On chord or column sections extending over two panels with the same depth of section, but with smaller area required, the increased weight of the shop splices will tend to offset the increase in weight due to making both sections the same, the big advantage in the latter construction, of course, being that the material is continuous without the splice.

Frequently, on stringers and light girders, the webs are designed very light, which necessitates the use of many stiffeners to prevent buckling. It is often a big advantage to thicken the web and omit the stiffeners. The weight in either case is about the same, as the omission of the stiffeners will partially offset the increased weight of the thicker web.

For chord sections, the employment of reinforcing plates between angles should be avoided by using additional web-plates the full depth of the chord. This design has the advantage of connecting more of the main material to the flange angles direct, and avoids the use of a great many rivets which are necessary to connect the reinforcing plates to webs. When two webs are riveted together, the rivets should be about 12" from center to center, the edges of the webs, of course, being held together by the rivets through the flange angles.

When the specifications call for material drilled from the solid on account of the use of either alloy steel or very thick ordinary steel, the members should be designed with as few pieces as possible. Instead of using 5/8" or 3/4" plates, which generally are of the right thickness for punched work, the material should be ordered as thick as permissible within the mill requirements, provided that the strength of the plates does not drop below the specification stipulations on account of insufficient rolling.

The preceding portion of this chapter applies specially to the practice of the consulting engineer, although it records the opinions of experts in the line of steel manufacture; but the following pertains specially to the drafting work in the office of a bridge manufacturing company. Its inclusion is in the nature of an afterthought; and the explanation thereof is as follows:

Long after the supposed finishing of the chapter, the author was being shown through the shops of the American Bridge Company at Ambridge by an old friend of his, Mr. C. M. Canady, one of the principal engineers of that Company; and needing additional data for the chapter on "Economics of Shopwork" he persuaded that gentleman to promise to furnish some. When the notes came to hand, it appeared that Mr. Canady had confined his remarks entirely to the economics of design as practiced in the Company's drafting office. As the said notes are of great value, and as they supplement and, in many ways, endorse the statements herein which precede, the author decided at once to include them in this place; and they are, consequently, given practically verbatim.