a large capacity to carry reverse moments.
This strength is frequently taken advantage of at the end floor-beam,
where a tie is made to rest on a bracket having the same riveted
connection as the stringer. A small splice-plate across the top flanges
of the stringers would greatly increase this strength to resist reverse
moments. A steel truss span is ideally conditioned for continuity in the
stringers, since the various supports are practically relatively
immovable. This is not true in a reinforced concrete building where each
support may settle independently and entirely vitiate calculated
continuous stresses. Bridge engineers ignore continuity absolutely in
calculating the stringers; they do not argue that a simple beam is out
of date. Reinforced concrete engineers would do vastly better work if
they would do likewise, adding top reinforcement over supports to
forestall cracking only. Failure could not occur in a system of beams
properly designed as simple spans, even if the negative moments over the
supports exceeded those for which the steel reinforcement was provided,
for the reason that the deflection or curving over the supports can only
be a small amount, and the simple-beam reinforcement will immediately
come into play.

Mr. Turner speaks of the absurdity of any method of calculating a
multiple-way reinforcement in slabs by endeavoring to separate the
construction into elementary beam strips, referring, of course, to the
writer's method. This is misleading. The writer does not endeavor to
"separate the construction into elementary beam strips" in the sense of
disregarding the effect of cross-strips. The "separation" is analogous
to that of considering the tension and compression portions of a beam
separately in proportioning their size or reinforcement, but unitedly in
calculating their moment. As stated in the paper, "strips are taken
across the slab and the moment in them is found, considering the
limitations of the several strips in deflection imposed by those running
at right angles therewith." It is a sound and rational assumption that
each strip, 1 ft. wide through the middle of the slab, carries its half
of the middle square foot of the slab load. It is a necessary limitation
that the other strips which intersect one of these critical strips
across the middle of the slab, cannot carry half of the intercepted
square foot, because the deflection of these other strips must diminish
to zero as they approach