Alameda High School - Acorn Yearbook (Alameda, CA)

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Surveying in the School Yard

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To Make a Copper Bowl ee Y ILL you show me how to make a copper bowl, Miss Abernethy ?” “Have you some sixteen-gauge metal?” “Yes, I have a piece eight inches square.” “Very well. Cut a circle of that diameter. Weigh the copper and you will find that it weighs about two pounds, which, at the present rate, will make the bowl cost eighty cents.” “Is not this metal too heavy for a bowl?” “No. An article requiring so much hammering needs metal a sixteenth of an inch thick on account of the great stretch it undergoes. Now, take the egg-shaped anvil, fasten it in the vise and hold your circle over the anvil, beating the metal downward over the curved edge with this wooden mallet.” “What am I to do with the fullness that comes around the rim?” “Oh, that will disappear. Now it is necessary for you to heat your metal, place it over a sandbag and beat on the inside of the bowl with this long-necked hammer.” “Well, Miss Abernathy, this is a good hour’s work. The making of a bowl is a long process, is it not?” “Yes, it takes more physical strength than any other problem. You see the fullness is beginning to disappear now. I think it would be well to anneal the bowl, making it red hot with the flame. This is necessary to expand the pores of the metal to make it soft. Much hammering always hardens the metal.” “The bowl is coming into shape nicely, but it looks rather rough and uneven.” “The symmetry and color will be produced by surfacing with this planch- ing hammer, which you notice has a slightly domed end. Now invert the bow] again over the egg-shaped anvil, and, starting on the edge, hammer as rhythmically as possible around the bowl in regular circles.” “I notice that the hammering is giving the bowl a rich color.” “Yes, sometimes rouge is rubbed on, giving it a reddish brown appear- ance; but, in time, copper will turn brown without artificial color.” “Is there to be no ornament on this shallow bowl when I finish it?” “The charm of the bowl lies in its proportions and simplicity. Although it is possible for you to rivet some handles on, or to rivet or solder a design around the top edge, or to emboss a pattern if the bowl is large enough.” This requires hammering on the inside with an embossing tool, but it is not practicable on such a small article as yours.” “Metal work is fascinating, isn’t it, Miss Abernethy ?” “When the pupil sees the material result of his original ideas, he is always interested.” Geraldine Traphagen.

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Surveying the School Yard =. called Frank Estes, the Rodman, reading the leveling rod. The volunteer Surveying Class was running a line of levels around the school yard. “This screw is so worn, it won’t stay adjusted,” “That’s so,” replied Mr. Carpenter; “that instrument is pretty badly worn and exceptional care must be taken to keep it adjusted. Still, last year, nine students did some very good work with this instrument. They made a cross section, every twenty feet both ways, of the athletic field at McKinley Park, and made a complete map of the field showing all these elevations. They estimated the cubical contents above an assumed “datum” and computed the grading necessary to give an even slope of about one foot in a hundred. This work was so done that the amount of material removed from some high spot equaled the amount needed by some low spot, thus making the least possible work for the teamsters. After the teamsters had cut and filled, the boys laid out a 220-yard oval track. After school closed we spent a week in the foot- hills back of Palo Alto, and made a complete survey of a very hilly irregular ranch. A trip like that will be made part of the work if surveying is given as a regular course next term. This will be possible if, as we hope, additional equipment, such as a level and transit, are received.” “Mr. Carpenter, do you think I could get a job with a surveying party after I finish here?” asked Leslie Delamater. “T certainly do,” answered Mr. Carpenter. “When a capable student has completed a year’s course, he should be able to become transitman on any surveying party. I emphasize the year’s course. The first term really .gives the rudiments only, while in the second term you get the real surveyipg. | know of one graduate of a course similar to this who went directly to the oil field and took up surveying there. I see no reason why any one of you fel- lows should not do the same thing. Even if you don’t get work in surveying, this course will do you a world of good. The maps that you have to make give you excellent practice in mechanical drawing. The reading of the transit and leveling rod gives you fine training in accuracy, for, as you probably have found out, a slight mistake in reading gives a result totally wrong.” “There goes the bell,” called August Johansen. “Finish this leveling for tomorrow,” said Mr. Carpenter, “and work the results out by Trigonometry. Tomorrow, Estes be instrument man; Townsend, rodman; and Johansen, notekeeper. Remember, the maps of the Profile Survey which you made of Walnut Street are due next Monday, and the plans from the measurements which you made of the basement and third floor of Porter school, will be due the Monday following.” —Lorin Fisher.