Worcester Polytechnic Institute - Peddler Yearbook (Worcester, MA)

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Dartmouth he retaliates with an account of his football prowess at Tech; no other representative of that distant time: being present the story is suit¬ ably inflated and he rolls his tongue around and chuckles, saying to him¬ self, “ He can’t beat that one.” “ Piggy ” and Prof. French love each other dearly and are often seen walking about hand in hand, one promising not to “ screw ” the Civils and the other not to “ get ” the Mechanics, never¬ theless, “ Piggy ” says that he does not feel the same toward Prof, since he caught him trying to get the New Olsen out through one of the win¬ dows of the Mechanical Laboratory and into Boynton Hall. The Mechanical Department is indeed fortunate in having at the helm a man of Professor Bird’s calibre. Only those who come into intimate contact with him can realize the self sacrificing interest and attention that he gives to any project which might be a benefit to the Institute. In some of our courses a short, generally suddenly interrupted siesta has been quite common, but such a thing never happened in Prof. Bird’s classes. In fact his good nature has become proverbial, and his kindly feeling for all the upper classmen in particular has won the respect of everyone on the Hill. Alton L. Smith, M.S., Professor of Machine Drawing We have simply got to have a nickname for all our profs, and so Pro¬ fessor Smith changes to “ Dingtoe ” in our third year and this is further shortened by more intimate contact as Seniors to just plain “ Ding.” He puts us through some pretty stiff paces as Juniors, in Kinematics, but he seems to realize that the stuff is hard and he always tries to use the men “ white.” His blunt and direct manner often disconcerts us and makes us feel our serious lack of knowledge along certain lines, but Senior year he gets pretty close to us. Outside the class room you find him at his best, and few students realize h ow interested and interesting he really is as a man. His little peculiarity, when you ask him in Design, how long to make a certain thing, is to jerk that ever present “ six-foot yardstick ” from the rear pocket of his “ jeans ” and casually say, as he holds the rule at arm’s length and slides his finger to the mark, “ ‘Bout three inches.” He is a member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and very well thought of in the engineering profession. Charles M. Allen, M.S., Professor of Hydraulic Engineering “ You must live with a man to know him.” Let’s take any morning during the first half of the Senior year. Scene, M. E. Lecture Room, two 24

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and has done would be enormous if it were all collected in one pile, but when spread out makes a wonderful fertilizer for such brains as ours. His stories are always full of Thayer School experiences and of problems that he nonchalantly solved when the whole engineering world was baffled by their complexity. His slide rule and cigar are his omnipresent companions. The latter, despite the blazing “ No Smoking ” signs in Boynton Hall, still continues to send its wreaths through the portals of his sanctuary. Every Civil knows that in his relations with this man he gets a square deal, and that whatsoever he may make of himself in the future as an engineer depends to a large extent upon the thoroughness with which he has applied the common sense teachings of “ Prof ”. A. Wilmer Duff, D.Sc., Professor of Physics “ Ah, gentlemen, there is some little difficulty with this experiment. You see that the aphatus is not working well.” We a ll speak with reverence of Sophomore Physics. It was fine after it was all over. The little dif ' -fi ' - culties that Professor Duff got into were nothing compared to the ones we got into later, and some of us wake up in the night even now and catch glimpses of Nicol’s prisms and diffraction gratings. A. Wilmer is primarily a scientist. He could no more omit a tenth of a milligram than he could omit finding the possible error in the coefficient of expansion of a mustard plaster. We can see him now as he used to reach beneath the lecture table and draw “ a few drops of wau-ta ” or as he “ do-ra-me-fa-so-la-se-doed ” up the spiral stairs of the Lab and then “ do-se-la-so-fa-me-ra-doed ” down again. A finely educated man is Prof. Duff, and we who hit the high spots of his science and drop the milligrams and even the hundreds of pounds can hardly appreciate his place in the world of engineering. If some of us have our little bruises from contact with his work may we leave them behind us when we go, in the realization of the fact that it is the subject that influ¬ ences the man and not the man who makes the subject a stumbling-block in our path. William W. Bird, Professor of Mechanical Engineering “ Piggy ” is a familar sight on the Hill, where he takes particular delight in springing “ bum ” jokes and in sticking everyone with foolish questions. Occasionally when aroused by one of Prof. French s stories of

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minutes past the hour. In comes the last of the “ fresh air advocates ” or “ who’s got the makin gs ” crowd. Four and a half minutes past the hour, all watches are out, and in strolls “ Charlie,” hands thrust deep into his trousers’ pockets with his little green copy of “ Russel’s ” under his arm. He appears little relieved from his usual tiredness by a night’s sleep and seats himself comfortably behind the lecture table. “ Is everybody here? ” he asks, and the ever ready answer comes from the front row, “ All here.” That is so much easier than calling the roll. “ What is the lesson? ” is the next question. Then, “ Any questions? ” A pause. “ Well, if you don’t ask any I will.” This customary threat brings forth the questions. One requires some sketching for an explanation, and with much effort “ Charlie ” succeeds in getting some chalk. He puts a number of lines on the board that might represent anything from Porter’s Sewing Machine to a complete H ydro-Electric Station. A smile from the class invariably brings out the explanation, “ Oh, this is just a ‘diagramatic sketch.’ Now,” he continues, “ you have a vane dike unto this.’ ” Then we hear “ the overalls and dinner pail ” story which comes out every other year. Its gray whiskers would show if told oftener. “ Who knows what anchor ice is? ” Silence. “ Well, I don’t know what it is nor does anybody else so I’ll tell you about it.” As the end of the hour draws near a problem is given. “ How much horse power in a mile of ocean? ” Which, say the Electrics, might just as well be, “ How much horse power in a yard of pump water? ” Speaking of the Electrics “ Charlie ” says that if the real old-time Quaker meetings were as bad as those he holds with the Electrics he is glad he didn’t live during those early days. But the Electrics were wise in their silence. It’s a safe thing not to ask too many questions on the start or you’ll have to play “ the goat ” the remainder of the term. “ Sympathy ” was ever the motto of all regarding marks, because it is hard work guessing at so many grades. In contrast to some of his associates “ Charlie ” can change his opinion of a person or subject. A careless disregard for facts and his amusing style of relating his many experiences enables him to drive much gloom from the Seniors and keep him in good standing with them. Joseph 0. Phelon, M.M.E., Professor of Electrical Engineering Professor Phelon was born in Cherry Valley, N.Y. He graduated from W. P. I. in 1887, in the Mechanical Department, and was appointed Assistant in Physics. In 1890 he received the degree of B.S. in Electrical Engineering, and in 1901, after working a year at Cornell, the degree of 25