  and  could  be  used  to  ac- 
company the  member's  personal  card  when  he  sought  to 
introduce  himself. 

A  second  form  designed  in  1902  bore  the  embossed 
seal  of  the  Society  in  red  upon  a  card  of  smaller  size 
but  did  not  authenticate  the  member  *s  signature.  The 
third  and  recent  form  carried  on  the  reverse  side  the 
names  of  the  societies  and  engineering  bodies  with  which 
the  Society  is  in  correspondence  relations  entitling  the 
member  to  the  courtesies  and  privileges  of  the  house, 
meetings  and  library  of  the  related  organizations  to 
which  the  Society  of  Mechanical  Engineers  extends 
reciprocal  favors. 

THE  MEMBER'S  GOLD  BADGE 

The  advantage  of  a  personal  emblem  to  be  worn  as 
a  piece  of  jewelry  by  the  members  was  also  realized  in 
the  first  year  of  the  Society  history.  It  was  made  in  the 
form  of  a  watch  charm  or  a  pin  to  be  worn  on  the  waist- 
coat or  neck  scarf  and  to  carry  to  the  eye  the  fact  of 
membership   in  the   Society   without   the   act   of  self- 


A  HISTORY  OF  THE  SOCIETY  67 

introduction.  The  need  of  such  an  emblem  is  manifest 
at  meetings  or  conventions  where  non-members  may  also 
be  accidentally  present  in  assemblies;  or  in  travel  or 
sojourn  among  strange  persons  as  an  opening  of  in- 
troduction between  those  who  are  as  yet  strangers,  the 
badge  has  an  obvious  and  real  value.  Its  design  is  that 
of  conventionalized  four  leaf  clover  or  emblem  of  good 
fortune  in  gold,  enamelled  in  dark  blue  and  with  an 
initial  of  the  Society  name  on  each  leaf.  The  Society 
has  always  reserved  the  right  to  order  these  emblems 
manufactured,  to  safeguard  the  design  and  the  right  to 
wear  it,  as  well  as  to  maintain  the  quality  of  the  work- 
manship. A  few  enthusiastic  members  have  jewelled 
their  badge. 

It  may  be  of  interest  to  speak  of  the  origin  of  this 
badge.  A  Mr.  Robert  Sneider,  an  engraver  and  stationer 
on  Broadway,  New  York,  had  been  employed  to  prepare 
an  ornamental  die  for  use  in  connection  with  printed 
matter  related  to  the  Hartford  meeting  in  the  Spring  of 
1881.  The  four  leaf  clover  symbol  was  the  submitted 
design  used  on  the  programs  of  that  meeting.  Its  neat- 
ness and  appropriateness  appealed  to  the  Society  to 
such  an  extent  that  the  design  was  selected  without  ma- 
terial change  as  the  badge  of  the  Society.  It  was  made 
for  many  years  by  a  Mr.  Demarest  on  Broadway  and 
later  transferred  to  the  shops  of  Bailey,  Banks  and 
Biddle  of  Philadelphia. 

The  earlier  practice  was  to  change  the  blue  enamel 
of  the  member  *s  badge  for  a  red  background  when  the 
member  became  an  officer  by  election.  This  was  dis- 
continued after  ten  years  or  so,  because  the  blue  was  the 
handsomer  color,  the  exchange  of  badges  a  troublesome 
detail  and  in  the  lapse  of  years  the  significance  of  the 
fact  of  office  grew  less  as  compared  with  the  broad 
significance  of  attested  membership.  There  was  also  a 
I  period  in  which  the  badge  of  Junior  membership  was  a 
special  design  of  a  round  gold  disk  with  the  four  initials 
of  the  Society's  name  in  a  monogram  or  cipher  of  script 
letters.    This  was  discontinued  later  for  the  same  reason, 


68      THE  AMEBICAN  SOCIETY  OP  MECHANICAL  ENGINEERS 

that  the  fact  of  significance  was  that  of  membership  and 
not  of  the  grade  of  such  membership.  It  was  of  ad- 
vantage that  the  form  should  become  of  universal  rec- 
ognition and  variants  from  one  standard  tended  only  to 
confusion.  The  single  design  is  therefore  now  in  use,  the 
red  enamel  color  being  reserved  for  Juniors. 

It  is  obviously  proper  that  when  a  membership 
terminates  by  death  or  resignation  or  otherwise,  that  the 
pin,  badge  and  introduction  card  should  be  returned  to 
the  Society  as  an  evidence  of  good  faith  and  the  cer- 
tificate of  membership  either  destroyed  or  kept  from 
going  into  improper  hands. 

The  Society  is  always  ready  to  buy  back  the  gold  pin. 

ACTION  OP  THE  SOCIETY  ON  THE  DEATH  OP  A  MEMBEB 

The  death  of  a  member  of  the  Society  in  its  early  and 
formative  days  seemed  necessarily  like  the  reaching  of 
a  ''shining  mark"  by  the  dread  arrow,  because  the  first 
group  of  members  was  constituted  largely  of  men  who 
had  attained  to  eminence  and  who  were  for  this  reason 
invited  to  become  charter  members.  There  was,  there- 
fore, usually  good  reason  for  the  Society  or  its  Council 
to  take  the  usual  action  of  deliberative  bodies  and  pass 
resolutions  for  record  and  for  transmittal  to  those  be- 
reaved. It  soon  became  manifest,  however,  that  with 
the  growth  of  the  Society  this  procedure  would  become 
purely  perfunctory  from  a  lack  of  acquaintance  with 
facts  of  experience  and  with  personality;  and  it  would 
not  do  to  take  memorial  action  for  one  and  not  for 
another.  All  deceased  members  must  be  honored  alike, 
and  yet  on  the  other  hand  the  meetings  of  the  Society  and 
of  the  Council  were  filled  with  business  of  importance, 
and  the  time  of  busy  engineers  should  not  be  too  seriously 
invaded  by  turning  such  assemblies  into  reunions  of 
mourners.  The  difficulty  must  also  be  avoided  of  allow- 
ing the  voice  of  surviving  friendship  to  be  heard  at 
length  as  respects  a  member  of  moderate  professional 
reputation  or  one  limited  in  scope,  while  the  accidental 
absence  of  such  a  friend  would  permit  the  death  of  an 


A  HISTORY  OF  THE  SOCIETY  69 

eminent  and  distinguished  engineer  to  pass  unnoticed. 
This  difficulty  is  as  old  as  the  Augustan  age,  in  which 
Virgil  sang  his  regret  for  some  hero  because  ''he  lacked 
a  consecrated  minstrel"  to  keep  his  fame  alive  in  verse 
and  song. 

To  meet  and  neutralize  these  objections  the  practice 
was  developed  in  which  the  Secretary  reports  for  record 
in  the  minutes  of  the  Council  the  losses  by  death  since 
its  last  meeting  and  similarly  records  the  names  in  the 
proceedings  of  the  Society  at  its  conventions.  The 
Council  orders  the  preparation  of  a  memorial  notice  by 
the  Society  and  its  publication  in  The  Journal,  or  the 
Transactions,  or  both.  The  Secretary  is  editorially  re- 
sponsible for  the  contents  of  such  memorial,  in  order  that 
it  may  confine  itself  mainly  to  matters  of  professional 
achievement,  and  may  avoid  eulogy  or  panegyric  as 
respects  the  personal  or  social  qualities;  but  he  is  ex- 
pected to  get  all  possible  help  from  a  member's  pro- 
posers, or  business  associates  or  from  the  family.  Ex- 
ception is  made,  however,  to  this  general  rule  in  the  case 
of  Honorary  Members  and  Past-Presidents  of  the  So- 
ciety. These  have  been  placed  in  positions  of  honor  and 
distinction  in  the  Society  by  formal  vote  of  its  members 
electing  them  thereto,  and  it  is  proper  that  their  death 
and  their  achievements  should  be  more  distinctively 
recognized.  Their  memorials  are  monographs  prepared 
by  some  qualified  person  and  are  illustrated  with  por- 
traits. It  must  still  remain  in  days  of  concerted  achieve- 
ment of  many  minds  in  one  undertaking,  that  the  history 
of  a  single  personality  will  often  be  the  professional 
history  of  scientific  progress  in  any  age  or  in  any  line. 
These  memorial  notices  are  the  place  to  record  such 
personal  connection  with  acts  and  decisions  now  matters 
of  general  information,  and  will  be  found  of  greatest 
value  for  these  reasons.  They  should  be  continuously 
maintained  in  the  life  of  the  Society. 


CHAPTER  V 

Standing  Committees  of  the  Society 

It  has  already  been  stated  that  in  the  first  fourteen 
years  of  the  Society's  history  the  Secretary  was  the 
prime  minister  as  well  as  the  executive  of  the  Council. 
The  initiative  and  most  of  the  details  lay  in  his  hands 
and  his  ability  and  energy  conditioned  to  a  great  de- 
gree the  extent  and  variety  of  the  Society's  work.  It 
was  obvious,  however,  that  to  relieve  the  Secretary  of  the 
burdens  of  responsibility  there  ought  to  be  administra- 
tive committees  to  oversee  his  work  and  assume  some 
responsibility  for  it.  The  two  committees  appointed  to 
this  end  were  the  Finance  and  the  Publication  Commit- 
tees and,  in  the  earlier  and  simpler  days,  these  were 
enough. 

The  Finance  Committee  had  the  burden  of  making 
expenditure  correspond  to  income.  It  prepared  the 
budget  for  the  year  on  the  basis  of  expected  income,  and 
the  Treasurer  demanded  the  signature  of  the  Chairman 
of  the  Finance  Committee  on  every  bill  before  he  con- 
sidered himself  authorized  to  pay  it.  The  Council  ap- 
proved the  budget  of  the  Finance  Committee  and  the 
Secretary  incurred  expenses  under  the  appropriations  so 
approved.  There  was  never  any  surplus  in  income  over 
expenditures  calling  for  a  deliberation  of  the  Finance 
Committee  as  to  its  disposal.  The  Treasurer  drew  a 
check  for  each  individual  bill.  The  Secretary  advanced 
the  petty  cash  necessary  for  office  operations  out  of  his 
own  funds  and  presented  a  reimbursing  voucher  at 
proper  intervals.  The  bookkeeping  was  of  the  simplest 
elementary  type. 

The  Publication  Committee  was  responsible  for  the 
approval  of  the  papers  which  had  been  secured  by  the 

70 


A  HISTORY  OF  THE  SOCIETY  71 

Secretary.  It  was  responsible  for  the  quality  of  that 
which  appeared  in  the  Transactions  and  everything 
which  it  accepted  as  of  adequate  quality  was  read  at  the 
meetings  and  published  in  the  volume  of  Transactions. 
The  Secretary  was  the  editor  and  the  committee  was  only 
called  in  on  editorial  questions  when  for  any  reason  it 
was  desirable  that  he  should  be  protected  by  an  imper- 
sonal action  from  the  wrath  of  contributors.  Circulars 
were  issued  by  the  Secretary  at  intervals  to  ask  for  topics 
on  which  papers  would  be  found  of  interest  and  any  sug- 
gestion in  a  debate  which  revealed  an  available  storage 
house  of  information  was  at  once  seized  on  in  corre- 
spondence. 

In  1885  the  first  further  development  of  standing 
committees  to  be  created  was  the  Library  Committee,  but 
for  many  years  after  its  formation  there  were  no  funds 
for  it  to  spend  and  its  activities  were  limited  to  a  general 
oversight  of  the  problem  of  extending  the  list  of  ex- 
changes. It  took  a  new  lease  of  life  and  activity  when 
the  Society  moved  in  1889  to  the  new  building  of  the 
Mott  Memorial  Library  and  again  in  1890  into  a  build- 
ing with  an  available  library  area.  The  Library  Com- 
mittee, however,  was  soon  merged  as  respects  its  ac- 
tivity, into  the  work  of  the  Mechanical  Engineers' 
Library  Association  Board  and  the  latter  discharged  the 
duties  of  a  Society  Library  Committee,  until  the  move 
was  made  to  the  great  Engineering  Societies  Building  in 
1906-1907. 

The  fourth  standing  committee  became  necessary 
when  the  Society  moved  in  1890  to  its  building  at  12  West 
Thirty-First  Street.  The  House  Committee  was  then 
created  to  plan  the  expenditure  and  to  carry  the  re- 
sponsibility for  the  increased  activities  when  the  So- 
ciety occupied  its  own  house.  This  House  Committee 
was  in  charge  of  any  reunions  of  members  and  the  care 
and  supervision  over  such  decorative  and  historic  ma- 
terial as  the  possession  of  a  Society  House  made  it  pos- 
sible to  receive  and  exhibit.  All  these  committees  were 
newly  appointed  by  the  President  on  assuming  oflfice,  but 


72       THE  AMERICAN  SOCIETY  OF  MECHANICAL  ENGINEEES 

ordinarily  an  effective  and  faithful  man  would  be  re- 
tained from  year  to  year.  Mr.  Stephen  W.  Baldwin,  for 
example,  was  Chairman  of  the  Finance  Committee  of  the 
Society  for  eighteen  years.  Major  Wm.  H.  Wiley  was 
Chairman  of  the  Publication  Committee  for  nearly  as 
many  years. 

The  re-organization  of  internal  activities  of  the  So- 
ciety which  took  place  in  1904  was  the  result  of  the 
change  of  policy  which  was  made  at  that  time  whereby 
the  interest  and  energy  of  members  of  the  Society  could 
be  enlisted  in  the  conduct  of  its  affairs  by  making  them 
members  of  Standing  Committees,  which  should  be  truly 
legislative  and  deliberative  bodies  under  the  supervising 
authority  of  the  Council.  This  multiplied  the  agencies 
for  Society  work  centering  in  the  Secretary's  office  and 
the  powers  and  energies  formerly  at  work  there.  The 
new  policies  were  built  upon  the  foundation  of  the  old, 
or  greatly  extended  as  a  growing  importance  of  their 
work  made  necessary.  A  new  committee  was  created  to 
discharge  some  of  the  old  activities  of  the  Publication 
Committee  and  to  take  on  many  functions  which  the 
Secretary  had  previously  exercised  under  the  general  au- 
thority of  his  office.  The  existing  four  committees  were 
retained  with  extended  activities. 

The  name  Committee  on  Meetings  was  assigned  to  the 
new  committee.  Its  duties  were  to  obtain  the  papers  for 
presentation  at  meetings  and  to  pass  upon  their  accepta- 
bility. The  duty  of  deciding  after  presentation  and  dis- 
cussion at  the  meetings  upon  what  papers  and  discussion 
should  be  worthy  of  permanent  record  in  the  Transac- 
tions of  the  Society  was  put  in  the  hands  of  the  Publica- 
tion Committee.  The  Committee  on  Meetings  was  also 
made  the  responsible  agency  with  respect  to  the  program 
of  the  meetings,  not  only  as  regards  the  papers  and  their 
assignment  of  place  and  time  but  also  of  details  as  to 
visits,  excursions  and  side  trips.  All  matters  which  were 
germane  to  the  function  of  a  Standing  Committee  were  to 
be  handled  in  the  committee  before  they  came  up  to  the 
Council  for  consideration,  if  the  latter  took  place  at  all. 


DENT      1887  /"^  >^  ^^S^ 


iE    AMERICAN     SOCIETY    OF   MECHANICAL    ENGINEERS 


I 


A  HISTOBY  OF  THE  SOCIETY  73 

The  committee  on  Meetings  soon  found  that  it  was 
the  most  heavily  burdened  Standing  Committee  of  them 
all.  The  volume  of  papers  increased,  and  presently  addi- 
tional meetings  of  local  groups  of  members  and  of  sec- 
tions of  the  Society  organized  along  professional  or  other 
lines  contributed  to  the  volume  of  papers  to  be  scrutin- 
ized by  the  Committee  on  Meetings  before  they  were  read 
at  any  meeting.  The  philosophy  of  having  the  Commit- 
tee on  Meetings  pass  on  papers  before  they  were  read, 
and  the  Publication  Committee  pass  again  on  the  same 
papers  after  they  were  read,  with  a  view  to  deciding 
which  were  of  permanent  value  for  record  in  the  Trans- 
actions and  which  papers  the  Society  could  afford  then  to 
publish,  was  designed  to  secure  a  sort  of  bi-cameral  con- 
sideration. The  practical  working  of  the  system  brought 
about  confusion  and  did  not  save  printing  expenses,  be- 
cause under  the  system  of  advance  publication  and  dis- 
tribution of  papers,  the  real  expense  connected  with  any 
paper  was  ordered  by  the  Committee  on  Meetings,  and 
if  the  Publication  Committee  decided  adversely  on  the 
publication  for  permanent  record,  the  cost  of  composi- 
tion of  the  paper  for  the  meeting  was  lost.  Later,  legisla- 
tion by  amendment  to  By-Laws  made  the  Publication 
Committee  responsible  for  all  printing  contracts  as  an 
administrative  philosophy  and  the  Committee  on  Meet- 
ings became  more  a  committee  on  Program.  The  Publica- 
tion Committee  took  over  all  decisions  as  to  the  appear- 
ance of  papers  in  The  Journal  of  the  Society  and  as- 
sumed the  responsibility  for  the  printing  and  issuing  of 
the  Society's  Year  Book  and  all  pamphlets. 

When  the  Society  moved  to  the  Engineering  Societies 
Building  in  1906-1907,  the  Mechanical  Engineers  Library 
Association  was  discontinued  and  with  that  step  the  op- 
portunity occurred  for  service  by  the  Library  Commit- 
tee of  the  Society.  There  were  not  enough  funds  avail- 
able for  the  extension  of  the  Library  for  the  first  few 
years  by  reason  of  the  intense  and  insistent  demand  for 
expenditure  in  other  directions  on  the  entry  into  the  new 
home.    In  1908  the  first  movement  towards  federating 


74       THE  AMERICAN  SOCIETY  OF  MECHANICAL  ENGINEEES 

the  libraries  of  the  Mechanical,  Electrical  and  Mining 
Engineers  took  place,  and  in  1914  the  Trustees  of  the 
United  Engineering  Society  created  a  Library  Board  for 
the  administrative  and  other  activities  of  the  combined 
library  and  the  members  of  the  Library  Committee  of 
the  Society  became  its  representatives  on  the  Library 
Board. 

The  Constitution  of  1904  gave  legal  existence  to  the 
committee  which  had  previously  been  a  committee  of  the 
Council  to  consider  applications  for  membership  in  the 
Society  and  report  their  recommendations  to  the  Council. 
During  periods  of  considerable  activity  and  rapid  in- 
crease in  the  Society's  membership,  this  Committee  has 
also  been  one  which  made  great  demands  upon  those  who 
served  upon  it.  They  had  under  their  control  the  broad 
question  of  the  quality  of  members  elected  to  the  So- 
ciety and  exercised  great  care  in  the  discharge  of  their 
functions. 

By  later  legislation  and  to  meet  what  appeared  to  be 
wise  demands,  a  provision  was  made  in  the  Constitution 
and  By-Laws  for  the  appointment  of  a  Research  Com- 
mittee, a  Public  Relations  Committee,  a  Committee  on 
Constitution  and  By-Laws  and  a  Standardization  Com- 
mittee. The  Research  Committee  is  designed  to  be  a 
general  supervising  body  or  clearing  house  with  respect 
to  investigations  by  experiment  or  otherwise.  It  is  in- 
tended to  correspond  and  collaborate  with  committees  of 
a  kindred  spirit  in  other  societies,  in  order  to  prevent  the 
unnecessary  duplication  of  work.  It  is  supposed  to  keep 
in  touch  with  researches  conducted  in  other  countries  and 
to  arrange  that  fields  of  research  in  which  there  are  few 
laborers  shall  be  opened  for  the  advancement  of  knowl- 
edge in  those  directions.  It  is  not  intended  to  be  a  com- 
mittee for  the  conduct  of  research  in  the  laboratory  or 
elsewhere,  but  to  cooperate  and  direct  such  research  by 
experts  competent  to  undertake  them.  It  is  the  wish  and 
expectation  that  the  Committee  on  Research  shall  main- 
tain a  system  of  announcements  of  the  results  of  re- 
search in  The  Journal  or  Transactions,  and  gifts  or  be- 


A  HISTORY  OF  THE  SOCIETY  75 

quests  to  this  end  would  be  administered  under  the  com- 
mittee control. 

The  Public  Relations  Committee  is  intended  to  be  the 
channel  whereby  a  knowledge  of  engineering  and  tech- 
nical questions  can  be  made  available  and  serviceable  to 
the  general  public.  A  modern  civilization  comes  into  such 
intimate  contact  with  the  activities  of  the  engineer  that 
the  duty  of  the  engineer  in  securing  effective  coordina 
tion  between  the  engineer  and  the  public  seems  an  im- 
portant feature  of  Society  activity. 

The  Committee  on  Constitution  and  By-Laws  is  a 
legalization  and  a  recognition  of  a  committee  which  had 
been  in  existence  since  1904  to  consider  and  report  on 
proposed  amendments,  which  might  originate  in  the  So- 
ciety at  large  or  which  might  grow  up  in  the  needs  and 
the  development  of  the  Society's  work.  Its  prime  re- 
quirement is  familiarity  with  different  parts  of  the  exist- 
ing legislation  so  that  confusion  and  contradiction  shall 
be  avoided,  and  so  that  an  adequate  consideration  of 
new  proposals  may  be  secured  before  they  come  up  for 
action. 

The  Committee  on  Standardization  is  intended  to  do 
for  the  general  trend  towards  the  creation  of  individual 
standards  what  the  Research  Committee  seeks  to  do  for 
investigation  and  research.  It  is  to  consider  what 
standards  are  called  for  or  will  be  improvements  over 
existing  conditions  and  to  prevent  confusion  and  con 
tradiction  in  standards  originating  from  various  sources. 
It  is  not  supposed  to  create  standards  by  its  own  action 
but  rather  to  be  the  channel  through  which  proposed 
standards  shall  be  considered  in  their  relations  to  others. 

A  diagram  will  be  of  interest  showing  the  normal 
growth  of  the  Society  in  numbers  and  the  accelerated  rate 
since  a  permanent  Committee  on  Increase  of  Membership 
began  its  actice  service. 


76       THE  AMERICAN  SOCIETY  OF  MECHANICAL  ENGINEERS 


suaaMaN    ^o    uaaNON 


CHAPTER  VI 

Presidents  op  the  Society.     Some  Significant 
Administbations 

It  has  been  noted  in  a  previous  chapter  that  there  is 
usually  some  individual  or  personality  behind  an  event 
or  an  achievement,  so  that  history  is  often  written  in 
terms  of  a  reign  or  dynasty.  So  in  a  Society,  many  sig- 
nificant steps  may  be  attached  to  the  service  of  an  office- 
bearer ;  and  the  Society  history  be  viewed  in  the  light  of 
the  individuals  who  have  served  it. 

The  offices  in  the  Society  have  been  the  Presidency, 
the  Vice-Presidencies,  and  the  positions  of  Manager, 
Treasurer  and  Secretary.  The  officers  form  the  Council 
of  the  Society,  who  are  its  Board  of  Directors,  trustees 
of  its  property  and  responsible  for  its  policy  and  con- 
duct. The  officers  are  elected  by  vote  of  the  membership 
on  nomination  by  a  Nominating  Committee  of  the  So- 
ciety, with  the  exception  of  the  Secretary,  who  is  elected 
by  the  Council,  and  for  reasons  discussed  elsewhere.  The 
five  surviving  Past-Presidents  who  have  been  most  re- 
cently in  office  are  voting  members  of  the  Council,  under 
a  policy  which  assumes  these  men  to  be  most  active  and 
familiar  and  interested  in  Society  affairs,  and  enabled  by 
this  familiarity  to  be  effective  also  in  carrying  forward 
policies  which  they  may  have  initiated.  At  one  time  all 
the  Past-Presidents  were  members  of  Council;  but  as 
the  list  grew  with  the  years  this  plan  was  thought  to  be 
unwise  as  offering  a  danger  lest  elected  officers  in  any 
year  be  overshadowed  numerically  by  the  numbers  and 
weight  of  persons  not  in  office,  and  a  danger  of  a  perpetu- 
ated ring-rule  be  threatened. 

The  President  in  the  early  years  was  eligible  to  an 
immediate  reelection,  but  later  he  was  also  put  in  the 

77 


78       THE  AMERICAN  SOCIETY  OF  MECHANICAL  ENGINEERS 

class  of  the  other  officers  who  are  not  eligible  to  a  second 
term  on  the  expiration  of  their  first.  The  early  policy 
recognized  the  fact  that  a  President  who  came  to  his 
office  unfamiliar  with  its  duties  would  be  much  more 
efficient  and  serviceable  in  his  second  year  than  he  was 
for  his  first.  The  change  was  due  to  the  increasing 
amount  of  available  presidential  material  in  the  Society, 
and  the  wisdom  of  giving  the  honor  and  privilege  of 
office  to  a  wide  range  of  the  membership. 

The  following  list  shows  the  names  of  those  whom  the 
Society  nominated  and  elected  as  Presidents: 

Alexander  L.  HoUey,  Chairman  of  the  Meeting  for  Organization  of  The 

American  Society  of  Mechanical  Engineers 

Died  January  29,   1882 

PRESIDENTS 

1  R.  H.  Thurston 1880-1882 Died  October  25,  1903 

2  E.  D,  Leavitt 1883 Cambridge,  Mass. 

3  John  E.  Sweet 1884 Syracuse,  N.  Y. 

4  J.  F.  HOLLOWAY 1885 Died  September  1,  1896 

5  Coleman  Sellers 1886 Died  December  28,  1907 

6  George  H.  Babcock 1887 Died  December  16,  1893 

7  Horace  See  1888 Died  December  14,  1909 

8  Henry  R,  Towne 1889 New  York,  N.  Y. 

9  Oberlin  Smith  1890 Bridgeton,  N.  J. 

10  Robert  W,  Hunt 1891 Chicago,  111. 

11  Charles  H.  Loring 1892 Died  February  5,  1907 

12  EcKLEY  B.  CoxE 1893  -1894 Died  May  13,  1895 

13  E.  F,  C,  Davis 1895 Died  August  6,  1895 

14  Charles  E.  Billings 1895 Hartford,  Conn. 

15  John  Fritz  1896 Died  February  13,  1913 

16  Worcester  R.  Warner 1897 Cleveland,  O. 

17  Charles  Wallace  Hunt 1898 Died  March  27,  1911 

18  George  W.  Melville 1899 Died  March  17,  1912 

19  Charles  H.  Morgan 1900 Died  January  10,  1911 

20  S.  T.  Wellman 1901 Cleveland,  O. 

21  Edvtin  Reynolds 1902 Died  February  19,  1909 

22  James  M.  Dodge 1903 Philadelphia,  Pa. 

23  Ambrose  Swasey 1904 Cleveland,  O. 

24  John  R.  Freeman 1905 Providence,  R.  I. 

25  F.  W.  Taylor 1906 Died  March  21,  1915 

26  F.  R.  HuTTON 1907 New  York,  N.  Y. 

27  M.  L.  HoLMAN 1908 St.  Louis,  Mo. 

28  Jesse  M.  Smith 1909 New  York,  N.  Y. 

29  George  Westinghouse 1910 Died  March  12,  1914 

30  E.  D.  Meier 1911 Died  December  15,  1914 

31  Alex.  C.  Humphreys 1912 New  York,  N.  Y. 


A  HISTORY  OF  THE  SOCIETY  79 

32  W.  F,  M.  Goss 1913 Urbana,  111. 

33  James  Hartness 1914 Springfield,  Vt. 

34  John  A.  Brasheae 1915 Pittsburgh,  Pa. 

It  may  be  interesting  to  note  that  of  these  persons 
four,  Nos.  1,  26,  31,  32  have  been  chosen  from  the  edu- 
cator class;  six,  Nos.  0,  2,  10,  24,  25,  28,  from  the  con- 
sulting office  practitioner  and  engineer  or  the  independ- 
ent designer  class ;  twenty- three,  Nos.  3,  4,  5,  6,  7,  8,  9, 12, 
13,  14,  15,  16,  17,  19,  20,  21,  22,  23,  27,  29,  30,  33,  34,  are 
from  the  manufacturer  or  works  owner  and  manager 
class  of  producing  engineer  attaching  to  a  corporation; 
three,  Nos.  7,  11  and  18,  are  marine  engineers.  The  pre- 
dominance of  the  works  manager  type  seems  to  point  to 
the  principle  in  American  engineering  practice  that  the 
same  qualities  which  lead  to  eminence  in  engineering 
production  are  the  ones  which  make  their  possessors 
wise  choices  for  leadership  in  other  directions.  Mr. 
Alexander  L.  Holley  has  been  added  to  the  official  list 
above,  because  he  did  the  work  of  a  President  of  the  So- 
ciety prior  to  its  first  formal  election,  and  strenuously 
and  positively  declined  the  unanimous  nomination  to  the 
office  of  first  President  on  the  ground  of  his  unwilling- 
ness and  fancied  inability  to  meet  some  of  the  require- 
ments of  that  formative  year,  and  himself  urged  Dr. 
Thurston's  election  as  a  more  fitting  choice. 

The  following  may  then  be  presented  as  a  brief  sum- 
mary of  the  histories  of  the  Presidents  and  of  the  dis- 
tinguishing facts  of  Society  history  under  their  ad- 
ministrations : 

Alexander  L.  Holley.  Served  previous  to  1880.  Pre- 
sided at  preliminary  meeting,  1880,  and  would  have  pre- 
sided at  the  organization  meeting  had  he  been  able  to  be 
present.  Drafted  first  by-laws,  first  nomination  of 
officers,  active  in  getting  first  papers,  and  formulating 
initial  policies.  Engineer  for  Bessemer  Steel  Associa- 
tion, designer  of  types  of  American  Bessemer  steel 
plants  machinery  and  details.  Made  Honorary  Member 
in  Perpetuity  on  his  death  in  1882.  His  presidential  ad- 
dress was  entitled  The  Field  of  Mechanical  Engineering. 


80       THE  AMERICAN  SOCIETY  OF  MECHANICAL  ENGINEEBS 

It  covered  the  mechanical  basis  for  production  in  all 
lines  and  arts  of  the  present  civilization.  The  advan- 
tages attaching  to  such  a  Society  as  respects  diffusion 
and  record  of  knowledge,  acquaintanceship,  the  educa- 
tional value  of  the  practice  of  writing  papers,  and  the 
significance  of  membership  in  it,  and  certain  details  as 
to  qualifications  and  standards  of  membership,  were  also 
covered.  He  was  a  most  acceptable  occasional  speaker, 
at  dinners  and  elsewhere,  and  an  attractive  personality. 
A  monument  to  his  memory  was  erected  by  members  of 
the  engineering  societies  and  others  in  Washington 
Square  in  New  York  City  in  1890. 

Prof.  Robert  H.  Thurston.  Served  1880-1881  and 
1881-1882.  Presided  at  first  New  York,  Hartford,  Al- 
toona,  second  New  York  and  Philadelphia  and  third  New 
York  meetings.  Under  him  Mr.  Lycurgus  B.  Moore  was 
both  Secretary  and  Treasurer,  and  later  Treasurer  only 
at  his  own  request,  when  Mr.  Thomas  Whiteside  Rae  was 
chosen  Secretary.  The  Society  had  no  office  at  this  time, 
but  that  of  the  President  or  Secretary.  The  diploma, 
badge  and  introduction  card  were  created  under  Thurs- 
ton; the  papers  were  read  in  manuscript,  illustrated  by 
wall  diagrams.  Mr.  R.  W.  Ryan,  who  had  reported 
meetings  of  railway  associations,  was  secured  as  stenog- 
rapher and  served  through  many  administrations.  Much 
of  early  Society  policy  and  practice  was  created  during 
Dr.  Thurston's  two  terms.  Mr.  Moore  asked  to  be  re- 
lieved of  his  duties  as  Treasurer  at  the  end  of  that  time, 
and  Mr.  Charles  W.  Copeland  was  chosen  Treasurer. 
Professor  Thurston's  two  presidential  addresses  covered 
recent  progress  in  mechanical  engineering.  He  empha- 
sized the  fact  that  the  American  iron  furnaces  were  mak- 
ing 2,000,000  tons  of  pig  iron  per  annum,  this  comparing 
curiously  with  the  output  of  more  than  25,000,000  tons 
for  the  year  1906,  and  also  that  he  felt  justified  in  stating 
that  the  compound  steam  engine  had  not  yet  definitely  es- 
tablished itself  as  superior  in  economy  to  the  single 
cylinder  engine.  He  also  remarked  that  ''steam  pressure 
has  gradually  and  steadily  risen  since  the  time  of  Watt, 


I 


A  HISTORY  OF  THE  SOCIETY  81 

until  to-day  75  pounds  per  square  inch  is  usual,  and  90 
pounds  is  often  adopted."  He  noticed  the  fact  that  the 
'*iron  was  slowly  but  steadily  and  inevitably  being  dis- 
placed by  steel,"  and  also  ''that  the  feature  of  recent 
progress  in  engineering,  which  is  attracting  most  atten- 
tion, and  awakening  the  most  interest  in  the  public  mind, 
is  the  introduction  of  machine  made  electricity. ' ' 

In  the  discussions  it  also  appeared  that  the  most 
powerful  engines  then  projected  were  those  of  the  steam- 
ship, City  of  Rome,  the  latest  development  in  trans- 
Atlantic  steamers  at  that  time  being  the  City  of  Berlin, 
upon  which  vessel,  by  the  way,  many  of  the  members  of 
the  Society  returned  from  Europe  after  the  memorable 
trip  of  1889.  Both  of  these  vessels  are  long  since  out  of 
service.  High-pressure  steam  with  multiple-stage  ex- 
pansion was  then  under  discussion,  and  a  small  vessel, 
the  Anthracite,  had  crossed  the  ocean  with  sectional 
boilers.  The  economy  of  the  new  principle  was  dis- 
cussed, and  what  had  been  done  in  many  engineering 
fields.  His  second  address  again  mentions  iron  as  being 
''fairly  displaced  by  its  younger  rival,  mild  steel,"  and 
refers  to  the  Forth  Bridge  as  one  of  the  great  engineer- 
ing projects  in  contemplation.  The  development  of  the 
roller  mill  as  a  substitute  of  the  buhr  stone  for  the  grind- 
ing of  flour  is  mentioned  as  worthy  of  note,  as  well  as  the 
progress  of  the  grain  elevator  system  for  handling  grain. 

Especially  interesting,  however,  is  the  reference  to 
what  he  termed  "the  last  established  branch  of  our  pro- 
fession. Electrical  Engineering." 

Speaking  of  this  novel  subject  he  says : 

"We  find  ourselves  still  in  the  midst  of  a  revolution, 
the  progress  of  which  we  are  all  watching  with  unusual 
interest,  the  displacement  of  our  older  methods  of 
supplying  light  and  power  by  a  new  system,  which  but 
lately  was  but  the  toy  of  science,  and  which  comes  out  of 
the  least  utilitarian  of  all  branches  of  pure  physics. 
Brush  has  set  up  his  blazing  sunlike  arc  lights  in  nearly 
every  large  city  of  the  world;  Edison  has  spread  a  net- 
work of  conductors  throughout  the  most  densely  settled 


82       THE  AMERICAN  SOCIETY  OF  MECHANICAL  ENGINEERS 

parts  of  New  York  City,  distributing  many  thousands  of 
his  clear,  mellow  lights  to  send  their  soft  white  rays 
into  corners  never  yet  revealed  by  the  feebler  yellow 
light  which  they  displace.  It  remains  to  be  learned  what 
is  to  be  the  cost  of  the  new  method  of  illumination;  no 
figures  that  I  consider  wholly  reliable  have  yet  been 
given.  It  seems  sufficiently  certain,  however,  that  the 
arc  light  is  much  more  economical  than  gas — the  same 
quantity  of  light  being  demanded — for  the  illumination 
of  streets,  public  squares  and  large  interiors,  while  in- 
terior illumination  by  incandescent  lamps  is  still  gen- 
erally more  costly  than  any  other  usual  method." 

Speaking  of  progress  in  marine  engineering,  he  refers 
to  the  fact  that  the  record  holder  of  the  day,  the  Alaska, 
was  *' making  18  knots  regularly,  closely  followed  by  the 
Ar?iJona,  and  the  Servia  in  this  wonderful  performance. ' ' 

''Nature  rarely  turns  a  sharp  corner  in  any  of  her 
great  movements.  .  .  .  It  is  from  us,  if  from  any  body 
of  men,  that  the  world  should  expect  a  complete  and 
thoroughly  satisfactory  practical  solution  of  the  so-called 
labor  problem.  .  .  .  The  elements  of  social  economy 
are  yet  to  become  known  to  our  people ;  the  most  obvious 
principles  of  statesmanship  are  yet  to  be  learned  by  our 
legislators,  and  we  have  still  to  look  forward  to  a  time 
when  our  men  of  business  and  our  working  people  shall 
be  fairly  and  respectfully  considered  by  those  who  direct 
public  policy.    .     .     . 

''Such  bodies  as  this  must  aid  our  legislative  as- 
semblies in  developing  a  Scheme  of  Industrial  Organiza- 
tion that  shall  exhibit  highest  possible  efficiency — one 
that  will  prepare  the  children  and  youth  of  the  country 
to  enter  upon  lives  of  maximum  usefulness,  and  to  do  the 
work  that  may  be  given  them  to  do  with  ease  and  com- 
fort while,  at  the  same  time,  aiding  them  to  attain  health, 
happiness  and  content,  even  if  not  independence  and 
wealth." 

The  author  speaks  for  a  "common  school  system  of 
general  education,  which  shall  give  all  young  children 
tuition  in  the  three  studies  which  are  the  foundation  of 


A  HISTORY  OF  THE  SOCIETY  83 

all  education,  and  which  shall  be  administered  under 
compulsory  law." 

Professor  Thurston  was  the  first  professor  of  me- 
chanical engineering  in  the  then  quite  young  Stevens 
Institute  of  Technology,  Hoboken,  N.  J.  He  won  fame 
as  an  engineer  in  the  Navy,  as  instructor  at  the  U.  S. 
Naval  Academy,  and  in  the  field  of  consulting  practice. 
He  designed  a  testing  machine  for  materials  and  for  oil 
friction  and  built  up  a  mechanical  laboratory.  He  was 
the  author  of  textbooks  on  boilers,  engines,  lubricants  and 
materials  of  construction.  Later  he  went  to  Cornell 
University  to  do  as  Director  of  Sibley  College  what  he 
had  done  for  Stevens  Institute.  He  was  a  ready  speaker 
and  had  always  something  to  say  which  was  worth  while. 
He  made  an  ideal  president  for  the  first  two  years.  A 
bronze  memorial  was  erected  in  1911  to  Professor  Thurs- 
ton in  the  foyer  of  the  Society  floor  in  the  Engineering 
Building,  as  the  first  President  of  the  Society.  Nothing 
illustrates  more  graphically  his  charming  spirit  than 
the  story  which  he  has  told  of  himself  and  his  early 
employment  in  a  drafting  room  in  his  home  city  of 
Providence,  R.  I.  He  had  laboriously  designed  an  engine 
dietail  by  careful  attention  to  formula  and  by  mathe- 
matical computation  of  stresses  in  relation  to  material. 
He  then  presented  his  finished  achievement  to  the  old 
chief  draftsman  under  whom  he  was  working.  The 
veteran  looked  accusingly  at  the  tyro  over  his  steel 
rimmed  spectacles  and  heaving  a  deep  sigh  said,  "Bob, 
I  am  afraid  you  are  over-educated. ' ' 

The  first  and  second  volumes  of  papers  were  issued 
under  Thurston.  They  were  printed  by  Sherman  and 
Company  of  Philadelphia  and  the  first  edition  of  the  first 
volume  was  made  up  by  pamphlets  bound  together,  not 
paged  or  indexed  and  in  paper  covers  only.  Volume  II 
was  better  edited  and  was  paged  but  not  indexed. 

E.  D.  Leavitt  of  Cambridge,  Mass.,  served  during 
1882-1883.  This  was  a  very  critical  time  in  the  life  of 
the  Society.  The  moneys  received  in  initiation  fees  of  new 
members  had  been  treated  as  available  current  income. 


84      THE  AMBEICAN  SOCIETY  OF  MECHANICAL  ENGINEEBS 

This  had  not  only  made  the  total  of  the  latter  sum  de- 
ceptive but  worse  than  that,  it  had  all  been  spent.  The 
moderate  dues  of  $10  a  year  only  met  the  requirements 
of  the  Society  for  publications  alone,  when  handled  with 
the  greatest  economy.  Dues  were  not  easy  to  collect  in 
quantities  at  one  time,  so  as  to  meet  the  bills  which  had 
been  incurred  from  time  to  time.  The  Secretary  was 
receiving  no  salary  and  the  office  rent  of  the  Society 
was  provided  by  reason  of  the  relations  of  the  Secretary 
to  Mr.  Henry  R.  Worthington.  Economies  were  difficult 
and  distasteful  to  the  Secretary  and  for  this  and  other 
reasons  he  was  not  reelected  by  the  Council  on  Mr. 
Leavitt's  assuming  office;  but  instead  a  committee  was 
appointed  to  consider  the  problem  confronting  the  So- 
ciety and  report  a  nomination  to  the  Council. 

The  late  Alfred  E.  Wolff  was  earnestly  favored  by 
President  Morton  of  Stevens  Institute,  and  Messrs. 
Allan  Stirling  and  the  late  James  C.  Bayles  and  Charles 
T.  Porter  were  active  in  advocating  adjunct-professor 
Frederick  R.  Hutton,  an  assistant  to  Prof.  Wm.  P.  Trow- 
bridge of  Columbia  University.  The  Council  elected 
Professor  Hutton  in  March  1883,  and  a  long  term  of 
active  development  of  the  Society  was  then  begun.  The 
Secretary's  salary  and  allotment  for  his  expenses  was 
set  at  one  thousand  dollars,  and  out  of  this  he  must  meet 
his  office  rent,  and  any  clerk-hire  he  might  need  to  em- 
ploy. The  Secretary  hired  an  office  in  the  then  Smith 
Building  at  17  Cortlandt  Street,  on  the  street  to  the 
railway  ferries  of  that  day.  The  first  Council  meeting 
was  held  in  late  March  and  the  Council  had  its  first 
experience  with  a  docket  of  business  to  be  transacted. 

Mr.  Leavitt's  first  meeting  was  the  very  successful 
Cleveland  meeting,  at  which  for  the  first  time  the  papers 
to  be  read  were  furnished  to  members,  and  particularly 
to  the  technical  press  on  printers '  galleys.  The  illustra- 
tions were  on  separate  sheets  from  the  cuts  made  from 
authors'  originals,  by  the  then  somewhat  new  wax  pro- 
cess of  drawing  and  subsequent  electro-deposition.  A 
feeling  seemed  prevalent  that  the  tide  had  turned  under 


A  HISTOEY  OF  THE  SOCIETY  85 

Mr.  Leavitt's  presidency.  He  had  also  the  Annual 
Meeting  of  that  year,  the  papers  being  read  in  the  rooms 
of  the  American  Society  of  Civil  Engineers,  at  127  East 
23rd  Street,  on  the  north  side,  by  courteous  invitation 
of  that  Society.  The  West  Shore  Railway  had  just  been 
finished  but  was  not  open  to  public  use;  and  by  invita- 
tion of  the  late  R.  H.  Soule,  its  superintendent  of  motive 
power,  an  excursion  over  its  line  was  a  feature  of  the 
meeting.  The  Society  was  also  the  guest  of  the  Yale 
&  Towne  Manufacturing  Company  of  Stamford,  in- 
specting not  only  the  works  in  general,  but  in  particular 
the  working  and  accuracy  of  a  vertical  Albert  H.  Emery 
testing  machine,  then  a  product  of  that  establishment. 

Mr.  Leavitt  was  the  designer  of  waterworks  pump- 
ing engines  of  noteworthy  economy  at  Lynn  and  at 
Lawrence,  and  at  the  date  of  his  presidency  was  active 
in  designing  the  great  machinery  for  the  Calumet  and 
Hecla  Copper  Mining  Company  on  Lake  Superior.  The 
magnitude  of  the  quantities  involved  made  economy  in 
first  cost  of  secondary  consequence,  and  the  Leavitt 
engines  have  been  notable  monuments  of  design  in  their 
class.  Mr.  Leavitt  was  also  at  work  on  the  big  engines 
for  the  sewage  pumping  operation  of  the  City  of  Boston. 
His  designs  were  contracted  for  by  constructing  com- 
panies, and  his  office  was  the  training  school  for  many 
engineers  who  have  grown  to  eminence  after  leaving  him. 
Training  in  the  Leavitt  and  Corliss  drawing  offices  was  a 
passport  to  favorable  consideration  for  young  engineers 
in  New  England. 

Mr.  Leavitt  delivered  no  presidential  address  while 
in  office. 

He  positively  declined  a  second  term  on  the  principle 
elsewhere  referred  to,  that  the  honor  of  office  should  be 
widely  conferred,  even  at  a  loss  of  the  possible  greater 
effectiveness  which  might  be  secured  by  longer  service. 

Prof.  John  E.  Sweet  served  in  1883-1884  at  meetings 
in  Pittsburgh  and  New  York.  Professor  Sweet  was  per- 
suaded to  accept  office  only  with  the  greatest  difficulty. 
He  had  been  so  effective  and  interested  in  starting  the  So- 


86       THE  AMERICAN  SOCIETY  OF  MECHANICAL  ENGINEERS 

ciety,  he  had  presented  its  first  formal  paper  on  Fric- 
tion as  a  Factor  in  Motive  Power  Expenses,  and  his 
novel  and  ingenious  work  in  engine  design,  coming  after 
his  splendid  work  in  the  instruction  shops  of  Cornell 
University,  made  him  an  obvious  and  early  choice  for 
the  presidency.  The  tenor  of  his  presidential  address 
was  a  contrast  between  the  achievements  of  literature  as 
a  world  builder  and  those  of  science  and  mechanics. 

The  educated  portion  of  the  world  look  upon  a  book 
not  merely  as  so  much  paper  and  printing  and  binding, 
but  as  the  thoughtful  work  of  the  author,  while  the  same 
class  almost  universally  look  upon  a  machine  as  so  much 
wood  and  iron,  running  their  minds  forward  to  what  it 
does,  and  how  much  it  will  save,  and  what  the  patent  is 
worth,  rather  than  backward  to  the  brain  work  of  its 
author. 

Gaging  the  value  of  the  thing  on  the  democratic  prin- 
ciple of  the  greatest  good  to  the  greatest  number,  the  in- 
ventors of  agricultural  machinery  will  have  few  rivals. 
.  .  .  ''May  the  time  come  when  we  shall  have  a 
museum  in  which  there  shall  be  gathered  the  finest  speci- 
mens of  workmanship  with  the  masterpieces  of  our  great 
engineers.  .  .  .  Let  us  hope  that  if  the  high  tide  of 
human  progress  is  sweeping  on  toward  a  more  useful 
education,  that  the  day  may  not  be  far  away  when  he 
who  knows  what  to  do  and  how  to  do  it  will  be  regarded 
as  the  equal  of  him  who  only  knows  what  has  been  done 
and  who  did  it." 

Professor  Sweet's  administration  was  one  of  quiet 
and  effective  progress.  The  Society  assumed  the  burden 
of  paying  the  rent  for  its  office.  The  printing  contract 
was  transferred  from  Philadelphia  to  the  house  of  J.  J. 
Little  and  Company  of- New  York.  Professor  Sweet  also 
presided  at  the  first  meeting  of  the  Society  to  be  held  in 
the  assembly  hall  of  the  New  York  Academy  of  Medicine 
at  12  West  31st  Street.  This  building  was  later  the 
home  of  the  Society  but  at  this  time  it  was  leased  for 
the  sessions  only.  Mr.  Horatio  Allen,  who  had  run  the 
first  purchased  locomotive  in  the  United  States  in  1830 


A  HISTOBY  OP  THE  SOCIETY  87 

at  Honesdale  on  the  Delaware  and  Hudson  Eailway,  an 
Honorary  Member  of  the  Society,  was  present  at  a  meet- 
ing in  Professor  Sweet's  presidency  and  occupied  by  in- 
vitation a  seat  on  the  platform. 

It  was  at  the  end  of  Professor  Sweet's  presidency 
that  a  most  considerable  change  in  Society  administra- 
tion was  eifected.  The  collection  of  dues  and  other  in- 
come had  hitherto  been  done  by  the  Treasurer 's  office  and 
through  his  clerk  who  was  moderately  salaried  by  the 
Society  for  his  services  through  an  allowance  made  to 
the  Treasurer.  This  plan  meant  double  work  for  the 
Secretary's  office  in  keeping  the  Treasurer  fully  informed 
of  changes  in  address,  reasonably  great  chances  for 
error,  double  visits  by  members  desiring  to  pay  dues  in 
cash  when  they  visited  Society  headquarters,  and 
cumbrous  administration  generally,  because  books  of 
account  were  in  the  Treasurer's  office  when  the  Council 
desired  first  hand  knowledge  at  their  meetings  in  that  of 
the  Secretary. 

The  Finance  Committee  urged  the  plan  of  directing 
the  Secretary  to  collect  income,  and  keep  the  members' 
ledger  or  register,  turning  over  collections  in  gross  once 
a  month  to  the  Treasurer  and  relieving  him  and  his 
office  of  all  clerical  detail  except  that  of  depositing  a 
monthly  check,  and  of  drawing  checks  once  a  month 
for  the  payment  of  approved  vouchers.  This  plan 
was  not  favored  by  the  Treasurer,  but  to  relieve  him 
from  any  embarrassment  he  was  put  in  nomination  for 
the  Vice-Presidency,  a  promotion  which  his  long  and  de- 
voted service  to  the  profession  and  to  the  Society  well 
merited,  and  Major  William  H.  Wiley,  who  had  been 
chairman  of  the  Finance  Committee,  and  an  advocate  of 
the  more  economical  policy  was  nominated  as  Treasurer- 
He  has  been  regularly  nominated  and  elected  for  the 
period  of  thirty  years,  which  has  since  elapsed,  and  the 
policy  he  favored  has-  been  extended  and  amplified  easily 
with  the  later  growth  of  the  Society.  The  Treasurer  is 
the  key  in  Society  policy,  by  which  alone  can  the  treasury 


88       THE  AMERICAN  SOCIETY  OF  MECHANICAL  ENGINEERS 

of  the  Society  be  unlocked ;  but  the  door  opens  inwards  to 
receive  income  with  the  least  burden  to  him. 

J.  F.  Holloway.  Served  1884-1885  and  presided  at  the 
Atlantic  City  and  at  the  sixth  Annual  Meeting  held  in 
Boston,  Mass.  Mr.  Holloway  had  been  the  moving  force 
in  the  successful  meeting  of  the  Society  in  Cleveland. 
Ohio,  in  1883,  and  his  position  as  a  designer  and  builder 
and  works  manager  as  proprietor  of  the  Cuyahoga 
Works  made  him  a  fitting  choice.  He  later  came  to  New 
York  as  an  engineer  for  Henry  R.  Worthington,  which 
later  was  developed  into  the  International  Pump  Com- 
pany. His  administration  initiated  a  policy  of  having 
the  Annual  or  December  Meeting  of  the  Society,  of  which 
the  election  of  officers  is  the  legal  requirement,  swing  in 
succession  through  the  cities  of  New  York,  Boston  and 
Philadelphia.  The  advantage  of  a  New  York  stated 
meeting  and  some  changes  in  the  laws  of  corporations 
which  made  the  election  compulsory  within  the  state  of 
the  incorporation,  have  made  New  York  City  the 
city  automatically  selected  for  that  meeting  since  these 
causes  became  operative.  Mr.  Holloway  *s  presidency 
saw  also  the  beginning  of  the  definite  movement  to 
create  a  library  of  reference  and  of  transactions  of 
societies  and  technical  periodicals.  Mr.  Henry  R.  Towne 
reported  the  success  of  the  plan  of  a  small  voluntary 
increase  of  the  dues  ($2)  for  library  uses,  and  this  plan 
was  continued  until  the  special  contribution  was 
absorbed  in  a  larger  movement  in  which  the  need  for 
housing  the  library  was  also  a  feature.  The  idea  of  a 
joint  library  building  was  specifically  advocated  in  Mr. 
Holloway 's  administration  in  1885.  Mr.  Holloway 's 
presidential  address,  delivered  in  an  assembly  hall  of  the 
Institute  of  Technology  in  Boston  under  the  title  of  The 
Mechanical  Engineer,  his  Position  and  his  Mission,  says : 

''While  it  is  true  that  scientific  and  technical  training 
is,  and  must  ever  be,  of  great  advantage  to  the  me- 
chanical engineer  there  is  yet  another  source  from  which, 
after  all,  he  will  derive  by  far  the  most  benefit,  and  that 
is  experience.    Not  necessarily  his  own  experience,  but 


A  HISTORY  OF  THE  SOCIETY  89 

the  experience  of  others,  and  of  all  ages  as  well.  And 
I  know  of  no  other  way  in  which  he  can  be  so  benefited 
and  aided  all  through  his  life. 

''While  none  will  question  the  value  of  the  engineer 
in  aiding  the  progress  of  the  past,  all,  I  think,  agree  that 
at  no  time  in  the  history  of  the  world  was  he  so  important 
a  factor  as  he  is  to-day.  Need  I  ask  whose  triumph  has 
contributed  most  to  the  welfare  of  all  the  world — the 
generals  who  went  over  the  Alps,  or  the  engineers  who 
went  through  them?  Mont  Cenis  and  St.  Gothard 
answer. ' ' 

Mr.  Holloway  was  a  man  of  rare  personal  charm  and 
geniality.  His  sympathy  for  the  shy  stranger  at  meet- 
ings where  he  knew  no  one,  made  him  beloved  of  all  to 
whose  relief  he  went  so  unceasingly,  mixing  among  the 
young  newcomers  and  helping  them  to  meet  those  whose 
acquaintance  would  be  an  inspiration.  He  was  one  of  the 
projectors  of  the  Engineers*  Club  as  an  organization  to 
meet  purely  social  needs,  which  has  now  grown  to  such 
important  standing.  Mr.  Holloway  spoke  easily  and 
often  wittily.  He  started  the  practice  of  a  few  introduc- 
tory words  before  a  paper  was  read;  or  he  would  ''get 
discussion  off  the  center,"  as  he  expressed  it,  if  its  pre- 
sentation hung  or  lagged,  by  a  brief  stimulating  com- 
ment. Under  him  was  settled  the  policy  that  the  Society 
does  not  "adopt"  codes  of  procedure  or  other  standards, 
but  presents  them,  and  by  that  procedure  and  the  print- 
ing of  them  it  recommends  these  to  users  and  parties  in- 
terested but  without  a  compulsion.  He  was  excelled  by 
few  Past-Presidents  in  his  activity  for  the  Society  after 
his  term  expired ;  he  took  the  most  profound  interest  in 
the  movement  to  procure  a  house  in  1890;  and  the  So- 
ciety gave  him  the  great  honor  of  a  special  memorial 
session  after  his  death  in  1896. 

Coleman  Sellers  of  Philadelphia,  term  of  1885-1886, 
did  not  take  the  chair  at  either  the  Chicago  or  New  York 
seventh  Annual  Meetings,  by  reason  of  ill-health  result- 
ing from  a  severe  surgical  operation.  Mr.  Henry  R. 
Towne,  as  Vice-President,  took  his  place.    Mr.  Sellers 


90       THE  AMERICAN  SOCIETY  OF  MECHANICAL  ENGINEERS 

was  one  of  America's  most  noted  mechanical  engineers 
in  his  field  of  creative  design  in  machine  tools  and  me- 
chanical construction.  His  firm  brought  over  from 
England  and  advocated  the  flat-top  shear  or  bed  for 
lathes,  and  the  worm-driven  planer.  They  made  early- 
traveling  cranes  and  for  many  years  a  type  of  boiler 
feeding  injector.  The  Sellers  firm  also  effectively  backed 
the  standard  form  and  proportions  for  threads  and  nuts 
for  bolts.  It  was  at  the  end  of  Mr.  Towne's  service  as 
Vice-President  that  the  original  form  of  application 
blank  for  membership  was  radically  modified  and  the 
large  size  replaced  by  the  folded  note  size  since  in  use, 
and  that  the  form  of  reply  blank  for  proposers  was 
standardized.  The  standard  of  three  proposers  and  two 
seconders  for  a  candidate  was  changed  to  the  require- 
ment of  personal  acquaintance  by  all  five  persons.  It 
was  also  at  the  Chicago  meeting  in  1886  that  the  first 
trial  was  made  of  regulating  the  presentation  and  de- 
bate on  papers  so  as  to  give  every  paper  of  a  meeting  a 
fair  opportunity  without  crowding.  The  Society  voted 
that  the  experiment  was  a  success  and  these  rules  have 
been  in  use  ever  since  with  varying  rigor  as  to  their  en- 
forcement. 

Mr.  Sellers'  annual  address  was  presented  in  his 
absence,  and  was  general  in  character.  He  said :  "I  invite 
your  consideration  of  a  variety  of  topics  which  appear 
to  me  germane  to  our  organization.  The  engineer  who 
counts  cost  as  nothing  as  compared  to  the  result,  who 
holds  himself  above  the  consideration  of  dollars  and 
cents,  has  missed  his  vocation.  ...  I  am  safe  in 
saying  that  no  profession  requires  a  broader  education 
than  that  of  the  mechanical  engineer.  He  must  be  a 
physicist,  a  merchant,  a  lawyer,  a  chemist,  and  he  should 
know  how  to  express  himself  in  his  mother  tongue  and  be 
master  of  the  modern  languages  far  enough  to  have  ac- 
cess to  the  scientific  publications  of  other  countries. 
.  .  .  The  engineer  must  of  necessity  be  a  hard 
student;  his  school  days  never  end  .  .  .  What  will 
fit  him  to  enter  the  workshop  in  better  condition  than 


A  HISTORY  OF  THE  SOCIETY  91 

now,  will  fit  him  better  also  for  any  other  walk  in  life. 
.  .  .  /Education  which  spoils  a  man  for  his  work  by- 
placing  him  above  manual  labor  through  false  pride  will 
continue  to  do  him  harm.  Dissatisfied  with  the  primary 
schools  of  the  country,  they  should  better  prepare  for 
the  study  to  follow.  In  our  schools  we  are  cramming 
brains  with  what  taxes  the  memory  to  the  utmost,  but 
which  sends  into  our  workshops  boys  who  are  themselves 
startled  to  find  how  little  they  know  as  compared  to  those 
who,  almost  ignorant  of  book  learning,  are  wise  in  the 
knowledge  of  things  about  them  and  skilful  in  the  use 
of  their  hands."  The  author  approved  of  college  sports 
which  train  eye  and  hand  and  strengthen  muscles  and 
develop  manhood. 

George  H.  Babcock,  term  of  1886-1887,  presided  at  the 
first  Washington  and  at  the  second  Philadelphia  Meet- 
ings, which  was  also  the  eighth  Annual  Meeting.  He  is 
known  as  the  builder  of  sectional  safety  boilers  of  the 
water  tube  type  in  connection  with  his  early  friend  and 
fellow-townsman,  Stephen  Wilcox.  He  had  also  designed 
an  isochronous  engine  governor  which  was  used  in  en- 
gines of  his  building.  He  was  a  tall,  rather  spare  man, 
with  a  splendid  forehead  and  keen  Yankee  eyes  and  a 
very  expressive  and  kindly  smile.  He  was  a  conscientious 
upholder  of  the  tenet  that  the  seventh  day  of  the  week 
was  the  rest  day  by  divine  appointment,  and  his  business 
week  had  therefore  only  five  days  in  it.  He  never  was  in 
his  office  on  Saturdays. 

His  presidential  address  was  a  review  of  the  achieve- 
ments of  the  engineer  in  the  subjugation  of  the  earth 
with  iron,  with  the  fuels,  in  tunneling,  in  irrigation,  in 
developing  the  heat  engine,  in  electrical  transmission  and 
last  of  all  he  asks.  Shall  we  fly?  and  predicts  that  the 
reduction  of  weight  in  motors  per  unit  of  power  is  soon 
to  make  this  possible. 

Horace  See,  whose  term  was  of  1887-1888,  presided  at 
the  Nashville  Meeting,  but  was  prevented  by  illness  from 
attendance  at  Scranton  for  the  ninth  Annual  Meeting  in 
1888.    Mr.  C.  J.  H.  Woodbury,  as  Vice-President,  took 


92       THE  AMERICAN  SOCIETY  OF  MECHANICAL  ENGINEERS 

Ms  place.  Mr.  See  was  then  connected  with  the 
Cramp  Shipbuilding  Company,  and  was  recognized  as 
the  marine  engineer  and  architect  who  first  brought  them 
fame.  His  annual  address  was  presented  the  following 
spring  at  Erie  and  was  a  plea  for  productive  education. 
The  Scranton  Meeting  and  the  See  administration  were 
memorable  for  the  visit  to  America  of  the  President  of 
the  Institution  of  Mechanical  Engineers  of  Great  Britain 
and  his  invitation  to  the  American  Society  to  come  in  a 
body  to  London  in  1889  on  the  way  to  a  visit  to  the  Ex- 
position in  Paris,  that  coming  year.  Mr.  Alfred  B. 
Couch,  dying  this  year,  made  it  memorable  by  bequeath- 
ing his  professional  library  to  the  Society.  It  was  the 
foundation  stone  of  the  book  department  of  the  library 
and  the  earnest  of  later  bequests  to  follow, 

Henry  R.  Towne  was  elected  President  at  the  Annual 
Meeting  in  December,  1888,  and  as  such  presided  at  the 
meeting  in  Erie,  Pa.,  in  1889,  and  at  the  tenth  Annual 
Meeting  in  New  York,  December  1889. 

Owing  to  the  greatly  regretted  illness  of  Mr.  Cole- 
man Sellers,  during  his  term  of  office  as  President,  1885- 
1886,  Mr.  Towne  as  the  senior  Vice-President  available, 
served  as  acting  president  at  the  Chicago  meeting  of  May 
1886,  and  at  the  seventh  Annual  Meeting  in  New  York,  in 
November,  1886,  at  which  latter  meeting  he  received 
a  vote  of  thanks  from  the  Society  for  his  services  as  act- 
ing President  ''throughout  the  illness  of  President 
Coleman  Sellers. ' '  At  the  Chicago  meeting  of  May,  1886, 
the  Rules  for  Debate,  recommended  by  a  committee 
consisting  of  Mr.  Towne  and  Professor  Hutton,  were 
adopted  and  first  put  into  effect,  thereby  making  a 
radical  change  in  the  conduct  of  the  Society's  meetings. 
Previously  each  paper  presented  had  been  read  in  ex- 
tenso,  usually  by  its  author,  and  the  debate  thereon  had 
been  without  restriction,  the  same  member  frequently 
speaking  many  times  in  the  discussion  of  a  single  topic. 
Under  the  new  rule,  which  the  acting  President  enforced, 
all  papers  were  printed  in  advance,  and  not  more  than 
five  minutes  allowed  for  the  presentation  of  each.    Dis- 


I 


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PRESIDENT   1889 


THE  AMERICAN   SOCIETY  OF   MECHANICAL    ENGINEERS 


A  HISTOBY  OF  THE  SOCIETY  ftS 

cussions  submitted  in  writing  were  limited  to  ten  minutes 
for  presentation,  and  oral  discussions  limited  to  five 
minutes,  no  member  being  allowed  to  speak  twice  on  the 
same  subject,  except  by  consent.  Only  those  who  can 
remember  the  conditions  which  prevailed  before  can  ap- 
preciate the  change  thus  wrought  in  the  conduct  of  the 
meetings.  The  new  rules  were  endorsed  by  the  Chicago 
Meeting,  and  with  few  changes  have  continued  in  effect 
ever  since. 

Mr.  Towne's  term  of  oflSce  as  President  was  sig- 
nalized by  the  visit  of  American  engineers  to  Europe 
during  the  summer  of  1889,  on  the  invitation  of  the  In- 
stitution of  Civil  Engineers  of  London,  extended  to  the 
four  national  engineering  societies  of  the  United  States, 
supplemented  later  by  similar  invitations  from  the  en- 
gineering societies  of  France  and  Germany.  (See 
Chapter  XIV.) 

Early  in  1889  it  became  apparent  that  so  many  mem- 
bers of  this  Society,  including  in  many  cases  the  ladies 
of  their  families,  proposed  to  participate  in  the  European 
trip  as  to  justify  special  provision  for  their  transporta- 
tion to  Europe.  Accordingly  a  conmdttee  of  this  Society, 
organized  for  the  purpose,  chartered  the  entire  passen- 
ger accommodation  of  the  Steamship  City  of  Richmond 
(then  of  the  Inman  Line),  a  special  sailing  being  ar- 
ranged for  the  desired  date.  The  facilities  thus  afforded 
were  extended  to  and  accepted  by  many  members  of  the 
other  three  societies,  the  number  finally  participating 
being  about  three  hundred.  Other  members  of  the 
party  crossed  on  other  steamers  shortly  after  and  joined 
the  main  body  in  England. 

During  the  voyage  on  the  City  of  Richmond  the  visit- 
ing party  created  a  temporary  organization  by  electing 
Mr.  Towne  as  its  Chairman,  thus  recognizing  the  leader- 
ship of  this  Society  in  organizing  the  excursion,  and  Mr. 
Charles  Kirchhoff,  of  the  American  Institute  of  Mining 
Engineers  as  its  secretary.  The  service  rendered  by  Mr. 
Towne  in  this  unexpected  and  then  novel  field,  through- 
out the  European  trip,  proved  acceptable  to  the  whole 


94      THE  AMERICAN  SOCIETY  OF  MECHANICAL  ENGINEERS 

membersMp  of  the  party,  and  was  fittingly  and  grace- 
fully acknowledged  in  resolutions  adopted  before  its  de- 
parture from  England.  In  responding  to  the  address  of 
welcome  of  M.  Eiffel,  President  of  the  Society  des  In- 
genieurs  Civils  of  France,  Mr.  Towne  was  happily  able  to 
do  so  in  the  language  of  the  hosts,  whose  hospitality  was 
as  unbounded  as  that  which  the  party  had  received  at  the 
hands  of  its  English  hosts. 

Mr.  Towne 's  administration  was  also  signalized  by 
the  removal  of  the  Society's  office  from  its  earlier  loca- 
tion in  the  Stewart  Building  at  280  Broadway,  to  the 
Mott  Memorial  Library  building  at  64  Madison  Avenue, 
where  the  Society  occupied  the  whole  of  the  ground 
floor.  The  Society  at  this  time  employed  its  first 
stenographer  and  began  the  practice  of  having  the 
Library  open  in  the  evenings.  It  is  significant  also 
that  the  Annual  Meeting  which  closed  Mr.  Towne 's  term 
as  President  was  held  in  the  auditorium  of  the  Academy, 
of  Medicine,  12  West  31st  Street,  in  a  building  which 
was  subsequently  purchased  by  the  Society  and  occupied 
by  it  continuously  until  the  move  to  the  present  quarters 
in  the  Engineering  Societies  Building. 

Mr.  Towne  had  been  trained  for  his  profession  in 
the  shops  of  I.  P.  Morris,  Towne  and  Company,  and  of 
William  Sellers  &  Company  in  Philadelphia,  had  been 
a  student  under  the  late  Robert  Briggs,  C.E.,  and  at 
the  Sorbonne,  Paris,  and  as  one  of  the  founders  and 
president  of  the  Yale  &  Towne  Manufacturing  Com- 
pany of  Stamford,  Conn.,  manufacturers  of  locks  of 
every  kind,  builders'  hardware,  chain  blocks,  traveling 
cranes  and  testing  machines,  had  had  a  wide  experience 
in  the  field  of  mechanical  engineering,  and  also  in  in- 
dustrial management.  He  was  an  enthusiastic  student 
and  experimenter  in  economic  problems,  in  profit  or  gain 
sharing,  and  in  piece  and  contract  systems  of  com- 
pensating labor.  His  paper.  The  Engineer  as  an  Econ- 
omist,^ is  recognized  as  the  earliest  published  discussion 


»TraiiB.,  vol,  7,  p.  428. 


A  HISTORY  OF  THE  SOCIETY  95 

of  what  subsequently  became  known  as  scientific  manage- 
ment, and  was  followed  by  a  series  of  notable  papers  on 
these  topics.  His  annual  address  as  President  in  1889, 
reviewed  the  excursion  of  the  previous  summer  to 
England  and  France,  discussed  the  obligation  of  the 
Society  in  regard  to  foreign  engineers  visiting  this 
country  during  the  approaching  Columbian  Exposition 
in  Chicago  in  1893,  and  also  reviewed  the  affairs  of 
the  Society  and  its  future.  In  the  latter  connection  he 
said:  **We  are  outgrowing  our  industrial  childhood  and 
are  rapidly  approaching  a  period  where  protection, 
which  has  done  so  much  to  foster  our  industries,  is  no 
longer  needed  to  the  same  extent  as  in  the  past ;  a  recog- 
nition of  which  fact  will  in  the  near  future  enable  us  to 
enter  in  competition  for  the  markets  of  the  world  on 
better  terms  than  we  have  ever  done  before." 

Mr.  Towne  has  been  an  enthusiastic  supporter  of  ad- 
vanced methods  in  works  management  and  has  con- 
tributed several  papers  on  this  subject.  In  conjunction 
with  the  late  Robert  Briggs,  he  made  an  investigation 
of  the  subject  of  leather  belting,  the  record  of  which  was 
published  in  the  Journal  of  the  Franklin  Institute  in 
1867,  the  data  in  which  were  accepted  generally  until 
superseded  by  the  later  and  more  complete  investiga- 
tions of  Mr.  Wilfred  Lewis  and  others.  For  many  years 
Mr.  Towne  took  an  active  part  in  the  affairs  of  the  So- 
ciety and  participated  in  the  discussions  relating  to  a 
wide  range  of  topics.  At  the  New  York  Meeting  of  De- 
cember 1901,  he  strenuously  opposed  the  proposal  to 
increase  the  annual  dues,  and  submitted  numerous  facts 
and  figures  supporting  his  argument  that,  with  proper 
management  and  accounting,  the  existing  rate  would 
amply  suffice,  the  correctness  of  this  view  having  since 
been  fully  demonstrated.  Shortly  afterwards,  as  an  in- 
vited member  of  the  Reorganization  Committee,  he  was 
responsible  for  remodeling  the  accounting  system  on  a 
basis  since  substantially  maintained  and  found  effective. 
Oberlin  Smith,  1890,  presided  at  the  first  Cincinnati 
and  the  eleventh  Annual  Meetings,  held  that  year  in 


96       THE  AMERICAN  SOCIETY  OF  MECHANICAIi  ENGINEERS 

Richmond,  Va.  He  had  been  a  regular  attendant  at 
meetings  and  a  frequent  participant  in  discussions  of 
papers.  His  administration  was  signalized  by  the  pur- 
chase of  the  house  at  12  West  31st  Street,  New  York,  in 
whose  auditorium  the  meetings  of  the  Society  in  New 
York  had  recently  been  held,  and  the  creation  of  the 
Mechanical  Engineers'  Library  Association  to  act  as  a 
holding  corporation  and  as  trustees  for  the  real  estate, 
to  which  reference  will  elsewhere  be  made  in  further 
detail  (See  Chapter  XV).  His  term  is  memorable  also 
for  the  efforts  to  finance  the  proposition  to  purchase  the 
home  for  the  Society,  the  arranging  for  co-tenants  to 
share  the  financial  burden  of  its  operation  so  as  not  to 
impair  the  return  from  the  Society  to  its  non-resident 
members ;  the  controversy  with  one  of  these  tenants  and 
a  legal  controversy  to  dispossess  them  and  the  problem 
of  furnishing  and  decorating  the  house  and  getting  the 
library  going.  Mr.  Smith's  presidential  address  was 
a  plea  for  the  advancement  of  the  engineering  profession 
along  lines  of  culture  and  personal  refinement;  and  the 
inevitable  consequence  of  ethical  advance  and  in  the  in- 
fluence he  could  thus  bring  to  bear  not  alone  along  pro- 
fessional lines  but  in  all  lines  in  which  his  training 
would  fit  him  to  serve. 

Robert  W.  Hunt,  1891,  presided  at  the  Providence 
and  the  twelfth  Annual  Meeting  in  New  York  City.  He 
had  been  an  associate  with  Mr.  A.  L.  Holley  at  the 
Cambria  and  Troy  Works  and  a  co-worker  of  the  Bes- 
semer steel  industry  of  the  earlier  day.  After  some 
fifteen  years  of  experience  as  manager  of  iron  and  steel 
works,  he  had  opened  an  office  in  Chicago  and  organized 
the  firm  of  Robert  W.  Hunt  and  Company,  making  a 
specialty  of  tests  and  inspection,  first  principally  on  iron 
and  steel  products  and  later  for  all  classes  of  engineer- 
ing work.  His  annual  address,  on  the  Evolution  of 
American  Rolling  Mills,  was  of  the  highest  value  both 
historically  and  technically.  He  referred  of  necessity 
in  great  fullness  to  the  debt  owing  to  Mr.  John  Fritz, 
later  President  and  Honorary  Member  of  the  Society. 


PBES{DENT    1890 


THE    AMERICAN    SOCIETY  OF  MECHANICAL    ENGINEERS 


A  HISTOBY  OP  THE  SOCIETY  97 

Mr.  Hunt  was  President  during  the  first  full  year  of 
occupancy  by  the  Society  of  its  own  house,  and  this  year 
was  signalized  by  several  special  reunions  of  the 
members.  The  first  of  these  was  called  shortly  after  the 
Richmond  meeting  and  was  made  the  occasion  for  the 
presentation  to  the  Society  of  the  first  oil  portrait  of  its 
gallery,  the  gift  of  the  widow  of  Mr.  Alexander  L. 
Holley  and  showing  her  husband  as  he  appeared  in  his 
prime  at  the  time  of  founding  the  Society.  The  address 
of  presentation  was  made  by  the  late  James  C.  Bayles. 
Another  later  reunion  of  that  same  winter  saw  the 
presentation  of  a  similar  portrait  of  Mr.  Henry  R. 
Worthington,  founder  of  the  Society,  the  gift  of  his  son, 
Mr.  Charles  C.  Worthington,  painted  by  Miss  Huger. 
Other  meetings  of  that  winter  were  centered  around  ad- 
dresses on  Robert  Fulton,  the  Growth  of  the  Locomotive 
Engine;  Electricity,  previous  to  Gralvani,  and  Egypt, 
New  and  Old.  Prof.  Thomas  Egleston  also  made  this 
administration  memorable  by  giving  to  the  Society  the 
historic  dining  table,  once  the  property  of  Robert  Fulton, 
who  had  given  it  to  Dr.  Egleston 's  sister.  The  applica- 
tion form  for  membership  was  also  again  improved  and 
the  interpretation  of  the  requirements  for  membership 
raised. 

But  the  most  important  action  of  Mr.  Hunt's  term 
was  the  increase  of  the  dues  of  each  grade  of  member- 
ship by  $5  per  annum,  so  that  the  members'  dues  were 
raised  from  $10  to  $15  and  the  Juniors  from  $5  to  $10, 
with  an  increase  in  the  initiation  fee  from  $15  to  $25 
for  new  members  and  associates  and  for  Juniors  from 
$10  to  $15.  The  matter  had  been  carefully  considered  in 
the  Council  and  full  circulars  of  information  had  been 
sent  by  mail  to  all  members  with  a  reply  postal  for  an 
expression  and  codification  of  the  opinion  of  all.  The 
affirmative  opinion  of  651  replies  in  708  showed  a  very 
substantial  concurrence  in  the  validity  of  the  reasons  for 
the  change,  and  a  belief  in  the  advantage  of  enlarging 
the  scope  of  the  work  of  the  Society  along  various  lines. 
The  separate  voluntary  increase  of  dues  for  library  de- 


98       THE  AACEEICAN  SOCIETY  OF  MECHANICAL  ENGINEERS 

velopment  was  given  up,  and  the  Society  assumed  as  a 
whole  the  duty  of  fostering  this  branch  of  its  work  as  a 
stated  factor  of  its  budget.  The  viva  voce  vote  on  the 
question  at  the  meeting  was  unanimous  in  its  favor.  In 
view  of  the  great  and  important  consequences  which  have 
flowed  from  the  administrations  of  these  two  years  they 
may  be  regarded  as  the  most  significant  in  the  history 
of  the  Society,  except  only  those  of  its  first  years,  and 
those  which  marked  the  planning  for  the  United  Engi- 
neering Societies  Building. 

Charles  H.  Loring,  1892,  presided  at  the  thirteenth 
Annual  Meeting  in  New  York,  but  at  the  San  Francisco 
Meeting  the  chair  was  taken  in  his  absence  by  Past- 
President  R.  W.  Hunt  and  by  Vice-President,  Geo.  I. 
Alden.  He  was  the  second  representative  of  the  marine 
engine  specialization,  and  had  been  Engineer-in-Chief 
of  the  U.  S.  Navy  and  had  won  fame  by  his  experiments 
on  the  economy  of  the  compound  type  of  engine  with 
the  late  Charles  E.  Emery  and  after  his  retirement  had 
been  in  consulting  practice.  His  administration  was 
signalized  by  the  beginning  of  the  purchase  and  gift 
on  a  large  scale  of  the  purchase  money  bonds  issued  for 
the  cash  payment  on  the  house  of  the  Society.  Portraits 
of  Geo.  H.  Corliss  and  of  John  C.  Hoadley  were  added 
to  the  house  collection,  and  local  members  subscribed  for 
the  purchase  of  an  upright  piano.  The  possession  of 
this  latter  led  to  some  musical  evenings  at  the  house 
parlors,  in  which  choral  singing  from  words  on  lantern 
slides,  accompanied  by  Mr.  A.  H.  Raynal  with  his  violin, 
were  features.  An  American  Society  of  Mechanical 
Engineers'  quartette  also  took  part  in  glees  and  madri- 
gals. Other  evening  entertainments  covered  the  Erics- 
son Monitor  and  her  fortunes.  These  were  purely  local 
and  were  paid  for  by  those  participating  in  them.  The 
Society  bought  some  china  and  tableware  for  general 
use. 

This  winter  saw  the  entry  of  Mrs.  Emma  C.  Griffin 
as  librarian  and  house-matron  in  charge  of  the  whole 
house,  and  the  fitting  up  of  certain  top  floor  rooms  for 


i 


A  HISTORY  OF  THE  SOCIETY  99 

transient  use  of  members  in  the  city.  Mr.  John  Fritz 
on  passing  his  seventieth  birthday  received  a  congratula- 
tory address  from  the  Society.  Mr.  Loring's  presi- 
dential address  was  a  profound  and  scholarly  treatment 
of  the  Debt  of  Civilization  to  the  Steam  Engine,  in  that 
it  had  replaced  the  productive  energ>^  of  the  human  slave 
which  underlay  the  civilizations  of  antiquity  by  the  tire- 
less power  of  the  mechanical  motor.  Man  had  thereby 
been  released  for  higher  things  and  the  development  of 
his  faculties,  and  the  scope  of  production  and  of  in- 
dustry measurelessly  broadened.  The  world  was,  there- 
fore, the  debtor  of  the  engineer  to  a  degree  which  it  did 
not  usually  recognize  nor  reward. 

EcUley  B.  Coxe  of  Drifton,  Pa.,  served  the  Society 
for  two  terms,  in  1893  and  in  1894.  He  was  a  man  of 
magnificent  presence,  had  served  his  State  in  its  legis- 
lature, and  was  deeply  interested  in  welfare  work  among 
his  mining  villages.  He  was  an  anthracite  mine  owner 
and  operator  and  had  served  on  the  Pennsylvania  State 
Commission,  to  report  on  the  utilization  of  coal  waste 
from  its  dumps.  Educated  for  mining  in  Germany,  he  had 
translated  Weisbach's  Mechanics  and  it  had  gotten  into 
quite  general  use  as  a  text  book.  It  was  by  reason  of  his 
personality  and  attainments  that  he  was  chosen  to  be 
the  President  for  the  year  of  the  Columbian  Exposition 
in  Chicago,  where  an  International  Congress  had  been 
arranged  where  there  would  doubtless  be  many  con- 
tinental engineers  in  attendance  who  spoke  English 
perhaps  with  difficulty.  He  presided  at  the  Chicago 
sessions  of  the  Society,  which  were  also  the  sessions  of 
the  mechanical  section  of  the  Congress,  and  at  the  four- 
teenth and  fifteenth  Annual  Meetings  in  New  York 
as  well  as  at  the  Montreal  Meeting  in  Canada  in  the 
spring  of  1894.  He  presented  only  one  annual  address, 
at  the  close  of  his  first  term  in  1893,  on  the  Use  of  Small 
Sizes  of  Anthracite  Coal  for  Generating  Steam.  This 
was  based  on  his  work  as  state  commissioner,  and  re- 
ferred in  detail  to  the  methods  of  rapid  analysis,  in  the 
laboratory.    The  Coxe  administrations  centered  largely 


100     THE  AMERICAN  SOCIETY  OF  MECHANICAL  ENGINEEBS 

about  the  duties  of  the  Society  as  respects  the  Congress 
and  the  foreign  visitors.  The  Society  cooperated  in 
maintaining  a  headquarters  for  engineers  at  the  Co- 
lumbian Exposition,  both  at  10  Van  Buren  Street  in 
Chicago  and  on  the  grounds  in  the  Mines  and  Mining 
Buildings.  In  its  own  house,  the  auditorium  was  cleared 
of  chairs,  and  a  very  elaborate  collection  of  trade 
catalogues  and  travelers'  information  circulars  was  col- 
lected and  maintained  all  summer.  Dr.  Deghuee,  a  com- 
petent linguist,  was  put  in  charge,  and  the  service  and 
convenience  were  greatly  appreciated. 

An  oil  painting  of  Dr.  Eeuleaux,  executed  by  Miss 
Suplee  from  original  sittings,  was  presented  to  the  So- 
ciety during  the  Coxe  administration  on  behalf  of  Mr. 
Henry  Harrison  Suplee  by  Professor  Thurston. 

The  courtesies  and  entertainment  given  to  the 
members  of  the  Society  of  Civil  Engineers  of  France 
should  also  be  associated  with  Mr.  Coxe's  administra- 
tion. They  came  in  a  somewhat  organized  body  with 
President  and  Secretary  in  September  and  October 
1893.  The  expense  of  entertaining  this  party  on  their 
arrival  in  New  York  and  until  they  reached  their  destina- 
tion in  Chicago  was  organized  by  the  Society  of  Me- 
chanical Engineers  and  carried  out  through  members  of 
the  party  who  had  been  entertained  in  1889  in  France. 
The  Society  centered  the  courtesies  of  the  entertainment 
in  New  York  around  its  building  and  that  of  the  Engi- 
neers' Club,  then  in  29th  Street  west  of  Fifth  Avenue. 
Stephen  W.  Baldwin  and  F.  E.  Hutton  went  down  the 
bay  as  representatives  of  the  Society  to  meet  the  French 
steamer  in  the  early  morning,  and  by  courtesy  of  the 
quarantine  officers  of  the  port,  were  allowed  to  go  aboard 
to  greet  the  party  and  sail  with  them  up  the  bay.  A 
feature  of  that  sail  was  the  enthusiastic  admiration  of 
the  French  engineers  of  the  port  of  New  York.  Ac- 
customed as  they  were  to  the  conditions  of  a  full  rise 
of  tide  of  twenty-six  feet  and  the  consequent  necessity 
for  dock  basins,  the  simple  and  easy  tying-up  of  great 
vessels  to  an  open  wharf  and  the  consequent  extent  of 


A  HISTOEY  OF  THE  SOCIETY  101 

hulls  and  masts  visible  from  the  river,  brought  to  their 
lips  wonder  and  admiration— *' quel  commerce"  as  they 
phrased  it.  The  Customs  had  also  been  approached  by 
Mr.  Baldwin  to  facilitate  easy  passage  of  the  Customs 
routine. 

The  rooms  of  the  Society  were  fitted  up  with 
tourists'  information  circulars  and  catalogues.  The  Sun- 
day of  their  arrival  was  left  for  rest  and  Monday  morn- 
ing for  visits  to  their  bankers.  After  lunching  at  the 
Engineers'  Club,  there  were  carriage  drives  in  Central 
Park  and  along  Kiverside  Drive,  for  there  were  no  motor 
vehicles  in  New  York  City  at  that  time.  On  the  next 
day  a  boat  trip  around  the  harbor  and  to  the  terminal 
of  the  Pennsylvania  Railroad  filled  the  day.  In  the 
evening  the  party  was  sent  forward  to  Detroit,  where 
they  were  under  the  care  of  Mr.  Jesse  M.  Smith,  chair- 
man of  a  local  committee,  and  later  to  Chicago  by  special 
trains  of  reserved  sleepers  and  dining  cars.  Special 
badges  were  made  in  silver  for  both  guests  and  hosts, 
of  which  samples  have  been  retained  as  souvenirs.  The 
emblem  was  appropriately  a  reproduction  of  Bartholdi's 
Statue  of  Liberty  in  New  York  Harbor  which  had  been 
a  gift  from  the  French  people. 

It  was  on  the  harbor  sail  down  the  East  River  that 
the  President  of  the  French  Society  uttered  the  clever 
three-fold  commendation  of  the  Brooklyn  (or  Roebling) 
suspension  bridge,  which  rose  to  the  level  of  genius  in 
criticism.  As  he  viewed  it  from  the  distance  where  detail 
was  not  observable,  he  said.  *'Ah,  c'est  beau  (Ah,  it 
is  beautiful)."  It  appealed  to  his  esthetic  sense  as 
suitable,  graceful,  and  of  good  form.  As  he  drew  nearer, 
and  could  grasp  the  constructive  detail,  his  second  com- 
ment was,  "C'est  bien  fait  (It  has  been  well  executed)." 
The  plans  of  its  designer  have  been  well  carried  out  by 
its  contractors  and  craftsmen  who  were  bridge-builders 
by  vocation.  As  he  drew  nearer  still  and  passed  under 
the  bridge  itself,  his  third  and  crowning  comment  was, 
"C'est  bien  etudi6  (It  has  been  well  thought  out)."  The 
brain  and  skill  of  the  designer  were  revealed  in  the 


102     THE  AMEBICAN  SOCIETY  OF  MECHANICAL  ENGINEEBS 

elaborate  prevision  of  stress  and  the  methods  of  meeting 
it,  and  the  midnight  oil  had  not  been  burned  in  vain  in 
attaining  the  result.  These  three  canons  of  criticism  can 
be  applied  to  art  and  literature,  and  to  all  other  pro- 
cesses which  result  in  an  embodiment  of  thought  in 
visible  form. 

Mr.  Coxe's  second  Annual  Meeting  in  1894  was  the 
first  at  which  the  member's  lapel  button  badge  was  put 
in  operation  to  be  used  in  connection  with  numbered  lists 
of  members  in  attendance.  Amendments  to  the  Rules 
created  two  classes  of  Associate  members.  It  was  in  1894 
that  Mr.  Forney  introduced  his  notable  motion,  looking 
to  the  holding  of  New  York  local  meetings  of  members. 

E.  F.  C.  Davis,  December  1894  to  August  1895,  pre- 
sided only  at  the  first  Detroit  Meeting  and  was  ac- 
cidentally killed  while  riding  his  horse  in  Central  Park 
in  midsummer.  He  was  works  manager  for  the  C.  W. 
Hunt  Company  of  Staten  Island,  and  had  been  a  loco- 
motive builder  with  the  Richmond  Locomotive  Works, 
and  was  very  efficient  at  the  time  of  the  Richmond  meet- 
ing in  1890.  He  was  an  enthusiastic  amateur  in  photo- 
graphy and  gave  to  the  Society  its  first  satisfactory  pro- 
jection lantern  and  object  lens,  to  supplement  and  re- 
place the  Secretary's  earlier  solution  of  this  need.  The 
Davis  lantern  remained  in  use  until  the  permanent  and 
different  equipments  in  the  Engineering  Building  made 
them  superfluous  and  the  outfit  was  sold  to  the  Tech- 
nical Laboratory  of  the  Automobile  Club  of  America 
for  experimental  purposes.  On  Mr.  Davis's  sudden 
death,  a  question  of  policy  was  brought  up  and  settled, 
when  a  Past-President  was  urged  as  the  proper  in- 
cumbent ad  interim  until  the  succeeding  election.  It  was 
the  sense  of  the  Council  that  a  Vice-President  was  en- 
titled to  the  honor  which  went  with  the  responsibility 
and  obligation;  but  as  there  were  always  six  Vice- 
Presidents  in  office  at  one  time,  to  which  should  it  go? 
This  was  decided  by  ballot  at  this  time  on  the  basis  of 
practical  availability,  but  later  the  principle  was  formu- 


RESIDENT     1691 


THE    AMERICAN    SOCIETY  OF  MECHANICAL   ENGINEERS 


A  HISTORY  OP  THE  SOCIETY  108 

lated  that  the  duty  should  attach  to  the  Vice-President 
senior  in  age. 

Charles  E.  Billings  of  Hartford,  Conn.,  1895,  was  the 
choice  to  supply  the  vacancy  caused  by  the  death  of  Mr. 
Davis.  He  presided  at  the  sixteenth  Annual  Meeting  in 
New  York.  He  chose  as  his  presidential  address  the 
Modern  Drop  Press,  calling  attention  to  the  fact  that  the 
Enfield  rifle  made  in  Vermont  on  the  interchangeable  or 
standing  system  had  been  in  use  in  the  United  States 
before  1854  and  drop  hammers  for  gun  forgings  were 
first  used  by  Colonel  Colt  in  1853.  The  paper  was  most 
complete  and  interesting. 

Monthly  engineering  meetings  were  held  this  year 
with  discussions  on  the  Gas  Engine  of  that  day,  the 
Rapid  Transit  Problem  in  Large  Cities,  the  Electric 
Motor  in  the  Machine  Shop,  the  Compound  Locomotive 
and  the  "Water  Works  Engineering  of  New  York.  These 
were  financed  by  those  participating.  This  administra- 
tion was  signalized  by  the  gift  to  the  Society  by  Miss 
Louisa  Lee  Schuyler,  of  the  water  color  drawing  of  The 
Fulton,  bearing  Robert  Fulton's  autograph  and  the  date 
1813;  and  the  oil  portrait  by  Ballin  of  Capt.  John 
Ericsson.  The  model  of  the  original  Monitor,  gift  of 
Thomas  F.  Rowland,  was  attached  to  the  portrait  when 
exhibited  at  the  Annual  Meeting. 

John  Fritz  of  Bethlehem,  Pa.,  presided  at  the  St. 
Louis  Meeting  and  at  the  seventeenth  Annual  Meeting 
in  New  York,  1896.  He  had  been  engineer  and  creator 
of  the  great  Bessemer  steel  works  at  South  Bethlehem 
and  later  of  its  open-hearth  and  forging  plants,  the  de- 
signer of  its  125-ton  steam  hammer,  and  consulting 
engineer  for  the  hydraulic  compressed  steel  and  armor 
and  mandril  forging  plants  and  oil  treatment  and 
harveyizing  departments.  He  was,  moreover,  a  man  of 
a  wonderfully  attractive  personality,  generous  and  self- 
immolating  for  the  advantage  of  others.  He  had  passed 
his  seventieth  birthday  in  1892,  four  years  before,  but 
his  modesty  and  self-depreciation  had  made  him  very 
difficult  to  persuade  to  accept  honors.    The  Society  made 


104     THE  AMERICAN  SOCIETY  OF  MECHANICAL  ENGINEERS 

him  an  Honorary  Member  in  1900  and  on  his  eightieth 
birthday  in  1902  cooperated  in  creating  the  John  Fritz 
Medal  Fund  to  keep  his  name  alive.  He  died  in  1913  at 
the  age  of  91. 

His  presidential  address  on  the  Progress  of  the 
Manufacture  of  Iron  and  Steel  in  America  and  the  Re- 
lations of  the  Engineer  to  it,  was  a  historic  and  technical 
review  of  the  development  of  process  and  machinery,  and 
was  illustrated  by  a  full  size  drawing  of  a  modern  ingot 
lathe  with  a  gun  jacket  ingot  under  the  tools.  A  hand 
tool,  such  as  Mr.  Fritz  had  used  as  an  apprentice,  was 
presented  by  him  to  the  Society  and  is  in  its  collections'. 
On  his  death  in  1913,  many  other  mementoes  of  his 
activity  and  his  friendships  reverted  to  the  Society  by 
action  of  his  executors. 

The  Society  bore  a  hand  during  Mr.  Fritz's  ad- 
ministration in  the  effort  to  secure  for  the  engineers  of 
the  U.  S.  Navy  a  recognition  and  precedence  with  proper 
titles,  to  which  the  importance  of  their  service  should 
entitle  them.  Mr.  Holloway,  Past-President,  died  during 
Mr.  Fritz's  presidency  and  a  memorial  session  was  held. 
The  Society  was  asked  by  the  superintendent  of  build- 
ings of  New  York  City  to  appoint  representatives  for  a 
movement  to  revise  the  engineering  and  constructional 
features  of  the  City  Building  Code,  to  take  account  of 
the  new  conditions  in  steel  structures.  Mr.  Francis  H. 
Stillman  presented  a  historic  model  of  the  first  dudgeon 
hydraulic  jack  of  a  date  of  1851. 

Worcester  R.  Warner  of  Cleveland,  Ohio,  presided  at 
the  second  Hartford  and  at  the  eighteenth  Annual  Meet- 
ing in  New  York  in  1897.  His  firm,  the  Warner  and 
Swasey  Company,  was  a  builder  of  machine  tools  and 
optical  specialties  and  the  high  class  of  special  ma- 
chinery involved  in  the  design  and  construction  of  astro- 
nomical telescopes  and  range-finders.  His  address 
treated  the  telescope  considered  historically  and  prac- 
tically, a  topic  on  which  its  author  is  an  authority. 

Charles  Wallace  Hunt  presided  at  Niagara  Falls  and 
at  the  nineteenth  Annual  Meeting  in  New  York  in  1898. 


A  HISTOBY  OF  THE  SOCIETY  105 

He  was  the  designer  and  manufacturer  of  conveying 
machinery  for  docks  and  for  ore  and  coal,  an  able  but 
strict  administrator,  and  a  man  of  rare  genial  qualities. 
His  administration  was  signalized  by  the  successful  ex- 
periment of  trying  to  run  a  convention  without  the  con- 
tributions of  funds  from  a  local  membership  and  without 
a  local  committee  of  resident  members.  All  features  of 
the  meeting  were  paid  for  by  those  attending  them  by  the 
use  of  tickets  sold  by  the  Secretary's  office  at  head- 
quarters, and  no  obligations  were  incurred  or  burdens 
entailed  as  respects  the  convention  city. 

Mr.  Hunt 's  address  was  a  broad  consideration  of  The 
Engineer,  his  practice,  his  development,  his  field  and 
scope  of  work,  his  researches,  his  ethics  and  the  debt 
due  to  him,  and  to  applied  science  of  which  he  is  the 
representative.  It  was  during  Mr.  Hunt's  presidency 
that  friends  of  Mr.  John  Fritz,  Past-President,  pre- 
sented an  oil  portrait  of  him  to  the  Society. 

Geo.  W.  Melville,  Bear  Admiral  of  the  IJnited  States 
Navy,  presided  at  the  second  Washington  and  the 
twentieth  Annual  Meetings  in  New  York  in  1899.  At  the 
time  of  his  election  he  was  Engineer-in-Chief  of  the 
United  States  Navy,  with  an  international  reputation  for 
his  heroism  on  the  Jeannette  Arctic  Expedition  and  for 
the  excellency  of  the  Navy  machinery  designed  and  built 
under  his  direction  during  his  twelve  years  in  office.  It 
was  his  party  who  found  the  dead  bodies  of  De  Long  and 
his  comrades  after  tremendous  endurance  of  the  hard- 
ships of  the  Far  North.  He  was  a  splendid  military 
figure  with  long,  prematurely  whitened  hair,  the  result 
doubtless  of  the  exposures  and  stresses  of  those  earlier 
achievements.  The  magnificent  work  of  the  Navy  was 
then  fresh  in  all  minds,  after  the  Spanish- American 
War  of  1898  had  been  concluded  by  the  terms  of  peace. 

Beside  the  notable  features  of  the  Washington  Meet- 
ing elsewhere  to  be  referred  to,  the  great  feature  of 
Rear  Admiral  Melville's  administration  was  a  move- 
ment to  enlist  and  secure  greater  participation  in  the 
work  of  the  Society  by  its  Junior  members.    The  idea 


106     THE  AMERICAN  SOCIETY  OF  MECHANICAL  ENGINEERS 

was  to  develop  and  utilize  the  talent  and  energy  of  its 
younger  members,  while  at  the  same  time  training  them 
by  experience  for  the  later  participation  and  leadership 
which  must  be  theirs.  This  idea  like  many  others  of 
equal  excellence,  originated  with  Mr.  Stephen  W.  Bald- 
win, to  whom  so  much  of  value  in  Society  matters  was 
continuously  due.  It  took  the  form  of  a  series  of  monthly 
meetings  in  New  York  City,  in  charge  of  a  committee 
made  up  entirely  of  Junior  members  who  were  expected 
to  procure  the  topics  of  engineering  interest  to  be  dis- 
cussed and  to  see  that  the  right  men  were  requested  to 
take  part.  The  topics  of  that  winter  were,  first,  the 
question  of  the  equipment  and  work  of  the  repair  shop 
and  floating  machine  shop  on  the  U.  S.  S.  Vulcan  situated 
at  Guantanamo  Bay  with  a  foundry  cupola  aboard,  pre- 
sented by  Mr.  Pardon  Armington;  the  second,  an  ex- 
hibition of  the  properties  and  behavior  of  liquefied  air, 
which  was  then  a  great  novelty  in  technical  circles. 

Admiral  Melville 's  presidential  address  was  a  review 
of  naval  engineering,  especially  in  the  United  States, 
with  interesting  reminiscences  of  the  struggle  to  get  me- 
chanical steam  power  and  its  users  into  the  sphere  of 
recognition  in  the  United  States.  It  is  a  sketch  and 
history  of  the  engineering  corps  of  the  Navy  and  its 
final  amalgamation  with  the  Line,  when  it  had  been 
decided  that  every  fighting  officer  in  the  Navy  must  also 
be  an  engineer.  It  referred  to  the  debts  owed  to  Mr. 
Charles  H.  Haswell,  the  first  Engineer-in-Chief  of  the 
Navy,  and  to  Admiral  Benj.  F.  Isherwood,  who  had  held 
the  office  during  the  Civil  War  of  1861-1865  and  who,  in 
addition  to  his  great  efficiency  as  an  executive,  became 
even  more  famous  for  his  original  experimental  work 
He  spoke  of  the  four  cruisers  of  1883  as  the  beginning 
of  the  so-called  ''new  navy,"  and  of  the  leadership  of 
the  United  States  in  many  details  of  engineering 
practice,  referring  briefly  to  improvements  made  during 
his  term  such  as  the  water  tube  boiler,  the  triple  screw 
ships,  the  floating  workshops  and  the  distilling  ships  for 
fresh  water.    In  closing  he  pointed  out  that  the  adoption 


A  HISTORY  OF  THE  SOCIETY  107 

of  engineering  as  a  requisite  for  every  officer,  making  the 
Commander  a  real  fighting  engineer,  was  the  highest 
compliment  ever  paid  to  the  profession. 

Gifts  which  signalized  this  year  and  term  were  the 
collection  of  valuable  and,  in  many  instances,  unique 
books  gathered  together  by  the  late  W.  F.  Durfee  which 
had  come  into  the  Library  with  their  enclosing  cases; 
and  Miss  Cornelia  J.  Carll  had  presented  a  water  color 
sketch  of  canal  engineering  with  an  autographic  sig- 
nature of  Robert  Fulton,  dated  1797. 

Charles  H.  Morgan  presided  at  Cincinnati  and  at 
the  twenty-first  Annual  Meeting  in  New  York  in  1900. 
He  had  been  an  iron  master,  specializing  in  the  rolling 
mill  for  wire  rods,  interested  in  the  work  of  the  Wor- 
cester Institute  of  Technology  and  its  philosophy  of 
education. 

The  continued  Junior  monthly  meetings  were  fea- 
tures of  this  year,  the  Westinghouse  Gas  Engine,  Com- 
pound Locomotives,  the  Diesel  Motor,  Gun  and  other 
Castings,  and  Cylinder  Proportions  of  Multi-cylinder 
Engines  being  the  topics.  The  reunion  of  Civil  and  Me- 
chanical Engineers  in  London  in  June  took  place  this 
year  and  also  the  subsequent  separately  organized  trips 
to  Paris  and  to  Berlin.  In  all  three  cities  the  courtesy 
was  most  pervasive  and  the  party  greatly  impressed  by 
the  efforts  for  their  entertainment. 

Mr.  Morgan's  presidential  address,  entitled  Some 
Landmarks  in  the  History  of  the  Rolling  Mill,  was  a 
tribute  to  the  memory  of  Henry  Cort  and  his  genius, 
and  a  discussion  of  the  development  from  that  initiative 
in  the  continuous  mill  and  its  related  machinery  and 
furnaces. 

S,  T.  Wellman  of  Cleveland,  Ohio,  presided  at  the 
Milwaukee  Meeting  and  at  the  twenty-second  Annual 
Meeting  in  New  York  in  1901.  When  the  Society  first 
came  to  know  him,  he  was  engineer  of  the  Otis  Steel 
Works  of  Cleveland  and  the  host  of  a  visiting  party  on 
the  occasion  of  the  Cleveland  Meeting  in  1883.  He  had 
become    a    representative   iron   master,    designer    and 


108     THE  AMERICAN  SOCIETY  OF  MECHANICAL  ENGINEERS 

builder  of  heavy  machinery  for  furnaces,  ovens,  rolling 
mills  and  metallurgical  establishments.  He  has  always 
considered  that  the  design  and  introduction  of  the  open- 
hearth  charging  machinery  and  the  lifting  magnet  which 
are  in  use  in  other  large  steel  works  in  the  world  are 
the  things  for  which  he  has  the  greatest  claim  to  be  re- 
membered. These  are  saving  great  sums  every  year  in 
cost  of  production. 

The  Junior  monthly  meetings  had  been  continued 
during  his  term  at  which  discussions  had  been  held  on 
the  Laws  of  Construction  Contracts,  on  the  Vanderbilt 
corrugated  locomotive  fire-box,  on  Superheated  Steam 
and  Eecords  for  Shop  and  Drawing  Room.  The  Commit- 
tee on  Junior  Members,  however,  recommended  that  the 
Junior  feature  be  dropped  and  a  committee  of  all  classes 
of  members  be  appointed  to  undertake  any  future 
monthly  meetings.  Mr.  Arthur  L.  Rice  was  made  As- 
sistant to  the  Secretary  of  the  Society,  to  share  the  in- 
creasing work  of  his  office,  with  particular  charge  of  the 
detail  of  printing  and  publication. 

Notice  was  given  during  Mr.  Wellman's  term  at  the 
Milwaukee  meeting  in  May  1901  of  a  proposed  increase 
of  dues  in  the  Society.  This  action  was  taken  as  the  re- 
sult of  a  conclusion  on  the  part  of  the  Council  and  on  the 
part  of  others  interested  in  the  management  of  the  So- 
ciety that  its  revenues  were  not  sufficient  to  meet  its  re- 
quirements and  that,  in  order  to  maintain  it  in  an  efficient 
and  satisfactory  manner,  an  increase  of  $5  per  year  for 
Junior  members  and  $10  per  year  for  Members,  would 
be  the  best  method  to  reach  the  result.  The  matter  of  a 
proposed  increase  of  dues  was  much  discussed  during 
the  sunmier  following.  Considerable  opposition  to  the 
plan  developed.  It  was  made  apparent  that  the  law  of 
the  State  of  New  York,  under  which  the  Society  was 
organized,  gave  to  every  member  of  the  Society  the  right 
to  be  represented  by  proxy  at  any  meeting  and  the  exer- 
cise of  this  right  led  to  the  overwhelming  defeat  of  the 
plan  to  increase  the  dues  by  a  vote  of  647  adverse  votes 
in  a  total  of  874  voting.     As  this  result  made  it  im- 


/M^     /Y^Ccrr-r-> 


THE  AMERICAN     SOCIETY   OF    MECHANICAL   ENGINEERS 


A  HISTORY  OF  THE  SOCIETY  109 

practicable  to  rearrange  the  Society's  business  affairs 
on  the  basis  of  an  increased  payment  by  the  members, 
other  plans  were  naturally  considered,  particularly  by  a 
joint  committee  composed  of  the  Executive  Committee 
of  the  Council  and  the  Finance  Committee.  Mr.  Henry 
R.  Towne,  who  had  been  among  the  prominent  opponents 
of  the  plan  to  increase  the  dues,  rendered  valuable  as- 
sistance to  this  joint  committee,  and  the  ultimate  result 
was  the  revision  of  the  Society's  Constitution  in  1904, 
followed  later  by  a  revision  of  the  Society's  business 
methods  under  the  presidency  of  Dr.  F.  W.  Taylor  in 
1906. 

A  memorial  to  Robert  Fulton  in  the  churchyard  of 
old  Trinity  Church,  New  York  City,  took  the  form  of  a 
granite  monument  with  bas-relief  and  suitable  inscrip- 
tions in  bronze.  It  was  unveiled  with  proper  ceremonies 
during  the  Annual  Meeting.  A  photograph  was  taken, 
showing  the  monument  with  President  Wellman,  Charles 
H.  Haswell,  Prof.  R.  H.  Thurston  and  Admiral  Melville 
grouped  about  it.  Admiral  Melville  delivered  an  address 
on  Robert  Fulton  as  a  feature  of  the  ceremonial.  The 
Council  first  constituted  an  Executive  Committee  of  its 
members  during  the  Wellman  administration  to  act  in 
the  interim  of  its  stated  meetings.  President  Wellman 's 
presidential  address  covered  the  early  history  of  Open- 
Hearth  Steel  Manufacture  in  the  United  States,  with 
which  he  had  been  closely  connected.  He  described  the 
early  trials  and  successes  and  illustrated  the  furnace 
construction  from  the  five-ton  furnace  of  the  early  days 
to  the  fifty-ton  design  of  current  practice  and  the  much 
larger  type  projected. 

Edwin  H.  Reynolds  was  unable  by  reason  of  iU-health 
to  preside  at  either  the  Boston  meeting  or  the  twenty- 
third  Annual  Meeting  in  New  York.  His  place  was  ac- 
ceptably filled  by  Mr.  James  M.  Dodge  in  Boston,  and  by 
Mr.  Arthur  M.  Waitt  in  New  York.  The  Boston  Meeting 
was  signalized  by  discussion  on  the  general  problems  of 
Society  management  and  whether  a  policy  of  control 
by  standing  committees  of  the  Society  was  not  a  safer 


110     THE  AMERICAN  SOCIETY  OF  MECHANICAL  ENGINEERS 

one  than  the  existing  plan  of  less  definite  control  by  the 
Council  as  a  whole,  whose  members  could  not  in  the 
nature  of  the  case  be  as  familiar  with  detail  as  a  more 
compact  body  more  frequently  convened.  The  debate 
resulted  in  the  appointment  of  a  strong  committee  to 
revise  the  By-Laws  (or  Eules  as  they  were  then  called), 
to  report  at  a  later  meeting.  This  step  was  the  beginning 
of  the  notable  revision  which  separated  the  old  Rules 
into  the  Constitution  and  By-Laws,  adopted  in  1904  and 
have  since  been  the  basis  of  Society  organic  law.  The 
Society's  methods  of  accounting  were  very  carefully  gone 
over  by  a  joint  conamittee  of  the  Executive  and  Finance 
Committees,  and  with  the  cooperation  of  Messrs. 
Sargent,  Page  and  Taylor,  chartered  accountants,  a  new 
set  of  books  and  systematized  account  headings  were  in- 
troduced. 

In  this  administration  were  also  presented  the  sug- 
gestion that  Junior  members  should  have  their  dues  in- 
creased to  the  Members '  rate  after  five  years  of  member- 
ship (the  plan  of  compelling  Juniors  to  become  full 
members  in  name  after  such  probation  was  rejected) ; 
and  the  re-opening  of  discussion  on  the  compulsory  in- 
troduction of  metric  measures  into  governmental  depart- 
ments and  into  general  business.  Messrs.  Soule  and 
Basford  were  added  to  the  Committee  to  revise  the  rules, 
which  had  been  reduced  to  Messrs.  C.  W.  Hunt,  Jesse 
M.  Smith  and  D.  S.  Jacobus,  by  the  resignation  of  Mr. 
Henry  E.  Towne. 

Mr.  Reynolds  was  a  representative  of  the  steam 
engine  builders  of  the  country.  Trained  in  the  shops  of 
Mr.  George  H.  Corliss,  he  had  been  summoned  by  the 
Allis  Company  to  become  engineer  and  designer  for  the 
engines  of  the  Corliss  type  which  they  were  introducing. 
He  had  many  economic  successes  to  his  credit  for  water 
works  pumping  stations  and  for  electric  power  stations. 
His  design  had  been  accepted  for  the  power  station  of 
the  London  Underground  System,  to  the  great  dissatis- 
faction of  the  British  and  Continental  competitors. 

James  Mapes  Dodge  of  Philadelphia,  Pa.,  presided  at 


A  HISTORY  OF  THE  SOCIETY  111 

the  Saratoga  Meeting  and  at  the  twenty-fourth  Annual 
Meeting  in  New  York  in  1903.  It  was  the  Dodge  ad- 
ministration of  the  Society  which  was  signalized  by  the 
announcement  of  the  gift  to  the  profession  of  engineer- 
ing of  the  munificent  sum  of  one  and  one-half  million 
dollars  for  the  erection  of  a  suitable  building  for  the 
housing  of  the  Engineering  Societies  and  the  Engineers' 
Club.  This  had  long  been  hoped  for  as  a  consummation 
of  the  dreams  of  the  founders  of  the  Society  and  others. 
A  committee  to  represent  the  Society,  in  conference  with 
representatives  of  the  other  societies,  under  the  general 
designation  of  the  Building  Committee,  was  appointed 
and  consisted  of  Messrs.  James  Mapes  Dodge,  President, 
Charles  Warren  Hunt  and  Frederick  K.  Button.  Mr. 
Dodge  continued  as  a  representative  of  the  Society  until 
after  the  building  was  completed  and  his  term  as  trustee 
of  the  United  Engineering  Society  had  to  expire  by  the 
limitations  of  its  By-Laws.  Mr.  Dodge  is  also  to  be  cred- 
ited with  the  conception  and  invention  of  the  idea,  re- 
ferred to  elsewhere,  of  having  each  member  wear  upon 
the  lapel  of  his  coat  his  name  for  identification  at  conven- 
tions. It  was  also  in  the  Dodge  administration  that  the 
report  of  the  Committee  on  Constitution  and  By-Laws 
was  presented  at  Saratoga,  followed  by  its  unanimous 
adoption  by  the  Society  then  in  convention  and  its  order 
to  letter  ballot  to  the  voting  membership  as  a  whole.  Mr. 
Gus  C.  Henning  was  an  earnest  advocate  of  the  German 
system  of  dividing  the  Society  into  sections,  generally 
local  in  character,  and  giving  to  the  section  an  importance 
greater  than  that  given  to  the  national  body.  Amend- 
ments to  bring  these  changes  about  were  offered  and 
lost. 

The  Constitution  (C-52)  provided  for  the  creation  of 
sections  subordinate  to  the  national  body,  and  under  this 
presidency  a  committee  of  the  Council  had  considered 
the  necessary  By-Laws  and  reported  the  policy  recom- 
mending that  only  members  of  the  Society  could  be 
eligible  to  such  local  sections  and  control  all  their  affairs. 
This   policy   was   perhaps   inevitable   at   the   time,    as 


112     THE  AMERICAN  SOCIETY  OP  MECHANICAL  ENGINEERS 

members  of  the  Society  in  Milwaukee  and  Cincinnati  had 
formulated  their  ideas.  A  later  and  broader  policy  per- 
mitted membership  and  participation  in  the  advantages 
of  local  meetings  by  persons  not  members  of  the  Society, 
while  retaining  the  idea  of  control  and  office  in  the  sec- 
tion in  the  hands  of  elected  members.  Mr.  Dodge  also 
presented  a  bronze  replica  of  a  bust  of  Capt.  John  Erics- 
son during  his  administration  and  cooperated  in  securing 
oil  portraits  of  James  Watt,  Isaac  Newton  and  John 
Stephenson. 

Mr.  Dodge's  presidential  address,  December  3,  1903, 
entitled  The  Money  Value  of  Technical  Training,  was  a 
novel  and  original  presentation  of  the  idea  that  the 
educational  or  school  preparation  of  the  engineer  and 
industrialist  for  his  life-work  was  a  paying  investment  of 
capital  so  far  as  he  was  concerned,  independent  of  the 
significance  of  such  education  to  the  community  and  its 
productive  processes.  A  diagram  showing  the  curve  of 
incomes  for  men  with  different  grades  of  education  and 
training  as  their  years  of  experience  grew  was  the  cen- 
tral feature  of  this  address  and  was  most  illuminating. 

Ambrose  Swasey  of  Cleveland,  Ohio,  presided  at  Chi- 
cago at  the  joint  meeting  of  the  Institution  of  Mechanical 
Engineers  of  Great  Britain  and  the  American  Society, 
and  at  the  twenty-fifth  or  quarter-centennial  Annual 
Meeting  of  the  Society  in  New  York  in  1904.  Chicago  was 
chosen  for  the  joint  meeting  in  order  to  enable  the 
visiting  engineers  to  have  a  comfortable  housing  and  a 
normal  meeting  for  reading  and  discussion  of  papers, 
at  a  location  which  would  also  be  en  route  to  the  Louisi- 
ana Purchase  Exposition,  then  in  progress  in  St.  Louis. 
The  guests  were  expected  to  arrive  whenever  their  avail- 
able time  would  allow  and  spend  their  time  in  visiting 
points  of  professional  or  other  interest  to  them  all  over 
the  United  States,  making  a  rendezvous  of  the  joint 
meeting  in  Chicago.  This  over,  they  might  then  go  to 
St.  Louis  and  reach  the  sea  coast  at  their  convenience. 
An  exposition  city  is  not  a  wise  selection  for  a  Society 
meeting.    Representatives  of  the  Society  were  asked  to 


A  HISTORY  OF  THE  SOCIETY 


113 


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AGES  16   17   18   19  20   21  22   23  24   25  26   27   28  29   30  31  32 

E«ch  Vertical  Line  Represents  One  Year 

The  Monsy  VaiiUe  of  Technical  Eduoatiok 


114     THE  AMERICAN  SOCIETY  OF  MECHANICAL  ENGINEERS 

be  on  the  alert  for  accredited  members  of  the  English 
Society  and  the  headquarters  in  New  York  were  again 
turned  into  a  tourists'  center  and  an  office  for  registra- 
tion for  the  visits  which  the  foreigners  might  desire. 
These  plans  worked  very  well  and  practically.  Mr. 
Swasey  entertained  the  visiting  members  of  the  Council 
of  the  Institution  at  a  handsome  dinner  in  New  York 
City  before  they  started  for  the  meeting  and  graciously 
invited  the  members  of  the  Council  of  the  American  So- 
ciety to  act  with  him  as  hosts.  The  papers  of  the  meet- 
ing were  both  American  and  British  and  were  published 
in  the  Transactions  of  both  societies. 

An  oil  portrait  of  Prof.  John  E.  Sweet  was  added  to 
the  Society's  collection  during  this  year.  Mr.  Swasey 's 
presidential  address  was  entitled,  Some  Refinements  of 
Mechanical  Science,  and  discussed  the  coming  of  the 
scientists'  and  instrument  makers'  standards  of  ac- 
curacy into  the  domain  of  the  engineer,  the  accuracy  of 
mechanical  and  measurement  work  involved  in  graduated 
limbs  of  optical  apparatus,  and  the  wave  length  of  light 
as  a  unit  of  mechanical  measurement. 

John  R.  Freeman  presided  at  the  second  Scranton 
Meeting  and  the  twenty-sixth  Annual  Meeting  in  New 
York  in  1905.  He  had  won  fame  as  a  hydraulic  engi- 
neer for  mill  and  waterworks  engineering  and  in  canal 
and  dam  work,  but  was  particularly  an  expert  in  the 
safeguarding  of  factory  and  other  public  buildings  from 
the  hazard  of  fire.  He  had  been  one  of  the  Panama 
Canal  Commission  and  had  rendered  other  important 
public  service.  His  presidential  address  was  entitled, 
The  Safeguarding  of  Life  in  Theaters,  and  was  a 
masterly  and  exhaustive  discussion  of  its  topic,  with 
many  practical  suggestions  for  the  present  and  future. 

The  By-Laws  of  the  United  Engineering  Society,  the 
corporate  body  created  by  special  charter  to  operate  the 
Engineering  Societies  Building,  were  approved  in  this 
year  and  the  mortgage  for  $540,000  for  the  land  executed, 
and  in  July  the  contract  was  signed  for  the  construction 
of  the  building.    Sections  of  the  Society  were  authorized 


A  HISTORY  OF  THE  SOCIETY  115 

as  its  policy  under  rules  for  their  conduct.  Four  engi- 
neering evenings  were  held  in  New  York,  discussing 
epochs  in  Marine  Engineering,  by  Melville;  the  Condi- 
tions at  Panama  and  the  Reasons  for  a  Sea-level  Canal, 
by  Warner  and  Burr ;  the  Formation  of  Anchor  Ice  and 
Precise  Temperature  Measurements  in  "Water,  by 
Barnes ;  and  Diamond  Tools,  by  Henning.  Mr.  Freeman 
took  a  very  active  interest  in  the  design  of  the  auditorium 
for  the  new  Engineering  Building  and  made  important 
suggestions  as  to  its  design  as  respects  safety  from  fire. 

Frederick  W.  Taylor  presided  at  the  Chattanooga 
Meeting  and  at  the  twenty- seventh  Annual  Meeting  in 
New  York  in  1906.  He  was  identified  with  Mr.  Maunsel 
White  with  the  work  at  Bethlehem,  which  resulted  in  the 
so-called  high-speed  tool  steel,  which  did  not  lose  its  cutting 
edge  at  high  working  temperatures;  and  he  will  be  re 
membered  also  for  his  researches  into  the  Art  of  Cutting 
Metals,  which  he  made  the  topic  of  his  presidential  ad- 
dress, a  monumental  labor  and  embodying  his  researches 
for  twenty-five  years.  He  was  also  well-known  for  his 
exposition  of  the  philosophy  of  scientific  management  in 
productive  establishments,  based  on  careful  time  study 
by  a  skilled  observer  of  the  functions  of  each  usual  move- 
ment of  the  worker,  and  then  the  simplification  of  such 
motions  into  the  fewest  and  best  directed  for  their  pur- 
pose. The  planning  or  routing  of  work  and  the  reduc- 
tion of  cost  of  manufacture  have  also  been  his  specialties. 
He  presented  as  well  some  most  valuable  researches  into 
transmission  of  power  by  belting. 

The  significant  events  of  his  year  in  the  Society  were 
his  careful  study  of  the  needs  of  the  Society  in  its  office 
routine  and  practice,  assigning  Mr.  Morris  L.  Cooke,  at 
his  personal  expense,  to  the  working  out  of  detail  and 
office  standard  procedure  as  the  result  of  such  study- 
While  this  was  nominally  the  duty  of  a  Committee  on 
Reorganization,  consisting  of  Messrs.  Miller,  Taylor,  and 
Hutton,  Mr.  Taylor  really  did  the  lion's  share  of  the 
work.  The  result  was  several  volumes  of  carefully  elabo- 
rated standards,  making  the  office  routine  of  the  Society  a 


116     THE  AMERICAN  SOCIETY  OF  MECHANICAL  ENGINEERS 

model  for  all  other  similar  organizations.  This  work, 
which  began  in  the  Taylor  administration,  lasted  through 
the  next  two  years  before  it  was  considered  completed. 
The  financial  or  accounting  department  has  perhaps 
undergone  the  least  modification  in  use  by  experience, 
but  all  standards  were  intended  to  make  recurring  duties 
as  nearly  automatic  as  possible  and  cause  them  to  de- 
mand least  attention  from  the  higher  and  more  highly 
paid  oflficials.  Mr.  Charles  Whiting  Baker  cooperated  in 
much  detail  as  respects  the  publication  of  papers  and 
printing. 

The  second  event  was  the  resignation  of  the  Secre- 
tary, who  had  been  in  office  for  twenty-three  years,  and 
who  felt  that  the  time  had  come  when  the  Society 
needed  for  itself  the  full  time  and  energies  of  its  Secre- 
tary, and  should  not  be  compelled  to  share  these  with 
the  engineering  department  of  the  great  university  with 
which  he  had  been  so  long  connected.  This  resignation! 
was  quietly  presented  in  the  early  Spring  to  take  effect 
in  December  or  at  the  end  of  the  year  when  election 
should  take  place.  The  membership  was  asked  to  make 
nominations,  and  many  replied ;  but  after  much  delibera- 
tion the  choice  fell  upon  Mr.  Calvin  W.  Rice,  who  has 
since  been  in  office.  He  entered  at  once  on  his  duties 
before  his  election,  under  a  title  of  Assistant  to  the 
Secretary,  in  order  to  familiarize  himself  with  the  duties 
soon  to  become  his.  Mr.  Taylor's  clear  vision  saw  that 
a  Secretary  had  two  differing  sets  of  duties :  the  one  as 
an  office  manager  of  daily  routine,  and  the  other  the  more 
public  and  possibly  larger  duties  before  the  public  at 
meetings  and  wherever  he  had  to  represent  the  Society 
and  its  Council  by  his  address  and  personality.  He 
therefore  proposed  two  functionaries  to  meet  the  case; 
but  this  idea  did  not  find  favor  or  commend  itself  gen- 
erally. The  office  of  Honorary  Secretary  in  the  Society 
was  proposed  with  a  view  first,  to  keeping  the  experience 
and  qualifications  of  a  long  term  officer  at  the  service  of 
the  Society,  and  second,  to  recognize  the  debt  due  to 


(CAN    SOCIETY  OF   MECHANICAl-   ENGINEERS 


I 


A  HISTORY  OF  THE  SOCIETY  117 

the  Secretary,  for  his  effective  service  in  building  up  the 
Society  during  the  long  series  of  years.  Mr.  Taylor  died 
on  March  21,  1915. 

Prof.  Frederick  R.  Button  presided  at  the  Indianapolis 
Meeting  and  the  twenty- eighth  Annual  Meeting  in  New 
York  in  1907.  He  was  made  President  as  the  culmination 
of  the  twenty-four  years  of  service  to  the  Society  as  its 
Secretary,  which  he  had  wished  to  round  out  into  twenty- 
five  years,  or  a  quarter  of  a  century;  but  the  year  1907 
was  the  year  in  which  the  Society  moved  into  its  new  lo- 
cation in  the  Engineering  Societies  Building  at  29  West 
39th  Street,  and  it  seemed  proper  that,  having  led  the 
Societj^  from  the  modest  beginnings  where  he  paid  the 
office  rent  of  the  Society's  office  out  of  his  own  pocket,  up 
through  the  successive  stages  of  development  and 
progress  of  floor  occupancy  and  ownership  of  a  whole 
house,  its  retiring  Secretary  should  be  made  President 
that  year.  He  therefore  had  the  honor  of  presiding  at 
the  first  assemblies  during  the  Winter  and  Spring  at  the 
very  first  gathering  of  engineers  in  their  splendid  audi- 
torium, of  representing  the  Society  at  the  formal  cere- 
monial days  of  dedication,  and  at  the  first  Annual  Meet- 
ing in  their  new  home.  He  took  for  his  presidential  ad- 
dress on  retiring  from  office,  The  Mechanical  Engineer 
and  the  Functions  of  the  Engineering  Society,  and  de- 
veloped the  thesis  that  the  original  historic  definition  of 
an  engineer  by  Tredgold  should  be  expanded  to  cover 
new  functions  for  the  profession  that  were  not  before  the 
mind  of  the  originator. 

Tredgold 's  definition  of  engineering  is  silent  upon 
that  group  of  engineers  concerned  with  the  liberation, 
the  generation  and  transmission  of  forces  which  are 
potential  and  are  not  realized  in  nature  until  some  engi- 
neer has  caused  them  to  appear  in  accordance  with 
natural  law. 

The  author  pointed  out  that  while  Tredgold  did  not 
include  them  in  the  ''powers  of  nature,"  today  there 
must  be  included  ''the  forces  which  are  economic  or 
social    or    psychological    in    their    application"    when 


118     THE  AMERICAN  SOCIETY  OF  MECHANICAL  ENGINEERS 

**  human  beings  become  the  organs  and  implements  of 
the  factory  as  a  tool  of  production  .  .  ."  The  engi- 
neer has  therefore  become  the  economic  factor  as  he  was 
not  conceived  to  be  in  earlier  days. 

Any  policy  or  step  which  gives  occasion  rightly  to 
charge  a  tendency  for  a  national  body  to  localize,  is  an 
invasion  of  opportunity  and  value. 

The  author  considered  at  length  and  favorably  the 
reasons  for  encouraging  local  meetings  or  sections  of  the 
Society.  Such  sections  may  be  either  grouped  terri- 
torially or  by  topics  and  common  interests. 

Is  the  privilege  of  service  and  of  function  all  on  one 
side,  or  has  the  Society  the  right  to  ask  from  its  members 
a  reciprocal  duty  to  itself!  The  latter,  no  doubt.  Profes- 
sor Hutton's  paper  is  made  an  Appendix  to  this  History. 

This  administration  was  also  signalized  by  the  wind- 
ing up  of  the  Mechanical  Engineers '  Library  Association 
and  the  sale  of  its  real  estate,  and  by  the  transfer  of  its 
assets  to  The  American  Society  of  Mechanical  Engineers 
by  concurrence  of  the  Courts.  The  Society  had  therefore 
turned  a  new  page  in  its  history  and  set  its  face  toward 
the  future  under  a  new  set  of  conditions. 

At  the  close  of  his  presidency.  Professor  Hutton  was 
elected  Honorary  Secretary  under  the  constitutional  pro- 
vision which  created  such  an  office  and  accepted  the  honor 
conferred  with  the  understanding  that  no  compensation 
in  the  form  of  salary  should  attach  to  the  office  at  that 
time.  Mr.  Calvin  W.  Eice  was  elected  Secretary  in  due 
course  when  Professor  Hutton  became  President.  Pro- 
fessor Hutton  had  been  a  member  of  the  building  com- 
mittee for  the  Society's  building  and  secretary  of  its 
Board  of  Trustees.  Besides  his  professional  duties  he 
had  been  Dean  of  the  Engineering  Faculty  at  Columbia 
University  for  six  years,  and  was  the  author  of  textbooks 
on  the  Mechanical  Engineering  of  Power  Plants  on  Heat 
Engines  and  on  the  Gas  Engine.  He  had  also  done  much 
editorial  writing  for  encyclopedias  and  dictionaries.  He 
was  one  of  the  earliest  engineers  to  take  up  the  motor 
vehicle  for  his  own  use  and  as  a  professional  activity. 


A  HISTOEY  OF  THE  SOCIETY  119 

M.  L.  Holman  presided  at  the  second  Detroit  Meeting 
and  the  twenty-ninth  Annual  Meeting  in  New  York,  1908. 
His  administration  was  signalized  by  the  start  of  the 
Gas  Power  Section  and  its  early  sedulous  activities.  His 
presidential  address  discussed  the  Conservation  Idea  as 
applied  to  The  American  Society  of  Mechanical  Engi- 
neers. The  Congress  of  1908  which  had  been  attended 
by  the  governors  and  at  which  action  initiated  by  this 
Society  had  been  taken  was  the  starting  point  of  the 
treatment.  He  said  that  during  the  discussions  *  4t  became 
apparent  that  some  effort  would  be  required  to  keep  the 
conference  from  political  bias.  .  .  President  Roosevelt 
particularly  desired  the  cooperation  of  the  engineers  of 
the  United  States  in  the  movement  and  subsequently 
ascribed  to  the  action  of  the  engineering  societies  the 
credit  of  inaugurating  the  conservation  campaign  on  non- 
political  lines.  .  .  As  new  parties  are  developed  the 
chances  of  government  by  the  minority  became  greater, 
and  with  a  sufficient  number  of  political  parties  in  the 
field,  revolutions  will  be  the  order  of  the  day.  .  .  One 
city  for  years  discharged  its  sewage  into  the  margin  of 
a  lake  and  took  its  water  supply  from  the  same  place. 
With  us,  however,  civil  and  religious  liberty  seems  to 
include  unnecessary  exposure  to  disease.  At  the  confer- 
ence in  Washington  the  preventable  disease  problem  was 
practically  overlooked,  perhaps  from  the  fact  that  no 
trust  seems  to  be  operating  in  that  field.  .  .  I  venture 
to  suggest  that  we  might  make  progress  by  ascertaining 
the  secret  of  German  frugality  and  prosperity  rather 
than  by  compiling  masses  of  figures  to  prove  what  is  well 
known,  viz :  that  we  are  wasting  the  resources  of  Nature 
like  a  true  prodigal  son.  .  .  Which  one  of  you  as  house- 
holder or  engineer,  will  put  up  with  a  poor  run  of  coal 
in  order  that  posterity  may  have  a  good  coal?  The  de- 
partments of  our  government  demand  the  best  grade  and 
are  not  willing  to  take  the  'run  of  the  mine.*  . 
There  is,  at  present,  a  strong  tendency  towards  bureau- 
cratic development  that  is  inimical  to  the  successful  con- 
tinuity of  our  form  of  government.*' 


120     THE  AMEEICAN  SOCIETY  OF  MECHANICAL  ENGINEERS 

It  concludes;  the  Engineering  Societies  must  fall  in 
with  the  conservation  idea  and  see  to  it  that  the  returns 
from  the  Societies  are  commensurate  with  the  efforts 
expended  in  operating  them. 

Jesse  M.  Smith  presided  at  the  third  Washington  Meet- 
ing and  the  thirteenth  Annual  Meeting  in  New  York  in 
1909.  He  was  a  patent  expert  and  consulting  engineer  and 
had  no  corporate  or  commercial  affiliations.  He  had  been 
one  of  the  experts  in  the  historic  case  of  a  few  motor  vehicle 
engine  manufacturers  against  the  inclusive  Selden  patent 
under  which  the  other  producers  had  grouped  themselves 
for  common  protection.  His  administration  was  memo- 
rable for  his  effort  to  emphasize  the  philosophy  of  Society 
management  and  control  by  its  standing  committees,  and 
the  adjustment  of  the  inter-relations  of  such  committees 
where  their  scopes  met.  It  settled  the  policy  of  having 
all  publication  work  of  the  Society,  both  Journal  and 
Transactions,  under  the  direction  of  the  Publication  Com- 
mittee, and  that  the  Committee  on  Meetings  should  con- 
cern itself  with  programs  for  the  Annual  and  Semi- 
Annual  Meetings  and  the  acceptance  of  papers  submitted 
for  these  meetings. 

His  presidential  address,  under  the  title  of  the  Profes- 
sion of  Engineering,  covered  a  review  of  the  achieve- 
ments of  the  profession  from  the  past  up  to  the  present 
time.  He  quoted  certain  paragraphs  from  the  admirable 
address  of  Dr.  Hadley,  President  of  a  great  New  England 
University,  to  the  effect  that  the  men  from  the  other 
centuries  that  went  before  it  were  its  engineers.  Down 
to  the  close  of  the  eighteenth  century  the  thinking  of  the 
country  was  dominated  by  its  theologians,  its  jurists,  and 
its  physicians.  These  w^ere  by  tradition  the  learned  pro- 
fessions, the  callings  in  which  profound  thought  was 
needed,  the  occupations  where  successful  men  were  ven- 
erated for  their  brains.  This  was  read  at  the  formal 
opening  of  the  Engineering  Building  in  1907  and  its 
recognition  of  a  learned  profession  was  timely  and  intelli- 
gent. Mr.  Smith  also  said  that  the  engineer  capable  of 
being  at  the  head  of  the  larger  engineering  works  must 


A  HISTORY  OF  THE  SOCIETY  121 

know  something  of  many  things,  several  things  well  and 
one  thing  perfectly.  The  American  Society  of  Mechan- 
ical Engineers  had  before  it  a  future  of  usefulness  to  its 
members  and  of  influence  in  the  profession  which  is  un- 
limited. It  only  required  that  the  members  stand  by  their 
traditions  of  increasing  the  membership  only  by  men  of 
high  quality  as  engineers;  that  they  maintain  an  en- 
thusiastic devotion  to  good  professional  work  and  that 
they  cooperate  with  each  other  in  the  broadest  and  most 
friendly  spirit  to  produce  that  solidarity  of  membership 
and  devotion  to  high  ideals  which  will  compel  the  world 
to  class  the  profession  of  engineering  with  the  other 
learned  professions. 

Perhaps  the  signal  feature  of  Mr.  Smith's  administra- 
tion was  the  holding  of  the  first  local  meetings  of  the 
Society,  other  than  those  in  New  York  City.  These  were 
organized  and  held  in  Boston  and  St.  Louis,  and  Mr. 
Smith  took  pains  to  be  present  and  to  speak  on  the 
policies  which  seemed  to  him  to  be  sound  and  safe.  The 
development  of  the  student  branches  of  the  Society  in 
institutions  for  engineering  education  was  also  a  promi- 
nent feature  of  this  year  and  the  extension  of  the  idea 
of  affiliated  societies  which  had  been  earnestly  urged  by 
Professor  Hutton  in  his  retiring  address  (see  Appendix). 
The  Thurston  memorial  bronze  by  McNeil  was  installed 
and  the  collection  of  Watt  and  Fulton  memorabilia  in- 
creased as  the  result  of  the  civic  celebrations  of  the 
achievements  of  Hudson  and  Fulton.  The  rooms  of  the 
Society  were  reassigned,  rearranged  and  dedicated. 
Portraits  of  the  Past-Presidents  of  the  Society  and 
Honorary  Members  were  procured  in  standard  form  and 
hung  upon  the  walls.  Important  constitutional  changes 
were  made  with  respect  to  the  qualifications  for  Associate 
membership  and  other  details  of  the  administration. 

George  W estinghouse  presided  at  the  second  Atlantic 
City  Meeting  and  at  the  thirty-first  Annual  Meeting  in 
New  York  City  in  1910.  He  had  been  made  an  Honorary 
Member  in  1897  by  reason  of  his  achievements  in  the 
field  of  safety  and  control  of  railway  trains  by  air-brake 


122     THE  AMERICAN  SOCIETY  OF  MECHANICAL  ENGINEEES 

and  by  switch  and  signal  interlocking  systems,  and  for 
his  achievements  in  electrical  machinery  manufacturies. 
He  was  felt  to  be  a  desirable  choice  for  this  year  also  by 
reason  of  the  organized  trip  to  England  to  take  part  in 
the  meeting  at  Birmingham  by  invitation  of  the  Institu- 
tion of  Mechanical  Engineers.  This  meeting  and  the 
pleasures  and  courtesies  growing  out  of  it  were  perhaps 
the  most  notable  features  of  the  year.  Mr.  Westinghouse 
was  unable  to  go  to  England  but  his  duties  as  presiding 
officer  were  undertaken  by  Prof.  W.  F.  M.  Goss,  Vice- 
President,  and  the  duty  of  responding  to  a  formal  ad- 
dress at  the  great  banquet  was  met  by  Prof.  F.  R.  Hutton 
as  Past-President  and  Honorary  Secretary.  A  Standing 
Committee  on  Public  Relations  of  the  Society  was 
formed  under  President  Westinghouse.  The  Society 
took  action  adverse  to  a  proposed  bill  in  the  state  legis- 
lature, demanding  the  requirement  of  a  license  before 
any  person  could  practice  surveying  or  by  implication 
follow  other  lines  of  engineering  practice.  Mr.  Westing- 
house's  presidential  address  was  a  review  of  the  early 
struggles  and  trials  leading  to  the  perfection  of  the  com- 
pressed-air continuous  train  brake  from  its  early  con- 
ception in  1867  to  the  forms  adaptable  to  trains  of  100 
cars  in  length. 

Col.  Edward  D.  Meier  presided  at  the  second  Pitts- 
burg and  the  thirty-second  Annual  Meetings,  New  York 
City,  1911.  Like  Mr.  Westinghouse,  a  veteran  of 
the  Civil  War  of  1861-1865,  Colonel  Meier  had  been 
identified  with  the  development  of  the  steam  boiler  of  a 
safety  and  sectional  type  and  had  been  active  in  the 
American  Boiler  Manufacturers'  Association  to  secure 
an  introduction  of  a  standard  quality  for  vessels  requir- 
ing pressure.  He  was  responsible  for  the  appointment 
of  a  Committee  to  Formulate  Standard  Specifications  for 
the  Construction  of  Steam  Boilers  and  Other  Pressure 
Vessels  and  for  their  Care  in  Service,  which  later  was 
developed  also  into  a  standard  for  legislative  control  over 
the  procedures  of  inspection  and  operation.  This  com- 
mittee did  not  report  until  after  Colonel  Meier's  death 


A  HISTORY  OF  THE  SOCIETY  183 

in  1914  but  he  always  considered  that  its  appointment 
was  one  of  the  signal  features  of  his  year.  He  was  also 
identified  with  the  introduction  of  the  Diesel  type  of  in- 
ternal combustion  motor  utilizing  oil  as  source  of  fuel 
energy.  He  was  a  warm  personal  friend  of  the  late 
Eudolph  Diesel. 

The  administration  was  signalized  by  the  first  actual 
step  of  an  affiliation  process  with  other  engineering  so- 
cieties and  the  entry  of  the  Providence  Association  of 
Mechanical  Engineers  into  this  relation.  Colonel  Meier 
was  also  an  earnest  advocate  of  holding  local  meetings 
of  groups  of  members  in  the  various  cities  and  labored 
most  assiduously  to  advance  this  practice.  His  presi- 
dential address,  under  the  title  of  The  Engineer  and  the 
Future,  was  a  plea  that  the  engineer  might  be  recognized 
more  fully  for  the  good  he  could  do  in  the  perplexing 
social  and  industrial  problems  awaiting  solution.  He 
said :  *  *  The  unrest  in  the  modern  world  has  its  basis  in  an 
underlying  sense  of  injustice.  The  growing  sense  of 
community  of  interest,  the  knowledge  of  our  dependence 
on  each  other,  the  ever  expanding  humanitarianism,  are 
all  founded  on  scientific  facts,  and  are  becoming  world 
movements.  They  fervently  and  emphatically  answer 
Cain's  question:   'Thou  art  thy  brother's  keeper.' 

*  *  The  engineer  is  responsible  for  the  vast  increase  in 
appliances  to  meet  every  demand  of  that  most  voracious 
of  living  beings,  man.  The  mass  of  mankind  needs  to  be 
educated  to  understand  and  use  them  properly.  He  is  in 
honor  bound  to  supply  this  education;  and  as  the  crude 
dangers  and  fears  of  the  earlier  centuries  vanished,  so 
the  prejudices  and  superstitions  of  the  Dark  Ages  must 
be  swept  away. 

*'If  our  future  professional  brethren  do  their  duty, 
and  we  know  they  will,  the  golden  rule  will  be  put  in 
practice  through  the  slide  rule  of  the  engineer." 

Alexander  C.  Humphreys  presided  at  the  second 
Cleveland  Meeting  and  the  thirty-third  Annual  Meeting, 
New  York,  1912.  He  was  the  third  President  to  be 
chosen  from  the  ranks  of  the  engineering  educators, 


124    THE  AMERICAN  SOCIETY  OF  MECHANICAL  ENGINEERS 

although  his  fame  as  an  engineer  rested  broadly  upon  his 
achievements  in  gas  engineering  before  he  became  presi- 
dent of  Stevens  Institute  of  Technology.  His  administra- 
tion was  notable  for  the  very  considerable  attention  paid 
to  a  revision  in  the  Council  of  the  existing  Constitution 
and  By-Laws,  to  codify  the  relations  of  the  sections  of 
the  Society  both  professionally  and  geographically  and 
to  simplify  the  statement  of  standard  procedure  under 
the  By-Laws.  Student  Branches  were  fostered  and  de- 
veloped, and  exchanges  of  international  courtesies  were 
encouraged,  particularly  with  Germany. 

President  Humphreys'  address  was  a  summons  to 
recognize  the  importance  of  the  earlier  and  the  later  pro- 
cesses of  education  in  developing  the  citizen.  He 
quoted  largely  from  previous  addresses  to  show  this 
thought  had  influenced  his  predecessors  also,  and  urged 
on  the  profession  its  responsibility  for  the  future.  His 
closing  words  were:  '*We  cannot  claim  that  our  pro- 
fession is  one  of  the  three  learned  professions  because 
the  ignorance  of  the  past  created  a  limitation  in  favor 
of  religion,  law  and  medicine.  But  we  can  claim  that 
though  much  of  that  which  the  engineer  must  have  at 
his  command  is  not  to  be  learned  from  books,  it  by  no 
means  follows  that  his  education  is  therefore  less 
'liberal'  than  that  of  the  minister,  lawyer  or  physician. 

''There  appears  to  have  been  a  tendency,  not  so  ap- 
parent at  present,  to  deny  to  the  mechanical  engineer 
the  professional  position  more  readily  conceded  to  the 
civil  and  mining  engineer.  This  seems  unreasonable  and 
indefensible  when  we  study  the  question  and  are  forced 
to  endorse  Holley's  claim  that  mechanical  engineering 
underlies  all  engineering.  The  reason  for  this  rather 
intangible  discrimination  is  in  part  due,  I  believe,  to 
the  fact  that  so  many  of  the  rank  and  file  of  our  depart- 
ment of  engineering  are  engaged  in  working  out  the  de- 
tails, more  or  less  important,  of  undertakings  which  are 
under  the  general  direction  of  civil  or  mining  engineers 
or  others  not  members  of  our  profession.  Many  me- 
chanical engineers  thus  become  absorbed  in  the  inven- 


A  HISTOEY  OF  THE  SOCIETY  125 

tion  and  development  of  mechanical  devices,  possibly  of 
vital  importance  in  the  general  scheme,  and  so  fail  to 
take  a  grasp  on  the  undertaking  as  a  whole. 

'  *  The  question  of  precedence  need  not  be  raised ;  there 
is  credit  enough  for  all.  As  engineers  we  are  committed 
to  the  doctrine  of  efficiency.  Efficiency  must  come  from 
cooperation,  not  from  discussions  as  to  precedence  and 
relative  dignity.  Watt's  steam  engine  made  Cort's 
rolling  mill  possible.  Cort's  rolling  mill  opened  up  to 
Watt's  engine  a  new  sphere  of  usefulness. 

''The  Panama  Canal,  under  the  direction  of  thor- 
oughly capable  engineers,  was  a  failure  until  the  bacteri- 
ologist, the  physician  and  the  sanitarian  made  it  possible 
for  white  men  to  live  in  the  fever  stricken  zone.  Now, 
while  under  the  general  direction  and  control  of  military 
and  civil  engineers,  the  success  of  the  undertaking  largely 
depends  upon  the  mechanical  and  electrical  engineer. 

''Then,  while  confidently  asserting  our  claim  to 
membership  among  the  liberal  professions,  and  accept- 
ing to  the  full  the  responsibilities  which  are  therebj''  in- 
volved, let  us  be  prompt  to  recognize  that  the  progress 
of  the  world,  material  and  ethical,  depends  upon  the 
unselfish,  intelligent  and  devoted  cooperation  in  service 
of  all  professions  and  vocations  under  the  leadership  of 
men  of  vision,  intellect,  power  and  humanity. ' ' 

Prof.  W.  F.  M.  Goss,  dean  of  the  Faculty  of  Engi- 
neering at  the  University  of  Illinois,  brought  to  the 
office  of  the  presidency  the  reputation  earned  as  an 
investigator  in  charge  of  scientific  research  and  par- 
ticularly in  the  field  of  the  locomotive.  He  had  origin- 
ated the  great  locomotive  testing  plant  at  Purdue  Uni- 
versity in  Indiana,  which  laid  the  foundations  for  all 
such  later  work  as  had  been  undertaken  by  the  rail- 
roads of  the  United  States  and  had  been  copied  in 
Europe.  He  was,  therefore,  chosen  as  the  head  of  the 
State-wide  engineering  research  station  which  had  re- 
cently been  established  by  the  State  of  Illinois,  and  it  has 
grown  and  flourished  under  his  care.  Much  important 
work  of  development  of  the  economy  and  effectiveness  of 


126    THE  AMEEICAN  SOCIETY  OP  MECHANICAL  ENGINEEBS 

the  modern  locomotive  has  borne  his  impress.  His  ad- 
ministration was  signalized  by  the  visit  of  the  organized 
party  of  the  Society  to  the  industrial  productive  and 
historic  cities  of  Germany  referred  to  elsewhere,  under 
the  invitation  of  the  Verein  deutscher  Ingenieure. 
Unfortunately,  his  duties  with  respect  to  service  on  an 
important  engineering  and  commercial  commission  to 
mitigate  the  smoke  nuisance  of  Chicago  prevented  his 
being  of  the  party.  He  presided  at  the  Baltimore  Meet- 
ing in  May  1913  and  at  the  thirty-fourth  Annual  Meet- 
ing in  New  York  in  December.  His  address  was  a  plea 
for  better  engineering  education  under  the  title,  Ef- 
ficiency in  Technical  Education  a  Factor  in  the  Develop- 
ment of  Professional  Ideals.  He  spoke  of  the  progress 
in  the  appreciation  of  education  since  the  Morrill  Act  of 
1862,  and  how  education  had  come  to  mean  to  the  ordi- 
nary citizen  more  than  a  mere  classroom  exercise,  and 
that  it  was  to  find  expression  in  the  applications  of 
science  and  in  the  promotion  of  scientific  research. 
Hence  the  teaching  staff  was  to  be  of  the  highest  quality 
of  material.  Nothing  could  be  more  fatal  than  a  student- 
concept  that  his  master  was  a  mere  animated  slide-rule ; 
and  the  claim  for  graduate  work  was  most  strongly 
urged.  He  concluded  by  claiming  that  the  work  of  the 
schools  tended  to  emphasize  the  dignity  of  the  calling 
of  the  engineer ;  that  it  was  further  serving  by  contribut- 
ing to  the  sum  of  his  scientific  data;  that  it  tended  to 
emphasize  the  unity  of  purpose  of  the  profession,  and 
that  the  problems  of  the  school  should  therefore  receive 
painstaking  and  persistent  attention  from  the  profession 
as  a  whole. 

James  Hartness  of  Springfield,  Vt.,  was  president  at 
the  date  of  the  Minneapolis-St.  Paul  Meeting  in  June 
1914,  and  at  the  thirty-fifth  Annual  Meeting  in  New 
York.  He  was  a  representative  of  the  builders  of  ma- 
chine tools  for  the  rapid  production  of  standard  articles 
in  the  shop.  His  specialty  was  metal  turning  lathes. 
The  flat  turret  lathe  and  the  low  swing  lathe  were 
invented    by    him    as    well   as    many    other    machines 


A  HISTOBY  OF  THE  SOCIETY  127 

and  devices  for  metal  working  purposes.  The  patent 
office  records  attest  his  inventive  talent  in  over 
eighty  of  the  patents  issued.  In  addition  to  the  in- 
vention of  metal  turning  mechanism,  Mr.  Hartness 
brought  his  ability  as  an  inventor  to  bear  on  the  problems 
of  the  astronomical  observatory.  The  outcome  of  his 
effort  is  known  as  the  turret  equatorial  telescope,  which 
in  design  differs  radically  from  the  previous  construe 
tion.  The  object  of  this  invention  was  to  protect  the 
astronomer  from  the  hardship  of  observing  in  cold 
weather  in  the  standard  observatory.  Mr.  Hartness'  at- 
tempt was  not  the  first  one  that  had  been  made  for  this 
purpose,  but  in  all  previous  attempts  the  designers  were 
forced  to  use  extra  reflecting  surfaces  that  resulted  in 
a  serious  optical  loss.  This  subject  was  presented  to 
the  Society  in  a  paper  in  1912.  This  administration 
was  signalized  by  the  President's  assiduous  interest 
in  the  welfare  of  the  sections  of  the  Society  and  by  the 
preparations  for  the  Engineering  Congress  at  San  Fran- 
cisco, incident  to  the  opening  of  the  Panama  Canal.  The 
first  vessel  passed  through  the  canal  in  this  year. 

But  most  noteworthy  of  all  was  the  creation  by 
Mr.  Ambrose  Swasey  of  Cleveland,  a  former  president 
of  the  Society,  of  The  Engineering  Foundation  for  the 
advancement  of  engineering.  This  was  a  gift  of  $200,000, 
to  be  held  in  trust  and  administered  by  a  Board  of 
Trustees,  for  the  promotion  of  engineering  research  in 
all  of  its  professional  lines,  in  the  mechanical  laboratory 
or  in  the  field  or  the  library,  or  wherever  the  need  and 
opportunity  were  most  pressing.  Mr.  Swasey 's  ideas 
were  most  broad  and  far-seeing,  both  as  respects  the 
present  and  the  future.  He  early  decided  that  the  scope 
of  the  work  to  be  done  on  such  a  foundation  should  be 
broader  than  that  delimited  by  even  a  wide  definition  of 
the  term  mechanical  engineering ;  and  he  found  ready  to 
his  hand  the  Board  of  Trustees  of  the  United  Engineer- 
ing Society,  a  body  representing  all  specializations  of 
engineering,  the  fields  of  mechanical,  electrical  and 
mining  engineering  and  metallurgy'.     To  that  body  he 


128     THE  AMERICAN  SOCIETY  OF  MECHANICAL  ENGINEERS 

entrusted  the  development  of  his  ideas  in  detail,  and  set 
an  example  of  wise  generosity  for  others  to  follow.  The 
work  of  this  Engineering  Foundation  should  be  a  note- 
worthy factor  in  the  development  of  engineering  science 
in  the  history  of  the  future.  Some  features  of  The 
Engineering  Foundation  will  be  referred  to  under  the 
administration  of  Dr.  Brashear. 

Mr.  Hartness'  presidential  address  bore  the  title, 
The  Human  Element,  the  Key  to  Economic  Problems. 
He  called  attention  to  the  fact  that  the  engineer  in  a 
modern  industrial  civilization  was  necessarily  a  director 
of  men  and  there  was  therefore  imposed  upon  him  the 
necessity  for  careful  consideration  of  the  human  factor. 
The  vast  scope  of  knowledge  of  applied  science  made  it 
imperative  that  he  should  make  no  attempt  to  assimilate 
more  than  he  could  effectively  carry  and  utilize.  This  of 
necessity  carried  with  it  a  dependence  upon  others  for 
information  in  certain  directions.  The  choice  which 
every  man  makes  of  that  which  he  will  keep  for  himself 
and  of  that  which  he  will  expect  to  get  from  others  de- 
termines the  man  himself. 

He  then  went  on  to  discuss  the  factor  of  habit  in  the 
human  unit.  Quoting  from  his  paper,  ' '  One  of  the  strik- 
ing facts  brought  out  by  this  study  of  the  nature  of  the 
individual  is  that  man  is  a  creature  of  habit  to  such  an 
extent  that  there  is  always  a  great  factor  of  inertia  to 
be  encountered  in  all  our  plans  for  changing  his  mental 
attitude  or  plan  of  action. 

' '  Skill,  dexterity  and  facility  in  performance  of  work 
are  due  to  acquired  habit ;  but  habit  is  more  than  a  mode 
by  which  we  do  easily  what  we  do  often ;  it  is  also  a  dis- 
position and  an  aptitude  for  work.  It  brings  an  in- 
voluntary tendency  to  continue  and  with  it  an  ease  and 
reliability  of  performance. 

"There  is  no  more  clearly  demonstrated  fact  in  this 
world  than  that  specialization  is  the  method  by  which 
human  energies  are  most  efficiently  used. 

''There  is  nothing  more  harmful  to  the  thinker  or  the 


THE    AMERICAN    SOCIETY   OF  MECHANICAL    ENGINEERS 


A  HISTORY  OF  THE  SOCIETY  129 

worker  than  to  force  him  to  become  a  tramp  either  in  the 
mental  or  the  physical  sense. 

'*This  law  of  human  economics  is  also  one  of  indus- 
trial economics.  It  is  one  of  those  laws  that  we  have  too 
often  disregarded. 

''Of  course  we  can  keep  monopolies  out  of  our 
country,  but  we  cannot  keep  them  off  the  face  of  the 
globe. 

*'We  should  employ  every  means  to  aid  us  in  manag- 
ing not  only  our  own  selves,  but  all  those  whom  we  direct. 
This  becomes  the  rule  of  success  of  human  activity,  both 
in  its  application  to  the  individual  and  to  large  groups  as 
represented  in  industries,  in  states,  and  in  countries. 
Wherever  these  elements  or  units  are  in  competition, 
success  goes  to  the  unit  which  takes  advantage  of  this 
knowledge  of  the  inner  motives,  and  it  is  the  study  of 
the  human  being  that  presents  to  us  the  facts  from  which 
we  can  most  accurately  determine  what  is  for  the  best 
interest  of  the  man  and  society  in  general. 

*'Is  it  not  possible  that  we  may  live  to  see  the  day 
when  labor  organizations  and  manufacturers,  and  last 
but  not  least,  the  ultimate  user — the  general  public — shall 
demand  that  the  work  be  done  by  methods  under  which 
each  worker  is  most  favorably  conditioned  and  by  which 
the  greatest  value  is  produced  by  a  given  effort?" 

Dr.  John  A.  Brashear  of  Pittsburgh,  Pa.,  was  elected 
President  at  the  thirty-sixth  Annual  Meeting  in  New 
York  City,  December  1914.  His  original  work  in  the 
solution  of  the  most  difficult  problems  of  optical  science 
gave  to  the  astronomer,  the  physicist,  the  scientist  and 
the  engineer  the  means  of  demonstrating  truths  which 
previously  had  been  but  scientific  theories.  An  example 
is  Professor  Keeler's  discovery  of  the  constitution  of 
Saturn's  rings  by  use  of  Brashear 's  spectroscope.  An- 
other example  is  the  measurement  of  the  wave  length  of 
light  by  Morley  and  Michaelson's  Interferometer  by 
using  Brashear 's  prisms  and  mirrors.  He  inherited  a 
great  love  for  astronomy  and  in  early  manhood  success- 
fully constructed  refracting  and  reflecting  telescopes, 


130     THE  AMERICAN  SOCIETY  OF  MECHANICAL  ENGINEEES 

doing  all  the  optical  work  at  his  own  home.  Professor 
Langley  of  Washington  early  became  interested  in  Dr. 
Brashear's  work  and  in  cooperation  with  Mr.  William 
Thaw  of  Pittsburgh  his  establishment  was  moved  to  Al- 
legheny and  in  it  was  made  much  of  the  experimental 
equipment  for  Langley 's  research  in  the  domain  of 
radiant  energy  and  particularly  in  the  field  below  or  be- 
yond the  red  end  of  the  solar  spectrum.  These  qualified 
him  for  his  suggestions  in  relation  to  the  problem  of 
organic  life  on  the  earth.  Here  also  was  done  much  of 
his  pioneer  work  in  aeronautics  and  aerodynamics.  Dr. 
Brashear  made  the  plates  for  the  diffraction  gratings  of 
Professor  Eowland  of  Johns  Hopkins  which  became  so 
celebrated.  More  than  100  of  the  great  telescope  ob- 
jectives of  the  world  including  some  of  the  largest  astro- 
photographic  lenses  have  been  made  in  the  Brashear 
workshops  as  well  as  most  of  the  telespectroscopes  for 
the  world's  observatories.  Dr.  Brashear  always  likes 
to  include  the  skill  and  energy  of  his  son-in-law,  Mr. 
James  McDowell,  who  has  been  a  ruling  spirit  in  the 
refinements  of  their  optical  output.  The  30-inch  objec- 
tive glass  for  the  observatory  in  Allegheny  is  said  to  be 
the  most  perfect  glass  in  the  world  today.  Dr.  Brashear 
has  also  been  greatly  interested  in  educational  work  in 
connection  with  the  Carnegie  Institute  and  other  ways, 
and  has  been  director  and  trustee  in  foundations  of  this 
class.  He  is  a  man  of  rare  personal  charm,  of  the  highest 
abilities  and  his  reputation  is  world-wide. 

This  history  is  completed  in  the  beginning  of  Dr. 
Brashear 's  administration  in  Society  affairs.  It  has 
already  been  signalized  by  the  public  announcement  and 
legislative  action  which  has  made  available  the  gift  of 
Mr.  Ambrose  Swasey  of  the  sum  of  $200,000  to  be  used  in 
the  prosecution  of  engineering  research.  Mr.  Swasey 
directed  that  that  administration  of  the  income  from  this 
foundation  and  the  control  of  the  fund  should  be  in  the 
hands  of  the  United  Engineering  Society,  of  which  The 
American  Society  of  Mechanical  Engineers  is  a  con- 
stituent part.    The  Institute  of  Mining  Engineers  and 


A  HISTORY  OF  THE  SOCIETY  131 

the  Institute  of  Electrical  Engineers  form  the  other 
two  bodies  represented  in  the  Board  of  Trustees  of  the 
United  Engineering  Society.  The  latter  has  directed 
that  the  fund  be  administered  and  the  research  con- 
ducted by  a  board  to  be  known  as  The  Engineering 
Foundation  Board.  This  Foundation  Board  is  to  consist 
of  eleven  persons,  elected  to  office  by  the  Board  of  Trus- 
tees of  the  United  Engineering  Society  and  made  up  as 
follows:  One  member  from  each  society  represented  on 
the  Board  of  Trustees  of  the  United  Engineering  Society 
on  its  own  nomination ;  one  member  from  the  same  repre- 
sented organization  nominated  by  its  governing  body; 
two  members  elected  by  the  Board  of  Trustees  of  the 
United  Engineering  Society  shall  be  upon  the  nomina- 
tion of  the  governing  body  of  the  American  Society  of 
Civil  Engineers ;  and  two  members  selected  at  large.  The 
President  of  the  Board  of  Trustees  of  the  United  Engi- 
neering Society  shall  be  a  member  of  the  Foundation 
Board  ex  officio. 

The  public  announcement  of  the  creation  of  this  fund 
and  of  the  organization  of  the  Foundation  Board  was 
made  at  a  public  meeting  held  in  the  Engineering  So- 
cieties Building  in  New  York  City  on  the  evening  of 
Wednesday,  January  27,  1915,  at  which  addresses  were 
delivered  by  Dr.  Henry  S.  Pritchett,  President  of  the 
Carnegie  Foundation  for  the  Advancement  of  Teaching; 
by  Mr.  Robert  W.  Hunt  and  by  Dr.  Alex.  C.  Humphreys, 
Past-Presidents  of  The  American  Society  of  Mechanical 
Engineers,  representing  respectively  the  Society  of  Civil 
Engineers  and  the  institutions  of  engineering  education. 
Mr.  Gano  Dunn,  President  of  the  Trustees  of  the  United 
Engineering  Society  and  a  member  of  the  new  Founda- 
tion Board  by  virtue  of  his  office,  presided  and  spoke 
fittingly  of  the  possibilities  of  progress  which  might  be 
realized  through  such  a  gift.  On  the  platform  beside  Mr. 
Ambrose  Swasey  were  the  members  of  the  Board  of 
Trustees,  representatives  of  the  Society  of  Civil  Engi- 
neers, of  the  John  Fritz  Medal  Corporation  and  of  the 
national  engineering  societies. 


132    THE  AMERICAN  SOCIETY  OF  MECHANICAL  ENGINEEBS 

An  occasion  most  memorable  to  those  who  were  privi- 
leged to  enjoy  it  was  a  private  dinner  tendered  to  Mr. 
Swasey  as  the  first  donor  of  an  engineering  foundation 
by  an  engineer  and  held  on  the  evening  previous  in  the 
University  Club  in  New  York  City.  Those  who  were 
privileged  by  invitation  to  be  present  at  this  dinner 
were  persons  distinguished  each  in  his  own  line  of  work. 
Those  who  were  to  speak  for  the  profession  of  engineer- 
ing at  the  formal  opening  were  Dr.  Henry  S.  Pritchett, 
Robert  W.  Hunt  and  Dr.  Alex.  C.  Humphreys ;  and  rep- 
resenting the  Trustees  of  the  United  Engineering  So- 
ciety, past  and  present,  were  Dr.  A.  R.  Ledoux,  the 
first  President  of  the  Board;  Mr.  C.  F.  Scott  who  had 
been  Chairman  of  the  Building  Committee  before  the 
Board  was  organized;  Dr.  S.  S.  Wheeler,^  active  in  the 
legislative  work  of  the  first  Building  Committee ;  Messrs. 
H.  H.  Barnes,  F.  R.  Hutton,  J.  F.  Kent,  John  W.  Lieb, 
Jr.,  Fred  J.  Miller,  C.  F.  Rand,  Jesse  M.  Smith,  B.  B. 
Thayer  and  Joseph  Struthers.  Mr.  Grano  Dunn,  Presi- 
dent of  the  Trustees,  presided  at  the  dinner  and  acted 
as  toastmaster. 

Representing  the  engineering  societies  were  Dr.  John 
A.  Brashear,  President  of  The  American  Society  of  Me- 
chanical Engineers,  Prof.  John  E.  Sweet,  Past-President 
and  Fritz  Medalist,  Messrs.  James  Hartness,  C.  0.  Mail- 
loux,  John  R.  Freeman,  Charles  Warren  Hunt,  Secretary 
of  the  American  Society  of  Civil  Engineers,  Paul  M. 
Lincoln,  President  of  the  American  Institute  of  Elec- 
trical Engineers,  Bradley  Stoughton,  Secretary  of 
the  American  Institute  of  Mining  Engineers,  Calvin 
W.  Rice,  Secretary  of  The  American  Society  of  Me- 
chanical Engineers,  F.  L.  Hutchinson,  Secretary  of 
the  American  Institute  of  Electrical  Engineers  and 
Stephenson  Taylor,  President  of  the  Engineers'  Club 
of  New  York.  There  were  also  present  Mr.  T.  A. 
Rickard  of  London,  England,  Mr.  E.  D.  Adams,  Mr. 
John  Hays  Hammond,  Dr.  M.  I.  Pupin.  Many  brief 
speeches  were  made  in  recognition  of  what  Mr.  Swasey 's 
gift  was  to  mean  and  at  the  close  Mr.  Swasey  responded 


A  HISTORY  OF  THE  SOCIETY  133 

in  brief  and  modest  terms.  A  most  striking  and  satis- 
factory portrait  of  Mr.  Swasey  was  given  to  the  diners 
as  they  left  the  room  and  he  was  kept  busy  affixing  his 
autograph.  Mr.  Andrew  Carnegie,  Dr.  R.  W.  Raymond, 
Dr.  R.  S.  Woodward,  Mr.  W.  R.  Warner  and  Mr.  J.  J. 
Carty  had  been  invited  to  be  present,  but  were  unable 
to  accept. 


CHAPTER  VII 

The  Council  of  the  Society 
Vice-Presidents,  Managebs,  Secbetabies  and  Teeasubebs 

The  Council  of  the  Society  has  from  the  beginning 
included  six  persons,  serving  two  years  each,  as  Vice- 
Presidents,  and  nine  persons,  with  title  of  Manager, 
serving  three  years  each.  These  classes  were  each 
divided  into  groups,  two  in  the  Vice-Presidential  grade 
and  three  in  the  grade  of  Manager,  so  that  of  the  fifteen 
members  so  serving  only  five  go  out  of  office  in  any  one 
year.  As  a  result  continuity  and  a  familiarity  with 
former  precedents  have  always  been  factors  of  effec- 
tiveness. 

It  has  also  been  the  custom  to  choose  Vice-Presidents 
each  year  from  those  who  were  recognized  as  presi- 
dential possibilities,  so  that  if  promotion  to  the  office 
of  President  should  come,  it  would  find  the  incumbent 
with  previous  experience  of  service  on  the  Council.  In 
comment  on  the  succeeding  lists,  therefore,  there  are 
many  who  have  served  in  all  three  of  the  offices  as 
manager,  vice-president  and  president.  There  must  also 
be  many  others  still  living  whose  notable  achievements 
in  lines  other  than  those  familiar  to  one  observer  will 
make  any  chronicle  incomplete  and  unsatisfying;  and 
furthermore  such  persons  may  be  too  near  to  the  eye  to 
be  fairly  judged,  particularly  by  an  intelligence  biased 
by  friendly  admiration. 

With  these  apologies  the  list  of  officers  of  the  Society 
is  presented  in  its  entirety,  and  after  it  some  comment 
on  the  achievements  and  service  for  which  such  persons 
are  to  be  remembered. 

134 


<^^^^:^^^^u>^^ 


TREASURER    IB8I 


THE    AMERICAN    SOCIETY  CF    MECHANICAL  ENGINEERS 


I 


A  HISTOBY  OF  THE  SOCIETY  115 

VICE-PRESIDENTS 

1  Henry  Rossitee  Wokthington April-December,  1880 

2  Coleman  Sellers  April,  1880 — November,  1881 

3  EcKLEY  B.  CoxE April,  1880 — November,  1881 

4  QiriNCY  A.  GiLLMORE April,  1880 — ^December,  1880 

5  Wm.  H.  Shock April,  1880— November,  1882 

6  Alexander  L.  Holley April,  1880 — January,  1882 

7  Francis  A.  Pratt December,  1880 — November,  1881 

8  Theo.  N.  Ely 1881— November,  1882 

9  Washington  Jones 1881 — November,  1882 

10  Wm.  p.  Trowbridge 1881 — November,  1883 

11  E.  D.  Leavitt 1881— December,  1882 

12  Chas.  E.  Emery 1881-1883 

13  S.  B.  Whiting 1882-1883 

14  John  Fritz 1882-1884 

15  Henry  Morton  1882-1884 

16  Wm.  Metcalp 1882-1884 

17  A.  B.  Couch 1883-1885 

18  W.  R.  EcKART 1883-1885 

19  J.  V.  Merrick 1883-1885 

20  Chas  W.  Copeland 1884-1886 

21  Henry   R.   Towne 1884-1886 

22  Coleman  Sellers  1884-1885 

23  Olin  H.  Landreth 1885-1886 

24  Allan  Stirling 1885-1887 

25  Horace  See  1885-1887 

26  Chas.  H,  Loring 1885-1887 

27  Jos.  Morgan,   Jr 1886-1888 

28  Chas.   T.  Porter 1886-1888 

29  Horace  S.  Smith 1886-1888 

30  W.  S.  G.  Baker 1887-1889 

31  H.  G.  Morris 1887-1889 

32  C.  J.  H.  Woodbury 1887-1889 

33  Thos.  J.  Borden 1888-1890 

34  William  Kent 1888-1890 

35  Charles  B.  Richards 1888-1890 

36  De  Volson  Wood 1889-1891 

37  Joel  Sharp 1889-1891 

38  Geo.  W.  Weeks 1889-1891 

39  Stephen  W.  Baldwin 1890-1892 

40  Alex.  Gordon   1890-1892 

41  Jno.  F.  Parkhurst 1890-1892 

42  George  I.  Alden 1891-1893 

43  E.  F.  C.  Davis 1891-1893 

44  Irving  M.  Scott 1891-1893 

45  Charles  Wallace  Hunt 1892-1894 

46  Edwin  Reynolds 1892-1894 

47  Thos.  R.  Pickering 1892-1894 

48  Percival  Roberts,  Jr 1893-1895 

49  H.  J.  Small 1893-1895 

50  Charles  E.  Billings 1893-1895 


136     THE  AMEBICAN  SOCIETY  OF  MECHANICAL  ENGINEERS 

51  Prank  H.  Ball 1894-1896 

62  M.  L,   HOLMAN 1894-1896 

53  Jesse  M.  Smith 1894-1896 

54  Francis  W.  Dean 1895-1897 

55  Charles  H.  Manning 1895-1897 

56  George  W.  Melville 1895-1897 

67  Edwin  S.  Cramp 1896-1898 

58  W.  F.  DuRPEE 1896-1898 

69  S.  T.  Wellman 1896-1898 

60  Charles  M.  Jarvis 1897-1899 

61  Walter  S.  Kussel 1897-1899 

62  John  C.  Kajper 1897-1899 

63  E,  D.  Meier 1898-1900 

64  George  R.  Stetson 1898-1900 

65  B.  H.  Warren 1898-1900 

66  Jesse  M.  Smith 1899-1901 

67  Stevenson  Taylor 1899-1901 

68  David  Townsend 1899-1901 

69  James  M.  Dodge 1900-1902 

70  Ambrose  Swasey  1900-1902 

71  Arthur  M.  Waitt 1900-1902 

72  M.  E.  CooLEY 1901-1903 

73  Wilfred  Lewis  1901-1903 

74  M.  P.  Higgins 1901-1903 

75  James  Christie 1902-1904 

76  F,  H.  Daniels 1902-1904 

77  John  B.  Freeman 1902-1904 

78  D.  S.  Jacobus 1903-1905 

79  William  J.  Keep 1903-1905 

80  M.  L.  Holman 1903-1905 

81  S.  M.  Vauclain 1904-1906 

82  H.  H.  Westinghousb. 1904-1906 

83  Fred.  W,  Taylor 1904-1905 

84  Geo.  H.  Barrus 1905-1906 

85  Walter  M.  McFarland 1905-1907 

86  RoBT.  C.  McKiNNEY 1905-1907 

87  Edward  N.  Trump 1905-1907 

88  Philbtus  W.  Gates 1906-1908 

89  John  W.  Lieb,  Jr 1906-1908 

90  Alex  Dow 1906-1908 

91  L.  P.  Breckenridge 1907-1909 

92  Fred  J.  Miller 1907-1909 

93  Arthur  West  1907-1909 

94  Geo.  M.  Bond 1908-1910 

95  E.  C.  Carpenter 1908-1910 

96  F.  M.  Whyte 1908-1910 

97  Chas.  Whiting  Baker 1909-1911 

98  W.  F.  M.  Goss 1909-1911 

99  E.  D.  Meier 1909-1910 

100  Alex.  C.  Humphreys 1910-1911 

101  Geo.  M.  Brill 1910-1912 


A  HISTORY  OF  THE  SOCIETY  137 

102  Edwin  M.  Here 1910-1912 

103  Henry  H.  Vaughan 1910-1912 

104  Wm.  F.  Durand 1911-1913 

105  Ira  N.  Hollis 1911-1913 

106  Thos.  B.  Stearns 1911-1913 

107  I.  E.  MouLTROP 1912-1914 

108  H.  G.  Stott 1912-1914 

109  E.  B.  Katte 1913-1914 

110  H.  L.  Gantt 1913-1915 

111  E.  E.  Keller. 1913-1915 

112  H.  G.  Reist 1913-1915 

113  Henry  Hess 1914-1916 

114  Geo  W.  Dickie 1914-1916 

115  James  E.  Sague 1914-1916 

MANAGERS 

1  Wm.  p.  Trowbridge April,  1880 — November,  1881 

2  Theo.  N.  Ely April,  1880 — November,  1881 

3  J.  C.  Hoadley April,  1880 — ^November,  1881 

4  Washington  Jones April,  1880 — ^November,  1881 

5  Wm.  B.  Cogswell April,  1880 — November,  1882 

6  Chas.  B.  Richards April,  1880 — November,  1882 

7  S.  B.  Whiting April,  1880— November,  1882 

8  E.  D.  Leavitt,  Jr April,  1880 — November,  1882 

9  J.  F.  HoLLOWAY November,  1880 — November,  1883 

10  Geo.  W.  Fisher November,  1880— November,  1883 

11  Allan  Stirling November.  1881 — November,  1884 

12  Geo.  H.  Babcock 1881 — November,  1884 

13  S.  W.  Robinson 1881— November,  1884 

14  John  E.  Sweet 1882-1883 

15  Robt.  W.  Hunt 1882-1885 

16  Chas  T.  Porter 1882-1885 

17  C.  J.  H.  Woodbury 1882-1885 

18  W.  F.  DuRFEE 1883-1886 

19  Oberlin  Smith   1883-1886 

20  C.  C.  WORTHINGTON 1883-1886 

21  Wm.  Lee  Church. 1884-1887 

22  Wm.  Hewitt  1884-1887 

23  Chas.  H.  Morgan 1884-1887 

24  Hamilton  A.  Hill 1885-1888 

25  WiLLLiM  Kent 1885-1888 

26  Saml.  T.  Wellman 1885-1888 

27  John  T.  Hawkins 1886-1889 

28  Fredk.  G.  Coggin 1886-1889 

29  Thos.  R.  Morgan,  Se 1886-1889 

30  Stephen  W.  Baldwin 1887-1890 

31  Fredk.  Grinnell 1887-1890 

32  Morris  Sellers 1887-1890 

33  Frank  H.  Ball. 1888-1891 

34  Geo.  M.  Bond 1888-1891 

35  Wm.  Forsyth 1888-1891 


138     THE  AMEEICAN  SOCIETY  OF  MECHANICAL  ENGINEEBS 

36  Jas.  E.  Denton 1889-1892 

37  Cakleton  W.  Nason 1889-1892 

38  H.  H.  Westinghousb 1889-1892 

39  Andrew    Fletchee    1890-1893 

40  WoBCESTEE  E.  Warner 1890-1893 

41  Coleman  Sellers,  Jr 1890-1893 

42  Jas.  M.  Dodge 1891-1894 

43  KoBT.  Forsyth 1891-1894 

44  Jesse  M.  Smith 1891-1894 

45  John  Thompson  1892-1895 

46  Charles  W.  Pusey 1892-1895 

47  Charles  H.  Manning 1892-1895 

48  John  B,  Hebreshopp 1893-1896 

49  Lebbbus  B,  Miller 1893-1896 

50  Walter  S.  Russel 1893-1896 

51  Charles  A.  Bauer. 1894-1897 

52  Arthur  C.  Walworth 1894-1897 

53  John  C.  Kafer 1894-1897 

54  Geo.  W.  Dickie 1895-1898 

55  E.  D.  Meier 1895-1898 

56  Norman  C.  Stiles 1895-1898 

57  A.  Wells  Robinson 1896-1899 

58  H.  S.  Haines 1896-1899 

59  G.  C.  Henning 1896-1899 

60  J.  B.  Stanwood 1897-1900 

61  H.  H.  SuPLEE 1897-1900 

62  Geo.  Richmond  1897-1900 

63  Edgar  C.  Felton 1898-1901 

64  A.  M.  GoODALE 1898-1901 

65  Richard  H.  Soule 1898-1901 

66  Francis  H.  Boyee 1899-1902 

67  John  A.  Beashear 1899-1902 

68  Alfred  H.  Raynal 1899-1902 

69  W.  F.  M.  Goss 1900-1903 

70  D.  S.  Jacobus 1900-1903 

71  De  Courcy  May 1900-1903 

72  Charles  H.  Corbett 1901-1904 

73  H.  A.  GiLLis 1901-1904 

74  R.  S.  MooEE 1901-1904 

75  Robt.  C.  McKinney 1902-1905 

76  Newell  Sanders   1902-1905 

77  S.  S.  Webber 1902-1905 

78  John  W.  Lieb,  Je 1903-1906 

79  Asa  M.  Mattice 1903-1906 

80  Geo.  I.  Rockwood 1903-1906 

81  Geoege  M.  Beill 1904-1907 

82  Feed  J.  Millee 1904-1907 

83  RicHAED  H.  Rice 1904-1907 

84  Walter  Laidlaw  1905-1908 

85  Feed  M.  Peescott 1905-1908 

86  Prank  G.  Tallman 1905-1908 


A  HISTOBY  OF  THE  SOCIETY  13» 

87  G.  M.  Basford 1906-1909 

88  Andrew  J.  Caldwell 1906-1909 

89  Andrew  L.  Biker 1906-1909 

90  Wm.  L.  Abbott 1907-1910 

91  Alex  C.  Humphreys 1907-1910 

92  Henry  G.  Stott 1907-1910 

93  H.  L.  Gantt 1908-1911 

94  I,  E.  MouLTROP 1908-1911 

95  W.  J.  Sando 1908-1911 

96  J.  Sellers  Bancroft 1909-1911 

97  James  Haktness 1909-1912 

98  H.  G.  Eeist 1909-1912 

99  Henry  G.  Stott 1911-1912 

100  D.  F.  Crawford 1910-1913 

101  Stanley  G.  Flagg,  Je. 1910-1913 

102  E.  B.  Katte 1910-1913 

103  Charles  J.  Davtoson 1911-1914 

104  Henry  Hess 1911-1914 

105  George  A.  Orrok 1911-1914 

106  Alfred  Noble  1912-1914 

107  H.  M.  Leland 1912-1915 

108  W.  B.  Jackson 1912-1915 

109  A.  M.  Greene,  Jr 1913-1916 

110  John  Hunter   1913-1916 

111  Elliott  H.  Whitlock 1913-1916 

112  Charles  T.  Main 1914-1917 

113  Spencer  Miller  1914-1917 

114  Max  Toltz  1914-1917 

115  Morris  L.  Cooke 1914-1917 

VICE-PEESIDENTS 

(1)  One  of  the  founders  of  the  Society.  Would  have 
been  made  a  president  had  he  lived.  Originated  the 
duplex  non-flywheel  pump  and  the  single  pump  with 
steam  driven  slide  valve.  Built  many  waterworks 
pumping  engines. 

(2)  and  (3)  See  Presidents. 

(4)  Military  engineer,  writer  on  Cements  and 
Building  stones,  highways  and  fortifications;  helped 
fortify  New  York  in  1861. 

(5)  Naval  engineer;  author  of  book  on  boilers,  con- 
densers, etc. 

(6)  See  Presidents. 

(7)  Founder  of  firm  Pratt  and  Whitney,  builders  of 
machine  tools  and  gages,  guns  and  contract  work. 

(8)  Superintendent  of  motive  power,  Pennsylvania 
Railroad. 


140     THE  AMERICAN  SOCIETY  OF  MECHANICAL  ENGINEEBS 

(9)  With  I.  P.  Morris,  shop  superintendent  and 
engineer  for  big  engines. 

(10)  Vice-President  of  Novelty  Iron  Works  aften 
army  training  and  work  to  fortify  New  York  in  1861. 
Then  professor  of  engineering  at  Yale  and  Columbia 
Universities;  author. 

(12)  Navy  and  Revenue  marine;  conducted  boiler 
tests  at  Centennial  exposition  1876  and  established  unit 
of  boiler  horse-power;  engineer  New  York  Steam  Com- 
pany. 

(13)  Engineer  for  coal-mining  company  and  Calumet 
and  Hecla  Copper  Company. 

(15)  First  president,  Stevens  Institute  of  Tech- 
nology, and  expert  in  physics;  gave  largely  to  build  up 
Institute. 

(16)  Steel  expert  in  crucible  processes. 

(17)  Machine  tools  with  Bement  of  Philadelphia; 
gave  his  library  to  A.  S.  M.  E. 

(18)  Naval  engineer;  went  to  California  and  was 
active  in  mining  machinery  waterworks  and  cable  rail- 
way machinery. 

(19)  Pumping  and  other  large  machinery,  turbines 
and  contracts. 

(20)  Naval  engineer,  designing  engines  for  water- 
works and  vessels.  Originated  the  gallows  frame  for 
paddle-vessels,  and  with  Stevens  the  lozenge  open- 
framed  beam  and  the  tappet  and  toe  for  such  engines 
and  their  valve  gear,  modifying  the  Fulton  engine  for 
smooth  water  vessels. 

(22)  Professor  of  engineering  at  Vanderbilt  and 
Union  Colleges. 

(24)  Designer  of  Stirling  Water  tube  boiler.  First 
engineer  of  New  York  Elevated  Railroad. 

(27)  Steel  works,  engineer  and  manager;  developed 
furnaces  and  machinery  at  Cambria  Iron  Works. 

(28)  Originator  of  high-speed  steam  engine  designs; 
authority  on  use  of  indicator  for  engines;  designer  of 
weighted  governor  to  secure  isochronism;  expert  in 
testing. 


m 


>^f^^-?'— ^ 


/v_^  c^C  (y^^>-^^-^ 


TREASURER     iaeO-1881 


THE    AMERICAN    SOCIETY  OF  M  ECMAN  ICAL    ENGINEERS 


A  HISTORY  OF  THE  SOCIETY  141 

(29)  Steel  works  engineer. 

(30)  Works  manager;  car  wheel  manufacturer. 

(31)  Consulting  engineer;  worker  on  storage  bat- 
teries for  street  railways. 

(32)  Insurance  expert;  researches  into  mill  construc- 
tion and  fire  protection,  later  telephone  engineer. 

(33)  Mill  engineer  and  builder;  later  automatic 
sprinkler  fire  extinguishers. 

(34)  Steel  engineer,  boiler  expert,  author  of  engi- 
neers '  pocketbook ;  professor  of  engineering  at  Syracuse 
University. 

(35)  Designer  of  Richards  indicator;  first  testing 
machine  at  Colt's  Armory;  president  of  Southwark 
Foundry;  professor  at  Yale  University. 

(36)  Professor  at  Stevens  Institute;  author  on  ma- 
terials and  thermodynamics. 

(37)  Buckeye  Engine  Works'  president. 

(38)  Manufacturer  of  wire-cloth  and  textile  mill 
manager.    Made  bequest  to  Library,  A.  S.  M.  E. 

(39)  N.  Y.  representative,  Pennsylvania  Steel  Com- 
pany; served  A.  S.  M.  E.  as  Chairman  of  its  Finance 
Committee  for  18  years ;  as  chairman  of  many  nominat- 
ing committees  and  other  special  Society  committees  and 
responsible  for  many  details  of  policy.  Largely  the 
donor  of  the  Hoadley  collection  of  instruments  and  appa- 
ratus. 

(40)  Engine  and  tool  builder,  iron  works  practice. 

(41)  Machine  tools. 

(42)  Professor  at  Worcester  Institute,  designer  of 
machinery  emery  wheels  and  plunger  elevators. 

(44)  Works  manager  for  Union  Iron  Works  at  San 
Francisco.  Responsible  for  engines  of  U.  S.  S.  Oregon 
which  came  round  the  Cape  at  full  speed  in  1898  to  reach 
Santiago. 

(47)  Inventor  of  spring  governor. 

(48)  Steel  works  engineer,  owner  and  manager. 

(49)  Superintendent  of  motive  power,  Pacific  Coast 
Railways. 


142     THE  AMERICAN  SOCIETY  OF  MECHANICAL  ENGINEEES 

(51)  Engine  designer,  works  manager  and  owner; 
designer  of  dynamometric  and  flywheel  shaft  governor. 

(54)  Consulting  engineer,  designer  of  boilers,  engines 
and  power  plants. 

(55)  Naval  engineer,  mill  engineer,  designer  of  Man- 
ning boiler. 

(57)  Shipbuilder. 

(58)  Engineer  for  Kelly  in  first  U.  S.  Pneumatic 
steel  making  process  and  for  Ward  of  Detroit ;  engineer 
for  Wheeler  and  Wilson  Company  and  Mitis  Casting 
Process,  for  C.  W.  Hunt  Company.  Gave  by  partial 
purchase  his  unique  library  to  the  Society  and  his  collec- 
tion of  drawings  to  A.  S.  M.  E.  and  to  Columbia 
University. 

(60)  Bridge  maker. 

(61)  Works  manager  and  car  wheel  manufacturer. 

(62)  Naval  engineer  and  for  Morgan  Iron  Works; 
Treasurer  for  the  building  fund  of  Engineering  So- 
cieties; leader  in  the  land  purchase  and  for  the  Engi- 
neers' Club. 

(64)  Manufacturer  of  twist  drills  and  related 
products ;  manager  electric  lighting  and  power  company. 

(65)  Manufacturer  of  injectors,  engineer  for  Yale 
and  Towne  and  Westinghouse  Company.  Formerly  naval 
engineer. 

(67)  President  and  engineer  for  works  building 
passenger  and  freight  vessels  for  river  and  coast-wise 
service  with  W.  A.  Fletcher  and  Quintard  Iron  Works, 
President  Webb  Academy  for  shipbuilders  and  the  So- 
ciety of  Naval  Engineers  and  Marine  Architects. 

(68)  Manufacturer  of  bolts  and  nuts. 

(71)  Superintendent  of  Motive  Power,  New  York 
Central  and  Hudson  Kiver  Railroad. 

(72)  Ex-naval  engineer;  professor.  State  University 
of  Michigan. 

(73)  Manufacturer  and  engineer;  expert  for  Wm. 
Sellers  and  Company. 

(74)  Educator  and  head  of  shop  manufactory  of  the 
Worcester  Institute;  promotor  of  half-time  schools  for 


A  HISTORY  OF  THE  SOCIETY  143 

apprentices;    engineer    plunger    elevator    and    Norton 
emery  wheel. 

(75)  Steel  and  bridge  maker. 

(76)  Wire  and  rod  mill  expert  and  manufacturer. 

(78)  Professor  in  experimental  engineering  labora- 
tory of  Stevens  Institute;  boiler  expert;  most  active  in 
committee  work  and  in  papers  and  discussions  before 
A.  S.  M.  E. 

(79)  Expert  in  cast  iron ;  manufacturer  of  stove  plate 
and  thin  and  decorative  cast  iron;  devised  testing  ma- 
chines for  test  ingots ;  active  in  committee  work. 

(81)  Locomotive  builder  with  Baldwin  Company  and 
shop  superintendent;  expert  designer  of  compound  loco- 
motives and  locomotive  valve  gear. 

(82)  Air  brake  expert  and  manufacturer;  engineer  of 
firm  for  installing  power  plants.  Brother  of  George 
Westinghouse. 

(85)  Ex-naval  engineer;  engineer  for  Westinghouse 
Companies. 

(86)  Machine  tool  builder. 

(87)  General  superintendent  of  Solvay  Process  Com- 
pany, engineer,  expert  and  manufacturer. 

(88)  Foundry  and  machine  works. 

(89)  Electric  engineer  and  power  plant  manager; 
assistant  to  Edison  and  introducer  of  Edison  lighting 
system  into  Italy. 

(90)  Electric  lighting  plant  engineer. 

(91)  Professor  and  expert;  head  of  experimental 
engineering  laboratories  at  University  of  Illinois  and  at 
Yale. 

(92)  Editor  American  Machinist;  factory  manager; 
builder  of  machinery  and  tools. 

(93)  Builder  of  large  gas  engines. 

(94)  Designer  and  builder  of  standards  of  length  and 
comparators  for  testing  accuracy  of  gages. 

(95)  Professor  of  experimental  engineering;  author. 

(96)  Superintendent  of  railway  motive  power. 

(97)  Engineering  editor  and  expert;  designer  of 
special  machinery. 


144    THE  AMERICAN  SOCIETY  OP  MECHANICAL  ENGINEEBS 

(100)  Power  plant  expert  and  consulting  engineer. 

(102)  Expert  in  transportation  problems. 

(103)  Consulting  engineer. 

(104)  Ex-naval  engineer ;  professor  of  marine  design. 

(105)  Ex-naval  engineer;  professor  of  engineering, 
Harvard  University;  President  Worcester  Institute. 

(106)  Mining  machinery. 

(107)  Power  plant  engineer;  electric  lighting  and 
power  generating  and  management. 

(108)  Engineer  for  subway  power  plants  in  New 
York  City. 

(109)  Railway  engineer  and  expert  specialist  in 
electrification  of  trunk  lines. 

(110)  Specialist  in  works  management  and  economic 
production;  originator  of  a  bonus  system  for  pajdng 
labor. 

(111)  President  of  electric  wire  manufacturing  plant. 

(112)  Electrical  engineer;  designer  electric  ma- 
chinery. 

(113)  Manufacturer  and  designer,  specializing  in  ball 
bearings. 

(114)  Marine  engine  designer,  builder  and  works 
manager. 

(115)  Locomotive  and  railway  expert;  public  service 
commissioner. 

MANAGERS 

In  the  list  of  Managers  will  be  found  a  large  number 
repeating  from  the  foregoing  lists,  as  the  practice  of  pro- 
moting managers  to  Vice-Presidents  was  very  frequently 
followed. 

(3)  Designer  of  the  first  single-valve  automatically 
regulating  steam  engine  with  flyball  governor  on  the  re- 
volving flywheel  shaft.  His  first  engine  exhibiting  this 
principle  and  a  feature  of  the  Centennial  of  1876  is  in  the 
possession  of  Columbia  University  as  a  model. 

(5)  Mining  engineer  and  chemical  manufacturer; 
managing  director  of  Solvay  Process  Company. 


A  HISTORY  OF  THE  SOCIETY  145 

(10)  Consulting  engineer  in  general  practice  in  St. 
Louis. 

(13)  Professor,  Ohio  State  University,  and  railway 
commissioner  of  his  State. 

(20)  Son  of  H.  E.  Worthington  and  successor;  donor 
of  memorial  hydraulic  laboratory  to  memory  of  his 
father  at  Columbia  University. 

(21)  Of  the  firm  of  Westinghouse,  Church,  Kerr  and 
Company. 

(22)  With  Cooper,  Hewitt  and  Company  as  engineer 
in  steel  and  iron  construction  work,  wire  works  and  wire 
rope  conveyors. 

(24)  Engineer-salesman,  supplying  machine  tools. 

(27)  Ex-naval  engineer  and  manufacturer. 

(28)  Mining  and  metallurgical  engineer  and  ore- 
dressing  mill  man. 

(29)  Builder  of  heavy  machinery,  shears  and  presses 
and  rolling  mills,  drove  his  traveling  cranes  with  a 
square  shaft. 

(31)  Fire  extinguishers  and  automatic  sprinklers. 

(32)  Railway  supplies. 

(35)  Railway  motive  power. 

(36)  Professor  at  Stevens  Institute  in  the  experi- 
mental engineering  laboratory ;  expert  before  the  courts. 

(37)  Steam  and  hot  water  heating;  traps. 

(39)  Head  of  the  W.  and  A.  Fletcher  Company, 
making  marine  engines  for  the  Hudson  River  service,  for 
ferries  and  Long  Island  Sound  and  elsewhere.  Designer 
of  Mary  Powell  engines. 

(41)  Son  of  Coleman  Sellers ;  in  same  line  of  work. 

(43)  Metallurgical  engineer  and  rolling  mills. 

(45)  Printing  presses  of  high  class;  water  meters. 

(46)  Marine  engines  and  machinery  for  colonial  in- 
dustries. 

(48)  Chemical  engineer  and  works  manager. 

(49)  Manufacturing  engineer  with  Singer  Sewing 
Machine  Company. 

(51)  Manufacturer  of  steam  engines. 


146     THE  AMERICAN  SOCIETY  OF  MECHANICAL  ENGINEERS 

(52)  Steam  and  water  heating,  machinery  tools  and 
materials. 

(54)  Chief  engineer,  Union  Iron  Works,  San  Fran- 
cisco ;  marine  engineer ;  cable  and  colonial  machinery. 

(56)  Drop  presses. 

(57)  Steam  shovels,  dredges  and  railway  machinery. 

(58)  Eailway  manager. 

(59)  Expert  in  testing  and  inspection;  diamond  cut- 
ting tools;  designer  of  extensometers  and  testing  ma- 
chines. 

(60)  Engine  builder;  professor  of  engineering. 

(61)  Expert  and  editor. 

(62)  Gas  and  refrigerating  machinery;  thermody- 
namist. 

(63)  Steel  works  manager. 

(64)  Consulting  engineer;  mill  expert. 

(65)  Railway  motive  power  superintendent. 

(66)  Engineer  of  refrigeration  plant. 

(67)  Maker  of  optical  glass  and  telescope  lenses;  fine 
machinery  for  scientific  apparatus;  educator,  physicist, 
astronomer. 

(68)  Naval  engine  builder,  U.  S.  Navy  engineer,  shop 
administrator. 

(71)  Engineer  for  shipyards. 

(72)  Engineer,  Continental  Iron  Works,  gas  ma- 
chinery. 

(73)  Railway  engineer;  Colonial  machinery. 

(74)  Consulting  engineer. 

(76)  Manufacturer  agricultural  machinery. 

(77)  Engineer  for  iron  production. 

(79)  Ex-naval  engineer,  designer  and  expert. 

(80)  Engine  and  power  plant  designer;  specialist  in 
compound  engines  for  mills. 

(83)  Engine  designer  and  builder. 

(84)  Steam  pumps. 

(85)  Steam  pumps. 

(86)  Steel  pipe  engineer ;  manufacturer  of  explosives. 

(87)  Technical  newspaper  editor;  locomotive  expert. 

(88)  Printing  presses;  consulting  engineer. 


A  HISTOEY  OF  THE  SOCIETY  147 

(89)  Expert  and  engineer,  motor  vehicles. 

(90)  Expert  in  tests;  consulting  engineer. 

(92)  Power  plant  designer,  engineer  and  manager. 

(94)  Power  plant  engineer. 

(95)  Consulting  engineer. 

(96)  Engineer  and  manufacturer. 

(97)  Manufacturer,  expert  in  rapid  manufacture. 

(98)  Electrical  engineer  and  works  manager. 

(100)  Superintendent  of  railway  motive  power. 

(101)  Engineer  and  manufacturer. 

(102)  Electrical  railway  engineer. 

(103)  Engineer,  of  firm  Woodmansee  and  Davidson. 

(104)  Manufacturer  of  ball  bearings.    Donor  of  the 
Henry  Hess  fund  for  prizes  for  best  papers. 

(105)  Power  plant  engineer;  engineer  for  the  general 
manager.  New  York  Edison  Company. 

(106)  Consulting  civil  engineer.  One  of  Panama 
Canal  Commission.    Tunnels  and  canalization  of  rivers. 

(107)  Motor  vehicle  manufacturer.  General  manager, 
Cadillac  Motor  Company. 

(108)  General  consulting  electrical  engineer. 

(109)  Professor  mechanical  engineering,  Rensselaer 
Polytechnic,  Troy;  author. 

(110)  Power  plant  engineer.  Union  Electric  Light 
and  Power  Company. 

(111)  Factory  manager. 

(112)  Consulting  engineer,  mill  power  plants. 

(113)  Engineer  and  designer,  hoisting  and  conveying 
machinery. 

(114)  Eailway  superintendent  of  motive  power. 

(115)  Director  of  Public  Works,  City  of  Philadelphia. 
Expert  in  scientific  management. 

Of  the  persons  who  have  served  the  Society  as 
Treasurers  and  Secretaries,  it  may  be  said  that  the  So- 
ciety is  fortunate  in  having  had  a  limited  number  of  each. 
The  list  is  as  follows : 

TREASUEEES 

Lycurgxjs  B.  Moore April,  1880 — ^December,  1881 

Charles  W.  Copeland December,  1881 — November,  1884 

William  H.  Wiley November,  1884 — date. 


148     THE  AMERICAN  SOCIETY  OF  MECHANICAL  ENGINEERS 

SECRETARIES 

Saml.  S.  Webbkb,  Jk Secy,  organization  meeting,  1880 

Lycuequs  B.  Mooee.  .  .  .Acting  Secretary,  April — November,  1880 

Thos.  Whiteside  Rae November,  1880 — March,  1883 

F.  R.  HuTTON 1883-1906 

Calvin  W,  Rice 1906-date 

Mr.  Moore  had  had  a  commercial  and  business  train- 
ing and  when  asked  to  be  custodian  of  dues  and  other 
income  at  the  origin  of  the  Society,  he  was  acting  as 
treasurer  for  the  American  Machinist  Company.  He 
acted  also  as  Secretary  for  several  months  while  Mr. 
HoUey  and  Dr.  Thurston  were  really  operating  the  de- 
tails other  than  clerical.  After  his  re-election  in  1881 
to  the  office  as  Treasurer  by  formal  vote  of  the  Society, 
he  insisted  on  declining  to  serve,  on  a  principle  that  his 
official  relation  to  a  technical  journal  was  a  bar  to  the 
best  lines  of  development  of  the  Society,  because  his 
relation  to  journalism  would  be  an  occasion  for  jealousy. 

Mr.  Copeland  was  a  marine  engineer  and  although 
without  specific  commercial  or  financial  training,  his  age 
and  sterling  character  made  him  a  wise  selection.  The 
routine  of  bookkeeping  was  done  for  him  by  his  capable 
clerk,  Mr.  Morison,  who  did  all  the  detailed  work.  The 
early  members'  ledgers  are  in  the  handwriting  of  the 
latter.  His  office  was  in  32  Park  Place,  one  flight  up.  As 
has  been  elsewhere  mentioned,  it  did  not  commend  itself 
that  the  Society  should  be  employing  a  Treasurer's  clerk 
to  do  work  which  could  be  better  done  in  the  Secretary's 
office,  so  that  Mr.  Copeland  was  nominated  for  the  Vice- 
Presidency  and  a  new  Treasurer  was  sought  in  1884. 
Major  Wm.  H.  Wiley  as  Chairman  of  the  Finance  Com- 
mittee had  been  active  in  urging  the  economy  due  to  a 
transfer  of  the  duties  of  collecting  and  accounting  to 
the  office  of  the  Secretary,  and  was  therefore  unable  to 
hold  out  against  the  pressure  to  **take  his  own  medicine" 
and  become  Treasurer  under  the  policy  which  he  had 
advocated  and  to  make  it  a  success. 

Major  William  H.  Wiley  was  a  graduate  of  the  Rens- 
selaer Polytechnic  Institute  at  Troy.    He  went  first  into 


^^7^ 


TREASURER 


THE    AMERICAN     SOCIETY   OF    MECHANICAL    ENGINEERS 


A  HISTOBY  OF  THE  SOCIETT  149 

railroading  in  OMo,  but  later  at  the  request  of  Ms  father, 
the  late  John  Wiley,  he  returned  to  New  York  to  develop 
the  department  of  scientific  and  engineering  textbook 
publishing  which  was  then  to  be  undertaken.  The  tech- 
nical affiliations  and  interests  of  such  a  position,  coupled 
with  its  commercial  requirements,  have  made  Major 
Wiley  an  ideal  Treasurer  and  he  has  been  renominated 
and  elected  to  succeed  himself  for  nearly  thirty  years. 
He  has  his  military  title  from  service  as  a  mere  lad  as 
officer  of  an  artillery  regiment  in  the  War  of  the  Ee- 
bellion ;  and  has  twice  been  sent  as  representative  of  the 
State  of  New  Jersey  to  the  United  States  Congress. 

The  Treasurer  of  the  Society  is  the  key  to  its  treasury, 
which  only  opens  on  his  signature  upon  a  Society  check. 
Such  disbursements  in  detail  to  individual  creditors  as 
may  be  required  are  made  by  a  cashier  whom  the 
Treasurer  keeps  in  funds  by  a  single  large  check  at  in- 
tervals ;  and  all  disbursements  by  the  cashier  must  be  on 
approved  vouchers,  certified  as  satisfactory  by  the 
Finance  Conunittee  through  its  Chairman.  The  Com- 
mittee again  look  to  the  Secretary  and  to  the  Standing 
Committees  for  their  approval  of  such  vouchers  and  the 
wisdom  of  the  expenditure  demanded ;  while  the  Council 
as  trustees  over  all  the  interests  control  appropriations 
to  the  committees  in  their  annual  budget. 

Samuel  8.  Webber,  who  was  the  first  recorded  Secre- 
tary, was  the  young  son  of  Mr.  Samuel  Webber,  even 
then  a  veteran  in  New  England,  and  a  specialist  in  water- 
wheel  engineering  and  the  turbine.  He  was  chosen  as 
a  burden  bearer  for  that  meeting  by  reason  of  his  lusty 
youth,  but  no  filed  records  are  extant,  and  he  did  no 
work  after  the  meeting. 

At  the  ratification  meeting  in  April  at  which  the 
Eules  were  adopted  and  the  officers  elected,  Mr.  James  C. 
Bayles  acted  as  Secretary  of  the  meeting  and  of  the  So- 
ciety. He  was  then  the  editor  of  Iron  Age  and  wielded  a 
facile  pen.  Later  he  became  Health  Commissioner  of 
the  City  of  New  York,  at  the  urgent  request  of  Mayor 
Abram  S.  Hewitt,  and  after  his  term  expired  identified 


150     THE  AMERICAN  SOCIETY  OP  MECHANICAL  ENGINEERS 

himself  with  an  enterprise  for  the  manufacture  of 
spirally  welded  pipe  in  long  units.  But  the  problem  of 
the  joints  had  not  been  worked  out  at  that  time  and 
both  Mr.  Bayles  and  the  many  friends  enlisted  with  him 
were  heavy  losers.  He  had  a  charming  personality,  and 
was  a  clever  and  witty  speaker. 

Mr.  Moore  acted  as  Secretary  as  well  as  Treasurer 
until  Mr.  Thomas  Whiteside  Rae,  Mr.  Worthington's 
son-in-law,  was  appointed  Secretary  in  the  fall  of  1880, 
before  the  first  meeting  for  papers.  He  was  an  ex-naval 
engineer  with  special  experience  in  submarine  telegraph 
cable  work,  and  his  office  was  at  239  Broadway.  He 
served  as  Secretary  in  the  three  New  York  Meetings  of 
1880, 1881  and  1882,  and  the  Hartford  and  Altoona  Meet- 
ings. He  served  until  his  successor  was  elected  and  ac- 
cepted on  March  1,  1883. 

Prof.  Frederick  Remsen  Hutton  was  Junior  Professor 
of  Mechanical  Engineering  in  Columbia  University.  He 
was  thirty  years  old.  The  Society  could  not  afford  an 
office,  so  he  rented  one  for  himself.  His  first  volunteer 
assistant  was  his  brother.  Dr.  Allan  C.  Hutton,  and  later 
Mr.  Charles  G.  Strang  was  engaged  at  a  salary  which 
the  Secretary  for  some  time  paid  out  of  his  own  com- 
pensation of  $1000  per  annum.  Mr.  Strang  after  about 
a  year  was  succeeded  by  Mr.  Harry  L.  Dessar  (with  a 
summer  interval  with  Mr,  Louis  Gross)  and  then  Mr. 
John  H.  Allen  began  his  long  service,  just  after  the 
office  had  been  moved  to  the  Stewart  Building  at  280 
Broadway.  Mr.  Allen  served  until  1891  when  he  was 
succeeded  by  Mr.  Francis  W.  Hoadley  who  was  well  and 
favorably  known  to  so  many  of  the  members  and  who 
served  until  after  the  move  to  the  Engineering  Building 
in  1906-1907. 

The  earlier  secretaries  before  Mr.  Rae  were  in  reality 
recording  secretaries  and  not  executives.  With  Mr.  Rae 
began  the  system  of  making  the  Secretary  the  executive 
officer  of  the  Society  as  well  as  its  recorder  and  clerk. 
This  grew  under  the  incumbency  of  his  successor,  until 
the  Secretary  by  long  tenure  and  wide  acquaintance  be- 


SECRETARY     I880-I883 


THE    AMERICAN     SOCIETY  OF   MECHANICAL    ENGINEERS 


A  HISTOEY  OF  THE  SOCIETY  151 

came  not  only  the  executive  of  the  legislation  of  the 
Council,  but  also,  and  perhaps  more  emphatically,  the 
initiating  intelligence,  preparing  and  digesting  material 
to  be  submitted  to  the  Council  and  taking  original  action, 
which  the  Council  should  afterward  make  its  own  when 
it  should  approve.  This  philosophy  had  some  advantages 
in  the  days  of  small  things  and  made  for  speed  and 
efficiency.  As  the  Society  grew  in  numbers  and  in  the 
scope  of  its  activities,  this  earlier  plan  was  seen  by  the 
foresighted  to  be  compassed  with  the  dangers  of  limiting 
such  activity  of  the  Society  to  the  capacity  of  its  Secre- 
tary; and  with  his  full  concurrence  and  support  the 
philosophy  of  control  and  management  by  standing  com- 
mittees under  the  Council  was  substituted  for  the  earlier 
policy  in  1904  (See  Chapter  V.)  The  Secretary  was 
secretary  of  each  committee  and  so  in  touch  for  sugges- 
tions and  recommendations  as  before,  and  in  a  place  of 
executive  authority  after  the  deliberations  of  the  com- 
mittees had  formulated  a  policy.  This  is  the  plan  in 
operation  at  this  writing. 

Professor  Hutton  had  written  a  monograph  on  Ma- 
chine Tools  for  the  census  of  1880,  now  an  historic 
classic  of  its  date,  and  two  textbooks,  on  Mechanical 
Engineering  of  Power  Plants  and  on  the  Gas  Engine. 
While  in  office  he  did  a  limited  amount  of  expert  and  con- 
sulting practice  only,  by  reason  of  the  full  occupation  of 
his  time  in  his  professional  work  at  Columbia  and  as 
dean  of  its  Engineering  Faculty  and  in  the  work  of  the 
Society.  He  was  editor  for  encyclopedias  and  diction- 
aries, notably  the  Century  edition  of  1911.  He  was  con- 
sulting mechanical  engineer  for  the  Department  of 
Water,  Gas  and  Electricity  for  a  year  after  completing 
his  service  to  the  Society;  consulting  engineer  for  the 
Automobile  Club  of  America,  and  in  a  general  office 
practice.  On  the  completion  of  his  twenty-four  years, 
the  Society  presented  to  Professor  Hutton  a  gold  tablet 
medal,  inscribed: 


162     THE  AMERICAN  SOCIETY  OP  MECHANICAL  ENGINEERS 

Presented  by 
THE  Council  of 

The  American  Society 

OF 

Mechanical  Engineers 

TO 

FREDERICK  REMSEN  HUTTON 
E.M.,  Ph.D.,  ScD. 

In  grateful  appreciation  of 
wise  counsel,  untiring  in- 
dustry and  loyal  devotion  as 
secretary    for    twenty-four 

YEARS 
1883-1907 

Professor  Hutton  was  elected  Honorary  Secretary  in 
1907. 

The  fifth  Secretary  is  Mr.  Calvin  Winsor  Rice,  elected 
in  1906  and  still  in  office.  Mr.  Rice  was  a  graduate  with 
the  Class  of  1890  from  the  Massachusetts  Institute  of 
Technology.  He  served  progressively  in  all  departments 
of  the  General  Electric  Company,  including  manufac- 
turing, designing,  office  engineering,  supervision  of  con- 
struction and  operation  in  the  field.  He  had  also  served 
as  vice-president  and  general  manager  of  one  of  the 
Westinghouse  companies  and  at  the  time  he  was  invited 
to  become  Secretary  he  was  engineer  in  the  New  York 
office  of  the  General  Electric  Company.  Previous  to  be- 
coming Secretary,  he  was  always  an  active  worker  in 
organizations,  serving  in  one  of  the  other  national  engi- 
neering societies  consecutively  as  member  of  the  Finance 
Committee,  Chairman  of  the  Meetings  and  Papers  Com- 
mittee, Chairman  of  the  Sections  Committee  and  Chair- 
man of  the  Building  Committee;  and  in  this  Society  he 
had  served  as  Chairman  of  the  Meetings  Committee. 
The  history  of  his  administration  will  be  written  by  other 
and  later  hands. 


THE    AMERICAN    SOCIETY  OF  MECHANICAL    ENGINEERS 


CHAPTEE  Vin 

Some  Eably  Membees  of  the  Society — Honobaby 

Membebs 

In  the  brief  summary  of  the  previous  chapters  the 
claims  for  remembrance  have  been  mentioned  in  the  case 
of  those  who  have  borne  office.  But  there  were  many 
others  in  the  early  roster  who  served  the  Society  on  its 
laborious  committees  or  who  never  came  on  the  roll  of 
its  officers,  yet  who  are  more  than  deserving  of  similar 
recognition  in  a  historical  review.  The  Honorary 
Members  also  who  have  passed  away  should  be  included 
in  any  effort  to  show  how  greatly  their  association  with 
the  Society  has  strengthened  and  distinguished  it. 

Honorary  Membership  in  the  Society  was  at  first  re- 
stricted to  men  who  had  virtually  retired  from  active 
practice.  This  was  later  seen  to  impose  unnecessary 
restrictions  and  to  keep  from  the  Society  and  from 
eligible  persons  the  mutual  advantage  of  this  pleasant 
relation.  The  list  has  been  restricted  to  twenty-five  so 
that  it  should  be  conferred  only  in  cases  of  distinguished 
achievement  or  noteworthy  service,  and  given  to  men  of 
really  exceptional  position  and  reputation. 

The  list  of  Honorary  Members  no  longer  living  in- 
cludes the  following: 

name  date  of  electiok  died 

(1)  Horatio  Axlen 1880 1889 

(2)  Daniel  K.  Claek November,  1882 1896 

(3)  Exn)OLPH  Clausius  November,  1882 1888 

(4)  Pbtee  Coopee November,  1882 1883 

(5)  O.  Hallauer   November,  1882 1883 

(6)  G.  A.  HiKN November,  1882 1890 

(7)  Edwabd  J.  Eeed November,  1882 1906 

(8)  Franz  Reuleatjx November,  1882 1905 

(9)  Henri  Schneider  November,  1882 1898 

(10)  C.  William  Siemens November,  1882 1883 

(11)  Henri  Tresca November,  1882 1885 

153 


154     THE  AMERICAN  SOCIETY  OF  MECHANICAL  ENGINEERS 

(12)  JoHANN  Bauschingke   November,  1882 1893 

(13)  Frederick  Bramwell   November,  1884 1904 

(14)  F.  Grashof November,  1884 1893 

(15)  GusTAV  Herrmann  November,  1884 1907 

(16)  Benjamin  Baker  May,  1886 1907 

(17)  James  Dredge  May,  1886 1906 

(18)  Francis  A.  Walker May,  1886 1897 

(19)  V.  Dwelshauvers-Dery 1886 1913 

(20)  John  Coode   November,  1889 1892 

(21)  Joseph  Hirsch   November,  1889 1901 

(22)  Chas  T.  Porter. January,      1890 1910 

(23)  Henry  Bessemer June,  1891 1898 

(24)  William  Arrol 1895 1913 

(25)  John  Fritz   1900 1913 

(26)  GusTAV  Canet  December,    1900 1908 

(27)  William  H.  White 1900 1913 

(28)  Chas.  H.  Haswell April,  1905 1907 

(29)  George  W.  Melville February,    1910 1912 

(30)  Carl  Gustav  Patrick  db  Laval . .  1912 1913 

(31)  Rudolph  Diesel  1912 1913 

(32)  George  Westinghouse 1897 1914 

A  man  to  be  elected  to  Honorary  Membership  will 
usually  have  a  long  life  behind  him  to  justify  his  honor. 
Death  has  therefore  a  longer  list  than  that  of  the  active 
living  men. 

(1)  Ran  the  first  imported  service  locomotive  in 
America  in  1830,  a  Stephenson  engine  operated  at  Hones- 
dale,  Pa.  Later  he  was  president  of  the  Novelty  Iron 
Works  in  New  York,  building  steam  vessels  and  other 
machinery,  up  to  and  during  the  war  of  1861-1865. 

(2)  English  railway  engineer,  author  and  experi- 
menter.   Clark's  tables  was  a  classic  of  its  day. 

(3)  German  author  and  teacher.  Developer  of 
modern  theory  of  thermodynamics. 

(4)  American  manufacturer  and  philanthropist. 
Iron  master  with  Abram  S.  Hewitt.  Glue  manufacturer. 
Founder  of  Cooper  Union  in  New  York  for  education  of 
apprentices  and  the  general  public. 

(5)  Swiss  experimenter,  engineer  and  author. 

(6)  Alsatian  engineer,  experimenter  and  constructor; 
first  applied  wire  rope  at  high  speed  for  long  drives. 

(7)  English  marine  engineer  and  ship  designer. 

(8)  Educator  and  mathematician.     Founder  of  the 


A  HISTORY  OF  THE  SOCIETY  156 

Royal  High  School  at  Charlottenberg.    Author  of  Kine- 
matics of  Machinery  and  The  Constructor. 

(9)  Iron  master,  designer  of  furnaces  and  forge  ma- 
chinery, ship  and  engine  builder  of  France.  Significant 
name  in  history  of  steel  making. 

(10)  Metallurgist  and  electrical  engineer,  Berlin  and 
England ;  designer  of  regenerative  principle  for  perheat- 
ing  gas  for  furnaces. 

(11)  French  engineer,  experimenter  and  author. 

(12)  German  educator  and  author  on  Machine  Design. 

(13)  British  consulting  engineer. 

(14)  German  educator  and  author. 

(15)  German  educator  and  author. 

(16)  Consulting  engineer ;  built  the  Assouan  Dam  and 
the  Forth  Bridge. 

(17)  Editor  of  London  Engineering,  author  and 
writer;  very  active  in  bringing  about  the  first  trans- 
Atlantic  visit  of  1889. 

(18)  Economist  and  author;  head  of  tenth  census, 
the  greatest  industrial  census  up  to  that  time ;  president, 
Massachusetts  Institute  of  Technology. 

(19)  Belgian  educator,  experimenter  and  author. 

(20)  British  consulting  engineer  for  colonial  work; 
president  Institution  of  Civil  Engineers  when  A.  S.  M.  E. 
visited  England  in  1889. 

(21)  French  engineer  and  writer. 

(22)  Designer  of  first  high-speed  steam  engines  and 
of  Porter  isochronous  governor. 

(23)  British  metallurgist;  inventor  of  steel  process 
in  England  at  about  the  same  time  that  Kelly  brought 
out  his  pneumatic  process  for  the  removal  of  carbon  and 
silicon  from  a  bath  of  melted  pig-iron. 

(24)  Builder  of  Forth  and  other  great  British  bridges 
for  railways ;  Tower  bridge  of  London. 

(25)  Creator  of  Bethlehem  steel  and  iron  plant, 
armor  and  mandrel  forging  plant,  harveying  plant,  later 
consulting  engineer. 

(26)  French  engineer  and  manufacturer. 

(27)  English  marine   consulting   engineer   and   de- 


166     THE  AMERICAN  SOCIETY  OF  MECHANICAL  ENGINEEBS 

signer  both  for  navy  and  trans-Atlantic  marine.  De- 
signed Lusitania  and  Mauretania  and  other  turbine 
driven  vessels  of  great  size  and  speed.  Eeceived  Fritz 
medal. 

(28)  First  Engineer-in- Chief  of  U.  S.  Navy,  in- 
troduced steam  for  propulsion;  author  of  first  engineer's 
pocketbook. 

(29)  Engineer  of  United  States  Navy  in  the  relief 
expedition  for  De  Long  and  the  Jeannette.  Engineer-in- 
Chief  during  war  of  1898  with  Spain.  Introduced  marine 
repair  ship  to  avoid  return  of  squadron  to  a  repair  base. 
Introduced  distilling  ships;  fostered  triple-screw  pro- 
pulsion and  water-tube  boilers. 

(30)  Swedish  inventor  of  steam  turbines  with  high 
speed  of  motor  used  directly  in  centrifugal  separators 
and  with  herringbone  reduction  gears  for  general  pur- 
poses. 

(31)  Designer  of  internal-combustion  motors  with 
high  compression  of  air  only  and  an  injection  of  liquid 
fuel  into  the  highly  heated  air.    Lost  at  sea. 

(32)  Designer  of  compressed  air  train  brake  and 
signal  system;  designer  of  electrical  power-generating 
apparatus;  manufacturer  and  consulting  engineer. 

The  active  list  of  living  Honorary  Members  at  the 
time  of  preparing  this  chapter  includes  the  following 
persons : 

(33)  GusTAV  Eiffel 1886 

(34)  Henei   Leaute 1891 

(35)  Bbnj.  F.  Ishebwood 1894 

(36)  Wm.  Cawthorne  Unwin 1898 

(37)  Sib  Douglas  Fox 1900 

(38)  John  E,  Sweet 1904 

(39)  Thos.  Alva  Edison 1904 

(40)  Andrew  Carnegie 1907 

(41)  John  A.  Brashear 1908 

(42)  John  A.  F.  Aspinall 1911 

(43)  Anatole  Mallet 1912 

(44)  OsKAR  VON  Miller 1912 

(45)  Charles  H.  Manning 1913 

(46)  Alfred  Fernandez  Yarrow 1914 

(47)  Erasmus  D.  Leavitt 1915 

(33)  French   designer   of   steel   work   bridges    and 


ESIDENT     1895 


THE    AMERICAN    SOCIETY  OF  MECHANICAL    ENGINEERS 


A  HISTOBY  OF  THE  SOCIETY  157 

viaducts;  projector  and  designer  of  the  tower  which 
bears  his  name. 

(34)  French  consulting  engineer. 

(35)  Engineer-in-Chief,  United  States  Navy,  during 
the  war  of  1861-1865 ;  experimenter  and  author. 

(36)  British  educator,  author  and  engineer. 

(37)  British  iron  master,  bridge  and  machinery 
builder. 

(38)  Educator  at  Cornell  University  and  director  of 
educational  shops ;  engine  builder  and  designer,  manufac- 
turer, past-president  of  the  Society. 

(39)  Inventor  and  electrical  engineer,  designer  of 
lighting  system,  telegraph  systems,  phonograph,  cine- 
matograph and  combinations. 

(40)  Iron  master  and  philanthropist;  donor  of  engi- 
neering building  for  the  engineering  societies. 

(41)  Manufacturer,  educator,  astronomer,  physicist. 
Maker  of  telescope  lenses  and  diffraction  gratings. 

(42)  British  railway  president.  President,  Institute 
of  Mechanical  Engineers,  1910. 

(43)  French  designer  of  locomotives  for  very  heavy 
traffic  and  curved  alignment. 

(44)  German  consulting  engineer;  head  of  Munich 
museum  of  historical  technology,  mechanics  and  in- 
dustry. 

(45)  Ex-naval  engineer  and  instructor.  Power  plant 
and  textile  mill  engineer. 

(46)  Designer  of  yacht  and  boat  engines  and  par- 
ticularly of  high-pressure  sectional  marine  boilers, 
motor- vehicles  and  general  engineering  products. 

(47)  Designer  of  steam  engines  of  high  economy  for 
pumping  mine-hoisting  waterworks  and  sewage  disposal. 
Consulting  engineer  for  Calumet  and  Hecla  Mining  Com- 
pany. 

To  the  above  lists  should  be  added  the  names  of  A.  L. 
HoUey  and  Henry  E.  Worthington,  Founders  of  the  So- 
ciety. Mr.  Holley  was  a  steel  works  designer,  engineer 
and  administrator.  Mr.  Worthington  was  a  hydraulic 
engineer,  designer  of  pumps  having  no  flywheel  and  the 


158     THE  AMERICAN  SOCIETY  OF  MECHANICAL  ENGINEERS 

great  duplex  engines  for  waterworks  and  for  all 
services. 

The  list  of  early  members  who  died  without  the  dis- 
tinction of  office  or  honorary  membership  would  include : 

Erastus  W.  Smith,  who  did  much  distinguished  work 
in  paddle-wheel  vessels  for  Sound  and  Eiver  practice 
with  beam  engines. 

Henry  H.  Gorringe  who  brought  the  obelisk  from 
Egypt  for  erection  in  Central  Park,  New  York,  devising 
machinery  for  tilting  and  lowering  the  massive  monolith 
without  shock  and  getting  it  into  the  hull  of  the  vessel  of 
transportation  by  cutting  a  hole  in  the  bow.  It  was  also 
carried  across  the  city  and  erected  in  place  on  arrival. 

D.  S.  Hines  was  an  associate  of  H.  R.  Worthington 
and  responsible  for  much  mechanical  detail. 

Emile  Loiseau  was  influential  in  the  experiments  to 
utilize  culm. 

John  B.  Root  designed  and  constructed  a  type  of 
sectional  water  tube  boiler. 

Jackson  Bailey  w^as  the  first  editor  and  one  of  the 
founders  of  the  American  Machinist. 

Cornelius  H.  Delamater  was  the  owner  and  principal 
director  of  the  Iron  Works  in  New  York  City  which 
built  much  of  Ericsson's  machinery  for  vessels,  including 
the  engines  of  the  Monitor,  and  for  his  hot-air  engines. 
He  was  an  important  figure  during  the  war  of  1861-1865. 

John  Ericsson  designed  the  trans-Atlantic  vessel 
operated  by  hot  air  instead  of  steam  gas,  and  designed 
the  Monitor  and  its  engines,  and  afterward  experimented 
with  motors  to  utilize  the  radiated  heat  from  the  sun. 

Harvey  F.  Gaskill,  designer  of  original  waterworks 
pumping  engines  in  use  in  the  Middle  West. 

William  R.  Jones,  the  great  steel  works  manager,  who 
lost  his  life  in  a  blast  furnace  accident,  taking  a  risk  him- 
self which  he  would  not  allow  a  subordinate  to  take. 

Alfred  C.  Hobbs,  who  picked  the  best  English  locks 
for  an  offered  prize  in  1851  and  later  developed  Ameri- 
can locks  before  the  Yale  period  and  that  of  the  time- 
lock. 


A  HISTORY  OF  THE  SOCIETY  159 

Stephen  Wilcox,  designer  of  early  hot  air  engines, 
and  later  with  George  H.  Babcock  the  developer  of  a 
sectional  water-tube  boiler. 

A.  M.  Wellington,  a  technical  journalist  and  author, 
designer  of  a  series  heat  engine  to  operate  on  liquids  of 
differing  volatilities,  and  leaving  behind  him  a  monu- 
mental work  on  the  Economic  Location  of  Railways. 

Joshua  Rose,  writer  on  shop  practice. 

James  Francis,  hydraulic  engineer  for  mills  and 
waterworks  practice,  designer  of  a  turbine  waterwheel, 
and  originator  of  the  accepted  formula  for  flow  over 
weirs. 

Alfred  E.  Hunt,  identified  with  early  commercial  pro- 
duction of  aluminum  for  use  in  the  arts. 

George  H.  Norman,  building  waterworks  for  munici- 
palities and  operating  them  as  private  corporations.  He 
originated  and  used  the  cement  covered  and  lined  pipe. 

A.  C.  Rand,  founder  of  a  rock  drill  and  air  compres- 
sor industry. 

John  F.  Allen  who  cooperated  with  Charles  T. 
Porter  in  the  bringing  out  of  an  engine  of  high  rotative 
speed,  contributing  the  basic  ideas  of  the  valve  gearing. 

Jerome  Wheelock,  builder  of  steam  engines  and  de- 
signer of  a  special  type  of  valve  and  gear. 

Bryan  Donkin,  English  expert,  gas  engine  and  steam 
power. 

J.  M.  Allen,  founder  of  the  business  of  boiler  insurance 
on  the  basis  of  careful  inspection  by  experts. 

Clark  Fisher,  designer  of  joints  for  railway  rails. 

Robert  Hoe  at  the  head  of  the  printing  press  manu- 
factory bearing  his  name. 

Walter  C.  Kerr  who  developed  the  concept  that  a 
contractor  supply  the  consulting  engineering  ability  re- 
quired on  the  contracts  which  he  undertakes,  and  who 
carried  his  principle  to  a  successful  issue  in  the  great 
terminals  at  Boston  and  for  the  Pennsylvania  Railroad 
in  New  York. 

It  must  not  be  inferred  that  the  foregoing  references 
exhaust  the  list  of  names  eminent  in  the  profession  who 


160     THE  AMERICAN  SOCIETY  OF  MECHANICAL  ENGINEERS 

have  been  connected  with  the  Society  and  are  no  longer 
living.  Nor  does  the  omission  of  living  persons  imply 
that  such  are  not  more  worthy  of  record  than  many  so 
listed.  But  the  chapter  is  one  concerning  the  history 
of  the  Society  and  not  that  of  the  individual  and  the 
limits  of  available  space  must  be  recognized  in  any  effort 
to  cover  the  ground  which  would  be  possible  where  these 
would  not  be  felt.  It  is,  however,  an  effort  to  keep  alive 
the  early  traditions  of  the  Society,  and  to  preserve  on  the 
record  the  names  of  some  who  have  distinguished  its 
early  years. 


E    AMERICAN    SOCIETY   OF    MP      HANICAL     ENGINEERS 


CHAPTER  IX 
Some  Notable  Papers  Read  Before  the  Society 

A  paper  may  be  presented  before  an  engineering  so- 
ciety and  for  publication  in  its  Transactions  from  a 
variety  of  motives : 

{a)  The  author  may  have  something  to  say  or  record 
for  the  benefit  of  the  profession;  there  may  be  a  re- 
search or  a  test  or  a  discovery  which  he  desires  to  share. 

(b)  The  author  may  be  urged  by  the  Society  for  its 
reputation  to  select  its  public  meeting  as  a  place  to  pre- 
sent a  paper  by  him  and  its  Transactions  as  a  place  for 
its  record. 

(c)  The  author  may  have  something  which  will  be  a 
benefit  to  him  and  to  his  reputation  to  publish. 

Papers  of  the  highest  grade  will  benefit  all  three 
parties:  the  individual,  the  Society,  the  profession  and 
the  world  at  large.  Papers  of  the  lowest  grade  must  have 
some  factor  of  the  upper  two  classes  to  make  them  ac- 
ceptable to  a  committee  on  papers  and  publication. 
Hence,  in  any  list  of  papers  running  through  the  years, 
it  will  only  be  papers  of  the  two  first  classes  which  will 
be  notable;  and  differences  of  opinion  are  most  easy 
and  possible  according  to  the  point  of  view  of  the  ob- 
server. Papers  once  notable  are  perhaps  so  no  longer 
from  the  very  lapse  of  time.  With  this  explanation,  at- 
tention may  be  called  in  a  history  of  the  Society  to  the 
following : 

A.  L.  HoUey  (Vol.  1,  No.  2),  Field  of  Mechanical 
Engineering,  as  an  early  study  of  the  fundamental 
character  of  the  work  of  the  mechanical  engineer  in  all 
the  collateral  subdivisions  of  engineering  as  a  whole. 

Coleman  Sellers  (Vol.  1,  No.  4),  The  Metric  System, 

161 


162     THE  AMERICAN  SOCIETY  OF  MECHANICAL  ENGINEEES 

covering  the  objections  to  the  unit  of  length  which  it 
imposes,  in  the  processes  of  manufacture. 

John  E.  Sweet  (Vol  1,  No.  11),  Friction  as  a  factor 
in  Motive  Power  Expenses,  and  particularly  the  loss  of 
power  in  packings  and  in  poor  alignment  of  engines. 

John  C.  Hoadley  (Vol.  1,  No.  12),  High  Ratios  of  Ex- 
pansion and  the  difficulties  of  crankpin  effort  with  high 
pressure  and  early  cut-off  in  simple  engines. 

Charles  E.  Emery  (Vol.  2,  No.  21),  Experiments  with 
Non-Conductors  of  Heat;  the  first  of  a  long  series  of 
such  researches,  and  not  yet  out  of  date. 

E.  D.  Leavitt,  Jr.  (Vol.  2,  No.  30),  the  Superior,  a 
type  of  massive  mine  engine,  where  high  operating  econ- 
omy was  of  more  consequence  than  the  first  cost. 

Wolff-Denton  (Vol  2,  Nos.  32  to  35),  Theoretical 
Study  of  the  Most  Economical  Point  of  Cut-off,  steam 
economy  not  being  the  only  factor  considered. 

C.  J.  H.  Woodbury  (Vol.  2,  No.  52),  Mill  Floors,  a 
first  presentation  of  the  philosophy  of  the  slow  burning 
construction. 

Edison-Porter  (Vol.  3,  No.  71),  Edison  Steam  Dy- 
namo, a  description  of  a  direct-coupled  unit,  in  which  the 
engine  was  to  meet  the  high  speed  of  the  dynamo  of  that 
time,  and  not  the  dynamo  kept  to  the  best  speed  for  the 
engine. 

Gaetano  Lanza  (Vol.  4,  No.  94),  Tests  on  Spruce 
Beams,  a  series  of  tests  of  full  size  members,  then  some- 
thing of  a  novelty,  and  a  check  on  the  usual  formulae 
and  constants. 

W.  E.  Ward  (Vol.  4,  No.  126),  B6ton  in  Combination 
with  Iron,  a  description  of  a  reinforced-concrete  resi- 
dence, probably  then  the  first  of  its  kind  in  the  country. 

John  M.  Ordway  (Vol.  5,  Nos.  135,  145),  More  Tests 
on  Effectiveness  of  Non-conducting  Coverings. 

W.  A.  Rogers  (Vol.  5,  No.  146),  A  solution  of  the 
Problem  of  Making  a  Perfect  Screw  for  Feed  Purposes 
in  dividing  engines  or  for  ruling  diffraction  gratings. 

W.  F.  Durfee  (Vol.  6,  No.  154),  The  Experimental 


A  HISTOEY  OF  THE  SOCIETY  163 

Steel  Works  at  Wyandotte,  where  steel  was  made  by  the 
Kelley  pneumatic  process  in  anticipation  of  Bessemer. 

A.  C.  Hobbs  (Vol.  6,  No.  167),  Locks  and  their  Fail- 
ure, including  an  account  of  the  picking  of  the  best 
English  locks  of  1851. 

John  T.  Henthorn  (Vol.  6,  No.  174),  Friction  of 
Shafting  in  Mills,  a  diagram  of  results  of  tests. 

J.  C.  Hoadley  (Vol.  6,  No.  183),  Trials  of  a  Warm- 
Blast  Apparatus,  preheating  furnace  air  from  waste 
heat. 

Wilfred  Lewis  (Vol.  7,  No.  198),  Transmission  of 
Power  by  Gearing  and  (Vol.  7,  No.  223)  by  Belting. 

Henry  R.  Towne  (Vol.  7,  No.  207),  The  Engineer  or 
an  Economist,  and  (Vol.  10,  No.  341)  Gain  Sharing:  the 
first  and  second  papers  of  many  to  show  the  outlook  of 
the  mechanical  engineer  as  a  works  manager  and  em- 
ployer of  men  on  the  problems  of  distribution  of  profits 
of  production. 

Charles  E.  Emery  (Vol.  10,  No.  319),  Cost  of  Power 
in  Non- Condensing  Steam  Engines. 

F.  A.  Halsey,  the  Premium  Plan  of  Paying  for  Labor 
(Vol.  12,  No.  449),  a  notable  paper  which  exerted  an  im- 
portant influence  on  labor  matters  in  machinery  building 
establishments  in  this  country  and  abroad. 

Robert  H.  Thurston  (Vol.  14,  No.  543),  Technical 
Education  in  the  United  States :  a  review  of  the  history 
of  education  under  the  Land  Grant  Act  of  1862.  An  illus- 
tration from  that  paper,  shown  on  the  next  page,  is  an 
interesting  and  serviceable  record  taken  therefrom. 

W.  F.  Durfee  (Vol.  14,  No.  549),  The  History  of  the 
Art  of  Interchangeable  Construction  in  Mechanism. 

F.  W.  Taylor  (Vol.  15,  No.  568),  Notes  on  Belting,  an 
exhaustive  investigation  as  to  belt  tensions  best  suited 
to  get  the  most  satisfactoiy  results  in  transmission  in 
length  of  life  and  consequent  costs. 

Gaetano  Lanza  (Vol.  16,  No.  609),  Tests  of  the 
Strength  of  Spruce  Columns,  another  record  of  tests  of 
full  size  units  in  continuation  of  No.  94. 

Charles  T.  Porter  (Vol.  16,  Nos.  615  to  618),  Papers 


164    THE  AMERICAN  SOCIETY  OF  MECHANICAL  ENGINEEBS 


450 


i860  1865  1870  J875  1880  1885  1890 

Graduates  from  Engineering  Schools  in  the  United  States  since 

1860 


A  HISTOEY  OF  THE  SOCIETY  166 

on  an  Engine  Design,  his  latest  achievement  in  his 
chosen  field. 

Fred.  W.  Taylor  (Vol.  16,  No.  647),  A  Piece-Eate 
System. 

W.  J.  Keep  (Vol.  16,  Nos.  655,  656),  Transverse 
Strength  of  Cast  Iron,  and  Study  of  Molecular  Changes 
in  Metals  by  varying  temperature.  Mr.  Keep  had  other 
papers  in  this  field. 

Walter  C.  Kerr  (Vol.  21,  No.  845),  The  Mechanical 
Equipment  of  the  New  South  Station,  Boston,  Mass.  A 
presentation  of  his  philosophy  of  having  the  contractor 
act  as  consulting  engineer  and  work  to  his  own  specifica- 
tions in  detail,  guaranteeing  satisfaction  to  the  owner. 

Milton  P.  Higgins  (Vol.  21,  No.  864),  Education  of 
Machinists,  Foremen  and  Mechanical  Engineers.  A  pres- 
entation of  his  plan  of  half-time  schools  where  boys 
should  learn  a  trade  while  acquiring  a  common  school 
training. 

C.  E.  Sargent  (Vol.  22,  No.  879),  A  New  Principle  in 
Gas  Engine  Design.  First  advocacy  of  governing  by 
control  of  admission  of  mixture. 

Henry  L.  Gantt  (Vol.  23,  No.  928),  A  Bonus  System 
of  Rewarding  Labor.  This  was  one  of  the  most  dis- 
tinguished series  including  Taylor,  Halsey,  Dodge, 
Emerson,  Towne  and  others  on  the  best  plan  to  improve 
the  efficiency  of  the  human  factors  in  production,  and  to 
reduce  such  cost. 

Frederick  A.  Halsey  (Vol.  12,  No.  449),  The  Pre- 
mium Plan  of  Paying  for  Labor;  (Vol.  24,  No.  971),  The 
Metric  System.  A  presentation  of  the  arguments 
against  the  convenience  and  practicability  of  the  metric 
unit  of  length  in  the  processes  of  industry. 

Rogers  Birnie  (Vol.  25,  No.  1027),  Ordnance  for  the 
Land  Service.  A  plea  for  the  quality  of  mechanical 
engineering  exacted  by  the  ordnance  requirements  in  the 
United  States  army. 

This  list,  which  makes  no  pretense  to  be  more  than 
an  individual's  comments  and  which  others  would  sup- 
plement   by    other    papers    having    a    different    view- 


166     THE  AMEEICAN  SOCIETY  OF  MECHANICAL  ENGINEEES 

point,  may  well  be  concluded  by  the  monumental 
paper  by  Fred.  W.  Taylor  on  the  Art  of  Cutting  Metals, 
his  presidential  address,  published  in  Volume  28  and 
issued  separately  in  book  form,  to  which  reference  has 
already  been  made  elsewhere.  It  incorporates  studies, 
tests  and  experiments  extending  over  many  years,  and 
recorded  with  a  painstaking  accuracy  and  completeness 
which  make  them  a  model.  As  science  and  civilization 
advance,  the  opportunities  for  epoch-making  discoveries 
and  their  presentation  at  first  hand  before  scientific  so- 
cieties, grew  fewer  and  fewer.  More  and  more  the  com- 
mercial significance  of  discoveries  and  inventions  drew 
these  into  publicity  through  other  channels,  and  the 
papers  which  embody  their  scientific  basis  appear  more 
as  discussion  of  detail,  after  the  fact  or  material  or  pro- 
cess has  become  public  property  or  the  investment  of  the 
capitalist. 


CHAPTER  X 

Inteenal  or  Office  Activities  of  the  Society  fob  thb 

Benefit  of  Members 

An  engineering  society  such  as  The  American  Society 
of  Mechanical  Engineers  has  or  may  have  a  number  of 
functions.  It  may  exist  to  bring  together  the  repre- 
sentatives of  the  profession,  that  it  may  act  as  a  unit  on 
questions  referred  to  such  an  association,  or  on  matters 
of  common  and  universal  interest.  It  may  exist  as  a 
channel  of  publication  and  distribution  of  papers  and 
discussions  on  topics  of  moment  to  such  profession  and 
as  a  hall  of  records,  for  data,  discovery,  invention  and 
research.  It  may  serve  the  convenience  and  advantage 
of  the  members  in  ways  not  open  to  those  who  are  not 
members. 

Other  chapters  have  treated  of  the  functional 
activities  of  the  Society  and  of  its  officers  relative  to  the 
publication  and  professional  record  side  of  its  work.  The 
work  of  a  committee  on  papers  and  publication,  the 
preparation  of  the  professional  program  for  meetings, 
the  procuring  of  papers  and  of  qualified  participants  in 
debate  and  contributors  to  the  discussions,  the  selection 
of  topics  and  the  whole  editorial  labor  as  respects  the 
Society  Journal  and  volumes  of  Transactions,  the 
indexing  and  the  great  scope  of  the  field  of  abstract- 
ing, translating  and  comment  on  matter  outside  of  the 
literary  and  publication  activity  of  the  Society  itself, 
form  a  very  large  fraction  of  that  labor  expenditure 
which  is  made  possible  by  an  association  of  many  persons 
paying  dues  to  that  end.  The  fact  of  the  publication  and 
the  existence  of  the  records  in  Transactions  is  a  large 
part  of  the  contribution  which  the  Society  makes  to  the 
profession  as  a  whole  and  to  its  contemporary  civiliza- 
tion. 

167 


168     THE  AMEEICAN  SOCIETY  OP  MECHANICAL  ENGINEERS 

But  the  return  to  the  members  themselves  outside  and 
beyond  this  return  which  they  share  with  others  is  a  very 
important  part  of  the  significance  of  their  membership. 
Such  return  comes  to  them  mainly  through  the  activities 
of  the  office  of  the  Secretary  and  is  conditioned  and 
limited  only  by  his  abilities  and  energy. 

There  may  be  placed  first  in  this  list,  the  duty  and 
procedure  of  candidacy  for  new  members.  The  Society 
will  be  valuable  or  valueless  according  as  the  quality  of 
its  membership  is  lofty  or  insignificant.  While  it  is  true 
that  in  a  true  democracy  all  men  are  equal  before  the 
law,  opportunity  is  not  open  equally  to  all,  nor  are  all 
men  equal  when  it  comes  to  making  delivery  of  the  goods 
desired  in  the  market  and  for  which  it  will  pay  in  legal 
tender  or  in  the  imponderable  units  of  reputation  and 
fame.  Membership  in  the  Society  should  be  a  sort  of 
''cachet"  or  patent  of  nobility  in  the  profession;  and  a 
large  share  of  office  routine  and  personnel  must  be  al- 
lotted to  this  department.  Nor  can  it  be  unintelligent 
or  purely  clerical  labor  or  routine,  for  many  cases  offer 
peculiarities  and  differentiations  of  which  account  must 
be  taken.  The  larger  the  Society  grows,  the  greater  the 
care  necessary,  because  connection  with  the  Society  will 
be  desired  by  the  self-seeking  for  selfish  ends  of  personal 
advancement;  the  list  of  candidates  grows  cumulatively 
with  the  growth  in  numbers  of  those  qualified  to  propose 
members,  and  the  wider  and  more  varied  are  the 
standards  by  which  eligibility  is  decided  on. 

The  accounting  or  bookkeeping  department  of  a  So- 
ciety is  quite  a  business  undertaking  of  its  office.  It  has 
not  only  the  straight  routine  of  annual  dues  of  old  mem- 
bers and  the  charging  up  of  the  fees  and  dues  of  new 
members,  and  the  keeping  straight  of  changes  in  grade 
and  corresponding  rates  of  obligation;  the  Society  has 
also  a  considerable  volume  of  business  each  year  in  sales 
of  its  publications,  in  purchases  of  material  and  in  the 
execution  of  its  contracts  for  printing,  illustration, 
binding  and  general  job-work.    Subscribers  also  begin 


-d-^c 


^j^^jec.^ 


PRESIDENT    1897 


THE  AMERICAN   SOCIETY  OF  MECHANICAL   ENGINEERS 


A  HISTORY  OF  THE  SOCIETY  169 

at  varying  dates  to  become  liable  for  charges,  and 
subscriptions  cease  and  members  resign  and  die. 

Printing  houses  now  usually  have  a  wrapping,  ad- 
dressing and  mailing  department,  but  in  an  older  day 
when  the  Society  did  this  work  itself,  it  was  a  period  of 
stress  and  concentration  of  effort  when  something  was 
to  be  mailed  or  expressed  to  the  entire  membership.  Ad- 
dressing machines  have  greatly  simplified  this  require- 
ment and  reduced  chances  for  error. 

Another  activity  of  the  Society  and  of  its  business 
office  is  the  preparation  and  maintenance  of  an  accurate 
membership  list,  such  as  it  publishes  in  its  Year  Book. 
Such  a  list  is  of  prime  necessity  for  the  office  itself,  as 
a  mailing  list;  but  its  publication  makes  the  Year  Book 
a  professional  directory  of  the  greatest  value  to  the 
practitioner,  to  the  business  man  and  to  the  numberless 
departments  of  publicity.  It  takes  no  small  staff  to  keep 
it  right  and  up  to  date.  At  one  time,  before  pressure 
came  from  other  directions,  the  corrected  lists  of  names 
grouped  alphabetically  and  territorially  were  issued 
twice  a  year,  with  proportionate  greater  inaccuracy  for 
the  latter  part  of  each  half  year.  The  issue  of  portraits 
of  the  officers  of  each  year  and  a  general  improvement  in 
the  character  of  the  Year  Book  were  both  begun  under 
the  presidency  of  Mr.  Ambrose  Swasey. 

Another  great  activity  of  the  Secretary's  office  is  the 
labor  imposed  by  the  active  Council  and  Standing  and 
Special  Committees,  for  which  it  acts  as  clerical  staff. 
The  members  all  benefit  by  this,  both  as  respects  the 
routine  class  of  work,  and  the  results  of  initiative  in  new 
fields.  The  local  groups  of  members  holding  meetings 
or  the  professional  sections,  the  Student  Branches  and 
the  Affiliated  Societies,  all  impose  additional  burdens  for 
which  the  membership  at  large  receive  the  returns.  The 
Public  Relations  Committee,  which  is  to  take  cognizance 
of  the  duty  of  the  mechanical  engineer  as  a  citizen  and 
public  servant,  entails  special  labor. 

Again,  the  Society  can  serve  both  its  members  and 
others  by  bringing  together  the  need  of  the  employer  for 


170     THE  AMERICAN  SOCIETY  OF  MECHANICAL  ENGINEERS 

special  talent  and  the  available  possessor  of  it.  This 
ranges  all  the  way  from  the  need  of  the  corporation  for  a 
talented  president,  down  to  the  draftsman  who  is  in 
search  of  detailers.  It  is  done  both  by  personal  inter- 
view or  private  correspondence  and  by  publication  of 
lists  which  go  to  the  members  through  The  Journal  or 
othermse.  No  names  are  used  in  publication,  but  parties 
are  designated  by  numbers  for  mutual  reference  until 
they  are  brought  together.  The  Society  is  necessarily 
careful  to  assume  no  responsibility  for  relations  thus 
effected,  beyond  the  exercise  of  a  selective  intelligence 
which  leads  to  an  introduction  of  the  parties  to  each 
other;  and  subsequent  exchange  of  credentials  is  their 
affair  and  on  their  initiative.  The  Society  has  many 
agreeable  and  successful  cooperations  to  look  back  on 
since  the  start  of  this  activity  as  far  back  as  1886. 

Beside  these,  there  will  always  be  a  somewhat  per- 
sonal class  of  communications  in  the  Society  mail,  where 
a  member  desires  information  or  to  know  how  and  where 
to  seek  it.  These  may  either  be  undertaken  directly  by 
the  Secretary,  or  from  his  acquaintance  with  the  range 
of  specialization  by  the  members,  he  may  send  it  to  the 
man  best  qualified  to  answer  and  so  bring  the  parties 
together  in  a  relation  either  of  courtesy  or  of  profes- 
sional clientage. 

The  Society  has  also  been  asked  to  nominate  and  send 
members  to  serve  on  governmental  or  on  state  commis- 
sions of  experts,  and  has  been  active  in  the  movement  for 
conservation  of  natural  resources  in  which  engineers 
have  a  profound  interest.  Cooperative  movements  in- 
volving other  engineering  bodies  have  also  become 
features  of  the  Society's  work,  and  there  always  is  a 
share  to  be  borne  of  the  responsibility  for  the  proper 
conduct  of  the  great  trust  imposed  by  the  joint  control 
of  the  Engineering  Societies  Building. 

The  cooperation  of  the  Society  in  making  its  library 
useful  to  the  members  was  formerly  a  burden  on  the 
Secretary;  but  under  lines  of  broader  policy  this  is 
passing  more  under  the  direct  charge  of  the  general 


A  HISTORY  OF  THE  SOCIETY  171 

library  and  its  representative  administrative  board,  of 
which  the  Secretary  of  the  Society  is  one  member. 

It  may  be  said  in  general  that  where  it  is  possible 
to  administer  the  Society  on  this  basis  the  Standing  Com- 
mittees should  be  administrative  bodies  rather  than  ex- 
ecutive or  administrative  units.  This  is  the  true  phi- 
losophy of  committee  management.  The  unnecessary 
duplication  of  work  is  avoided  and  its  conduct  under  com- 
mon standards  is  best  secured  when  the  office  of  the  Sec- 
retary carries  out  the  instructions  of  committees  under 
the  general  direction  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Society. 

It  is  due  to  the  generous  and  capable  interest  of  Dr. 
Frederick  W.  Taylor,  President  of  the  Society  in  1905- 
1906,  that  its  internal  organization  was  so  analyzed  and 
developed  that  it  stands  in  the  front  rank  of  capacity 
for  the  work  within  its  purview.  The  following  is  the 
scope  of  the  Society's  staff: 

(a)  The  Secretary,  whose  special  activities  in  addi- 
tion to  general  charge  of  all  work  are  the  meetings  of  the 
Society  and  the  Council  and  its  relations  with  the  public 
and  other  societies. 

Under  the  head  of  general  charge  of  the  activities  of 
the  Society  may  be  listed : 

(fe)  The  editorial  work.  This  is  in  special  charge  of 
the  editor  with  the  necessary  assistants,  who  number  six 
under  the  ordinary  pressure  of  routine.  This  work  in- 
cludes the  activities  of  the  Publication  Committee  in  all 
its  departments,  the  issue  of  The  Journal,  the  Transac- 
tions and  the  Year  Book,  and  special  relations  to  the 
work  of  the  advertising  in  The  Journal. 

(c)  The  purely  executive  duties.  These  are  under 
the  assistant  to  the  Secretary  who  oversees,  through  the 
membership  of  his  staff,  the  handling  of  the  committee 
activities  and  the  general  Society  business.  Specifically 
this  executive  work  ramifies  into  five  subdivisions: 

(d)  Accounting.  This  is  in  charge  of  the  Cashier  and 
one  assistant  having  to  do  with  all  bookkeeping,  the  pay- 
ment of  bills  which  have  been  approved  by  the  Finance 


172     THE  AMERICAN  SOCIETY  OP  MECHANICAL  ENGINEEES 

Committee  and  have  been  found  in  accordance  with  the 
appropriations. 

(e)  The  membership  work.  This  includes  the  heavy 
activities  of  the  Membership  Committee  as  respects  all 
candidates  for  membership,  and  in  particular  the  work 
of  the  Committee  on  Increase  of  Membership  which  has 
its  own  secretary. 

(/)  The  correspondence.  A  chief  stenographer  with 
the  necessary  assistants,  usually  six  in  number,  who  is 
made  responsible  for  the  conduct  of  all  stenographic  and 
clerical  work  of  the  office  in  all  its  various  activities. 

ig)  The  purchasing.  The  purchasing  agent  keeps 
track  of  all  supplies,  all  orders,  and  the  carrying  out  of 
contracts,  and  must,  of  course,  scrutinize  and  approve  all 
bills  for  material. 

(h)  The  mailing  and  shipping.  This  is  in  charge  of 
a  shipping  clerk  and  ordinarily  keeps  two  assistants  busy 
in  the  work  of  filling  orders,  keeping  the  addressograph 
up  to  date  with  the  changes  as  they  are  sent  in,  and 
cognate  work  which  falls  in  such  a  division. 

This  should  make  it  clear  that  the  operation  of  an 
engineering  society  in  full  activity  with  busy  commit- 
tees is  a  business,  and  not  a  side  issue  of  someone  else's 
activity.  Its  standards,  routine  and  procedure  deserve 
the  most  careful  and  exhaustive  study  and  must  be  such 
as  to  be  capable  of  expansion  with  the  growth  of  the 
Society.  The  more  busy  and  active  the  Society's  com- 
mittees, the  greater  will  be  the  demand  upon  the  ac- 
tivities of  the  Secretary's  office. 


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CHAPTER  XI 

The  Headquaeters  of  the  Society 

The  Society  followed  the  usual  precedents  of  such 
organizations  at  the  start  in  making  the  headquarters  of 
the  Society  the  office  of  the  Secretary  for  the  time  being. 
This  made  the  office  of  Mr.  Lycurgus  B.  Moore  at  96 
Fulton  Street,  New  York  City,  the  first  Society  address. 
The  view  of  this  building  shown  herewith  was  taken  after 
the  American  Machinist  Company's  office  had  been 
moved  out  of  the  building  and  it  had  been  somewhat) 
modified  in  its  exterior  appearance  from  what  it  was  at 
the  preliminary  meeting  and  during  the  first  year  of  the 
Society  life. 

A  photograph  is  also  presented,  which  shows  the  As- 
sembly Hall  of  Stevens  Institute,  Hoboken,  N.  J.,  as  it 
appeared  when  the  first  meeting  for  organization  was 
convened  there.  It  was  later  so  modified  that  the  photo- 
graph is  now  an  antique,  but  it  is  interesting  as  showing 
what  was  the  foundation  area  in  the  first  year  of  the 
Society's  life  and  identifies  Stevens  Institute  with  effec- 
tive cooperation  in  those  early  days.  The  Society's 
address  was  still  the  office  of  Mr.  Moore  in  Fulton 
Street  until  Mr.  Thomas  Whiteside  Rae  was  appointed 
Secretary  before  the  Annual  Meeting  of  1880.  Mr.  Rae 
was  a  son-in-law  of  Mr.  Henry  R.  Worthington  and 
made  his  office  in  the  building  of  the  H.  R.  Worthington 
Company  at  239  Broadway  on  the  site  where  later  the 
Varick  Building  was  erected.  The  building  was  of  the 
cast-iron  and  brick  construction  usual  for  office  buildings 
in  those  days  and  Mr.  Rae's  office  was  on  the  fourth  floor. 
By  the  courtesy  of  the  Worthington  Company  a  store 
room  on  the  dark  side  of  the  building  was  at  the  disposal 
of  the  Society,  where  the  supply  of  volumes  and  the 

173 


174    THE  AMEEICAN  SOCIETY  OF  MECHANICAL  ENGINEERS 

bookcases  containing  the  Society  blackboard  and  para- 
phernalia for  diagrams  for  use  at  the  meetings  were 
stored,  together  with  the  stock  of  standard  circulars  and 
blank  forms. 

The  Worthington  office  was  given  up  when  Prof.  F.  R. 
Hutton  was  appointed  Secretary  in  March  1883,  and 
while  he  worked  for  a  few  weeks  in  his  study  in  Columbia 
University  on  the  Society  business,  this  was  found  im- 
practical and  undesirable  and  he  rented  a  downtown 
office  in  what  was  then  known  as  the  Smith  Building  at 
15  Cortlandt  Street.  This  was  his  own  office  and  the 
location  was  chosen  for  its  nearness  to  the  ferry  and 
approaches  through  Cortlandt  and  Liberty  Streets,  which 
were  then  the  downtown  entrances  to  the  city  from  New 
Jersey  and  Pennsylvania.  The  stock  of  volumes  and 
extra  stationery  were  taken  to  Columbia  University  and 
stored  in  a  dark  room  available  only  for  such  uses.  The 
office  furniture  of  that  modest  undertaking  was  a  Keuffel 
and  Esser  drawing  table,  some  camp  chairs  and  a  spe- 
cially designed  stationery  holder,  somewhat  along  the 
lines  of  the  revolving  bookcases.  There  was  no  type- 
writer in  use  for  more  than  a  year.  Later  a  bookcase 
made  of  pine,  with  certain  locked-up  cupboards,  was 
added  to  receive  the  periodicals  and  exchanges. 

It  was  in  that  first  Society  office  in  connection  with 
this  same  drawing  table  that  an  absurd  incident  occurred. 
The  late  W.  F.  Durfee  residing  in  the  neighborhood  of 
Danbury,  Conn.,  a  person  of  large  presence  and  impres- 
sive dignity,  used  to  buy  direct  from  Danbury  a  felt  hat 
having  generous  proportions  as  to  the  brim.  It  spread 
so  much  sail  that  he  found  it  desirable  to  attach  it  to  him- 
self by  a  ribbon.  One  morning  when  he  sat  in  conversa- 
tion at  the  Society 's  table,  he  laid  his  ponderous  hat  upon 
the  office  furniture.  When  he  rose  to  go,  careless  of  the 
attachment  of  the  hat  to  his  person,  he  upset  the  ink- 
stand, making  a  stain  which  lasted  for  many  years. 
When  the  Secretary  on  his  arrival  asked  the  explanation 
of  the  stain,  the  assistant  replied  that  its  upset  was  a 
combination  of  Mr.  Durfee,  the  tremendous  hat  and  the 


A  HISTORY  OF  THE  SOCIETY  175 

** painter"  by  means  of  which  the  latter  was  belayed  to 
the  visitor ! 

With  the  growth  of  the  exchange  list  and  the  swelling 
volume  of  each  set  of  periodicals  and  Transactions,  the 
adjoining  room  on  the  eighth  floor  was  secured  and  the 
door  communicating  between  the  offices  was  opened. 
More  folding  or  camp  chairs  were  bought  and  the  table 
with  folding  legs  (with  the  trade  mark  of  ''Utility") 
was  made  a  work  table,  around  which  the  Council  used 
to  sit  and  the  Committees  meet.  The  Council  assumed 
the  rent  of  the  offices  about  1884.  Additional  pine 
shelving  set  up  with  taper  keys  gave  additional  room 
for  the  library  for  exchanges  and  journals. 

The  next  step  resulted  from  the  discovery  that  the 
area  of  these  two  offices  would  not  answer,  if  the  move- 
ment then  taking  shape  to  create  and  stimulate  a 
library  of  the  Society  was  to  amount  to  anything  prac- 
tical. The  Stewart  Building  at  280  Broadway,  on  the 
east  side  between  Chambers  and  Eeade  Streets,  had  been 
recently  enlarged  and  was  looking  for  desirable  tenants. 
Attractive  propositions  were  made  to  the  Society  and  it 
moved  to  the  wing  on  the  north  side  of  the  court  on  the 
fifth  floor  on  April  2,  1885.  A  wood  and  glass  partition 
was  put  in  to  separate  the  clerk's  office  with  one  window 
from  the  outer  or  niembers  and  library  area  which  had 
two  windows.  This  combination  permitted  more 
shelves  and  made  a  more  creditable  impression  upon  the 
visiting  member.  Columbia  University  still  cooperated 
by  furnishing  storage  for  the  growing  supply  of 
volumes  in  stock  and  for  the  bundles  of  used  cuts  for 
which  there  was  a  frequent  and  measurable  call. 

This  partitioned  office  remained  the  center  of  So- 
ciety activity  until  the  spring  of  1889.  Mr.  Charles 
Strang  was  the  Secretary's  assistant  in  Cortlandt  Street, 
followed  by  Mr.  Lewis  N.  Gross  and  Mr.  Harry  A.  Des- 
sar,  who  moved  with  the  Society  to  the  Stewart  Build- 
ing. Mr.  John  H.  Allen  became  assistant  to  the  Secre- 
tary and  accountant  in  the  Stewart  Building,  and  all  de- 
tail of  the  booking  of  the  European  party  of  that  year 


176     THE  AMERICAN  SOCIETY  OF  MECHANICAL  ENGINEERS 

was  transacted  through  this  office.  Correspondence  was 
in  long  hand.  The  view  of  the  Stewart  Building  is  taken 
from  the  southwest. 

Again,  as  time  advanced,  the  movement  to  make  the 
library  useful  to  the  members  and  others  had  been  gain- 
ing strength.  The  idea  impressed  itself  upon  the 
Council  that  a  downtown  location  in  the  office  area,  re- 
mote from  the  hotels  of  the  city,  and  where  the  elevator 
service  ceased  at  six  o  'clock  in  the  evening,  was  not  favor- 
able to  the  library  idea.  It  desired  to  try  the  experi- 
ment of  having  the  library  and  office  opened  in  the  even- 
ings. The  visiting  member  was  probably  busy  in  the 
offices  of  others  during  the  daytime  when  visiting  from 
out  of  town,  while  in  the  evening  he  would  be  at  leisure 
and  would  be  glad  to  utilize  the  time  in  looking  up  refer- 
ences and  studying  transactions  of  societies  of  which  he 
was  not  a  member.  The  Alfred  B.  Couch  bequest  of 
books  had  also  been  made  and  was  to  be  cared  for  and 
future  growth  of  the  same  sort  might  reasonably  be  ex- 
pected. 

The  catalogue  of  1889  shows  that  the  Society  had  ap- 
pointed a  Committee  on  a  Joint  Building  for  the  engi- 
neering societies,  of  which  Geo.  H.  Babcock,  W.  P. 
Trowbridge  and  Henry  R.  Towne,  then  President  of  the 
Society,  were  members,  but  pending  any  action  on  the 
difficult  problem  referred  to  this  Committee,  an  investiga- 
tion was  made  as  to  offices  north  of  23rd  Street  in  New 
York.  Someone  suggested  that  the  Trustees  of  the  Mott 
Memorial  Library  at  64  Madison  Avenue,  just  above 
27th  Street,  would  be  willing  to  share  their  unused  space 
with  a  body  of  kindred  aim.  The  library  of  the  late  Dr. 
Mott  had  been  left  with  his  former  residence  to  house 
it  for  the  benefit  of  medicine. 

The  better  facilities  of  the  New  York  Academy  of 
Medicine  in  31st  Street  prevented  the  very  extensive  use 
of  the  Mott  Library  so  that  it  could  be  condensed  and 
kept  available  on  the  second  floor  of  the  residence,  leav- 
ing the  ground  floor  for  the  use  of  the  engineers.  The 
rooms  consisted  of  the  usual  front  parlor  opening  from 


A  HISTORY  OF  THE  SOCIETY  177 

the  hall,  a  dark  middle  room,  and  a  rear  or  dining-room 
running  the  whole  width  of  the  house  with  large  rear 
windows.  There  was  also  a  butler's  pantry  at  the  rear 
end  of  the  hallway.  The  front  room  on  the  street  was 
the  business  office.  The  rear  room  was  the  Library 
proper,  which  was  used  also  as  a  Council  and  Committee 
room  and  the  middle  room  was  made  the  periodical  room. 
There  was  no  electric  light  in  the  building,  but  a  six 
arm  pendant  gas  chandelier  was  put  in  this  room,  with 
superheating  pipes  to  the  burners,  in  accordance  with 
the  system  then  so  popular  in  car  lighting.  A  handsome 
oak  table  was  placed  in  the  center,  and  oak  chairs,  with 
leather  upholstering  in  seat  and  back,  were  purchased  for 
furniture.  The  Secretary  loaned  an  extension  table  and 
two  sofas.  One  of  the  office  assistants  (John  James,  the 
first  stenographer)  was  a  person  of  studious  tastes  and 
he  was  put  in  charge  of  the  evening  uses  of  the  reading" 
rooms,  which  were  kept  open  until  ten  o'clock.  These 
quarters  were  spacious  and  almost  palatial  compared 
with  any  space  available  in  office  buildings  within  the 
limit  of  price  which  the  Society  could  safely  meet.  The 
old  office  furniture  was  still  kept  in  service,  but  a  type- 
writer had  been  added.  There  were  a  few  pieces  of 
Mott  estate  furniture  also  available. 

The  Society  was  so  proud  of  its  new  surroundings 
that  on  the  return  from  the  England-France  trip  of 
1889  (Chapter  XTV),  the  opening  reception  of  the 
Annual  Meeting  was  held  in  its  own  Library,  which  the 
Society  crowded  uncomfortably,  while  the  collation  was 
served  upstairs.  The  sessions  for  papers  were  held  in  the 
auditorium  of  the  Academy  of  Medicine,  12  West  31st 
Street  on  a  rental  basis  (See  administration  of  Henry 
R.  Towne). 

In  the  following  winter,  1890,  the  trustees  of  the  Mott 
Memorial  Library  began  to  feel  that  they  should  vivify 
their  undertaking,  and  therefore  they  ought  to  utilize  the 
space  which  had  been  leased  to  the  engineers.  The  So- 
ciety was  in  no  haste  for  a  change,  but  was  well-satisfied 
with  the  experiment  of  the  up-town  headquarters  and  the 


178     THE  AMERICAN  SOCIETY  OF  MECHANICAL  ENGINEERS 

evening  use  which  had  begun.  A  strong  committee  was 
appointed  to  look  for  other  and  suitable  quarters  in  the 
city,  in  an  area  limited  hj  23rd  Street  on  the  south  and 
42nd  Street  on  the  north  and  with  some  relation  to  the 
main  arteries  north  and  south  on  Fifth  Avenue  and 
Broadway.  In  the  retrospect  of  the  work  of  that  com- 
mittee even  under  expert  guidance  of  real  estate  men, 
the  Society  visited  some  house  floors  in  the  region 
designated,  whose  use  after  dark  would  have  been  im- 
practicable though  in  daylight  feasible  enough,  but  un- 
attractive and  sordid. 

Visits  were  carefully  made  to  the  former  residence 
of  Mr.  S.  F.  B.  Morse  at  5  West  22nd  Street.  This  was 
a  most  attractive  location  at  that  time  in  pleasant  sur- 
roundings, and  it  appealed  particularly  to  the  electrical 
engineering  interests  who  were  being  urged  to  go  into 
a  real  estate  ownership  jointly.  It  was  Mr.  Morse  who 
made  telegraphy  practical  in  the  middle  of  the  century. 
The  study  and  effort  amounted  to  nothing  and  it  was 
really  fortunate  that  it  did  not,  because  the  invasion  of 
business  which  overflowed  23rd  Street  would  have  made 
the  location  ultimately  undesirable. 

Just  at  this  juncture  came  word  to  the  Secretary  that 
the  Academy  of  Medicine  at  12  West  31st  Street  were 
contemplating  a  new  and  enlarged  building  for  their 
Library  and  meetings  and  that  the  house  they  were 
then  occupying  would  be  shortly  or  was  even  then  in  the 
market.  Would  it  be  safe  or  sane  for  the  Society,  having 
no  negotiable  assets  and  no  accumulated  fund,  to  dream 
of  going  into  so  large  an  undertaking  as  the  owning  of  its 
own  complete  house,  which  at  that  time  it  could  not  fill  or 
even  utilize  completely  for  itself?  Could  it  furthermore 
assume  the  burden  of  the  payment  of  interest  as  rent  and 
the  expense  of  upkeep,  taxes,  insurance  and  other 
overhead  charges  incident  to  real  estate  when  its  first 
duty  was  to  publish  Transactions  and  to  serve  its  wide- 
spread membership  in  ways  not  directly  related  to  a 
permanent  home  1 

The  Council  was  promptly  convened  and  the  daring 


c^ ,  rv. 


PRESIDENT   1S98 


THE   AMERICAN    SOCIETY  OF  MECHANICAL    ENGINEERS 


A  HISTOBY  OF  THE  SOCIETY  179 

plan  persuasively  set  before  it.  Their  action  was  con- 
servative but  broad.  The  Society  must  be  guaranteed 
that  an  income  from  other  users  of  the  building  paying 
rent  to  the  Society  should  make  the  operating  cost 
but  little  greater  than  the  Society  was  then  paying  for 
the  single  floor  it  occupied.  The  membership  of  the  So- 
ciety must  raise  by  subscription  the  funds  necessary  to 
meet  the  difference  between  the  price  of  the  house  and 
lot  and  the  amount  which  the  owners  were  willing  to 
leave  on  mortgage.  The  detail  was  left  to  a  committee 
of  which  Messrs.  J.  F.  Holloway,  Stephen  W.  Baldwin  and 
F.  R.  Hutton  were  the  working  force.  The  cash  subscrip- 
tion was  recognized  as  the  first  and  immediate  difficulty 
to  be  overcome,  for  time  was  pressing  and  decision  to  buy 
or  to  let  the  property  pass  to  other  hands  had  to  be 
early  made. 

The  first  step  taken  was  to  ask  a  limited  group  of  the 
older  and  wealthier  members  of  the  Society  if  they  would 
become  guarantors  to  meet  any  deficiency  in  the  sub- 
scription list  should  the  Society  be  unable  to  meet  its 
contract  to  pay  for  the  property  at  the  day  agreed  upon 
because  the  subscribing  members  proved  to  be  slow  either 
in  promise  or  in  payment.  The  second  step  was  to  issue 
to  the  members  a  circular  in  full  explanation,  asking  for 
subscriptions  to  a  five  per  cent  interest  bearing  bond, 
issued  for  the  purpose  of  securing  a  New  York  home  for 
the  Society  with  its  attendant  advantages.  The  third 
step,  after  these  two  had  shown  promise  of  success,  was 
the  creation  and  incorporation  of  a  Library  Corporation 
to  own  the  real  estate  and  ^ease  to  the  Society  what  it 
and  the  other  tenants  were  to  require.  In  addition, 
by  its  charter  it  was  to  conduct  a  free  public  library  which 
the  charter  of  the  Society  did  not  specially  authorize  it 
to  do.  By  this  latter  procedure  and  under  the  law  of  that 
date  in  New  York  State,  a  free  public  library  property 
was  exempt  from  taxation  and  the  question  of  charter 
right  eliminated.  These  matters  being  under  way,  the 
active  young  Institute  of  Electrical  Engineers  was 
asked  to  come  uptown  and  cast  in  its  lot  with  its  older 


180     THE  AMERICAN  SOCIETY  OF  MECHANICAL  ENGINEERS 

sister,  taking  the  third  floor  of  the  building  or  so  much 
of  it  as  it  could  profitably  use.  A  society  of  amateur 
photographers  was  secured  as  the  occupants  of  the  sky- 
light or  top  floor  and  the  unlighted  basement  of  the 
building.  They  were  considered  particularly  eligible  oc- 
cupants because  these  two  parts  of  the  building  were 
valuable  only  to  a  user  with  such  needs.  The  owners  were 
to  agree  to  fit  the  basement  up  with  subdivided  dark 
rooms  for  developing  and  the  top  floor  with  special 
photographic  skylights  for  portraiture  and  printing. 

There  is  here  a  fork  in  the  road,  inasmuch  as  the  de- 
velopment of  the  Society  headquarters  becomes  also  the 
development  of  the  physical  housing  of  the  Library. 
This  latter  will  be  treated  in  detail  in  Chapter  XV,  and 
this  chapter  will  follow  the  general  oflfice  and  meeting- 
room  side  of  the  problem.  Everything  worked  as  desired. 
The  members  subscribed  for  the  Society  bonds  to  be 
issued  by  the  Mechanical  Engineers  Library  Association 
to  the  amount  of  $32,000  and  more.  The  guarantors  who 
had  all  accepted  were  not  called  upon,  although  many 
bought  bonds  upon  their  issue.  The  cash  payment  re- 
quired on  the  purchase  of  the  property  was  to  be  $27,000, 
with  a  first  purchase  money  mortgage  of  $33,000  left 
as  an  investment  by  the  owners,  the  Academy  of  Medicine. 
The  $5000  resulting  from  the  bond  issue  was  to  be  used 
for  the  projected  alterations,  furnishings  and  refittings. 
The  title  passed  from  the  Academy  of  Medicine  to  the 
Mechanical  Engineers'  Library  Association  on  May  1, 
1890. 

The  formation  of  the  Library  Association  offered 
some  administrative  advantages.  The  members  of  the 
Mechanical  Engineers  were  in  no  way  responsible  for  any 
acts  or  obligations  of  the  Library  Corporation  and  yet 
the  former  benefited  by  any  successes  and  good  fortune 
of  the  latter.  The  Trustees  of  the  Library  Association 
were  Past-Presidents  of  the  Society  of  Mechanical 
Engineers  and  therefore  with  a  community  of  interests. 
Both  bodies  had  the  same  Secretary,  but  they  were 


A  HISTORY  OP  THE  SOCIETY  181 

always  kept  distinct  in  accounting  and  in  all  legal  action. 
The  Society  of  Mechanical  Engineers  paid  rent  to  the 
Library  Association  for  the  space  which  it  used.  The 
bond  holders  were  members  of  the  Society  of  Mechanical 
Engineers  and  the  Library  Association  paid  interest  on 
its  bonds  to  such  members.  No  bonds  were  held  or  ever 
passed  in  the  settling  of  estates  outside  of  the  Society 
membership.  The  Society  bought  the  bonds  of  a  de- 
ceased member  in  one  case  to  prevent  outside  ownership 
from  taking  place. 

It  is  of  secondary  consequence  for  the  above  reasons 
to  refer  to  a  lively  disagreement  with  the  photographic 
society,  which  took  place  with  respect  to  the  terms  of  the 
lease.  There  was  no  Library  Association  at  the  time  the 
lease  was  to  be  made,  but  a  joint  committee  of  the  Me- 
chanical Engineers  and  the  photographers'  society  sat 
to  agree  upon  the  terms  in  detail  and  what  each  was  to 
do  in  the  procedure  of  fitting  up  their  quarters  for  oc- 
cupancy. The  Committee  parted  in  agreement  but  when 
the  lease  was  drawn  by  the  attorneys,  embodying  these 
terms  in  accordance  with  the  Society's  understanding, 
it  was  objected  to  by  the  second  party  which  sought  to 
claim  many  more  changes  in  fitting  up  and  equipment 
than  the  owners  had  intended  to  consent  to.  They  re- 
fused to  sign  until  these  extras  not  specified  in  the  first 
agreement  had  been  consented  to  and  incorporated  into 
the  lease.  The  owners'  committee  had  been  growing 
regretful  that  they  had  consented  to  as  much  as  they  did 
in  the  first  agreement.  Some  of  their  confidence  had 
perhaps  returned  to  them,  so  that  when  the  refusal  to 
sign  was  given  by  the  second  party,  the  first  party  in 
effect  shrugged  its  shoulders  and  said  that  the  deal  was 
off.  This  '* calling  of  a  bluff"  did  not  suit  the  intending 
lessees  at  all  and  was  probably  in  any  case  the  action 
of  a  limited  number  of  persons  who  may  have  exerted 
their  authority.  They  then  sought  by  mandamus  and 
injunction  to  compel  the  Library  Association  to  carry 
out  the  first  agreement.    The  Library,  under  advice  of 


182     THE  AMERICAN  SOCIETY  OF  MECHANICAL  ENGINEERS 

counsel,  retorted  by  refusing  entry  to  the  premises  pend- 
ing the  decision  before  the  Court.  The  Court  (Judge 
Lawrence)  called  attention  to  the  unusual  character  of 
the  case  and  decided  that  so  long  as  the  owner  and  the 
intended  lessee  did  not  meet  in  common  understanding 
in  the  mind  of  each,  there  was  no  lease  in  existence,  even 
if  signed  by  one  party,  and  the  injunction  was  dissolved. 
The  Library  paid  some  costs  in  adjustment  and  bought 
from  the  Society  the  screen  for  the  auditorium,  which, 
was  in  accepted  use  for  so  many  years.  The  photo- 
graphers signed  a  release  and  moved  away  their  material 
which  had  been  sent  in  before  the  disagreement  arose. 

Then  arose  at  once  the  question  of  income  from  the 
space  thus  released.  The  "burnt  child  dreaded  the 
fire"  of  uncongenial  tenants,  but  yet  the  expenses  must 
be  met.  Two  solutions  were  found.  First,  the  top  floor 
and  so  much  of  the  third  floor  as  the  Institute  of  Elec- 
trical Engineers  were  not  to  use,  were  attractively 
furnished  as  sleeping  apartments  for  the  use  of  members 
of  the  Society  coming  to  the  city  for  a  few  days  who 
preferred  such  quarters  to  those  a  hotel  could  furnish. 
This  plan  was  very  successful  from  the  start  and  not  only 
produced  a  quite  steady  income  but  was  an  element  of 
strength  for  the  Society  and  its  growth  in  membership. 
No  meals  were  served  in  the  house  but  this  offered  no 
difficulty.  The  other  plan  was  the  creation  of  two  funds 
in  the  Library  Association  to  which  interested  members 
could  subscribe.  One  was  called  the  Sinking  Fund  and 
was  aimed  specifically  at  the  reduction  and  paying  off 
of  the  bonded  debt.  The  other  was  called  the  Fellowship 
Fund  and  was,  in  fact,  annual  dues  to  the  Library  for  its 
support.  Fellows  of  the  Library  had  the  privilege  of 
voting  for  its  Trustees.  The  auditorium  was  also  made 
a  source  of  income  through  rental  to  societies,  both 
medical  and  engineering,  and  to  alumni  associations  and 
similar  bodies.  The  Institute  of  Electrical  Engineers 
remained  lessees  of  the  Library  Association  until  1894 


The  Mechanical  Engineers  '  Library  Building,  Fifth 
Office,  12  West  31st  Street 


Auditorium,  looking  South 


I 


A  HISTORY  OF  THE  SOCIETY  183 

and  cooperators  in  the  running  of  the  building.  They 
continued  to  hold  their  stated  meetings  in  the  auditorium 
after  their  return  to  a  downtown  location  in  that  year 
until,  as  their  Society  grew  in  size,  it  became  too  small  to 
hold  them. 

The  house  at  12  West  31st  Street  was  28  feet  wide  by 
98  feet  deep  on  its  two  lower  stories.  The  front  of  the 
house  was  four  stories  high  as  shown  in  the  illustration, 
with  a  high  basement  and  a  deep  cellar  under  all  the 
lower  stories.  It  had  a  high  brown-stone  stoop  and  in 
the  glass  over  the  door  was  painted  the  name  of  the 
Mechanical  Engineers  Library.  On  the  solid  part  of  the 
front  door  was  an  aluminum  name-plate  of  The  Amer- 
ican Society  of  Mechanical  Engineers,  which  is  still  in 
use  on  one  of  the  inner  doorways  of  the  floor  devoted  to 
the  Society  of  Mechanical  Engineers  in  the  present 
building.  Entering  the  hallway,  large  doors  opened  at 
the  right  into  a  large  saloon  parlor.  This  was  the  busi- 
ness office  with  the  desk  of  the  accountant  and  the  stenog- 
raphers. This  north  end  of  the  room,  which  is  shown 
in  the  illustration,  could  be  railed  off  during  conventions 
by  a  bank  railing  partition,  steadied  and  supported  by 
an  ornamental  cast-iron  pillar  in  the  middle.  The  rest 
of  the  room  was  occupied  by  the  handsome  oak  table 
which  had  been  bought  for  a  center  library  table  at  64 
Madison  Avenue,  and  the  Robert  Fulton  mahogany  din- 
ing table,  the  gift  of  Dr.  Egleston,  elsewhere  referred  to. 
The  two  rosewood  sofas  loaned  by  the  Secretary  were 
also  in  this  room.  On  the  walls  hung  the  ornamental 
oil  paintings  of  a  sea  scene  and  a  winter  landscape  which 
had  been  bought  by  subscription  the  first  winter.  There 
were  also  portraits  of  Past-Presidents,  photographs  of 
Society  conventions,  and  other  framed  material  of  his- 
torical value.  Behind  the  parlor  and  separated  from 
it  by  sliding  doors,  was  the  cozy  auditorium  shown  in 
the  illustration,  about  40  feet  deep  by  28  feet  wide  and 
two  stories  in  height,  with  a  balcony  and  library  gallery. 
It  held  250  with  crowding,  and  was  equipped  with  cast- 


184    THE  AMERICAN  SOCIETY  OF  MECHANICAL  ENGINEERS 

iron  and  veneered  wood  folding  seats,  set  together  in 
series  of  three  so  as  to  be  removable  on  occasions.  A 
platform  two  steps  high  was  at  the  south  end,  and  the 
ceiling  was  pierced  by  a  large  ventilating  skylight 
shielded  in  part  by  some  tinted  glass  to  relieve  the  glare. 
In  the  center  of  the  glass  screen  in  translucent  glass  was 
the  seal  of  the  Society  in  colors.  On  the  walls  were  oil 
portraits  and  the  model  of  John  Ericsson's  Monitor.  In 
one  corner  was  the  bust  of  John  Ericsson  and  near  it 
the  Fulton  drawings.  Over  the  balcony  at  the  south  end 
and  over  the  platform  a  screen  could  be  lowered  by 
means  of  a  long  roller  and  supporting  cords. 

A  handsome  staircase  led  up  to  the  second  floor  which 
was  the  Library  area.  The  wall  spaces  over  the  large 
front  room  and  the  extension  of  the  gallery  over  the 
auditorium  were  lined  with  shelves  from  floor  to  ceiling. 
The  illustration  shows  a  view  looking  into  the  auditorium 
gallery  past  the  card  catalogue  cabinet.  A  portrait  of 
James  Watt  hung  in  a  niche  at  the  center  of  the  south 
wall.  The  library  extension  table,  loaned  by  the  Secre- 
tary for  use  in  64  Madison  Avenue,  was  the  library  table 
and  the  librarian's  desk  and  typewriter  was  at  the  front 
window.  Bentwood  chairs  were  at  the  table.  The  hall 
bedroom  adjoining  the  library  was  the  Secretary's  office 
where  committees  usually  met,  and  was  the  center  of  the 
Society's  administrative  activity  where  planning  and 
correspondence  were  conducted.  The  Council  usually 
met  in  the  auditorium,  which  could  be  made  a  pleasing, 
well-ventilated  and  open  space  for  such  gatherings  by 
moving  some  of  the  chairs. 

A  photograph  taken  two  years  before  the  Society 
moved  into  its  new  building  shows  an  interesting  gather- 
ing of  faces  noteworthy  in  Society  history.  The  gather- 
ing of  Past-Presidents  was  made  possible  by  the  im- 
minence of  the  New  York  meeting  for  that  year.  Mr. 
James  M.  Dodge,  President  of  the  Society,  is  in  the  chair. 
In  this  auditorium  also  were  held  most  of  the  later  meet- 
ings of  the  Building  Committee  of  the  Engineering  So- 


I 


A  HISTORY  OF  THE  SOCIETY  185 

cieties  Building  and  the  early  meetings  of  the  Board  of 
Trustees  of  the  United  Engineering  Society,  after  it 
had  been  formed.  Its  first  meeting  was  held  here  after 
the  charter  was  granted  and  the  Trustees  took  their 
preliminary  steps  under  advice  of  competent  counsel. 

On  the  third  floor  were  sleeping  rooms  and  the  toilet 
and  bathrooms;  on  the  fourth  floor  sleeping  rooms, 
bathroom  and  the  janitor's  room.  Miss  Isabelle  Thorn- 
ton, who  was  house  matron  and  superintendent  of  the 
building  as  well  as  librarian,  was  also  accommodated  on 
this  fourth  floor.  In  the  basement  was  a  large  space 
under  the  auditorium  which  was  used  as  a  banquet  or  a 
collation  room  on  occasion  and  had  its  walls  lined  with 
paste-board  boxes  containing  the  Society's  pamphlets 
and  papers  to  meet  the  calls  which  were  so  frequent.  The 
front  basement  was  the  mailing  and  shipping  room  and 
was  for  many  years  in  charge  of  Clarence  W.  Robinson. 
This  room  was  also  the  coatroom  during  meetings. 
Closets  in  the  basement  between  the  front  and  rear 
rooms  and  on  the  third  floor  similarly  placed  were  full 
of  supplies  of  stationery  and  the  supper  room  equipment 
of  china  and  glassware.  The  pine  bookshelves  of  earlier 
offices  were  in  use  in  the  basement,  and  during  the  con- 
ventions the  front  office  was  utilized  as  a  coatroom.  To 
this  end  two-inch  iron  pipe  posts  with  large  flanges  at 
the  bottom  and  cross-bars  of  pipe  at  the  top,  supported 
wooden  bars  carrying  coat  hooks.  The  whole  structure 
could  be  taken  down  or  put  together  in  a  few  minutes' 
time.  The  basement  door  into  the  coat  room  was  narrow 
and  the  delay  in  handling  a  crowd  most  annoying.  When 
the  banquet  room  was  not  in  use  for  collations  a  second 
coatroom  was  opened  at  one  of  these  doors.  The  ex- 
perience gathered  in  that  crowded  basement  led  to  one 
of  the  most  significant  and  practical  expansions  which 
were  made  possible  in  the  present  building,  where  the 
coatroom  arrangements  planned  upon  the  basis  of  these 
experiences  have  been  favorably  commented  upon  by  all 
who  have  had  occasion  to  use  them.    At  the  back  of  the 


186     THE  AMEEICAN  SOCIETY  OP  MECHANICAL  ENGINEERS 

main  hall  at  the  basement  stairs  were  the  safe  and  a 
water  cooler.  On  the  walls  and  up  the  main  stairs  were 
photographs  of  the  members'  achievements  in  various 
fields. 

The  auditorium  was  such  an  attractive  place,  cozy 
and  homelike,  with  coatroom  and  collation  facilities  in 
such  agreeable  form,  that  it  was  much  used  by  many  other 
bodies.  The  Society  of  Heating  and  Ventilating  Engi- 
neers and  the  Society  of  Naval  Architects  and  Marine 
Engineers  always  held  their  meetings  here  and  many 
other  bodies  met  occasionally.  It  had  been  the  policy 
to  secure  interest  in  the  Society  and  its  welfare  and 
prominence  through  as  wide  a  constituency  as  possible, 
so  that  anything  which  shook  or  deranged  the  Mechanical 
Engineers  should  vigorously  affect  many  other  interests. 

It  is  perhaps  difficult  at  this  day  and  with  the  present 
strength,  standing  and  income  of  the  Society,  to  realize 
what  an  enormous  step  and  undertaking  the  purchase 
and  responsibility  for  that  house  were  to  the  modest 
men  of  that  day.  If  it  had  failed,  the  consequences  to 
the  Society  would  have  been  most  disastrous.  Its  success 
was  the  greatest  thing  that  ever  happened  to  it,  up  to 
that  time  and  for  many  years. 

The  increase  of  the  dues  (Chapter  V)  was  one  of  the 
greatest  factors  in  insuring  the  financial  certainty  of 
the  movement.  All  special  funds  were  done  away  with 
in  the  collection  of  dues,  except  where  otherwise  desired 
for  Library  uses  alone ;  and  the  Society  entered  bravely 
on  its  undertaking  to  redeem  its  bonds.  They  had  ten 
years  to  run,  or  from  1890  to  1900 ;  and  at  first  some  were 
given  or  bequeathed;  later  they  were  bought  in  by  a 
transaction  in  which  the  Council  granted  a  life  member- 
ship in  the  Society  to  a  member  who  used  his  bonds  as  a 
tender  for  such  purchase ;  and  finally  the  last  ones  were 
bought  in  for  cash  before  the  date  of  their  maturity.  The 
second  mortgage  on  the  property  of  the  Library  Associa- 
tion, by  which  these  bonds  were  protected,  became  thus 


A  HISTOBY  OF  THE  SOCIETY  187 

the  property  of  the  Society  of  Mechanical  Engineers; 
and  on  its  cancellation  at  maturity  and  the  execution  of 
the  satisfaction  piece,  The  American  Society  of  Me- 
chanical Engineers  held  an  equity  of  $32,000  in  the 
property  which  had  originally  cost  $60,000  and  which 
was  steadily  rising  in  value  with  the  changes  taking 
place  in  its  neighborhood,  due  to  the  execution  of  the 
Pennsylvania  Railway  tunnels  and  its  notable  terminal 
to  the  westward  on  32nd  Street. 

The  Society  lived  sixteen  happy  and  successful  years 
in  31st  Street.  The  only  difficulty  had  been  that  in  the 
years  after  1900  the  attendance  at  the  Annual  Meeting  in 
December  had  exceeded  the  comfortable  capacity  of  the 
auditorium.  Presidents'  addresses  had  been  delivered 
in  Sherry's  ballroom  and  the  Society  had  rented  Mendels- 
sohn Hall,  on  40th  Street  east  of  Broadway,  for  its  big 
sessions.  The  last  two  years  of  its  occupancy  at  31st 
Street  the  sessions  had  been  held  in  the  hall  of  the  New 
York  Edison  Company,  on  27th  Street  west  of  Broadway. 
The  Institute  of  Electrical  Engineers  was  meeting  the 
same  difficulty,  and  in  addition  it  had  received  the 
splendid  gift  of  the  Latimer  Clark  Library  from  Dr. 
Schuyler  Skaats  Wheeler  and  had  no  adequate  home  to 
take  care  of  it  under  the  terms  of  its  purchase  and  gift. 
The  Engineers'  Club,  a  purely  social  organization,  but 
one  in  whose  success  the  members  of  both  societies  men- 
tioned and  also  the  other  organizations  were  strongly 
interested,  had  had  to  vacate  its  rented  house  and  was 
looking  for  its  next  step  after  purchase  of  land  on  40th; 
Street. 

It  was  at  this  juncture  that  Mr.  Andrew  Carnegie 
was  a  guest  of  a  banquet  given  by  the  Institute  of  Elec- 
trical Engineers  in  February  1903.  He  heard  the  state- 
ment of  the  needs  of  the  Institute  and,  with  character- 
istic largeness  of  vision,  saw  the  opportunity  to  be  much 
greater  than  the  need  of  any  one  society.  He  arranged 
a  conference  with  the  parties  interested  and  at  its  close 
penned  the  following  unique  letter : 


188     THE  AMERICAN  SOCIETY  OF  MECHANICAL  ENGINEEES 

To  THE  American  Society  of  Civil  Engineers, 
American  Institute  op  Electrical  Engineers,  Ameri- 
can Society  of  Mechanical  Engineers,  American  In- 
stitute of  Mining  Engineers  and  the  Engineers' 
Club: 

Gentlemen  : 

It  win  give  me  pleasure  to  devote,  say  a  million  and 
a  half  dollars  to  erect  a  union  building  for  you  all,  in 
New  York  City. 

With  best  wishes, 

Very  truly  yours, 

(Signed)     Andrew  Carnegie. 
March  14,  1904. 

The  Society  immediately  rose  to  this  opportunity, 
accepted  its  share  of  the  gift  and  its  responsibility,  and 
appointed  three  representatives  to  sit  on  the  joint  com- 
mittee to  formulate  details.  These  were  Messrs.  James 
M.  Dodge,  President  of  the  Society,  Charles  Wallace 
Hunt  and  F.  R.  Hutton.  These  sat  during  the  three 
years  of  planning  and  construction  and  were  the  first 
trustees  under  the  perfected  organization  later  created. 
The  first  year  was  spent  in  general  planning  of  scope  and 
function.  Definite  plans  could  not  be  made  until  the 
American  Society  of  Civil  Engineers  should  decide  by 
formal  vote  whether  to  accept  their  share  of  the  gift, 
which  would  involve  the  sacrifice  of  their  satisfactory 
home  on  57th  Street.  In  January  1904,  that  Society  con- 
cluded not  to  avail  of  the  opportunity  to  join  the  other 
three;  and  there  was  some  question  in  a  few  minds 
whether  the  donor  or  recipients  could  carry  out  the 
modified  plan  of  making  the  building  serve  many  other 
societies  in  an  associate  relation  which  did  not  carry  a 
financial  responsibility  for  success  or  failure  as  well  as 
the  three  named  by  Mr.  Carnegie.  This  enlarged  scope 
of  the  building  has  actually  proved  of  signal  and  dis- 
tinguished advantage  to  the  profession  of  engineering, 
although  there  were  a  few  uncertain  weeks  when  all 
plans  were  swinging  in  abeyance  and  uncertainty. 

In  1904  the  legislature  passed  the  special  charter 
creating  the  United  Engineering  Society  (see  Chapter 
XX)  as  a  benevolent  and  philanthropic  corporation,  to 


EXGIXEERING  SOCIETIES  '  BuiLDING,  29  WeST  39TH   STREET 
PRESENT   HOME   OF   THE   SOCIETY 


A  HISTOBY  OF  THE  SOCIETY  189 

hold  and  administer  the  property  for  the  benefit  of  the 
three  founders  and  the  indefinite  number  of  associate 
societies  to  occupy  the  building.  A  set  of  By-Laws  pre- 
pared by  a  committee  of  the  representatives  of  the  so- 
cieties was  approved  by  each  of  their  governing  boards. 
It  may  be  of  interest  to  state  that  Messrs.  C.  W.  Hunt, 
S.  S.  Wheeler  and  F.  E.  Hutton,  members  of  the  So- 
ciety, were  the  active  factors  in  creating  these  By-Lawa. 
A  competition  of  architects  was  organized  in  the 
*' mixed"  form,  in  which  certain  firms  were  invited  by 
name  to  compete  and  any  others  not  so  invited  might  also 
compete  on  the  same  terms.  The  Kepresentative  Board 
was  advised  in  both  the  preparation  for  the  competition 
and  in  judging  the  competing  designs  by  Prof.  Wm.  R. 
Ware,  formerly  professor  of  architecture  at  the  Massa- 
chusetts Institute  of  Technology,  and  then  professor  re- 
tired from  Columbia  University.  The  plans  of  the 
Building  Committee  of  the  Representative  Board  had 
pretty  well  crystallized  as  respects  the  uses  to  which  the 
building  was  to  be  put  before  the  competition  pamphlet 
was  issued,  and  in  getting  these  ideas  into  usable  shape 
the  committee  were  greatly  aided  by  Mr.  W.  S.  Acker- 
man,  member  of  the  Society,  who  acted  as  its  draftsman 
and  building  expert.  Meanwhile  also  the  trustees  created 
under  the  charter,  together  with  the  active  energy  of 
Mr.  John  C.  Kafer,  had  bought  five  lots  on  the  north  side 
of  39th  Street,  Nos.  25,  27,  29,  31  and  33  with  the  co- 
operation of  Mr.  Carnegie,  who  had  financed  the  pur- 
chase and  to  whom  they  gave  a  mortgage  for  $540,000, 
bearing  interest  at  five  per  cent.  These  lots  were  just  in 
the  rear  of  those  belonging  to  the  social  organization 
called  the  Engineers'  Club,  whose  building  was  also  to 
be  erected  by  Mr.  Carnegie,  but  which  was  a  separate 
body  from  that  created  for  the  societies.  After  consider- 
able thought  the  fund  was  divided  in  a  ratio  of  seven 
to  three,  giving  $1,050,000  to  the  Societies  Building,  and 
$450,000  to  the  building  for  the  Club.  The  two  build- 
ings were  competed  for  on  this  basis. 

The  competition  closed  in  June  1905,  and  the  Com- 


190     THE  AMEEICAN  SOCIETY  OF  MECHANICAL  ENGINEEES 

mittee  unanimously  selected  the  plans  submitted  under 
an  emblem  which  proved  to  belong  to  Herbert  G.  Hale, 
later  of  the  firm  of  Hale  and  Rogers.  Mr.  Henry  G.  Morse 
as  junior  partner  of  the  firm  was  specially  assigned  to 
construction,  and  the  building  contract  was  awarded  to 
the  firm  of  Wells  Brothers  Company,  general  contractors. 
Mr.  Alfred  R.  Wolff  was  made  expert  on  the  heating  and 
ventilation  problem  and  Mr.  C.  0.  Mailloux  on  the  electric 
wiring  and  installations.  The  trustees  had  also  notable 
help  and  counsel  as  respects  the  problems  of  current 
supply  and  telephone  service  from  Mr.  John  W.  Lieb, 
Jr.,  member  of  the  Society,  who  came  later  on  the  board 
by  appointment  from  the  Institute  of  Electrical  Engi- 
neers. Prof.  F.  R.  Hutton  was  secretary  of  the  Board 
from  the  beginning,  and  the  active  man  on  the  ground  for 
the  building  committee.  Many  details  of  the  building 
are  from  pressure  which  he  brought  to  bear,  notably  the 
details  of  the  coatroom  equipment.  Mr.  John  R.  Free- 
man, Past-President,  was  most  helpful  in  suggestions  as 
to  safety  from  fire  hazard  as  respects  audiences  and 
assemblies ;  Professor  Sabin  of  Harvard  University  care- 
fully considered  the  problems  of  the  acoustics  in  the 
large  assembly  hall. 

The  general  scheme  of  the  building  to  adapt  it  for  the 
specific  uses  of  the  Society  and  for  the  broader  uses  of 
other  engineering  bodies  required  the  following  features : 

(a)  A  general  entrance  foyer  on  the  ground  floor  or 
street  level,  in  which  registration  for  conventions  could 
be  secured,  and  the  general  headquarters  business  of 
such  large  assemblies  be  conducted. 

(b)  A  large  assembly  hall,  one  flight  up,  in  which  the 
conventions  should  be  held.  The  limit  capacity  of  such 
a  hall  was  long  under  consideration;  for  to  make  it  so 
spacious  that  only  expert  and  loud-voiced  speakers  could 
be  heard  in  debate  and  discussions  would  be  to  frustrate 
its  purpose.  One  thousand  was  finally  fixed  upon,  with 
600  on  the  floor  and  the  balance  in  galleries  and  standing. 

(c)  A  corridor  all  around  both  ground  floor  and  gal- 
lery, to  which  members  not  interested  in  a  paper  on  the 


pq 


H 


A  HISTORY  OF  THE  SOCIETY  191 

floor  might  retire  for  smoking  or  for  a  friendly  chat. 
Mr.  Hunt  also  insisted  on  slopes  or  ramps  in  corridors 
instead  of  steps  where  levels  changed,  to  prevent 
stumbling  and  possible  danger  in  panic  from  any  cause. 

(d)  Additional  smaller  assembly  halls  or  rooms  for 
sectional  meetings  of  the  large  societies,  or  for  meetings 
of  the  smaller  bodies,  either  having  their  headquarters  in 
the  building  or  coming  to  it  only  on  occasions.  Originally 
there  were  six  such  rooms  for  assembly ;  but  later  experi- 
ence has  proved  that  the  demand  for  them  was  over- 
estimated and  some  have  been  turned  over  to  other  and 
continuous  uses.  These  assembly  rooms  had  the  prefer- 
ence on  the  floors  nearest  the  street,  to  reduce  the  stress 
on  the  elevator  service  when  several  might  be  in  use  at 
one  time,  and  for  safety  in  emptying  in  an  emergency. 
The  lower  six  floors  were  thus  set  aside  to  general  uses. 

(e)  The  Library.  This  was  plainly  to  be  allotted  to 
the  top  floor,  for  light,  absence  of  dust,  quiet,  and  free- 
dom from  flies.  The  floor  level  below  it  was  necessarily 
the  book-stack  room. 

(/)  The  executive  offices  of  the  founders.  These 
were  three  of  the  office  floor  levels,  and  were  assigned  by 
lot.  The  Mechanical  Engineers  drew  first  choice  and 
selected  the  eleventh  or  upper  office  floor ;  the  Electrical 
Engineers,  the  second  choice,  took  the  tenth  floor;  and 
the  Mining  Engineers  the  ninth. 

ig)  The  offices  of  the  associate  societies.  Engineer- 
ing societies,  not  specifically  mentioned  in  the  deed  of 
gift  as  coordinate  owners  of  the  building  and  respon- 
sible for  its  obligations,  have  been  called  associate 
societies  and  are  assigned  to  the  seventh  and  eighth 
floors.  It  was  an  active  administrative  problem  of  the 
first  year  to  invite  associates  to  take  space  in  the 
building  and  bear  share  of  its  cost  and  operation. 
Now  the  trustees  have  a  waiting  list. 

(h)  The  power  and  heating  plant  and  other  usual 
public  requirements  of  toilet  rooms  are  in  the  base- 
ment and  sub-basement.  A  level  for  store  rooms  and 
vaults  under  the  sidewalk  was  cut  from  the  building 


192     THE  AMERICAN  SOCIETY  OP  MECHANICAL  ENGINEERS 

plans  to  keep  within  the  price  limits.  An  amphitheatri- 
cal  lecture  room  for  scientific  demonstration  was  also 
cut  out  for  structural  and  economic  reasons. 

The  Mechanical  Engineers'  floor  on  the  eleventh 
story  is  arranged  so  as  to  offer  first  a  foyer  or  reception 
room.  This  opens  directly  from  the  three  elevator  exits, 
and  is  furnished  with  sofas,  chairs  and  tables  and  a 
representative  of  the  Society  receives  all  comers, 
whether  members  or  business  callers  or  those  making  in- 
quiries. 

Opening  from  this  foyer  are  three  exits.  One  admits 
to  the  Council  or  Committee  room,  with  central  table  and 
directors'  chairs,  and  decorated  with  oil  portraits.  The 
second  admits  to  a  general  members '  reception  and  read- 
ing and  waiting  room,  opening  into  the  Council  room 
on  the  west  and  into  the  Secretary's  room  toward  the 
east  by  wide  sliding  doors.  A  center  table  has  periodicals 
and  other  reading  matter,  while  around  the  walls  are  low 
bookcases  and  shelves  with  bound  Transactions.  On 
the  screen  of  the  wall  are  photogravure  portraits  of  the 
Past-Presidents  of  the  Society. 

The  Secretary's  room  has  his  table-desk  and  the 
handsome  roll-top  desk  given  by  the  estate  of  the  late 
Edwin  Reynolds,  a  gift  to  him  on  his  seventieth  birth- 
day. This  desk  is  used  by  the  Honorary  Secretary  as 
his  privilege,  which  he  always  shares  also  with  the  Presi- 
dent of  the  Society  for  his  term,  should  he  desire  to  use 
an  office  fixture.  The  walls  are  made  interesting  by 
photogravures  of  the  Honorary  Members  of  the  Society. 

Beyond  and  behind  the  Secretary's  room  is  the  office 
of  the  Assistant  Secretary  and  Editor,  and  executive  as- 
sistants. In  the  southeast  corner  with  windows  on  both 
sides  is  the  clerical  office,  and  going  northward,  come  a 
committee  room,  the  accounting  department  and  the 
shipping  office,  adjoining  the  freight  elevator  at  the 
northeast.  On  the  north  side  are  the  editorial  rooms, 
store  rooms  and  the  fireproof  vault.  The  lavatories  are  in 
the  northwest  corner  of  each  floor  adjoining  the  stairways 
which  latter  are  in  a  tower  construction  within  the  build- 


A  HISTORY  OP  THE  SOCIETY 


193 


o 


194     THE  AMEEICAN  SOCIETY  OF  MECHANICAL  ENGINEERS 

ing  and  isolated  from  elevators  and  the  rest  of  the  floor 
by  structural  walls.  The  entrance  foyer  is  decorated 
by  the  Thurston  Memorial  bronze  and  richly  illuminated 
addresses  from  other  societies.  The  third  exit  leads  to 
the  hallway  on  which  are  located  the  business  offices  of 
departments.  The  foyer  has  also  the  beautiful  chiming 
clock  given  by  friends  to  Mr.  and  Mrs.  John  Fritz  on  his 
eightieth  birthday  and  left  to  the  Society  in  his  will. 

So  much  of  expert  knowledge  as  to  the  probable  re- 
quirements of  such  a  building  went  into  its  planning  and 
arrangement,  so  much  care  and  time  were  taken  in  re- 
vision and  study,  and  so  admirably  did  the  architect  co- 
operate with  the  future  users,  that  the  building  is 
singularly  perfect  for  its  purposes  and  uses.  Its  style 
is  severely  classic  and  its  arrangement  so  flexibly  adapt- 
able, that  no  considerable  structural  change  has  been 
even  desired.  The  growth  of  the  interests  which  center 
in  the  building  may  ultimately  call  for  an  additional  floor, 
but  this  seems  many  years  away.  If  the  philosophy  of 
unifying  divergent  interests  and  bringing  them  into  co- 
operation be  accepted  as  the  wise  policy  for  the  future  of 
engineering,  then  no  change  from  the  existent  me- 
chanical or  physical  environment  of  the  Society  will  be 
called  for.  The  balance  of  advantages  seems  to  lie  on  the 
side  of  the  cooperative  and  unified  center  of  activity, 
rather  than  on  that  of  the  separate  home  and  subdivision 
of  such  centers.  While  this  principle  holds,  and  it  seems 
to  be  sound  in  the  opening  decades  of  the  twentieth 
century,  the  Engineering  Building  will  stand  as  a  monu- 
ment to  its  wise  donor,  and  a  splendid  factor  in  the  pro- 
gress, development  and  usefulness  of  The  American  So- 
ciety of  Mechanical  Engineers.  Chapter  XV  will  treat 
of  the  significance  of  the  building  as  respects  the  develop- 
ment of  the  idea  of  a  Library. 


CHAPTEE  Xn 

The  Meetings  of  the  Society  and  What  Has  Made 
Them  Memorable 

Meetings  of  an  engineering  and  scientific  society  may 
be  made  memorable  in  a  wide  range  of  ways.  Among 
these  are : 

(a)  Action  taken  by  the  Society  thereat,  or  referred 
to  the  governing  body  to  consider  and  with  power  to  act 

(b)  Papers  and  topics  presented  and  discussed,  in 
which  new  discoveries  or  notable  improvements  were 
made  public 

(c)  The  presence  of  distinguished  personalities  and 
the  privilege  of  hearing  and  meeting  them 

(d)  The  opportunity  to  visit  and  study  engineering 
achievement  in  structure  or  plant  or  process 

(e)  The  surroundings,  scenic,  historic  or  having  other 
charm ;  the  contribution  of  the  weather 

(/)  The  social  opportunity,  the  meeting  of  old  friends, 
the  making  of  new;  the  good  fellowship,  the  memorable 
story,  the  jest 

ig)  The  fact  that  all,  or  some  at  least',  were  doing 
something  for  the  first  time,  so  that  the  experience  of  the 
day  was  a  unique  one  and  not  like  other  days 

(h)  The  pleasure  in  a  stolen  vacation  of  a  few  days, 
when  the  harness  was  thrown  off,  burdens  left  where  they 
fell  and  the  member  let  loose  from  the  schoolroom  for  a 
recess 

Many  of  these  must  necessarily  be  individual,  and 
therefore  different  for  every  meeting.  It  will  be  impos- 
sible to  give  weight  to  them  therefore  in  a  general  review. 
The  philosophy  of  adjusting  the  universal  factors  in  any 
convention  has  been  elsewhere  discussed;  and  meetings 
memorable  for  the  presence  of  distinguished  Presidents 

195 


196     THE  AMERICAN  SOCIETY  OF  MECHANICAL  ENGINEERS 

of  the  Society  and  their  notable  addresses  have  been  cov- 
ered in  the  chapter  on  Past-Presidents  and  the  titles  of 
their  papers.  There  will  remain  therefore  only  the  other 
factors  to  be  reviewed  in  a  history  of  the  conventions. 

The  meetings  of  the  Society  in  its  first  third  of  a 
century  to  the  end  of  1914  have  numbered  seventy  as 
follows : 


Place 


New  York,  N.Y... 

Hoboken,  N.J 

New  York,  N.Y... 
Hartford,  Conn .  .  . . 

Altoona,  Pa 

New  York,  N.Y... 

Philadelphia,  Pa 

New  York,  N.Y... 

Cleveland,  O 

New  York,  N.  Y . . . 

Pittsburg,  Pa 

New  York,  N.Y... 
Atlantic  City,  N.  J . 

Boston,  Mass 

Chicago,  111 

New  York,  N.Y... 
Washington,  D.  C. . 

Philadelphia,  Pa 

Nashville,  Tenn 

Scran  ton.  Pa 

Erie,  Pa 

New  York,  N.Y... 

Cincinnati,  O 

Richmond,  Va 

Providence,  R.  I  — 
New  York;  N.Y... 
San  Francisco,  Cal. . 
New  York,  N.Y... 

Chicago,  111 

New  York,  N.Y... 
Montreal,  Canada . . 
New  York,  N.Y... 

Detroit,  Mich 

New  York,  N.Y... 

St.  Louis,  Mo 

New  York,  N.Y... 
Hartford,  Conn .  .  .  . 
New  York,  N.Y... 
Niagara  Falls,  N.  Y. 
New  York,  N.Y... 
Washington.  D.  C . . 
New  York,  N.Y... 


Date 


Feb.  16,  1880 

April?,  1880 

Nov.  4  to  5,  1880 

May  4  to  6,  1881 

Aug.  10  to  12,  1881 . . . 

Nov.  3  to  4,  1881 

AprU19to21,  1882... 

Nov.  1  to3,  1882 

June  12  to  14,  1883... 
Oct.  31  to  Nov.  3, 1883. 
May  20  to  23,  1884... 

Nov.  5  to  7,  1884 

May  26  to  29,  1885 .  . . 
Nov.  10  to  13,  1885... 
May  25  to  28,  1886 . . . 
Nov.  30  to  Dec.  3, 1886 
May  31  to  June  3, 1887 
Nov.  28  to  Dec.  1,1887 
May  8  to  12,  1888... 
Oct.  15  to  18,  1888... 
May  14  to  17,  1889.. 
Nov.  18  to  22,  1889.. 
May  13  to  16,  1890.. 
Nov.  11  to  14,  1890. . 
June  16  to  19,  1891 . . 
Nov.  16  to  19,  1891.. 
May  16  to  19,  1892.. 
Nov.  29  to  Dec.  2, 1892 
July  31  to  Aug.  5,  1893 
Dec.  4  to  8,  1893 . . 
June  5  to  8,  1894.. 
Dec.  3  to  7,  1894 .  . 
June  25  to  28,  1895 
Dec.  2  to  6,  1895 .  . 
May  19  to  22,  1896 
Dec.  1  to  4,  1896 .  . 
May  25  to  28,  1897 
Nov.  30  to  Dec.  3, 1897 
May  31  to  June  3, 1898 
Nov.  29  to  Dec.  2, 1898 
May  9  to  12,  1899 
Dec.  5  to  8,  1899. 


No. 


A 

B 

1 

2 

3 

4 

6 

6 

7 

8 

9 

10 

11 

12 

13 

14 

15 

16 

17 

18 

19 

20 

21 

22 

23 

24 

25 

26 

27 

28 

29 

30 

31 

32 

33 

34 

35 

36 

37 

38 

39 

40 


Class  of 
Mektino 


Preliminary . 
Organization 
1st  Annual. . 
Regular.  .  .  . 
Regular.  .  .  . 
2nd  Annual. 
Regular .... 
3d  Annual.  . 
Regular.  .  .  . 
4th  Annual .  . 
Regular.  .  .  . 
5th  Annual .  . 
Regular.  ... 
6th  Annual .  . 
Regular.  .  .  . 
7th  Annual .  . 
Regular.  .  .  . 
8th  Annual .  . 
Regular.  ... 
9th  Annual .  . 
Regular.  ... 
10th  Annual . 
Regular .... 
11th  Annual. 
Regular.  ... 
12th  Annual . 
Regular.  ... 
13th  Annual. 
Regular.  .  .  . 
14th  Annual . 
Regular.  ... 
15th  Annual . 
Regular.  ... 
16th  Annual. 
Regular.  ... 
17th  Annual. 
Regular.  ... 
18th  Annual . 

Regular 

19th  Annual. 
Regular.  .  .  .  , 
20th  Annual . 


Membebs 
Present 


84 

36 

37 

65 

96 

58 

77 

131 

93 

129 

71 

130 

121 

192 

117 

216 

58 

124 

83 

249 

164 

126 

279 

298 

54 

294 

283 

268 

133 

383 

132 

346 

92 

391 

205 

378 

137 

351 

274 

469 


A  HISTOEY  OF  THE  SOCIETY 


197 


Place 

Date 

No. 

Class  of 

Meeting 

Members 
Present 

Cincinnati,  0 

May  15  to  18,  1900... 

41 

Regular 

144 

New  York,  N.Y... 

Dec.  4  to  7,  1900 

42 

21st  Annual 

467 

Milwaukee,  Wis. . . . 

May  28  to  31,  1901... 

43 

Regular 

156 

New  York,  N.Y... 

Dec.  3  to  6,  1901 

44 

22d  Annual 

519 

Boston,  Mass 

May  27  to  30,  1902... 

45 

Regular 

375 

New  York,  N.Y... 

Dec.  2  to  5,  1902 

46 

23d  Annual 

474 

Saratoga,  N.Y 

June  23  to  26,  1903... 

47 

Regular 

315 

New  York,  N.Y... 

Dec.  1  to4,  1903 

48 

24th  Annual .... 

538 

Chicago,  111 

May  31  to  June  4, 1904 

49 

Regular 

350 

New  York,  N.Y... 

Dec.  6  to  9,  1904 

50 

25th  Annual .... 

542 

Scranton,  Pa 

June  6  to  9,  1905 

51 

Regular 

121 

New  York,  N.Y... 

Dec.  5  to  8,  1905 

52 

26th  Annual .... 

700 

Chattanooga,  Term. 

May  1  to  4,  1906 

53 

Regular 

212 

New  York,  N.Y... 

Dec.  4  to  7,  1906 

64 

27th  Annual .... 

735 

Indianapolis,  Ind . .  . 

May  28  to  31,  1907... 

55 

Regular 

296 

New  York,  N.Y... 

Dec.  3  to  6,  1907 

56 

28th  Annual 

699 

Detroit,  Mich 

June  23  to  26,  1908..  . 

57 

Regular 

269 

New  York,  N.Y... 

Dec.  1  to  4,  1908 

58 

29th  Annual .... 

738 

Washington,  D.C.. 

May  4  to  7,  1909 

59 

Regular 

276 

New  York,  N.Y... 

Dec.  7  to  10,  1909 .... 

60 

30th  Annual 

628 

Atlantic  City,  N.  J. 

May  31  to  June  3, 1910 

61 

Regular 

135 

New  York,  N.Y... 

Dec.  6  to  9,  1910 

62 

31st  Annual 

633 

Pittsburg,  Pa 

May30to  June2, 1911 

63 

Regular 

32d  Annual 

305 

New  York,  N.Y... 

Dec.  5  to  8,  1911 

64 

687 

Cleveland,  0 

May  28  to  31,  1912... 

65 

Regular 

221 

New  York,  N.Y... 

Dec.  3  to  6,  1912 

66 

33d  Annual 

562 

Baltimore,  Md 

May  20  to  23,  1913... 

67 

Regular 

142 

New  York,  N.Y... 

Dec.  2  to  5,  1913 

68 

34th  Annual .... 

778 

St.Paul-Minneapolis 

June  16  to  19,  1914... 

69 

Regular 

200 

New  York,  N.Y.  .. 

Dec.  1  to  4,  1914 

70 

35th  Annual .... 

821 

The  review  and  comment  on  what  signalized  each 
meeting  will  be  made  by  the  number  of  the  meeting  in 
Column  3,  without  distinguishing  the  Annual  or  Winter 
Meetings  from  the  Semi- Annual  or  Spring  Conventions. 
Some  meetings  of  course  have  had  little  to  distinguish 
them  outside  of  the  pleasure  of  their  participants. 

No.  A  on  February  16, 1880,  was  of  course  unique  and 
memorable  for  its  potencies  for  the  future.  A.  L.  HoUey 
made  his  noteworthy  address ;  John  E.  Sweet  and  H.  R. 
Worthington  and  the  others  present  saw  the  realization 
of  their  dreams. 

No.  B  on  April  7,  1880,  saw  the  results  of  that  early 
planning,  the  election  of  the  first  set  of  officers,  the  formal 
launching  of  the  Society.    There  were  no  papers. 

No.  1  in  November  1880,  was  held  in  the  theater  of 


198     THE  AMERICAN  SOCIETY  OP  MECHANICAL  ENGINEERS 

the  Union  League  Club,  later  the  building  of  the  New 
York  Turf  Club,  on  Madison  Square  and  East  26th 
Street.  It  was  the  first  meeting  for  the  reading  of  papers 
and  to  receive  reports  of  action  taken  in  Council  on  in- 
signia and  other  administrative  detail.  There  were  no 
excursions.  The  papers  of  moment  were  those  by  Pro- 
fessor Sweet,  J.  C.  Hoadley  and  Coleman  Sellers  on  the 
Metric  System.  This  led  to  a  letter  ballot  expressing  a 
sentiment  adverse  to  the  use  of  metric  units  of  length  in 
machine  shop  practice.    The  membership  was  then  189. 

No.  2,  the  first  Semi- Annual  or  Spring  Meeting.  The 
City  of  Hartford  gave  the  Council  Chamber  in  the  City 
Hall  for  the  meetings  and  excursions  were  organized. 
Mr.  Leavitt's  paper  on  The  Superior,  and  the  discussions 
on  Economical  Point  of  Cut-Off,  together  with  Mr. 
Emery's  Tests  on  non-conductors,  were  the  notable 
papers.  The  Society  held  its  first  banquet  at  this  meeting 
and  A.  L.  Holley  made  that  speech  so  well  remembered 
and  so  often  quoted  on  the  Inadequate  Union  of  Science 
and  Art,  which  he  filled  with  personal  reminiscences  of 
running  a  locomotive  between  Providence  and  New  Lon- 
don which  had  Corliss  valve  gear  with  a  wilderness  of 
jam-nuts  to  shake  loose  and  drop  off,  and  yet  whose  in- 
dicator card  was  an  object  to  adore.  Other  speakers 
were  James  C.  Bayles  and  Thomas  Egleston. 

No.  3,  at  Altoona  in  August,  was  held  pursuant  to  the 
practice  of  the  Mining  Engineers  to  hold  three  meetings 
a  year,  one  of  which  was  supposed  to  fall  in  vacation  in 
midsummer.  No  other  similarly  timed  meeting  was  ever 
held.  Amendments  to  rules  concerning  handling  of 
papers  took  much  time. 

No.  4,  was  held  in  the  Union  League  theater,  now  that 
of  the  Turf  Club.  Professor  Thurston  presided  for  the 
second  time  at  an  Annual  Meeting  and  reported  action 
completed  on  diploma,  insignia  and  the  procedure  of 
incorporation  under  way.  Mr.  Lycurgus  B.  Moore  in- 
sisted on  withdrawing  as  Treasurer.  Invitations  to  visit 
plants  in  and  near  the  city  were  received  but  no  organ- 


i 


A  HISTORY  OF  THE  SOCIETY  19» 

ized  excursions  were  made.  Mr.  David  Williams  enter- 
tained the  Society  in  a  reception  at  his  home. 

No.  5,  the  first  Philadelphia  Meeting,  held  in  the  hall 
of  the  Franklin  Institute  and  signalized  by  the  first  great 
reception  to  the  Society.  It  was  held  in  the  galleries  of 
the  Academy  of  Fine  Arts.  It  was  regarded  both  as  a 
high  personal  honor  that  such  a  place  should  be  tendered 
for  the  holding  of  a  reception  by  so  representative  a 
committee  as  one  including  Messrs.  George  B.  Eoberts, 
A.  J.  Drexel,  George  W.  Childs,  George  H.  Baker,  Dr. 
William  Pepper  and  Prof.  Fairman  Rogers ;  but  also  that 
it  was  an  evidence  of  a  mark  of  the  esteem  in  which  the 
citizens  of  Philadelphia  held  the  profession  of  mechanical 
engineering.  Other  distinguished  receptions  have  been 
held  since,  such  as  that  in  the  Boston  Museum  of  Fine 
Arts  and  the  Corcoran  Gallery  in  Washington;  but  this 
was  the  distinguishing  first  event  and  noteworthy  ac- 
cordingly. This  meeting  was  signalized  also  by  Mr.  J. 
C.  Bayles's  splendid  tribute  to  A.  L.  Holley.  Mr.  Cole- 
man Sellers  made  the  banquet  to  be  remembered  by  his 
very  clever  tricks  with  cards. 

No.  6.  There  was  no  later  Spring  or  Mid-summer 
Meeting  for  a  series  of  reasons,  related  perhaps  some- 
what to  an  indifference  of  the  Secretary  to  the  necessary 
labor,  and  to  the  assumption  that  no  meeting  was  ex- 
pected to  intervene  before  the  joint  meeting  to  honor  Mr. 
A.  L.  Holley,  at  which  Dr.  Rossiter  W.  Raymond  was  to 
be  the  orator  by  invitation.  This  memorial  session  was 
made  a  feature  of  the  third  Annual  Meeting  in  November 
1882,  and  one  entire  session  was  devoted  to  it.  The 
gifted  speaker  was  in  his  best  vein,  and  his  tribute  is  a 
part  of  the  Holley  Memorial  volume.  A  fund  for  the 
erection  of  a  bronze  memorial  bust  of  Mr.  Holley  was 
being  collected  and  this  was  later  erected  in  Washington 
Park.  A  later  movement  in  1898  to  transfer  it  to  more  ap- 
propriate surroundings  on  the  campus  of  Columbia  Uni- 
versity, was  frustrated  by  the  legal  complications  as  to 
transfer  of  citj^  property  to  ground  which  it  did  not  own. 

Professor  Thurston  *s  second  term  as  President  came 


200     THE  AMERICAN  SOCIETY  OF  MECHANICAL  ENGINEERS 

to  an  end  with  the  banquet  in  the  theater  which  ended 
the  meeting.  This  was  also  the  time  of  Professor  Hut- 
ton's  maiden  effort  at  after-dinner  humor  in  response  to 
the  toast,  The  Survival  of  the  Fittest;  Do  the  Fittest 
Survive  ?  Mr.  James  C.  Bayles  prepared  the  list  of  topics 
and  assigned  the  parts.  Mr.  C.  J.  H.  Woodbury  spoke  on 
The  Mills  of  the  Gods.  The  pleasant  and  effective  im- 
pression made  by  his  speech  was  said  afterwards  to  have 
been  a  factor  in  securing  the  office  of  Secretary  for  Pro- 
fessor Hutton. 

No.  7,  held  at  Cleveland,  in  1883,  was  the  maiden  effort 
of  the  new  Secretary  after  his  election.  Mr.  J.  F.  Hollo- 
way  was  the  active  spirit  on  the  ground.  The  papers  of 
the  meeting  were  in  galley  proof  and  the  cuts  printed 
from  blocks  on  sheets  for  distribution.  The  banquet  was 
held  in  the  opera  house.  Mr.  Chas.  F.  Brush  had  his 
house  lighted  by  electricity  and  was  combining  windmill 
power  and  storage  batteries,  a  decided  novelty.  Organ- 
ized excursions  of  the  Society  as  a  whole  were  also 
features  of  the  program.  The  running  gear  and  track 
for  the  observatory  dome  for  the  University  of  Virginia 
were  on  exhibition  at  Warner  and  Swasey's.  The 
Cuyahoga  Works,  where  big  work  was  ingeniously  done 
with  small  machine  tools,  making  the  work  fast  and 
moving  the  tool  against  it,  interested  the  party ;  here  also 
Thos.  D.  West  was  casting  flywheels  in  the  foundry  true 
enough  to  run  unfinished  as  to  the  rim,  if  need  be.  The 
Otis  Steel  Works,  with  S.  T.  Wellman  as  its  engineer, 
were  still  forging  iron  axles  with  steam  operated  tilt 
hammers ;  and  the  Society  visited  also  the  old  steel  works 
at  Newburgh.  There  were  no  motor  vehicle  shops  in  the 
Cleveland  of  that  day. 

No.  8,  held  in  New  York  in  1883,  was  held  by  invita- 
tion in  the  parlors  of  the  American  Society  of  Civil  En- 
gineers, at  127  East  23rd  Street.  The  precedent  was  not 
then  created  of  a  presidential  address,  and  Mr.  Leavitt 
made  none.  The  effort  to  re-establish  the  former  govern- 
mental commission  for  the  testing  of  materials  was  a 
large  part  of  the  Society's  ambition  at  that  time  outside 


A  HISTORY  OP  THE  SOCIETY  201 

of  its  own  intramural  interests,  and  Prof.  Thomas  Egle- 
ston  and  his  colleagues  worked  assiduously  for  it,  but  to 
no  effect.  Organized  excursions  were  made  over  the  road 
of  the  new,  and  as  yet  unused,  line  of  the  West  Shore 
Railway  and  to  the  works  of  the  Yale  and  Towne  Com- 
pany at  Stamford.  The  Ordway- Woodbury  papers  on 
Non-Conducting  Coverings  for  Steam  Piping  also  signal- 
ized this  meeting. 

No.  9.  The  meetings  in  Cleveland  and  this  one  in 
Pittsburg  in  1884,  had  practically  fixed  the  standard  of 
what  an  acceptable  meeting  should  be  to  meet  the  new 
Secretary's  ideals  and  their  general  policy  has  not  been 
notably  altered  in  all  the  years.  The  Society  was  here 
the  guest  of  the  Engineers  Society  of  Western  Pennsyl- 
vania, and  sat  with  them  in  a  joint  session  on  Natural 
Gas.  The  experiment  of  holding  a  session  for  papers  on 
the  boat  during  a  sail  on  the  Monongahela  River  was  not 
a  success  from  a  secretarial  point  of  view,  the  distractions 
militating  against  earnestness  in  debate.  The  theft  of 
some  indicators  belonging  to  Mr.  Barrus  and  exhibited  in 
connection  with  his  paper  did  not  relieve  the  gloom  of 
this  judgment.  The  advocacy  by  Prof.  W.  A.  Rogers  of 
the  microscope  in  measuring  lengths  and  pitches  of 
screws  had  already  been  made  familiar  by  Mr.  George 
M.  Bond's  comparator  for  gages  and  fine  measurement. 

No.  10,  New  York,  1884,  was  the  first  meeting  held  in 
the  auditorium  at  12  West  31st  Street,  while  it  was  still 
owned  by  the  New  York  Academy  of  Medicine.  It  was  the 
first  since  Thurston  at  which  a  presidential  address  was 
delivered  by  direction  and  request  of  the  Council,  and 
created  the  precedent  followed  ever  since.  Mr.  Horatio 
Allen,  Honorary  Member,  who  had  driven  the  first  haul- 
ing locomotive  on  the  American  continent  in  1830,  was 
present  and  invited  to  sit  on  the  platform.  The  move- 
ment to  start  a  library  began  with  this  meeting  and  the 
purpose  to  create  uniform  standards  in  methods  of  Test- 
ing Materials  and  particularly  in  shapes  of  test  speci- 
mens, which  occupied  much  thought  and  great  labor  by 
the  late  Gus  C.  Henning,  first  took  shape  at  this  time. 


202     THE  AMERICAN  SOCIETY  OF  MECHANICAL  ENGINEERS 

The  Society  was  urged  to  do  something  to  correct  abuses 
and  embarrassments  in  the  United  States  Patent  Office. 
Excursions  by  rail  to  Paterson  and  its  locomotive  works 
and  rolling  mills,  and  to  the  Stevens  Institute  of  Tech- 
nology were  features  of  the  excursion  days.  This  year 
also,  as  for  two  years  preceding,  the  members  were  guests 
of  the  American  Institute  at  its  annual  fair.  Diirfee's 
historical  paper  signalized  this  meeting  and  Woodbury 
and  Ordway  gave  valuable  contributions. 

No.  11.  The  Atlantic  City  Meeting  in  1885  was  the 
first  experiment  with  a  purely  resort  atmosphere,  or  a 
reunion  in  a  place  having  no  engineering  establishments 
to  visit.  It  was  intended  to  emphasize  the  purely  social 
aspect,  on  one  hand  and  to  secure  discussion  of  papers 
without  distractions,  on  the  other.  Fish  food  was  also  a 
lure  for  dwellers  inland  and  distant  from  the  sea.  The 
consensus  of  opinion  at  that  time  was  not  favorable  to 
the  idea.  Atlantic  City  was  not  what  it  has  since  grown 
to  be ;  the  fish  banquet  was  poorly  served  and  the  speeches 
tedious  and  disappointing.  Mr.  Holloway  was  an  ideal 
presiding  officer ;  and  the  Society  then  adopted,  after  pro- 
longed discussion,  its  policy  of  recommending  standards 
reported  by  a  committee  of  experts,  but  not  adopting  them 
by  vote  or  other  official  action.  Mr.  Kent  led  in  the  debate 
over  this  policy,  which  has  prevailed  ever  since  and  which 
later  became  part  of  the  organic  law  of  the  Society. 

The  Society  had  its  first  heavy  and  earnest  discussion 
on  the  education  of  engineers  as  a  result  of  the  paper  by 
George  I.  Alden.  Mr.  Towne  presented  his  concept  of  a 
building  for  the  Society  to  house  its  library  jointly  with 
those  of  the  other  engineering  societies,  but  the  time  was 
not  ripe  for  the  germination  of  that  seed,  which  blos- 
somed only  after  eighteen  years  had  elapsed.  Atlantic 
City  was  signalized  also  by  the  first  presentation  of 
topics  for  discussion  without  a  paper  to  open  such  dis- 
cussion. They  were  presented  in  question  form  under  the 
title  of  Topical  Queries,  and  were  a  feature  of  meetings 
and  the  publications  for  many  years.    The  Society  also 


A  HISTORY  OF  THE  SOCIETY  203 

at  this  meeting  discovered  the  ability  of  Mr.  James  M. 
Dodge  as  a  raconteur  and  entertainer. 

No.  12,  at  Boston  in  1885,  saw  the  first  of  the  move- 
ment to  have  the  Annual  Meeting  swing  through  the  three 
big  sea  coast  cities  in  rotation.  Mr.  C.  J.  H.  Woodbury 
was  the  active  factor.  The  meeting  was  held  under  the 
auspices  of  the  Massachusetts  Institute  of  Technology, 
of  which  General  Francis  A.  Walker  was  the  gifted  and 
genial  president.  Visits  were  paid  by  boat  to  the  sewage 
pumping  engines,  recently  completed  by  E.  D.  Leavitt 
and  designed  as  to  their  delivery  and  inlet  valves  to  act 
on  solid  and  semi-solid  material  in  the  outflow;  and  by 
rail  to  Lawrence  and  its  mills.  It  was  on  this  train  that 
the  first  digest  of  rules  for  debate  was  tentatively 
formed  by  Mr.  Henry  R.  Towne  and  the  Secretary.  The 
banquet  was  tendered  by  the  City  of  Boston  and  its  slow- 
moving  speech  delayed  the  evening  session  beyond  all 
reason.  The  Secretary's  apology  and  explanation  was 
silently  given  by  drawing  on  the  blackboard  a  tombstone 
which  bore  the  epitaph :  *  *  This  man  was  talked  to  death. ' ' 

No.  13,  in  Chicago  in  1896,  was  the  first  to  try  out 
the  rules  for  control  of  debate,  based  on  the  principle 
that  all  papers  should  be  put  into  print  and  placed  in 
the  members'  hands  and  that  they  be  read  by  them  in 
advance  of  the  session.  Also  that  five,  or  at  most,  ten 
minutes  be  allotted  to  the  author  to  present  his  paper 
in  abstract,  and  that  written  discussion  have  preference 
over  viva  voce  talk,  five  or  ten  minutes  being  allotted  to 
each,  and  each  paper  have  an  allotted  space  and  time,  so 
that  no  prejudice  be  suffered  by  the  last  author  other  than 
an  inevitable  fatigue  of  the  audience  caused  by  an  ex- 
tended session.  Excursions  were  made  to  Pullman  and 
to  the  North  Chicago  Rolling  Mill. 

Mr.  Towne  presided  as  Vice-President  in  the  absence 
of  Mr.  Coleman  Sellers,  and  presented  his  now  historic 
paper  on  the  Engineer  as  a  Specialist  in  Economic  Prob- 
lems ;  Mr.  Wilfred  Lewis  gave  his  paper  on  Belting ;  Mr. 
Babcock  one  on  Substitutes  for  Steam.  At  the  banquet 
Mr.  Kent  made  his  startling  prophecy  that,  just  as  we 


204    THE  AMERICAN  SOCIETY  OF  MECHANICAL  ENGINEERS 

had  seen  at  the  steel  works  the  raw  material  entering 
the  blast  furnace  as  ore  and  flux,  and  thence  passing 
without  cooling  into  converter  and  rolling  mills  and 
coming  out  at  the  last  end  in  merchantable  form  without 
appearing  at  all  in  the  form  of  iron  known  as  * '  pig, ' '  so 
the  future  visitor  to  the  stockyards  of  Chicago  would 
see  corn  and  other  porcine  substance  entering  a  great 
hopper  at  one  end,  and  coming  out  at  the  farther  end  in 
all  forms  of  stockyard  product— bacon,  ham,  sausage  and 
lard — without  stopping  to  enter  or  tarry  in  the  wild  or 
domesticated  form  of  ''pig." 

No.  14,  in  New  York  1886,  Mr.  Towne  presiding  as 
Vice-President.  No  presidential  address.  Mr.  Part- 
ridge's paper  on  Capital's  Need  of  High-priced  Labor 
was  that  of  notable  interest  at  the  side  of  the  Eeuleaux 
paper  on  the  Friction  in  Gears. 

No.  15  was  the  first  Washington  Meeting.  The  many 
points  both  of  technical  and  administrative  interest  in 
the  capital  city  made  this  a  memorable  meeting.  The 
Baldwin  gift  of  Hoadley  apparatus  was  announced,  and 
the  Committee  on  Standard  Pipe-threads  reported.  The 
Society  went  in  a  body  to  Mount  Vernon,  and  lunched  al 
fresco  at  Marshall's  Hall  on  the  Maryland  side  of  the 
river.  The  reception  tendered  by  Hon.  Josiah  Dent  and 
his  son  Edward  L.  Dent  in  Georgetown,  was  a  delightful 
experience.  The  house  belonged  to  the  Colonial  period 
and  in  it  John  C.  Calhoun  entertained  General  Lafayette. 
Mr.  H.  Ashton  Kamsay,  who  had  been  engineer-in-chief 
on  the  armor-plated  Merrimac  of  the  Confederate  Navy, 
spoke  on  the  Needs  of  the  Navy.  Mr.  Kent  discussed 
Profit  Sharing. 

No.  16,  the  second  Philadelphia  Meeting  and  the  An- 
nual Meeting  of  1887,  was  signalized  by  the  excursion  to 
Bethlehem  and  its  new  armor-plate  plant,  by  the  usual 
courtesy  in  the  great  plants  of  the  city  and  suburbs,  and 
by  a  reception  in  the  Academy  of  Fine  Arts.  President 
Babcock  delivered  his  address. 

No.  17,  at  Nashville  in  early  May  1888,  signalized  the 
first  example  of  a  policy  of  holding  meetings  where  the 


PRESIDENT    1899 


THE   AMERICAN    SOCIETY  OF   MECHANICAL    ENGINEERS 


A  HISTORY  OF  THE  SOCIETY  205 

presence  of  the  engineers  would  be  serviceable  to  the 
development  of  the  industry  of  the  district.  The  me- 
chanical engineering  department  at  Vanderbilt  Uni- 
versity took  a  large  share  in  the  getting  up  of  the  meet- 
ing, and  the  Governor  of  the  State  and  the  Mayor  of 
the  City  did  their  share  in  welcoming  the  visitors.  The 
cornerstone  of  the  new  mechanical  engineering  building 
was  laid  with  appropriate  ceremony  and  with  addresses 
by  Mr.  Kent  and  Professor  Hutton.  The  trip  from  the 
coast  to  Nashville  was  made  in  special  cars — the  first 
step  in  a  long  series  of  this  kind — with  a  stop-over  at 
Cincinnati  where  the  party  was  received  by  the  members. 
Visits  were  made  to  Fisk  University  for  colored  men  and 
women,  and  to  Belle  Meade,  the  notable  stock  farm  and 
estate  of  that  region.  A  visit  to  Chattanooga  and  Look- 
out Mountain  closed  the  series  of  excursions.  Mr. 
Woodbury  presented  a  paper  on  Electric  Welding,  then 
a  novelty.    Mr.  Horace  See  presided. 

No.  18,  at  Scranton,  Pa.,  in  October  1888,  was  presided 
over  by  Vice-President  C.  J.  H.  Woodbury,  by  reason  of 
the  illness  of  President  Horace  See.  At  this  meeting  was 
read  the  invitation  to  the  Society  by  President  E.  N. 
Carbutt  of  the  Institution  of  Mechanical  Engineers  that 
The  American  Society  of  Mechanical  Engineers  be  their 
guests  in  a  probable  visit  to  England  and  Paris  in  1889 ; 
and  the  announcement  of  the  Alfred  B.  Couch  testa- 
mentary bequest  was  made.  The  meeting  was  signalized 
by  the  discussion  on  the  policy  of  holding  two  meetings 
each  year  or  only  one.  The  Society  decisively  expressed 
its  approval  of  the  existing  plan  of  a  Spring  and  a  Fall 
Convention.  The  Society  visited  Honesdale  where 
Horatio  Allen,  late  Honorary  Member,  had  run  the  first 
commercial  locomotive  on  this  continent  in  1830,  and  en- 
joyed a  run  over  the  gravity  lines  of  the  Delaware  and 

g.    Hudson  Railway. 

p  No.  19,  at  Erie  in  May  1889,  was  held  just  previous  to 
the  sailing  of  the  organized  party  for  England.  It  en- 
joyed its  privilege  of  a  visit  to  the  veteran  U.  S.  S.  Michi- 
gan with  its  old  engines.    Henry  R.  Towne  presided  and 


206     THE  AMERICAN  SOCIETY  OP  MECHANICAL  ENGINEERS 

gave  his  notable  paper  on  Gain  Sharing  as  preferable  to 
a  sharing  of  profits,  and  James  W.  See  presented  his 
paper  on  Standards. 

No.  20,  in  New  York  in  1889,  was  memorable  for  the 
report  of  the  courtesies  enjoyed  in  England  and  France, 
and  for  the  first  proposition  of  a  society  of  engineers  to 
be  largely  representative  of  American  engineering  and 
include  all  its  specializations.  It  was  the  last  New  York 
Meeting  held  in  a  rented  auditorium  for  many  years,  for 
thereafter  the  Society  owned  the  building  at  12  West  31st 
Street  in  the  rooms  of  which  it  had  been  holding  its  New 
York  Meetings  since  1884. 

No.  21,  in  Cincinnati  in  May  1890,  is  memorable  to  the 
then  Secretary  of  the  Society  as  being  the  one  meeting 
during  his  term  of  23  years  which  he  was  not  able  to 
attend,  by  reason  of  sickness  in  his  home.  The  Com- 
mittee to  memorialize  the  Congress  of  the  United  States 
with  respect  to  a  suitable  memorial  for  the  late  Captain 
John  Ericsson,  member  of  the  Society,  who  had  done  so 
much  in  the  years  1861-1865  and  at  other  times,  reported 
its  recommendations. 

No.  22  was  held  in  Richmond,  Va.,  in  November 
1890,  with  a  view  to  bringing  into  the  city  of  the  old 
aristocracy  of  the  South  a  knowledge  of  the  men 
and  personalities  who  were  energizing  its  new  industrial 
upbuilding.  Mr.  E.  F.  C.  Davis,  as  the  master  mind  in 
the  details  of  the  meeting,  had  some  amusing  misunder- 
standings as  to  the  type  of  cultured  gentlemen  who  made 
up  the  Society,  and  enjoyed  the  pleasant  surprise  of  a 
social  leader  when  introductions  were  effected  to  some  of 
the  leading  spirits.  A  visit  to  the  points  of  historic  in- 
terest in  the  city  was  an  experience  to  be  remembered. 
This  was  the  first  Annual  Meeting  after  the  Society  be- 
came through  its  Library  Association  the  owner  of  its 
home  in  31st  Street. 

No.  23,  in  Providence,  R.  I.,  in  June  1891,  was  most 
enjoyable  socially  and  all  the  New  England  members  were 
able  to  reach  it.  The  Society  enjoyed  an  excursion  on 
the  bay  and  on  its  way  to  a  clam  bake  saw  the  Herreshoff 


A  HISTORY  OP  THE  SOCIETY  207 

yacht,  Stiletto,  weave  circles  all  round  the  paddle-steamer 
carrying  the  party.  Mr.  Halsey's  paper  on  a  Premium 
Plan  for  Paying  for  Labor  was  presented  at  this  meeting. 

No.  24,  in  New  York,  1891,  was  the  first  Annual  Meet- 
ing of  the  Society  in  its  own  home,  and  was  memorable 
as  the  time  at  which  the  low  dues  of  the  previous  decade 
were  increased  by  $5  in  each  grade,  to  the  greatly  in- 
creased effectiveness  and  opportunity  of  the  Society.  Mr. 
Robert  W.  Hunt  presided  with  great  tact  and  skill  in  the 
delicate  presentation  and  unanimous  discussion  and  vote. 

No.  25,  in  San  Francisco,  was  memorable  as  the  first 
Pacific  Coast  meeting.  The  members  made  up  a  special 
train  load  under  a  competent  salaried  guide,  and  were 
taken  to  points  of  scenic  interest  while  on  the  journey 
across  the  continent.  Cable  railway  engineering  on  the 
hills  of  the  city  was  new  to  the  easterners,  and  the  beauty 
of  California  in  May  will  never  be  forgotten.  The  Tech- 
nical Society  of  the  Pacific  Coast  were  the  hosts  of  the 
meeting,  and  many  most  enjoyable  visits  were  made.  Mr. 
Stahl's  paper  on  Utilization  of  the  Energy  in  Ocean 
Waves,  was  a  notable  paper. 

No.  26,  the  thirteenth  Annual  Meeting  in  New  York 
in  1892,  was  signalized  by  the  movement  to  create  a 
standard  American  engineer's  gage  for  the  thickness  of 
metals,  whose  numbers  should  be  the  thicknesses  in  thou- 
sandths of  an  inch.  Mr.  Thomas  F.  Rowland,  builder  of 
the  Ericsson  Monitor,  was  present  at  one  of  the  sessions 
and  received  the  compliment  of  a  reception  by  rising. 
This  meeting  received  a  report  from  a  strong  committee 
on  the  methods  to  be  followed  at  the  approaching  Co- 
lumbian World's  Fair  if  any  physical  or  mechanical  tests 
should  then  be  conducted  upon  any  apparatus  exhibited. 
Papers  on  the  Stresses  in  Flywheel  Rims  began  to  appear 
at  this  meeting. 

No.  27  was  the  session  of  the  Mechanical  Section  of 
the  World's  Engineering  Congress  of  that  year,  and  will 
be  referred  to  in  detail  in  another  chapter.  It  was 
marked  by  the  inclusion  of  all  the  sections  in  special 
courtesies  secured  by  and  through  the  Society  for  its 


208     THE  AMERICAN  SOCIETY  OF  MECHANICAL  ENGINEERS 

members.  Mr.  H.  F.  J.  Porter  of  the  motive  power  di- 
vision was  particularly  effective  in  this  matter.  The 
meetings  were  in  the  Memorial  Art  Palace  in  pleasing 
proximity  to  the  noise  of  the  exhaust  of  locomotives  on 
the  Illinois  Central  tracks. 

No.  28,  in  New  York  1893,  received  the  report  of  the 
special  activities  at  the  World's  Fair  in  Chicago  and  par- 
ticularly of  the  return  courtesies  to  the  members  of  the 
French  Society  of  Civil  Engineers  in  September,  to  be 
elsewhere  referred  to.  Portraits  of  Joseph  Harrison  and 
of  Francis  Eeuleaux  and  a  model  of  Ericsson's  Monitor 
were  acknowledged. 

No.  29  was  signalized  as  the  first  meeting  outside  of 
the  boundaries  of  the  United  States,  being  held  at 
Montreal,  Canada,  in  1894.  Mr.  Coxe  presented  a 
notable  paper  on  Technical  Education.  The  Society 
was  made  the  guest  of  McGill  University,  and  Sir 
Donald  A.  L.  Smith  entertained  the  members  and  their 
ladies  at  his  beautiful  home. 

No.  30,  in  New  York  in  1894,  had  no  presidential  ad- 
dress as  Mr.  Coxe  was  serving  his  second  term  as  presi- 
dent. Mr.  Keep 's  papers  on  Tests  of  Cast  Iron  began  at 
this  meeting. 

No.  31,  at  Detroit  in  1895,  was  the  only  meeting  at 
which  Mr.  E.  F.  C.  Davis  presided.  He  lost  his  life  in 
the  late  summer  in  an  accident  while  riding  his  horse. 
Mr.  Taylor's  first  piece-rate  paper  was  presented  at  this 
meeting,  and  Mr.  Keep  continued  the  report  of  his  re- 
searches. 

No.  32,  in  New  York  in  1895,  was  saddened  by  the 
recent  death  of  President  E.  F.  C.  Davis. 

No.  33,  in  St.  Louis  in  1896,  was  a  swing  of  the  loca- 
tion of  the  place  of  meeting  to  the  Mississippi  Valley. 

No.  34,  in  New  York  in  1896,  was  made  memorable 
by  President  John  Fritz's  paper  on  the  Progress  in  the 
Manufacture  of  Iron  and  Steel,  and  was  illustrated  by  a 
drawing  of  a  full-size  gun-ingot  in  its  lathe.  The  draw- 
ing was  too  big  to  go  on  the  end  wall  of  the  room.  A 
memorial  session  was  also  held  to  record  the  feelings  of 


A  HISTORY  OP  THE  SOCIETY  209 

the  members   on   the    death   of   Past-President   J.   F. 
Holloway. 

No.  35,  in  1897,  was  a  second  meeting  at  Hartford. 
The  excursions  were  made  successful  by  dividing  the 
party  into  three  groups. 

No.  36,  in  New  York  in  1897,  was  signalized  by  the 
gift  of  an  oil  portrait  of  Robert  Fulton,  stated  to  have 
been  painted  by  himself. 

No.  37,  at  Niagara  Falls  in  1898,  was  interesting  by 
reason  of  the  experiment  then  tried,  of  operating  a  con- 
vention without  a  local  committee  or  any  local  subscrip- 
tion of  funds  to  meet  entertainment  expenses.  Each 
member  paid  for  himself  and  for  any  guest  whom  he 
might  have.  This  was  done  by  a  series  of  tickets  pur- 
chasable at  headquarters  and  securing  for  the  member 
any  excursion  opportunities  which  he  might  select.  The 
reception  and  dance  was  similarly  financed  and  the  plan 
worked  well.  Mr.  Emile  Geyelin,  the  veteran  designer  of 
turbines,  was  a  guest  of  the  Society. 

No.  38,  in  New  York  in  1898,  was  in  charge  of  Presi- 
dent Chas.  "Wallace  Hunt  and  was  signalized  by  visits 
to  the  great  power  plants  of  the  City,  and  by  the  gift  to 
the  Society  of  an  oil  portrait  of  John  Fritz. 

No.  39,  in  Washington  in  the  Spring  of  1899,  was 
memorable  for  its  size  and  the  pleasure  which  it  gave 
to  all  present.  The  excursion  to  Mt.  Vernon  was  the 
occasion  for  the  planting  of  a  memorial  oak  tree.  The 
reception  was  held  in  the  new  building  of  the  Corcoran 
Art  Gallery  and  the  Marine  Band  made  the  music  most 
enjoyable.  Mrs.  George  Westinghouse  helped  Rear- 
Admiral  Melville  to  receive  his  guests,  and  a  splendid 
reception  was  also  tendered  by  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Westing- 
house.  Many  notables  of  Washington  were  present. 
President  McKinley  was  unable  to  receive  the  Society, 
but  the  members  were  admitted  to  the  White  House. 

No.  40,  in  1899  in  New  York,  was  signalized  by  Presi- 
dent Melville's  address  on  Engineering  in  the  United 
States  Navy,  and  by  Mr.  Kerr's  paper  on  the  Engineer- 
ing of  the  New  South  Terminal  in  Boston.    Mr.  Higgins' 


210     THE  AMERICAN  SOCIETY  OF  MECHANICAL  ENGINEBBS 

paper  on  Education  of  Foremen,  Machinists  and  Engi- 
neers was  also  a  noteworthy  discussion. 

No.  41,  at  Cincinnati  in  1900,  was  the  second  meeting 
here,  and  was  marked  by  the  first  motor  vehicle  paper. 

No.  42,  in  New  York  in  1900,  had  a  paper  on  Early 
History  of  High-Speed  Engineering.  The  second  mort- 
gage on  the  house  of  the  Society  was  reported  cancelled 
and  paid.  This  meeting  was  signalized  by  a  session  at 
Columbia  University,  by  invitation  of  President  Low, 
then  in  office.  The  recently  built  mechanical  laboratories, 
on  a  scale  larger  than  their  predecessors,  were  objects 
of  interest.  Professor  Hutton,  the  Secretary  of  the 
Society,  had  been  the  creator  of  their  plans  and  secured 
the  equipment. 

No.  43,  in  Milwaukee,  was  signalized  by  a  number 
of  papers  discussing  the  exhibits  at  the  Exposition  in 
Paris  the  previous  year.  The  Societj^  visited  the  AUis 
plant,  of  which  Mr.  Edwin  Reynolds  was  the  engineer- 
ing authority.  The  Milwaukee  Meeting  brought  up  the 
question  a  little  later  of  the  organization  of  a  Milwaukee 
branch  or  section;  but  the  action  of  the  Council  in  re- 
stricting not  only  control  of  the  group  but  also  member- 
ship in  it  to  members  of  the  Society,  was  ill-conceived  and 
resulted  in  the  dropping  of  the  idea  in  that  form.  An 
amendment  was  offered  to  increase  members '  dues  from 
$15  to  $25. 

No.  44,  in  New  York  in  1901,  was  signalized  by  Mr. 
Gantt's  paper  on  a  Bonus  System  of  Rewarding  Labor, 
a  further  study  in  scientific  management  and  promotion 
of  efficiency  in  the  human  factors  of  production. 

There  had  been,  as  is  the  case  in  most  societies  of 
this  kind,  a  progressive  party  with  an  ambition  for  ex- 
pansion and  an  accompanying  tendency  for  expenses  to 
outrun  receipts,  and  it  was  found  that  under  this  policy 
the  Society's  affairs  had  become  somewhat  involved,  ex- 
penses per  annum  per  member  having  increased  ma- 
terially notwithstanding  the  growth  in  membership. 

The  remedy  proposed  for  this  state  of  affairs  was 


A  HISTORY  OP  THE  SOCIETY  211 

the  above-mentioned  increase  in  the  dues  from  $15  to  $25 
per  year. 

Its  proposal  brought  out  considerable  discussion  in 
the  interim  between  the  Milwaukee  and  the  subsequent 
Annual  Meeting,  with  the  result,  among  other  things, 
that  it  was  discovered  that  by  the  terms  of  the  law  under 
which  the  Society  was  incorporated,  members  were  given 
the  right  to  appoint  proxies.  Publication  of  this  fact  in 
the  American  Machinist  led  to  the  appointment  of  a  Com- 
mittee to  receive  such  proxies  and  to  the  overwhelming 
defeat  of  the  proposal  to  increase  the  dues  after  a  lengthy 
and  valuable  discussion. 

A  monument  to  Robert  Fulton  in  Trinity  Churchyard, 
New  York,  was  unveiled.  A  sermon  was  preached  by 
Robert  Fulton  Crary,  a  grandson  of  Robert  Fulton,  and 
a  technical  address  delivered  by  Rear- Admiral  Melville. 
Professor  Thurston  also  made  an  address.  A  full  choral 
service  was  held ;  and  appropriate  ceremony  observed  at 
the  monument.  The  veteran,  Chas.  H.  Haswell,  and  Engi- 
neer-in-Chief  Geo.  W.  Melville  were  present  at  the  un- 
veiling, as  shown  in  the  interesting  photograph. 

No.  45  is  interesting  by  reason  of  the  presence  of 
notable  engineers  at  its  sessions.  The  photograph  shows 
the  Council  meeting  during  its  continuance.  Prof.  R.  H. 
Fernald  gave  papers  resulting  from  his  research  work 
on  the  internal-combustion  engine,  the  beginning  of 
much  valuable  later  work;  and  Mr.  Geo.  H.  Barrus  re- 
ported further  researches  on  non-conductors  of  heat  for 
steam  pipes  in  power  stations. 

No.  46,  in  New  York  1902,  marked  the  passage  of  the 
limit  of  capacity  of  the  society  auditorium  to  accom- 
modate the  members  coming  to  an  annual  meeting.  The 
opening  and  closing  sessions  were  held  in  the  house ;  the 
others  in  the  banquet  hall  of  the  Sturtevant  House,  then 
standing,  on  Broadway  between  28th  and  29th  Streets 
on  the  east  side.  Vice-President  Waitt  presided  in  Presi- 
dent Reynold's  absence. 

Certain  questions  of  internal  administration  and 
financial  policy  were  reported  at  this  meeting,  such  as 


212     THE  AMEEICAN  SOCIETY  OP  MECHANICAL  ENGINEERS 

the  fiscal  year,  the  reserve  fund,  and  the  recommendation 
for  a  rewriting  of  the  Rules.  New  books  of  account  in 
more  modern  dress  were  ordered  and  a  computation  pre- 
sented as  to  the  cost  and  return  per  member.  Valuable 
appendices  to  the  annual  report  of  the  Council  show 
analyses  which  were  most  helpful  in  deciding  questions 
then  under  advisement.  The  Committee  in  Boston  at  No. 
45  presented  some  questions  for  the  membership  to  vote 
on  that  the  committee  might  be  guided  by  the  answers  in 
their  later  work :  junior  dues,  life  membership  fee,  black- 
balls for  members,  membership  of  Past-Presidents  in 
the  Council,  quorum,  group  organizations  were  included 
in  this  list.  Mr.  Gus  C.  Henning  presented  a  very  com- 
plete proposition  to  organize  the  Society  into  sections,  or 
to  have  the  national  body  an  aggregation  of  such  units 
federated  together.  Mr.  Halsey's  paper  on  the  Use  of 
the  Metric  Unit  of  Length  created  much  discussion  in 
view  of  the  fact  that  a  bill  was  pending  in  Congress  to 
make  the  metric  unit  compulsory  upon  the  government 
departments  and  service,  and  therefore  to  compel  all 
civil  industries  dealing  with  the  government  to  introduce 
these  units  into  their  shops  and  drawing  rooms.  The  So- 
ciety visited  the  power  plants  of  the  Edison  Lighting 
Company,  the  Street  Railway  Company  and  the 
Elevated  Railway. 

No.  47,  in  Saratoga  in  June  1903  was  memorable  in 
three  ways.  First  the  Society  accepted  the  new  draft 
of  Constitution,  By-Laws  and  Rules  and  ordered  it  to 
the  routine  of  a  letter  ballot.  This  was  practically  its 
acceptance  in  the  form  submitted  by  the  committee.  The 
latter  had  sent  their  draft  in  tentative  form  to  all  the 
voters  in  advance  of  the  meeting,  asking  for  sugges- 
tions for  its  amendment,  and  a  few  had  been  received. 
This  was  a  great  step  taken  in  the  history  of  the  Society 
and  opened  new  doors  for  usefulness.  The  second  was 
the  formal  expression  of  the  Society,  so  far  as  80  per 
cent  of  those  voting  could  be  so  regarded,  against  com- 
pulsory adoption  of  the  metric  system  as  the  only  legal 
system  and  standard  in  the  United  States.    Third,  there 


The  i'uLTo.N  Memokial  in  Tkinitt  Churchyard,  1901 


The  Fulton  Medallion  on  the  Memorial  Monument 


The  Portrait  of  Egbert  Fulton,  Painted  by  Himself 
the  property  of  the  society 


A  HISTORY  OF  THE  SOCIETY  213 

was  the  formal  action  by  the  Society  as  a  whole,  confirm- 
ing Council  action,  as  to  accepting  the  gift  and  respon- 
sibility of  a  great  union  building  for  the  engineering 
societies,  as  contained  in  Mr.  Andrew  Carnegie's  prom- 
ise. The  meeting  was  also  unique  in  its  plan  of  going 
to  a  great  hotel  town  and  making  that  its  headquarters, 
visiting  the  manufacturing  interests  in  Schenectady  and 
Troy  by  excursion  therefrom.  Neither  of  these  latter 
places  offered  adequate  facilities  for  a  large  number. 
Eailway  conventions  were  also  in  town  with  exhibits  of 
interest  to  engineers.  The  young  college  graduate  engi- 
neers of  Schenectady  furnished  a  minstrel  and  musical 
evening  of  pleasant  memory. 

No.  48,  in  New  York  in  1903,  was  convened  for  some 
of  its  sessions  in  the  home  of  the  Society,  and  for  others 
in  the  Hall  of  the  Mendelssohn  Union  on  40th  Street  near 
Broadway.  Some  active  discussion  was  held  about  the 
methods  to  amend  the  Constitution.  Mr.  Dodge 's  notable 
paper  on  the  Money  Value  of  Technical  Training  was  a 
feature  of  this  meeting.  A  session  was  also  held  at 
Stevens  Institute  of  Technology,  and  included  a  prac- 
tical demonstration  of  the  operation  of  thermit  in  pro- 
ducing welds  and  mending  fractured  castings. 

No.  49,  in  Chicago  in  1904,  was  a  regularly  organized 
joint  meeting  of  the  Institution  of  Mechanical  Engineers 
of  Great  Britain  and  The  American  Society  of  Me- 
chanical Engineers.  Their  President,  Mr.  Hartley 
Wicksteed,  presided  alternately  with  Mr.  Ambrose 
Swasey ;  and  both  Mr.  Edgar  Worthington  of  the  British 
Institution  and  Prof.  F.  R.  Hutton  of  the  American  So- 
ciety were  on  the  platform  at  all  times.  Papers  were 
contributed  by  members  of  both  societies  and  published 
in  the  volumes  of  Transactions  of  both.  The  excursions 
around  Chicago  to  rolling  mills  and  electric  power  plants 
and  down  the  drainage  canal  were  participated  in  by 
both,  but  organized  by  the  American  Society. 

No.  50,  in  New  York  in  1904,  was  held  both  in  the 
home  of  the  Society  and  in  the  Hall  of  the  Mendelssohn 
Union.     The  meeting  was  signalized  by  the  reports  of 


214     THE  AilEBICAN  SOCIETY  OF  MECHANICAL  ENGINEEBS 

progress  as  respects  the  preliminaries  for  tlie  Engineer- 
ing Building,  the  determination  to  keep  on  with  the  plans 
in  spite  of  the  decision  of  one  of  the  original  parties  not 
to  enter  the  compact  of  the  others,  the  reports  of  the 
procedure  for  making  the  visits  of  the  foreign  engineers 
as  useful  to  them  as  possible,  the  start  of  the  new  move- 
ment for  a  joint  library  of  all  the  societies,  and  the  move- 
ment to  make  tests  of  fuels  under  the  Geological  Survey 
of  the  United  States.  Mr.  J.  M.  Dodge  presented  the 
replica  of  the  Ericsson  bust.  Professor  Benjamin  re- 
ported tests  on  model  flywheels. 

No.  51,  at  Scranton,  Pa.,  1905,  was  the  second  meet- 
ing in  that  city.  It  incorporated  visits  to  the  plant  of 
the  correspondence  schools  with  illustrations  of  their 
methods,  and  a  trip  to  Wilkes-Barre  over  the  electric  line. 

No.  52,  in  New  York  in  1905,  frankly  confessed  that 
the  home  of  the  Society  was  inadequate  for  all  the  func- 
tions of  the  Annual  Meeting  and  the  Society  accepted 
with  pleasure  the  courtesy  of  the  New  York  Edison  Com- 
pany at  44  West  27th  Street,  both  for  this  meeting  and 
for  No.  54  the  following  year.  A  handsome  monogram  or 
cipher  of  the  Society  initials,  in  electric  lamps  of  various 
colors,  was  presented  and  exhibited  at  this  meeting.  Mr. 
Freeman's  notable  paper  on  Safety  of  Theaters  from 
Fire,  was  read  and  the  Society  was  the  guest  of  the  Ham- 
burg-American Line  for  a  visit  of  inspection,  a  luncheon 
and  the  holding  of  a  session  in  its  saloon.  The  contract 
for  the  engineering  building  had  been  let  in  July  of  this 
year.  A  visit  to  the  Worthington  plant  at  Harrison, 
N.  J.,  was  a  feature. 

No.  53,  in  Chattanooga,  Tenn.,  in  1906,  was  signalized 
by  special  transportation  from  New  York  by  way  of 
Washington.  The  visit  to  Lookout  Mountain  and  to 
Chickamauga  battlefield  were  features  of  this  meeting, 
and  the  first  movement  in  search  of  conservation  of  me- 
chanical resources  of  the  country.  The  trip  by  boat  down 
the  Tennessee  River  to  the  navigation  canal  and  power 
plant,  where  governmental  and  private  initiative  had 
come  together,  was  greatly  enjoyed.    While  the  Secre- 


A  HISTOBY  OF  THE  SOCIETY  215 

tary  had  resigned  before  this  meeting,  he  was  still  in 
office,  and  his  successor  was  actively  sought. 

No.  54,  in  1906,  was  signalized  by  Mr.  Fred.  W. 
Taylor's  monumental  presidential  address  on  the  Art  of 
Cutting  Metals.  The  Engineering  Building  was  com- 
pleted, but  scarcely  ready  for  use.  Many  visited  it.  The 
Society  made  its  memorable  visit  to  the  proving  grounds 
of  the  United  States  Army  at  Sandy  Hook,  witnessed 
discharges  of  rifles  and  cannon  and  visited  casements 
and  carriages.  Luncheon  was  served  in  Fort  Hancock. 
The  consternation  of  some  who  were  not  citizens  of  the 
United  States  was  a  feature  of  a  visit  to  a  U.  S.  Reserva- 
tion where  such  foreigners  were  not  admissible.  Ord- 
nance officers  of  high  rank  were  the  hosts  of  this  most 
enjoyable  visit,  General  Crozier,  General  Murray, 
Colonel  Smith,  Colonel  Birnie  and  others. 

No.  55,  in  Indianapolis  in  1907,  was  presided  over  by 
the  President,  who  had  been  the  Secretary  since  1883; 
and  Mr.  Calvin  W.  Rice  as  Secretary  was  in  evidence  for 
the  first  time.  The  motor  vehicle  industry  of  the  city 
was  a  feature  of  the  engineering  visits,  and  a  day  at 
Purdue  University  at  Lafayette  was  greatly  enjoyed 
under  the  leadership  of  Professor  Goss  who  was  then  in 
charge  there,  and  who  showed  the  party  the  locomotive 
testing  plant  which  had  made  the  designer  and  the  re- 
sults of  testing  famous  everywhere. 

No.  56,  in  New  York  in  December  1907,  was  in  many 
ways  one  of  the  Society's  most  memorable  meetings  of 
the  period  covered  in  this  history,  inasmuch  as  it  was 
the  first  Annual  Meeting  in  the  new  Engineering  So- 
cieties Building.  The  first  meeting  of  any  kind  to  be 
held  in  it  was  that  in  the  previous  winter,  at  which  the 
paper  by  Mr.  Fish  on  Trade  Secrets  was  presented.  The 
dedication  of  the  building  and  of  its  auditorium  had 
taken  place  with  appropriate  ceremony  in  the  previous 
April,  but  this  was  the  first  Annual  Meeting.  It  had  the 
largest  enrollment  in  the  Society's  history,  over  thirteen 
hundred  members  and  guests  being  present.  President 
Button  gave  his  retiring  address,  in  which  he  spoke  of  the 


216     THE  AMERICAN  SOCIETY  OF  MECHANICAL  ENGINEERS 

development  of  mechanical  engineering  since  HoUey 's  ad- 
dress of  27  years  before,  and  offered  a  new  definition  of 
the  term  ** Engineer."  It  spoke  also  of  directions  in  which 
the  past  history  of  the  Society  seemed  to  bring  the  op- 
portunities for  expansion,  as  it  were,  open  doors  for  its 
widening  future.  Excursions  to  the  Hudson  River  Tun- 
nels were  made  under  the  guidance  of  Mr.  Charles  M. 
Jacobs,  their  chief  engineer,  and  an  illustrated  lecture 
on  the  work  of  photography  in  colors  was  given.  The 
evening  receptions  were  held  by  the  Society  in  its  own 
building,  but  the  floors  were  not  well  adapted  to  dancing. 

At  the  close  of  this  meeting  Professor  Hutton  was 
elected  Honorary  Secretary  by  the  Council.  Additional 
Watt  and  Fulton  memorabilia  were  presented. 

No.  57,  at  Detroit  in  1908,  was  memorable  for  its  suc- 
cess in  securing  joint  sessions  with  the  Societies  for 
Engineering  Education  and  the  Automobile  Engineers; 
for  its  excursions  on  the  Detroit  River  and  to  a  shipyard 
where  a  launching  was  witnessed;  and  for  the  visits 
of  inspection  to  motor  vehicle  and  other  plants. 

No.  58,  in  New  York  in  1908,  reported  the  gift  to  the 
Society  of  the  beautiful  desk  which  had  been  presented  to 
Mr.  Edwin  Reynolds,  Past-President,  on  his  seventieth 
birthday,  by  his  former  employees. 

No.  59,  in  Washington,  D.  C,  in  1909,  was  signalized 
by  the  dignified  reception  of  the  Society  by  President 
Taft  and  by  exhibition  drills  at  Fort  Myers;  also  by 
illuminating  addresses  on  the  work  of  the  reclamation 
survey  in  irrigation  in  the  West;  and  by  the  ceremonial 
of  presenting  a  portrait  of  Rear- Admiral  Melville,  Past- 
President  of  the  Society  to  the  National  Gallery. 

No.  60,  in  New  York  in  1909,  was  characterized  by 
the  very  complete  organization  of  the  local  membership 
into  committees;  by  a  lecture  by  L.  W.  Ellis  and  B.  T. 
Galloway  of  the  United  States  Bureau  of  Plant  In- 
dustry, on  the  Era  of  Farm  Machinery,  and  particularly 
the  changes  wrought  by  the  internal-combustion  engine 
which  is  practically  independent  of  water.  The  So- 
ciety visited  the  new  Pennsylvania  Railroad  terminal  at 


THE    AMERICAN   SOCIETY  OF   MECHANICAL    ENGINEERS 


A  HISTORY  OF  THE  SOCIETY  217 

32nd  Street  under  the  guidance  of  Mr.  George  Gibbs  of 
the  Pennsylvania  Railroad,  and  of  Mr.  Walter  C.  Kerr 
at  the  head  of  the  contracting  firm  of  engineers. 

No.  61,  at  Atlantic  City,  1900,  took  place  just  before 
the  start  of  the  organized  party  for  England  to  take 
part  in  a  Joint  Meeting  of  the  Institution  of  Mechanical 
Engineers  of  Great  Britain  in  Birmingham  and  England. 

No.  62,  in  New  York  in  1910,  was  notable  for  Mr. 
George  Westinghouse 's  address  on  the  early  history  of 
the  Compressed-Air  Train  Brake.  Section  meetings 
were  a  feature  of  the  program.  The  transatlantic  party 
reported  through  the  two  Secretaries. 

No.  63,  in  Pittsburgh,  Pa.,  in  1911,  was  the  second  to 
be  held  there  after  a  lapse  of  many  years.  The  organiza- 
tion of  sections  of  the  Society  as  a  policy  distinct  from 
meetings  of  the  Society  in  different  cities  was  discussed. 

No.  64,  in  New  York  in  1911,  was  again  a  very  large 
meeting  and  called  for  simultaneous  sessions  to  complete 
its  work  within  the  limit  of  days.  The  reception  was 
held  at  the  Hotel  Astor,  as  for  several  years  past. 

No.  65,  in  Cleveland  in  1912,  was  the  second  in  this 
city,  and  held  after  a  considerable  interval.  Mr.  Ambrose 
Swasey  was  the  leading  force.  A  most  hospitable  and 
inclusive  entertainment  was  provided. 

No.  66,  in  New  York  in  1912,  was  memorable  for  the 
preliminaries  for  the  trip  to  Germany  in  1913  under  the 
auspices  of  the  Verein  deutscher  Ingenieure,  and  for  the 
scholarly  address  of  the  retiring  President,  Alex.  C. 
Humphreys.  The  Conamittee  on  Standard  Tests  for 
Power  Plants  reported  in  full.  The  social  event  of  this 
meeting  was  the  dinner  commemorative  of  the  eightieth 
birthday  of  Prof.  John  E.  Sweet,  a  Founder  of  the 
Society.  It  was  very  largely  attended  and  full  of  a  most 
beautiful  spirit  of  loyalty  and  affection.  It  was  the  first 
of  its  kind  to  be  given  in  the  Societies '  new  building. 

No.  67,  at  Baltimore  1913,  was  signalized  by  the  in- 
terest attaching  to  the  old  town,  the  Naval  Academy  and 
the  Experimental  Station.  This  meeting  was  held  just 
before  the  start  of  the  organized  party  for  Germany. 


218     THE  AMERICAN  SOCIETY  OF  MECHANICAL  ENGINEBBS 

No.  68  was  the  thirty-fourth  Annual  Meeting  held  in 
New  York,  and  that  at  which  a  new  and  extended 
standard  for  flanges  of  pipe  was  presented  and  urged. 
Mr.  John  W.  Lieb  presented  his  notable  collection  of 
volumes  on  Leonardo  da  Vinci  as  artist,  architect,  engi- 
neer and  scientist,  and  shortly  thereafter  made  a  valuable 
gift  to  the  Society  of  monographs  on  that  subject.  This 
meeting  also  signalized  the  permanent  policy  of  holding 
synchronous  sessions  for  the  reading  of  papers  in  differ- 
ent departments  of  engineering. 

No.  69  was  a  meeting  in  the  Northwest,  held  under 
the  joint  auspices  of  the  twin  cities  of  St.  Paul  and 
Minneapolis  and  gave  the  members  an  opportunity  to 
realize  the  great  technical  progress  of  that  section. 

No.  70  was  the  thirty-fifth  Annual  Meeting,  held  in 
the  City  of  New  York.  While  any  public  announcement 
of  Mr.  Ambrose  Swasey's  gift  which  was  to  create  an 
Engineering  Foundation  for  the  conduct  of  research  and 
the  benefit  of  humanity  would  have  been  premature  at 
this  meeting,  the  fact  of  his  purpose  was  known  to  a 
limited  circle  who  were  as  yet  bound  to  secrecy  in  the 
matter  by  Mr.  Swasey's  expressed  wish.  The  air  was 
vibrant  with  suppressed  excitement  and  interest  and  the 
feeling  that  this  foundation  marks  the  beginning  of  a 
new  and  splendid  era  of  engineering  progress.  The  so- 
cial event  of  the  meeting  was  a  combination  of  a  dinner 
and  dance  at  the  Hotel  Astor,  at  which  the  feature  of 
progression  from  table  to  table  was  most  successfully 
combined  through  the  skill  and  planning  of  the  com- 
mittee in  charge.  The  great  Boiler  Code  was  formally 
presented  and  discussed,  both  at  the  regular  and  extra 
sessions  of  the  Society,  and  was  later  taken  up  again  in 
final  revision  by  this  Committee  with  an  assiduity  and 
devotion  unparalleled  in  the  history  of  any  similar  un- 
dertaking in  any  technical  or  professional  organization. 
The  work  of  this  Committee  signalized  the  opening  of 
the  administration  of  Dr.  John  A.  Brashear  and  the  close 
of  the  period  covered  by  this  history. 


CHAPTER  XIII 
Eably  Monthly  and  Local  Meetings 

The  previous  chapter  has  discussed  the  general  meet- 
ings of  the  Society  as  a  whole,  coming  together  in  the 
first  week  of  December  in  each  year  for  an  Annual 
Meeting,  at  which  officers  are  elected,  and  in  the  Spring, 
in  May  or  June,  for  a  second  or  Semi- Annual  Meeting. 
The  Annual  Meeting  hears  reports  of  the  Council  and 
of  the  various  standing  administrative  committees  and 
is  the  business  meeting  as  respects  policies  and  recom- 
mendations. The  Spring  or  Semi- Annual  Meetings  are 
mainly  professional,  largely  devoted  to  papers  and  dis- 
cussions and  to  excursions  to  points  of  engineering  in- 
terest. 

In  the  early  years  of  the  Society  and  previous  to  the 
purchase  of  the  home  building  at  12  West  31st  Street, 
these  were  all  the  meetings  that  were  held.  The  idea  of 
meetings  between  the  conventions  was  in  the  minds  of  a 
few,  but  the  time  was  not  ripe  for  that  step. 

As  soon  as  the  house  was  fairly  possessed  and  ready 
for  use,  the  idea  of  using  its  auditorium  and  parlors 
more  frequently  than  only  on  three  days  of  the  year 
began  to  bear  fruit.  The  first  step  was  that  of  purely 
social  evenings  at  which  the  members  within  a  prac- 
tical radius  could  be  brought  together  for  acquaintance 
and  for  the  strengthening  of  the  bond  of  a  common  mem- 
bership, on  some  one  evening  of  the  winter  months. 
This  was  an  entirely  local  and  individual  concept.  A 
New  York  Committee  was  formed  to  look  after  the  neces- 
sary light  collation  or  supper  on  such  evenings,  and  each 
person  coming  to  them,  whether  man  or  woman,  paid 
fifty  cents  at  the  coatroom  towards  expenses.  The  first 
of  these  reunions,   in   the  winter   of   1890-1891,   were 

219 


220     THE  AMERICAN  SOCIETY  OF  MECHANICAL  ENGINEERS 

musical,  with  piano  solos,  singing  and  choruses.  The 
choruses  were  written  out  on  the  typewriter,  then  photo- 
graphed and  projected  on  the  screen,  compelling  every 
singer  to  hold  up  his  chin  and  securing  the  sound  of  every 
singing  voice.  It  was  odd,  however,  to  find  how  narrow 
was  the  range  of  folk  music  which  every  one  knew. 
Violin  solos  were  also  possible,  and  one  evening  there 
was  a  musical  phonograph,  then  something  of  a  novelty. 

In  the  second  winter  the  novelty  of  these  reunions  for 
their  own  sake  had  worn  off  and  it  was  plain  by  the 
lessening  numbers  that  some  stronger  inducement  must 
be  held  out.  This  was  done  in  1891-1892  by  getting  the 
members  together  to  listen  to  an  address  by  James  C. 
Bayles  on  the  work  and  achievements  of  Alex.  L.  HoUey, 
incident  to  a  presentation  of  an  oil  portrait  of  Mr. 
HoUey.  The  gift  was  by  Mrs.  Bunker  (late  Holley)  and 
was  the  first  of  the  series,  and  Mr.  Bayles  said  he  hoped 
the  assembly  hall  might  grow  to  be  a  sort  of  Pantheon, 
in  which  portraits  of  eminent  engineers  could  be 
gathered  together.  Reunions  of  that  year  were  centered 
around  Robert  Fulton,  the  History  of  the  Locomotive, 
Electricity  Previous  to  Galvani,  and  Egypt,  New  and 
Old.  These  were  all  illustrated  by  lantern  slides,  ex- 
hibited by  a  lantern  designed  by  the  Secretary  and  sup- 
plied with  his  lenses.  The  last  one  was  a  similar  even- 
ing to  the  first,  a  portrait  of  Henry  R.  Worthington  and 
the  gift  of  his  son,  Mr.  C.  C.  Worthington,  being  then 
received.  The  Society  on  this  second  winter  had  por- 
traits of  its  two  founders  and  a  pastel  of  W.  J.  M. 
Rankine,  procured  by  the  Secretary  in  Glasgow  in  1889, 
hanging  on  its  walls. 

In  1892-1893  the  professional  evenings  were  in- 
augurated to  discuss  a  topical  query,  but  without  any 
form  of  collation.  These  evenings  discussed  Boilers, 
Cost  of  Power,  and  Castings.  The  social  and  non- 
professional evenings  of  that  winter  were  illustrated 
talks  on  the  Geography  of  the  Moon;  the  Buildings  of 
the  Columbian  Exposition  compared  with  others;  and 
the  Orchestral  Phonograph.    These  were  more  elaborate 


A  HI8T0BY  OF  THE  SOCIETY  221 

than  their  predecessors  and  each  person  attending  paid 
one  dollar  as  his  share.  The  House  Committee  of  the 
Society  had  them  in  charge  and  all  members  were 
notified  of  the  dates,  so  that  if  other  engagements 
brought  them  to  town  they  might  choose  the  dates  of  the 
reunions  *f  or  the  time  of  their  visit. 

In  1894  the  topics  covered  the  Steam  Engines  of  the 
Columbian  Exposition;  Water  Tube  Boilers  in  the 
United  States  Navy;  the  Sellers-Emery  Testing  Ma- 
chine ;  Machines  for  Testing  Materials.  From  60  to  100 
members  from  the  city  and  out  of  town  used  to  attend 
these  gatherings.  The  collation  usual  at  this  time  was 
served  in  the  so-called  banquet  room  below  the  audi- 
torium. 

At  the  Annual  Meeting  in  1894,  the  veteran  M.  N. 
Forney  offered  a  resolution  that  the  Council  appoint  a 
Committee  of  the  Society  to  arrange  for  monthly  meet- 
ings as  one  of  its  stated  activities,  and  that  such  com- 
mittee have  full  power  to  settle  all  questions  of  detail 
and  to  solicit  subscriptions  for  their  expenses.  The  reso- 
lution was  favored  by  many  speakers,  urging  that  the 
expenses  be  borne  out  of  the  funds  of  the  Society,  inas- 
much as  all  should  benefit  by  the  professional  material 
presented.  Under  this  resolution  in  the  winter  of  1895 
papers  were  read  on  the  Gas  Engine ;  the  Electric  Motor 
in  the  Machine  Shop;  the  Compound  Locomotive;  the 
Waterworks  Pumping  Problem  of  New  York  City;  and 
the  Eapid  Transit  Problem  in  Large  Cities.  This  last 
paper  was  a  notable  one  by  Mr.  William  Barclay  Par- 
sons, then  recently  made  chief  engineer  for  the  Rapid 
Transit  Commission  of  New  York  City,  and  included  the 
pictures  which  he  had  secured  of  the  solutions  in  various 
European  cities  which  he  had  visited  during  the  previous 
summer  with  a  view  to  the  design  of  the  New  York  plans. 
The  subway,  now  so  familiar,  was  then  only  an  engi- 
neer's intellectual  concept.  Mr.  E.  F.  C.  Davis,  Presi- 
dent for  that  year,  replaced  the  less  satisfactory  object 
lens  of  the  Secretary's  collection  on  the  projection 
lantern  by  a  much  finer  and  more  costly  one,  as  his  gift, 


222     THE  AMERICAN  SOCIETY  OF  MECHANICAL  ENGINEERS 

and  the  lantern  was  rebuilt  in  the  form  which  it  re- 
tained until  its  usefulness  was  over  because  of  the  longer 
focal  lengths  and  larger  areas  of  the  Engineering  Build- 
ing. 

In  1896,  1897  and  1898  both  kinds  of  monthly  meet- 
ings lapsed.  The  problem  of  financing  them  by  voluntary 
subscriptions  was  not  agreeable  to  the  appointed  com- 
mittee of  busy  men  of  affairs;  and  the  Secretary  still 
hesitated  to  make  them  a  part  of  his  official  duty  or  to 
entail  their  operating  cost  upon  the  Society  treasury, 
because  of  an  opinion  that  the  non-resident  members 
would  entertain  rightly  or  wrongly  an  impression  that  the 
members  near  headquarters  in  New  York  were  getting 
more  return  from  their  dues  than  those  at  a  distance 
paying  at  the  same  uniform  rate.  The  Society  must  not 
do  anything  to  give  color  to  a  notion  that  it  was  a  New 
York  City  organization  local  in  character,  and  operated 
by  a  ring  in  the  metropolitan  district  for  their  own  ad- 
vantage. If  such  meetings  were  strictly  maintained  as 
local  affairs,  under  a  voluntary  committee,  the  Secretary 
might  help  in  every  way,  but  would  not  render  himself  or 
his  administration  liable  to  the  charge  or  thought  that 
some  people  were  getting  more  than  others  from  his 
energy  and  effort. 

In  1899,  on  motion  of  Mr.  Stephen  W.  Baldwin,  the 
plan  of  meetings  was  revived,  with  a  committee  of  Junior 
members  in  charge  of  it.  The  philosophy  here  was  three- 
fold :  first,  to  secure  the  energy  of  youth  for  the  advance- 
ment of  the  Society;  second,  to  interest  men  of  junior 
age  in  the  Society  and  its  work,  and  thus  bring  them 
into  membership  to  succeed  the  older  generation;  third, 
to  stimulate  and  train  the  younger  membership  in  pre- 
paring papers  and  in  their  discussion.  Junior  members 
were  in  the  chair ;  and  pulled  the  working  oar  in  procur- 
ing papers  and  topics ;  the  Secretary  cooperated  in  corre- 
spondence and  administration.  Members  of  all  grades 
were  invited,  and  their  participation  besought  because 
the  older  ones  alone  had  the  knowledge  and  experience 
necessary  to  make  discussion  valuable.     Messrs.  F.  E. 


A  HISTORY  OP  THE  SOCIETY  223 

Frothingham,  F.  0.  Ball,  A.  L.  Rice  and  Henry  C.  Meyer, 
Jr.,  were  particularly  active  in  this  work  in  the  spring  of 
1898  and  autumn  of  1899,  and  papers  and  discussion  were 
presented  on  the  Floating  Machine  Shop  Vulcan  in  the 
war  of  1898;  the  Liquefaction  of  Gases,  with  particular 
illustration  of  the  phenomena  of  liquefied  air,  then  a  nov- 
elty ;  the  Gas  Engine  and  the  Compound  Locomotive.  In 
1900-1901  Mr.  John  C.  Wait  presented  a  most  valuable 
paper  on  the  Laws  of  Construction  Contracts,  and  Mr, 
Cornelius  Vanderbilt  one  on  Locomotive  Fire-Boxes,  the 
latter  with  special  reference  to  the  corrugated  furnace 
type  which  he  was  then  urging.  Others  were  on  Draft- 
ing Room  and  Shop  Records  and  on  Superheated  Steam. 
At  the  close  of  this  series  the  Junior  Committee  reported 
that  in  its  opinion  the  work  of  operating  such  meetings 
would  be  better  done  by  a  general  committee  and  handed 
in  their  resignations.  Again  followed  a  lapse  in  the 
series  of  meetings  during  the  winters  of  1902  and  1903. 

In  1904  Mr.  Ambrose  Swasey,  as  President,  with 
characteristic  energy  revived  the  winter  reunions  and 
secured  four  splendid  gatherings  to  listen  to  Dr.  Bras- 
hear  on  Evolution  of  Measurements,  to  Major  Rogers 
Birnie  of  the  United  States  Army,  on  Modern  Ordnance, 
to  Julian  Kennedy  on  How  Steel  Rails  are  Made,  and  to 
W.  F.  M.  Goss  on  the  Modern  Locomotive. 

In  1905,  under  the  same  direction,  the  reunions  were 
signalized  by  addresses  on :  Epochs  in  Marine  Engineer- 
ing, by  Rear- Admiral  Melville ;  Reasons  for  a  Sea  Level 
Canal  at  Panama,  by  W.  R.  Warner  and  W.  H.  Burr; 
Formation  of  Anchor  Ice,  by  Dr.  H.  T.  Barnes;  Dia- 
monds and  Diamond  Tools,  by  Gus  C.  Henning.  The 
latter  evening  will  not  be  forgotten  for  its  comparisons 
of  admired  members  of  the  Society  to  industrial  dia- 
monds, by  reason  of  certain  qualities.  The  next  year 
was  that  of  active  preparation  for  the  moving  of  the  So- 
ciety to  the  new  Engineering  Building,  and  the  reorgan- 
ization and  standardization  of  the  oflBce  procedure.  The 
Secretary's  resignation  had  also  been  presented,  and  the 
era  of  new  policies  of  conduct  of  the  Society  was  about 


224     THE  AMERICAN  SOCIETY  OF  MECHANICAL  ENGINEERS 

to  be  opened  when  the  societies  were  together  under  one 
roof.  This  period  of  ebb-tide  may  therefore  be  con- 
sidered to  separate  the  historic  series  of  inter-convention 
meetings  from  the  current  period. 

The  latter  began  in  1907,  with  the  decision  that  such 
meetings  as  should  be  held  in  the  auditoriums  of  the 
Society  Building  during  the  wdnter  should  no  longer  be 
meetings  of  the  Society  in  an  exclusive  sense,  but  that 
pains  should  be  taken  to  invite  and  include  the  members 
of  the  other  engineering  societies.  They  should  further- 
more be  borne  as  to  their  expense  by  the  Society  as  one 
of  its  regular  fiscal  activities.  The  first  meeting  held  by 
any  organization  in  the  large  auditorium  of  the  Society 
was  that  in  1907  where  Mr.  Fish  gave  his  address  on 
Trade  Secrets  in  their  Legal  Aspects.  General  Crozier 
gave  an  address  on  the  Mechanical  Engineering  Prob- 
lems of  the  Coast  Defence  Eifle  and  its  Carriage,  and 
Professor  Allen  a  talk  on  Use  and  Danger  and  Safety  in 
Handling  Combustible  Hydrocarbons  such  as  Gasolene. 

Later,  these  New  York  reunions  were  placed  in  the 
hands  of  a  New  York  Local  Cormnittee,  and  gradually 
changed  from  meetings  of  the  Society  in  New  York  to 
meetings  of  the  local  groups  of  New  York  members  and 
in  charge  of  their  executive  committee. 

In  1909  the  question  arose  of  similar  meetings  in  other 
cities  than  New  York.  An  identical  policy  was  urged 
upon  Boston  and  St.  Louis  and  the  other  cities  which 
took  the  matter  up  that  these  meetings  be  considered 
meetings  of  members  of  the  Society,  and  that  the  mem- 
bers of  the  local  society  or  club  in  that  city  should  be 
invited  to  them  as  guests  and  co-workers  by  right  in  the 
discussions  and  other  activities  of  the  meetings.  The 
only  restrictions  are  that  the  standards  and  precedents 
of  the  Society  are  to  be  observed;  that  the  financing  of 
expenses  chargeable  to  the  Society  in  the  conduct  of  such 
meetings  be  handled  in  the  annual  Society  budget  and 
through  the  Secretary;  and  that  the  Executive  Commit- 
tee in  control  of  such  meetings  be  members  of  the  Society. 
Within  these  broad  lines  the  meetings  are  entirely  self- 


THE    AMERICAN    SOCIETY  OF    MECHANICAL    ENGINEERS 


A  HISTORY  OF  THE  SOCIETY  225 

controlling,  and  the  widest  cooperation  in  papers  and 
debate  and  along  other  professional  lines  is  invited  and 
expected,  independent  of  Society  membership  in  other 
bodies  or  the  lack  of  it.  This  policy  was  foreshadowed 
in  the  presidential  address  of  F.  R.  Hutton  in  1907  em- 
bodying his  recommendations  for  the  future,  which  by 
reason  of  its  scope  and  comprehensiveness  has  been  made 
an  Appendix  to  this  History. 

A  further  extension  of  the  aforetime  activities  of  the 
Society  will  be  discussed  under  affiliation  in  another 
chapter. 

In  addition  to  the  local  group  meetings,  the  Society 
policy  provides  also  for  meetings  on  occasion  or  between 
conventions  of  its  professional  sections.  These  are  made 
up  of  members  and  others  interested  professionally  or 
otherwise  in  some  special  line  and  desiring  to  have 
papers  and  discussion  relating  to  it  under  conditions 
more  favorable  than  when  such  papers  are  offered  in 
crowded  general  sessions  at  the  conventions.  This  matter 
will  also  receive  further  treatment  in  its  own  chapter. 


CHAPTER  XIV 

European  Trips,  Joint  Meetings  and  Engineering 
Congresses 

Mr.  Alex.  L.  HoUey,  a  founder  of  the  Society,  had 
been  the  American  engineer  to  bring  the  Bessemer  pro- 
cess for  making  steel  to  this  country.  In  these  relations 
he  had  come  to  know  the  leaders  of  the  profession  in 
Great  Britain  and  before  the  Society  was  organized  his 
brain  had  been  full  of  plans  to  bring  about  international 
courtesies.  The  idea  as  he  had  it  was  that  the  three 
societies  then  existing — Civil,  Mechanical  and  Mining 
Engineers — should  create  a  joint  committee  to  present 
the  matter  in  England.  In  the  summer  of  1882,  Mr. 
HoUey  and  Mr.  Charles  Macdonald,  of  such  a  joint  com- 
mittee, were  made  a  sub-committee  to  go  to  England  and 
open  up  the  matter.  Mr.  Holley's  ill-health  precluded 
his  acting,  but  the  result  of  Mr.  Macdonald 's  efforts 
convinced  him  that  the  time  was  not  then  ripe  for,  an 
international  meeting  or  exchanging  of  official  organized 
courtesies  and  entertainment.  He  so  reported  at  the 
Philadelphia  Meeting  of  1882  through  the  President,  and 
the  matter  dropped. 

The  next  step  was  a  dinner  given  in  London  by  the 
president  of  the  Institution  of  Mechanical  Engineers  of 
Great  Britain  to  two  members  of  The  American  Society 
of  Mechanical  Engineers,  and  in  the  spring  of  1888  a 
visit  to  America  by  that  British  president.  He  came  in 
a  purely  personal  way,  but  after  visiting  some  of  the 
American  engineers  representative  of  the  Society,  among 
them  Major  Wm.  H,  Wiley,  its  Treasurer,  he  wrote  the 
following  momentous  letter : 

226 


A  HISTOEY  OF  THE  SOCIETY  227 

October  6,  1888 
The  President, 

The  American  Society  of  Mechanical  Engineers, 

Dear  Sir: 

I  am  authorized  to  invite  your  Society  to  hold  a  week's 
meeting  in  London  next  year  some  time  in  May.  We  were  given 
to  understand  that  many  of  the  leading  American  engineers  would 
visit  Europe  to  see  the  Paris  Exhibition  of  1889.  If  your  Society 
should  accept  the  invitation  it  would  be  warmly  welcomed  by  the 
Institution  of  Civil  Engineers,  the  Iron  and  Steel  Institute  and 
my  own  Society,  viz:  The  Institution  of  Mechanical  Engineers  of 
England,  and  others. 

Your  Treasurer,  Mr.  Wiley,  will  more  fully  explain  to  you 
our  desire  to  welcome  our  brother  engineers  of  America. 

I  remain.  Dear  Sirs,  Yours  faithfully, 

(Signed)     E.   N.   Carbutt, 
President,  Institution  Mechanical  Engineers. 

The  Council  of  the  Society  at  once  appointed  Messrs. 
Wiley  and  Hutton  a  committee  to  take  action  on  the 
question  of  whether  a  large  and  representative  party 
of  the  Society  could  go  on  such  a  trip,  and  to  keep  the 
British  Institution  advised  of  the  facts  and  progress 
made.  The  procedure  of  the  Committee  was  to  advise 
all  members  by  circular  letter  of  the  invitation;  and  by 
the  form  of  the  reply  blank  to  group  the  answers  into 
three  classes:  (a)  those  who  would  go,  and  could  now 
say  so;  (b)  those  who  hoped  to  go,  and  would  decide 
later;  (c)  those  who  had  no  expectation  of  going.  These 
replies  surprised  the  committee  in  that  the  affirmative 
certainties  and  possibilities  reached  nearly  three  hun- 
dred. 

Meanwhile  the  then  Inman  and  International  Steam- 
ship Company,  now  the  American  Line,  promised  the  ex- 
slusive  booking  of  one  of  their  smaller  and  slower  vessels 
if  the  party  could  fill  it.  By  February  20,  1889,  enough 
had  paid  their  fare  to  justify  the  chartering  of  the  ship, 
and  the  City  of  Richmond  was  assigned  to  the  Society. 
Its  office  did  all  the  booking  and  berthing,  and  the  steam- 
ship company  said  that  it  was  then  unique  in  their  experi- 
ence to  have  a  group  of  individuals  take  a  whole  ship  and 
fill  it  with  their  friends. 

History  was  also  being  made  in  London,  and  under 


228     THE  AMERICAN  SOCIETY  OF  MECHANICAL  ENGINEEBS 

the  wise  guidance  of  Mr.  James  Dredge,  Honorary  Mem- 
ber of  the  Society,  the  original  scope  of  the  first  invita- 
tion was  broadened  to  include  the  three  other  engineering 
societies;  and  the  English  host  became  the  Institution 
of  Civil  Engineers  of  Great  Britain,  inclusive  on  that 
side  of  all  subdivisions  of  engineers.  In  March  the  party 
was  so  far  organized  that  the  Society  paid  $18,145  to 
the  company  for  the  purchased  tickets  and  the  party 
numbered  166.  There  was  then  a  waiting  list,  some  of 
whom  were  turned  over  to  the  cabin  list  of  the  S.  S.  City 
of  New  York. 

Just  before  the  party  embarked,  the  following  letter 
was  sent  to  every  one  by  Mr.  Forrest,  Secretary  of  the 
Institution  of  Civil  Engineers : 

The  Institution  of  Civil  Engineers, 
25  Great  George  Street,  Westminster,  S.  S. 

May  4,  1889. 
Dear  Sib: 

I  am  directed  by  the  President,  Council  and  other  members 
of  this  Institution  to  request  the  honor  of  your  company  at  dinner 
on  Thursday,  the  13th  of  June,  at  6:30  for  7  p.m.  precisely.  The 
dinner  is  to  be  given  in  the  Guild  Hall  of  the  City  of  London, 
which  has  been  kindly  placed  at  the  disposal  of  the  Institution, 
by  the  express  sanction  of  the  Eight  Hon.,  the  Lord  Mayor,  Alder- 
men and  Commons  of  the  City  of  London  in  Common  Council  as- 
sembled, for  the  purpose  of  entertaining  the  members  of  the 
diflferent  American  Engineering  Societies  who  will  then  be  in 
London. 

An  early  answer  will  oblige.  Evening  dress  will  be  observed. 
In  case  this  invitation  is  accepted,  a  formal  card  will  await  your 
arrival  in  this  country. 

I   am. 

Yours   faithfully, 
(Signed)     James  Forrest, 

Secretary. 

It  was  appreciated  at  the  time  that  a  very  unusual 
courtesy  was  thus  extended,  but  its  full  significance  was 
not  realized  until  the  party  reached  London.  It  had  been 
found  advisable  to  retard  the  arrival  of  the  party  at  that 
city  until  the  close  of  the  Whitsuntide  holidays,  which 
are  celebrated  in  England  by  the  suspension  of  work  in 
many  manufacturing  establishments,   and  therefore  it 


A  HISTORY  OF  THE  SOCIETY  229 

was  suggested  that  the  few  days  between  the  arrival  of 
the  steamer  and  the  end  of  those  holidays  should  be  spent 
by  the  party  in  trips  through  the  rural  and  historic  in- 
terests of  England.  The  London  and  Northwestern  Eail- 
way,  which  had  already  tendered  free  transportation 
from  Liverpool  to  London  to  the  members  of  the  Engi- 
neering Societies,  issued  a  circular  giving  a  choice  of 
tours  in  England,  and  a  similar  circular  giving  the  tours 
over  the  Midland  Railway  was  furnished  through  Cook's 
Tourist  Agency.  The  members  were  in  part  requested 
to  make  their  choice  of  these  tours  before  sailing,  but  a 
decision  was  not  reached  by  many  until  their  arrival  at 
Queenstown. 

Just  before  the  City  of  Richmond  sailed,  the  Council 
of  this  Society,  in  conference  with  representatives  of  the 
Mining  and  Civil  Engineers,  arranged  for  the  forma- 
tion of  a  Joint  Executive  Committee  of  the  three  so- 
cieties, which  should  be  the  channel  for  the  hospitalities 
shown  by  English  hosts  to  the  party  at  large.  The 
organization  of  this  committee,  however,  was  not  per- 
fected until  the  party  in  the  two  ships  reached  Liverpool 
and  came  to  an  agreement  there. 

The  steamer  City  of  Richmond,  with  its  full  comple- 
ment of  passengers  berthed  in  the  first  and  second  cabin, 
the  latter  fitted  up  and  treated  as  first,  sailed  at  3  p.m., 
Saturday,  May  25 ;  the  City  of  New  York  with  the  over- 
flow party,  and  also  those  connected  with  the  party  who 
booked  through  the  American  Society  of  Civil  Engineers, 
sailed  May  29,  the  following  Wednesday.  After  the 
party  acquired  its  ' '  sea  legs ' '  there  were  the  usual  games 
and  sports,  including  an  initiation  into  the  order  of 
Neptune. 

The  first  steamer  reached  the  Mersey  on  Tuesday, 
June  4th,  but  at  Queenstown  the  representatives  of  the 
English  hosts  had  boarded  the  steamer  the  day  before. 

A  full  report  of  this  trip  and  its  courtesies,  English, 
French  and  German,  was  prepared  by  the  Secretary  of 
the  Society  and  may  be  studied  by  those  interested  as 
paper  No.  336  in  Volume  10  of  the  Transactions,  page 


230     THE  AMERICAN  SOCIETY  OF  MECHANICAL  ENGINEERS 

851.  For  a  summary  account  of  the  busy  weeks  of  the 
visit,  the  report  of  President  Henry  B.  Towne  in  his 
presidential  address  in  1889^  will  here  be  quoted  from : 

The  voyage  of  the  City  of  Richmond  is  a  memory 
which  all  who  had  the  privilege  of  taking  part  in  it  will 
ever  recall  with  the  greatest  pleasure.  It  was  harmonious 
from  beginning  to  end.  A  committee  was  organized  on 
the  second  day  after  sailing  and  had  sessions  every  day 
of  the  voyage — indeed  long  sessions,  as  there  was  much 
work  to  be  done  in  preparation  for  the  affairs  to  be 
carried  out  on  the  other  side,  more  than  any  of  us  had 
realized.  The  members  of  the  party,  both  ladies  and 
gentlemen,  soon  became  well  acquainted,  and  the  voyage 
came  to  resemble  a  large  yachting  party  rather  than  an 
ordinary  trip  across  the  Atlantic. 

Liverpool  was  reached  on  Tuesday,  June  4,  and  be- 
fore foot  was  set  on  English  soil  the  party  received  a 
foretaste  of  English  hospitality.  There  came  out  to 
meet  the  ship  in  the  Mersey  a  tender  carrying  a  commit- 
tee of  the  local  reception  committee  at  Liverpool  headed 
by  Mr.  Alfred  Holt,  their  chairman  (reputed  to  be  the 
largest  individual  shipowner  in  the  world),  Mr.  Daglish, 
Mr.  West,  and  a  number  of  other  gentlemen.  They 
boarded  the  ship  and  greeted  all  with  words  of  hearty 
welcome,  took  charge  of  the  landing,  facilitating  the  pas- 
sage of  the  customs  authorities,  and  from  that  time  until 
all  left  Liverpool  they  were  ceaseless  in  their  endeavors 
for  everyone's  comfort  and  enjoyment. 

The  City  of  New  York  arrived  two  days  later,  in  the 
early  morning,  and  with  that  day  began  the  regular  ex- 
cursions which  had  been  planned  for  the  entertainment 
of  the  guests.  The  hosts  in  England  were  the  Institu- 
tion of  Civil  Engineers.  The  individual  members  taking 
part  in  the  entertainment,  most  of  whom  came  expressly 
to  Liverpool  to  greet  the  party,  were  the  president,  Sir 
John  Coode,  Sir  Frederick  Bramwell,  Sir  Lothian  Bell, 
Sir  James  AUport,  Mr.  Adamson,  Sir  Henry  Bessemer, 


»Vol.  11,  No.  358. 


A  HISTORY  OF  THE  SOCIETY  231 

Sir  Geo.  Bruce,  Mr.  Cowper,  and  many  others  whom 
there  is  not  space  available  to  name ;  but  among  them  all 
no  name  made  itself  more  familiar,  or  will  ever  be  more 
warmly  remembered,  than  that  of  the  Secretary,  Mr. 
James  Forrest. 

It  became  necessary  for  the  party,  comprising,  as  it 
did,  members  of  this  Society,  of  the  Civil  Engineers, 
and  the  Mining  Engineers,  together  with  a  few  members 
of  the  Electrical  Engineers,  to  create  some  kind  of  an 
organization  which  should  represent  the  united  party 
during  its  travels  in  Europe.  A  joint  committee  was 
appointed  to  accomplish  this  purpose,  and  the  result  of 
their  labors  was  the  selection  and  recommendation  of 
the  following  list  of  officers,  who  were  unanimously 
elected  by  the  joint  party :  Mr.  Whittemore  as  honorary 
chairman,  Mr.  Henry  B.  Towne  as  chairman;  and  as 
officers  or  associates:  Mr.  Chanute,  Mr.  Woodbury,  Mr. 
Clarke,  Professor  Hutton,  Mr.  Wiley,  Mr.  Dempster,  Mr. 
Kent,  Mr.  Archbald,  Mr.  Baldwin,  Mr.  Fisher,  Mr. 
Hawkins,  Doctor  Torrey,  Mr.  Bond,  Mr.  Forsyth,  Mr. 
Oberlin  Smith,  and  Mr.  D'Invilliers.  The  treasurer  was 
Mr.  Hunt ;  the  honorary  secretary,  Mr.  Emery ;  the  secre- 
tary, Mr.  Kirchhoff.  It  is  an  evidence  of  the  clever- 
ness with  which  the  nominating  committee  did  its  work, 
that  out  of  the  21  names  above,  there  are  13  who  are 
members  of  the  Society  of  Civil  Engineers,  13  who  are 
members  of  the  Society  of  Mechanical  Engineers,  and 
9  who  are  members  of  the  Institute  of  Mining  Engineers. 
The  joint  committee  worked  acceptably  and  accom- 
plished its  work  satisfactorily,  although  the  work  proved 
to  be  much  larger  than  would  have  been  appreciated  be- 
forehand and  demanded  a  great  deal  of  time  and  care. 

The  first  full  experience  of  English  hospitality  came 
at  Liverpool  in  the  form  of  a  dinner  given  by  Sir  John 
Coode  at  Liverpool,  the  evening  after  the  City  of  New 
York  arrived,  to  a  few  of  the  officers  of  the  joint  party, 
followed  during  the  evening  by  a  conversazione  at  the 
Town  Hall,  given  by  the  Mayor,  Mr.  Cookson,  and  at- 
tended by  the  whole  of  the  party  and  a  great  number  of 


232     THE  AMEBICAN  SOCIETY  OF  MECHANICAL  ENGINEEBS 

ladies  and  gentlemen  from  Liverpool — a  most  brilliant 
assemblage. 

The  next  morning  the  visitors  were  divided  into  two 
parties,  one  going  to  the  Mersey  Docks  under  the  guid- 
ance of  officers  of  the  Dock  Estate,  who  have  charge  of 
the  most  vast  and  expensive  system  of  dock  construction 
in  the  world,  the  extent  of  which  is  simply  marvelous, 
and  to  Americans  utterly  unknown.  The  tides  in  Liver- 
pool, and  indeed  all  around  the  English  coasts,  average 
nearly  thirty  feet  in  height,  entirely  precluding  the  use 
of  a  wharf  system  such  as  there  is  in  New  York,  and 
necessitating  the  entry  of  all  vessels  into  docks  closed 
by  gates  which  are  opened  only  for  about  an  hour  at  high 
water. 

The  other  party  went  through  the  Mersey  Tunnel,  a 
great  work  connecting  Liverpool  with  Birkenhead,  which 
had  been  recently  completed  under  the  guidance  of  Mr. 
Rowlandson,  the  engineer,  and  then  to  the  Laird  ship- 
yards, where  576  vessels  have  been  built  within  the  last 
30  years.  They  were  entertained  at  a  magnificent 
luncheon  served  in  a  tent  on  Mr.  Laird's  grounds,  and 
then  visited  one  of  the  great  steamers  then  being  built 
for  the  Hamburg  line — a  sister  ship  of  the  Augusta 
Victoria — and  finally  were  brought  back  to  Liverpool, 
arriving  at  the  great  landing  stage  which  is  used  for 
tenders  and  ferryboats  to  deliver  their  passengers  upon, 
said  to  be  the  greatest  floating  structure  in  the  world, 
and  having  a  total  length  of  2063  feet. 

The  next  day  the  party  divided  again;  one  section 
going  to  Crewe,  the  location  of  the  great  constructive 
works  of  the  London  and  Northwestern  system,  corre- 
sponding to  Altoona  on  the  Pennsylvania  system,  where 
they  make  steel  rails,  build  locomotives,  and  conduct 
most  of  the  mechanical  operations  of  the  line.  The  ex- 
tent of  those  works  is  probably  familiar  to  all,  but  it  is 
interesting  to  note  that  the  capital  of  that  great  corpora- 
tion is  $528,000,000,  with  an  annual  revenue  of  $51,- 
000,000,  and  with  60,000  employees.  It  is  also  interesting 
to  note  that,  even  in  that  snug  little  island,  one  railway 


^^        /    I  -^^^^-yj^    a//  C^L^ 


^E  AMERICAN     SOCIETV    orMECHAMICAL     ENGINEERS 


A  HISTOBY  OF  THE  SOCIETY  233 

system  can  control  and  operate  2500  miles  of  line.  The 
Crewe  works  cover  116  acres  of  land,  of  which  36  are 
under  roof. 

The  other  section  of  the  party  on  that  day  went  to 
Horwich,  on  the  line  of  the  Lancashire  and  Yorkshire 
Eailway,  and  inspected  a  similar  plant  there,  but  one 
even  more  interesting  than  that  at  Crewe  in  this  respect 
■ — that  while  Crewe  has  grown  up  almost  from  the  com- 
mencement of  railway  operations  in  England  and  is  to 
some  extent  a  patchwork,  although  a  vast  and  most 
highly  organized  one,  the  new  plant  of  the  Lancashire 
and  Yorkshire  Railway  at  Horwich  is  entirely  new,  has 
been  built  within  the  last  three  years,  was  laid  out  and 
organized  by  commencing  with  a  clean  sheet  of  paper 
and  an  unbroken  piece  of  ground  admirably  chosen,  and 
has  a  series  of  vast  buildings  designed  harmoniously 
with  reference  to  their  intended  uses  and  in  the  light  of 
the  best  and  latest  modern  experience,  including  that  of 
Crewe.  The  mechanical  engineer  of  that  system,  Mr. 
Aspinall,^  who  has  charge  of  the  Horwich  works,  al- 
though a  younger  man  than  Mr.  Webb,  the  presiding 
genius  at  Crewe,  is  his  equal  apparently  in  talent  and 
organizing  capacity,  and,  working  as  he  does  with  this 
newer  and  more  modern  plant,  is  making  a  record  which 
certainly  will  be  a  good  second  to  that  of  Crewe.  In 
the  manufacturing  department,  where  they  make  the 
smaller  products,  such  for  example  as  their  switch  and 
signal  apparatus,  Mr.  Aspinall  has  introduced  a  great 
deal  of  American  machinery  and  American  methods  of 
manufacture,  and  it  seemed  to  the  writer  that  the  place 
compared  favorably  with  any  private  establishment  ever 
visited.  These  works  cover  85  acres  of  ground,  of  which 
lSy2  acres  are  under  roof. 

In  the  evening  of  that  day  the  two  parties  united  at 
Manchester,    where    a    reception    and    banquet    were 

*It  is  interesting  to  note  that  this  gentleman  was  the  President  of  the 
Institution  of  Mechanical  Engineers  on  the  occasion  of  the  second  American 
▼isit  twenty-one  years  later  in  1910,  and  was  President  of  the  Railway 
System.    He  is  an  Honorary  Member  of  the  A.S.M.E. 


234     THE  AMERICAN  SOCIETY  OF  MECHANICAL  ENGINEEES 

tendered  at  the  Town  Hall,  presided  over  by  the  Mayor 
of  Manchester  and  attended  by  a  great  many  of  the 
prominent  citizens.  It  was  a  delightful  occasion  and 
even  more  elaborate  than  the  reception  at  Liverpool. 

The  next  day  the  party  visited  the  great  ship  canal 
between  Manchester  and  Liverpool,  35  miles  in  length, 
the  contract  price  for  which  was  $28,000,000,  and  on 
which  15,000  men  were  employed. 

The  next  week  being  the  Whitsuntide  Holiday  or 
recess,  was  utilized  for  excursions  not  connected  with 
the  engineering  part  of  our  visit.  The  party  broke  up 
into  two  groups,  one  going  through  North  Wales,  the 
other  through  the  Midland  counties,  reuniting  in  London. 
It  is  fitting  to  remark  at  this  place  that  all  through  the 
trip  the  courtesies  extended  to  the  American  engineers 
by  English  railway  officials  were  marked  and  generous  to 
the  greatest  extent.  The  London  and  Northwestern 
system  gave  free  transportation  from  Liverpool  to  Lon- 
don, including  a  return  privilege  at  whatever  time  the 
holder  of  the  ticket  desired,  and  other  systems  followed 
later  when  the  party  had  reached  London  and  made  ex- 
cursions from  that  point. 

On  Thursday,  the  13th  of  June,  those  wonderful 
eight  days  of  hospitality  in  London  began  with  a  choral 
service  in  Westminster  Abbey,  conducted  by  Dean 
Bradley,  who  gave  an  address  of  welcome  to  the  Ameri- 
can party ;  then  a  brief  visit  to  the  Houses  of  Parliament 
and  in  the  afternoon  a  reception  by  the  Institution  of 
Civil  Engineers.  The  latter  was  opened  by  an  address 
of  welcome  from  Sir  John  Coode,  the  president,  the 
words  of  which  have  been  beautifully  illuminated  and 
framed  and  presented  to  this  Society,  and  also  to  the 
sister  societies  here,  by  the  Institution  of  Civil  Engi- 
neers, and  a  copy  hung  in  the  new  rooms.  The  party 
was  especially  fortunate  in  having  with  it  at  that  time 
one  of  the  Society's  oldest  and  most  honored  members, 
to  whom  was  committed  the  duty  of  replying  to  the 
address  of  welcome  from  Sir  John  Coode,  and  who  did 
it  in  a  manner  which  more  than  fulfilled  our  expectations ; 


A  HISTORY  OF  THE  SOCIETY  236 

Professor  Thurston's  admirable  address  on  that  oc- 
casion was  one  for  which  all  of  the  party  felt  grateful 
and  of  which  all  were  proud. 

In  the  evening  of  that  day  a  dinner  was  given  to  the 
party  by  the  Institution  of  Civil  Engineers  in  the  old  and 
historic  Guildhall  of  London,  a  building  which  we  were 
told  had  never  before  within  memory  been  used  for  any 
purpose  not  directly  connected  with  the  civic  hospitality 
of  the  City  of  London.  It  was  a  great  compliment.  The 
dinner  was  elegant  beyond  easy  expression  and  was 
dignified  and  notable  in  every  particular.  Among  the 
guests  of  the  occasion  were  the  American  Minister,  Mr. 
Robert  Lincoln,  Sir  Edward  Thornton,  Lord  Armstrong, 
Archdeacon  Farrar,  Dean  Bradley,  Sir  Henry  Bessemer, 
Sir  William  Thompson,  Mr.  Latimer  Clarke,  Sir  James 
Douglass,  Mr.  Gilchrist,  Mr.  Mather,  Sir  E.  J.  Reed,  Pro- 
fessor Unwin,  and  a  great  many  others  whose  names  are 
familiar  on  this  side  of  the  Atlantic  as  well  as  on  the 
other.  One  of  the  pleasing  incidents  of  the  evening  was 
the  address  given  by  Mr.  Lincoln,  which  was  worthy  of 
the  occasion  and  able  throughout,  and  at  the  close  of 
which  he  gave  utterance  to  a  sentiment  especially  compli- 
mentary to  the  engineers  and  typical  of  the  character  of 
the  times  and  of  the  change  in  sentiment  which  is  taking 
place  in  the  world.  Addressing  the  united  party  of  engi- 
neers, English  and  American,  he  said  that  ''engineers 
throughout  the  world  are  doing  more  than  any  other 
agency  at  the  present  time  to  bring  about  the  brotherhood 
of  the  nations,  and  to  render  superfluous  such  offices  as 
that  which  I  now  have  the  honor  of  holding." 

The  next  day  was  devoted  to  visits  to  the  docks  and 
gas  works,  to  drainage  works,  to  the  great  Tower  bridge 
across  the  Thames,  to  Greenwich,  to  the  Yarrow  ship- 
yard, to  various  engineering  works,  and  by  a  fraction  of 
the  party,  to  a  visit  to  Lambeth  Palace,  where  the  Arch- 
bishop of  Canterbury  received  the  guests  and  conducted 
them  personally  through  the  edifice.  On  the  following 
day,  June  15,  the  party  was  taken  by  special  train  over 
the  Great  Western  Railway  to  Windsor,  where  the  Queen 


236     THE  AMERICAN  SOCIETY  OF  MECHANICAL  ENGINEERS 

had  given  special  permission  for  our  party  to  go  through 
the  palace,  and  to  see  not  only  those  parts  which  are 
usually  open  to  the  public  but  also  the  private  apart- 
ments, which  were  exceedingly  interesting.  A  small 
fraction  of  the  party  went  on  that  day  to  the  grounds  of 
Mr.  Boulton,  at  Totteridge,  where  they  witnessed  a  re- 
markable presentation  of  the  Midsummer  Night's  Dream, 
given  in  the  open  air.  This  was  the  day  on  which  the 
author  joined  the  party.  The  evening  of  the  day 
concluded  with  a  reception  tendered  to  the  party  by  Lord 
Brassey  at  his  beautiful  house  in  London,  where  all  saw 
many  of  the  wonderful  curios  collected  by  himself  and 
the  late  Lady  Brassey  during  their  yachting  tours  around 
the  world.  The  following  day  was  a  Sunday,  and  on  the 
next  day,  Monday,  the  party  went  in  the  morning  to  see 
the  Boyal  Palaces  in  London — St.  James  and  Bucking- 
ham. It  was  one  of  the  coincidences  of  this  visit  that 
the  visitors  were  greeted  there  with  the  strains  of  Yankee 
Doodle  and  Hail  Columbia,  the  day  being,  as  one  of  the 
party  recalled,  the  anniversary  of  the  battle  of  Bunker 
Hill.  On  the  afternoon  of  this  day  Lady  Burdett-Coutts 
gave  a  garden  party  and  reception  at  her  Lonaon  resi- 
dence. The  following  day  was  devoted  to  a  trip  to  water 
works  and  pumping  plants,  to  Hampton  Court  Palace 
and  Bushy  Park,  and  the  day  following  to  similar  visits 
to  railway  stations  and  the  great  plant  of  the  London 
Electric  Supply  Corporation,  the  ladies  going  to  the 
flower  show  of  the  Royal  Botanic  Society;  and  a  party 
of  the  members,  unfortunately  a  small  one,  able  to  avail 
themselves  of  the  privilege,  spent  the  day  in  a  visit  to 
the  residence  of  Professor  Tyndall,  who  had  invited  as 
large  a  party  as  his  house  was  capable  of  entertaining. 
Those  who  went  received  at  his  hands  a  most  cordial  and 
delightful  reception,  and  it  is  pleasing  to  mention  a  fact 
which  was  also  learned  from  those  who  were  fortunate 
enough  to  be  there,  that  the  response  made  over  the 
luncheon  table  to  the  remarks  of  Professor  Tyndall  by 
the  honorary  chairman,  Mr.  Whittemore,  were  eloquent 
and  beautifully  fitting  to  the  occasion.  Other  hospitalities 


^^'^^'^-X%^^  z-^-^fj 


PRESIDENT    1903 


-^^ 


THE  AMERICAN    SOCIETY  OF  MECHANICAL    ENGINEERS 


A  HISTORY  OF  THE  SOCIETY  237 

were  extended  to  individual  members  of  the  party  on  oc- 
casions which  did  not  admit  of  their  being  made  general. 
One  or  two  of  the  London  clubs  gave  admission  to  the 
members,  as  had  also  been  done  in  Liverpool,  and  in 
every  way  the  hospitality  of  the  English  cousins  was 
cordial  beyond  any  mere  words  of  expression.  All  of 
our  party,  in  undergoing  these  experiences,  realized  that 
while  there  was  of  course  a  large  amount  of  personal 
hospitality  underlying  it,  and  still  more  of  professional 
welcome,  the  true  motive  prompting  these  manifestations 
from  the  English  friends  was  that  of  deep  and  sincere 
cordiality  towards  America  and  Americans.  This  was 
made  evident  to  us  throughout  the  whole  of  the  English 
experience,  and  it  struck  many  that  the  feeling  of  kinship 
on  the  part  of  the  English  toward  the  Americans  is  even 
greater  at  the  present  time  than  the  corresponding  feel- 
ing which  they  entertain  toward  the  English.  Americans 
look  back  to  England  as  the  mother  country  and  as  such 
have  for  it  the  warmest  feeling  of  affection,  but  on  the 
part  of  Englishmen  there  can  be  of  course  no  correspond- 
ing feeling  toward  this  country.  The  fact  of  the  kinship 
of  the  two  peoples,  however,  is  more  real  to  English- 
men at  the  present  time  than  it  is  even  to  the  Americans, 
and  they  realize  more  clearly  the  fact  that  together  both 
constitute  the  two  branches  of  the  great  Anglo-Saxon, 
English-speaking  race,  which  has  accomplished  so  much 
in  the  industrial  world. 

On  June  20  English  friends  again  put  the  party  on  a 
magnificent  special  train,  and  many  of  them  accompanied 
them  on  it  via  the  London,  Chatham  and  Dover  Eailway, 
to  Dover,  and  from  there  by  a  special  steamer  across  the 
English  Channel  to  Calais.  The  crossing  was  on  a  beauti- 
ful sunny  day,  with  bright  sparkling  water,  and  with  no 
cause  for  discomfort. 

Upon  landing  on  French  soil  there  was  again  an  im- 
mediate greeting  of  hospitality  from  the  new  hosts, 
represented  by  members  of  the  French  Society  of  Civil 
Engineers,  who  had  come  from  Paris  for  the  purpose. 


238     THE  AMEBICAN  SOCIETY  OF  MECHANICAL  ENGINEEBS 

Again   the   visitors   were   placed   on   a    special   train, 
tendered  by  the  Northern  Eailway  of  France,  and  taken 
to  St.  Omer  and  Fontinettes,  to  see  a  new  and  rnusual 
canal  lift  which  had  just  been  completed  there,  and  thence 
on  to  Paris.     The  hosts  during  the  French  visit  were 
composed  almost  entirely  of  members  of  the  French  So- 
ciety of  Civil  Engineers,  headed  by  M.  Eiffel,  the  presi- 
dent that  year,  M.  BruU,  a  past-president,  M.  Contamin, 
principal  engineer  of  the  wonderful  machinery  palace  at 
the  exhibition,  which  was  awarded  the  prize  of  20,000  f  r. 
tendered  by  an  American  for  that  feature  of  the  exhibi- 
tion which,  in  the  opinion  of  a  special  committee  ap- 
pointed to  make   the  award,   represented  the  highest 
accomplishment  and  greatest  usefulness.    The  commit- 
tee's award  was  to  the  designers  and  builders  of  the 
wonderful  machinery  hall,  a  building  having  a  span  of 
330  ft.  and  a  length  of  about  1500  ft.    The  other  mem- 
bers of  the  reception  committee  were  M.  Jousselin,  M. 
Banderali,  M.  Pontzen,  M.  Alphand,  who  is  the  director- 
general  of  the  Exhibition,  M.  Garnier,  the  world-famous 
architect,  M.  Haton  de  la  Goupilliere,  who  is  the  head  of 
the  Ecole  des  Mines  in  Paris,  M.  Gottschalk,  M.  Charton, 
and  many  others.    A  few  members  of  the  joint  committee 
were  privileged  to  be  the  guests  at  a  small  but  most  de- 
lightful dinner  given  at  one  of  the  restaurants  in  the  ex- 
hibition grounds  by  a  gentleman  whose  name  has  been 
too  little  associated  with  this  wonderful  excursion,  Mr. 
James  Dredge,  of  London,  the  editor  of  the  journal  En- 
gineering, and  one  of  the  leading  representatives  of  the 
English  section  of  the  late  Paris  Exhibition.    All  of  the 
societies  were  indebted  more  to  Mr.  Dredge  than  to  any 
other  one  person  for  inaugurating  the  excursion,  for 
enlisting  English  and  French  interest  in  it,  and  for  con- 
tributing to  the  success  of  the  whole  undertaking.    One 
member  of  the  party,  the  treasurer  of  this  Society,  Mr. 
Wiley,  knows  the  facts,  but  they  are  not  yet  fully  ap- 
preciated even  by  the  members  of  the  party  abroad ;  and 
no  amount  of  thanks  which  can  be  expressed  or  tendered 


A  HISTORY  OP  THE  SOCIETY  239 

to  Mr.  Dredge  would  cancel  the  obligation  which  is  owed 
to  him. 

On  Saturday,  the  22d  of  June,  the  party  went  to  the 
exhibition  under  the  conduct  of  members  of  the  French 
Society,  and  were  taken  through  a  portion  of  it,  and  then 
to  the  Eiffel  Tower,  after  ascending  which  they  were  en- 
tertained at  a  luncheon  on  the  lower  platform  of  the 
Tower,  presided  over  by  M.  Eiffel,  the  president  of  the 
French  Society,  and  attended  very  numerously  by  mem- 
bers of  the  French  Society  and  guests,  including  Mr. 
Whitelaw  Reid,  the  American  Minister,  and  General 
Franklin,  American  commissioner  to  the  exhibition. 

The  stay  in  Paris  included  many  other  visits — to  the 
great  sewers,  to  the  Gobelin  Tapestry  Works,  to  M. 
Pasteur's  laboratory,  to  the  Ecole  des  Mines,  to  the  great 
omnibus  and  cab  companies,  to  the  sewerage  and  pump- 
ing stations,  to  the  Sevres  Porcelain  Works,  and  so  on. 
The  social  features  of  the  entertainment  in  Paris  in- 
cluded, besides  what  has  been  already  mentioned,  recep- 
tions to  a  part  or  the  whole  of  the  joint  party  by  Presi- 
dent Carnot,  by  the  Prefect  of  the  Seine,  and  by  the 
Municipal  Council.  It  was  a  pleasant  feature  of  the  re- 
ception at  the  latter  place  that  one  of  the  speakers  on  the 
American  side.  Professor  de  Garay  of  the  City  of  Mexico, 
a  member  of  the  American  Society  of  Civil  Engineers  and 
an  accomplished  scientist  and  gentleman,  responded  most 
eloquently  in  the  French  language,  as  was  done  by  other 
members  of  the  party  on  other  occasions.  The  Institu- 
tion of  Mechanical  Engineers,  which  had  been  the  first 
to  extend  an  invitation  to  visit  England,  happened  to  have 
their  summer  meeting  in  Paris  just  at  the  close  of 
the  stay  there,  and  extended  to  those  of  the  members  who 
remained  an  invitation  to  their  dinner  and  to  their  ses- 
sions, so  that  English  hospitality  followed  the  party  even 
on  French  soil.  Then  came  the  disbanding  of  the  party, 
some  returning  home,  others  going  South,  and  a  consid- 
erable number  going  into  Germany,  where  they  were 
afterward  heard  from  as  receiving  hospitality  even  more 
overwhelming  than  that  which  had  greeted  them  either 


240     THE  AMERICAN  SOCIETY  OF  MECHANICAL  ENGINEERS 

in  England  or  in  France.  Still  others  came  back  to 
London,  and  a  very  small  number,  seven  only  being  ob- 
tainable, were  privileged  to  take  part  in  a  small  but 
unique  entertainment  given  by  Mr.  Dredge,  again  the 
host,  in  order,  as  he  supposed,  to  enable  a  selected  group 
to  present  a  handsome  silver  loving  cup  to  Mr.  James 
Forrest,  as  a  token  of  appreciation  of  the  members  of 
the  party  to  him  for  what  he  had  done  for  them  during 
the  visit  abroad.  The  committee  having  the  matter  in 
charge,  however,  appreciated  that  Mr.  Dredge  was  en- 
titled to  a  loving  cup  as  well  as  Mr.  Forrest,  and  two  cups 
were  prepared,  each  suitably  inscribed.  Each  of  the  two 
recipients  knew  that  the  other  was  to  be  presented  with  a 
cup,  but  neither  knew  that  he  was  to  receive  one  himself, 
and  there  was  a  very  pleasant  and  amusing  denouement 
when  the  second  cup  came  out. 

On  July  22  a  number  of  the  party  again  came  together 
and  for  the  last  time  accepted  the  hospitality  of  the 
Midland  Railroad  and  a  special  car  to  Derby,  where  they 
were  the  guests  of  Mr.  John  Noble,  the  general  manager 
of  the  company,  and  several  of  their  directors.  After  a 
handsome  luncheon  in  the  director's  room  a  visit  was 
made  to  their  works,  which  are  similar  to  those  at  Crewe, 
although  not  quite  so  large,  and  the  day  ended  for  many 
on  reaching  Liverpool  in  preparation  for  the  homeward 
voyage.  The  party  which  reassembled  in  this  way  at 
Liverpool,  numbering  more  than  fifty,  came  home  on  the 
City  of  Richmond,  together  with  those  from  Paris, 
reaching  New  York,  just  three  minutes  too  late  to 
break  the  ocean  record.  The  rest  of  the  party  came  home 
in  scattering  groups  but  more  than  fifty  came  home  on 
the  25th  of  August,  to  be  the  recipients  in  New  York  City, 
of  hospitalities  organized  at  the  hands  of  Mr.  J.  F.  Hollo- 
way  and  other  friends  at  the  Engineers'  Club  in  29th 
Street.  A  handsome  dinner  was  given  to  the  returning 
guests,  a  proceeding  likened  by  a  witty  speaker  to  the 
heaping  of  coals  of  fire  on  their  heads,  since  the  hosts 
were  those  who  had  not  been  able  to  participate  in  the 
sessions  which  the  guests  had  just  been  enjoying  and  of 


Cfyiy^^^Cvc^  c:gf^ 


PRESI  DENT    190-+ 


THE  AMERICAN    SOCIETY  OF    MECHANICAL    ENGINEERS 


1 


A  HISTOEY  OF  THE  SOCIETY  241 

which  they  spoke  in  such  enthusiastic  terms.  So  ended 
an  experience  remarkable  in  every  sense  of  the  word  and 
without  precedent,  and  one  which  will  ever  be  a  delightful 
memory  to  those  whose  privilege  it  was  to  take  part  in  it. 

There  were  a  number  of  individual  experiences  not 
possible  to  every  member  of  the  party  and  of  which  a 
full  account  of  the  European  visit  must  take  cognizance. 
At  the  visit  to  the  Pasteur  Institute  of  Paris  for  example, 
it  was  the  privilege  of  one  of  the  members  and  a  Past- 
President  of  the  Society  to  stand  between  M.  Eiffel,  de- 
signer of  the  great  tower  which  bears  his  name,  and  M. 
Louis  Pasteur  and  witness  the  innoculation  by  the  dis- 
tinguished surgeons  of  a  dozen  or  more  patients  who  had 
been  brought  in.  Each  one  was  punctured  in  a  little  spot 
in  his  side  above  the  hip  and  the  antitoxin  administered, 
the  whole  operation  taking  but  a  few  minutes,  but  it  was 
then  a  distinct  novelty  among  the  great  benefactions. 

Another  most  interesting  occurrence  was  the  German 
visit  of  that  year,  with  headquarters  at  Diisseldorf. 
There  were  daily  trips  to  mines  and  mills  and  nightly 
social  functions.  Among  these  was  a  grand  ball  at  one 
of  the  hotels,  a  supper  and  a  dance  in  the  Zoological 
Gardens,  and  an  evening  in  the  beautiful  gardens  where 
the  orchestra  is  the  successor  of  that  conducted  by 
Mendelssohn  years  ago.  The  trip  to  Cologne  and  Coblenz 
culminated  the  German  experience  of  that  year.  The 
party  reached  Coblenz  about  noon.  This  was  then  the 
residence  of  the  widowed  Empress  Augusta,  grand- 
mother of  the  Kaiser  on  the  throne  in  1913,  who  then 
lived  in  the  dowager  palace.  The  whole  party  of  some 
forty  were  tendered  a  luncheon  in  the  beautiful  palace 
gardens  and  afterwards  a  select  three,  of  which  Past- 
President  Oberlin  Smith  was  one,  were  invited  to  visit 
the  Empress  in  her  private  apartments,  her  health  not 
being  robust  enough  to  permit  the  approach  of  the  entire 
party.  At  high  noon,  evening  garments  were  donned  and 
Mr.  Smith  received  a  huge  bouquet  which  appeared  to 
him,  as  he  describes  it,  about  the  size  of  an  umbrella,  for 
presentation  to  the  hostess.    She  spoke  excellent  English 


242     THE  AMEEICAN  SOCIETY  OF  MECHANICAL  ENGINEEES 

and  chatted  pleasantly  for  some  fifteen  minutes  on  the 
details  of  the  Paris  Exposition  and  of  the  flood  in  Johns- 
town, Pa.,  to  the  relief  fund  of  which  she  had  been  a 
contributor.  The  party  was  then  driven  through  the 
city  and  embarked  upon  a  special  steamer  for  the  trip 
down  the  Rhine,  with  refreshments  and  dancing  on  deck. 
This  collation  was  the  fourth  square  meal  of  that  day. 
On  reaching  Cologne  a  large  crowd  assembled  where 
again  refreshments  were  tendered  at  a  hotel  and  the  trip 
signalized  by  salutes  by  flags,  cannons  and  rocket  fires 
and  the  day  with  its  seven  square  meals  came  to  an  end  I 

The  Executive  Committee  prepared  engrossed,  and  in 
some  cases  illuminated,  addresses  of  thanks  in  the  name 
of  the  party.  All  of  these  are  recorded  in  the  complete 
record  which  was  made  by  the  Secretary  of  the  Society 
as  an  Appendix  to  the  volume  of  Transactions  of  that 
year  and  which  is  No.  356  in  the  list  of  papers.  A 
souvenir  album  containing  originals  or  photographic  re- 
productions in  the  history  of  this  excursion  so  far  as 
possible  was  compiled  and  is  among  the  records  of  the 
Society. 

The  American  Society  of  Mechanical  Engineers  co- 
operated in  1890  with  the  Institute  of  Mining  Engineers 
in  the  pleasure  of  entertaining  the  British  Iron  and  Steel 
Institute  of  Great  Britain  and  the  Verein  deutscher 
Eisenhiittenleute.  It  was  during  this  period  that  the 
Bessemer  Medal  of  the  British  Iron  and  Steel  Institute 
was  conferred  on  John  Fritz,  and  the  bronze  bust  of 
Alex.  L.  HoUey,  one  of  the  founders  of  The  American 
Society  of  Mechanical  Engineers,  was  unveiled  in  Wash- 
ington Square,  New  York  City,  and  presented  by  its  do- 
nors to  the  City.  The  funds  for  this  bust,  designed  by  Par- 
tridge, were  contributed  by  members  of  the  Society  and 
by  the  iron  and  steel  corporations  with  which  Mr.  HoUey 
had  been  identified.  An  interval  of  ten  years  after  the 
death  of  the  eminent  American  was  necessary  under  the 
rules  of  the  Park  Department  before  such  a  monument 
could  be  located  in  Central  Park.  A  later  movement  was 
undertaken  to  transfer  the  memorial  from  this  less  dis- 


A  HISTOBY  OF  THE  SOCIETY  243 

tinguislied  location  to  the  splendid  surroundings  of  the 
campus  of  Columbia  University,  but  an  interesting  legal 
difficulty  was  met  where  the  counsel  for  the  City  decided 
that  the  transfer  of  such  a  gift  to  ground  which  the  City 
itself  did  not  own  was  an  unwise  step  to  take.  After 
the  ceremonies  of  the  New  York  Meeting  held  in  Chicker- 
ing  Hall,  now  no  longer  in  existence,  the  guests  were 
conveyed  by  special  trains  to  the  iron  and  steel  making 
industries  of  America.  It  was  at  the  banquet  in  New  York 
at  Delmonico's  former  building  on  26th  Street  that  Mr. 
Abram  S.  Hewitt,  toastmaster  for  the  American  hosts, 
so  cleverly  extricated  himself  from  pronouncing  the  name 
of  the  Society  of  German  Iron  and  Steel  Workers.  The 
latter  is  officially  called  the  Verein  deutscher  Eisen- 
hiittenleute.  He  said  on  rising  to  his  feet:  ''It  gives 
me  pleasure  to  welcome  on  behalf  of  the  American  Engi- 
neers the  Iron  and  Steel  Institute  of  Great  Britain  and 

the   the    German    organization    of 

kindred  aim. ' '  Even  the  foreign  visitors,  accustomed  to 
polysyllables,  saw  the  fun  and  appreciated  the  skill  with 
which  the  speaker  had  avoided  his  problem  of  hurdling 
the  Eisenhiittenleute. 

The  first  opportunity  for  the  Society  of  Mechanical 
Engineers,  and  those  who  had  grouped  themselves  about 
it  in  1889,  to  return  to  this  particular  group  of  hosts 
what  they  had  received  at  their  hands,  was  offered  in 
1893  when  the  Columbian  Exposition  was  held  in  Chicago, 
111.  The  British  Institution  was  formally  invited  to  come 
to  the  United  States  and  be  entertained  on  its  way  to 
Chicago,  but  they  decided  that  there  would  not  be  enough 
members  coming  to  America  at  any  one  time  to  constitute 
an  organized  body  upon  whom  such  entertainment  and 
courtesies  might  be  concentrated.  Similarly  among  the 
Germans  the  delegation  was  scattering  as  regards  time 
and  while  the  Engineering  Congress  in  Chicago  attracted 
many,  these  were  not  enough  to  form  a  nucleus  around 
which  might  gather  the  hospitable  intent  of  those  who 
went  abroad  in  1889.  The  Society  transformed  its  audi- 
torium during  that  summer  into  a  species  of  touring  bu- 


244     THE  AMEEICAN  SOCIETY  OF  MECHANICAL  ENGINEERS 

reau,  witli  railroad  and  industrial  information  for  the  use 
of  any  visiting  engineers  who  might  pass  through  or  stop 
in  New  York.  Dr.  Chas.  H.  Deghuee  was  secured  as 
linguist  and  the  Society  was  glad  to  furnish  this  effective 
service  during  the  Exposition  period. 

But  when  the  French  Society  of  Civil  Engineers  de- 
cided to  come  in  a  body  with  President  and  Secretary  and 
some  features  of  organization,  the  energy  and  enthusiasm 
of  what  the  party  four  years  ago  had  agreed  to  designate 
as  '  *  Eighty-niners ' '  was  expended  on  them.  A  committee 
was  formed,  of  which  Stephen  W.  Baldwin,  the  Secretary 
of  the  Society  and  Mr.  H.  H.  Suplee  were  the  working 
factors.  The  Marquis  de  Chasseloup  Loubat,  a  member 
of  the  French  Commission  to  the  Exposition,  had  been 
very  active  in  the  French  society  of  which  he  was  a 
member,  and  a  party  of  46  with  the  President  and  Secre- 
tary of  the  Society,  had  arranged  to  embark  together. 

The  program  for  their  entertainment  was  as  follows : 

GENERAL  PROGRAM  OP  THE  VISIT  OF  THE  FRENCH  ENGINEERS 
TO  AMERICA  AS  GUESTS  OP  THE  "EIGHTY-NINERS" 

Saturday,  August  26 Leave  Havre  on  La  Champagne 

Sunday,  September  3 Arrive  at  Morton  Street  Pier,  New  York 

September  3  to  September  7 Guests  of  New  York  welcome  company 

Monday  Bridges  and  park  drive 

Tuesday The  city 

Wednesday  The  river  and  harbor 

Thursday The  respite  for  business 

Friday,  September  8 Special  complimentary  train  to  Niagara 

Saturday,  September  9 At  Niagara.    Leave  by  special  train  for 

Chicago 

September  10  to  19 In  Chicago  (Auditorium) 

Tueday,  September  19 Leave  for  St.  Louis 

Wednesday,  September  20 In  St.  Louis  and  leave  for  Pittsburg 

September  22,  23 In  Pittsburg  (Monongahela) 

Sunday,  September  24 En  route  for  Washington,  D.  C. 

Monday,  September  25 In  Washington  (Ebbitt) 

September  26,  27 In  Philadelphia  (Continental) 

Thursday,  September  28 Arrive  in  New  York 

Friday,  September  29 Final  day  in  New  York  City 

Saturday,  September  30  to  Sunday, 

October  8 En  route  for  Havre 

The  entertainment  in  New  York  had  been  begun  by 
a  boarding  of  the  S.  S.  La  Champagne  at  Quarantine  by 


A  HISTORY  OF  THE  SOCIETY  245 

Messrs.  Baldwin  and  Hutton  early  Sunday  morning. 
Luncheon  on  Monday  at  the  Engineers'  Club  in  the  29th 
Street  home  preceded  a  drive  in  carriages  through  the 
city  parks.  The  next  day  embraced  a  run  on  the  elevated 
railway  system,  a  luncheon  at  the  Caf6  Savarin,  with 
speeches  by  Colonel  Prout  and  others,  and  thence  to  the 
Brooklyn  Bridge  and  the  Grand  Central  terminal;  the 
third  day  a  harbor  trip  with  a  luncheon  on  the  Fall  River 
steamer,  Puritan.  The  party  was  then  dispatched  by 
special  train  to  Niagara,  to  Detroit  and  to  Chicago.  The 
expenses  of  this  entertainment  were  borne  by  subscrip- 
tion, so  that  it  was  not  an  official  matter  of  the  Society, 
and  yet  was  operated  altogether  as  though  it  were. 

The  next  international  interchange  was  a  repetition 
of  the  experiences  of  1889,  albeit  on  a  smaller  scale.  In 
view  of  the  fact  that  a  number  of  members  of  The 
American  Society  of  Mechanical  Engineers  were  ex- 
pected to  visit  Europe  during  the  summer  of  1900,  several 
invitations  were  tendered  by  European  societies,  and 
it  was  at  first  thought  that  a  party  of  members  might 
be  formed  to  cross  in  the  same  steamship,  in  a  manner 
similar  to  that  which  had  been  found  so  successful  in 
1889.  A  thorough  canvass  of  the  membership,  however, 
showed  that  it  was  impracticable  to  arrange  a  date  which 
would  be  acceptable  to  all,  hence  it  was  decided  to  allow 
the  various  members  to  make  their  own  plans  for  cross- 
ing, and  arrange  for  a  general  gathering  on  the  other 
side. 

The  following  committee  was  appointed  by  the 
Council  to  represent  the  Society  at  the  various  functions 
abroad,  and  to  conduct  the  necessary  organization  of  the 
members  who  might  visit  Europe:  Charles  H.  Morgan, 
President,  Jesse  M.  Smith,  Vice-President,  William  H. 
Wiley,  Treasurer,  James  Dredge,  Honorary  Member,  H. 
H.  Suplee,  Member  of  Council.  Mr.  Suplee  was  ap- 
pointed Secretary  of  the  Committee. 

Mr.  Suplee  sailed  in  April,  establishing  his  head- 
quarters at  the  offices  of  the  Engineering  Magazine,  222- 


246     THE  AMERICAN  SOCIETY  OF  MECHANICAL  ENGINEERS 

225  Strand,  London,  tlie  various  members  being  in- 
structed to  report  to  him  upon  arrival  in  London. 

Invitations  had  been  received  from  the  Institution  of 
Mechanical  Engineers  and  from  the  Institution  of  Civil 
Engineers  to  attend  their  respective  conventions  in 
London,  and  also  from  the  Society  des  Ing6nieurs  Civils 
de  France  to  send  delegates  to  attend  its  meetings  in 
Paris. 

The  Paris  meetings  were  the  first  in  point  of  time, 
and  the  Council  had  appointed  as  delegates  the  members 
of  the  committee  above  named.  But  two  members  of  that 
committee  were  able  to  attend,  Messrs.  Morgan  and 
Suplee,  as  Messrs.  Smith  and  Wiley  had  not  yet  reached 
Europe,  and  Mr.  Dredge  found  it  impracticable  to  leave 
London  at  that  time. 

The  Paris  meetings,  which  took  place  from  June  15 
to  June  20,  were  naturally  closely  bound  up  with  the  Ex- 
position, but  included  also  numerous  social  and  special 
functions.  On  June  15  there  was  given  a  brilliant  con- 
versazione at  the  fine  new  house  of  the  Society  in  the  Rue 
Blanche,  at  which  the  delegates  were  formally  received 
and  presented  to  the  president,  M.  Canet,  at  the  same 
time  renewing  many  pleasant  acquaintances  made  among 
members  of  the  Society  who  had  visited  the  United  States 
in  1893,  as  well  as  with  the  hosts  of  1889.  On  June  18  a 
musical  and  literary  soiree  was  given  at  the  house  of  the 
Society,  the  entertainment  including  instrumental  and 
vocal  selections  and  recitations  by  artists  of  the  Op6ra, 
the  Comedie  Francaise,  and  other  noted  companies.  This 
brilliant  function,  to  which  ladies  were  also  invited,  was 
especially  notable. 

Numerous  specially  conducted  visits  to  various  sec- 
tions of  the  Exposition  were  provided,  and  the  house  of 
the  Societe  was  thrown  open  to  the  delegates,  and  the 
valuable  assistance  of  the  secretaire  administratif ,  M. 
Armand  de  Dax  and  his  staff  placed  at  their  service  to 
enable  various  points  of  interest  in  Paris  and  at  the  Ex- 
position to  be  visited  to  advantage. 

Among  the  special  social  functions  of  the  week  must 


A  HISTOBY  OF  THE  SOCIETY  247 

be  mentioned  the  reception  given  to  the  visiting  delegates 
by  M.  and  Mme.  Canet,  on  June  16,  at  their  magnificent 
residence  in  the  Avenue  Henri  Martin. 

The  convention  was  closed  with  a  banquet  at  the  Hotel 
Continental  on  the  evening  of  June  20,  which  was  largely 
attended. 

Prior  to  the  meetings  of  the  Institution  of  Mechanical 
Engineers,  which  took  place  June  27  to  29,  inclusive, 
plans  were  made  for  a  general  gathering  of  the  members 
of  The  American  Society  of  Mechanical  Engineers,  a 
number  of  whom  had  arrived  in  London,  and  had  com- 
municated with  the  Secretary  of  the  Executive  Com- 
mittee. 

The  Secretary  had  already  been  in  most  pleasant  com- 
munication with  Mr.  Edgar  Worthington,  the  Secretary 
of  the  Institution  of  Mechanical  Engineers,  through 
whom  the  Council  of  the  Institution  most  kindly  placed 
the  hall  in  the  house  of  the  Institution,  at  Storey's  Gate, 
St.  James's  Park,  at  the  disposition  of  the  committee. 

A  meeting  of  a  number  of  the  members  of  the  Society, 
together  with  the  Executive  Committee,  was  held  at  the 
house  of  the  Institution  of  Mechanical  Engineers  on  June 
25,  at  which  the  various  invitations  of  the  Institution 
were  announced  and  the  necessary  communications  made. 
At  all  of  the  meetings  of  the  Institution  of  Mechanical 
Engineers  the  fact  was  emphasized  that  the  members  of 
The  American  Society  of  Mechanical  Engineers  were 
especial  participants  and  honored  guests.  At  the  opening 
ceremonies  of  the  convention  prominent  places  were  re- 
served for  the  Executive  Committee  and  visiting  mem- 
bers, and  the  President,  Mr.  Charles  H.  Morgan,  was 
called  upon  to  speak  in  response  to  words  of  greeting 
from  Mr.  E.  Windsor  Richards,  who,  in  the  absence  of 
Sir  William  H.  White,  presided. 

From  a  technical  point  of  view,  the  most  important 
visit  of  these  meetings  was  that  to  the  works  of  Messrs. 
Willans  &  Robinson,  at  Rugby,  on  June  29.  A  special 
train  on  the  London  and  Northwestern  Railway  carried 
the  members  of  the  two  societies  to  Rugby,  the  train  de- 


248     THE  AMEEICAN  SOCIETY  OF  MECHANICAL  ENGINEERS 

livering  the  party  directly  at  the  works,  where,  under  the 
courteous  and  hospitable  guidance  of  Mr.  Mark  Robinson, 
Captain  Sankey,  Mr.  Lazenby,  and  others,  this  fine  works, 
admittedly  one  of  the  most  modern  in  arrangement  in 
England,  was  thoroughly  inspected. 

Other  parties  were  made  for  boat  trips  up  the  Thames 
to  Staines,  and  down  the  river  to  the  docks,  and  all  the 
visitors  expressed  themselves  as  most  highly  apprecia- 
tive of  the  privileges  which  had  been  offered  them. 

On  the  evening  of  Wednesday,  June  27,  occurred  the 
banquet  at  the  Hotel  Cecil,  upon  which  occasion  the 
American  visitors  were  highly  honored.  Mr.  E.  Windsor 
Richards  ably  filled  the  chair,  supported  on  the  right  by 
the  American  Ambassador,  Hon.  Joseph  H.  Choate,  and 
on  the  left  by  the  Right  Hon.  Lord  Alverstone,  Master  of 
the  Rolls,  by  whose  side  was  placed  Mr.  Charles  H. 
Morgan,  President  of  The  American  Society  of  Me- 
chanical Engineers.  Other  members  of  the  Executive 
Committee  and  of  the  Society  were  similarly  placed  by 
the  side  of  distinguished  British  hosts.  The  occasion 
was  a  memorable  one  in  many  ways,  and  undoubtedly 
served  to  unite  more  closely  than  ever  the  professional 
and  personal  ties  existing  between  the  two  societies. 

Too  much  cannot  be  said  of  the  manner  in  which  the 
Secretary  of  the  Institution  of  Mechanical  Engineers, 
Mr.  Edgar  Worthington,  exerted  himself  to  render  all 
the  events  most  enjoyable  and  agreeable  to  the  American 
visitors,  and  in  this  he  was  most  ably  seconded  by  the 
members  of  the  Reception  Committee,  headed  by  Mr. 
William  M.  Maw,  its  chairman,  since  elected  President  of 
the  Institution,  and  by  many  individual  members  of  the 
Institution. 

The  meetings  of  the  Institution  of  Civil  Engineers 
took  place  from  July  2  to  July  6,  inclusive,  and  prior  to 
that  date  the  Secretary  of  the  Executive  Committee  had 
been  in  communication  with  the  Secretary  of  the  Insti- 
tution, Dr.  J.  H.  T.  Tudsbery,  whose  courteous  services 
were  most  gratefully  acknowledged.  Invitations  for  all 
the  functions  of  the  convention  were  placed  in  the  hands 


THE    AMERICAN   SOCIETY  OF  MECMANICAU   ENGINEERS 


A  HISTORY  OF  THE  SOCIETY  249 

of  the  Executive  Committee  with  care  and  promptness, 
and  every  possible  facility  afforded  for  their  distribution. 

The  opening  meeting  was  held  on  the  afternoon  of 
July  2,  at  the  house  of  the  Institution  in  Great  George 
Street,  Westminster,  where  the  American  visitors  were 
greeted  by  an  address  of  welcome  by  the  President,  Sir 
Douglas  Fox.  At  this  meeting,  not  only  members  of  The 
American  Society  of  Mechanical  Engineers  were  present, 
but  also  members  of  the  American  Society  of  Civil  Engi- 
neers, the  American  Institute  of  Mining  Engineers,  and 
the  American  Institute  of  Electrical  Engineers. 

Sir  Douglas  Fox  said,  in  part : 

This  Institution  is  the  home  of  the  Parent  Society  of  British  Engineers. 
It  is  cosmopolitan  in  this  sense,  that  it  includes  every  class  of  Civilian 
Engineer,  and  that  is  the  meaning  from  our  point  of  view  of  the  words 
"Civil  Engineer."  Now,  the  great  advantage  of  that  for  you  and  for  us 
on  the  Council  of  this  Institution  is,  that  I  have  this  afternoon  the  honor 
of  being  supported  on  this  platform  by  representatives  not  only  my  own 
Council,  b"t  of  that  of  the  Mechanical  Engineers  who  have  been  your  kind 
hosts  during  the  last  week,  of  the  Electrical  Engineers,  of  the  Naval  Archi- 
tects, and  of  the  Iron  and  Steel  Institute.  I  have  only  got  to  mention  those 
names  to  you  to  show  you  that  on  this  occasion  I  represent  a  very  great 
force,  not  only  in  this  country,  but  throughout  the  world.  There  are  men 
here  who  have  made  their  mark,  as  there  are  men  on  the  other  side,  facing 
me,  who  have  made  a  very  great  mark  upon  the  world;  and  it  is  good  for 
us  to  come  and  see  one  another  face  to  face  on  an  occasion  like  this.  Then, 
on  the  other  hand,  because  we  are  cosmopolitan,  we  have  been  able  to 
extend  our  invitation  not  merely  to  the  Society  of  Civil  Engineers  of 
America,  of  which  some  of  us  are  very  proud  to  be  members,  but  also  to 
members  of  the  other  engineering  societies,  the  Mechanical  Engineers,  the 
Mining  Engineers,  the  Electrical  Engineers,  and  the  Naval  Architects  of 
the  United  States,  and  we  hope  that  all  those  bodies  are  more  or  less  repre- 
sented amongst  us  this  afternoon. 

Eesponses  were  made  by  Col.  H.  S.  Haines,  member 
of  the  Council  of  The  American  Society  of  Mechanical 
Engineers,  and  by  Mr.  Jesse  M.  Smith,  Vice-President  of 
The  American  Society  of  Mechanical  Engineers,  after 
which  a  general  conversazione  followed. 

On  the  following  day  occurred  the  most  notable  event 
of  the  convention,  a  trip  to  Windsor  Castle,  where  by 
special  permission  of  her  Majesty,  Queen  Victoria, 
the  private  apartments  of  the  Royal  residence  were 
thrown  open  to  the  visitors,  after  which  a  luncheon  was 


250     THE  AMERICAN  SOCIETY  OF  MECHANICAL  ENGINEEBS 

served  in  the  conservatory,  the  Institution  of  Civil  Engi- 
neers and  its  American  guests  being  the  guests  of  the 
Queen. 

The  party  was  then  gathered  on  the  lawn,  to  be  re- 
ceived by  Her  Majesty,  who  drove  before  them,  and 
caused  to  be  presented  to  her  by  Sir  Douglas  Fox,  the 
President  of  the  Institution  of  Civil  Engineers :  Mr.  John 
J.  Wallace,  President  of  the  American  Society  of  Civil 
Engineers,  and  Mrs.  Wallace;  Mr.  Charles  H.  Morgan, 
President  of  The  American  Society  of  Mechanical  Engi- 
neers, and  Mrs.  Morgan;  and  Mr.  Charles  Hawksley,  of 
the  Institution  of  Civil  Engineers,  and  Mrs.  Hawksley. 
The  Queen  spoke  a  few  words  of  welcome,  saying:  *'I 
am  very  glad  to  see  you  here,  and  that  you  have  had  such 
a  beautiful  day,"  and  then  drove  slowly  down  the  line, 
bowing  a  greeting  to  the  entire  party. 

The  Fourth  of  July  was  left  without  special  assign- 
ment, in  order  that  the  Americans  might  celebrate  their 
national  holiday  according  to  their  own  plans,  and  many 
most  enjoyable  reunions  took  place  during  the  day  and 
evening. 

On  the  evening  of  July  5  occurred  the  reception  by 
the  President  and  Council  of  the  Institution  of  Civil  En- 
gineers, at  the  Gruildhall,  where  a  large  attendance  of 
ladies  and  gentlemen  made  the  occasion  memorable. 

On  July  6  there  was  an  excursion  to  Warwick  and  to 
Stratford-on-Avon,  a  special  train  taking  the  party  first 
to  Warwick ;  there  they  were  welcomed  by  the  Earl  and 
Countess  of  Warwick  at  the  Castle,  and  by  them  shown 
through  the  stately  buildings  so  rich  in  historical  rem- 
iniscences and  relics,  after  which  the  whole  party  was 
entertained  in  a  large  marquee  set  up  for  the  purpose  in 
Warwick  Park.  A  hurried  run  to  Stratford  followed  and 
the  visitors  were  brought  back  by  their  special  train  to 
London. 

An  invitation  had  been  extended  through  Mr.  H.  F. 
L.  Orcutt  at  the  meeting  on  June  25  that  the  Americans 
should  visit  Berlin  as  guests  of  Messrs.  Ludwig,  Loewe 
and  Company.    Special  trains  and  entertainment  at  their 


A  HISTOBY  OP  THE  SOCIETY 


251 


hotels  and  many  other  distinguished  courtesies  were 
shown  to  those  of  the  party  who  could  accept  this  invita- 
tion, and  a  banquet  of  unusual  splendor  and  visits  to  the 
shops  of  Loewe  and  Company  were  features  of  this  part 
of  the  excursion. 

By  direction  of  the  Council  illuminated  addresses  of 
salutation  and  recognition  were  prepared  in  its  name  and 
forwarded  by  the  Committee  to  those  whom  they  desired 
to  honor.  They  will  be  found  reproduced  by  photography 
in  the  report  of  Mr.  Suplee  presented  in  Volume  22  of  the 
Transactions,  as  No.  912. 

It  would  not  be  profitable  to  compare  the  trip  of  1900 
with  that  of  1889.  The  meetings  of  1900  included  events 
which  were  unique  in  themselves.  The  day  at  Windsor, 
with  the  reception  by  Queen  Victoria,  was,  socially  speak- 
ing, above  anything  occurring  in  1889,  while  the  active 
entrance  of  American  competition  into  European  engi- 
neering industries  gave  a  new  meaning  to  all  that  was 
seen  and  heard.  Both  occasions  were  memorable;  both 
will  long  be  remembered  by  those  who  were  so  fortunate 
as  to  participate  in  them. 

The  following  list  of  members  of  The  American  So- 
ciety of  Mechanical  Engineers  participating  in  the 
European  events  of  1900  does  not  profess  to  be  complete, 
owing  to  the  neglect  of  some  to  register  at  the  office  of 
the  Secretary  of  the  Executive  Committee.  Every  at- 
tempt has  been  made  to  amplify  it,  and  under  the  cir- 
cumstances it  may  be  considered  as  reasonably  correct 
and  full: 


Almond,  T.  B. 
Archeb.  E.  B. 
Baker,  C.  W. 
Barnaby,  C.  W. 
Braine,  B.  G. 
Breckeneidgk,  L.  p. 
Brown,  A.  T. 
bullard,  e.  p. 
Carroll,  L.  D. 
Colby,  A.  L. 
Cooke,  H. 
DiCKE,  G.  W. 
DORAN,  W.  8. 


Dredge,  J. 
Fisher,  C. 
Flad,  E. 
Freeland,  F.  T. 
(Joss,  E.  O. 
Greenwood,  P.  F. 
Haines,  H.  S. 
Hayward,  H.  S. 
Henning,  Q.  C. 
Honiss,  W.  H. 
Howe,  H.  M. 
Hunt,  B.  W, 
Hunter,  G.  E. 


Jones,  W. 
KuwADA,  Gohpei 
Loss,  H.  V. 
Low,  F.  E. 
Melvin,  D.  N. 
Miller,  Fred  J. 
Miller,  S. 
norbom,  j.  o. 
Parks,  E.  H. 
Parsons,  H.  deB. 
Beed,  W,  E. 
bobinson,  a.  w. 
Sancton,  E.  K. 


252     THE  AMERICAN  SOCIETY  OF  MECHANICAL  ENGINEEES 

Shkldon,  p.  p.  Suplee,  H.  H.  Webstee,  W.  R. 

Smith,  Jesse  M.  Swasey,  A.  Wheeler,  H.  S. 

Smith,  Oberlin  Thomas,  C.  W.  Wheelock,  J. 

Spanoler,  H.  W.  Thomson,  J.  Wiley,  W.  H. 

Stiles,  N,  C.  Ward,  C.  Wood,  K. 

The  next  international  event  was  the  joint  meeting 
of  the  British  Institution  of  Mechanical  Engineers  with 
The  American  Society  of  Mechanical  Engineers  in  Chi- 
cago in  June  1904.  Besides  the  formal  routine  of  the  So- 
ciety convention  elsewhere  reported,  the  Society  ar- 
ranged that  in  each  industrial  city  of  importance  where 
its  members  were  to  be  found,  there  should  be  a  repre- 
sentative or  a  committee  to  whom  the  visiting  English- 
men might  address  themselves  for  guidance  and  for 
furtherance  of  their  purposes  while  in  that  city.  This 
plan  worked  very  much  to  the  advantage  of  the  visitors, 
who  were  accredited  from  New  York  to  the  appointed 
persons,  and  for  whom  information  concerning  the  in- 
dustries and  transportation  by  rail  was  supplied  from 
headquarters. 

After  the  meeting  had  adjourned,  those  who  so  de- 
sired were  conveyed  to  the  Exposition  in  St.  Louis,  and 
were  thence  allowed  to  depart  for  home,  either  directly 
or  after  further  travel  as  they  might  desire.  At  this 
convention  the  plan  of  registration  by  slips  and  carbon 
duplicates  was  first  introduced  as  devised  by  Mr.  Louis 
A.  Gillet,  assistant  to  the  Secretary. 

The  next  interchange  was  the  joint  meeting  in  Birm- 
ingham, England,  in  1910,  where  the  American  Society 
were  guests  of  the  British  Institution  of  Mechanical  En- 
gineers. The  party  was  a  result  of  a  conference  in  the 
Spring  of  1909  in  America,  in  which  Sir  Robert  Hadfield 
of  the  Council  of  the  Institution  was  its  mouthpiece.  On 
September  17  followed  the  official  invitation  and  an  Ex- 
ecutive Committee  was  formed  to  arrange  details. 
Reservations  were  made  on  the  White  Star  steamer 
Celtic  for  144  members  and  guests,  sailing  on  July  16, 
while  many  others  were  to  join  in  England.  The  sea  trip 
was  remarkable  in  many  ways  through  the  efforts  of  a 


A  HISTOBY  OF  THE  SOCIETY  253 

committee  of  which  Mr.  George  M.  Brill  was  the  leading 
spirit,  to  promote  acquaintance  and  relieve  any  tedium. 
On  Monday  evening  the  officers  of  the  ship  and  of  the 
Society  held  a  reception  with  dancing.  On  Tuesday 
Worcester  R.  Warner  gave  a  lecture  on  What  the 
Astronomers  are  Doing;  on  Wednesday  there  was  a 
musicale  including  recitations;  on  Thursday  John  R. 
Freeman  gave  an  address  on  the  Panama  Canal ;  on  Fri- 
day was  a  dance ;  and  on  Saturday  the  award  of  prizes 
in  the  games  of  sport  and  chance.  A  presentation  of 
souvenirs  to  captain  and  chief  engineer  was  a  feature  of 
the  evening. 

The  tender  in  the  Mersey  brought  a  splendid  delega- 
tion of  the  English  hosts  on  board  who  welcomed  the 
party.  A  special  train  from  Liverpool  was  met  by  motor 
busses  in  Birmingham,  and  the  meeting  was  begun.  Pre- 
liminary courtesies  to  officers  of  the  Society  by  the  Presi- 
dent of  the  Institution,  Mr.  J.  A.  F.  Aspinall,  signalized 
Monday  July  24,  and  on  Tuesday  the  joint  meeting 
opened.  In  the  afternoon  many  excursions  were  ar- 
ranged in  and  around  Birmingham;  a  number  visited 
historic  Worcester  and  its  cathedral.  In  the  evening 
was  a  most  noteworthy  garden  fete  in  the  Botanical 
Gardens  at  Edgbastin.  Wednesday  was  again  devoted 
to  papers  of  the  professional  type  in  the  morning,  and  to 
a  visit  to  the  engineering  school  of  Birmingham  Uni- 
versity. In  the  evening  was  a  most  distinguished  recep- 
tion by  the  Lord  Mayor  and  Lady  Mayoress,  with  music 
of  a  high  order. 

On  Thursday  the  party  started  by  motor  busses  for 
Stratford  by  way  of  Kenilworth  and  Warwick  and  thence 
by  train  to  London.  Others  had  other  alternatives  to 
Litchfield,  to  Coventry  and  Rugby. 

On  Friday  was  the  concluding  session  in  London,  with 
its  extended  votes  of  thanks  to  all  who  had  been  so  cour- 
teous both  in  Birmingham  and  London  and  elsewhere. 
In  the  afternoon  courtesies  by  invitation  were  a  feature, 
and  in  the  evening  the  great  banquet  was  held  in  the 
Connaught  Rooms.     President  Aspinall  had  the  chair 


254     THE  AMEEICAN  SOCIETY  OF  MECHANICAL  ENGINEERS 

of  honor,  and  Ambassador  Whitelaw  Reid  responded  for 
the  United  States  and  Prof.  F.  R.  Hutton  for  The  Amer- 
ican Society  of  Mechanical  Engineers.  Sir  William  H. 
White,  Past-President  of  the  Institution  and  Honorary 
Member  of  the  Society  offered  the  latter  toast.  Pro- 
fessor Button's  response  covered  the  unity  and  differ- 
ences in  professional  atmosphere  on  the  two  sides  of  the 
ocean ;  and  the  significance  to  the  world  and  its  progress 
that  both  branches  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  family  had  so 
much  of  their  ideals  in  common. 

On  Saturday  were  excursions  to  Windsor  and  Mar- 
low,  part  by  rail  and  part  by  steam  launches  on  the  River 
Thames.  On  Sunday,  a  special  service  in  Westminster 
Abbey  under  the  light  from  the  memorial  window  to  Sir 
Benjamin  Baker,  Honorary  Member  of  the  Society, 
brought  the  visit  to  a  close  in  fitting  form. 

No  mention  has  been  made  in  detail  of  many  profes- 
sional courtesies  involved  in  the  long  list  of  alternative 
excursions  arranged  by  the  hosts  of  the  party  both  in 
Birmingham  and  London  and  elsewhere.  Sir  William 
White  entertained  the  officers  of  the  Society  at  a  hand- 
some private  dinner;  tea  was  served  in  the  Zoological 
Gardens  in  one  of  the  pavilions ;  Mr.  Swasey  also  gave  a 
private  dinner  to  members  of  the  Council  and  executive 
committee;  Messrs.  Maw  and  Thornycroft  gave  garden 
parties. 

Here  again  also  as  in  1889  and  1900  addresses  and 
resolutions  of  distinguished  character  were  prepared  by 
committee  and  sent  to  the  hosts. 

The  international  reunion  which  closes  the  period  of 
33  years  of  the  Society  history  is  the  German  trip  of  the 
Summer  of  1913.  This  was  arranged  for  by  the  Verein 
deutscher  Ingenieure  through  personal  visits  of  their 
representatives.  Dr.  von  Miller  and  Dr.  Conrad  Mat- 
schoss,  and  by  extended  correspondence  with  the  Secre- 
tary of  the  Society,  Past-President  E.  D.  Meier,  and 
others  on  an  executive  committee.  The  booking  of  pas- 
sage on  the  steamer  Victoria  Luise  of  the  Hamburg- 
American  Line  began  very  early  in  the  winter  and  the 


A  HISTORY  OF  THE  SOCIETY  255 

sailing  of  upward  of  300  members  and  guests  took  place 
on  June  10.  The  same  problems  were  met  this  year  as 
before  on  similar  occasions,  in  adjusting  a  limited  ac- 
commodation both  on  the  steamer  and  on  the  tendered 
excursions  on  shore  to  the  requests  of  members  to  bring 
with  them  guests  of  their  families  or  acquaintance.  To 
what  proper  extent  may  such  outsiders,  booking  accom- 
modations early,  be  allowed  to  occupy  places  of  members 
who  are  debarred  from  early  decision,  and  who  may 
rightly  feel  aggrieved  that  places  primarily  intended  for 
them  by  virtue  of  their  membership  should  be  filled  by 
non-members  ? 

The  steamer  trip  of  the  1913  party  was  made  a  special 
feature  of  the  pleasure  of  those  who  went  with  it  as  in 
1910.  A  committee  was  organized  of  which  Prof.  A.  M. 
Greene,  Jr.,  was  the  leading  spirit  and  provided  enter- 
tainment for  nearly  every  day.  A  reception  on  the  second 
evening  out  brought  the  entire  ship's  company  into  ac- 
quaintance both  with  the  officers  of  the  ship  and  of  the 
party  and  made  all  participants  in  what  was  to  follow. 
These  features  were  lectures  by  competent  members  on 
some  assigned  topic,  and  included  one  by  Mr.  Henry 
Hess,  tracing  the  history  of  the  German  Empire,  the 
steps  leading  to  the  unification  of  the  States  and  the  pres- 
ent industrial  activity;  one  on  German  art  by  Prof. 
Henry  E.  Clifford ;  one  by  Mr.  Worcester  R.  Warner  on 
German  cities ;  and  one  by  Prof.  C.  R.  Richards,  on  the 
German  Educational  System. 

The  ship  being  a  German  vessel,  and  the  party  bound 
for  Germany,  the  occasion  was  taken  to  celebrate  the 
twenty-fifth  anniversary  of  the  accession  of  the  present 
Kaiser,  falling  on  June  16.  Prof.  Wm.  H.  Carpenter, 
provost  of  Columbia  University  and  an  expert  in 
Germanics,  responded  to  the  Captain's  toast  at  the  Silver 
Jubilee  dinner.  Besides  these  formal  features  of  the  ship 
life,  informal  and  frolicsome  occurrences  were  not  lack- 
ing. Mr.  Frank  B.  Gilbreth  was  sworn  in  with  pomp  and 
formality  as  special  police  officer,  and  later  brought  to 
mock  trial  for  misdemeanors  such  as  exceeding  the  speed 


256     THE  AMERICAN  SOCIETY  OF  MECHANICAL  ENGINEERS 

limit  on  deck.  There  was  a  prize  baby  show,  deck  sports, 
games  and  contests.  A  game  of  wireless  telegraphy  was 
organized  in  which  a  message  of  twenty  words  was  to  be 
written  in  rhyme.    Two  dances  were  given,  one  a  cotillion. 

Representatives  of  the  Verein  deutscher  Ingenieure 
came  aboard  at  Plymouth,  England,  to  greet  the  party 
and  sail  with  its  members  to  the  port  of  entry  into 
Germany.  The  party  landed  on  Thursday,  June  20,  at 
Cuxhaven,  and  were  taken  by  train  to  Hamburg. 

On  Friday  forenoon  the  company  assembled  at  the 
Landing  Stage  Restaurant  of  the  river  steamers  where 
after  breakfasting  they  listened  to  a  lecture  about  the 
Harbor  of  Hamburg  and  the  tunnel  under  the  Elbe  by 
Geheimrath  Bubendey  who  is  responsible  for  much  of  the 
recent  work,  and  then  took  an  excursion  about  the  harbor 
in  steamers. 

In  the  evening  a  reception  was  tendered  to  the  visitors 
by  the  Senate  of  Hamburg,  which  is  one  of  the  free  cities, 
a  miniature  republic  with  a  government  of  its  own.  The 
address  of  welcome  was  made  by  the  Lord  Mayor,  and  an 
opportunity  was  offered  to  inspect  the  magnificent 
Rathhaus,  the  seat  of  the  local  government.  A  banquet 
tendered  by  the  Hamburg  Section  of  the  Verein  deutscher 
Ingenieure  in  the  Rathskeller  beneath  the  same  building 
completed  the  evening's  entertainment. 

On  Saturday  the  tunnel  under  the  Elbe,  a  municipally 
owned  project  with  two  driveways  and  two  sidewalks,  and 
with  elevators  at  either  end  for  teams  and  passengers 
was  inspected.  It  was  a  pleasure  to  notice  that  the 
elevators  were  American,  made  by  Otis.  The  party  was 
then  taken  to  the  shipbuilding  yards  of  Blohm  and  Voss 
where  among  other  interesting  things  the  Vaterland 
(55,000  tons,  five  tons  larger  than  the  Imperator)  was  on 
view.  After  lunching  at  the  yards  the  party  was  taken 
to  the  power  station  of  the  elevated  railroad  at  Barmbeck 
whence  after  being  further  refreshed  they  proceeded  to 
the  Hagenbeck  Zoological  Gardens,  the  attractions  of 
which  were  explained  by  the  younger  Mr.  Hagenbeck 


PRESIDENT   I906 


THE   AMERICAN    SOCIETY  OF   MEGHAN  ICAL    ENGINEERS 


A  HISTOEY  OP  THE  SOCIETY  257 

himself.  The  evening  was  thoughtfully  left  free  and 
profitably  employed  in  viewing  the  interesting  points  of 
the  city  itself. 

AT  LEIPZIG 

Sunday,  the  22d,  was  spent  in  going  from  Hamburg  to 
Leipzig  where  the  party  arrived  late  in  the  afternoon,  in 
time  to  witness  the  flight  of  several  Zeppelins.  Here  the 
attendants  at  the  Leipzig  meeting  were  already  as- 
sembled and  the  first  union  of  the  guests  with  the  greater 
body  of  their  hosts  took  place  at  a  tremendous  reception 
at  the  Crystal  Palace.  The  word  ''tremendous"  is  used 
advisedly  for  everything,  company,  place  and  entertain- 
ment was  upon  a  large  and  generous  scale,  and  of  an 
informal  character  which  afforded  an  excellent  oppor- 
tunity for  the  initial  amalgamation. 

On  Monday  morning  the  opening  session  of  the  gen- 
eral meeting  of  the  Verein  deutscher  Ingenieure  was  held 
in  the  Central  Theater  and  it  is  an  index  of  the  esteem 
in  which  the  engineer  and  this,  his  professional  organiza- 
tion, are  held  in  Germany  that  His  Majesty  the  EZing, 
Friedrich  August  of  Saxony,  was  pleased  to  be  present 
and  to  be  ''promoted"  to  Doctor  of  Engineering.  Count 
Zeppelin  was  also  there  and  spoke  briefly  and  the  Grashof 
medal  was  awarded  to  Mr.  George  H.  Westinghouse. 

At  the  conclusion  of  the  award  of  honors.  Dr.  Lam- 
precht  presented  a  paper  upon  the  Technical  Science  and 
Culture  of  the  Present,  and  Dr.  W.  F.  M.  Goss's  paper 
upon  Influences  Affecting  American  Engineering  Prac- 
tice was  presented  in  Dr.  Goss's  absence  by  Past-Presi- 
dent Jesse  M.  Smith.  One  of  the  most  enjoyable  features 
of  the  whole  trip  was  a  concert  at  the  Gewandhaus 
tendered  by  the  Senate  of  the  City  of  Leipzig  with  an 
orchestra  of  nearly  100  pieces.  This  was  followed  by  a 
banquet  in  the  large  festival  hall  of  the  Central  Theater, 
in  the  course  of  which  several  numbers  were  rendered  by 
the  Thomaner-Boy  Choir  founded  by  J.  Sebastian  Bach. 

Tuesday's  session  of  the  Verein  was  held  in  the 


258     THE  AMERICAN  SOCIETY  OF  MECHANICAL  ENGINEERS 

lecture  room  of  the  Architectural  Exhibition,  then  in 
progress.  Opportunity  was  afforded  to  view  the  expo- 
sition, to  visit  several  local  industries  and  to  take  part 
in  the  dedication  of  the  monument  to  the  Battle  of  the 
Nations.  The  evening  party  at  the  Palm  Garden  was 
somewhat  disorganized  by  a  violent  thunder  storm,  es- 
pecially the  intended  celebration  of  the  solstice  on  the 
lawn  and  the  illuminations  and  fireworks. 

AT  DRESDEN 

Leaving  Leipzig  the  party  arrived  at  Dresden  before 
noon,  and  at  two  o'clock  was  taken  to  the  Bastei  (the 
Switzerland  of  Saxony)  returning  as  far  as  Pirna  by 
steamer  on  the  Elbe  and  thence  to  Dresden  by  special 
train.  In  the  evening  a  reception  and  banquet  were  given 
the  visitors  in  the  Town  Hall  by  the  City  of  Dresden. 

The  following  forenoon  was  devoted  to  sightseeing. 
At  the  Mechanical  Engineering  Laboratory  of  the  Tech- 
nical High  School,  Professor  Mollier,  author  of 
the  steam  tables  and  the  Total  Heat-Entropy  diagram 
which  bear  his  name,  escorted  the  visitors  through  his 
department.  Interesting  work  upon  heat  interchange 
between  an  exploded  charge  of  gas  and  the  metal  of  the 
containing  vessel  involving  the  determination  of  the 
specific  heat  at  constant  volume  were  in  progress.  An- 
other interesting  feature  was  an  engine  provided  with  a 
delicate  apparatus  at  every  working  bearing  to  indicate 
and  analyze  knocks.  Other  points  of  attraction  were  the 
local  industries,  the  picture  gallery  and  the  Green  Vault 
where  the  crown  jewels  are  displayed.  The  visit  to  Dres- 
den ended  all  too  quickly  with  a  luncheon  tendered  by  the 
local  division  of  the  Verein  and  at  2 :30  the  party  took  its 
special  train  for  Berlin. 

AT  BERLIN 

To  do  Berlin  in  two  days  was  beyond  the  power  even  of 
this  now  experienced  group,  but  a  frantic  effort  was  made 
at  it.  In  a  little  over  two  hours  after  the  train  reached 
the  city  the  visitors  were  at  a  reception  in  the  Palace  of 


A  HISTORY  OF  THE  SOCIETY  259 

the  Imperial  Diet.  Friday  and  Saturday  they  visited 
many  of  the  local  industries  and  the  Eoyal  Technical 
High  School  at  Charlottenberg.  Saturday  afternoon 
i^  they  were  taken  in  automobiles  for  a  drive  over  the 
I  famous  Heerstrasse  to  Wannsee,  given  a  steamer  trip 
on  the  Havel,  and  a  farewell  supper  in  the  Swedish 
Pavillion  at  Wannsee. 

AT  DUSSELDORF 

It  is  an  all-day  ride  from  Berlin  to  Dusseldorf,  the 
next  stopping  place.  The  party  arrived  there  late  on 
Sunday  afternoon  and  was  given  a  reception  in  the  Ton- 
halle  by  the  City  of  Dusseldorf  at  which  Dr.  Frohlich, 
secretary  of  the  Verein  deutscher  Maschinenbau-Anstal- 
ten,  read  a  paper  upon  the  Rhenish- Westphalian  Indus- 
tries, illustrated  by  lantern  slides.  This  was  followed  by 
an  opportunity  for  social  intercourse  with  the  refresh- 
ments without  which  no  occasion  there  is  complete. 

Monday  was  devoted  to  visiting  various  industries 
and  an  inspection  of  the  harbor,  with  a  banquet  in  the 
evening  given  by  the  Rhenish-Westphalian  Committee  of 
the  Verein.  The  feature  of  the  evening  was  an  allegorical 
play  in  which  a  huge  billet  of  red-hot  steel  was  flattened 
out  under  the  forge  press  and  when  turned  up  revealed 
I  the  emblems  of  the  Verein  deutscher  Ingenieure  and  The 
f  American  Society  of  Mechanical  Engineers  emblazoned 
on  the  apparently  glowing  metal. 

Tuesday  was  again  devoted  to  visiting  industrial  es- 
tablishments by  the  men  and  to  auto  rides  and  visits  to 
the  art  galleries  by  the  ladies.  A  dainty  lunch  was  served 
at  the  Mahlkasten,  an  artists '  club,  and  the  party  moved 
over  to  Cologne,  only  an  hour  away,  in  time  to  see  some- 
thing of  the  city  and  dress  for  the  evening  on  the  Rhine. 
The  program  announced  that  supper  and  fun  had  been 
prepared  by  the  Rhenish-Westphalian  Committee  and 
there  was  no  lack  of  either,  nothwithstanding  that  cold 
and  damp  weather  prevented  them  from  being  served 
upon  the  lawn  as  this  feature  of  a  regular  Abend-am- 
Rhein  should  properly  be.    Particularly  enjoyable  was 


260     THE  AMERICAN  SOCIETY  OF  MECHANICAL  ENGINEBBS 

the  singing  by  the  Kolner  Manner-Gesang-Verein,  a  male 
chorus  of  over  a  hundred  voices,  which  has  held  the 
emperor's  prize  for  a  number  of  years. 

AT  COLOGNE 

On  Wednesday  an  opportunity  was  afforded  to  visit 
the  industries  of  Cologne  and  the  vicinity,  the  museums, 
etc.,  and  the  cathedral,  the  ladies  and  gentlemen  of  the 
local  committee  acting  personally  as  guides  and  inter- 
preters. In  the  evening  a  reception  and  banquet  was 
given  by  the  City  of  Cologne  in  the  historic  old  Giirzenich 
built  by  the  city  in  1441-1447  for  festival  and  similar 
purposes,  serving  for  the  ceremonial  receptions  of  the 
emperors  Frederic  III  and  Maximilian  I  in  the  15th 
century,  of  Charles  V  in  the  16th  century,  an  imperial 
diet  of  Maximilian  in  1505  and  the  meeting  of  the 
Electors  to  choose  King  Ferdinand  I  in  1531. 

AT  FRANKFOBT-ON-THE-MAIN 

On  Thursday  the  visitors  started  on  their  journey  up 
the  Rhine,  going  by  train  to  Coblenz,  then  by  boat  to 
Riidesheim  and  thence  by  rail  to  Frankf  ort-on-the-Main, 
where  they  were  received  by  the  Frankfurter  Bezirks- 
Verein  deutscher  Ingenieure.  The  evening  was  spent 
in  the  Palm  Garden,  with  feasting,  music  and  special 
illumination. 

At  noon  of  Friday,  the  Fourth  of  July,  luncheon  was 
given  in  the  Romer  by  the  City  of  Frankfort  and  an  op- 
portunity afforded  to  inspect  this  and  the  neighboring 
old  Guild  houses.  In  the  afternoon  the  party  divided 
into  groups  for  the  inspection  of  various  shops  and  fac- 
tories. In  the  evening  the  Americans  became  the  hosts, 
inviting  the  officers  of  the  city  and  the  Verein  and  the 
committee  to  help  them  celebrate  the  national  holiday 
with  a  banquet  in  the  Kurhaus  Homburg. 

AT  MANNHEIM 

On  Saturday  forenoon  the  party  proceeded  to  Mann- 
heim where  it  arrived  in  time  for  luncheon.    After  an 


A  HISTOEY  OF  THE  SOCIETY  261 

afternoon  of  sightseeing  among  the  works  for  the  men 
and  of  receptions  at  the  homes  of  the  directors  for  the 
ladies,  a  banquet  was  given  by  the  city  of  Mannheim  in 
the  Nibelungensaal  of  the  Rosengarten  in  the  evening,  at 
which  a  picked  chorus  of  24  male  voices  was  a  specially 
enjoyable  feature. 

AT  HEIDELBERG 

Sunday  was  devoted  to  a  visit  to  Heidelberg.  The 
inspection  of  the  castle  was  somewhat  interfered  with  by 
the  rain,  which  abated,  however,  in  time  to  allow  the  party 
to  go  in  open  boats  upon  the  Neckar  and  see  the  castle 
illuminated  and  an  elaborate  display  of  fireworks  upon 
the  bridge  and  river  bank.  Heidelberg  had  been  a  bright 
spot  in  a  glittering  program,  and  notwithstanding  the 
unpropitious  weather  the  expectations  even  of  the  most 
sanguine  were  fully  satisfied. 

AT  MUNICH 

Monday,  the  7th,  was  spent  in  getting  to  Munich, 
where  the  trip  ended.  It  would  seem  as  though  there 
was  nothing  left  that  man  could  do  to  sustain  the  inter- 
est of  this  much  entertained  crowd  and  provide  new  sen- 
sations of  pleasure  and  enjoyment,  but  the  Bavarians 
were  equal  to  it,  and  their  welcoming  evening  in  the 
world-renowned  Hofbrauhaus  was  so  in  keeping  with 
the  reputation  of  the  place  for  good  fellowship  and 
camaraderie,  and  different  enough  from  all  that  had  gone 
before  that  the  enthusiasm  of  the  guests  was  aroused  to 
a  higher  pitch  than  ever. 

On  Wednesday,  July  9,  a  visit  was  paid  to  the  German 
[ndustrial  Museum.  The  president  of  this.  Dr.  Oskar  von 
Miller,  is  also  an  Honorary  Member  of  our  Society  and 
was  to  be  president  in  a  later  year  of  the  Verein 
deutscher  Ingenieure.  Luncheon  was  served  in  the  still 
uncompleted  building,  and  this  was  made  the  occasion  of 
presenting  to  the  Museum  a  model  of  the  Panama  Canal, 
which  the  Society  had  brought  over.  Past-President  E. 
D.  Meier  made  the  presentation,  and  in  his  response  Dr. 


262     THE  AMEEICAN  SOCIETY  OF  MECHANICAL  ENGINEERS 

von  Miller  presented  to  the  Society  an  original  Fraun- 
hofer  spectroscope.  In  the  afternoon  an  excursion  was 
made  to  the  Lake  of  Starnberg;  and  the  closing  cere- 
monies took  place  at  a  banquet  given  by  the  City  of 
Munich  in  the  old  Town  Hall. 

A  final  assembly  of  the  party  was  held  in  the  Regina 
Palast  on  Thursday  morning,  July  10,  where  resolutions 
were  passed  to  all  who  had  been  concerned  in  its  enter- 
tainment. Dr.  Conrad  Matschoss,  who  had  been  of  those 
who  boarded  the  steamer  at  Plymouth,  received  a  special 
demonstration.  In  his  response  he  expressed  the  hope 
that  one  of  the  results  of  the  visit  might  be  the  establish- 
ment of  permanent  and  pleasant  relations  between  the 
engineers  of  the  two  countries,  and  urged  upon  the 
Americans  the  preservation  of  monuments  and  the  record 
of  their  history  of  industry  and  engineering.  World 
history  as  now  written  is  full  of  deeds  of  kings  and  glori- 
fies warriors,  but  is  silent  on  the  work  of  great  inventors 
and  industrial  captains,  whose  work  has  done  more  to 
develop  the  race  and  its  civilization  than  those  whose 
portraits  fill  the  galleries  and  whose  deeds  have  moved 
the  historians,  painters  and  poets.  He  urged  a  concerted 
movement  to  preserve  the  records  of  the  work  done  by 
such  American  engineers  as  Charles  T.  Porter  and  John 
Fritz,  so  that  its  meaning  and  importance  might  be  em- 
phasized. The  models  and  apparatus  used  in  classic  and 
historical  experiments  should  be  preserved  and  the  data 
of  the  beginnings  of  all  industries.  This  was  the  work 
in  which  he  had  been  engaged  and  he  pleaded  for  trans- 
Atlantic  cooperation. 

In  the  afternoon  the  Technical  High  School  was 
visited,  where  Dr.  Knobloch  personally  exhibited  his 
laboratories  and  where  his  work  with  Jakob  is  the  present 
basis  of  knowledge  upon  superheated  steam.  Dr.  Diesel, 
Honorary  Member  of  the  Society,  received  a  number  of 
the  visitors  in  his  home. 

After  this  the  party  broke  up,  going  its  way  in  differ- 
ing directions,  some  to  travel  further  in  Germany,  others 
to  sail  directly  for  home  from  various  ports.    The  So- 


A  HISTORY  OF  THE  SOCIETY  263 

ciety  lias  on  its  files  and  among  its  records  the  originals 
of  invitations  and  programs  of  the  entertainment  in 
various  cities,  and  noteworthy  and  valuable  souvenirs 
were  brought  back  by  the  party  and  particularly  by  its 
ladies.  The  albums  of  photographs  taken  by  the  party 
will  keep  fresh  a  gallery  of  delightful  memories.  The 
history  of  the  next  international  interchanges  will  be- 
long to  a  later  period  in  the  history  of  the  Society. 

ENGINEERING  CONGRESSES 

A  congress  of  engineering  is  a  gathering  of  engineers 
in  the  various  specializations  of  their  profession,  for  the 
reading  and  discussion  of  papers.  An  international 
congress  is  such  a  gathering  which  shall  embrace  practi- 
tioners from  different  countries  and  usually,  therefore, 
speaking  several  different  languages. 

A  convention  attended  by  representatives  of  two 
nations  has  been  called  a  joint  meeting.  Such  were  the 
meetings  in  London  in  1889  and  1900,  in  Chicago  in  1904, 
in  Birmingham  in  1910  and  in  Germany  in  1913.  The 
only  true  congress  was  that  of  Chicago  in  1893,  when  the 
four  societies  of  American  Engineers  appointed  a  joint 
committee  to  issue  such  invitations  as  were  required  in 
connection  with  the  authorities  of  the  Columbian  Exposi- 
tion to  the  societies  in  Europe  to  send  papers  and  dele- 
gates. The  congress  was  divided  into  sections  or  groups : 
(a)  civil  engineering,  (h)  mechanical  engineering,  (c) 
mining  engineering,  (d)  metallurgical  engineering,  (e) 
engineering  education,  (/)  marine  and  naval  engineering, 
and  (g)  military  engineering. 

A  group  covering  electrical  engineering  was  omitted 
because  the  society  specializing  in  this  direction  had  made 
arrangements  for  a  special  joint  meeting  with  the  British 
Society  at  another  date,  and  could  neither  change  the  date 
nor  hold  its  reunions  twice.  Each  of  the  other  engineer- 
ing societies  made  itself  responsible  for  the  meeting  of 
its  group,  the  departments  of  the  United  States  Govern- 
ment undertaking  the  last  two,  and  specialists  from  the 
other  bodies  undertaking  (e).     This  congress  resulted 


264     THE  AMERICAN  SOCIETY  OF  MECHANICAL  ENGINEERS 

in  the  formation  of  a  new  society,  to  concern  itself  with 
engineering  education,  under  the  title  of  the  Society  for 
the  Promotion  of  Engineering  Education. 

The  American  Society  of  Mechanical  Engineers  made 
the  sessions  of  (h)  take  the  place  of  its  Spring  Meet- 
ing, secured  papers  for  presentation  and  undertook  the 
publication  of  papers  on  mechanical  subjects  by  other 
participants,  non-members  of  the  Society,  in  its  Society 
volume  for  that  year.  Its  excursions  for  its  own  mem- 
bers were  also  made  features  of  the  entertainment  of  the 
foreign  delegates  and  the  members  of  American  societies 
operating  the  other  divisions.  The  sessions  were  held  in 
the  Memorial  Art  Palace  on  the  Lake  Front  of  Chicago. 
President  T.  C.  Bonney  of  the  Congress  Auxiliary  Com- 
mittee of  the  Columbian  Exposition  opened  the  congress 
on  the  morning  of  July  31,  1893,  and  responses  were 
made.  The  congress  then  separated  to  various  rooms. 
The  Mechanical  Engineers,  following  their  usual  custom, 
established  headquarters  for  registration  in  the  Art 
Palace  and  gave  pamphlet  copies  of  their  papers  freely 
to  all  who  requested  them. 

On  Saturday,  August  5,  the  Congress  met  in  joint 
session  for  final  session.  Mr.  Octave  Chanute,  chairman 
general  then  announced  the  Congress  adjourned. 

The  Society  found  some  diflficulty  in  getting  the 
authorities  of  the  exposition  to  take  what  appeared  to 
be  their  share  of  the  general  expenses  of  the  Congress; 
there  were  incidental  increases  in  the  cost  of  everything 
connected  with  its  own  meeting  due  to  its  size.  There 
was  a  fee  for  every  participant  in  the  Congress  to  cover 
the  cost  of  publishing  the  volume  of  the  proceedings  of 
the  Congress.  All  these  made  a  heavy  draft  on  the  budget 
of  that  year;  and  made  the  authorities  of  the  Society 
wonder  whether  the  value  of  the  professional  results  of 
the  congress  was  worth  either  the  labor  or  the  direct  out- 
lay in  funds.  The  profession  received  some  advertising, 
however,  which  it  might  not  otherwise  have  had. 

Hence,  when  in  1904  the  authorities  of  the  St.  Louis 
Louisiana  Purchase  Exposition  of  that  year  asked  the 


-^^^f^  (/^zzzz^IZ^ 


PRESIDtNT  1907 


THE    AMERICAN     SOCIETY  OF    MECHANICAL    ENGINEERS 


A  HISTOEY  OF  THE  SOCIETY  265 

four  national  engineering  societies  to  assume  a  share  of 
the  responsibility  for  a  repetition  of  the  Congress  of 
1893,  the  chairman  of  such  a  committee  of  conference  as 
was  appointed  under  this  request,  reported  that  the  Insti- 
tute of  Electrical  Engineers  had  completed  arrangements 
for  an  assembly  international  in  character,  and  that  both 
the  Mining  and  Mechanical  Engineers  were  planning 
joint  meetings  with  English  or  continental  bodies.  There 
appeared  no  expressions  from  the  profession  at  large 
calling  for  such  a  congress,  nor  urging  an  interest  there- 
in; nor  had  the  exposition  authorities  committed  them- 
selves to  the  meeting  of  the  expenses  entailed  in  the 
summoning  of  such  a  congress  for  postage,  printing, 
publication  or  the  compensation  of  clerical  and  other 
personnel.  Hence  it  was  the  recommendation  of  Col.  H. 
S.  Haines  who  had  represented  the  Mechanical  Engineers 
in  the  conferences  that  the  effort  of  the  Society  should 
be  directed  to  giving  the  Chicago  joint  meeting  an  inter- 
national character.  In  this  advice  the  Council  and  So- 
ciety concurred. 

In  spite,  however,  of  this  experience,  the  Society  has 
felt  constrained  by  a  species  of  noblesse  oblige  to  become 
a  gTiarantor  of  an  Engineering  Congress,  desired  in  1915 
in  California  and  as  a  feature  of  the  Exposition  which 
signalizes  the  opening  of  the  Panama  Canal.  The  future 
only  can  show  whether  the  experience  of  previous  years 
will  be  repeated,  or  whether  changed  conditions  will  make 
the  projected  gathering  the  success  desired  by  its  pro- 
motors. 

Enough  has  been  said  in  the  early  part  of  this  chapter 
to  make  it  clear  that  joint  meetings  at  proper  intervals 
are  of  splendid  value,  and  are  a  stimulus  to  friendly  re- 
lations between  engineers  of  the  two  nations  concerned. 
But  the  introduction  of  a  third  nation  or  of  more  than 
three  frustrates  this  wise  purpose,  by  virtue  of  what 
appears  to  be  a  psychological  law,  whose  popular 
recognition  is  expressed  in  the  adage,  ''Two  is  good 
company ;  three  is  a  crowd. ' '    No  friendships  are  formed 


266     THE  AMERICAN  SOCIETY  OF  MECHANICAL  ENGINEEBS 

in  a  crowd,  unless  two  join  together  and  against  the 
crowd,  and  that  is  just  what  is  not  desired. 

The  surroundings  of  a  crowded  exposition  in  any  city, 
which  are  the  dream  and  ambition  of  the  hotels  and  rail- 
ways and  commercial  interests  in  general  behind  such 
an  exposition,  are  the  very  ones  to  deter  engineers  from 
coming  together  to  expose  themselves  to  these  discom- 
forts. The  broad  philosophy  of  modern  meetings  of  an 
engineering  society  in  its  flood  tide  of  activity,  where 
many  topics  are  considered  in  synchronous  meetings  of 
sections  or  groups,  gives  to  these  stated  meetings  the 
significances  which  attach  to  sessions  of  a  Congress,  and 
without  the  display  features  which  add  no  strength  but 
consume  time  and  energy  and  money.  The  policy  of 
holding  meetings  at  places  some  distance  from  the 
main  body  of  the  membership  within  the  country,  or  of 
holding  meetings  outside  of  it,  should  not  be  followed  to 
the  degree  that  members  should  have  any  ground  to 
complain  that  only  a  wealthy  and  leisured  class  of  the 
members  can  get  to  such  meetings.  The  meeting  of  the 
Society  is  the  right  of  all ;  and  it  does  more  good  to  the 
younger  man  on  a  small  salary  than  to  the  veteran  in  the 
profession  compensated  handsomely  for  the  value  of  his 
experience  and  service.  Within  these  limitations,  the 
joint  meeting  is  better  than  the  more  flamboyant  con- 
gress. 


CHAPTER  XV 

The  Libraby  of  the  Society 

The  nucleus  or  starting  point  of  the  library  of  an 
engineering  society  is  the  first  issue  of  its  professional 
papers  in  book  or  pamphlet  form.  This  is  a  legal  tender 
or  currency  of  acceptance  with  other  societies  of  kindred 
aim,  also  publishing  papers  and  desiring  an  exchange  of 
commodities,  and  technical  journals  published  in  all  parts 
of  the  world  are  glad  to  consider  the  courtesy  of  trans- 
mittal of  the  society  papers  to  be  an  offset  or  equivalent 
for  the  regular  issues  of  their  publications. 

The  transactions  of  societies  are  among  the  most 
valuable  treasures  of  a  library,  for  these  are  up  to  date, 
while  the  textbooks  are  as  a  rule  on  their  way  to 
obsolescence  before  they  are  completed  by  their  authors. 
Transactions  are  also  historically  and  professionally 
valuable,  because  they  give  with  fulness  of  detail  what 
the  later  condensations  in  general  books  will  summarize 
and  omit. 

While  the  Society  had  no  office  but  that  of  its  Secre- 
tary from  1880  to  1883,  there  was  no  Library,  because 
such  exchanges  as  were  arranged  for  could  not  be  sent 
forth  in  shape  to  be  consulted,  and  there  were  no  funds 
available  to  bind  the  loose  units  into  volumes  and  sets. 

At  a  meeting  of  the  Council  on  February  15,  1883 
(the  same  meeting  which  elected  F.  R.  Hutton  as  Secre- 
tary of  the  Society),  Mr.  C.  J.  H.  Woodbury  moved 
that  the  new  Secretary  be  instructed  to  insert  in  the  next 
communication  to  the  members  and  to  the  technical  press, 
a  request  for  circulars  and  price  lists  of  manufacturing 
establishments  and  reports  of  engineering  operations, 
with  a  view  to  making  a  catalogue  of  contemporaneous 
engineering  work,  to  be  filed  properly  and  placed  at  the 

287 


268     THE  AMERICAN  SOCIETY  OF  MECHANICAL  ENGINEEBS 

service  of  members.  It  was  requested  that  in  the  price 
lists  the  ruling  prices  and  discounts  in  January  1883  be 
affixed  and  that  such  catalogues  of  machinery  be  con- 
tributed as  would  show  the  growth  and  development  of 
the  industry  to  which  they  belonged.  This  motion,  which 
was  carried  and  put  into  effect,  was  the  foundation  of  the 
present  valuable  library  of  The  American  Society  of 
Mechanical  Engineers,  which  is  now  housed  with  the  col- 
lections of  the  other  founder  societies,  the  American 
Institute  of  Mining  Engineers  and  the  American  Insti- 
tute of  Electrical  Engineers,  on  the  upper  Ifloors  of  the 
United  Engineering  Building,  thus  forming  an  integral 
portion  of  what  is  doubtless  destined  to  become  one  of 
the  great  professional  libraries  of  the  world. 

The  response  to  the  request  contained  in  Mr.  Wood- 
bury's motion  was  prompt  and  liberal,  many  of  the  tech- 
nical periodicals  contributing  complimentary  copies  of 
their  publications,  and  some  of  them  sending  complete 
bound  files  of  their  back  numbers.  Manufacturers  sent 
not  only  their  trade  catalogues  but  books,  to  aid  in  found- 
ing the  library.  A  standing  committee  on  the  library  was 
appointed,  and  in  the  first  announcement  sent  out  by 
Secretary  Hutton,  dated  March  1,  1883,  the  statement 
was  made  that  the  Secretary's  office  contained  a  grow- 
ing collection  of  periodicals,  transactions,  and  books  ac- 
cessible to  members,  and  the  hope  expressed  that  in  the 
near  future  the  collection  would  receive  such  additions 
as  would  render  it  both  interesting  and  valuable  for  ref- 
erence. 

At  the  Annual  Meeting  in  New  York  in  November 
1884,  the  committee  appointed  to  take  steps  for  the 
definite  organization  of  the  library  made  an  extended  re- 
port, which  will  be  found  in  the  full  Transactions  for 
that  year.  This  report  recommended  the  establishment 
of  a  permanent  fund  for  library  purposes  and  for  the 
provision  of  its  current  expenses,  that  no  demand  upon 
the  current  funds  of  the  Society  need  be  made.  Subscrip- 
tions for  a  permanent  fund  were  solicited,  and  also  con- 
tributions in  the  form  of  annual  subscriptions  of  $2  or 


A  HISTOBY  OP  THE  SOCIETY  269 

more,  and  an  appeal  was  also  made  for  contributions  of 
books  and  papers  relating  to  mechanical  engineering. 
It  is  especially  interesting  to  note  the  realization  even 
at  that  early  date  that  the  library  might  become  the  in- 
centive which  should  lead  to  the  acquisition  of  a  per- 
manent home  of  the  Society,  and  the  following  quotation 
is  given,  as  showing  the  beginning  of  an  effort  after- 
wards so  abundantly  realized  (See  Chapter  XI) : 

Accommodation  for  the  Library  to  be  provided  in  whatever  rooms  the 
Society  may  occupy.  In  this  connection,  however,  your  committee  begs 
respectfully  to  call  attention  to  the  great  desirability  for  the  advancement 
of  the  general  interests  of  the  Society,  and  especially  for  the  adequate 
accommodation  of  the  Library  which  it  is  hoped  to  create,  of  inaugurating 
early  measures  for  the  creation  of  a  fimd  to  provide  a  permanent  building 
for  the  general  uses  of  the  Society. 

Following  this  report  of  the  Library  Committee,  the 
Secretary  issued  a  circular  to  the  membership  calling  for 
subscriptions  to  the  fund  and  to  the  annual  contributing 
list.  The  result  was  that  more  than  100  members  re- 
sponded, and  the  organization  of  the  library  was  thus 
effected.  It  continued,  with  modifications,  until  it  was 
finally  merged  into  that  of  the  Society,  as  will  be  told 
hereafter.  Reporting  upon  these  facts  at  the  Atlantic 
City  Meeting,  in  May  1885,  Mr.  Henry  E.  Towne,  chair- 
man of  the  Library  Committee,  called  attention  to  the 
desirability  of  providing  accommodations  for  the 
Library,  and  mentioned  the  discussion  of  the  construc- 
tion of  a  union  building  for  the  several  national  engi- 
neering societies,  showing  the  extent  to  which  the  idea 
had  already  taken  root. 

In  the  report  of  the  Library  Committee  for  1885  was 
given  for  the  first  time  a  list  of  accessions  to  the  library, 
and  it  is  interesting  to  note  that  valuable  books  were  con- 
tributed by  members,  while  the  exchange  list  included 
the  principal  technical  papers  then  published  in  the 
United  States  and  Great  Britain,  with  some  Continental 
accessions.  These  lists  continued  to  be  published  in  suc- 
cessive volumes  of  the  Transactions,  and  showed  a  con- 
tinual growth  of  interest  in  the  development  of  the 
library,  although  the  books  were  housed  as  yet  in  the 


270     THE  AMERICAN  SOCIETY  OP  MECHANICAL  ENGINEERS 

limited  quarters  available  in  the  Secretary's  office,  where 
they  were  by  no  means  convenient  for  general  use. 

Interest  among  the  membership  in  the  Library  also 
began  to  show  itself  in  the  form  of  bequests  and  large 
contributions.  Thus,  in  the  report  of  the  Library  Com- 
mittee for  1888,  appears  the  bequest  of  the  private 
library  of  Mr.  Alfred  B.  Couch  of  Philadelphia,  including 
a  number  of  important  and  valuable  books.  In  like  man- 
ner, there  was  announced  at  the  Annual  Meeting  in  No- 
vember 1889,  an  important  gift  of  books  from  the  library  * 
of  the  late  Charles  W.  Copeland,  formerly  Treasurer  of 
the  Society,  the  gift  including  many  valuable  books  re- 
lating to  the  history  and  development  of  mechanical 
engineering.  Important  progress  was  also  made  in  the 
completion  of  the  files  of  the  leading  engineering  jour- 
nals, and  the  library  began  to  assume  real  value  as  a 
reference  collection,  apart  from  the  important  part 
which  it  was  soon  to  play  as  a  financial  asset  in  the  de- 
velopment of  the  Society. 

The  move  of  the  Society's  office  from  the  straitened 
areas  of  15  Cortlandt  Street  to  the  Stewart  Building 
at  280  Broadway  was  backed  by  the  ambition  to  make 
the  library  more  available  for  consultation  and  to  put 
the  files  of  Society  Transactions  and  Proceedings  within 
the  reach  of  the  members.  Bookshelves  were  added  to  the 
earlier  office  furniture  when  this  step  was  taken. 

But  an  office  building  with  no  adequate  elevator  serv- 
ice after  business  hours  and  with  no  adequate  reading 
lights  and  without  the  library  reading-room  atmosphere, 
was  still  felt  to  offer  no  satisfactory  solution  of  the 
library  problem.  These  conditions  brought  about  the 
decision  to  move  to  the  first  floor  of  the  Mott  Memorial 
Library  Building  at  64  Madison  Avenue,  then  available, 
and  the  experiment  of  opening  the  library  in  the  even- 
ings. Great  improvements  in  the  gas  lighting  were 
made,  and  the  members  began  to  drop  in.  But  the 
library  was  in  the  charge  of  a  stenographer  of  the  office, 
albeit  a  man  of  studious  tastes,  and  there  was  no  cata- 
logue. 


A  HISTORY  OP  THE  SOCIETY  271 

Then  came  in  May  1890  the  great  change  significant 
in  so  many  ways,  but  in  none  more  than  as  respects  the 
library  of  the  Society.  It  moved  from  Madison  Avenue, 
from  a  floor  area  shared  with  the  insistent  uses  of  the 
executive  offices  of  the  Society,  to  a  building  specifically 
fitted  up  for  library  purposes  as  respects  its  second  floor 
and  the  gallery  extension  on  the  same  level.  The  elec- 
tric light  was  also  introduced  to  eliminate  the  injury  to 
paper  and  binding  from  the  heat  and  products  of  com- 
bustion from  gas  burners.  The  change  came  through 
the  purchase  from  the  New  York  Academy  of  Medicine 
of  their  former  home  at  12  West  31st  Street,  and  the 
consequent  development  of  a  project  that  had  been 
impossible  or  seriously  handicapped  before.  The  space 
devotable  to  the  library  was  filled  from  floor  to  ceiling 
with  convenient  permanent  shelving,  and  the  quiet  ap- 
propriate to  a  reading  room  could  be  secured  by  reason 
of  the  fact  that  the  offices  and  their  typewriters  were  in 
other  parts  of  the  building. 

The  Society  at  once  set  out  to  realize  its  dream  of  a 
free  public  reference  library  of  engineering;  and  to  this 
end,  as  well  as  to  attain  some  other  desirable  possibil- 
ities concerning  which  the  Society  charter  had  not  been 
clearly  worded,  the  Past-Presidents  of  the  Society 
formed  themselves  into  a  Library  Corporation  and  pro- 
cured a  charter  from  the  State  of  New  York  under  favor- 
able general  acts  relating  to  the  conduct  of  free  public 
libraries.  This  body  was  called.  The  Mechanical  Engi- 
neers Library  Association.  It  held  the  title  to  the  real 
estate  for  the  benefit  of  The  American  Society  of  Me- 
chanical Engineers  and  for  the  American  Institute  of 
Electrical  Engineers  for  some  years,  and  the  by-laws 
provided  for  the  support  of  the  association,  not  only 
from  the  leases  to  the  foregoing  bodies  but  from  two 
classes  of  sustaining  members.  One  class  was  known 
as  Fellows  of  the  Library,  contributing  regularly  to  the 
library  fund,  the  others  were  the  Members,  embracing  all 
elected  members  of  The  American  Society  of  Mechanical 
Engineers.    The  affairs  of  the  Association  were  placed 


272     THE  AMERICAN  SOCIETY  OF  MECHANICAL  ENGINEERS 

in  the  hands  of  a  Board  of  nine  trustees,  elected  by  the 
Fellows  of  the  Association,  these  trustees  having  the 
management  and  control  of  the  affairs,  property,  and 
funds  of  the  Association,  with  full  power  to  mortgage  its 
real  estate,  and  to  issue  bonds  secured  by  mortgage 
thereon,  and  also  to  conduct  the  library. 

A  charter  was  obtained  for  this  Association  on 
March  4,  1890,  for  the  conduct  of  a  free  public  library 
containing  a  collection  of  books,  charts,  models,  appa- 
ratus, and  other  literary  and  scientific  works  relating  to 
the  subject  of  mechanical  engineering,  so  that  the  scope 
of  the  library  was  extended  to  include  many  things  of 
historical  value  in  addition  to  books,  an  extension  which 
has  led  to  the  acquirement  of  numerous  valuable  relics 
which  might  have  been  dispersed,  and  possibly  not  pre- 
served at  all.  The  fundamental  object  of  the  Library 
Association,  however,  was  to  act  as  a  holding  corporation 
for  the  real  estate  which  it  was  proposed  to  purchase  for 
use  as  a  home,  both  for  the  library  and  for  the  Society. 
The  Trustees,  as  originally  selected,  consisted  of  the 
Past-Presidents  of  the  Society,  together  with  the  Secre- 
tary, the  original  board  including  Messrs.  Thurston, 
Leavitt,  Sweet,  HoUoway,  Sellers,  Babcock,  See,  Hutton 
and  Towne.  Mr.  Henry  R.  Towne  was  chosen  Chairman 
of  the  Board,  a  position  which  he  held  until  the  consolida- 
tion of  the  Association  with  The  American  Society  of 
Mechanical  Engineers  in  1907. 

The  Library  Association  having  thus  been  incorpor- 
ated, the  purchase  of  the  house  in  31st  Street  was  con- 
cluded, the  price  being  $60,000,  of  which  $33,000  was  left 
on  first  mortgage  by  the  former  owners,  while  the  balance 
of  $27,000  was  paid  in  cash.  This  amount,  together  with 
the  additional  funds  required  for  the  repair  and  decora- 
tion of  the  building,  was  raised  by  the  issuance  and  sale 
of  bonds  to  the  value  of  $31,800.  The  bonds  were 
promptly  taken  by  members  of  The  American  Society  of 
Mechanical  Engineers  who  were  especially  interested  in 
the  movement,  and  the  matter  was  thus  most  success- 


PRESIDENT    1908 


THE  AMERICAN    SOCIETY  OF   MECHA^J|CAU    ENGINEERS 


A  HISTORY  OP  THE  SOCIETY  273 

fully  financed,  a  success  largely  due  to  the  existence  of 
the  library  and  the  association  incorporated  in  its  name. 

A  portion  of  the  building  was  let  to  the  newly  or- 
ganized American  Institute  of  Electrical  Engineers,  but 
the  greater  portion  was  occupied  by  The  American  So- 
ciety of  Mechanical  Engineers,  both  societies  being 
tenants  of  the  holding  corporation.  The  Mechanical 
Engineers'  Library  Association.  Thus  the  library,  from 
its  modest  beginning  as  a  collection  of  trade  catalogues 
and  technical  periodicals,  became  the  means  by  which  the 
Society  was  enabled  to  occupy  a  most  desirable  building 
in  one  of  the  best  locations  in  the  City  of  New  York, 
under  conditions  which  at  that  time  might  not  otherwise 
have  been  practicable. 

The  house,  which  had  formerly  been  one  of  the  fine 
old-fashioned  brown-stone  residences,  typical  of  New 
York  home  life,  had  been  converted  by  the  previous 
owners,  the  New  York  Academy  of  Medicine,  into  a 
building  admirably  suited  to  the  needs  of  a  professional 
organization.  The  front  parlor  had  been  left  practically 
unchanged,  but  upon  the  garden  plot  in  the  rear  there 
had  been  built  a  convenient  meeting  hall,  this  being  two 
clear  stories  in  height,  with  good  basement  room  beneath. 
The  assembly  hall  communicated  both  with  the  back 
parlor  and  the  main  entrance  hall.  The  second  floor 
rooms  were  fitted  for  the  use  of  the  library,  while  a 
balcony  running  entirely  around  the  upper  portion  of  the 
meeting  hall  added  a  corresponding  amount  of  wall  space 
to  the  shelf  capacity.  On  the  upper  floors  were  conveni- 
ent sleeping  rooms  for  the  use  of  members,  in  addition 
to  the  space  originally  let  to  the  American  Institute  of 
Electrical  Engineers,  and  subsequently  added  to  the 
space  available  for  the  purposes  of  the  Society. 

Although  the  real  estate  was  thus  held  in  the  name 
of  The  Mechanical  Engineers'  Library  Association,  the 
books,  etc.,  continued  to  be  the  property  of  The  American 
Society  of  Mechanical  Engineers,  being  loaned  to  the 
latter  organization  by  the  former  as  a  part  of  the  con- 
sideration passing  between  the  two  bodies  in  connection 


274     THE  AMERICAN  SOCIETY  OF  MECHANICAL  ENGINEERS 

with  the  conduct  of  the  building.  The  report  of  the 
Library  Committee  for  1890  showed  a  continual  improve- 
ment both  in  the  funds  and  in  the  collections,  and  it  was 
evident  that  the  library  had  become  a  most  powerful 
auxiliary  in  the  development  of  the  Society. 

When  the  house  at  12  West  31st  Street  had  been  used 
by  the  New  York  Academy  of  Medicine,  the  walls  of  the 
meeting  hall,  as  well  as  the  other  rooms  had  been  covered 
with  portraits  of  eminent  members  of  the  profession. 
Those  members  of  The  American  Society  of  Mechanical 
Engineers  who  had  been  in  the  party  which  visited 
Europe  in  1889,  had  also  seen  and  appreciated  the  man- 
ner in  which  the  homes  of  the  great  societies  there  were 
adorned  with  similar  works  of  art.  When  the  house  in 
31st  Street  was  first  occupied  by  the  Society,  the  bar- 
renness of  the  walls  contrasted  painfully  with  the  condi- 
tion in  which  they  had  been  seen  at  the  previous  meet- 
ings held  in  the  same  room,  before  the  pictures  belonging 
to  the  Academy  of  Medicine  had  been  removed.  There 
thus  appeared  a  stimulus  to  the  members  to  begin  a 
similar  collection  of  portraits  and  works  of  art  and  to 
restore  in  some  degree  the  effect  which  had  formerly 
existed.  Thus  began  the  collection  of  paintings,  photo- 
graphs, etc.,  which  now  forms  so  interesting  a  portion  of 
the  Society's  property. 

One  of  the  earliest  pictures  thus  acquired  by  the  So- 
ciety was  an  oil  portrait  of  Alexander  L.  Holley,  pre- 
sented by  Mrs.  Bunker,  formerly  Mrs.  Holley,  a  gift 
which  was  formally  unveiled  and  accepted  in  an  address 
by  Mr.  James  C.  Bayles.  Other  early  acquisitions  of  this 
sort  include  a  marble  bust  of  Mr.  Joseph  Nason,  pre- 
sented by  Mr.  Carleton  W.  Nason;  a  portrait  of  Joseph 
Harrison,  Jr.,  presented  by  Mrs.  Harrison ;  a  portrait  of 
Prof.  Franz  Reuleaux,  presented  by  Mr.  H.  H.  Suplee ;  a 
pastel  of  Prof.  W.  J.  M.  Rankine,  given  by  Prof.  F.  R. 
Hutton,  together  with  numerous  photographs  of  in- 
terest. A  notable  gift  of  much  historical  value  was  the 
original  autograph  drawing,  by  Robert  Fulton,  of  the 
Fulton,  the  first  steamer  to  ply  on  Long  Island  Sound, 


A  HISTORY  OF  THE  SOCIETY  275 

bearing  the  date  of  1813,  while  various  old  drawings  and 
correspondence  relating  to  the  work  of  Fulton  after- 
wards came  into  possession  of  the  Library.  The  portrait 
of  Ericsson,  by  Ballin,  was  the  one  formerly  owned  by 
the  designer  of  the  Monitor,  and  was  rescued  by  Pro- 
fessor Hutton  from  a  curiosity  shop  where  its  value  was 
hardly  understood.  Thus  the  interest  of  members  grew 
continually  in  the  development  of  this  portion  of  the 
work  of  the  Library,  and  further  acquisitions  of  this 
sort  form  an  important  portion  of  the  records  of  the 
growth  of  the  Society.  They  will  be  described  at  length 
hereafter  in  this  history. 

Now  followed  an  era  of  a  gradual  and  healthy  growth 
of  the  library.  Unbound  series  were  brought  together 
and  strongly  bound.  Gaps  in  series  were  filled  to  make 
complete  sets.  New  exchanges  were  secured  to  broaden 
the  scope  of  the  topics  covered.  A  card  catalogue  of 
authors,  subjects  and  titles  was  begun  and  developed, 
first  under  Mrs.  Emma  C.  Griffin,  and  later  under  the 
trained  hand  of  Miss  Isabelle  M.  Thornton. 

The  library  of  the  Society  was  unique  in  several 
directions  at  this  time.  First,  the  catalogue  was  not  by 
book  titles  but  was  an  index  of  subjects.  Under  each 
subject  were  the  book  titles  covering  treatment  of  that 
item.  Men  in  search  of  information  usually  know  the 
subject  they  want  to  study,  but  do  not  know  who  has 
written  upon  it  nor  under  which  book  title  to  look,  A 
title  beginning  with  the  word  treatise,  for  example,  is  a 
very  blind  indication  as  to  the  book  wanted.  Furthermore, 
the  shelves  were  classified  vertically  in  sets,  with  a  title 
over  the  highest,  giving  the  subjects  grouped  under  that 
sign.  Strangers  could  therefore  browse  among  the 
shelves  under  the  general  heading  or  general  class  of  the 
subject  they  were  searching  for.  Some  readers  are  an- 
noyed at  the  necessity  for  going  always  to  an  attendant 
for  each  move  in  their  game.  Certain  shelves  were  as- 
signed to  current  periodicals  and  the  gallery  had  the  sets 
of  Society  Transactions  with  the  current  issues  in  a  steel 
filing  case  until  a  volume  was  completed  and  ready  to 


276    THE  AMERICAN  SOCIETY  OP  MECHANICAL  ENGINEERS 

bind.  Members  calling  for  books  not  on  hand  were  asked 
to  supply  the  librarian  with  the  title  of  the  lacking  book, 
and  as  fast  as  funds  were  available  these  gaps  were  sup- 
plied. But  the  increasing  bulk  of  the  binding  required 
year  by  year  kept  the  library  always  a  little  in  arrears  of 
the  demand,  and  with  a  waiting  list  of  books.  Its  trans- 
actions of  societies  and  technical  journal  lists  have  al- 
ways been  full  and  complete,  for  its  own  publications 
could  be  used  as  exchange  for  a  desired  periodical,  but 
booksellers  would  use  these  only  to  a  limited  degree  as  a 
medium  of  exchange  for  books. 

The  significance  of  Mr.  Andrew  Carnegie 's  gift  to  en- 
gineering in  the  form  of  a  United  Engineering  Societies 
Building  in  1903-1904,  was  at  once  realized  in  its  relation 
to  a  library  development  for  the  societies.  The  Insti- 
tute of  Electrical  Engineers  had  received  from  Dr. 
Schuyler  Skaats  Wheeler  its  splendid  gift  of  the  Latimer 
Clark  Library,  on  the  express  condition  that  it  be  housed 
in  a  fireproof  building  and  made  available  for  general 
use.  So  the  function  of  a  Library  was  incorporated  into 
the  By-Laws  of  the  United  Engineering  Society  and  thus 
into  its  charter,  and  the  building  committee  planned  the 
thirteenth  or  top  floor  of  the  building  as  a  reading-room 
and  the  twelfth  floor  for  book  stacks  with  incombustible 
shelves.  The  top  floor  gives  light,  air,  freedom  from  dust 
and  reduces  noise  to  its  lowest  terms.  The  three  founder 
societies  named  in  the  deed  of  gift  were  at  once  asked 
to  appoint  three  representatives  on  a  joint  Library 
Board  and  their  recommendations  were  most  carefully 
considered  in  the  plans. 

After  the  societies  entered  the  building  in  1907,  the 
Library  Association  of  the  Mechanical  Engineers  was 
legally  wound  up  by  action  of  the  Supreme  Court  on  plea 
and  brief,  and  consolidated  with  The  American  Society 
of  Mechanical  Engineers,  who  already  owned  the  equity 
in  the  real  estate  and  received  all  other  property  by  legal 
procedure  on  October  17, 1907.  The  books  of  the  library 
had  also  always  been  the  property  of  the  Society  and 
were  only  loaned  to  the  Library  Association  to  carry  on 


A  HISTORY  OF  THE  SOCIETY  277 

its  work.  The  increment  in  value  of  the  real  estate  of  the 
Library  Association  was  used  in  part,  to  pay  for  the  land 
on  which  the  Society  building  stands.  The  house  in  31st 
Street  was  bought  in  1890  for  $60,000,  and  was  sold  in 
1907  for  $120,000. 

The  library  of  the  Society  is  now  one  of  the  con- 
stituent elements  of  the  great  library  in  the  Engineering 
Societies  Building.  It  is  operated  under  a  Library 
Board  appointed  by  each  of  the  governing  bodies  of  the 
three  founder  societies,  and  approved  by  the  repre- 
sentative Board  of  Trustees.  This  Library  Board  is  in 
charge  of  all  detail,  and  meets  every  month  for  its  im- 
portant duties.  It  prevents  duplication  of  e'ffort  and  of 
purchase,  and  seeks  to  coordinate  the  development  along 
all  lines  of  growth.  Eecent  improvements  in  lighting 
and  increase  in  the  shelf  areas  on  the  main  library  floor, 
have  been  the  most  noticeable  physical  changes  of  recent 
years.  Mr.  W.  P.  Cutter,  the  general  Librarian  under 
the  present  conditions,  was  appointed  in  February  1909. 
The  library,  at  the  end  of  the  first  third  of  a  century  of 
the  Society  life,  contains  about  50,000  volumes  and 
pamphlets  and  monographs. 


CHAPTER  XVI 

Some  Professional  Standards  Recommended  by 
Committees  of  the  Society 

It  has  been  said  earlier  that  one  of  the  great  oppor- 
tunities which  its  founders  foresaw  for  their  new  or- 
ganization was  that  of  speech  and  action  for  the  profes- 
sion as  a  unit,  and  as  representing  the  weight  of  opinion 
of  a  large  number  when  such  action  took  concrete  form. 
No  individual  can  have  the  same  weight  as  that  of  an 
aggregate  of  many  such  persons. 

It  is  true  of  applied  science  in  engineering  and  of  art 
in  architecture  to  a  degree  not  by  any  means  the  case  in 
other  lines,  that  there  may  be  many  correct  solutions  of 
a  problem,  but  all  different  from  each  other  by  reason  of 
the  personality  entering  into  each  solution.  But  as  a 
practical  and  commercial  proposition,  there  are  very 
great  advantages  attaching  to  a  standard  set  of  propor- 
tions which  shall  be  used  by  all  to  whom  the  problems 
are  submitted.  Standards  in  the  numbers  of  threads  to 
the  inch  on  all  bolts  of  a  given  diameter  were  sought  in 
one  of  the  earliest  attempts  to  bring  order  out  of  pre- 
existing chaos,  and  this  was  attained  outside  of  the  So- 
ciety and  before  it  existed.  But  the  advantage  to  the 
Society  of  creating  an  agreement  on  many  other  such 
matters  was  early  brought  to  its  attention. 

The  Society  also  very  early  saw  the  wise  distinction 
to  be  made  between  the  action  of  the  Society  which  ac- 
cepted a  proposed  standard  reported  by  a  committee  and 
recommended  its  use,  and  the  other  plan  of  adopting 
such  a  standard  as  an  official  act.  The  recommendation 
made  the  use  of  such  a  standard  a  voluntary  but  exceed- 
ingly wise  step.  The  adoption  would  have  entailed  a  sort 
of  obligatory  aspect  on  loyal  members,  and  there  are 

278 


A  HISTORY  OF  THE  SOCIETY  27» 

those  who  are  more  easily  led  than  driven.  If  some  pe- 
cuniary loss  was  entailed  by  the  use  of  an  adopted  and 
therefore  a  compulsory  standard,  a  civil  suit  might  lie  for 
the  damages  so  claimed,  and  it  would  be  against  the  So- 
ciety as  a  corporate  body.  A  recommended  standard  has 
the  force  of  the  ability  of  those  who  created  it,  and  no  one 
can  find  any  legal  ground  on  which  to  attack  it  or  attempt 
to  enjoin  against  its  use  to  his  alleged  detriment. 

The  usual  practice  to  secure  the  creation  and  sub- 
sequent recommendation  of  a  standard  has  had  the  fol- 
lowing steps  (see  also  Chapter  IV). 

(a)  A  paper  by  some  person  competent  to  speak,  in 
which  the  need  of  such  standard  shall  be  made  clear. 

(b)  A  discussion  in  confirmation  of  the  need  from  the 
experience  of  others  than  the  author. 

(c)  A  recommendation  to  the  Council  that  it  consider 
the  advisability  of  appointing  a  committee,  with  power 
to  appoint  if  it  seems  wise. 

(d)  If  affirmative  action  is  taken,  the  committee  is  ap- 
pointed. The  reader  of  the  initiating  paper  is  usually  a 
member  of  such  committee  and  perhaps  its  chairman. 

(e)  The  consideration  in  committee ;  conferences  with 
parties  interested  inside  of  the  Society  and  without. 

(/)  A  report  presented  for  discussion  at  a  Semi- 
Annual  or  Annual  Meeting. 

(g)  The  result  of  this  discussion  offers  the  alterna- 
tives : 

(1)  The  normal  one  is  for  the  report  and  its  rec- 
ommendations to  be  so  conclusive  and  there- 
fore so  acceptable  that  the  Society  takes  its 
standard  action  thereon,  accepts  the  report, 
recommends  the  use  of  the  standard  therein 
presented  and  orders  the  report  printed  in 
Transactions. 

(2)  The  report  may  be  made  as  a  report  of  pro- 
gress to  make  public  the  mind  of  the  com- 
mittee, and  to  invite  criticism  and  modifica- 
tions. After  this  treatment  it  is  referred  back 
with  the  discussion,  and  the  committee  reports 


280    THE  AMEBICAN  SOCIETY  OF  MECHANICAL  ENGINEEBS 

again  until  the  recommendations  are  ready 
for  the  action  of  (1)  above.    The  discussion  is 
printed  in  full,  either  bound  up  with  the  re- 
port, or  as  a  separate  pamphlet,  or  in  both 
forms.    It  is  supposed  and  assumed  that  the 
discussion  includes  all  that  can  be  said  in 
opposition  to  the  recommendations  in  the  re- 
port, and  is  therefore  a  measure  of  the  gen- 
eral unanimity  with  which  the  rest  of  the  So- 
ciety has  received  it.    That  is,  the  discussion 
presents  all  that  anybody  can  urge  in  disfavor 
of  the  ideas  of  the  committee,  so  that  every 
one  can  judge  of  the  force  and  validity  of 
attacks  upon  its  work.    The  committee  as  a 
rule  accepts  the  points  which  are  well  taken 
and  incorporates  them  as  its  own  action. 
This  method  of  treatment  is  believed  to  be  much  more 
serviceable  than  letter  ballots  by  the  entire  membership. 
Many  would  not  vote,  more  would  vote  without  expert 
knowledge  or  study  of  the  problem  presented,  and  on 
the  basis  of  their  trust  in  the  ability  and  thoroughness 
of  the  committee 's  labor.    The  few  remaining  have  either 
taken  part  in  the  debate,  or  are  so  few  that  their  vote 
adds  little  to  the  force  already  belonging  to  the  per- 
sonalities on  the  committee. 

These  committees  reporting  on  standards  or  other 
matters  have  been  called  Professional  Committees,  be- 
cause the  topic  referred  to  them  as  a  rule  is  a  matter  of 
professional  significance  and  not  one  having  a  direct 
commercial  or  financial  or  administrative  bearing. 

The  first  of  these  Society  standards  is  embodied  in 
paper  No.  168,  of  Volume  6,  and  presents  a  Code  for  the 
Conduct  of  Trials  of  Steam  Boilers.  It  embodies  both 
the  Standard  Form  of  Log  for  use  in  such  tests,  the  con- 
siderations which  led  to  the  standard,  some  possible  al- 
ternatives, and  a  comment  on  standard  apparatus.  The 
debate  on  the  Society  policy  respecting  such  a  report  is 
printed  separately  as  paper  No.  185  of  Volume  6.  Prof. 
William  Kent  was  chairman  of  this  committee,  and  it 


SOCIETY    OF     MECHANICAL    ENGINEERS 


I 


A  HISTORY  OF  THE  SOCIETY  281 

formulated  and  gave  standing  to  the  unit  of  boiler  horse- 
power proposed  by  Mr.  Chas.  E.  Emery  in  1876,  at  the 
time  of  the  great  series  of  boiler  tests  at  the  Centennial 
Exhibition  at  Philadelphia. 

The  second  committee  to  report  was  that  on  a  Stand- 
ard for  the  Diameter  and  Overall  Dimensions  of  Pipe 
and  its  Threaded  Ends,  and  the  fittings  which  such 
threads  were  to  fit.  This  report  recommended  and 
formulated  the  Briggs  standards,  created  and  offered  by 
the  late  Robert  Briggs  of  Philadelphia,  a  member  of  this 
Society,  and  first  published  in  1882-1883  in  the  proceed- 
ings of  the  Civil  Engineers  of  Great  Britain,  under  the 
heading  of  American  Practice  in  Warming  Buildings  by 
Steam.  The  manufacturers  of  such  material  had  con- 
sented to  agree  to  such  standards  and  to  the  use  of  gages 
for  threads  which  embodied  them,  and  thus  put  an  end 
to  the  confusion  and  embarrassment  which  were  at  that 
time  so  annoyingly  prevalent.  The  report  and  standards 
are  in  papers  No.  226  and  No.  241  of  Volume  8.  Mr. 
Frederick  Grinnell  was  chairman  of  this  committee,  but 
all  recognized  that  the  working  factor  of  the  result  was 
Mr.  Geo.  M.  Bond,  its  eflficient  secretary. 

The  next  topic  to  be  broached  in  this  class  was  in- 
troduced in  a  paper  by  Mr.  Percy  A.  Sanguinetti  at 
Philadelphia  in  1887,  on  the  Divergencies  in  Flange 
Diameters,  and  particularly  the  divergencies  in  diameter 
of  the  bolt  circles  in  such  flanges  as  used  in  pipe  work, 
on  engines,  valves,  pumps  and  fittings.  The  committee 
first  reported  progress  in  May  1890,  but,  by  reason  of 
deaths  and  other  causes,  was  reconstituted  to  include 
representatives  of  the  productive  interests  and  reported 
its  first  standards  in  paper  No.  481  of  Volume  13  in  1892 ; 
and  again  in  papers  No.  504  of  Volume  14,  1892,  and  No. 
826  of  Volume  21,  1899.  Mr.  Carleton  W.  Nason  was 
chairman  of  the  committee  which  presented  the  first 
standard  proportions,  and  Mr.  Edward  P.  Bates  pre- 
sented the  last  diagrams  and  tables. 

The  continually  increased  pressures  to  be  resisted 
and  the  increasing  diameters  of  pipe  for  large  power 


282     THE  AMERICAN  SOCIETY  OF  MECHANICAL  ENGINEERS 

stations  have  called  for  extensions  of  the  standards  rec- 
ommended in  1899. 

A  further  standard,  the  Method  of  Conducting  Duty 
Trials  of  Pumping  Engines,  was  reported  at  the  Cincin- 
nati Meeting  in  1890;  was  discussed  and  reported  anew 
at  the  Richmond  Meeting  in  that  same  year ;  and  is  pub- 
lished in  its  final  form  as  paper  No.  381  in  Volume  12 
and  with  its  discussion  as  a  separate  paper  as  No.  437  of 
Volume  12. 

At  the  Cincinnati  Meeting  in  1890,  a  committee  on 
Standard  Methods  of  Testing  Locomotives  was  ordered, 
and  reported  at  Chicago  in  1893.  The  report  is  paper 
No.  552  in  Volume  14.  A  committee  which  presented  a 
large  volume  of  professional  material  in  the  form  of  re- 
ports of  progress  leading  up  to  a  standard  was  that  on 
Standard  Tests  and  Methods  of  Testing  Materials.  Its 
first  official  paper  is  printed  as  an  appendix  to  the  papers 
of  the  New  York  meeting  of  1889,  No.  378  of  Volume  11, 
which  was  supplemented  at  Cincinnati  as  paper  No.  380. 
Further  supplemental  reports  were  again  brought  to  the 
Society  as  Nos.  479  and  480  of  Volume  13;  as  Nos.  550 
and  551  of  Volume  14,  and  Nos.  633  and  654  of  Volume 
16.  Paper  No.  698  of  Volume  17  is  a  report  on  the  ac- 
tion taken  at  Zurich  conferences  in  1895.  The  working 
member  of  this  committee  was  again  its  secretary  or  re- 
porter, Mr.  Gus  C.  Henning,  who  not  only  labored  in- 
defatigably,  but  who  attended  European  conferences 
and  congresses,  at  his  own  sacrifice  of  time  and  in- 
cidentals, receiving  only  a  minimum  allowance  for  his 
traveling  expenses  from  the  Society.  It  was  the  purpose 
of  the  committee  and  its  effort  to  bring  about  a  standard 
form  of  test  specimen  for  use  in  physical  and  mechanical 
tests ;  and  further  to  standardize  the  methods  of  test,  the 
time  to  be  taken  in  the  process  of  fracture  and  the  re- 
cording autographically  of  the  behavior  of  the  test  piece 
in  the  testing  machine,  that  recorded  tests  by  different 
observers  might  be  mutually  comparable.  After  Mr.  W. 
J.  Keep's  Tests  on  Cast  Iron  and  his  observations  on 
test  pieces  were  on  record,  Mr.  Henning  included  many 


A  HISTORY  OF  THE  SOCIETY  283 

of  Mr.  Keep's  series  of  tests  in  the  work  of  his  commit- 
tee, running  as  papers  Nos.  631,  655,  656,  695,  878,  1041, 
and  included  in  Volumes  16  to  25. 

As  a  result  of  the  formation  of  the  American  Society 
for  Testing  Materials  and  its  inevitable  assumption  of 
much  of  the  work,  Mr.  Henning  and  his  committee  had 
planned  to  do,  there  was  no  final  or  conclusive  summary 
or  official  report  presented,  but  the  Society  approved 
each  section  and  in  1900  discharged  the  committee.  Mr. 
Henning 's  failure  in  health  and  his  entry  thereafter  into 
other  lines  of  business  prevented  his  giving  the  matter 
the  personal  attention  which  it  might  otherwise  have 
had,  and  he  never  received  the  meed  of  praise  which  his 
devotion  to  the  matter  would  have  justified.  No  com- 
mittee reports  of  the  period  are  more  full  and  exhaustive 
than  his.  Messrs.  Towne,  Thurston,  Egleston  and 
Morgan  were  Mr.  Henning 's  associates,  and  of  these  Mr. 
Towne  is  the  only  survivor. 

In  1892  a  committee  reported  Standards  for  Tests  to 
be  made  of  Engines  and  Machinery  at  the  Columbian 
World's  Fair  of  1893  if  such  should  be  made,  with  a 
view  to  having  these  of  real  scientific  and  comparable 
value  (No.  503,  Vol.  14). 

In  1895  Mr.  F.  W.  Dean,  in  paper  No.  650,  criticized 
the  Code  of  1885-1886  for  reporting  boiler  trials,  and  in 
1898  Mr.  Barrus,  in  paper  No.  781,  made  a  Plea  for  a 
Standard  Method  of  Conducting  Engine  Tests.  The  re- 
sult was  a  revision  of  the  Standard  Boiler  Code,  pre- 
sented as  papers  Nos.  827  and  828  of  Volume  21,  and  rec- 
ommended to  replace  the  previous  standard  code.  The 
necessity  for  this  action  and  the  ease  with  which  it  was 
taken  supplied  another  argument  in  favor  of  the  Society 
policy  opposed  to  the  adoption  of  standards.  Had  the 
previous  standard  been  adopted,  it  must  have  been  recon- 
sidered, the  former  action  rescinded,  and  the  new  code 
acted  on,  in  order  to  become  a  new  standard.  A  further 
and  more  extensive  revision  of  standards  for  testing 
power  apparatus  was  reported  by  an  enlarged  committee 
in  1913  and  which  completed  its  work  in  1915. 


284    THE  AMERICAN  SOCIETY  OF  MECHANICAL  ENGINBEES 

At  the  Washington  Meeting  of  1899  a  paper  by  Mr. 
J.  B.  Stanwood,  on  the  necessity  for  cooperation  between 
the  builders  of  the  engines  and  those  of  the  generator 
armatures  in  direct-connected  sets  of  such  power-trans- 
mitting apparatus,  resulted  in  the  appointment  of  a  com- 
mittee on  Standards  for  Direct-Connected  Generating 
Sets,  of  which  Professor  Stanwood  was  made  chairman. 

It  was  to  work  in  cooperation  with  a  similar  commit- 
tee on  the  armature  standards  for  the  generator.  It 
made  a  preliminary  report  for  discussion  at  Milwaukee 
in  1901  and  its  final  report  in  New  York  that  same  year 
as  paper  No.  916  of  Volume  23.  Mr.  Barrus's  paper.  No. 
781,  had  resulted  in  a  Report  on  a  Standard  Method  of 
Testing  Steam  Engines,  published  as  Nos.  973  and  974 
of  Volume  24,  and  recommended  in  1902.  It  had  been 
suggested  (1897)  that  the  previous  work  on  standardiz- 
ing the  threads  and  proportions  of  pipe  and  fittings  had 
not  covered  the  design  of  pipe  unions,  and  the  impor- 
tance of  this  fitting  in  compressed  air  and  other  in- 
dustries would  justify  a  committee  and  its  consideration 
and  report.  Such  committee  reported  in  1901,  and  this 
is  published  as  Nos.  917  and  948  of  Volume  23. 

At  the  Annual  Meeting  in  December  1905  the  Society 
received  the  report  of  its  professional  committee  on  a 
Proposed  Standard  for  Machine  Screws,  both  as  to  the 
threads  and  the  proportions  of  the  heads.  The  so-called 
Sellers  or  U.  S.  Standard  of  many  years  ago  covered 
sizes  of  bolts  and  of  cap  screws  from  one-half  inch 
diameter  of  stock  and  upward.  The  new  electric  and 
motor  vehicle  industries  were  calling  for  a  similar 
standard  for  sizes  smaller  than  one-half  inch.  This  re- 
port is  again  a  monument  to  Mr.  Geo.  M.  Bond  and  is 
published  as  paper  No.  1142  of  Volume  29. 

At  the  conclusion  of  the  third  of  a  century,  a  move- 
ment is  nearly  concluded  to  make  the  Briggs  Pipe  Thread 
Standard,  now  of  America  and  Great  Britain,  the  inter- 
national standard  of  the  world.  If  this  is  consummated 
it  will  put  a  fitting  period  to  the  splendid  achievements 
of  the   Society  in  these  fields   through  the  wise   and 


A  HISTORY  OF  THE  SOCIETY  285 

energetic  labor  of  the  notable  committees  who  have  so 
unsparingly  given  their  time  and  effort. 

There  are  also  other  conomittees  of  the  membership 
who  have  labored  through  the  Society,  but  whose  labors 
have  not  enriched  the  profession  by  a  report  creating 
a  standard  for  professional  use.  Among  such  are  the 
committee  to  secure  a  renewal  of  the  United  States  Com- 
mission to  test  iron,  steel  and  other  metals.  This  com- 
mission had  an  existence  and  governmental  support 
before  the  Society  came  into  existence,  but  on  the  ex- 
piration of  its  period  and  the  first  appropriations  Con- 
gress had  not  extended  its  period  of  service,  and  it  had 
lapsed.  It  had  created  the  great  Emery  Testing  Ma- 
chine now  at  Watertown,  Mass.,  but  no  work  on  full- 
sized  members  had  been  possible.  Prof.  Thomas  Egles- 
ton  was  the  working  energy,  and  he  kept  working  at  it, 
and  reporting  the  lack  of  forward  progress  for  many 
earlier  years  (1882-1886).  There  was  cooperation  in  the 
American  Society  of  Civil  Engineers  and  through  the 
Chief  of  Ordnance,  United  States  Army,  and  the  Society, 
in  days  of  poverty,  appropriated  $200  for  its  committee's 
expenses. 

Other  committees  were  as  follows:  A  committee  to 
secure  relief  at  the  United  States  Patent  Office  in 
Washington  from  the  conditions  of  congestion  due  to  lack 
of  room,  and  such  changes  as  would  result  in  expediting 
the  procedure  of  issue  of  the  patents  after  applications 
were  sent  in.  The  committee  reported  to  the  Society  and 
the  individual  members  were  urged  to  use  their  influence 
directly  with  members  of  both  houses  (1884). 

A  committee  to  present  a  memorial  to  the  houses  of 
Congress  urging  on  them  the  founding  or  a  participation 
in  the  creating  of  a  suitable  memorial  to  Capt.  John 
Ericsson  for  his  achievements  and  to  commemorate  his 
services  before  and  during  the  war  of  1861-1865  (1889- 
1890). 

A  committee  to  memorialize  the  United  States  Con- 
gress for  the  creation  of  a  commission  to  recommend 
standards  and  a  bureau  for  their  maintenance  as  re- 


286     THE  AMEBICAN  SOCIETY  OP  MECHANICAX,  ENGINEERS 

spects  industrial  products  from  various  States  where 
confusion  now  prevails  (1889-1891). 

A  committee  to  provide  joint  headquarters  in 
Chicago  during  the  continuance  of  the  World's  Fair  of 
1893. 

A  committee  to  report  a  recommendation  and  proper 
action  with  respect  to  making  general  the  use  of  a  metal 
wire  and  sheet  gage,  the  numbers  of  which  shall  be  the 
thicknesses  of  the  plate  or  wire  expressed  in  thousandths 
of  an  inch.  This  committee  reported  the  oval  thickness 
gage,  which  was  patented  for  safeguarding  by  one  of  the 
members  of  the  committee  and  ownership  assigned  to  the 
Society  (1893-1894-1897). 

A  committee  to  conduct  tests  of  fireproofing  ma- 
terials, tested  the  material  used  to  cover  the  steel 
skeletons  of  tall  buildings.  The  experiments  were  made 
at  the  plant  of  the  Continental  Iron  Works  at  Green- 
point,  and  the  material  and  steel  were  furnished  by  in- 
terested manufacturers.  The  report  of  these  tests  was 
published  as  No.  700  in  Volume  18,  but  the  tests  could 
not  be  carried  to  completion  by  reason  of  the  costs 
(1898).  Later  the  best  work  in  this  field  was  done  at 
Columbia  University  by  Prof.  Ira  H.  Woolson,  member 
of  the  Society,  and  the  apparatus  and  methods  used 
were  described  in  papers  by  him  before  the  American 
Society  for  Testing  Materials  (1896). 

A  committee  to  sit  upon  a  revision  of  the  building 
laws  of  New  York  City  (1896). 

A  committee  to  prepare  and  have  in  readiness  the 
available  material  which  may  be  used  in  opposition  to 
a  movement  to  make  the  use  of  the  metric  system  and 
its  units  of  length  compulsory  on  the  industry  of  the 
United  States  (1896-1902).  The  paper  by  Mr.  F.  A. 
Halsey,  No.  971,  Volume  24,  and  the  report.  No.  972,  are 
the  papers  in  the  case,  and  the  action  of  the  Society  is 
in  paper  No.  975  of  the  same  volume. 

A  committee  of  conference  on  international  standard 
electrical  rules.  Mr.  C.  J.  H.  Woodbury  has  represented 
the  Society  in  these  conferences  and  has  reported  on 


I 


A  HISTORY  OF  THE  SOCIETY  287 

their  work  and  decisions  (see  Nos.  749  and  790,  Volume 
19). 

A  committee  on  standard  specifications  for  steel  in 
its  various  industrial  forms,  reported  through  Mr.  W.  R. 
Webster,  as  paper  No.  945,  Volume  23. 

A  committee  advisory  to  the  authorities  of  the  Expo- 
sition in  St.  Louis  in  1904,  to  act  with  a  similar  commit- 
tee of  the  American  Railway  Master  Mechanics  Associa- 
tion in  laying  out  tests  for  locomotives  on  the  testing 
plant  in  the  Transportation  Building  which  the  Pennsyl- 
vania Railway  built  and  operated  (1903). 

A  committee  to  consider  and  recommend  a  standard 
unit  or  units  to  be  the  basis  of  the  thermal  and  dynamic 
performance  in  the  processes  of  mechanical  refrigera- 
tion.   This  committee  is  yet  to  make  its  final  report. 

A  committee  to  further  the  movement  for  the  con- 
servation of  natural  resources,  in  water,  fuel  and  forests, 
and  to  furnish  the  engineering  knowledge  and  experi- 
ence required  in  intelligent  legislation  to  this  end.  This 
committee  is  still  at  work. 

A  committee  to  formulate  standards  for  specifica- 
tions and  construction  of  boilers  and  other  containing 
vessels  in  which  high  pressure  is  maintained.  Work  of 
monumental  character  and  extent,  completed  in  the  early 
months  of  1915  and  reported  in  Volume  36,  No.  1469. 

A  committee  to  recommend  standards  for  use  in  engi- 
neering drawings  to  denote  the  materials  used  in  con- 
struction; report  published  in  Volume  36,  No.  1468. 

A  committee  to  foster  the  creation  and  use  of 
standards  in  all  engineering  and  industrial  departments. 
This  committee  is  still  at  work. 

A  committee  to  foster  standardization  of  sizes  in  the 
commercial  literature  of  production  and  trade  and  other 
catalogues ;  report  published  in  Volume  35,  No.  1394. 

A  committee  to  report  on  the  proper  shapes  and 
angles  to  be  used  in  the  tracing  of  gear  teeth  in  the  in- 
volute system. 

A  conmaittee  to  recommend  desirable  changes  in  the 
patent  laws  of  the  United  States. 


288     THE  AMERICAN  SOCIETY  OF  MECHANICAL  ENGINEEEo 

Sub-committees  under  general  direction  of  the  Re- 
search Committee  of  the  Society,  and  preparing  to  re- 
port on  safety  valves,  on  electrical  materials,  and  on 
steam. 

A  committee  to  recommend  a  code  of  ethics  for  prac- 
tising engineers. 

A  committee  to  report  recommendations  respecting  a 
National  Museum  of  the  productive  industries. 

A  committee  to  report  standard  tolerances  in  the 
fit  of  screw  threads. 

This  last  series  of  eight  have  been  appointed  by  the 
Council  after  discussion  of  their  significant  value,  and 
there  are,  in  addition,  conference  committees  of  that 
body  appointed  to  sit  with  committees  of  other  engi- 
neering societies  upon  questions  of  mutual  interest  as 
respects  matters  of  common  interest.  Such  committees 
have  acted  on  the  procedure  to  be  followed  when  legis- 
lation is  proposed  of  unfortunate  or  ill-advised  purport. 
The  Council  has  also  had  committees  recommended  to  it 
on  which  it  has  not  passed  favorably ;  and  others  have 
found  it  impracticable  or  unwise  to  report  and  their  ap- 
pointment has  been  quietly  ignored  and  forgotten. 

The  Committee  on  Meetings  has  also  recommended 
special  professional  committees,  whose  primary  function 
is  the  creation  of  professional  literature  on  an  assigned 
topic,  in  the  form  of  papers  and  discussions,  and  the  hold-*; 
ing  of  special  sessions  at  conventions  or  at  other  times  tol 
make  these  public  and  available.  The  topics  now  crystall4 
ized  from  the  general  planning  in  this  field  include :  tex- 
tiles, administration,  cement  manufacture,  depreciatiof^l 
and  obsolescence,  machine  shop  practice,  iron  and  steely 
hoisting  and  conveying,  air  machinery,  railroads,  in^ 
dustrial  buildings,  and  fire  protection.  As  time  shall  sho 
and  as  the  Society  can  afford  it,  there  will  be  additions 
made  to  the  list.     As  the  permanent  importance  ani 
the  volume  of  papers  gathering  around  each  topic  sha 
justify,  the  members  adhering  to  any  one  topic  will  be 
formed  into  a  professional  section  of  the  Society.    It  ii 
not  worth  while  to  create  and  multiply  sections  of  th 


PRESIDENT     19IO 

OF 

THE  AMERICAN    SOCIETY  OF  MECHANICAL  ENGINEERS 


A  HISTORY  OF  THE  SOCIETY  289 

Society,  when  after  a  few  papers  and  a  limited  number 
of  professionally  specialized  sessions  of  the  members  in- 
terested, it  will  be  found  that  the  topic  has  been  prac- 
tically exhausted  and  no  more  papers  are  forthcoming 
in  groups  as  previously  under  pressure.  Papers  coming 
singly  and  at  intervals  as  the  normal  flow  can  best  be 
handled  in  the  general  sessions,  to  give  breadth  of  in- 
terest to  them. 

It  will  be  seen  from  the  foregoing  that  the  committee 
channel  of  Society  activity  is  one  of  its  most  useful  and 
effective  ones,  and  is  to  be  warmly  encouraged  by  legisla- 
tion and  official  action.  The  capacity  of  the  Secretary 
as  the  Society  *s  executive  is  enormously  multiplied  by  the 
voluntary  service  of  the  committee  members,  and  the 
membership  and  the  profession  strengthened  and  ad- 
vanced by  the  results  of  this  skilled  and  expert  energy 
which  is  expended  for  the  good  of  all. 


CHAPTER  XVII 

Professional  Sections,  Local  Groups,  Student 
Branches,  Affiliates 

It  has  already  been  emphasized  elsewhere  that  the 
basic  concept  of  organization  and  administration  was 
that  The  American  Society  of  Mechanical  Engineers 
should  be  the  recognized  national  body  of  its  practi- 
tioners in  the  United  States,  or  the  North  American 
continent.  Hence  any  tendencies  to  localize  it,  or  to  give 
any  group  of  its  members  the  feeling  that  they  were 
isolated  from  it,  or  did  not  get  the  same  return  as  some 
others  more  favorably  located,  were  to  be  opposed  as 
blunders  of  policy. 

On  the  other  hand,  to  overdo  this  philosophy  and  to 
lean  backward  in  an  effort  to  be  upright,  by  opposing 
local  gatherings  in  the  important  centers  where  large 
groups  of  members  have  their  homes  and  duty,  would  be 
no  less  a  blunder.  The  important  matter  seems  to  be  to 
keep  clearly  in  view  the  fact  that  such  local  membership 
gatherings  must  not  be  claimed  to  be  meetings  of  the 
Society;  that  they  should  not  take  legislative  or  other 
action  representative  of  it,  nor  seek  to  get  into  control 
of  it  politically  or  technically.  With  proper  safeguards 
in  operation  to  these  ends,  the  holding  of  meetings  in 
the  various  industrial  centers  of  the  country  will  not 
only  be  an  occasion  of  pleasure  and  value  to  the  member- 
ship, but  be  of  the  greatest  service  to  the  Society  as  a 
whole. 

The  history  of  the  monthly  reunions  of  members 
during  the  31st  Street  period  from  1890  to  1907  has 
been  elsewhere  recorded.  It  was  subsequent  to  the  au- 
thor's presidential  address  of  1907,  in  the  first  year  of 
occupancy  of  the  Engineering  Societies  Building,  that 

290 


I 


A  HISTORY  OF  THE  SOCIETY  291 

the  plan  of  holding  meetings  in  cities  other  than  New 
York  began  to  take  definite  and  workable  shape.  Five 
fundamental  principles  were  molded  into  the  structure 
on  which  they  were  built: 

(a)  They  must  in  no  wise  invade  the  field  and  func- 
tion of  a  local  society  in  that  territory  where  such  exists. 
Meetings  must  be  held  in  cooperation,  or  as  joint 
meetings. 

(h)  They  must  not  be  meetings  of  the  Society,  but 
always  be  called  and  conducted  as  meetings  of  the  Mem- 
bers of  the  Society  in  such  a  place. 

(c)  The  entire  membership  of  the  Society  must  share 
in  any  papers  or  other  professional  material  of  value 
which  come  to  the  group  of  local  members  at  such  a 
meeting,  so  that  the  good  of  the  few  may  become  the  good 
of  all. 

(d)  The  meeting  shall  be  in  control  of  its  own  people. 
The  Council  will  ask  only  the  right  to  approve  the  per- 
sonnel of  the  committee  in  charge.  All  expenditure 
properly  chargeable  to  the  Society  must  first  be  ap- 
proved by  its  Secretary. 

(e)  All  members  of  other  engineering  societies  shall 
be  invited  and  made  welcome  at  such  meetings,  and  no 
distinction  shall  be  made  as  respects  engineers,  not 
members  of  any  society  but  who  would  be  benefited  by 
attending  meetings. 

The  reasons  which  lie  behind  the  foregoing  policies 
seem  hardly  to  need  discussion.  Experience  shows  them 
to  be  sound  and  to  work  well.  Under  them,  meetings  are 
statedly  held  in  Atlanta,  Boston,  Buffalo,  Chicago,  Cin- 
cinnati, Los  Angeles,  Milwaukee,  New  Haven,  New  York, 
Philadelphia,  Providence,  St.  Louis,  St.  Paul-Minne- 
apolis, San  Francisco  and  Worcester.  The  Boston  meet- 
ings were  among  the  first  to  be  organized  and  they  have 
been  the  occasion  for  some  excellent  papers  and  for  the 
presence  of  distinguished  visitors.  What  may  be  desig- 
nated as  the  social  expenditure  of  the  meetings  is  en- 
tirely in  the  hands  of  the  local  members,  and  the  Society 
is  not  responsible  for  it,  nor  asked  to  help  in  it. 


292     THE  AMERICAN  SOCIETY  OP  MECHANICAL  ENGINEERtt 

Such  meetings  or  reunions  of  members,  with  a  simple 
and  unpretentious  local  organization  for  their  conduct, 
seem  to  approach  most  nearly  to  ideal  conditions.  In 
some  places,  however,  the  idea  of  a  Section  of  the  So- 
ciety seems  to  be  preferred,  and  under  this  name  the 
gatherings  are  held  in  St.  Louis,  San  Francisco  and  Cin- 
cinnati. It  does  not  seem  material  what  name  is  used, 
provided  the  safeguards  are  present,  and  the  future  may 
manifest  all  geographical  groups  operated  under  the 
legislation  for  sections.  If  the  principle  of  benefiting 
all  by  the  activities  of  one  section  is  lived  up  to,  the 
geographical  groups  or  sections  should  be  the  occasions 
of  great  professional  strengthening  of  the  Society,  since 
papers  procured  by  a  section  for  itself  will  be  read  after- 
wards in  other  sections  and  discussed  therefore  with  a 
national  breadth  of  treatment  most  stimulating  to  think 
of.  The  Journal  of  the  Society  will  be  the  organ  and 
channel  for  such  wide  distribution  of  the  papers  of  the 
sections.  The  one  important  view  is  to  keep  from  con- 
sidering the  Society  as  an  aggregate  of  self-seeking 
sections.  The  Society  as  a  unit  may  subdivide  for  the 
purpose  of  convenient  activity  in  smaller  bodies,  but  the 
integrity  and  unity  of  the  whole  is  a  philosophic  princi- 
ple to  be  maintained. 

Under  this  same  head  as  the  geographical  groups,  will 
be  brought  by  logic  and  by  polity  the  meetings  and  the 
organizations  under  the  Student  Branches  of  the  Society. 
These  are  exactly  like  the  local  sections,  with  the  limita- 
tion that  the  executive  control  and  the  territorial  resi- 
dence attach  to  engineering  schools  of  recognized  stand- 
ing, and  the  meetings  are  primarily  meetings  of  their 
students.  Student  members  pay  an  annual  fee  of  $2,  to 
cover  the  expenses  of  their  connection  to  the  Society 
and  a  subscription  to  The  Journal.  The  Student  organi- 
zation in  many  cases  is  the  existing  engineering  society, 
and  The  American  Society  of  Mechanical  Engineers  only 
requires  the  privilege  of  approving  the  by-laws  of  such 
organization  if  its  members  are  otherwise  eligible.  The 
graduate  may  retain  student  privileges  for  two  years 


PRESIDENT     1911 


THEAMERICAN    SOCIETY  Of  MECHANICAL  ENGINEERS 


A  HISTOBY  OF  THE  SOCIETY  293 

after  graduation,  but  must  thereafter  become  a  Junior 
Member  if  he  desires  to  retain  an  organic  relation  to 
the  Society.  Thirty-five  Student  Branches  have  been 
formed,  with  an  enrollment  soon  to  reach  1000  names. 
The  list  is  subject  to  growth  each  year,  but  at  the  moment 
of  writing  includes  the  following:  Armour  Institute  of 
Technology,  Carnegie  Institute  of  Technology,  Case 
School  of  Applied  Science,  Columbia  University,  Cornell 
University,  Kansas  State  Agricultural  College,  Lehigh 
University,  Leland  Stanford  Jr.  University,  Massa- 
chusetts Institute  of  Technology,  New  York  University, 
Ohio  State  University,  Pennsylvania  State  College, 
Polytechnic  Institute  of  Brooklyn,  Purdue  University, 
Eensselaer  Polytechnic  Institute,  The  State  Agricultural 
College  of  Colorado,  State  University  of  Iowa,  State 
University  of  Kentucky,  Stevens  Institute  of  Technology, 
Syracuse  University,  Throop  College  of  Technology, 
University  of  Arkansas,  University  of  California,  Uni- 
versity of  Cincinnati,  University  of  Colorado,  University 
of  Illinois,  University  of  Kansas,  University  of  Maine, 
University  of  Michigan,  University  of  Minnesota,  Uni- 
versity of  Missouri,  University  of  Nebraska,  University 
of  Wisconsin,  Washington  University,  Worcester  Poly- 
technic Institute,  Yale  University. 

A  second  grouping  of  the  elected  members  of  the  So- 
ciety is  into  the  professional  sections.  These  are  formed 
of  members  interested  in  a  subject  or  a  department  of 
mechanical  engineering,  desirous  of  securing  and  dis- 
cussing papers  on  a  single  topic  or  on  a  series  of  topics 
related  to  one  professional  line  of  work  or  achievement. 
Their  organization  for  this  purpose  may  be  simple  or 
more  complex.  In  the  simple  organization  and  the  one 
to  be  preferred,  they  are  a  voluntary  body,  with  an  execu- 
tive committee  to  manage  their  affairs,  and  with  no  dues 
and  little  or  no  expense  outside  of  that  which  the  Secre- 
tary's office  incurs  for  all  members  in  the  procuring  of 
papers  to  be  read,  their  printing  and  publication  and 
distribution,  and  the  holding  of  occasional  special  ses- 
sions at  conventions  or  at  other  times.    The  Council  asks 


294     THE  AMERICAN  SOCIETY  OF  MECHANICAL  ENGINEERS 

only  that  it  may  control  the  personnel  of  such  an  execu- 
tive committee,  and  that  all  expenditure  be  made  through 
the  Secretary  and  with  his  approval  and  provided  for  in 
the  annual  budget.  The  more  complex  organization  ap- 
proaches to  that  of  an  engineering  society,  with  commit- 
tees and  its  own  officers,  perhaps  also  with  a  procedure 
of  election  of  members  and  officers,  and  an  increased 
outlay  for  the  more  elaborate  routine  of  management. 
In  the  carrying  out  of  the  simpler  plan,  the  committees 
of  the  Society  in  charge  of  special  topics  are  sections  of 
the  professional  class,  and  will  be  so  developed  by  pro- 
cedure and  legislation.  The  Gas  Power  Section  is  being 
so  handled  that  it  will  gradually  be  transformed  into  a 
body  of  simpler  organization  and  conduct,  but  practically 
autonomous  under  its  own  executive  committee. 

Professional  sections,  active  and  full  of  energy,  are  of 
the  greatest  practical  professional  significance  to  the  So- 
ciety. They  secure  specialized  papers,  they  procure  live 
discussions,  and  they  bring  into  touch  with  the  Society, 
its  work  and  its  excellencies,  persons  who  perhaps  other- 
wise could  not  have  been  interested  in  it. 

A  fourth  group  of  persons  who  are  brought  together 
to  serve  and  benefit  the  Society  and  be  themselves  bene- 
fited are  included  under  the  term  Affiliates,  and  their 
relation  is  that  of  affiliation  with  The  American  Society  of 
Mechanical  Engineers.  They  are  of  two  classes,  af- 
filiated societies,  and  affiliate  members. 

An  affiliated  Society  is  one  with  which  the  Society 
has  the  right  and  privilege  of  an  interchange  of  pro- 
fessional papers.  Any  society  may  have,  publish  and 
present,  any  of  their  papers  at  a  meeting  for  discussion ; 
conversely,  the  affiliated  society  may  take  Society  papers 
published  in  The  Journal  for  reading  and  discussion. 
Valuable  discussion  is  also  the  property  of  both  parties 
to  the  affiliation.  This  policy  enables  the  Society  to  be 
of  material  benefit  to  organizations,  the  scope  of  mem- 
bership of  which  makes  the  securing  of  papers  for  its 
meetings  not  always  a  simple  or  a  practical  process ;  and 


A  HISTOBY  OF  THE  SOCIETY  295 

the  Society  broadens  enormously  the  area  from  which  it 
may  draw  papers,  data  and  significant  discussion. 

The  affiliate  member  is  not  usually  a  member  of  an 
engineering  society,  who  desires  or  is  desired  to  take 
part  as  by  right  in  any  engineering  meeting  of  group  or 
section  or  branch,  either  in  presenting  papers  or  discuss- 
ing those  of  others,  or  who  feels  it  to  be  to  his  advantage 
to  support  the  work  of  such  an  organization  without 
going  through  the  process  of  election  as  a  member  of 
the  national  society.  His  experience  or  age  may  not 
qualify  him  for  a  regular  grade,  yet  his  cooperation  and 
participation  will  be  most  valuable  in  the  work  of  the 
section,  for  example.  Again  others,  self-distrustful  as 
to  the  acceptability  of  their  experience  as  qualifying 
them  for  a  regular  membership,  may  like  to  become 
affiliates  first  as  a  stepping-stone  to  the  full  members' 
relations.  From  whatever  cause  the  hesitation  may  come 
or  the  delay  in  seeking  full  membership  by  parties 
eligible,  the  affiliate  relation  is  believed  to  strengthen 
the  Society  on  the  one  hand,  and  to  be  of  service  to  its 
holder  on  the  other. 


CHAPTER  XVIII 
HiSTOKic  Gifts  to  the  Society 

Reference  has  been  made  in  an  earlier  chapter  to  the 
fact  that  when  the  Society  moved  into  its  house  at  12 
West  31st  Street  and  into  an  assembly  hall  which  had 
been  decorated  with  numerous  life-sized  portraits  of 
eminent  practitioners  in  medicine,  the  first  feeling  of 
those  who  dwelt  in  the  house  and  made  use  of  it  was  that 
these  bare  walls  must  be  covered  with  memorials  of  those 
whom  the  profession  of  mechanical  engineering  de- 
lighted to  honor.  It  was  a  significant  fact  voiced  by  Dr. 
James  C.  Bayles  in  presenting  the  portrait  of  his  friend, 
Alexander  L.  HoUey,  that  he  hoped  the  gift  of  this  oil 
portrait  would  be  the  first  in  a  long  line  of  similar  gifts 
which  would  make  the  assembly  hall  of  The  American 
Society  of  Mechanical  Engineers  a  sort  of  pantheon  or 
hall  of  fame,  on  whose  walls  the  portraits  of  eminent 
engineers  would  group  themselves  as  the  years  went  by. 

It  was  along  this  line  that  the  first  effort  to  secure 
gifts  for  the  Society  shaped  itself,  in  the  direction  of 
securing  the  portraits  of  those  two  deceased  members 
who  had  been  recognized  by  the  Council  as  founders  of 
the  Society  and  made  Honorary  Members  in  perpetuity. 

In  reviewing  the  history  of  gifts  to  the  Society,  it 
would  perhaps  be  more  convenient  to  disregard  the 
existence  of  historic  succession,  and  to  group  the  gifts 
to  the  Society  rather  along  the  line  of  their  character  and 
significance.  Reference  has  been  made  elsewhere  to 
many  of  these  gifts  as  signalizing  the  administration  of 
the  President  of  that  year,  so  that  the  historic  and 
chronological  features  can  be  easily  traced.  On  this 
principle  the  gifts  to  the  Society  will  be  grouped  in  the 
following  classes:     (a)  portraits  of  eminent  members, 

206 


PRESIDENT     1912 

OF 

THE  AMERICAN   SOCIETY  OF  MECHANICAL  ENGINEERS 


A  HISTORY  OF  THE  SOCIETY  297 

including  busts;  (h)  equipment  for  the  house  and  head- 
quarters; (c)  material  having  historic  associations;  {d) 
miscellaneous. 

PORTRAITS 

(1)  A  portrait  in  pastel  of  Prof.  W.  J.  M.  Rankine. 
This  was  picked  up  by  the  Secretary  in  1889  in  Glasgow 
and  was  considered  by  all  who  remembered  Professor 
Bankine  as  a  splendid  likeness.  It  was  life  size  and  was 
the  first  portrait  on  the  walls  of  the  assembly  hall. 

Professor  Rankine  was  the  author  of  the  textbooks 
used  by  most  early  engineers  and  which  have  remained 
classics  to  this  day,  although  superseded  by  simpler 
treatises  which  are  more  easily  used  in  teaching.  Pro- 
fessor Rankine  worked  out  much  of  the  computations 
made  for  the  early  compound  steamship  engines  built 
on  the  Clyde. 

(2)  An  oil  portrait  of  Mr.  Alexander  L.  Holley, 
founder  of  the  Society.  This  was  the  gift  of  his  widow, 
who  had  become  Mrs.  Bunker.  It  was  presented  with 
appropriate  ceremony,  the  address  being  made  by  the 
late  Dr.  J.  C.  Bayles,  an  intimate  friend  and  associate  of 
Mr.  Holley. 

(3)  An  oil  portrait  of  Mr.  Henry  R.  Worthington. 
This  was  presented  by  his  son,  Mr.  C.  C.  Worthington. 

(4)  An  oil  portrait  of  Mr.  Jos.  Harrison,  Jr.  Mr, 
Harrison  was  the  designer  of  the  oast-iron  sectional 
boiler  which  had  considerable  vogue,  and  also  was  known 
for  his  work  in  connection  with  the  equalizing  system  of 
spring  levers  in  locomotives  and  other  similar  work.  The 
portrait  was  the  gift  of  his  nephew,  Mr.  Henry  H.  Suplee. 

(5)  An  oil  portrait  of  Robert  Fulton,  alleged  by  its 
donor  to  have  been  painted  by  Fulton  himself  at  the  time 
he  was  a  portrait  painter  by  profession.  The  portrait 
had  been  bought  by  Mr.  Alanson  A.  Gary  and  kept  in  his 
library,  until  the  breaking  up  of  the  home  induced  his 
widow  to  make  a  gift  of  the  picture  to  the  Society. 

(6)  An  oil  portrait  of  Dr.  Franz  Reuleaux.  This 
was  painted  from  original  sittings  by  Miss  Suplee  and 


298     THE  AMERICAN  SOCIETY  OF  MECHANICAL  ENGINEERS 

presented  to  the  Society  through  her  brother,  Henry 
Harrison  Suplee. 

(7)  An  oil  portrait  of  Mr.  J.  F.  Hollo  way.  This  was 
painted  from  photographs  after  the  death  of  the  subject 
and  was  never  considered  as  successful  as  the  subscribers 
to  the  fund  had  hoped  it  would  be. 

(8)  An  oil  portrait  of  Prof.  John  E.  Sweet,  Past- 
President,  later  Honorary  Member.  This  portrait  was 
the  gift  of  Mr.  Ambrose  Swasey.  It  was  unveiled 
after  a  presentation  address  by  Mr.  Chas.  Wallace  Hunt. 

(9)  An  oil  portrait,  three-quarters  length,  of  Mr. 
John  Fritz,  Past-President  and  Honorary  Member.  This 
was  a  gift  from  Mr.  Fritz  which  he  had  not  intended 
should  be  made  until  after  his  death,  but  he  was  per- 
suaded, sorely  against  his  will,  by  a  group  of  his  friends 
to  allow  it  to  come  into  the  Society's  possession,  so  as 
to  have  the  pleasure  of  it  while  he  was  still  alive. 

(10)  An  oil  painting  of  Sir  Isaac  Newton,  copied 
from  the  original  in  the  National  Portrait  Gallery  in 
London. 

(11)  A  similar  oil  portrait  of  James  Watt. 

(12)  Oil  portrait  of  George  Stephenson,  similarly  a 
copy  of  the  London  original.  These  three  copies  were 
presented  to  the  Society  by  a  syndicate  of  Past-Presi- 
dents, among  whom  were  Messrs.  Swasey,  Dodge  and 
others,  and  were  copies  made  in  London  by  Miss  Suplee. 
They  are  among  the  most  cherished  possessions  in  their 
class,  which  the  Society  is  proud  to  exhibit  upon  its  walls. 

(13)  A  crayon  enlargement  from  a  photographic 
original  of  the  late  John  C.  Hoadley.  This  was  pre- 
sented by  the  family  of  Mr.  Hoadley  and  through  the 
active  cooperation  of  his  son,  Francis  W.  Hoadley.  Mr. 
Hoadley  had  been  a  notable  figure  in  the  generation  about 
to  pass  away  as  the  Society  was  formed.  He  had  ex- 
hibited at  the  Centennial  Exposition  of  1876  a  form  of 
engine  in  which  the  governing  was  effected  from  re- 
volving weights  in  the  plane  of  the  flywheel  and  was  the 
initial  type  of  the  single  valve  automatic  engine.  His 
priority  in  this  field  is  disputed  only  in  England,  where 


A  HISTORY  OF  THE  SOCIETy  2W 

the  governor  of  Hartnell  is  claimed  to  embody  the  same 
ideas. 

(14)  Oil  portrait  of  John  Ericsson.  This  was  found 
by  the  Secretary  of  the  Society  in  the  collection  of  a 
dealer  of  antiques  on  the  upper  East  Side  and  was  bought 
and  turned  over  to  the  Society.  It  was  recognized  by 
those  who  had  known  Captain  Ericsson  as  a  portrait  that 
had  hung  in  his  parlor  in  Beach  Street,  New  York,  and 
later,  on  a  visit  of  the  artist  Ballin,  was  recognized  as 
executed  by  himself.  It  needed  only  retouching  and  re- 
pairs to  the  frame  to  be  made  a  distinguished  possession 
of  the  Society. 

(15)  An  oil  portrait  from  an  enlargement  made  after 
death  from  a  smaller  photograph  of  the  late  George  H. 
Corliss  and  presented  to  the  Society  by  his  widow  and 
his  estate.  Mr.  Corliss  was  asked  by  the  Society  to  be 
its  first  President  and  previous  to  its  formation  had  had 
a  position  in  steam  engineering  which  was  unique  and 
distinguished. 

(16)  A  photographic  reproduction  of  the  National 
Portrait  Gallery  original  of  the  portrait  of  James  Watt. 
This  was  hung  in  a  niche,  formed  when  the  shelving 
of  the  library  gallery  was  installed  for  the  portrait  of 
the  donor  of  the  building  to  the  New  York  Academy  of 
Medicine.  It  retained  its  position  all  through  the  sixteen 
years  of  Society  life  in  that  building,  even  when  the  oil 
copy  from  the  original  was  placed  in  the  assembly  hall 
below. 

(17)  A  bust  in  plaster  of  Captain  John  Ericsson,  pre- 
sented with  its  ornate  pedestal  by  Mr.  James  M.  Dodge. 
This  was  a  copy  from  an  original  made  in  Ericsson's 
early  life  which  had  stood  in  the  library  of  Mr.  Dodge's 
uncle,  Mr.  Mapes.  The  Society  had  it  reproduced  in 
bronze  and  has  both  the  original  plaster  and  the  bronze 
reproduction  in  its  present  building. 

(18)  A  marble  bust  of  the  late  Joseph  Nason,  with 
its  pedestal.  This  was  the  gift  of  his  distinguished  son, 
Mr.  Carleton  W.  Nason,  who  succeeded  his  father  in 
business  and  who  was  greatly  interested  in  the  Society's 


300     THE  AMERICAN  SOCIETY  OF  MECHANICAL  ENGINEERS 

work  up  to  the  time  of  his  death.  He  was  active  in  add- 
ing noteworthy  memorials  of  interest  to  the  Society  house 
and  in  the  early  reunions. 

(19)  A  bust  in  plaster  of  James  Watt,  but  colored 
black,  a  replica  from  a  Scotch  original,  reduced  in  size 
and  presented  by  Mr.  Erwin  Graves.  This  bust  was  on 
the  mantlepiece  of  the  31st  Street  house  for  many  years.^ 

(20)  A  bronze  relief  tablet,  executed  by  H.  A.  Ma( 
Neil,  in  memorial  of  Prof.  Robert  H.  Thurston,  fin 
President  of  the  Society,  It  is  a  replica  from  an  original 
at  Cornell  University,  and  was  secured  by  a  subscription 
started  shortly  after  Dr.  Thurston's  death,  particularly 
from  alumni  of  Stevens  Institute,  by  the  energy  of  Mr. 
Gus  C  Henning  and  an  interested  committee.  The  first 
offerings  in  the  form  of  a  bust  were  rejected  as  unsatis- 
factory. The  present  most  pleasing  form  was  secured 
by  permission  from  the  Alumni  Association  of  Cornell. 
The  bronze  was  unveiled  in  1909  by  Dr.  A.  C.  Humphreys 
as  chairman  of  the  reorganized  memorial  committee,  and 
accepted  by  President  E.  D.  Meier. 

EQUIPMENT 

In  the  collection  classed  as  gifts  to  the  Society  for  the 
equipment  of  its  house  and  headquarters  should  be 
listed : 

(21)  An  oil  painting  representing  a  bold  sea  coast 
with  the  sea  dashing  against  it. 

(22)  A  landscape  showing  a  winter  scene  with  snow 
upon  the  ground  and  a  cold  brook  running  between  ice- 
bound banks.  These  oil  paintings  were  the  gift  of  an 
interested  group  of  members  for  the  decoration  of  the 
Society  parlor  in  31st  Street  and  were  bought  by  the 
Secretary  at  a  clearing-out  sale.  They  hung  facing  each 
other  upon  the  walls  of  that  parlor  all  through  the  time 
of  its  use. 

(23)  A  crayon  showing  a  head  of  Minerva  in  heroic 
size.  This  was  presented  by  the  Secretary  to  fill  a  needed 
space. 

(24)  A  dining  table  of  the  colonial  period,  once  the 


l^-^^^'l-'Ti.xy^-ty^L^^ 


PRESI  DENT     19  I  3 


THE    AMERICAN    SOCIETY    OF     MECHANICAL    ENGINEERS 


A  HISTOEY  OF  THE  SOCIETY  301 

property  of  Robert  Fulton.  It  was  given  by  him  to  Miss 
Egleston,  and  by  her  to  her  brother,  Prof.  Thomas  Egle- 
ston,  who  presented  it  to  the  Society.  It  was  an  extension 
table  made  with  leaves  which  hung  or  dropped  when  such 
leaves  were  not  in  use,  and  consisted  of  a  center  section 
and  two  rounded  ends.  A  brass  plate  was  inserted  into 
the  table  showing  its  history  and  passage  through  several 
owners.  It  is  interesting  to  record  that  a  lady,  whose 
Southern  home  had  been  ravaged  during  the  march  of 
Sherman's  army  to  the  sea,  visiting  the  house  some  years 
after  the  Society  came  into  its  possession,  laid  claim  to 
the  Fulton  table  as  being  her  property  and  was  quite  in- 
sistent until  she  had  been  shown  certain  details  of  con- 
struction which  she  recognized  as  different  from  her 
original.  The  table  belongs  to  the  period  at  the  end  of 
the  eighteenth  century.  It  had  been  abused  by  common 
uses  in  the  kitchen  in  the  old  Egleston  home  but  was 
easily  put  in  order  and  made  a  distinguished  ornament. 

(25)  The  upright  piano.  This  was  the  gift  of  mem- 
bers interested  in  the  musical  evenings  of  the  first  winter 
of  occupancy  of  the  31st  Street  house  and  was  a  great 
source  of  pleasure  to  those  who  used  the  house  as  a  home. 

(26)  The  John  Fritz  chiming  hall  clock.  This  is  a 
handsome  modern  reproduction  on  antique  lines  of  the 
tall  clock  of  the  colonial  period,  bearing  an  inscription  on 
a  silver  plate:  **0h!  Time,  deal  gently  with  our  loving 
friends,  John  and  Ellen  Fritz.  August  21st,  1892, 
Bethlehem,  Pa."  It  was  presented  to  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Fritz  on  the  occasion  of  the  celebration  of  Mr.  Fritz's 
seventieth  birthday  at  a  large  banquet  given  by  his 
friends  in  Bethlehem,  and  was  conveyed  to  the  Society 
by  his  estate  in  1913  after  Mr.  Fritz's  death.  It  plays 
the  Westminster  chimes  every  quarter  hour. 

(27)  The  memorial  plaque  presented  by  general  sub- 
scription to  Rear- Admiral  Geo.  W.  Melville  on  the  occa- 
sion of  his  seventieth  birthday.  It  is  of  silver  inscribed 
and  mounted  in  a  frame.  The  recipient  asked  that  the 
Society  might  preserve  it  after  his  death,  which  occurred 
in  February  1912. 


302     THE  AMERICAN  SOCIETY  OF  MECHANICAL  ENGINEERS 

(28)  Illuminated  addresses  of  welcome,  presented  to 
the  Society  by  guests  from  European  countries  who  had 
been  entertained  by  the  Society,  or  on  the  occasion  of 
such  visits  by  the  Society  outside  of  the  United  States. 

(29)  A  photograph  of  Sir  Henry  Bessemer. 

(30)  A  photograph  of  Mr.  Eckley  B.  Coxe. 

(31)  A  photograph  of  Mr.  Chas.  H.  Haswell,  first 
engineer-in-chief  of  the  United  States  Navy,  and 
Honorary  Member  of  the  Society.  These  three  are  the 
nucleus  of  a  collection,  prepared  under  the  Secretary  and 
House  Committee  in  1911-1912  to  include  all  the  Honor- 
ary Members  and  the  Past-Presidents  of  the  Society. 

(32)  A  combination  instrument  thermometer  and 
barometer  belonging  to  the  estate  of  the  late  Mr.  W.  F. 
Durfee.  This  stood  on  the  mantlepiece  of  the  Society 
parlor  on  31st  Street  for  many  years. 

HISTORIC 

In  the  group  of  material  having  a  distinctly  historic 
outlook  come  the  following  articles: 

(33)  A  drawing  of  the  date  of  1813,  showing  the 
steamer  Robert  Fulton  with  design  of  the  engine  and 
some  historic  data  concerning  the  boat.  This  was  auto- 
graphed by  Robert  Fulton,  although,  of  course,  it  is 
not  known  whether  he  drew  it  himself  or  had  it  drawn 
for  him.  It  was  the  gift  of  Miss  Louisa  Lee  Schuyler 
and  was  one  of  the  most  interesting  and  valuable  historic 
elements  of  the  growing  Fulton  memorabilia  in  the  So- 
ciety's possession  after  an  entertainment  had  been  given 
with  Robert  Fulton  and  his  achievements  as  the  central 
features.  These  had  great  significance  at  the  time  of  the 
Hudson-Fulton  Celebration  in  New  York  in  1909. 

(34)  A  water  color  drawing,  also  autographed  by 
Robert  Fulton  and  probably  an  original  by  him,  illustrat- 
ing the  carriage  of  a  canal  by  an  aqueduct  over  a  ravine 
and  in  which  the  power  for  the  boat  was  derived  by  the 
overflow  of  water  from  the  canal.  This  was  the  gift  of 
Miss  Cornelia  J.  Carll. 

(35)  A  model  of  the  Ericsson  Monitor,  on  a  scale  of 


A  HISTORY  OF  THE  SOCIETY  303 

one-quarter  of  an  inch  to  the  foot.  This  was  presented 
to  the  Society  by  Thomas  F.  Rowland  and  his  associates 
of  the  Continental  Iron  Works  at  Greenpoint,  Brooklyn, 
in  the  shipyard  of  which  company  the  hull  of  the  Moni- 
tor had  been  constructed.  The  model  was  suspended 
under  the  Ericsson  portrait  for  many  years. 

(36)  A  model  of  the  steam  yacht  Reverie,  made  from 
the  designs  of  Mr.  G.  W.  Hillman  for  Mr.  Stephen  Wil- 
cox. When  the  yacht  ceases  to  be  in  existence  it  will  be- 
come a  historical  model.  The  model  has  been  loaned  to 
the  later  owner  of  the  vessel,  Mr.  A.  F.  Hoxie. 

(37)  A  photograph  of  the  first  Straight  Line  engine 
constructed  by  Professor  Sweet  in  his  works  at  Syra- 
cuse, showing  the  engine  body  and  details  of  the  shaft 
governor.  This  was  presented  by  R.  H.  Davis  and  is 
exhibited  under  a  yellow  glass,  with  the  hope  that  the 
use  of  a  non-actinic  medium  may  prevent  the  fading 
of  so  valuable  an  original. 

(38)  The  first  hydraulic  jack  made  by  the  late  Mr. 
Dudgeon,  to  illustrate  the  principle  of  that  machine. 
This  was  a  gift  from  Mr.  F.  H.  Stillman. 

(39)  A  lathe  tool  such  as  was  used  by  the  early  me- 
chanics before  the  invention  of  the  mechanically  operated 
tool  carriage  and  used  in  all  work  of  engine  turning, 
screw  cutting  and  the  like.  This  tool  had  been  known 
and  used  by  John  Fritz  in  his  apprenticeship  and  was 
steadied  by  having  its  wooden  handle  long  enough  to  go 
under  the  arm  of  the  worker  while  he  controlled  the 
point  with  both  hands. 

(40)  A  silver  cup  presented  to  Captain  Ericsson 
after  the  success  of  his  Monitor  by  those  who  recognized 
the  debt  which  the  nation  owed  to  him  when  the  Monitor 
prevented  the  entire  United  States  Navy  from  oblitera- 
tion. This  was  a  permanent  loan,  equivalent  to  a  gift 
from  Mr.  Ericsson  Bushnell. 

(41)  A  specimen  of  boiler  scale  taken  in  the  rough 
from  the  water  tube  of  a  marine  boiler  of  1876,  and  cut 
into  its  present  form  and  presented  by  Mr.  Charles  H. 


304    THE  AMERICAN  SOCIETY  OF  MECHANICAL  ENGINEEES 

Haswell.    The  sample  of  scale  is  about  two  inches  thick 
and  is  as  hard  as  rock. 

(42)  A  sample  of  armor  plate,  showing  the  marks  of 
shell  impact,  taken  from  a  monitor  which  was  cut  up  by 
the  Tredegar  Iron  Works  of  Eichmond.  Presented  to 
the  Society  by  Colonel  W.  E.  Archer. 

(43)  A  set  of  Whitworth  plug  and  ring  gages, 
brought  from  England  about  1856  and  used  by  Mr.  Aaron 
M.  Freeland  for  many  years  in  his  shops  in  New  York 
City.  These  were  probably  the  first  set  of  gages  to  be 
used  in  this  country.  The  gift  was  received  from  the 
Ingersoll-Eand  Company. 

(44)  A  similar  set  of  Whitworth  gages  for  screws. 

(45)  A  most  valuable  set  of  models  to  illustrate  the 
inventions  and  experiments  of  Captain  Ericsson  in  con- 
nection with  his  work  on  the  hot  air  engine  and  solar 
motor,  and  other  objects  of  his  inventive  capacity.  These 
were  presented  by  his  executors  to  the  Metropolitan 
Museum  of  Art  in  New  York  City  because  at  the  time 
of  his  death  there  seemed  to  be  no  appropriate  place 
where  they  could  be  preserved.  By  arrangement  with 
the  executors  of  Captain  Ericsson's  estate  and  the 
trustees  of  the  Metropolitan  Art  Museum,  this  set  of 
models  and  the  case  containing  them  were  presented  to 
the  Society  and  are  exhibited  in  the  United  Engineering 
Society's  fireproof  building. 

(46)  By  the  generosity  of  Mr.  Stephen  W.  Baldwin 
and  some  other  friends  of  the  late  Mr.  J.  C.  Hoadley,  a 
large  proportion  of  his  apparatus  for  testing  boilers  and 
engines  was  purchased  from  his  estate  and  presented  to 
the  Society.  Some  of  the  elements  of  this  gift  were  so 
valuable  that  one  by  one  they  were  stolen  from  the  So- 
ciety's collections.  Others  which  had  no  great  value 
were  loaned  to  members  of  the  Society  and  to  university 
laboratories,  where  they  still  remain.  Others  are  still 
in  use  in  the  Society's  offices. 

(47)  A  pair  of  Novelty  Iron  Works  or  Stillman  in- 
dicators of  the  James  Watt  design,  with  no  lever-multi- 
plication for  the  pencil  motion.    Presented  by  Mr.  John 


A  HISTORY  OF  THE  SOCIETY  806 

C.  Kafer,  then  engineer  with  the  Morgan  Iron  Works  of 
John  Eoach's  Sons,  which  had  bought  out  much  of  the 
tools  and  other  property  of  the  Franklin  Forge  and  the 
Novelty  Iron  Works  of  New  York. 

(48)  A  gear  cutter  of  1848,  made  and  used  at  the 
works  of  Russell,  Birdsall  and  Ward,  Port  Chester, 
N.  Y.,  presented  by  Mr.  A.  D.  Finley  of  the  Society.  The 
cutter  was  formed  on  a  lathe  by  hand  tools  and  the  teeth 
were  cut  by  a  file.  Most  of  the  work  was  chipped  by 
chisel  and  finished  by  a  file,  as  the  works  had  no  planer 
or  shaper  for  this  class  of  work.  The  machine  was  de- 
signed by  Mr.  W.  E.  Ward,  former  member,  and  used 
under  his  supervision. 

MISCELLANEOUS 

In  the  miscellaneous  collection  of  gifts  which  are  not 
historic  are  the  following : 

(49)  A  set  of  Pratt  and  Whitney  gages  for  standard 
machine  screw  threads. 

(50)  A  model  made  by  the  Pratt  and  Whitney  Company 
of  the  breech  loading  gun,  known  as  the  Long  Cecil  and 
made  in  Kimberly,  South  Africa,  during  a  siege  of 
1899-1900  in  the  absence  of  any  adequate  tools  or  ma- 
chinery for  such  manufacture.  Presented  by  the  Pratt 
and  Whitney  Company. 

(51)  A  model  of  the  Buckeye  steam  engine  showing 
its  characteristic  valve  gear  with  a  double  movement. 

Among  the  miscellaneous  gifts  also  should  be  men- 
tioned a  copy  of  the  special  book  prepared  by  Captain 
Ericsson  at  the  time  of  the  Centennial  ExMbition  in 
1876,  when  certain  models  and  machinery  which  he  had 
desired  to  exhibit  were  refused  for  reasons  which  seemed 
inadequate  to  him.  Only  a  few  copies  of  this  publication 
are  in  existence  and  this  copy  was  presented  to  the  So- 
ciety by  Mr.  A.  H.  Raynal. 

The  collection  of  unique  books  in  the  Durfee  library 
with  the  enclosing  book  cases  are  not  a  gift,  but  should 
properly  be  listed  among  the  material  the  Society  pos- 
sesses which  is  of  unique  value. 


306     THE  AMERICAN  SOCIETY  OF  MECHANICAL  ENGINEEBS 

Photograplis  from  the  Walker  Manufacturing  Com- 
pany of  the  cable  railway  machinery  which  they  manu- 
factured previous  to  the  supplanting  of  cable  motive 
power  by  the  electric  motor  system.  These  units  are 
already  historic. 

Photographs  or  other  reproductions  of  the  achieve- 
ments of  members  in  pumping  engines,  steam  engines 
and  other  mechanical  creations. 

If  it  should  come  to  pass  in  the  future  that  room 
should  be  found  for  anything  approaching  an  adequate 
engineering  museum,  the  collection  of  apparatus  ac- 
cumulated by  the  Society  during  its  years  of  formation 
will  be  of  the  greatest  significance.  Americans  have 
been  so  busy  creating  new  elements  that  historic  forms 
are  turned  out  and  find  their  way  to  the  scrap  heap  before 
their  real  historic  value  is  realized.  There  is  at  Columbia 
University  the  original  single  valve  automatic  engine 
made  by  Mr.  J.  C.  Hoadley,  exhibited  at  the  Centennial 
Exposition  in  1876.  There  is  also  an  exhibit  of  the 
Ericsson  hot  air  engine  of  his  early  design.  Unfortu- 
nately there  is  no  room  for  their  adequate  display  and 
their  existence  is  unknown  to  many.  A  museum  for  such 
historic  specimens  exists  in  Munich,  Germany,  and  it  is 
greatly  to  be  desired  that  a  similar  undertaking  should 
be  begun  at  once  in  the  United  States. 


^TL^^^vL^ — c--»-<3 


PRESIDENT     1914- 


HE    AMERICAN    SOCIETY   OF    MECHANICAL    ENGINEERS 


CHAPTEE  XIX 

Peizes  and  Medals 

A  further  and  important  activity  in  the  Society  has 
been  stimulated  by  the  gift  of  generous  and  far-seeing 
members,  either  by  deed  of  gift  in  theiK  lifetime,  or  by 
bequest  in  their  will.  These  funds  are  held  in  trust  by 
the  Society,  the  income  to  be  devoted  to  stimulating 
activity  in  a  chosen  direction. 

The  first  of  these  are  two  prize  funds  of  $1000  each 
given  by  Mr.  Henry  Hess,  a  Vice-President  of  the  So 
ciety.  The  first  is  for  a  prize  for  the  best  paper  by  a 
Junior  member  of  the  Society.  The  second  is  for  the  two 
members  of  Student  Branches  of  the  Society  who  shall 
contribute  the  best  papers  in  any  year.  It  is  the  purpose 
of  these  funds  that  they  should  be  of  valuable  aid  to  the 
young  engineer,  to  make  it  possible  for  him  to  undertake 
original  work  and  present  the  results  of  such  investiga- 
tion in  well-considered  papers.  The  decision  of  award  is 
made  by  three  members  of  the  Society,  not  members  of 
the  Council  but  appointed  by  that  body,  and  including 
one  member  of  the  Committee  on  Meetings.  The  prize  is 
to  consist  of  $50  in  cash  and  an  engraved  certificate 
signed  by  the  President  and  Secretary  and  shall  be 
awarded  only  in  case  the  paper  in  competition  is  ad- 
judged to  be  of  sufficient  merit  as  a  contribution  to  the 
literature  of  the  profession. 

The  committee  on  award  for  the  prizes  for  Student 
Branches  is  to  consist  of  three,  one  of  whom  shall  be  the 
Chairman  of  the  Committee  on  Student  Branches.  The 
honorary  presidents  of  the  Student  Branches  shall  act  as 
advisory  members  to  the  Committee  on  Award.  Each 
prize  of  the  two  given  to  students  shall  consist  of  $25 

307 


308     THE  AMERICAN  SOCIETY  OF  MECHANICAL  ENGINEERS 

each  in  cash,  with  an  engraved  certificate  signed  by  the 
President  and  Secretary  of  the  Society. 

Rear- Admiral  George  W.  Melville,  Past-President  of 
the  Society  and  Honorary  Member,  created  by  will  a 
trust  fund  to  be  held  by  the  Society,  the  income  to  be  de- 
voted to  a  gold  medal  to  be  awarded  by  the  Council  for 
the  best  paper  or  thesis  on  any  mechanical  subject.  It 
will  be  known  as  the  Melville  Medal,  but  the  rules  for  its 
conferring  have  not  been  entirely  formulated. 


CHAPTER  XX. 

The  John  Fritz  Medal 
United  Engineebing  Society 

In  addition  to  these  activities  wMch  are  purely  per- 
sonal, The  American  Society  of  Mechanical  Engineers 
has  united  with  other  bodies  for  the  joint  prosecution  of 
matters  of  common  interest.  The  first  of  these  is  in  the 
consideration  and  awarding  of  the  John  Fritz  Medal. 
The  second  is  its  participation  in  the  United  Engineer- 
ing Society. 

The  John  Fritz  Medal  is  a  gold  medal  presented  for 
achievement  in  applied  science,  as  a  memorial  to  the 
great  engineer  whose  name  it  bears.  In  1892,  just  after 
Mr.  Fritz 's  seventieth  birthday,  a  number  of  his  friends, 
representing  membership  in  all  the  engineering  so- 
cieties, united  to  tender  him  a  dinner  in  celebration  of 
his  birthday.  The  dinner  was  held  in  the  opera  house  of 
Bethlehem,  Pa.,  Mr,  Fritz's  home  city  and  the  affection- 
ate devotion  of  all  who  were  assembled  centered  in  a 
mock  trial  after  the  banquet.  The  victim  was  accused 
of  having  made  the  City  of  Bethlehem  a  place  where 
grass  no  longer  grew  between  the  stones  in  the  streets 
and  a  place  where  the  meadow  by  the  river  had  no 
longer  an  opportunity  to  feed  the  common  or  bucolic 
pig  because  of  the  enormous  production  of  pigs  of  an- 
other sort  which  was  a  feature  of  that  area.  He  had,  it 
was  alleged,  made  hollow  forgings  so  that  the  content  of 
phosphorus  might  escape  through  the  hollow  of  the  man- 
dril through  which  they  were  forged,  and  there  were 
other  high  misdemeanors  of  success  with  which  he  was 
charged. 

In  1902  when  his  eightieth  birthday  was  approaching, 
the  idea  of  a  similar  celebration  and  social  event  was 

309 


310     THE  AMERICAN  SOCIETY  OF  MECHANICAL  ENGINEERS 

canvassed,  but  in  view  of  the  merely  temporary  and 
eifervescent  character  of  such  a  celebration,  there  was 
born  the  larger  concept  of  a  fund,  to  be  subscribed  by  the 
same  persons  who  would  attend  such  a  dinner,  the  income 
to  be  used  in  creating  each  year  a  John  Fritz  Medal  for 
scientific  and  industrial  achievement  in  any  field  of  pure 
or  applied  science.  The  idea  was  received  with  acclaim 
and  the  fund  necessary  was  raised  in  a  very  short  time. 
The  names  of  subscribers  to  the  fund  are  on  record  in  an 
album  which  the  executors  of  Mr.  Fritz  have  turned  over 
to  the  Society  for  safekeeping.  A  committee  was  ap- 
pointed consisting  of  representatives  from  The  Amer- 
ican Society  of  Mechanical  Engineers,  the  American  So- 
ciety of  Civil  Engineers,  the  American  Institute  of  Min- 
ing Engineers  and  the  American  Insitute  of  Electrical 
Engineers.  This  Committee  secured  an  appropriate 
design  of  a  medal  by  Mr.  Victor  D.  Brenner  and  the  first  „ 
impression  from  the  artist's  design  was  cast  and  given  I 
to  Mr.  Fritz  himself,  at  an  important  dinner  held  in  the 
Waldorf  Hotel,  New  York,  which  strained  the  capacity 
of  the  great  ballroom  to  its  limit.  After  the  die  of  the 
medal  had  been  completed,  the  Committee  which  had 
been  appointed  by  the  several  societies  was  continued  as 
the  John  Fritz  Medal  Fund  Corporation.  Four  members 
from  each  of  the  engineering  societies  named  above  are 
appointed  by  the  governing  board  of  such  society  to 
serve  for  four  years.  The  medal  has  been  awarded  to 
John  Fritz,  Lord  Kelvin  of  England,  George  Westing- 
house,  Alfred  Noble,  Charles  T.  Porter,  Sir  Wm.  H. 
White  of  England,  Thomas  A.  Edison,  Alexander 
Graham  Bell,  Robert  W.  Hunt,  John  E.  Sweet  and  James 
Douglas.  The  representatives  on  the  John  Fritz  Medal 
Board  have  been  Messrs.  Ambrose  Swasey,  Henry  R. 
Towne,  John  R.  Freeman,  W.  F.  M.  Goss,  F.  R.  Hutton 
and  John  A.  Brashear. 

The  United  Engineering  Society  is  the  name  which 
has  been  given  to  the  Board  of  Trustees  which  represents 
the  three  founder  societies  named  in  Mr.  Andrew  Car- 
negie 's  deed  of  gift  of  the  sum  to  build  a  union  building. 


PRESIDENT    1915 


THE  AMERICAN   SOCIETY  OF  MECHANICAL  ENGINEERS 


I 


A  HISTOBY  OF  THE  SOCIETY  311 

The  conference  committee  named  in  1904  to  confer  with 
the  representatives  of  the  other  societies  hecame  the 
building  committee  after  the  special  charter  was  granted 
and  the  plans  of  the  building  were  to  be  decided  upon. 
The  building  committee  again  became  the  representa- 
tives of  the  Society  on  the  Board  of  Trustees  and  under 
the  charter  granted  by  the  State  of  New  York  for  the 
control  of  that  building.  The  first  members  were  Messrs. 
James  M.  Dodge,  Charles  Wallace  Hunt  and  F.  R. 
Hutton.  These  served  two  terms.  Subsequently,  Messrs. 
Jesse  M.  Smith,  Fred  J.  Miller  and  Alex.  C.  Humphreys 
have  been  chosen  Trustees  and  Prof.  F.  R.  Hutton  has 
been  Secretary  of  the  Board  by  successive  re-election 
under  its  by-laws.  The  Board  of  Trustees  consists  of 
nine  members,  three  appointed  from  each  of  the  three 
founder  societies  and  each  to  serve  for  three  years.  It 
is  their  province  to  conduct  the  building  in  the  interests 
of  the  founder  and  associate  societies,  to  build  up  the 
engineering  library  and  to  foster  and  favor  the  interests 
of  the  engineering  profession  in  every  appropriate  way. 
The  Board  has  been  made  the  custodian  of  the  funds 
given  by  Mr.  Ambrose  Swasey  in  1914-1915  to  establish 
The  Engineering  Foundation,  and  its  organization  and 
functions  are  emphatically  suggestive  of  the  tendency 
towards  unity  and  cooperation  for  the  common  good  in 
the  various  branches  of  the  profession  of  engineering. 


APPENDIX 

It  has  been  thought  desirable  that  the  address  of 
Prof.  F.  E.  Hutton  on  retiring  from  the  presidency 
in  1907  should  appear  as  an  appendix  to  the  volume  of 
the  Society  History.  It  was  delivered  as  the  results  of 
his  many  years  of  study  and  effort  in  the  work  of  admin- 
istration of  an  engineering  society  and  covering  discus- 
sions of  certain  philosophies  of  which  the  History  gives 
only  a  summary  treatment.  It  gives  also  the  lines  of  de- 
velopment of  the  profession  of  mechanical  engineering  in 
the  thirty  years  since  the  date  of  the  HoUey  address  in 
the  field  of  mechanical  engineering,  as  he  then  saw  it 
in  1880. 


12 


THE   MECHANICAL  ENGINEER  AND  THE 
FUNCTION  OF  THE  ENGINEERING  SOCIETY 

President's  Address.     1907 
By  prof.  F.  R.  HUTTON,  E.  M.,  Ph.  D.,  Sc.  D.,  NEW  YORK 

The  convening  of  The  American  Society  of  Mechanical  Engineers  for 
its  Annual  Meeting  in  the  splendid  building  devoted  to  the  needs  and  uses 
of  such  a  Society  and  for  the  first  time  in  such  surroundings  makes  it  seem 
fitting  that  the  opening  address  of  the  meeting  should  consider  the  duty 
and  function  of  the  engineering  society  in  its  relation  to  the  profession 
which  underlies  it.  The  speaker  takes  special  pleasure  in  availing  himself 
of  this  opportunity  by  reason  of  the  many  years  of  his  service  to  such  a 
Society  and  of  the  close  touch  permitted  to  him  for  this  reason  with  the 
problems  which  the  topic  presents. 

It  would  be  an  attractive  possibility  to  consider  the  wide  range  of  the 
Engineering  Societies  as  they  are  grouped  under  the  roof  of  this  Engi- 
neering Building,  and  to  discuss  their  functions  with  respect  both  to  their 
own  specialties  and  to  the  profession  as  a  whole.  This  woxild  open  up  the 
possibilities  of  the  building  and  the  significance  of  it  as  a  gift  to  our 
profession  in  a  way  which  would  be  both  stimulating  and  suggestive;  and 
would  present  the  greatness  of  the  thought  in  the  mind  of  its  donor  in  a 
way  to  make  it  remembered.  But  the  limitations  in  space  and  time  and 
the  proprieties  of  the  case  make  it  appear  fitting  to  confine  consideration  to 
the  one  field  of  the  Mechanical  Engineer,  and  to  the  function  of  The 
American  Society  which  bears  his  name.  This  simplifies  the  questions  into 
two:  What  is  the  mechanical  engineer  at  the  opening  of  the  twentieth 
century;  and,  what  are  the  duties  and  functions  of  an  American  Society  of 
Mechanical  Engineers  to  that  branch  of  the  profession?  This  latter  logically 
divides  into  two  sections ;  the  duty  of  the  Society  to  those  without  its 
membership ;  and  the  duty  of  the  Society  to  those  enrolled  within  it. 

In  seeking  a  defensible  definition  of  the  mechanical  engineer  in  these  days, 
which  are  those  of  specialization  on  the  one  hand  and  of  broadening  scope 
upon  the  other,  there  are  several  courses  open.  The  first  and  obvious  one  is  to 
rest  upon  authority  and  inheritance  and  to  follow  recorded  standards  whicl? 


Presented  at  the  New  York  Meeting  (December  1907)  of  The  American 
Society  of  Mechanical  Engineers,  and  forming  part  of  Volume  29  of  the 
Transactions. 

313 


314     THE  AMERICAN  SOCIETY  OF  MECHANICAL  ENGINEERS 

have  some  vogue  or  acceptance.  The  second  is  to  gain  definiteness  of 
thought  by  differentiating  the  mechanical  engineer  from  other  specialists  by 
noting  what  lines  of  professional  activity  are  not  his;  and  the  third  will  be 
to  scrutinize  the  list  of  membership  in  the  Society  and  so  dividing  the 
members  into  groups  to  generalize  therefrom  as  to  what  the  man  is  doing  v 
who  is  or  claims  to  be  a  mechanical  engineer. 

In  turning  to  the  historical  definition,  or  that  which  has  its  authority  i 
from  long  usage,  the  stately  language  of  Tredgold  of  England  always 
claims  first  place  as  of  right.  At  a  meeting  of  the  CouncU  of  the  Institution 
of  Civil  Engineers  of  Great  Britain  on  December  29,  1827,  Mr.  Tredgold, 
Honorary  Member  of  the  Institution,  was  requested  by  resolution  to  ' '  give 
a  description  of  what  a  Civil  Engineer  is,"  in  order  that  this  description 
might  be  embodied  in  the  petition  for  a  charter  for  such  a  body.  Mr. 
Tredgold 's  historic  definition  is: 

"Civil  Engineering  is  the  art  of  directing  the  great  sources  of  power 
in  Nature  for  the  use  and  convenience  of  man."  He  amplifies  this  by 
adding  that  it  is  a  practical  application  of  the  most  important  principles 
of  natural  law,  and  has  among  its  objects  that  of  improving  the  means  of 
production  and  of  traffic  for  external  and  internal  trade,  such  applications 
being  directed  to  the  construction  and  management  of  roads,  bridges, 
railroads,  aqueducts,  canals,  river  navigation,  docks  and  store  houses,  ports, 
harbors,  breakwaters,  moles  and  lighthouses.  He  includes  also  the  pro- 
tection of  property  from  injury  by  natural  forces,  as  in  the  defense  of 
tracts  of  land  from  encroachments  by  sea  or  rivers:  the  direction  of 
streams  and  rivers  for  use  either  as  powers  to  work  machines  or  as  supplies 
for  towns  or  for  irrigation,  as  well  as  the  removal  of  noxious  accumulations 
as  by  drainage.  He  touches  also  upon  navigation  by  artificial  power  for 
the  purposes  of  commerce,  and  adds  that  the  scope  of  utility  of  engineering 
will  be  increased  with  every  discovery  in  natural  law  and  physics,  and  its 
resources  with  every  invention  in  mechanical  and  chemical  art.  The  Charter 
of  the  Institution  repeats  the  Tredgold  wording,  and  describes  the  profes- 
sion of  the  civil  engineer  as  "the  art  of  directing  the  great  sources  of 
power  in  nature  for  the  use  and  convenience  of  man,  as  the  means  of 
production  and  of  traffic  in  states  both  for  external  and  internal  trade  as 
applied  in  the  construction  of  roads  and  bridges,  aqueducts,  canals,  river 
navigation  and  docks  for  internal  intercource  and  exchange  and  in  the 
construction  and  adaptation  of  machinery  and  in  the  drainage  of  cites  and 
towns. ' ' 

In  comment  upon  this  definition  it  may  be  observed: 
a  It  should  receive  the  respectful  homage  which  is  due  to  a  great  achieve- 
ment. Its  breadth  and  comprehensiveness  show  us  how  great  was  the 
man  who  created  it,  and  so  early  in  our  industrial  history.  By  suitably 
extending  the  meaning  of  its  terms  and  by  reading  into  them  the  fuller 
significances  of  the  later  years,  the  definition  is  still  defensible  for 
what  it  can  be  made  to  cover.  We  have  not  outgrown  it  yet,  by  any 
means. 


APPENDIX  315 

h  It  should  be  regarded  as  a  definition  of  engineering  in  its  broad  and 
comprehensive  sense,  and  should  not  be  used  to  apply  only  to  that 
specialized  department  of  the  profession  to  which  in  America  the 
term  civil  engineering  is  applied  in  education  and  in  popular  use. 
What  Mr.  Tredgold  meant  was  the  profession  of  the  civilian  practi- 
tioner of  engineering,  as  distinguished  from  the  military  engineer,  the 
latter  being  concerned  with  the  special  problems  of  the  fortress  and 
the  work  of  the  army.  The  civilian  and  the  military  engineer  have 
much  the  same  problems  in  any  case,  and  the  military  engineer  in  the 
field  of  ordnance  becomes  perforce  a  mechanical  engineer  of  high 
order,*  but  the  purpose  of  the  Tredgold  definition  was  to  form  the 
basis  of  a  character  for  an  organization  of  civilians  as  differentiated 
from  employees  of  the  British  Government  in  their  own  engineering 
field;  and  the  qualifying  word  applied  to  the  engineer  should  be  so 
understood  in  the  light  of  its  purpose. 

c  In  the  third  place  it  should  be  noted  that  this  definition  of  engineering 
as  practised  by  the  civilian  was  given  in  the  infancy  or  at  the  birth 
of  the  modern  industrial  epoch  in  which  we  are  now  living.  This  con- 
stitutes an  element  of  the  admiration  we  must  feel  for  the  greatness 
of  its  creator,  that  under  these  conditions  he  should  have  seen  so  far; 
but  the  fact  is  also  responsible  for  the  limitations  which  are  suggested 
by  it  and  which  must  be  removed  in  the  light  of  our  present  clearer 
vision.  The  year  1827  was  two  years  in  advance  of  the  competition  at 
Eainhill  where  Stephenson  won  fame  for  the  solution  of  the  motive 
power  problem  of  the  railway:  the  first  power  driven  steamboats  on 
the  Thames  had  been  struggling  against  the  tides  only  since  1813,  and 
Dr.  Dionysius  Lardner  had  convinced  all  conservatives  that  the  con- 
sumption of  fuel  as  the  standard  then  existed  would  preclude  all  suc- 
cessful working  of  long  distance  marine  service  such  as  across  the 
Atlantic  Ocean  or  around  the  Cape.  The  machine  tool  was  stUl  a  small 
thing,  whose  tools  were  held  by  hand  to  the  work  to  be  done.  Engi- 
neers were  highly  pleased  when  the  fit  of  the  engine-piston  in  the  bore 
of  the  cylinder  was  so  close  that  "at  no  point  in  its  circumference  or 
traverse  could  you  drop  a  shilling  through  the  space  between  the  two." 
The  mining  of  England  whUe  important  relatively  was  yet  limited  for 
lack  of  shaft-machinery  and  was  largely  or  entirely  carried  on  by  mine- 
bosses  of  experience.  Faraday  had  yet  four  years  to  labor  before  he 
made  his  historic  discovery  of  the  electric  current  induced  by  motion 
before  the  pole  of  the  magnet.  The  metallurgist  and  chemical  engineer 
could  only  come  into  being  when  the  needs  of  a  community,  built  upon 
industrial  production  with  cheap  power  at  its  base,  should  have  called 
for  him.  What  did  exist  were  mills  driven  by  water-power:  the  iron 
works  built  upon  the  puddling  and  rolling  processes  originated  by 
Henry  Cort,  and  the  achievements  of  Boulton  and  Watt  in  respect  to 


^See  paper  by  Brigadier  General  William  Crozier,  p.  65,  vol.  29. 


816     THE  AMERICAN  SOCIETY  OF  MECHANICAL  ENGINEERS 

stationary  steam  engines.  Nasmyth  with  the  steam  hammer  and  the 
large  machine  tool  were  still  in  the  future;  but  most  of  all  and  most 
significant  of  all  from  the  present  point  of  view,  the  idea  of  manu- 
facturing or  production  upon  a  large  scale,  in  factories  or  shops  where 
great  groups  of  productive  machinery  were  gathered  together  to  be 
served  by  a  common  source  of  mechanical  power  had  not  yet  been  born. 
The  industrial  commimity  or  civilization  made  possible  and  present  by 
the  combined  achievement  of  the  physicist,  the  mechanical  engineer  and 
the  electrical  engineer,  in  whose  power  house  and  from  it  are  liberated, 
generated  and  transmitted  the  vast  volumes  now  in  use  of  industrial 
energy  is  truly  dependent  upon  the  powers  of  nature  controlled  and 
directed  by  engineers.  The  implication  is  however  that  these  forces  of 
nature  are  in  existence  and  active  and  are  awaiting  control  and  di- 
rection. The  definition  is  silent  upon  that  group  of  engineers  concerned 
with  the  liberation,  the  generation  and  the  transmission  of  forces  which 
are  potential  and  are  not  realized  in  nature  until  in  accordance  with 
natural  law  some  engineer  has  caused  them  to  appear. 

d  Again,  it  is  only  by  a  great  stretching  of  the  inclusive  character  of 
terms,  that  the  expression  ' '  powers  of  nature ' '  can  be  made  to  include 
the  forces  which  are  economic  or  social  or  psychological  in  their 
application,  and  which  come  into  play  for  control  and  direction  when 
production  on  a  large  scale  is  under  consideration,  and  large  numbers 
of  human  beings  become  the  organs  or  implements  of  the  factory  as 
a  tool  for  production.  The  aggregation  of  power,  machinery  and 
producers  is  a  unit;  it  is  to  be  created,  organized  and  operated  for  an 
end.  By  whom?  The  ordinary  commercial  or  financial  or  business 
training  alone  is  not  adequate  for  proper  direction  and  control:  the 
learned  professions  of  law,  medicine  or  divinity  are  not  suggested  for 
the  purpose;  but  as  the  engineer  has  created  the  plant  in  its  physical 
aspects,  he  would  seem  the  proper  one  to  operate  it  in  its  industrial 
functions.  The  engineer  has  therefore  become  an  economic  factor  as 
he  was  not  conceived  to  be  in  that  earlier  day.  The  energies  directed 
and  controlled  by  such  an  engineer  may  only  be  included  within  the 
"powers  of  nature"  by  an  effort  which  strains  their  meaning  to  the 
breaking  point  in  unfriendly  hands:  he  is  yet  a  director  or  controller 
of  forces,  and  of  no  insignificant  type. 

e  The  inclusion  of  the  powers  of  nature  within  the  scope  of  the  elements 
of  the  profession  of  engineering  carries  with  it  the  utilizing  of  the 
resisting  forces  created  in  the  materials  of  engineering  when  such 
powers  are  exerted  to  deform  them.  Engineering,  therefore,  correctly 
covers  the  creation  of  structures  to  resist  the  dynamic  action  of  forces, 
meeting  by  the  principles  of  statics  the  impact  or  action  of  impressed 
energy.  The  definition  might  properly  be  extended,  therefore,  to  cover 
both  the  adaptation  of  the  physical  properties  of  the  materials  of 
nature  or  manufacture  to  the  withstanding  of  stress,  and  the  direction 
and  control  of  forces. 


APPENDIX  817 

/  Finally,  he  who  commits  himself  to  the  splendid  Tredgold  definition  must 
take  its  alleged  defect  with  its  excellency.  It  is  that  it  includes  as 
engineers  not  alone  those  who  create  and  install  apparatus  to  control 
and  use  the  powers  of  nature,  but  those  also  who  direct  and  control 
the  machines  or  apparatus  when  created  and  installed.  This  will 
include  those  who  may  be  called  "coordinators  of  design,"  who  take 
the  boilers,  engines,  dynamos,  condensing  apparatus,  piping  and  pumps 
which  are  on  the  market,  and  combine  these  into  a  consistent  whole. 
They  have  not  designed  any  of  the  units  themselves,  or  created  a  new 
machine,  but  they  have  created  a  power  house,  and  are  utilizing  the 
powers  of  nature  for  the  use  and  convenience  of  man.  Somewhat 
under  the  same  category  is  he  who  receives  the  finished  power  house 
with  all  its  units  from  the  foregoing  type  of  engineer  and  his  allies, 
the  contractors  who  have  done  the  construction  work,  and  is  then  and 
thereafter  entrusted  with  this  upkeep,  repair  and  continuous  operation. 
Such  a  man  also  directs  and  controls  the  powers  of  nature,  albeit  on  a 
less  exalted  plane  than  the  creator  or  designer  or  the  coordinator. 
There  are  those  who  would  make  the  coordinator  appear  as  a  mere 
purchasing  agent,  and  the  operator  as  a  mere  craftsman,  and  neither 
an  engineer.  I  cannot  agree  with  them,  believing  that  their  function 
calls  for  skill  and  acquirement  of  a  high  order.  The  historic  definition 
unquestionably  provides  for  them. 

g  If  the  writer  may  modestly  put  forward  a  suggestion  for  a  revision  of 
the  historic  definition,  he  would  word  it:  "The  Engineer  is  he  who 
by  science  and  by  art  so  adapts  and  applies  the  physical  properties  of 
matter  and  so  controls  and  directs  the  forces  which  act  through  them 
as  to  serve  the  use  and  convenience  of  man,  and  to  advance  his  economic 
and  material  welfare." 

h  It  may  be  of  interest  to  add  that  the  accepted  dictionaries  of  the  day, 
the  Century  and  Standard,  define  the  engineer  as  one  versed  or  skilled 
in  the  principles  and  practice  of  any  department  or  branch  of  engi- 
neering, deriving  the  word  from  older  forms  which  means  he  who 
makes  or  uses  an  engine.  Engineering  is  further  explained  as  the 
science  and  art  of  making,  building,  or  using  machines  and  engines; 
or  of  designing  and  constructing  public  works  or  the  like,  requiring 
special  knowledge  of  materials,  machinery  and  the  laws  and  principles 
of  mechanics.  Both  give  as  a  secondary  meaning,  one  who  runs  or 
manages  an  engine.  Both  the  French  and  the  Germans  avoid  this 
latter  double  use  of  the  word  by  calling  the  practitioner  of  this  sort 
of  engineering  a  machiniste  or  a  maschinist.  The  French  also  have 
the  word  mechanicien.  The  dictionary  phrases  are  a  little  hard  on  the 
mining  engineer,  for  example,  who  is  scarcely  visible  in  the  description. 

This  leads  up  naturally  to  the  differentiation  of  the  mechanical  engineer 

from  those  versed  and  skilled  in  other  branches. 

In  making  the  following  classification  it  is   obvious  that  unanimity 

cannot  be  secured  from  all  as  respects  the  number  of  branches  to  be 


318     THE  AMERICAN  SOCIETY  OF  MECHANICAL  ENGINEERS 

recognized.     With  this  apology  and  for  the  purpose  in  hand  there  are  at 

least  thirteen: 

a  The  mining  engineer  and  his  close  ally,  the  metallurgical  engineer,  is 
concerned  with  the  discovery  and  the  winning  and  extraction  from  the 
earth  of  its  buried  treasures  of  oil,  fuel  and  rock.  He  touches  the 
geologist  and  mineralogist  on  one  side  of  his  functions,  and  the  chemist 
upon  the  other.  Midway  he  allies  himself  to  the  machanical  engineer 
for  the  power  to  overcome  his  resistances  and  to  the  electrical  engineer 
for  its  convenient  transmission  to  the  working  point.  If  he  concentrates 
his  ore  after  winning  it  from  the  earth  he  calls  again  for  his  machinery 
upon  the  mechanical  engineer.  JEis  profession  passes  at  one  limit  into 
the  craft  of  the  quarryman;  and  the  other,  he  calls  on  the  art  of  the 
civil  engineer  for  his  tunnels  and  for  his  shafts;  or  the  tunneling  and 
shaft  work  of  the  civil  engineer  is  done  for  him  by  the  miner.  The 
metallurgical  engineer  who  transforms  the  crude  ore  into  marketable 
metal  or  into  the  merchant  form  or  structural  shape  is  allied  to  the 
chemist  upon  the  one  side  for  his  processes  and  to  the  mechanical 
engineer  upon  the  other  for  his  machinery.  The  electrical  engineer  is 
more  and  more  furnishing  him  the  energy  for  conversion  by  heat 
through  electrical  channels,  the  mechanical  engineer  furnishing  the 
latter  his  power.  The  mining  engineer  may  be  both  miner  and 
metallurgist.  The  iron  and  steel  metallurgist  is  usually  a  mechanical 
engineer. 

6  The  electrical  engineer  is  primarily  entrusted  with  the  transformation  of 
mechanical  or  chemical  energy  into  electric  form,  and  its  transmission 
in  that  form  to  the  point  of  use,  where  it  will  be  again  converted  into 
some  other  shape.  The  electrical  engineer  has  made  his  own  the  ques- 
tions of  generating  such  electric  energy  for  the  solution  of  the  problems 
of  lighting,  transportation  of  passengers  by  railway,  and  communication 
by  telegraph  and  telephone.  He  touches  the  physicist  in  the  realm 
outside  his  applications  of  science,  and  has  the  mechanical  or  hydraulic 
engineer  next  to  him  to  supply  mechanical  energy  to  his  generator, 
and  the  mechanical  engineer  beyond  him,  where  his  energy  drives  the 
tool,  or  operates  the  pump  or  the  elevator.  Where  his  energy  is  made 
to  appear  as  high  heat,  he  serves  the  metallurgist,  the  chemical  engi- 
neer; where  it  appears  as  low  heat  or  as  light,  he  serves  the  individual 
members  of  the  community  directly,  as  he  does  in  the  problem  of 
communicating  speech.     His  field  is  very  definite. 

c  The  naval  engineer  and  marine  architect  is  a  specialized  mechanical  and 
structural  engineer.  His  hull  is  a  truss  unsymmetrically  loaded  and 
variably  supported:  his  motive  power  a  definite  yet  widely  diversified 
problem.  He  covers  in  addition  a  wide  range  of  special  problems  when 
his  vessel  is  also  a  club  house  or  hotel,  on  the  one  hand,  or  a  powerful 
fighting  machine  upon  the  other. 

d  The  military  engineer  must  cover  both  the  defensive  and  the  offensive 
department  of  his  avocation.     On  the  one  side  he  is  a  structural  engi- 


APPENDIX  319 

neer,  and  the  problems  of  effective  transportation  enter  his  field,  which 
he  therefore  shares  with  what  is  usually  called  the  civU  engineer.  On 
the  side  of  attack,  the  problems  of  ordnance  both  for  its  construction 
and  for  its  operation  take  him  into  the  field  of  the  mechanical  engineer 
and  electrical  engineer,  and  his  problems  touch  those  of  the  physicist 
and  the  chemist  and  the  mathematician  on  the  research  and  theoretical 
side.  In  fact  the  problems  of  the  military  engineer  are  probably  those 
in  which  the  solutions  offered  by  pure  theory  can  be  most  directly 
utilized  of  any  presented  to  the  engineers,  inasmuch  as  questions  of 
cost  and  of  financing  are  usually  secondary  for  him.  If  the  result  is 
worth  attaining  at  all,  the  national  governments  will  always  be  among 
the  most  lavish  spenders. 

e  The  chemical  engineer  is  a  new  applicant  at  the  door  of  professional 
recognition  in  certain  quarters.  He  is  the  engineer  in  charge  of  pro- 
duction or  manufacture  where  the  process  or  the  product,  or  both,  are 
chiefly  or  entirely  dependent  upon  the  theories  and  practice  of  chem- 
istry. He  shares  his  field  with  the  metallurgical  engineer  as  respects 
the  manufacture  of  metals;  he  is  a  mechanical  engineer  as  soon  as  the 
plant  becomes  large  enough  to  warrant  the  application  of  power  and 
machinery  to  the  mechanical  handling  of  his  product.  Gas-plants, 
sugar  and  oil  refineries  and  the  straight  chemical  manufacturing 
corporations  call  for  such  a  man,  whatever  his  designation.  It  would 
appear,  however,  that  the  normal  tendency  of  growth  and  development 
in  this  field  will  be  toward  the  utilization  of  two  types  of  man.  The 
one  will  be  the  chemist  and  the  scientist;  the  other  wUl  be  the  me- 
chanical engineer  and  executive.  It  may  easily  happen  that  in  the  days 
of  small  things  the  two  sets  of  duties  may  devolve  upon  one  man; 
later  on  it  will  be  found  that  the  best  qualifications  for  both  duties 
will  not  be  found  in  one  individual,  and  the  volume  of  duty  becomes 
too  great  for  one  man  to  be  effective  in  both.  When  separated,  the 
cleavage  wUl  be  along  the  above  lines. 

/  The  sanitary  engineer  is  a  specialist  in  hydraulic  engineering  in  the 
applications  of  water  supply  and  drainage  as  means  to  secure  the  well 
being  of  the  community  as  respects  its  public  health.  His  field  expands 
from  that  of  the  wise  precautions  respecting  the  piping  of  the  indi- 
vidual house,  where  he  touches  the  craftsmanship  of  the  plumber,  up 
to  the  broadest  problems  of  sewage  disposal  and  utilization,  and  the 
healthful  supply  of  potable  water  for  cites,  free  from  bacterial  or 
inorganic  pollution  at  its  source  or  in  transit.  His  co-workers  are  the 
bacteriologist  and  the  physician.  It  would  seem  more  serviceable 
however  for  the  purpose  in  hand  to  group  such  men  with  what  are 
hereafter  to  be  called  the  civil  engineers. 
The  heating  and  ventilating  engineers,  making  a  specialty  of  the  sanitary 
requirements  of  enclosed  houses  as  respects  their  fresh  and  tempered 
air  supply,  are  really  sanitary  engineers,  having  however  an  outlook 


320     THE  AMERICAN  SOCIETY  OF  MECHANICAL  ENGINEERS 

and  a  relation  to  mechanical  engineering  in  the  appliances  of  their 
function  rather  than  toward  civil  engineering. 

h  The  refrigerating  engineer  is  concerned  with  the  transformation  of  me- 
chanical or  heat  energy  so  as  to  lower  the  amount  of  such  intrinsic 
energy  in  any  material  or  apace.  He  is  most  unassailably  a  mechanical 
engineer. 

t  The  hydraulic  engineer  is  of  two  groups.  The  one  type  concerned  with 
the  problems  of  the  river  or  canal  for  navigation  or  for  power  with 
the  dam  and  its  accompanying  details  of  water  ways  and  controlling 
gate  houses  and  sluices;  and  with  the  gravity  storage  and  distribution 
by  mains  of  the  city  water  supply  has  plainly  his  outlook  toward  civil 
engineering.  The  other  type,  concerned  with  the  water  motor  and  its 
attached  machinery  for  its  operation;  with  the  mechanical  handling 
of  water  for  city  use  or  for  power  in  industry,  the  designer  of  pumps 
and  hydraulic  utilization  machinery  has  his  outlook  equally  definite 
upon  the  field  of  the  mechanical  engineer.  The  future  is  likely  to  see 
this  differentiation  emphasized,  the  one  class  calling  himself  a  civil 
and  hydraulic  engineer,  and  the  other  class  a  mechanical  and  hydraulic 
engineer. 

j  The  gas  engineer  has  two  sets  of  problems:  The  one  is  the  intra-mural 
manufacture  and  storage  of  his  product,  where  his  functions  are  those 
of  the  chemical  manufacturer,  and  he  should  be  both  chemical  and  me- 
chanical engineer;  the  other  is  the  distribution  problem  for  whose 
solution  is  required  the  skill  and  knowledge  of  a  type  which  is  unnamed, 
but  which  logically  in  parallel  with  the  hydraulic  engineer  above, 
should  be  called  the  pneumatic  (or  gas)  engineer.  Industry  has  never 
stopped  to  be  logical  however,  and  the  pneumatic  engineer  should  be 
a  name  to  suppress.  The  future  wiU  doubtless  widen  the  scope  of  the 
gas  engineer  to  cover  the  plants  which  make  and  use  fuel  gas  for 
power  and  heating  in  units  not  so  large  as  those  on  the  municipal  scale 
now  in  evidence  for  lighting  mainly.  Such  creators  and  engineers  for 
heat  and  power  will  plainly  belong  in  the  mechanical  field. 

h  There  is  no  recognized  gi'oup  of  engineers  of  transportation,  or  trans- 
portation engineers.  Such  a  group  obviously  exists,  however,  whether 
or  not  the  name  is  attached  to  an  organization  inclusive  of  all,  or  is 
in  general  use.  Such  are  the  engineers  of  motive  power  on  the  steam 
railways,  with  the  master  mechanics  and  the  signal  engineers  and  the 
operative  class  on  locomotives;  such  are  the  street  railway  engineers; 
the  car  builders;  the  maintenance-of-way  engineers,  the  bridge  engi- 
neers, the  engineers  of  floating  equipment.  From  the  bottom  of  the 
rail  upwards,  these  have  their  outlook  on  mechanical  or  electrical  engi- 
neering ;  from  the  bottom  of  the  rail  downward,  upon  civil  engineering. 
The  foregoing  grouping  does  not  claim  to  be  exhaustive  nor  inclusive 

of  all  subdivisions  of  engineers  even  so  far  as  it  has  gone.     The  current 

activities  of  the  Engineering  Building  reveal  bodies  of  municipal  engineers, 

of  illuminating  engineers,  of  engineers  concerned  in  fire  protection,  and 


APPENDIX  321 

many  others.  But  the  purpose  has  been  to  clear  the  way  for  the  separation 
of  the  two  most  closely  allied  in  function  and  service,  the  civil  and  the 
mechanical  engineer.  The  civil  engineer  is  confessedly  differentiated  from 
the  electrical  and  from  the  mining  engineer:  he  has  been  more  and  more 
utilizing  the  achievements  of  the  mechanical  engineer,  or  the  latter  has  been 
invading  the  former  field  of  the  civil  engineer. 

It  is  plain  that  to  the  civil  engineer  belong  as  of  right  all  problems 
relating  to  the  canal,  the  lock,  the  river,  the  harbor,  the  dock,  the  sea-wall, 
the  break-water,  the  highway,  the  aqueduct,  the  bridge,  the  viaduct,  the 
retaining  wall,  the  permanent  way  of  the  railway  below  the  foot  of  the 
rail.  He  also  has  nearly  the  whole  of  the  municipal  problem  in  streets, 
sewage,  distribution  of  water;  the  location  of  railways,  with  geodetic  and 
other  surveying  are  his.  He  has  the  foundation  of  structures  in  any  event, 
but  may  have  to  share  the  roof  and  the  skeleton  steel  frame  with  other 
specializations.  Tunneling  is  usually  done  by  civil  engineers,  although  it 
was  originally  a  mining  engineers'  prerogative. 

To  the  mechanical  engineer  on  the  other  hand,  belong  as  undoubtedly, 
and  as  of  right  the  problems  of  the  generation  of  power  in  power  houses 
and  power  plants,  and  its  transmission  to  the  operative  point  unless  this 
latter  is  done  by  electric  means.  It  is  a  fair  question,  however,  when  the 
electrical  engineer  simply  transmits  energy  generated  by  the  mechanical 
engineer  and  utilized  in  industry  by  the  latter  after  transmission,  whether 
the  electrical  engineer  as  an  engineer  of  transmission  is  not  for  the  time  a 
mechanical  engineer.  If  the  transmission  were  by  compressed  air  on  a 
sufficient  scale,  calling  for  a  specialist  in  that  field,  would  such  a  man  be 
called  a  compressed-air  engineer? 

It  is  also  plain  that  to  the  mechanical  engineer  belong  all  design, 
creation  and  manufacture  of  tools  and  machinery.  This  makes  him  there- 
fore the  natural  administrator  or  executive  of  the  production  processes 
involving  the  use  of  machinery  in  factories  and  mills,  and  it  is  here  that 
he  finds  his  broadest  scope  and  widest  opportunity,  as  will  be  further 
demonstrated  hereafter.  As  creator  of  machinery  he  will  be  a  draftsman 
or  designer  of  a  producing  plant:  as  operator  of  the  plant  considered  as  a 
tool  for  production,  he  will  be  a  general  manager  or  superintendent,  or  will 
perform  these  functions  as  owner  or  as  president,  vice-president,  agent, 
secretary  or  treasurer.  As  a  productive  of  power,  the  railway  will  make 
the  mechanical  engineer  their  superintendent  of  motive  power,  and  the  rail 
and  joint  become  also  responsibilities  of  his;  as  administrator  of  men  and 
machinery,  he  becomes  master  mechanic  of  the  railway  and  more  and  more 
such  engineers  are  chosen  to  be  general  superintendents.  The  automobile 
or  motor  vehicle  engineer  is  of  course  a  mechanical  engineer.  From  his 
knowledge  and  special  training  he  becomes  the  inspector  and  tester  for  aU 
departments  of  mechanical  production. 

But  this  relation  of  engineer  of  production  borne  by  the  mechanical 
engineer  is  at  the  bottom  of  very  notable  developments  of  progress.  As 
the  scale  of  production  increases  with  the  aggregation  of  capital  invested, 


322     THE  AMERICAN  SOCIETY  OF  MECHANICAL  ENGINEERS 

the  permanence  of  the  business  becomes  inseparably  bound  up  with  the 
oatisfactory  quality  of  its  output.  Hence  there  grows  a  system  of  business 
in  which  the  reputation  of  the  producer  becomes  a  factor  compelling  him 
to  satisfy  the  buyer  as  respects  the  engineering  excellence  of  his  purchase; 
and  it  becomes  possible  for  the  contract  between  the  two  to  be  based  upon 
the  specifications  created  by  the  producer  or  seller,  and  not  by  the  engineer 
of  the  buyer.  This  makes  for  cheapness  and  promptness  of  production  and 
delivery,  since  standard  articles  become  possible  and  frequent.  It  is  a 
system  lying  largely  at  the  base  of  the  American  success  in  competition  in 
foreign  markets,  as  it  differentiates  our  practice  from  that  of  England  for 
example.  It  points  to  a  narrowing  of  the  scope  of  the  office  of  consulting 
practitioner  as  compared  with  the  widening  scope  of  the  manufacturing 
engineer.  It  marks  a  broad  differentiation  between  the  civil  and  the  me- 
chanical engineer,  in  that  the  former  never  or  very  rarely  attaches  himself 
to  a  producing  interest.  He  serves  a  municipality,  a  corporation  or  an 
individual  always  as  a  representative  of  their  interests  as  a  buyer  or  user. 
It  is  his  function  to  see  that  specifications  unfriendly  in  intent  to  the 
interests  of  the  seller  are  carried  out  by  the  latter.  The  engineer  of  pro- 
duction is  called  on  to  originate  his  specifications  and  to  enforce  them  in 
production,  in  order  that  the  guarantee  of  quality  and  of  economy  in  use 
may  both  be  satisfactory  to  such  user.  The  entire  point  of  view  of  the  two 
types  is  radically  diverse. 

This  achievement  of  the  manufacturing  or  production  engineer  gives 
significance  to  the  work  of  the  considerable  group  of  mechanical  engineers, 
who  have  been  earlier  designated  as  " co-ordinators  of  design."  These 
are  they  who  take  the  satisfactory  designs  or  creations  of  the  producing 
engineer  and  combine  such  elements  into  a  unit  for  some  industrial  purpose. 
It  would  be  foolish  and  unwise  for  such  men  to  pass  by  existing  standards 
upon  the  market  and  create  special  designs  of  their  own.  These  latter 
would  not  only  be  more  costly  to  pay  for,  but  their  delivery  would  be 
slower,  and  problems  of  repair  and  replacement  be  many  times  more  difficult, 
costly,  and  delaying.  Their  creative  function  as  engineers  however  is 
different  from  that  of  the  producing  engineer  proper;  yet  to  succeed  de- 
mands the  same  faculty  of  critical  selection  and  of  adaptation  of  means  to 
ends  upon  a  basis  of  sound  science  which  distinguishes  the  other  group.  To 
them  belong  those  engineers  of  operation  and  development  of  existing 
plants,  who  rarely  create,  but  who  skilfully  select  and  adopt  and  combine. 

This  economic  condition  also  has  given  rise  to  a  group  of  engineers 
properly  mechanical,  who  are  directly  and  productively  related  to  the  pro- 
ducing corporations  as  their  representatives  in  their  selling  organization 
over  a  large  territory.  It  is  unfortunate  that  these  men  of  professional 
standing  and  of  engineering  qualification  should  be  so  often  called  "Sales 
Managers."  It  is  their  duty  to  act  exactly  as  the  coordinator  of  design 
does  in  his  office,  and  secure  for  the  intending  purchaser  an  engineering 
solution  for  his  needs  which  shall  be  satisfactory  to  him.  His  value  to  the 
producing  corporation  is  inevitably  measured  by  the  number  of  contracts 


APPENDIX  323 

which  he  brings  them :  his  value  to  his  clients  is  measured  by  the  engineering 
value  of  the  specifications  upon  which  such  contract  is  based.  The  mere 
salesman  could  not  perform  the  duty  of  the  case,  unless  the  buyer  were 
protected  by  a  consulting  engineer.  It  is  economically  to  be  preferred  as 
above,  to  have  the  specification  emanate  from  the  seller. 

And  finally,  the  group  of  engineers  of  production  must  include  the 
industrial  engineers  who  are  organizers  of  men  or  departments  or  works 
as  tools  of  production.  These  men  are  not  creators  of  visible  machines 
embodied  in  steel  or  iron,  which  perform  material  functions  before  our 
eyes.  Yet  are  they  creators  of  power  and  directors  of  forces  under  the 
fundamental  definition.  They  may  do  this  as  independent  consulting 
engineers  from  an  office  relation;  or  they  may  be  continuously  employed 
for  this  purpose  by  one  producing  concern.  In  either  case  their  successful 
achievement  is  the  same  in  principle  and  in  result  as  that  of  him  who 
devises  a  new  automatic  machine  by  which  output  is  increased  and  cost  of 
production  cut  down. 

The  final  criterion  or  touch-stone  for  all  these  claims  for  the  scope  and 
function  of  the  mechanical  engineer  must  be  the  answer  and  attitude  of  the 
profession  itself.  The  American  Society  of  Mechanical  Engineers  exists  to 
promote  the  Arts  and  Sciences  connected  with  Engineering  and  Mechanical 
Construction.  The  Member  must  be  competent  to  take  responsible  charge 
of  work  in  his  branch  of  engineering  as  designer  or  constructor,  or  he  must 
have  served  as  a  teacher  of  engineering.  The  Associate  must  be  competent 
to  take  charge  of  engineering  work  or  to  cooperate  with  engineers.  This 
brings  in  the  journalist,  the  patent  lawyer,  the  business  man,  the  contractor. 
The  Junior  must  be  either  an  engineering  school  graduate,  or  have  had  such 
experience  as  will  enable  him  to  fill  a  responsible  subordinate  position  in 
engineering  work.  Candidates  must  be  proposed  by  members  of  the  Society, 
supposedly  familiar  with  its  functions  and  standards,  and  such  proposers 
are  called  on  to  answer  searching  questions  by  the  scrutinizing  Membership 
Committee  of  five.  The  Committee  on  Membership  reports  recommendations 
of  qualified  persons  to  the  Council  of  the  Society,  who  again  scrutinize  the 
list,  and  it  is  finally  submitted  to  the  entire  voting  membership  by  letter 
ballot,  with  privilege  of  rejection  by  a  limited  niumber  of  adverse  votes  on 
any  name.  Hence  it  may  be  assumed  that  the  membership  contains  only 
those  whom  the  administration  of  the  Society  and  its  active  membership 
regard  as  suitable  members  of  a  Society  of  Mechanical  Engineers. 

Who  are  these  members,  and  what  are  they  doing?  The  actual  list  of 
members  enjoying  the  privilege  of  membership  is  increasing  month  by 
month,  so  that  the  figures  for  the  autumn  of  1907  are  correct  for  only  a 
few  days.  Taking  the  membership  in  the  summer  of  1907  as  3152  and 
neglecting  the  foreign  or  nonresident  membership  of  175  from  the  count 
and  correcting  the  remainder  for  deaths,  a  total  is  used  for  the  present 
purpose  of  2957,  in  all  grades.  The  list  has  been  then  carefully  scrutinized 
and  classified  as  given  in  the  published  catalogue  respecting  avocations. 
The  grouping  for  the  purpose  in  hand  has  been  into  the  following  classes: 


324     THE  AMERICAN  SOCIETY  OF  MECHANICAL  ENGINEERS 

a  The  Unclassifiable :  made  up  of  members  who  have  retired,  or  who  are 
not  in  practice  or  whose  record  in  the  list  is  a  mailing  address  only, 
and  their  sphere  of  activity  unknown  to  the  writer;  these  are  306. 
If  the  groupings  were  more  nearly  of  a  size,  this  nimiber  might  hold 
a  balance  of  preponderance  which  would  disturb  the  later  conclusion. 
As  the  matter  stands,  however,  the  number  is  not  a  material  factor, 
since  in  aU  they  number  only  10  per  cent. 

6  The  army  and  navy  engineer  11,  and  the  marine  engineer  18. 

e  The  hydraulic  engineer  12. 

d  The  patent  attorney,  solicitor  and  expert  25.  Doubtless  many  engineers 
grouped  later  imder  Office  Practitioners  are  also  engaged  in  this  same 
department. 

e  The  technical  journalist,  editor  and  contributor  30.  These  men  have  a 
wide  familiarity  with  engineering  matters  and  expert  knowledge. 

/  The  mining  engineer  and  metallurgist  31.  This  includes  the  type  follow- 
ing mechanical  engineering  at  mines  or  at  the  metal  producing  plants 
other  than  steel  works.    These  last  have  been  called  manufacturers. 

g  The  contractor  48.  He  is  a  man  who  is  a  business  man  for  the  profit  of 
the  thing,  but  who  makes  his  engineering  knowledge,  skill  and  ex- 
perience contribute  to  his  business.  Such  are  the  men  who  build  great 
railway  terminals  and  do  their  own  engineering  in  connection  with  the 
undertaking. 

h  The  testing  and  inspection  engineer  49.  He  acts  either  for  a  producer, 
or  as  a  consultant  for  the  buyer. 

t  The  operating  engineer  55.  He  is  the  man  to  whom  is  entrusted  a  plant, 
to  operate  and  bring  results  from  it.  He  may  be  a  creator,  or  he  may 
make  effective  the  creations  of  others.  He  is  in  charge  of  power  houses, 
street  railway  systems,  institutions,  factories  and  the  like.  The  sea 
going  engineer  and  the  railway  engineer  might  be  added  to  this  class. 

3  The  locomotive  and  railway  engineer  57.  This  is  the  motive  power  man, 
the  locomotive  designer  and  builder,  the  railway  shop  superintendent 
and  master  mechanic  and  all  others  concerned  in  the  power  end  of  the 
railway  business. 

h  The  electrical  engineer  65.  These  are  the  power  plant  experts,  the  street 
railway  engineers  who  are  not  power  plant  men,  and  a  few  of  the 
engineers  connected  with  the  great  electrical  producing  companies. 
Most  of  the  latter  however  from  their  position  and  duties  will  be 
included  in  the  manufacturing  class.  That  they  are  manufacturing 
electrical  equipment  is  a  mere  accident  of  the  present  demand  and  they 
are  not  electricians  so  much  as  producers. 

As  respects  many  of  the  foregoing  and  their  representation  in  this  So- 
ciety, it  must  be  noted  that  great  numbers  will  owe  a  primary  allegiance  to 

other  bodies  closely  related  to  their  specialty.     Their  membership  in  this 

Society  is  an  extra  adherence  for  reasons  of  greater  or  less  personal  weight. 

{  The  professor  or  teacher  of  engineering  185.  This  is  a  large  group, 
probably  larger  than  in  any  other  similar  body,  and  for  the  reason 


APPENDIX  325 

that  through  the  Middle  West  the  state  college  is  very  strong  in  its 
industrial  and  mechanical  departments,  and  its  officers  desire  touch 
with  the  work  and  personnel  of  the  producing  enterprises  of  the 
country.  Comment  or  criticism  by  such  users  of  the  university  product 
will  be  most  helpful  to  the  instructors  of  every  grade. 

m  The  draftsman  and  designer  115. 

n  The  local  manger,  or  district  representative  engineer  of  the  manu- 
facturer 153. 

0  The  shop  executive,  superintendent,  department  manager,  assistant  super- 

intendent in  large  works  338. 

p  The  producer  or  manufacturer,  owner  of  the  plant,  president,  vice- 
president,  or  executive  officer  of  the  corporation,  and  the  mechanical 
engineer  of  such  producing  bodies  966.  The  subdivision  of  the  last 
four  groups  is  for  the  purpose  of  showing  the  widespread  significance 
of  the  contention  of  this  paper  as  to  the  economic  significance  of  the 
mechanical  engineer;  if  all  four  were  grouped  into  one,  they  would 
include  1572  or  practically  half  of  the  total  membership. 

q  The  last  group  is  the  office  practitioner  or  independent  consulting  engineer 
not  officially  or  visibly  related  to  a  producing  enterprise,  493.  This 
includes  doubtless  many  who  might  have  been  included  in  one  of  the 
other  classes  previous  to  Class  I.  It  covers  the  coordinators  of  design, 
who  are  often  also  contractors,  probably  many  patent  men,  hydraulic 
engineers  and  local  managing  experts,  which  if  placed  under  the  other 
headings  would  stiU  further  reduce  the  size  of  this  class.  The  broadened 
scope  and  opportunity  for  doing  great  work  which  are  presented  by 
the  large  aggregations  of  capital  in  the  producing  enterprises,  as 
compared  with  the  difficulty  of  great  engineering  achievement  with  little 
capital,  are  continually  attracting  men  from  this  group  into  Class  n, 
0,  and  p. 

r  Presenting  these  facts  in  tabular  summary: 

Group  Name  Numbers  Percentage 

a    The  unclassified  306 10 . 3 

b    The  army  and  navy 11 0.4 

and  marine - 18 0.6 

e    The  hydraulic  12 0.4 

d   Patents    25 0.8 

e   Journalists  30 1.0 

/    Mining  and  Metallurgy 31 1.0 

g   Engineering  contractor 48 1.6 

h   Testing  and  inspecting 49 1.6 

i     Operating  engineer  55 1.8 

j   Locomotive  and  railway 57 1.9 

Te   Electrical  engineer    65 2.2 

1  Professor  and  teacher 185 6.3 


326    THE  AMERICAN  SOCIETY  OF  MECHANICAL  ENGINEERS 


m  Draftsman  and  designer 115  " 

n   Local  manager  153 

o    Shop  executive  338 

p   The  manufacturer   966 

q   Office  practitioner   493.' 16.5 


4.0 

5.2 

1572 11.8 

32.6 


)  53.6 


Total 2957 100.0 

There  would  seem  therefore  a  good  ground  for  defending  a  twentieth 
century  Tredgold  who  should  define  or  describe  the  mechanical  engineer  of 
his  period:  "The  Mechanical  Engineer  is  one  who  by  science  and  by  art 
so  adapts  and  applies  the  physical  properties  of  matter  and  so  controls 
the  forces  which  act  through  them  as  to  serve  the  use  and  convenience  of 
man  to  advance  his  economic  and  material  welfare.  He  does  this  mainly 
by  storing  and  liberating  motor  energy  through  machines  and  apparatus 
which  he  designs  and  installs  and  operates  for  the  purpose  of  fostering  and 
developing  the  processes  of  industrial  production  which  use  and  require  such 
power  upon  a  large  scale." 

The  foregoing  discussion  draws  after  it  as  in  its  wake  a  group  of  other 
interesting  questions;  or  to  change  the  figure,  a  number  of  open  doors  to 
other  topics  appear  as  we  follow  the  guide  along  the  corridor.  Among 
these  for  example,  is  the  historical  one,  as  to  how  the  engineer  came  to  be 
the  central  figure  which  he  is  today.  In  the  earliest  times  the  patriarch 
with  knowledge  of  safe  and  desirable  pasturage  for  the  flocks  was  the 
central  figure;  later,  the  war-lord  was  king;  he  in  turn  gave  way  to  monkish 
priest  as  supreme  center,  and  after  a  recrudescence  of  the  warrior  and 
conqueror  we  are  now  planning  armament  and  training  men  and  scheming 
policies  to  secure  peace  which  shall  enable  the  production  engineer  to  do  his 
best  work  and  with  the  least  waste.  As  early  as  the  legend  of  King 
Solomon  is  the  claim  of  the  tool  maker,  and  the  mechanical  engineer  of 
today  is  the  heir  of  the  functions  of  the  tool  maker  on  the  largest  scale. 
Again,  the  educational  significance  of  the  definition  is  most  important.  We 
have  derived  our  standards  in  the  technical  schools  from  the  requirements  of 
the  historic  Military  Academy  at  West  Point.  This  in  turn  inherited  the 
policies  and  practice  of  the  European  governmental  schools  for  engineers. 
We  have  borrowed  also  from  France  and  Germany  directly.  Very  close  to 
the  heart  of  such  standards  lies  the  devotion  to  the  highest  mathematics 
both  as  a  discipline  for  the  mind  and  character,  as  a  preliminary  training 
for  study  in  statics  and  dynamics,  and  as  a  means  of  separating  the  qualified 
and  the  assiduous  from  the  incompetent  and  lazy.  But  if  fifty  per  cent  or 
more  of  the  graduates  are  going  to  find  their  life  work  along  lines  which 
make  no  call  for  extended  use  of  the  higher  mathematics;  if  by  using,  as 
the  separating  sieve  a  device  which  lets  through  many  men  of  a  mentality 
ill  adjusted  to  the  demands  of  practical  life  in  production,  and  which  holds 
back  many  men  who  lack  facility  in  working  with  symbols  of  quantity 
because  they  can  better  handle  the  larger  problems  of  the  quantities  them- 


APPENDIX  327 

selves,  then  it  is  a  fair  question  whether  the  splendid  discipline  of  higher 
mathematics  has  not  been  bought  at  too  high  a  price?  Could  we  not  get  a 
better  prepared  man  for  his  life  work  if  the  same  discipline  and  the  same 
selective  process  for  the  fit  had  been  secured  by  more  and  better  physics  and 
more  and  better  chemistry  and  more  economics,  even  if  these  were  bought 
at  the  price  of  some  mathematics! 

But  my  time  and  the  occasion  demand  that  we  pass  at  once  to  the 
second  phase  of  the  thought  of  the  evening.  What  can  or  may  the  Engi- 
neering Society  made  up  of  Mechanical  Engineers  as  above,  do  for  the 
profession?  What  are  its  duties  and  functions?  It  is  plain  that  these  are 
in  two  directions;  its  service  to  the  members  within  it,  its  duty  to  those 
outside  of  it.  Some  duties  and  service  will  be  the  same  to  those  within  and 
without;  in  others  there  will  be  differences. 

Taking  up  first  the  service  to  the  members  within  it,  the  Society  can 
do  at  least  eight  things: 

First  it  serves  by  its  existence.  The  fact  that  there  is  such  a  body  at 
all  is  a  token  of  its  strength.  For  it  means  that  there  are  three  thousand 
men  and  over,  who  with  all  their  diversities  have  yet  a  common  dependence 
upon  law  and  principle,  and  who  are  pursuing  a  common  aim.  The  courage 
and  cheer  which  comes  from  association  and  comradeship  is  a  service.  The 
wave  which  buffets  and  all  but  overturns  the  struggling  skiff  beats  fruitlessly 
for  harm  against  the  tonnage  of  the  ocean  liner.  Steadily  the  great  aggre- 
gation plows  her  way  through  stresses  which  would  be  fatal  to  the  same 
totals  if  subdivided  into  units.  The  whole  has  a  strength  which  is  even 
greater  than  the  sum  of  the  strength  of  aU  its  parts. 

This  benefit  may  be  regarded  as  one  of  the  most  widespread  that  the 
Society  offers.  It  is  independent  of  residence  location  and  is  reaped  by  the 
foreign  member  as  well  as  by  the  dweller  near  the  centers.  In  fact  it  is 
more  significant  to  the  lonely  dweller  than  to  the  metropolitan  member.  It 
remains  even  when  the  other  returns  to  the  subscriber  to  the  Society  in 
publications,  in  association  and  in  meetings  either  lessen  or  cease.  He  may 
well  keep  on  paying  dues  (perhaps  reduced  in  amount)  after  the  value  of 
papers  and  meetings  become  no  longer  worth  while. 

The  value  of  this  return  is  greater  in  proportion  as  the  Society  is  larger, 
so  long  as  its  quality  is  maintained.  This  is  the  argument  for  the  national 
and  international  body  as  contrasted  with  the  local  body  or  section.  Any 
policy  or  step  which  gives  occasion  rightly  to  charge  a  tendency  for  a 
national  body  to  localize  is  an  invasion  of  opportunity  and  value.  The  local 
body  may  offer  some  advantages  of  its  own.  It  does  not  offer  this  one.  A 
localizing  of  an  office  organization  or  of  a  printing  contract  or  even  of  a 
library  is  not  a  localizing  of  the  Society  as  a  whole.  This  happens  when  it 
narrows  its  outlook  over  the  professional  horizon  or  its  spheres  of  influence. 
But  the  remotest  and  least  considerable  member  profits  more  from  the 
existence  of  the  Society  in  this  respect  than  the  recognized  leader  or  the 
man  of  acknowledged  eminence. 

A  second  function  or  service  of  the  Society  is  the  offering  of  the  right 


328     THE  AMERICAN  SOCIETY  OF  MECHANICAL  ENGINEERS 

of  association.  By  this  is  meant  more  than  the  opportunity  of  social  inter- 
course at  meetings  to  be  referred  to  later,  but  the  privilege  of  association 
in  the  larger  sense.  It  is  a  great  thing  for  a  man  to  feel  that  his  name 
appears  upon  a  list  which  has  been  signalized  by  the  names  of  John 
Ericsson  and  Chas.  H.  Haswell,  and  still  bears  those  of  John  Fritz,  Rear- 
Admiral  Melville,  Thomas  Edison  and  Chas.  T.  Porter,  John  E.  Sweet  and 
George  Westinghouse.  Such  association  makes  for  a  sense  of  distinction  and 
of  pride  which  is  in  itself  a  safeguard  like  the  ancient  obligation  ' '  Noblesse 
oblige. ' '  Can  any  nobler  human  ideal  be  set  before  a  body  of  men  associated 
together  than  that  it  should  occur  to  a  man  when  tempted  to  lower  the 
standard  of  professional  or  business  ethics  to  draw  himself  up  proudly  and 
say  '  *  My  dear  sir,  I  absolutely  decline.  There  are  certain  things  no  member 
of  The  American  Society  does. "  To  do  dishonorably  is  to  bring  shame  and 
confusion  upon  all  his  class  and  disgrace  his  associates  upon  the  same  roll. 

Further  than  this,  by  reason  of  this  association,  the  triumph  and 
achievement  of  one  is  the  glory  of  all,  * '  This  advance  in  science,  in  art,  in 
production,  in  management  was  made  by  my  colleague  and  fellow  member.  * ' 
This  also  stimulates  the  individual  to  do  his  own  share  beyond  the  confines 
of  his  narrower  or  purely  personal  interest,  inasmuch  as  he  is  bound  by  an 
esprit  de  corps  to  confer  benefits  upon  his  associates  similar  to  those  which 
he  has  himself  received. 

And  again  the  member  of  the  Society  is  privileged  by  his  association 
to  feel  that  in  cities  which  are  strange  to  him  he  has  yet  the  right  of  fellow- 
ship with  other  members  there  so  far  as  the  right  may  be  wisely  exercised. 
The  business  approach  is  easier ;  the  road  to  acquaintance  on  casual  meeting 
is  shorter  where  both  parties  recognize  the  standing  of  their  common  mem- 
bership. All  these  emphasize  however  but  the  more  strongly  the  necessity 
for  safeguarding  the  quality  of  the  membership,  by  the  proper  committee, 
by  the  Council  and  by  the  voting  members,  lest  abuse  of  this  so  great  a 
privilege  makes  it  necessary  that  the  best  members  should  withdraw  it. 

The  third  function  of  the  Society  is  that  of  furnishing  the  advantages 
of  a  body  corporate  in  the  profession.  These  advantages  appear  both 
among  the  common-places  of  the  legal  aspect,  and  also  from  a  general  view 
point.  The  Society  becomes  a  continuing  and  permanent  body  whose  policy 
is  unaffected  by  individual  deaths  or  removals.  Hence  it  may  safely  be 
made  a  custodian  and  trustee  of  significant  gifts.  This  very  building  in 
which  this  meeting  is  convened  belongs  to  the  Society  and  not  to  individuals. 
It  is  the  Society  who  has  furnished  or  is  to  furnish  one-third  of  the  ground 
on  which  it  stands.  It  is  the  Society  which  has  furnished  the  brains  and 
the  assiduity  whose  results  appear  in  the  details  of  its  arrangement.  If 
there  had  been  no  Society  there  would  have  been  no  buildiog,  in  whose 
splendor  and  distinction  each  individual  is  entitled  to  feel  a  share.  The 
Society  may  therefore  be  made  a  legatee  and  beneficiary  in  wills  and  testa- 
mentary gifts.  It  can  be  entrusted  with  historical  material  which  is  so  apt 
to  dissipate  in  the  hands  of  individual  inheritors. 

But  in  the  larger  and  general  sense  the  Society  supplies  a  corporate 


APPENDIX  329 

unity,  in  that  as  an  organization  things  eome  to  it  which  would  not  be  given 
to  individuals.  Nowhere  is  this  more  evident  than  in  invitations  to  visit 
works  or  places  which  would  not  be  opened  otherwise,  which  has  happened 
again  and  again  in  the  past.  The  Society  as  an  organization  supplies  the 
avenue  of  approach  and  contact  when  a  body  such  as  a  governmental  de- 
partment desires  an  action  which  shall  be  general,  and  not  that  of  a  few 
persons.  This  fact  of  corporate  action  calls  for  emphasis  of  a  principle 
sometimes  difficult  to  carry  out  except  with  the  good-will  of  all.  It  is  that 
when  the  Society  is  the  recipient  of  special  courtesies  and  invitations  which 
would  not  be  the  privilege  of  all  individuals,  it  calls  for  withholding  of  these 
privileges  from  those  who  are  not  members,  but  who  are  present  at  any 
time  or  place  as  invited  guests  accompanying  members.  It  will  be  plain 
upon  a  moment's  reflection  that  such  persons  should  refrain  from  causing 
embarrassment  by  their  unintended  presence. 

A  fourth  function  of  the  Society  is  that  of  providing  meetings  of  its 
members  at  proper  intervals  during  the  year.  An  ideal  meeting  would  be 
one  in  which  at  least  three  elements  were  combined  in  wise  proportions. 
The  first  is  a  nental  stimulus  in  the  form  of  live  topics  of  professional 
interest  presented  as  papers  or  otherwise;  the  second  is  the  opportunity  for 
social  or  intellectual  attrition  with  other  minds  and  temperaments  during  an 
association  or  intercourse  lasting  long  enough  for  acquaintance  to  ripen; 
the  third  is  a  mental  and  physical  stimulus  and  relaxation  of  tension  by  a 
sight-seeing  which  shall  not  be  interesting  only  for  the  empty  minded  or 
the  uninformed.  Danger  lies  in  any  excess  or  undue  lack  of  these  several 
elements.  If  there  are  too  many  papers  or  too  much  time  is  given  to  their 
discussion  the  meeting  becomes  a  weariness  from  excess  of  the  mental  stress. 
It  was  a  very  good  friend  and  shrewd  observer  of  experience  who  cautioned 
the  writer  in  an  early  day:  ''An  audience  has  a  distinctly  marked  elastic 
limit  of  patience  like  a  piece  of  steel.  Strain  that  attention  beyond  its 
elastic  limit,  and  it  takes  a  permanent  set;  it  will  hate  you  and  despise  your 
best  works." 

On  the  other  hand,  to  have  too  few  papers  or  on  topics  of  little  value 
and  interest,  is  to  make  a  failure  for  the  earnest  and  busy  man  who  has  a 
work  to  do  at  home  and  is  "straitened  imtil  it  be  accomplished."  The 
Society  wants  his  presence  and  approving  attitude  of  mind  for  the  good 
he  can  do  by  being  there ;  if  he  feels  it  not  worth  his  while  to  come  because 
the  meeting  is  but  a  frivolity  and  undeserving  of  a  serious  man's  attention, 
both  presence  and  approval  are  lost.  There  must  be  a  serious  nucleus,  else 
the  meeting  is  a  mere  excursion.  Too  great  an  intellectual  appeal,  made  at 
the  expense  of  the  opportunity  for  meeting  other  engineers  for  conference, 
for  exchange  of  experience,  for  story  telling,  is  to  invite  the  member  to 
stay  at  home  and  read  the  printed  papers  there  at  his  own  hearth.  If  he 
loses  or  must  lose  the  vivifying  and  rousing  effect  of  the  spoken  word  and 
the  electric  snap  of  meeting  mind  to  mind,  why  not  stay  awayf  Particularly 
as  a  man  grows  older  and  reaches  the  plateau  of  middle  life,  the  advantage 
to  him  of  the  renewal  of  old  acquaintance — to  which  he  clings  more  and 


330     THE  AMERICAN  SOCIETY  OP  MECHANICAL  ENGINEERS 

more  as  his  circle  narrows — ^becomes  greater  and  greater.  It  is  a  safe- 
guard against  a  stiffening  and  stagnation.  In  this  view  the  practice  of  the 
Society  in  registering  and  even  in  labeling  all  members  in  attendance  at  a 
convention  is  not  a  whim  or  a  fad.  It  arises  from  a  definite  desire  and 
purpose  to  make  the  approach  of  unacquainted  members  both  safe  and  sure 
and  short  in  time  required  to  effect  it.  We  cannot  aU  remember  names;  to 
remember  faces  is  for  some  a  considerable  effort.  The  time  of  a  convention 
is  too  short  to  waste  any  of  it  in  indirect  or  preliminary  effort  to  know  a 
man.  Introduce  yourself  by  emblem  and  by  name,  and  enrich  your  memory 
of  the  meeting  by  what  the  other  fellows  thought  and  said.  No  home  read- 
ing of  the  best  papers  will  result  in  this. 

The  third  element  or  factor  in  a  Society  meeting  is  the  sight-seeing. 
This  must  be  a  lure  or  bait,  since  the  first  or  intellectual  phase  is  partly 
attainable  at  home,  and  few  men  are  brave  enough  to  confess  to  the  existence 
of  the  second  factor.  But  the  sight-seeing  must  have  a  professional  or 
intellectual  content  or  nucleus,  or  it  will  not  appeal.  It  must  be  the  op- 
portunity to  see  or  study  new  development  upon  its  own  ground,  or  it  must 
give  a  man  a  chance  to  examine  a  variant  upon  his  own  line  of  work,  or  by 
reason  of  its  extent  and  magnitude  or  the  brains  or  talent  expended  on  its 
execution  it  must  at  least  appear  to  be  worth  seeing.  Otherwise  as  before 
the  serious  minded  and  the  earnest  are  not  attracted  by  it.  These  meetings 
do  not  occur  in  vacation  time,  they  are  in  the  midst  of  the  serious  business 
of  the  year.  A  meeting  some  years  ago  where  the  Society  went  to  the  sea 
shore  and  away  from  all  engineering  opportunity,  while  a  memorable  one 
professionally,  was  yet  in  the  retrospect  a  terror  to  use  by  night  against  the 
misdeeds  of  naughty  children.  On  the  other  hand,  the  things  the  member 
carries  away  in  his  memory  are  not  the  papers  nor  discussions.  The 
pleasures  lasting  in  his  recollection  attach  to  the  things  he  saw  and  noted 
and  the  people  he  met.  To  repeat  the  shrewd  comment  of  a  gifted  member 
who  had  been  chairman  of  the  local  committee,  and  who  was  being  compli- 
mented on  the  successful  visit  to  a  steel  works  of  his  city :  ' '  The  meetings 
of  the  Society  are  like  a  brick  wall.  The  papers  over  which  the  Secretary 
labors  so  strenuously  are  the  bricks,  but  these  trips  and  their  opportunities 
are  the  cement  which  makes  the  bricks  a  unit."  Too  few  bricks,  a  poor 
wall;  too  little  cement  or  badly  chosen  leads  to  equal  faiure. 

This  discussion  of  the  function  of  the  meetings  gives  opportunity  to 
record  some  personal  convictions.  In  a  Society  which  is  national  in  scope 
and  membership,  the  selection  of  the  places  of  meeting  should  have  some 
regard  to  the  center  of  gravity  of  the  membership,  as  it  asserts  itself 
territorially.  The  alternate  swing  of  meetings  from  the  Atlantic  slope  to 
the  Mississippi  Valley  has  much  to  commend  it;  but  the  extreme  is  reached 
or  passed  when  the  meeting  is  so  held  that  both  the  length  of  the  railway 
journey  and  the  consequent  absence  from  their  posts  permit  only  a  wealthy 
and  leisured  few  to  get  away  to  attend  it.  In  other  words,  the  excursion 
or  sight-seeing  end  here  overbalances  the  other  features  of  such  a  meeting, 
and  many  cannot  afford  it.     In  this  same  category  is  the  proposition  to 


APPENDIX  331 

hold  a  meeting  for  papers  and  discussion  as  a  feature  of  an  excursion  or 
during  its  progress.  The  two  elements  do  not  mix;  the  excursion  is  spoiled 
for  those  who  must  bear  the  burden  of  the  session;  the  session  is  spoiled 
because  the  most  desired  participants  are  not  there.  The  only  excuse  will 
be  when  the  excursion  is  so  long  or  so  tedious  as  to  be  a  failure  as  an 
excursion — when  it  ought  not  to  have  taken  place  at  all. 

The  speaker  has  never  been  a  partisan  of  the  formal  banquet  as  a 
feature  of  a  Society  meeting.  Unless  the  Swedish  custom  prevails  of 
changing  seats  at  the  tables,  any  one  meets  only  those  near  whom  he  is 
seated.  Breadth  of  association  or  contact  is  prevented  and  when  fortunate 
to  be  among  a  group  of  friends,  no  advances  of  others  are  likely;  and  if 
among  strangers  or  the  uncongenial,  few  experiences  are  more  dreary.  The 
number  of  notable  dinner  speakers  among  a  group  of  engineers  who  are 
earnest  devotees  of  work  is  small  in  any  case,  and  most  of  these  are  not 
likely  to  be  present.  Dull  or  futile  dinner  speech  is  unendurable.  If  the 
dinner  is  costly  enough  to  be  worth  while  in  itself,  there  is  barred  out  from 
it  a  considerable  number  of  men  who  must  regard  the  expense  in  planning 
to  attend  the  convention  at  all.  Shall  the  ladies  present  at  the  meeting 
be  included  or  not?  If  included  they  blank  one  side  of  each  member  so 
accompanied,  and  smoking  will  not  be  general.  Hence,  it  has  always  seemed 
that  another  form  of  public  social  function  was  much  more  worth  while 
than  the  banquet  was  likely  to  be;  and  was  very  much  less  trouble  to  ar- 
range for. 

The  presence  of  the  ladies  at  the  meetings  of  the  Society  has  been 
invited  and  encouraged  from  the  very  beginning,  not  only  as  a  means  of 
pleasure  to  themselves  and  those  who  bring  them,  but  because  they  had  a 
distinct  function  in  making  the  meetings  successful.  The  woman  in  America 
as  elsewhere  is  the  social  expert;  the  busy  or  lazy  man  farms  out  to  her  the 
doing  of  many  social  duties,  in  whose  absence  the  community  would  lapse 
in  manners  and  culture.  Hence  her  presence  and  her  activities  at  a  meeting 
tend  to  raise  the  tone  much  above  that  which  would  prevail  in  a  purely 
"stag"  reunion.  The  man  exerts  himself  in  directions  of  social  effort  as 
he  would  not  do  in  her  absence.  Her  presence  also  is  a  restraint,  and 
prevents  things  from  happening  which  might  occur  if  the  man  were  alone. 
She  secures  for  the  man  an  access  and  an  ease  which  without  her  he  would 
lack.  Doubtless  also  the  woman  acts  to  persuade  the  busy  member  to  bring 
his  participation  to  the  meeting,  when  lacking  her  influence  the  pressure 
of  business  would  be  allowed  to  keep  him  at  home.  His  presence  and  ex- 
perience cannot  contribute  to  the  meeting  unless  he  is  there. 

The  meetings  of  the  Society  are  one  of  its  principal  opportunities 
whereby  the  Society  as  such  reaches  and  impresses  the  general  public  in 
the  cities  where  it  meets.  The  professional  sessions  do  not  wield  a  very 
great  influence  in  this  respect;  but  the  other  features  of  the  meeting  do. 
Hence  it  has  been  felt  to  be  of  the  first  importance  that  in  all  its  outward 
relations  the  professional  and  scientific  sides  of  its  purpose  should  be 
strongly  emphasized,  rather  than  its  contact  with  commercial  problems.    To 


332     THE  AMERICAN  SOCIETY  OF  MECHANICAL  ENGINEERS 

this  end,  the  prohibition  of  advertising  or  publicity  procedure  in  its  head- 
quarters has  always  been  enforced,  and  so  far  as  possible  also  in  the  hotel 
corridors  and  foyer.  If  the  commercial  instinct  for  business  were  once 
allowed  a  foothold,  the  meetings  would  become  the  arena  of  industrial  and 
commercial  rivalry,  and  their  high  character  would  disappear.  At  the 
meetings  also,  where  the  membership  comes  together  on  the  social  plane, 
the  Society  is  rather  comparable  to  a  club,  than  to  a  purely  impersonal 
professional  body.  It  offers  therefore  the  club  opportimity  for  discussing^! 
business  or  personal  interests  and  ambitions  concerning  purchase  and  sale, 
which  are  entirely  legitimate  if  not  abused.  If  the  members  do  not  desire 
immunity  from  interested  partisans  of  any  specialty,  the  Society  can  not 
secure  it  for  them.    It  may  discourage  only  the  making  of  it  inevitable. 

The  view  of  the  Society  as  a  club  during  its  meetings  justifies  it  in 
exercising  the  right  to  protect  itself  from  an  undesirable  member  who  would 
there  bring  it  into  disrepute  by  habits  or  behavior  in  which  the  majority 
cannot  uphold  or  defend  him.  It  may  not  be  the  primary  business  of  a 
Membership  Committee  entrusted  with  the  consideration  of  a  man's  pro- 
fessional fitness  for  membership  to  reject  him  if  he  is  so  addicted  to  the 
use  of  intoxicants  or  other  drugs  as  to  be  likely  to  bring  discredit  on  the 
Society  at  a  meeting;  the  membership  however  will  surely  defend  such  a 
Committee  when  it  seeks  to  protect  the  fair  fame  of  the  body  as  a  whole. 
This  must  be  the  explanation  of  the  policy  of  not  admitting  to  membership 
candidates  who  belong  to  a  race  with  which  the  Caucasion  does  not  socially 
assimilate.  The  man  may  be  all  right  professionally  but  his  admission 
would  be  contrary  to  good  policy.  The  Society  has  also  the  same  right  to 
protect  itself  against  any  who  are  known  to  be  prone  to  unprofessional 
conduct  of  any  kind.  It  must  do  so  if  the  function  and  privilege  of  associa- 
tion earlier  discussed  is  to  have  any  meaning. 

This  division  of  the  subject  would  not  be  complete  without  a  treat- 
ment of  the  question  of  local  meetings  of  sections  of  the  Society.  Such 
sections  may  be  either  territorially  grouped,  or  by  topics  and  common 
interests.  As  provided  for  in  the  By-Laws  and  Rules  of  this  Society  they 
are  to  consist  of  elected  members  only  as  regular  members  of  the  Section, 
non-members  havings  only  the  guests'  privilege  of  participation  in  papers 
and  discussions.  Members  of  sections  therefore  derive  their  advantage  from 
the  existence  of  the  national  body  and  from  association  with  its  members 
independent  of  the  local  section,  and  the  advantages  of  the  publications, 
hereafter  to  be  referred  to,  from  the  same  fact  as  well  as  the  general 
meeting  privileges.  What  they  derive  in  addition  is  the  privilege  of  meeting 
other  members  at  shorter  intervals,  and  without  entailing  expense  for  a 
journey  or  a  diflBlcult  absence  from  home.  But  the  very  frequency  of  the 
meeting  and  the  ease  and  absence  of  sacrifice  by  which  it  is  secured  make 
for  a  lessened  interest  in  such  meetings  after  the  first  novelty  has  worn  off 
and  the  acquaintances  have  been  formed.  The  novelty  of  the  more  in- 
frequent general  meeting  is  lacking,  every  one  becomes  tired  of  hearing  the 
old  "stand  by's"  at  every  meeting;  the  supply  of  local  material  for  dis- 


APPENDIX  333 

cossion  dries  up,  and  what  cornea  from  the  office  of  the  national  bod7  does 
not  happen  to  stimulate.  Then  the  section  becomes  a  social  body  only,  and 
does  not  help  the  national  body  particularly,  if  it  does  it  no  harm.  It 
would  be  much  more  useful  if  what  is  sought  by  the  section  or  local  chapter 
were  sought  in  another  way,  or  by  means  of  a  body  made  up  of  both 
members  and  non-members,  acting  in  some  affiliated  relation  with  the 
national  body,  whose  discussion  properly  therefore  falls  into  the  final  part 
of  this  paper. 

In  the  fifth  place,  so  long  as  the  Members,  Council  and  Membership 
Committee  are  sensitive  to  the  duty  respecting  the  quality  of  the  applicants 
for  membership,  it  wUl  follow  that  the  fact  of  membership  in  the  Society 
is  a  stamp  of  quality  of  engineering  achievement — a  seal  or  cachet  of  re- 
liability and  professional  standing.  Three  or  five  men  proposed  this  man, 
and  answered  most  searching  questions  as  to  his  performance  and  eligibility. 
A  Membership  Committee  of  five  experienced  scrutineers  canvassed  the  ap- 
plication and  the  replies  of  the  backers,  and  perhaps  went  outside  to 
establish  the  candidate's  claims  or  to  force  the  proposers  to  effective  de- 
fense of  them.  Then  the  CouncU  criticized  the  report  of  the  Committee  and 
ordered  the  man's  name  to  ballot;  and  finally  among  all  who  voted  on  his 
name  there  were  not  found  two  per  cent  who  knew  anything  against  him 
which  would  justify  his  rejection.  All  human  judgment  is  fallible,  of 
course;  but  the  successful  passage  of  such  an  ordeal  is  a  strong  favorable 
presumption  as  respects  any  man,  to  say  the  least. 

Now  this  stamp  of  approval  upon  every  enrolled  member  is  a  very 
precious  possession.  The  key  to  admit  to  it  is  held  by  the  voting  member- 
ship, and  those  who  propose  candidates.  The  Membership  Committee  unlock 
as  it  were  an  outer  door  to  the  vault,  but  they  do  no  more  than  this.  They 
do  not  admit  to  its  privileges.  Hence  the  reciprocal  duty  of  the  members 
is  made  very  plain;  if  the  Society  has  a  function  or  service  along  this  line, 
the  individual  voter  is  obliged  to  the  greater  scrupulousness  in  the  exercise 
of  his  duty.  If  anybody  can  get  into  The  American  Society  then  member- 
ship in  it  wUl  be  little  prized.  If  this  separation  of  the  members  of  the 
profession  into  the  class  within  the  Society  and  the  class  without  it  be 
objected  to  as  anti-social,  aristocratic  and  undemocratic,  the  reply  would 
be  that  so  also  is  the  family.  Any  man  can  get  into  the  Society  who  has 
shown  himself  to  be  qualified  to  do  so.  His  objection  must  be  against  his 
lack  of  qualification  and  not  against  the  Society  which  upholds  a  standard. 

The  sixth  fimction  of  the  Society  is  its  creation  and  maintenance  of  a 
Library.  It  was  not  so  long  ago  that  every  professional  man  had  his 
private  library  of  some  extent,  containing  the  books  and  periodicals  he 
specially  valued  and  used.  But  in  recent  times  the  enormous  increase  in 
the  number  of  books  required  for  any  library  with  a  pretense  to  complete- 
ness; the  necessity  for  rapid  expansion  if  it  was  to  keep  pace  with  the 
progress  of  the  day,  the  investment  required  in  society  memberships  to 
secure  their  publications,  and  the  bulk  of  the  current  periodical  literature 
of  the  profession  have  all  combined  to  bring  about  a  change.     The  housing 


334     THE  AMERICAN  SOCIETY  OF  MECHANICAL  ENQINEEBS 

and  the  care  of  a  worthy  private  library  became  a  problem  practically 
insoluble  for  the  individual,  either  in  office  or  in  home.  Hence  the  op- 
portunity arose  for  the  Society  Library,  doing  for  all  the  members  what 
each  could  do  for  himself  only  with  the  greatest  difficulty  or  prohibitive 
expense.  To  reduce  the  unnecessary  duplication  of  books  and  transactions 
and  periodicals  required  only  for  occasional  reference  is  a  measure  of 
evident  economy  and  advantage. 

A  reference  library  which  is  not  also  a  circulating  library  can  only  be 
made  really  serviceable  to  members  who  live  near  enough  to  the  library 
shelves  to  enable  book  and  reader  to  be  brought  together  at  the  home  of 
the  book.  It  is  one  of  the  problems  of  the  immediate  future  to  develop 
the  circulating  function  of  duplicate  books  and  publications  in  a  practical 
way,  which  shall  protect  the  interests  of  all  parties,  enabling  the  library 
to  render  the  largest  net  service.  It  would  seem  both  narrow  and  unwise 
to  lock  up  the  library  from  the  reach  and  use  of  those  not  fully  qualified 
for  membership,  or  not  able  to  become  such  for  other  reasons.  The  Society 
therefore  permits  and  invites  a  public  use  of  its  collections  in  addition  to 
the  proprietary  use  by  the  members.  If  such  public  use  transcends  the 
private  use,  then  to  impoverish  the  shelves  by  circulation  without  duplicates 
seems  too  heavy  a  price  to  pay.  It  should  be  noted  that  the  coming  together 
of  the  libraries  of  the  three  societies  named  as  Founders  of  the  Engineering 
Building  has  not  only  more  than  trebled  the  scope  and  extent  of  the  library 
for  all  users,  but  has  opened  up  the  circulating  possibility  by  bringing  an 
increased  volume  of  duplicates  together. 

The  library  also  offers  the  possibility  through  its  staff,  of  having 
researches  made  for  members  at  a  distance,  and  extracts  made  and  sent, 
which  could  not  be  done  in  a  public  library,  but  which  is  normal  and  ap- 
propriate in  one  belonging  to  the  member  as  of  society  right.  The  library 
can  also  be  made  custodian  and  legatee  for  books  of  value  and  usefulness 
when  their  former  owner  has  no  longer  occasion  or  convenience  to  control 
them  himself  and  give  them  room  and  care. 

The  foregoing  services  rendered  by  the  Society  to  its  members  are  all 
in  an  imponderable  class,  and  do  not  have  a  value  which  is  appraisable  in 
legal  tender.  The  non-member  cannot  buy  them,  however  wealthy  he  may 
be.  This  makes  them  therefore  of  all  the  functions  of  the  Society  the  six 
which  are  the  most  to  be  prized.  They  are  like  a  franchise,  in  that  the 
benefits  which  flow  from  them  are  not  common  to  all  members  of  the  com- 
munity but  are  conferred  by  special  act  of  the  corporate  body.  There 
comes  next  a  function  and  benefit  which  is  extended  to  members  of  the 
Society,  but  which  differs  from  its  predecessors  in  that  it  has  also  a  material 
or  appraisable  cash  value  and  that  it  may  be  secured  also  by  non-members 
for  a  price.  It  is  the  privilege  of  the  publications  of  the  Society.  It  must 
not  be  inferred  from  the  fact  that  this  return  to  the  members  is  put  seventh 
upon  the  list  that  it  is  therefore  an  inconsiderable  or  secondary  feature.  It 
is  on  the  contrary  one  of  the  most  significant  and  important,  and  one 
around  which  are  grouped  many  of  the  activities  and  much  of  the  organiza- 


APPENDIX  335 

tion  of  the  Society's  business  office.  It  is  the  item  for  which  directly  and 
intentionally  it  makes  its  largest  expenditure;  it  is  the  element  which  con- 
ditions very  largely  the  esteem  in  which  the  Society  will  be  held  by  members 
within  and  observers  without.  On  the  other  hand,  the  putting  of  six  other 
elements  of  Society  worth  and  function  before  it,  is  intended  as  an  attack 
upon  an  erroneous  opinion  held  by  some  who  have  never  had  it  attacked, 
that  the  publications  of  the  Society  are  the  only  or  the  principal  return  .to 
them  for  their  dues  and  continued  membership.  When  the  volume  or  value 
to  them  of  the  Society's  annual  output  of  papers  and  discussions  fall  off 
in  their  opinion  in  any  year,  this  is  an  adequate  reason  for  discontinuing 
their  membership.  The  existence  and  value  of  the  preceding  factors  first 
enumerated  should  be  sufficient  rejoinder  in  themselves. 

The  publications  of  the  Society  come  to  the  membership  in  three 
forms.  The  first  is  the  monthly  magazine  or  bulletin  which  is  designated 
Proceedings,  and  distributes  papers  to  be  read  at  a  future  meeting,  dis- 
cussions on  papers  current  or  past,  memorial  monographs,  book-lists  and 
Society  notices  and  circular  literature.  These  replace  the  ' '  Advance  Papers ' ' 
of  the  former  day,  and  so  far  as  possible  incorporate  the  individual  and 
separate  circulars  which  used  to  be  issued.  Some  of  the  matter  in  this 
magazine  is  not  to  be  of  permanent  record,  but  of  present  and  current 
interest.  The  second  form  is  the  bound  volume  of  papers  and  appended 
discussions  with  index  and  consecutive  paging,  intended  to  be  the  permanent 
record  for  future  reference.  This  must  issue  of  course  after  the  regular 
meetings  and  at  an  interval  sufficient  for  the  execution  of  all  editorial  work 
required.  It  need  not  contain  all  that  the  Proceedings  did  by  reason  of  the 
limitations  of  bulk  and  the  inexpediency  of  permanently  preserving  every- 
thing that  every  one  said  in  all  discussions.  But  this  book,  known  as 
Transactions  is  the  monument  of  the  year's  professional  work.  The  third 
form  is  the  pamphlets  ' '  Eeprints '  *  from  the  volume  of  Transactions,  being 
the  excerpts  therefrom  which  contain  an  individual  paper  and  its  discussion, 
printed  from  the  same  type  as  used  in  the  volume.  These  are  of  use  when 
single  copies  of  one  paper  are  desired  for  any  purpose,  and  a  stock  of  them 
is  kept  on  hand  to  meet  calls  from  the  future. 

The  publications  at  present  include  only  material  originating  ia  the 
membership  for  presentation  at  meetings,  and  the  result  of  the  activities 
of  the  Meetings  Committee  in  persuading  contributions  from  members  and 
others  upon  topics  which  they  suggest.  It  has  been  felt  for  some  time 
that  these  were  unnecessary  and  undesirable  limitations  to  place  upon  the 
possibilities  of  usefulness  of  the  publications.  They  would  be  of  incalculably 
greater  value  and  use  if  they  could  be  made  to  include  abstracts  of  papws 
before  other  professional  societies  than  our  own;  reviews  of  contributions 
to  technical  journalism,  book  reviews  and  contributed  material  by  non- 
members  on  current  achievements,  new  work,  and  live  topics.  An  index  of 
professional  literature  in  society  proceedings  and  other  journals  would  be 
of  the  greatest  value.  In  fact  there  does  not  seem  to  be  any  reason  outside 
of  the  cost  of  making  it  so,  why  the  publications  of  the  Society  should  not 


336     THE  AMEEICAN  SOCIETY  OF  MECHANICAL  ENGINEEBS 

be  placed  upon  such  a  plane  of  value  and  usefulness  that  no  engineer  within 
or  without  the  Society  could  afford  not  to  regard  them  as  a  cherished 
possession  and  a  valuable  asset.  Here  however,  also,  as  in  the  case  of  the 
value  of  cachet  of  membership,  it  is  the  willingness  of  the  member  to  give 
of  his  time  and  service  to  the  writing  of  papers  and  to  the  contributing  to 
the  material  for  the  publication  work  of  the  Society  which  must  be  the 
great  factor  of  success. 

The  eighth  and  final  function  of  the  Society  is  that  which  it  contributes 
through  the  personnel  and  organization  of  the  of&cial  staff  of  such  a  body. 
The  Secretary  is  the  natural  and  proper  head  of  the  Society  office  with  such 
help  in  the  editorial,  the  correspondence,  the  accounting  and  the  clerical 
detail  of  the  work  as  the  size  of  the  Society  and  the  volume  of  its  daily 
business  make  necessary.  The  conduct  of  the  Society  is  a  business  and  of 
no  inconsiderable  magnitude.  The  office  is  also  most  directly  concerned  in 
carrying  on  the  detail  directed  by  the  working  standing  committees  and 
under  the  Council.  The  degree  and  quality  of  the  organization  of  the 
Secretary's  office  for  its  functions  is  the  measure  of  its  usefulness  and 
service.  The  American  Society  of  Mechanical  Engineers  may  well  feel 
proud  that  by  the  unselfish  and  self-sacrificing  devotion  of  a  special  com- 
mittee in  which  a  past  president  of  the  Society,  an  expert  in  such  matters, 
was  the  leading  spirit,  the  organization  of  its  office  is  as  nearly  a  model  of 
such  an  undertaking  as  brains  and  good  will  can  make  it. 

Such  an  office  discharges  functions  to  the  membership  at  large  and  as 
a  whole,  and  also  to  individuals.  Perhaps  the  most  important  duty  of  the 
first  class  is  the  prepartion  of  the  semi-annual  lists  of  members  and  its 
issue.  This  is  not  only  a  professional  directory  of  the  highest  order, 
enabling  members  to  know  in  what  specialization  every  other  is  engaged; 
but  it  is  a  channel  for  intercommunication  whereby  any  member  may  feel 
sure  of  reaching  directly  the  other  members  if  he  so  desires.  Its  correctness 
and  its  completeness  are  therefore  the  factors  of  its  value.  This  explains 
the  trouble  taken  twice  a  year  to  ask  the  members  about  their  address  and 
their  professional  engagement.  The  Secretary's  office  also  reaches  every 
member  for  service  in  the  matter  of  the  candidates  for  membership,  the 
voting  functions  of  the  members  and  the  details  of  the  meetings  as  they 
are  to  occur. 

Besides  these  public  or  universal  functions  rendered  to  all  enrolled 
members,  the  Society  office  may  be  compared  to  a  ganglionic  center  through 
which  the  mentality  of  its  management  becomes  converted  into  activity. 
Without  the  organization  there  would  be  no  organ  through  which  the  Board 
of  Directors  or  Council  of  the  Society  could  exercise  their  functions  as 
Trustees.  The  existence  of  elective  office  in  the  Society  is  made  necessary 
by  existence  of  administrative  functions  to  be  exercised.  If  there  were  no 
business  there  need  be  no  President  nor  Vice-President,  nor  Managers  to 
constitute  the  Council,  nor  need  of  choosing  such  from  among  those  whom 
the  profession  is  glad  to  honor.  If  a  distinction  attaches  to  membership  in 
the  Society  among  the  ranks  as  a  private,  how  much  more  impressive  the 


APPENDIX  337 

cachet  given  to  the  chosen  oiBeers.  It  is  safe  to  say  that  office  will  never 
reach  any  save  those  who  are  without  a  blemish;  to  be  entrusted  with  it  an 
honor  to  be  coveted,  to  be  worn  modestly,  to  be  safeguarded  jealously  from 
harm  or  injury  by  error  or  misdeed  on  the  part  of  its  wearer. 

The  office  staff  renders  also  individual  service  as  a  medium  of  exchange 
of  knowledge  of  men  and  of  opportimity.  Lines  of  communication  and  of 
acquaintance  radiate  from  it  as  a  center  to  the  remotest  bounds  of  the 
membership.  Along  these  lines  may  flow  question  and  answer,  problem  and 
information,  need  and  its  supply.  Much  of  the  Secretary's  correspondence 
is  of  this  class,  which  does  not  fall  into  the  channels  of  routine  buiness  and 
automatic  office  machinery.  The  office  is  also  the  channel  through  which 
from  without  the  stores  of  influence  and  capacity  within  the  membership 
may  be  reached  for  the  rendering  of  civic  or  national  service  either  by  the 
Society  as  a  whole  or  its  individual  members  in  particular,  on  commissions 
on  committees  and  in  other  important  ways.  In  addition  to  these  of  course 
are  the  unclassifiable  services  which  are  personal  and  individual. 

Is  the  privilege  of  service  and  of  function  aU  on  one  side,  or  has  the 
Society  the  right  to  ask  from  its  members  a  reciprocal  duty  to  itself  f  The 
latter,  no  doubt.  It  is  the  duty  of  the  individual  member  and  his  privilege 
to  make  at  least  the  following  effort: 

a  That  no  fancied  advancement  of  his  personal  interests  by  a  member  should 
lead  to  any  act  or  practice  which  will  stain  his  character  and  injure 
his  fair  fame.  If  membership  and  its  association  carries  distinction 
when  its  members  are  distinguished,  so  the  same  force  carries  disgrace 
to  all  with  the  disgrace  of  the  individual.  It  is  for  this  reason  that 
the  Society  for  its  own  protection  must  have  a  means  of  ridding  itself 
of  a  source  of  defilement  through  the  unprofessional  behavior  of  any. 

6  The  individual  member  should  seek  to  buUd  up  the  Society  in  professional 
and  numerical  strength.  The  quality  must  be  kept  up  for  the  sake  of 
the  elements  advanced  early  in  the  argument,  but  influence  goes  with 
numbers  of  the  right  sort,  and  opportunity  for  wider  service  follows 
with  the  increased  income  on  the  one  hand,  and  from  increased  scope 
of  interests  on  the  other.  The  Society  has  barely  begim  to  draw  from 
the  great  reservoirs  of  professional  activity  throughout  the  busy  in- 
dustrial centers  of  the  United  States;  the  world  is  ours  also. 

e  The  individual  member  should  build  up  the  activities  of  the  Society  as 
respects  its  papers  and  discussions.  This  calls  both  for  personal  effort 
in  contributing  himself  from  his  own  experience  and  work,  and  for  the 
interesting  of  his  neighbor  also  to  do  the  same  thing.  If  the  dream  of 
making  our  published  Proceedings  and  Transactions  a  professional 
necessity  to  every  engineer  is  ever  to  be  fully  realized,  it  must  be  when 
from  all  over  the  flow  of  knowledge,  data,  skill  and  experience  into  the 
Society's  channels  is  deep,  full  and  never  failing.  What  it  will  mean 
to  the  Society  if  these  ideals  are  made  realities,  it  is  beyond  the  clearest 
and  most  hopeful  vision  to  pierce  and  prophesy. 
Consideration  must  now  pass  to  the  final  topie  under  review,  which  is 


338     THE  AMERICAN  SOCIETY  OF  MECHANICAL  ENGINEERS 

the  possible  function  of  the  Society  to  the  profession  who  are  not  enrolled 
in  its  membership.  If  the  foregoing  argument  has  been  conclusive,  it  is 
plain  that  such  service  or  functions  should  be  discharged  without  a  prejudice 
to  the  interests  of  the  membership  itself.  There  are  two  extremes  of  view 
and  opinion.  The  one  is  the  aristocratic  idea,  that  the  Society  exists  ex- 
clusively for  the  advantage  of  the  members.  This  in  a  modified  form  may 
be  called  the  English  idea,  and  is  natural  where  passage  from  class  to  class 
is  not  easy  by  reason  of  their  quite  definite  stratification.  This  plan  would 
have  the  privilege  of  membership  narrowly  restricted,  open  only  to  proved 
and  distinguished  ability,  and  therefore  to  somewhat  advanced  years  in  the 
majority  of  cases.  The  other  extreme  is  the  commimistie  view  professionally, 
that  all  adherents  or  practitioners  of  engineering  are  equally  eligible,  re- 
gardless of  professional  achievement  or  training.  All  draw  equally  from 
the  common  fund  of  professional  advantage  from  membership ;  but  of  course 
there  are  no  private  fortunes  of  distinguished  advantage,  and  no  one  draws 
as  much  in  the  larger  community  from  an  equal  fund  as  he  does  in  the 
former  case.  This  again  in  a  modified  form  from  the  extreme  may  be  called 
the  German  idea.  The  American  does  not  fancy  either  extreme ;  but  between 
them  is  room  for  a  large  diversity  in  the  middle  space.  It  was  proposed  in 
this  Society  (1889-1890)  to  create  such  an  aristocracy.  It  has  been  urged 
(1902-1904)  to  so  multiply  the  feature  of  sections  of  the  Society  as  to 
approach  to  the  more  communistic  or  continental  idea.  The  safe  course  is 
between  these  extremes.  In  the  British  aristocratic  atmosphere,  member- 
ship in  the  Institution  carries  with  it  a  distinction  which  is  recognizable; 
the  advantages  of  membership  in  the  German  Verein  of  Engineers  are  on 
quite  a  different  plane.  Is  a  policy  or  plan  possible  which  shall  secure  the 
advantages  of  both?    The  writer  believes  it  is. 

A  membership  which  is  iU-assorted  and  non-homogeneous  will  not  be 
a  strong  one  regarded  as  a  unit.  The  differences  in  education,  in  extent 
and  quality  of  experience  in  culture  and  social  equality  as  the  former 
factors  affect  this,  would  seriously  interfere  with  the  success  and  unity  of 
the  meetings.  Unwieldy  size  of  meetings  restricts  the  number  of  cities 
available  for  such  meetings,  and  shuts  out  many  places  altogether  for  lack 
of  hotel  and  housing  accommodations.  To  extend  therefore  the  privileges 
of  the  first  five  functions  of  association  due  to  its  existence,  to  the  inferring 
of  distinction,  of  meetings  and  of  corporate  unity  either  cannot  be  brought 
about  at  all  to  those  not  eligible  under  the  present  wise  standards,  or  else 
would  become  theirs  at  a  price  so  great  by  reason  of  the  debasement  of  the 
coinage  in  which  their  value  is  reckoned,  that  it  ought  to  be  paid.  No  such 
restriction  holds  however  with  respect  to  local  meetings  which  may  include 
members,  to  the  library,  to  the  publications  and  to  the  office  organization 
of  the  Society. 

The  extending  of  the  library  function  has  already  been  referred  to, 
when  it  was  made  a  free  public  reference  library.  It  is  now  open  to  free 
consultation  by  non-members  as  well  as  by  members,  the  only  present 
difference  being  that  members  are  permitted  aceess  to  shelves  and  alcoves 


APPENDIX  339 

directly,  while  others  must  work  through  the  librarian  and  his  staff  in  a 
general  reading  room.  As  the  library  grows  in  usefulness  and  in  the 
members  who  use  it,  it  will  doubtless  happen  that  the  system  of  manage- 
ment will  have  to  become  identical  for  both  groups,  and  the  non-members' 
privileges  be  the  same  as  those  of  the  member.  The  same  conditions — 
mainly  financial — which  will  permit  the  addition  of  the  circulating  feature 
of  the  books  among  members,  will  also  permit  a  similar  although  perhaps 
a  more  restricted  circulation  among  the  engineering  public  who  are  not 
members.     This  usefulness  therefore  would  seem  to  be  provided  for. 

The  usefulness  of  the  office  organization  under  its  present  completeness 
and  elasticity  would  seem  to  be  limitable  only  by  the  demand,  made  upon 
it,  the  room  for  its  accommodation,  and  the  cost  of  its  compensation.  If 
extensions  of  its  functions  are  accompanied  with  a  proportionate  return  in 
income,  the  possibilities  of  this  function  would  seem  to  be  provided  for  as 
widely  as  use  can  be  found  for  it. 

The  publications  of  the  Society  are  available  to  non-members  by  sub- 
scription and  by  purchase.  The  cost  of  composition,  illustration  and 
editorial  revision  is  incurred  for  the  first  copy  of  any  paper,  and  all  contracts 
and  systematization  are  provided  for  the  first  paper  secured  and  issued. 
After  that  it  is  merely  the  paper,  press-work  and  distribution  expenses 
which  have  to  be  met,  which  are  the  least  in  amount  and  vary  directly  or  in 
a  diminishing  ratio  with  the  number  of  copies  made.  Hence  all  that  is 
necessary  here  is  to  create  the  demand  by  making  the  Proceedings  and 
Transactions  so  valuable  and  so  comprehensive  that  no  member  of  the  pro- 
fession, member  or  non-member,  can  afford  to  be  without  them  on  his  desk 
or  in  his  reference  library;  and  the  result  is  won.  This  also  would  seem  a 
result  and  a  function  for  which  all  preliminary  steps  had  already  been 
taken.    What  remains  is  to  do  it. 

This  leads  up  to  the  final  functions  of  the  Society,  with  the  urging  of 
which  this  paper  will  have  accomplished  its  ultimate  purpose.  It  is  that 
the  Society  should  foster  and  cause  the  growth  of  other  organizations  or 
societies  or  clubs,  specialized  either  by  their  location  in  city  or  district  or 
state,  or  by  their  particular  line  of  study  and  pursuits.  Such  bodies  should 
be  entirely  autonomous  as  respects  their  officers  and  procedure  and  rules 
and  financial  support.  Their  membership  should  include  both  members  of 
this  Society  and  other  engineers,  the  latter  embracing  both  those  who  are 
eligible  to  membership  in  this  Society,  but  having  a  prior  allegiance  to 
some  other  Society  or  do  not  as  yet  want  to  join  any  such  organization, 
and  those  who  by  training  or  experience  are  not  yet  eligible  to  any  existing 

national  society.     Such  bodies  should  be  known  as:    "The  Society 

of  Engineers, ' '  or  some  equivalent  name,  the  blank  being  filled  by  the  name 
of  the  place  where  they  prefer  to  meet,  and  the  full  designation  to  be 

' '  The Society  of  Engineers  Affiliated  with  The  American  Society  of 

Mechanical  Engineers."  The  emphasis  is  to  lie  upon  the  fact  and  relation 
implied  under  the  word  "Affiliated."  The  members  of  the  local  or 
specialized  body  would  not  be  members  of  The  American  Society  and  would 


340     THE  AMEEICAN  SOCIETY  OP  MECHANICAL  ENGINEERS 

not  or  should  not  call  themselves  so.  They  are  members  of  their  own  society. 
Their  autonomy  and  self-support  secures  for  them  the  dignity  and  re- 
sponsibility attaching  to  their  own  control.  Their  errors  of  judgment  or 
policy  would  not  complicate  the  national  body  nor  introduce  political 
problems  into  the  latter  of  a  sectional  or  factional  sort.  They  are  and 
would  continue  to  be  local  societies,  or  national  ones  with  a  specialized  out- 
look.   Now  what  will  be  the  basis  of  the  word  "Affiliated"? 

The  American  Society  of  Mechanical  Engineers  shall  covenant  to  supply 
every  member  of  such  affiliated  body  each  month  with  a  copy  of  its  monthly 
magazine  containing  its  Proceedings,  and  such  additional  copies  as  can  be 
advantageously  used  either  free,  or  much  below  cost,  according  to  the  size 
of  the  local  body.  The  papers  and  discussions  in  these  Proceedings  shall 
be  the  topics  of  discussion  at  such  meetings  of  the  local  and  special  body 
as  may  be  held,  but  by  no  means  to  the  exclusion  of  papers  on  topics 
originating  in  the  local  membership  which  will  be  welcomed  in  addition. 
The  American  Society  of  Mechanical  Engineers  shall  furnish  or  pay  for  a 
stenographer  to  report  and  typewrite  the  papers  and  discussions  of  the 
local  meeting,  and  shall  pay  in  whole  or  in  part  for  the  rental  of  the  hall 
in  which  such  professional  papers  and  discussions  shall  be  presented.  In 
return  for  this,  the  local  shall  send  a  full  typewritten  report  of  its  profes- 
sional sessions  to  the  Secretary  of  The  American  Society,  which  latter  shall 
submit  these  to  the  Meetings  and  Publication  Committees  of  the  national 
body,  with  a  view  to  the  exercise  of  their  right  to  publish  in  the  Proceedings 
and  Transactions  such  contributions  as  are  judged  of  value.  If  the  local 
desires  to  publish  for  itself  material  not  available  for  the  use  of  the  larger 
body,  it  could  do  so  through  the  advantageous  large  printing  contracts  and 
the  editorial  staflf  of  the  large  body  at  much  less  expense  to  itself  than  if  it 
tried  to  do  the  same  thing  by  itself. 

Among  the  arguments  for  this  plan  are: 
For  The  American  Society  of  Mechanical  Engineers; 
o  A  greatly  increased  scope  of  usefulness  and  influence,  extending  far  be- 
yond the  limits  of  its  enrolled  membership,  and  limited  only  by  the 
horizon  of  interest  in  the  undertaking. 
6  The  creation  and  multiplication  of  sources  and  centers  from  which  ma- 
terial wiU  be  procurable  to  enrich  its  publications. 
c  Thereby  a  greatly  increased  value  and  demand  for  these  publications: 
from  the  increased  demand  an  increased  income,  and  attendant  increase 
in  the  value  of  the  publications  in  a  continuing  ratio. 
d  An  increased  appreciation  of  the  Society  and  its  work,  leading  to  an  ex- 
tended desire  on  the  part  of  those  eligible  to  join  the  national  body, 
enhancing  for  the  latter   the  significance  of   the   first   series   of   its 
functions  referred  to  in  this  paper  which  increase  with  the  character 
and  number  of  the  members. 
e  The  American  Society  attains  these  objects  without  lowering  the  profes- 
sional standard  of  membership,  without  admitting  even  to  quasi  or 
implied  membership  i>erBons  who  are  not  eligible  through  the  regular 


APPENDIX  341 

diannels.  It  avoids  any  financial  or  other  obligation  for  the  local,  as 
would  be  the  case  if  the  latter  were  called  a  chapter  or  section  of  the 
larger  body.  It  pays  only  for  what  is  of  value  to  it,  which  is  the 
supply  of  professional  literature;  and  where  the  local  held  no  meetings 
nor  sent  any  papers  there  would  be  no  expense.  The  price  which  The 
American  Society  would  pay  is  the  increased  cost  of  its  operating  ac- 
count and  publications,  but  this  would  seem  likely  to  be  more  than 
returned  to  it,  if  not  in  cash  directly,  yet  in  other  values.  Probably 
also  in  cash. 
For  the  local  or  specialized  body  would  be  secured: 

a  The  prestige  of  affiliation  with  the  larger  body;  doubtless  therewith  cer- 
tain privileges  of  courtesy  for  the  members  of  the  local  when  a  con- 
vention was  in  their  vicinity,  and  certainly  the  courtesies  of  the  building 
in  New  York  City  for  such  affiliates. 

&  A  wide,  certain,  and  cheap  supply  of  invaluable  professional  literature, 
topics  for  their  meetings  when  their  own  supply  failed. 

c  The  reduction  of  unavoidable  expenses  attaching  to  a  local  meeting  for 
papers  and  discussion  to  a  mimimum  even  to  nothing  if  so  desired. 
This  value  for  the  minimum  would  probably  not  be  desired  by  most 
locals,  but  the  dues  prevailing  in  that  local  would  be  small  and  would 
be  mainly  devotable  to  their  own  interests. 

d  The  maintenance  of  the  standard  in  the  local  to  a  plane  of  creditable 
achievement.  The  continuance  of  the  local  could  be  conditioned  upon 
an  earnestness  of  devotion  to  it  which  should  be  worth  while. 

e  The  local  would  be  entirely  self-governing,  with  its  own  officers  and 
control  in  every  respect.  Its  own  officers  would  command  the  dignity 
which  alone  makes  the  burden  of  office  worth  while,  and  the  local  is 
responsible  itself  aJone  for  its  success  or  failure  by  reason  of  the  effort 
put  forth  by  those  interested. 

/  The  local  by  operating  its  business  detail  through  the  office  of  the  national 
society  obtains  the  pecuniary  advantage  of  the  larger  scale  of  business 
in  The  American  Society  and  the  service  and  cooperation  of  its  trained 
experts.  Their  accounting  and  purchases,  as  well  as  their  printing, 
could  be  done  for  them  at  much  better  advantage  in  the  large  office. 
If  accounting  and  addressing  of  envelopes  and  circulars  were  done  at 
The  American  Society  office,  the  office  expense  of  the  local  would  dis- 
appear, and  the  cost  of  the  former  could  be  taken  care  of  in  its  ap- 
propriation to  the  latter. 
Of  course  the  financial  responsibility  of  The  American  Society  would 

have  to  be  safeguarded  by  limiting  the  appropriations  for  the  locals  both 

in  period  and  in  amount,  and  making  them  conditioned  upon  a  return  from 

the  local  satisfactory  both  in  quantity  and  quality. 

The  word  '  *  local ' '  has  been  used  in  the  foregoing  as  descriptive  of  the 

affiliated  body,  inasmuch  as  usually  such  a  Society  will  be  made  up  of  those 

residing  in  or  near  a  city  or  town.     There  is  nothing  in  the  plan  however 

to  preclude  an  organization  already  existing  and  made  up  of  specialists  in 


342     THE  AMERICAN  SOCIETY  OF  MECHANICAL  ENGINEERS 

any  line,  from  asking  affiliation  with  The  American  Society  under  its 
provisions.  The  body  may  now  be  national,  and  having  for  its  special  topic 
of  discussion  the  engineering  of  the  motor  vehicle,  or  that  of  the  production 
of  artificial  cold,  or  certain  sanitary  problems  with  a  mechanical  outlook. 
They  would  benefit  by  such  aflfiliation  and  they  would  at  the  same  time 
strengthen  The  American  Society  of  Mechanical  Engineers,  and  sacrifice 
nothing  themselves. 

The  writer  therefore  as  he  lays  down  his  official  insignia  of  service 
after  these  many  years,  leaves  the  foregoing  suggestions  for  the  elaboration 
of  his  successors.  All  the  organic  change  which  would  be  necessary  would 
be  the  creation  of  a  Standing  Conmiittee  on  Affiliated  Societies  with  the 
required  By-Laws  for  its  guidance,  on  the  same  footing  as  the  Research 
Meetings,  Publication  and  Library  Conmiittee,  now  in  existence.  The  rest 
the  Council  may  provide  for  by  resolutions  and  standards  in  the  Secretary's 
office. 

If  these  ideals  and  possibilities  shall  prove  to  be  practicable  and 
realized,  the  opening  of  the  new  Engineering  Building  and  the  twentieth 
century  will  mark  the  beginning  of  an  era  of  progress  of  prosperity,  of 
splendid  usefulness  and  brilliant  achievement  which  will  give  to  the  Society 
position  and  recognition  which  has  never  been  dreamed  of  before. 


INDEX 

PAGE 

Abbott,  Wm.  L.  (90) 139,  147 

Academy  of  Medicine  building 177 

Academy  of  Medicine  building  houses  Society  library 271 

Accounting,  Society 168 

Activities  for  benefit  of  members 167 

Addresses  of  welcome,  illuminated 301 

Administrations  of  presidents 77 

Adoption  of  standards  opposed 62 

Advance  printing  of  papers 32 

Advertisement  in  Society  papers 39 

Advertising  in  Society  Journal 36 

AffiUate  member  of  section  or  Society 295 

AflElliated  societies 294 

Affiliates  and  affiliated  societies 290 

Alden,  Geo.  I.  (42) 135,  141 

Allen,  Horatio 153 

Allen,  Jeremiah  M 159 

Allen,  John  F 159 

American  ideals  in  production 25 

American  Society  of  Civil  Engineers  decUnes  Carnegie  gift 188 

Annual  meeting 49 

Anti-metric  votes 61 

Appendix,  The  Function  of  an  Engineering  Society 313 

Arrol,  Wm.   (24) 154,  155 

Art  of  Cutting  Metals 166 

ASPINALL,  John  A.  F.  (42) 156,  157 

Associate  membership  standards 27 

Associate  societies  in  Engineering  Societies'  Building 191 

Auditorium,  Thirty-first  Street  house 186 

Babcock,  George  H 91 

Badges  at  meetings 48 

Badge,    membership 66 

Bailey,  Jackson 13,  158 

Baker,  Benjamin  (16) 154,  155 

Baker,  Charles  Whiting  (97) 136,  143 

Baker,  W.  S.  G.  (30) 135,  141 

343 


344     THE  AMERICAN  SOCIETY  OF  MECHANICAL  ENGINEERS 

PAQB 

Baldwin,  Stephen  W.  (39) 135,  141 

Ball,  Frank  H.  (57) 136,  142 

Bancroft,  J,  Sellers  (96) 139,  147 

Banquet  at  meetings 56 

Barrus,  Geo.  H.  (84) 136,  143 

Basford,  Geo.  M.  (87) 139,  146 

Bauer,  Charles  A.  (51) 138,  145 

Bauschingeb,   Johann 154,  155 

Bayles,  James  C 149 

Bayles,  James  C,  secretary 15 

Berlin  visit,  1900 250 

Bessemer,  Henry    (23) 154,  155 

Billings,  Charles  E 103 

Blackballing  candidates 29 

Bond,  Geo.  M.  (94) 136,  143 

Borden,  Thos.  J.  (33) 135,  141 

BoYER,  Francis  H.    (66) 138,  146 

Bramwell,  Frederick  (13) 154,  155 

Branches  of  the  Society 290 

Brashear,  John  A.  (67) 129,  138,  146,  157 

Breckenkidqe,  L.  p.   (91) 136,  143 

Brill,  Geo.  M.  (101) 136,  144 

British  courtesies,  1910 252 

British  hospitalities,  1900 245 

British  ideal  of  society  organization 24 

Buckeye  engine  model,  1890 305 

Caldwell,  Andrew  J.  (88) 139,  146 

Carbutt,  E.  N.,  invites  engineers  to  England 227 

Canet,  Gustave   (26) 154,  155 

Candidacy  of  new  members 168 

Card  of  membership 65 

Carnegie,  Andrew  (40) 156,  157 

Carnegie  letter  of  gift 188 

Carpenter,  Rolla  C.  (95) 136,  143 

Centennial  Exposition,  influence  of 3 

Certificate  of  membership 64 

Christie,  James  (75) 136,  143 

Church,  Wm.  Lee  (21) 137,  145 

Clark,  Daniel  Kinneae   (2) 153,  154 

Clausius,  Rudolph   (3) 153,  154 

Code  of  ethics 288 

CoGGiN,  Frederick  G.  (28) 137,  145 

Cogswell,  Wm.  B.  (5) 137,  144 

Commissions,  U.  S.  and  States 170 

Committee  on  meetings 72 


INDEX  345 

PAGE 

Committee  on  Membership 28 

Committees  of  Society 70 

Congresses  of  Engineering 263 

Congresses  of  engineering  at  Chicago 207,  226 

Conservation  of  natural  resources 287 

Constitution  and  By-Laws  Committee 75 

Constitution  approved 212 

Constitution  created Ill 

CooDE,  John    (20) 154,  155 

Cooke,  Morris  L.  (115) 139,  147 

Cooke,  Morris  L.,  in  reorganization  of  Society 115 

CooLEY,  M.  E.   (72) 136,  142 

Cooper,  Peter  (4) 153,  154 

Copeland,  Charles  W 140,  147,  148 

Copyright  of  papers 38 

CORBETT,  Charles  H.  (72) 138,  146 

Corliss,  George  H.,  suggested  for  president 20 

Corliss  portrait 299 

Couch,  A.  B.  (17) 135,  140 

Couch,  A.  B.,  bequest  of  books 205 

Council  of  the  Society 134 

COXE,  ECKLEY  B 12,  99 

Cramp,  Edwin  8.   (57) 136,  142 

Crawford,  D.  P.  (100) 139,  147 

Cutter,  W.  P.,  librarian 277 

Daniels,  Fred  H.  (76) 136,  143 

Davidson,  Charles  J.  (103) 139,  147 

Davis,  E.  F.  C 102 

Dean,  Francis  W.  (54) 136,  142 

Debates  on  papers,  rules  for 92 

Decimal  thickness  gage,  presented  to  Society 207 

Dedication  of  Engineering  Societies'  Building 215 

Delamater,  Cornelius  H.  (d) 154,  158 

DeLaval,  C.  Gustav  p.  (30) 156 

Denton,  James  E.  (36) 138,  145 

Diagrams  of  papers  at  meetings 30 

Dickie,  George  W.  (114)  (54) 137,  138,  144,  146 

Diesel,  Rudolph    (31) 154,  156 

Diploma  of  membership 64 

Dodge,  James  Mapes 110 

Donkin,  Bryan 159 

Dow,  Alex  (90) 136,  143 

Dredge,  James    (17) 154,  155 

Dues,  increase  of 97,  108,  211,  207 

DURAND,  Wm.  F.  (104) 137,  144 


346     THE  AMEEICAN  SOCIETY  OF  MECHANICAL  ENGINEERS 

PAGE 

DURFEE,  W.  F.  (58) 136,  142 

Durf ee  library  acquired 306 

Dusseldorf  visit,  1889 241 

Dwelshauvees-Dery,  V.  (19) 154,  155 

Early  members  of  the  Society 153 

EcKABT,  Wm.  R.   (18) 135,  140 

Edison,  Thomas  A 156,  157 

Editorial  work 171 

Egleston,  Thomas,  U.  S.  Commission  for  Testing  Materials 285 

presents  Robert  Fulton  dining-table 301 

Eiffel,  Gustave 156 

Election  of  members 28 

Ely,  Theodore  N.  (8) 135,  140 

Emery,  Chas.  E.  (12) 135,  140 

Emery,  Albert  H.,  testing  machine 200,  285 

Employment  for  members 169 

Engineer,  mechanical,  and  the  function  of  a  society 315 

Engineering  Societies'  Building,  dedication 215 

Engineering  congresses •  . . .  226,  263 

Engineering  Education,  Society  for  the  Promotion  of 264 

Engineering  Foundation  created 127,  131,  218 

Engineering  literature  in  1880 2 

Engineering  Society,  function  of 315 

Entertainment  at  meetings 49 

Ericsson,  John 158 

hot-air  engine,  historic 306 

invention  models 304 

portrait  and  busts 299 

Ethics,  code  of 288 

European  trips 226 

Excursions  at  meetings 45 

Fellowships  of  the  library 182 

Felton,  Edgar  C.  (63) 138,  146 

Finance  Committee 70 

First  meeting,  preliminary  steps 9 

Fisher,  Clark 159 

Fisher,  George  W.  (10) 137,  145 

Flagg,  Stanley  G.,  Jr.  (101) 139,  147 

Fletcher,  Andrew   (39) 138,  145 

Forrest,  James,  invitation  to  Guildhall  banquet 228 

Forney,  M.  N 12 

urges  monthly  meetings 221 

Forsyth,  Robert   (43) 138,  145 

Forsyth,  Wm.  (35) 137,  145 


INDEX  347 

PAGE 

Fox,  Douglas   (37) 156,  157 

Francis,  James 159 

Freeman,  John  R 114 

French  Society  of  Civil  Engineers  visits  TJ.  S.  A 244 

French  engineers  visit  America 100 

Fritz,  John  (25) 154,  155 

chiming    clock 301 

medal 309 

portrait  298 

president 103 

Fulton,  Robert,  memorial 109 

colonial  dining-table 300 

original  drawings 302 

portrait 297 

Function  of  an  engineering  society 315 

Gages  presented  to  Society 207,  304 

Gantt,  Henry  L.  (110) 137,  144 

Gaskill,  Harvey  F 158 

Gates,  P.  W.  (88) 136,  143 

German  courtesies,  1913 254 

German  ideal  of  society  organization 24 

Gifts  to  the  Society 296 

Gillet,  Louis  A.,  assistant  to  secretary 47 

GiLLis,  H.  A.  (73) 138,  146 

Gillmore,  Quincy  a,  (4) 12,  139 

GOODALE,  A.  M.  (64) 138,  146 

Gordon,  Alex.  (40) 135,  141 

GoRRiNGE,  Henry  H 158 

Goss,  W.  F.  M 125 

Growth  of  Society  membership,  1880  to  1914 76 

Grashof,  Franz   (14) 154,  155 

Greene,  Arthltc  M.,  Jr.  (109) 139,  147 

Grinnell,  Frederick  (31) — 137,  145 

GuUdhall  banquet,  1889 235 

Haines,  H.  S.   (58) 138,  146,  249,  265 

Hale  and  Rogers,  architects  of  Engineering  Societies'  Building 190 

Hallauer,  Otto   (5) 153,  154 

Henning,  Gustavus  C.  (59) 138,  146 

Harrison,  J.,  Jr.,  portrait 297 

Hartness,  James 126 

Haswell,  Charles  H.  (28) 154,  156 

Hawkins,  John  T.   (27) 137,  145 

Headquarters,  meetings 46 

Headquarters  of  the  Society 173 


348     THE  AMERICAN  SOCIETY  OF  MECHANICAL  ENGINEERS 

PAGE 

Hebe,  Edwin  M.   (102) 137,  144 

Herrmann,  Gustav  (15) 154,  155 

Herreshopf,  John  B.  (48) 138,  145 

Hess,  Henry  (113)   (104) 137,  139,  144,  147 

prizes  for  papers 307 

Hewitt,  Wm.    (22) 137,  145 

Higgins,  Milton  P.  (74) 136,  142 

Hill,  Hamilton  A.  (24) 137,  145 

HiNES,  D,  S 158 

Hirn,  G.  a.   (6) 153,  154 

HiRscH,  Joseph  (21) 155 

Historic  gifts 296 

Hoadley,  Francis  W.,  assistant  to  secretary 47,  150,  298 

HoADLEY,  John  C.   (3) 137,  144 

original   engine 306 

portrait 298 

HOBBS,  Alfred  C 158 

Hoe,  Robert 159 

hollby,  a.  l 11,  79 

as  banquet  speaker 56 

memorial  bust 242 

memorial  session 199 

monument 199 

opening  address 9 

portrait   297 

urges  European  interchanges 226 

HoLLis,  Ira  N.  (105) 137,  144 

HOLLOWAY,  J.  F 88 

portrait 298 

HOLMAN,  M.  L 119 

Honorary  members  of  the  Society 153 

Honorary  secretaryship  created 116 

House  Committee 71 

Humphreys,  Alex.  C 123 

Hunt,  Alfred  E 159 

Hunt,  Charles  Wallace 104 

Hunt,  Robert  W 96 

Hunter,  John  (110) 139,  147 

HuTTON,  Frederick  R 117 

elected  secretary 150 

elected  president 117 

The  Function  of  an  Engineering  Society 315 

Hlustrations  of  papers 30 

Increase  in  dues 207,  211 

Insignia  of  the  Society 63 


INDEX  349 

PAQE 

International  electrical  rules 286 

Institution  of  Engineers,  Henry  E.  Towne  proposes 94 

Introduction  card 65 

Iron  and  Steel  Institute  of  Great  Britain  visits  U.  S.  A 242 

IsHERWOOD,  Benjamin  F.  (35) 156,  157 

Jackson,  W.  B.  (108) 139,  147 

Jacobus,  D.  S.  (78) 136,  143 

Jabvis,  Charles  M.  (60) 136,  142 

Joint  meetings 213,  226 

Jones,  Washington  (9) 135,  140 

Jones,  Wm.  R 158 

Journal,   The 34 

Junior  member  meetings 105,  108,  222 

membership  standards 26 

prizes 307 

Kafeb,  John  C.   (62) 136,  142 

Katte,  Edwin  B.  (109)   (102) 137,  139,  144,  147 

Keep,  Wm.  J.  (79) 136,  143 

Researches  on  Cast  Iron 282 

Keller,  E.  E.  (Ill) 137,  144 

Kent,  Wm.  (34) 135,  141 

Kerr,  Walter  C 159 

Laidlaw,  Walter  (84) 138,  146 

Landreth,  Olin  H.   (23) 135,  140 

Leaute,  Henri   (34) 156,  157 

Leavitt,  E.  D.   (47) 13,  83,  156,  157 

Legislation  at  meetings 58 

Leland,  Henry  M.  (107) 139,  147 

Letter  ballots  on  standards 280 

Letter  ballots,  Society 60 

Lewis,  Wilfred   (73) 136,  142 

LiEB,  John  W.  (89) 136,  143 

address  on  Leonardo  Da  Vinci  and  gifts 218 

Library  area 191 

board  controls  library 277 

committee 71 

sinking  fund 182 

Society    267 

Local  groups 290 

meetings   219 

meetings  first  held 121 

LoiSEAU,  Emil 158 

LORINQ,  Chas.  H 98 


350     THE  AMERICAN  SOCIETY  OP  MECHANICAL  ENGINEERS 

PAGE 

MacDonald,  Charles,  reports  on  European  interchanges 226 

McParland,  Walter  M.  (85) 136,  143 

McKiNNEY,  Robert  C.  (86) 136,  143 

Mailing  and  shipping 172 

Mailloux,  C.  O.,  expert  on  electric  installation  in  Engineering  Society's 

Building    190 

Main,  Charles  T.   (112) 139,  147 

Mallet,  Anatole  (43) 156,  157 

Managers  of  the  Society 134,  137,  144 

Manning,  Charles  H.   (45) 136,  142,  156,  157 

Mattice,  Asa  M,  (79) 138,  146 

May,  De  Courct  (71) 138,  146 

Mechanical  engineer,  definition  of 315 

Mechanical  Engineers'  Library  Association 118,  180,  271 

Medals    307 

Meetings,  Committee  on 72 

local,  in  different  cities 290 

Society    195 

Meier,  Edward  D 122 

Melville,  George  W 105,  156 

medal  prize 308 

memorial  plaque 301 

Members,  early 153 

election  of 28 

Membership    Committee 28,  74 

increase  of,  from  1880  to  1914 76 

philosophy,  grades  and  qualifications 24 

Memorable   meetings 197 

Merrick,  J,  Vaughan  (19) 135,  140 

Metric  and  anti-metric  votes 61,  286 

Miller,  Fred  J.  (92) 136,  143 

Miller,  Lebbeus  B.  (49) 138,  145 

Miller,  Spencer  (113) 139,  147 

Money  value  of  technical  training 113 

Monitor  model,  gift 302 

Monographs  issued  by  the  Society 38 

Monthly   meetings 219 

Moore,  Lyourgus  B 148 

Moore,  R.  S.  (74) 136,  146 

Morgan,  Charles  H 107 

Morgan,  Joseph,  Jr.  (27) 135,  140 

Morgan,  Thomas  R.,  Sr.  (29) 137,  145 

Morris,  Henry  G.  (31) 135,  141 

Morse,  8.  F.  B.,  residence  considered 178 

Morton,  Henry   (15) 135,  140 


INDEX  351 

PAGE 

Mott  library  headquarters 176,  270 

MouLTKOP,  I.  E.  (107) 137,  144 

Mount  Vernon  memorial  oak 209 

Nason,  Carelton  W,  (37) 138,  145 

Nason,  Joseph,  bust  and  pedestal 299 

National  Industrial  Museum 288 

Navy  Personnel  Bill 59 

Necrology   standards 68 

Negative  votes  on  candidates 29 

New  members,  candidacy  of 168 

Newton,  Sie  Isaac,  portrait 298 

Noble,  Alfred  (106) 139,  147 

Nominating  Committee,  first 11 

Norman,  George  H 159 

Organization  of  Society 15 

Orrok,  George  A.  (105) 139,  147 

Parkhtjrst,  John  F.  (41) 135,  141 

Papers,  notable 161 

Papers  presentation  at  meetings 30 

Philosophy  of  Society 22 

Piano,  gift  of  subscribing  members 301 

Pickering,  Thos.  R.  (47) 135,  141 

Porter,  Charles  T.  (28)  (22) 135,  140,  154,  155 

Portraits,  gifts  of 297 

Portraits  and  busts  in  Thirty-first  Street 274 

Pratt,  Francis  A.  (7) 135,  139 

Preliminary  conference  before  organization  of  Society 15 

Presidents  of  the  Society 77 

Prescott,  Fred.  M.  (85) 128,  146 

Prizes    307 

Professional    sections 290,  293 

Professional    standards 278 

Program  of  meetings 43 

Public  Relations  Committee 74 

Publication    Committee 70 

Purchasing  department 172 

PusEY,  Charles  W.  (46) 138,  145 

Rab,  Thomas  Whiteside 150 

Rand,  A.  C 159 

Rankine,  Wm.  J,  M.,  portrait 297 

Raymond,  R.  W.,  at  Holley  memorial 199 

Raynal,  Alfred  H.  (68) 138,  146 

Reading  of  papers  at  meetings 33 


352     THE  AMERICAN  SOCIETY  OF  MECHANICAL  ENGINEERS 

PAGE 

Reed,  Edward  T 153,  154 

Registration  at  meetings 47 

Reist,  H.  G.  (112) 137,  144 

Re-publication  of  papers 42 

Research  Committee 74 

Resignation  of  Frederick  R.  Hutton,  secretary 116 

Reuleaux,  Feanz  (8) 153,  154 

ReuIeauLZ  portrait 297 

Revision  of  stenographic  reports 34 

Reynolds,  Edwin  H 109 

Rice,  Arthur  L.,  assistant  to  secretary 108 

Rice,  Calvin  W.,  Secretary 116,  152 

Rice,  Richard  H,  (83) 138,  146 

Richards,  Chas.  B.  (35) 135,  141 

Richmond,  George  (62) 138,  146 

RiKER,  A.  L.   (89) 139,  147 

Roberts,  Percival,  Jr.  (48) 135,  141 

Robinson,  A.  Wells  (57) 138,  146 

Robinson,  Clarence  W.,  mail  and  order  clerk 185 

Robinson,  S.  W.  (12) 137,  145 

Rockwood,  George  I.  (80) 138,  146 

Root,  John  B 158 

Rose,  Joshua 159 

Rowland,  Thos.  F.,  honored 207 

Rules  of  the  Society 22 

Russell,  Walter  S.  (61) 136,  142 

Sabine,  A.  H.,  expert  on  acoustics  of  Engineering  Societies'  Building. .   190 

Saque,  James  E.  (115) 137,  144 

Sanders,   Newell    (76) 138,  146 

Sando,  W.  J.   (95) 139,  147 

Schneider,   Henri    (9) 153,  155 

Scott,  Irving  M.   (44) 135,  141 

Secretaries  of  the  Society 134,  148 

Sections  of  the  Society Ill,  290,  292 

See,  Horace 91 

Sellers,   Coleman 89 

Sellers,  Coleman,  Jr.  (41) 138,  145 

Sellers,   Morris    (32) 137,  145 

Semi-annual  meeting 50 

Sharp,  Joel  (37) 135,  141 

Shock,  Wm.  H.  (5) 135,  139 

Siemens,  C.  W.  (10) 153,  155 

Small,  H.  T.  (49) 135,  141 

Smith,  Erastus  W 158 

Smith,  Horace  S.  (29) 135,  141 


INDEX  353 

PAGE 

Smith,  Jesse  M 120 

Smith,  Obeblin 95 

presents  decimal  thickness  gage 207 

Society  of  Civil  Engineers  of  France  extends  courtesies  to  Society 238 

visits  U.  S.  A 244 

SOULE,  ElCHAED  H.   (65) 138,  146 

Special    committees 285 

Specifications  originated  by  buyer  and  seller 25 

Standards  and  achievements  prior  to  1880 5 

Standards  created  by  Society 61 

Standards,  letter  ballots  on 280 

Standards  recommended 278 

conducting  engine  tests 283 

direct  connected  engine  sets 284 

duty  trials  of  pumping  engines 282 

flanges  281 

machine  screws 284 

pipe  threads 281 

tests  on  engines  at  the  Columbia  World's  Fair 283 

testing  boilers 280 

uniform  methods  of  testing  materials 282 

Standardization  Committee 75 

Standing  Committees 70 

Stanwood,  James  B.  (60) 138,  146 

Steaens,  Thos.  B.  (106) 137,  144 

Stephenson  portrait 298 

Stetson,  Geokge  E.  (64) 136,  142 

Stewart  Building  headquarters 174 

Stiles,  Norman  C,  (56) 138,  146 

Stillman  indicators 304 

Stirling,  Allan  (24) 135,  140 

Stott,  Henry  G.  (108)  (139) 137,  144,  139,  147 

Student  branches 290 

prizes 307 

SuPLEE,  Henry  Harrison  (61) 138,  146 

SwASEY,  Ambrose 112 

establishes  The  Engineering  Foundation 218 

Sweet,  John  E 13,  85,  157 

calls  first  meeting 4 

portrait 298 

complimentary  banquet 217 

Tallman,  Frank  G.   (86) 138,  146 

Taylor,  Fred  W 115 

Taylor,  Stevenson  (67) 136,  142 

Technical  journals  and  the  Society 39 


354     THE  AMERICAN  SOCIETY  OP  MECHANICAL  ENGINEERS 

PAGE 

Tellers  of  election 29 

Thickness  gage,  gift  to  Society,  1897 207 

Thomson,  John   (45) 138,  145 

Thubston,  Robert  H.,  first  President 20,  80 

bas-relief    300 

Toltz,  Max   (114) 139,  147 

Topical  queries  instituted 202 

TowNE,  Heney  R 92 

proposes  a  union  library  plan 269 

Townsend,  David  (68) 136,  142 

Transactions  of  the  Society 37,  167 

Treasurers  of  the  Society 134,  147,  148 

Tresca,   Henri    (11) 153,  155 

Trowbridge,  Wm.  P.  (10) 13,  135,  140 

Trump,  Edward  N.  (87) 136,  143 

United  Engineering  Society 309,  311 

United  Engineering  Society,  created 114 

Unwin,  Wm.  Cawthorne  (36) 156,  157 

Vauclain,  S.  M.  (81) 136,  143 

Vaughan,  Henry  H,  (103) 137,  144 

Verein  deutscher  Eisenhiittenleute  visits  U.  S.  A 242 

Vice-presidents  of  the  Society 134,  135,  139 

Viva-voce  legislation 58 

Von  Miller,  Oskar  (44) 156,  157 

Waitt,  Arthur  M.   (71) 136,  142 

Walker,  Francis  A.  (18) 154,  155 

Walworth,  Arthur  C.  (52) 138,  146 

Warner,  Worcester  R 104 

Warren,  B.  H.   (65) 136,  142 

Watt,  James,  portrait  and  bust 298 

Webber,  S.  S.  (77) 138,  146,  149 

Weeks,  George  W.  (38) , 135,  141 

Wellington,  A.  M 159 

Wellman,  S.  T 107 

West,  Arthur   (93) 136,  143 

Westinghouse,  George   (32) 121,  154,  156 

Westinghouse,  H.  H.  (82) 136,  143 

Wheelock,  Jerome 159 

White,  Wm.  H.  (27) 154,  155 

Whiting,  S.  B.  (7) 137,  140 

Whitlock,  Elliott  H.  (Ill) 139,  147 

Whyte,  p.  M.  (96) 136,  143 


INDEX  355 

PAGE 

Wilcox,  Stephen 159 

Wiley,  Wm.  H 147,  148 

nominated    treasurer 87 

Wolff,  Alfred  E.,  candidate  for  secretary 84 

expert  on  heating  of  Engineering  Societies '  Building 190 

Women  at  meetings 44 

Wood,  De  Volson  (36) 135,  141 

Woodbury,  C.  J.  H.  (32) 135,  141 

initiates  library  plan 267 

WOBTHINGTON,  CHARLES   C.    (20) 137,   145 

WORTHINGTON,  Henby  E.    (1) 12,   135,  139 

portrait 297 

Yarrow,  Alfred  F.  (46) 156,  157 

Year  Book  of  the  Society 169 


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