Show submerged I 1 amber the strength of a hemlock stick a foot square that had been in n water for almost forty years was recently tested in tho ilia pound testing machine machina at rensselaer polytechnic institute at troy in new york the urn tim be which was IG feet 9 inches long bad formed part of one of the piers of lie ha congress street bridge at troy when the pier broke down after tho the flood in the spring of 1913 the umber timber was sas turned over to one of the material testing laboratories of the ilia institute it was kept in the open air for three months and then placed in a dry room for a little more than nine months when placed in fit the testing machine the caluen tailed failed under a load of pounds that Is tho the long submerged wood showed an strength of 2670 pounds to the tha square inch in the opinion of prof T 11 lawson who conducted the test the remarkable strength of this piece of hein hemlock lock seems to show that being immersed in water for a long time does not decrease the column strength of timber that la Is subsequently permitted to dry out youths companion |