|
Unless all the materials used in a structure and all workmanship during the various stages of manufacture at the shops and of construction in the field be subjected to competent and honest inspection, much of the benefit obtained by scientific design and thorough specifications will be lost.
For many years most of the inspection of structural metal-work was a sad farce; and, in consequence, the general public placed but little confidence in inspection, with the result that a large portion of the bridge-work of the country was left entirely to the tender mercies of the manufacturers, who naturally worked for their own interest and not for that of the purchasers. Latterly, however, owing to the efforts of a few first-class inspecting bureaus, the status of inspection has been somewhat improved, although it is far from being to-day what it ought to be. In making this last statement the author speaks advisedly, in that he has suffered considerably, even of late years, from bad inspection in such matters as the insertion of a rust-joint in a turntable between the bottom of drum and top of upper-track segments, where no such filling was allowed in either plans or specifications; badly matching holes in field connections; pinholes too small for pins; important members omitted in shipping; eye-bars made longer than called for by the drawings; great recesses in webs and fillers at ends of girders; and shop-paint applied over half an inch of frozen mud. Such things, to say the least, are extremely annoying, and often cause great expense during erection.
Primarily, the blame for such errors must fall on the in-
281
|