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Show f 1 Submerged Timber. (f Tho strength of a hemlock stick a j foot square that had been In water for 4 m almost forty years wa3 recently tost- ed In tho GOO.OOO-pound testing ma- rfl chlno at Itenssclner Polytechnic lnstl- i I tuto at Troy, In Now York. Tho tlm- ber, which was 1G feet 9 Inches long, had formed part of one of tho piers of tho Congress streot brldgo at Troy. When tho plor broke down after tho flood In tho spring of 1913, tho timber was turned over to ono of tho mato- II rial-testing laboratories of the lnstl- tuto. It was kept In tho open air for threo months, nnd then placed In n dry room for a llttlo moro than nlno months. When placed In tho testing machlno, tho calumn failed under a 'I load of 384,000 pounds; that Is, tho 5 long-submerged wood showed an ultl- ,s ' mato strength of 2,070 pounds to the square Inch. In tho opinion of Prof. f T. R. Lawson, who conducted the test, 5 the remarkablo strength of this pleco ' of hemlock seems to show that bo- J lng Immersed In water for a long tlmo r does not decrease tho column strength -A : u of timber that Is subsequently permit- Is ted to dry out. Youth's Companion. |