Strutting

“ Iron Shaft Strutting. —In soft-ground shaft work, the use of an iron strutting, consisting of consecutive cast-iron rings, has [58] sometimes been employed to advantage. Fig. 32 shows the construction of one of these rings, which, it will be seen, is composed of four segments connected to each other by means of bolted flanges. The holes shown in the circumferential web of the ring are to allow for the seepage from the earth side walls. The method of placing this cylindrical strutting is to start with a ring having a cutting-edge. ”

“ The manner of constructing the strutting is also governed by the stability of the soil. In firm soils it is possible to sink the shaft quite a depth without timbering, and the timbering can [54] be erected in sections of considerable length, which is always an advantage, but in loose soils the timbering has to follow closely the excavation. ”

“ Life is a club from which Cupid can never be blackballed. I notice that Struthers, who seems intent on the capture of a soul-mate, has taken to darning Whinstane Sandy’s socks for him. And Whinnie, who is a bit of a cobbler as well as being a bit of renegade to the ranks of the misogynists, has put new heels and soles on the number sevens which Struthers wears at the extremities of her heron-like limbs. ”

“ In this connection it is pertinent to emphasize the importance of ensuring that all strut ends are cut to the correct bevels, and this is particularly applicable to those struts which seat directly in a socket. The slightest irregularity will cause considerable distortion when assembled under the tension of the bracing wires, and frequently the writer has seen an ostensibly perfect strut assume the most hopeless lines directly the operation of truing up is commenced. ”

“ The struts, spars, etc., must be properly bedded into their sockets or fittings. To begin with, they must be of good pushing or gentle tapping fit. They must never be driven in with a heavy hammer. Then again, a strut must bed well down all over its cross-sectional area as illustrated above; otherwise the stress of compression will not be evenly disposed about the centre of strength, and that may produce a bending stress. ”

“ The particular case of the above for which α is very small is a curve of sines of small amplitude, and the result in this case has been applied to the problem of the buckling of struts under thrust. When the strut, of length L′, is maintained upright at its lower end, and loaded at its upper end, it is simply contracted, unless L′2W > 1/4π2EI, for the lower end corresponds to a point at which the tangent is vertical on an elastica for which the line of inflections is also vertical, and thus the length must be half of one bay (fig. 25, a) . ”

“ It is more important that the struts be larger at their centers than at the ends, as this strengthens them considerably. At their ends the struts have ferrules of the 1-inch brass or steel tubing, and fit into the sockets which clamp the ribs and beams together. The material is spruce but the four central struts which carry the engine bed should either be ash or of larger size, say 1 1/4 by 3 inches. ”

“ The black spots at every angle and intersection of the lines are the places for the men to be laid upon. The men are different in form or colour for distinction sake; and from the moving these men backwards or forwards, as though they were dancing a morris, I suppose the pastime received the appellation of nine mens' morris; but why it should have been called five-penny morris, I do not know. The manner of playing is briefly this: two persons, having each of them nine pieces, or men, lay them down alternately, one by one, upon the spots ”

“ The trap bumped and jostled. Sparks flew from Starlight's heels when they pounded the rough rocks; sparks flew from the wheels as they rolled over rock and hard red clay. Down in the valley, where the mist still clung like a veil above the clear brown stream, the little plank bridge rattled loudly as they flew over; and now, as they breasted the long high hill beyond, the frosty air echoed with the clear mellow music of a horn wound lustily and with the deep impatient bayings of the hounds. Frances leaned over the dashboard and shook the reins impatiently. ”

“ Struthers and I have been busy making clothes, during the absence of Dinky-Dunk, who has been off duck-shooting for the last three days. He complained of being a bit tuckered out and having stood the gaff too long and needing a change. The outing will do him good. The children miss him, of course, but he’s promised to bring Dinkie home an Indian bow-and-arrow. I can see death and destruction hanging over the glassware of this household.... The weather has been stormy, and yesterday Whinnie and Struthers put up the stove in the bunk-house. ”

“ The strut is then prepared, care being taken to get a good fit, as any shortness of strut will sooner or later mean sagging of the door. Cut the angles as squarely as possible, to ensure the strut being of the same length both inside and out.
Note.—As the door is rectangular, it does not matter which corners are occupied by the ends of the strut; but when the door is hung, the strut must run relatively to the side on which the hinges are, as shown in Fig. 14. Amateurs—even some professionals—have been known to get the strut the wrong way up, and so render it practically useless. ”

“ Country gentlemen threw at the poor cock formerly: there is not a country gentleman now who would not discourage the shocking usage.
Strutt says that in some places, it was a common practice to put a cock into an earthen vessel made for the purpose, and to place him in such a position that his head and tail might be exposed to view ”

“ Here the blacks could be of no use to us. No man could stem the current, supposing it to have been shallow at the place, but it was on the contrary extremely deep. Remaining myself in the boat, I directed all the men to land, after we had crossed the stream, upon a large rock that formed the left buttress as it were to this sluice, and, fastening the rope to the mast instead of her head, they pulled upon it. ”

“ Commenius also, in his vocabulary, [473] says, "At this day tilting at the quintain is [Pg 124] used where a hoop or ring is struck with a lance." Hence it is clear, that the ring was put in the place of the quintain. The excellency of the pastime was to ride at full speed, and thrust the point of the lance through the ring, which was supported in a case or sheath, by the means of two springs, but might be readily drawn out by the force of the stroke, and remain upon the top of the lance. ”

“ I therefore halted, and sent Fraser into the reeds towards some dead trees, on which a number of spoonbills were sitting. He found that there was a small lake in the centre of the reeds, the resort of numerous wild fowl; but although the men were enabled to quench their thirst, we found it impossible to water the animals. We were obliged, therefore, to continue our course along the edge of the reeds; which in a short time appeared in large masses in front of us, stretching into a vast plain upon our right; and it became evident that the whole neighbourhood was subject to extensive inundation. ”

“ We were obliged to use the four oars to stem the current against us; but, as soon as we had passed the mouth, got into deeper water, and found easier pulling, The parallel in which we struck it, and the direction from which it came, combined to assure me that this could be no other than the "Darling." To the distance of two miles it retained a breadth of one hundred yards and a depth of twelve feet. Its banks were covered with verdure, and the trees overhanging them were of finer and larger growth than those on the new river by which we had approached it. ”

“ With the air-ade Bittsywittle passed heaping saucers of wind pudding, a fluffy, cloud-like confection that made Jellia's mouth positively water.
"You will find the diet here light, but nourishing," Strut informed them blandly. "Our atmosphere is so rare and exhilarating, we need little but sun and star light to keep us going. But now, friends, I propose a toast to Jellia, our new Starina!" As Nick and Wantowin rose unwillingly to their feet, for the whole affair struck them as perfectly preposterous, Strut lifted his glass and downed his air-ade. Then the Soldier rather sulkily drank his. ”

“ The gusts that swept the bosom of the water, and the swell they caused, turned the boat from her course, and prevented us from making an inch of way. The men were quite exhausted, and, as they had conducted themselves so well, and had been so patient, I felt myself obliged to grant them every indulgence consistent with our safety. However precarious our situation, it would have been vain, with our exhausted strength, to have contended against the elements. We, therefore, pulled in to the left bank of the river, and pitched our tents on a little rising ground beyond the reeds that lined it. ”

“ The surface of a sawn strut end is formed of a number of more or less ragged fibres, which in position in the machine and under pressure of the bracing wires tend to gradually flatten down, this resulting in slack wires and loss of alignment. Absolute accuracy and uniformity of part production can only be obtained by the use of jigs, preferably of metal, and some form of jig should certainly be used for cutting the various struts to length. ”

“ But at the very moment, when my hand was on the trigger, and my eye was along the barrel, my purpose was checked by M'Leay, who called to me that another party of blacks had made their appearance upon the left bank of the river. Turning round, I observed four men at the top of their speed. The foremost of them as soon as he got a-head of the boat, threw himself from a considerable height into the water. He struggled across the channel to the sand-bank, and in an incredibly short space of time stood in front of the savage, against whom my aim had been directed. ”

“ Hume rode with me in a westerly direction, to ascertain what obstacles we still had to contend with. Forcing our way through bodies of reeds, we at length got on a plain, stretching from S.E. to N.W., bounded on the right by a wood of blue-gum, under which the reeds still extended, and on the left by a wood in which they did not appear to exist. Certain that there was no serious obstacle in our way, we returned to the men; and as soon as they had finished their meal, led them over the plain in a N.W. by W. direction. It was covered with shells, and was full of holes from the effects of flood. ”

“ When we came to camp, Mr. Struble started to build a fire; but no matches were to be had. Next, the men went to feed grain to their tired horses, but the oats were gone. Mr. Murry sought in vain for his beloved accordion. Mr. Harkrudder was furious when he found his grinding machine was gone. Mrs. O’Shaughnessy made a dash for the grub-box. It was empty. We were dumbfounded. Each of us kept searching and researching and knowing all the while we would find nothing. Mr. Struble is a most cheerful individual, and, as Mrs. O’Shaughnessy says, “is a mighty good fellow even if he is Dutch.” ”

“ I had the evening previously ordered the horses I intended taking with me across the channel, and at an early hour of the morning I followed them. Getting on a plain, immediately after I had disengaged myself from the reeds on the opposite side of the river, which was full of holes and exceedingly treacherous for the animals, I pushed on for a part of the wood Mr. Hume had endeavoured to gain from the boat, with the intention of keeping near the marsh. On entering it, I found myself in a thick brush of eucalypti, casuarinae and minor trees; the soil under them being mixed with sand. ”

“ There is a childish pastime which may well be inserted here, generally known by the ridiculous appellation of the Devil among the Tailors; it consists of nine small pins placed like skittles in the midst of a circular board, surrounded by a ledge with a small recess on one side, in which a peg-top is set up by means of a string drawn through a crevice in the recess; the top when loosed spins about among the pins and beats some, or all of them, down before its motion ceases ”

“ The current was not so strong as when we passed down, since the river had evidently fallen more than a foot, and was so shallow in several places, that we were obliged to haul the boat over them. On these occasions we were necessarily obliged to get out of her into the water, and had afterwards to sit still and to allow the sun to dry our clothes upon us. The unemployed consequently envied those at the oars, as they sat shivering in their dripping clothes. ”

“ We next prepared to examine the new river, and turning the boat's head towards it, endeavoured to pull up the stream. Our larboard oars touched the right bank, and the current was too strong for us to conquer it with a pair only; we were, therefore, obliged to put a second upon her, a movement that excited the astonishment and admiration of the natives. One old woman seemed in absolute ecstasy, to whom M'Leay threw an old tin kettle, in recompense for the amusement she afforded us. ”

“ I have seen a game thus denominated played with halfpence, every one of the competitors [Pg 387] having a like number, either two or four, and a hole being made in the ground with a mark at a given distance for the players to stand, they pitch their halfpence singly in succession towards the hole, and he whose halfpenny lies the nearest to it has the privilege of coming first to a second mark much nearer than the former, and all the halfpence are given to him; these he pitches in a mass towards the hole, and as many of them as remain therein are his due ”