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Rokbt  Dftuinoffs,

BUeirotyper,

444  A  446  Pearl  Street,

New  York.
MB  Pearl  BtroeV
Hew  York.
PREFACE.
The  present  work  is  a  third  edition  of  "  Notes  to  Mechani-
cal Laboratory  Practice,"  published  in  1890;  of  which  a  second
edition  was  published  in  1891,  and  soon  exhausted  by  an
unexpected  demand  from  engineering  schools  and  the  profes-
sion.
These  earlier  editions  were  prepared  especially  for  the  use
of  students  in  the  Laboratory  of  Experimental  Engineering,
Sibley  College,  Cornell  University,  for  the  purpose  of  facili-
tating investigation  of  engineering  subjects,  and  of  providing
a  systematic  course  of  instruction  in  experimental  work.
The  book  has  been  rewritten  and  very  much  enlarged,  so
that  the  change  in  title  to  Text-book  of  Experimental  Engineer-
ing seems  to  be  justified.  Its  principal  object  is  the  same
as  that  of  the  earlier  editions,  but  it  is  also  believed  that  the
volume  will  not  be  without  value  as  a  reference-book  to  the
consulting  and  practising  engineer,  since  it  is  the  only  work  on
the  subject  which  contains  in  a  single  volume  the  principal
standard  methods  which  have  been  from  time  to  time  adopted
by  various  engineering  societies  for  the  testing  of  materials,
engines,  and  machinery.
The  book  is,  however,  chiefly  intended  for  use  in  engineer-
ing laboratories,  and  presents  information  which  the  exper-
ience of  the  author  has  shown  to  be  necessary  to  carry  out
experiments  intelligently  and  without  great  loss  of  time  on
the  part  of  students.
The  importance  of  engineering  laboratories  is  now  so
fully  recognized  in  colleges  of  engineering  that  it  is  hardly


VI  PREFACE.
