ugh tests made during the last 18 years in
Europe, attention is called to the valuable tests on thirty beams made
by J.J. Harding, M. Am. Soc. C. E., for the Chicago, Milwaukee and St.
Paul Railroad.[H] All the beams were reinforced with about 3/4% of
steel. Those with only straight rods, whether they were plain or
patented bars, gave an average shearing strength of 150 lb. per sq. in.
Those which had one-third of the bars bent up gave an average shearing
strength of 200 lb. per sq. in., and those which had nearly one-half of
the rods bent up gave an average shearing strength of 225 lb. per sq.
in. Where the bent bars were continued over the supports, higher
ultimate values were obtained than where some of the rods were stopped
off near the supports; but in every case bent-up bars showed a greater
carrying capacity than straight rods. The writer knows also of a number
of tests with rods fastened to anchor-plates at the end, but the tests
showed that they had only a slight increase of strength over straight
rods, and certainly made a poorer showing than bent-up bars. The use of
such threaded bars would increase materially the cost of construction,
as well as the time of erection.

The writer confesses that he never saw or heard of such poor practices
as mentioned in the author's third point. On the other hand, the
proposed design of counterforts in retaining walls would not only be
very expensive and difficult to install, but would also be a decided
step backward in mechanics. This proposition recalls the trusses used
before the introduction of the Fink truss, in which the load from the
upper chord was transmitted by separate members directly to the
abutments, the inventor probably going on the principle that the
shortest way is the best. There are in the United States many hundreds
of rectangular water tanks. Are these held by any such devices? And as
they are not thus held, and inasmuch as there is no doubt that they must
carry the stress when filled with water, it is clear that, as long as
the rods from the sides are strong enough to carry the tension and are
bent with a liberal radius into the front wall and extended far enough
to form a good anchorage, the connection will not be broken. The same
applies to retaining walls. It would take up too much time to prove that
the counterfort acts really as a beam, although the forces acting on it
are not as easily found as those in a common beam.

The writer does not quite