than good, as no finished surfaces are available. The same applies to diagonals in trusswork. While in a punched connection a few holes may be slightly out, which can be corrected in the field, if a connection is reamed to templet and the templet is not properly set, all holes will be equally out. Riveted trusses should be reamed and match-marked in the maker's shop when assembled.

In all plate girders and truss-bridge stringers the lateral system should be dropped so that the rivet heads thereof will clear the ties.

Wherever possible in heavy work, avoid, in the construction of the chords or web members, side plates or doubling up of the web plates. It will often pay to use heavier web plates without side plates; even if they have to be drilled from the solid. If, however, webs have to be doubled up or side plates used, the stitch rivets made necessary by this construction should be reduced to a reasonable amount. If a plate is used as a cover plate in a chord, it is good practice to limit its thickness to 1/40th of the distance between rivets. If the same plate were used as a side plate in a chord, in most designs two or three times as many lines of rivets would be called for as would be necessary by the above limits.

It is cheaper and better to use heavy flange angles in stringers than lighter angles with cover plates, even if the said angles should have to be drilled from the solid.

Beveled cuts are to be avoided whenever possible, especially beveled cuts for angles that cannot be obtained by cutting multiple pieces from a long piece; also beveled cuts in all beams and channels, as these have to be sawed.

One of the greatest savings in recent years in bridge shops has been made by the use of multiple punches. These not only reduce the cost of the punching proper, but also save the cost of making templets and the laying out of the material. They further give far superior work; as the effect of the stretch of the material during punching on the accuracy of the work is eliminated, if these multiple punches are properly constructed. Their use, therefore, should be encouraged in every way. In order to do this, it is necessary to:

(a) Keep all rivets in line longitudinally.

(b) Keep as many rivets in line transversely as possible and do not use any more combinations of rivets transversely than necessary.

(c) Never have the longitudinal lines of rivets less than 2 1/4" apart, nor the transverse lines less than 1 1/4".

Do not crimp stiffeners if it can be helped, especially do not crimp stiffeners of short lengths, say up to about three feet. If stiffeners are crimped 3/4" or more, the crimp is unsightly; and better and more sightly work will be obtained by using a thin filler with a smaller crimp. Do not call for fillers or splice plates to have a tight fit, as this is impracticable in the shop. The stiffeners, of course, should have a close bearing.

Do not call for planing of the base, cap, sole, or masonry plates, as the mills can roll the same closer than they can be planed.