Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute - Transit Yearbook (Troy, NY)

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As soon as we returned to Troy, we began the office workl' of our survey by drawing profiles. We considered ourselves indeed fortunate when We learned that, thanks to some very considerate member of the second section, we would not have to trace the topo- graphical maps made in the field. Then it happened that we had a longer vacation just before the term began than we expected. During the first term we were occupied, among other studies, with Resistances, Stone Cutting and Bridges. Resistances is a subject appropriately named, as we soon dis- covered. Considerable work was expected by us in applying force of will to overcome Resistances, and we found that the efficiency of many of us was only 2.5 because of the amount of energy wasted in the form of heat. After spending more than three days on the T'eory of 'ii 'ree Moments, we knew nothing about it. But a few brilliant minds redeemed the class by displaying marvelous knowl- edge of store beams and cheese columns. We had heard a great deal about the last course with Thompyn and had gotten the idea that Stone Cutting was worse than cutting eye teeth. So we went at it, not hammer and tongs nor mallet and chisel, but chalk and ruler, till those stones assumed all sorts of shapes and positions in obedience to our will. A few conscientious fellows took special pains in making their modelsg but among the rest of us the coping stone of the wing wall and the keystone of the plate band were exceedingly popular. We received Thompyis milk tickets with the joy that comes from having finished a long course of study in Descriptive and Stereotomy. When we took up Bridges we thought it a mass of reactions, shears and moments and stresses in every direction, mixed up with a couple of locomotives backing and going ahead, a few road rollers and a mob of people crowded on a highway bridge. Those swing bridges whirled in all directions and Pratt trusses chased back and 6 forth on their bed plates till Buck didn't know whether there 27

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Mile i Vi I . A -t T ., 'Neff 5 1-,Ji ' fi' 1-, ' Q l FIQIIQX5 ' Nr ' X do ,hs ' - A 'wx sql aa sv if X .nh E if 74 .- tiff . l ,.a,- :rp W ' 1. xl X Ll ll u e V N' V A i x -1 . A, 2 w if -4, .vwzijg lf- i :vA,.--22.12 if Ye Last Laf' -- I Q WHEN the members of our class first met as seniors we were in that quiet, rustic town, North Granville. I know that none of us felt like ciigngied seniors-perhaps we were notg at least we did not behave as such. Most of us stayed at the Fairvale Hotel. Our rooms were fair, the waitresses were fair and our fare was fair. If you want to know anything about a certain fair waitress, ask Jimmy Quirk about the way she admired his appetite. A few stayed at a house across the road Cyou couldnlt call it a streetj from the hotel-they stayed in spite of the wishes of their landlordg but it was no fault of theirs that somebody else called and K' put the place on the bum. The town was too sleepy to furnish us with much fun, although we made the best of our opportunities. The first night we were there we tried to arouse the slumbering inhabitants by paradin g up and down the road, about 10 P. M., shouting and ringing the large dinner bell from the hotel, but our efforts were vaing not a soul was disturbed enough to remonstrate. Well we at last finished running the line from Comstocks to Middle Granville. Then we packed our duds, not omitting a few souvenirs, and left the place without a sob. , 26 ,xi

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was one truss or two. And those dead loads used to travel along webs and chords in as lively a manner as any live load. L' Billy displayed not only his own hazy ideas of the subject, but those of all of us, when one day in class he began: Say, Prof., if you turned this deck bridge over so that the bottom chord would be on top, I mean if you ran a train over the bridge upside down? H and then stopped because those ideas were inexpressible. But our ideas soon became clearer in spite of Hambiguitiesl' and other coin- plications, and we found the review easy. VV e thought we were worked rather hard in the first term, and we looked forward to a much easier time during the second term. Several of us were disappointed. Thermo and Electro were not as easy as expected. Geology took considerable time to prepare in order to even make a bluff at knowing itg and IVater Supply, objectionable to our tastes, nasty sewers, and positively Qnot nega- tivelyj shocking electrical experiments took more time than we were willing to give to them. Prof. Grabau's lectures were interesting enough, but were highly objected to by hungry seniors when they lasted later than noon. Une day when the lecturer stopped speaking in order to take breath, half the class ClfpCZ7'671ZLZjf thinking that he had finished, rushed out the door. Of course there was nothing for the rest of us to do but follow. And so, after we had all rushed, the recitation came to an end. Our class is the first to make use of the new laboratory. VVe are indeed fortunate in having experiments with such good electrical apparatus and machinery. The term, the year, the course at the Institute is drawing to a close. '01 never was a pilly classg but we think we have acquitted ourselves satisfactorily. Now we look forward to being actively engaged in the professiong and we believe that '01 will not fail to uphold the fame of dear old R. P. I. 28