Thayer School
THE annual Dartmouth Engineers' Dinner in Boston was held at the University Club Thursday evening, March 31, under the able direction of a committee consisting of GeorgeA. Sampson '03, Richard H. Ellis '17, and Richard C. Tousley '4.2. After a congenial predinner assembly and a well-preserved dinner, S. Russell Stearns '38, Assistant Professor of Civil Engineering, and the writer gave brief talks leading up to the main event of the evening, a television show of the M.I.T. Convocation meeting addressed by Mr. Churchill. The University Club had arranged a good-sized television screen for the event and we certainly had a much better view of the whole proceedings than the 14,000 people who attended the occasion at the Boston Garden.
The committee for next year's dinner was appointed, in a most informal but effective manner, by the retiring committee who named Sidney C. Beane '12, Russell J. Rice 'l6, and Jason H. Woodward '42 as their successors.
In attendance at this meeting were the following Thayer School alumni: John J. Anthony '47, Sidney C. Beane '12, Paul G. Blake '47, Paul B. Breck '43, Leroy M. Cahoon '47, George C. Capelle '37, Francis R. Drury '38, James C. Davis '48, Richard H. Ellis '17, Wilbert D. Greenlaw '48, Charles Y. Hitchcock '39, Allen Hazen '40, Robert O. Hooker '49, Robert E. Keane '48, William P. Kimball '29, Edward H. Lawson '21, John S. Lovewell '48, Charles T. Main II '39, David E. Nassif '46, Robert E. Parker '11, Richard S. Rice '44, Russell J. Rice '16, George A. Sampson '03, Frank B. Sanborn '89, Richard C. Tousley '4.2, Maylon E. Traylor '48, Gilbert H. Tricco '48, Jason H. Woodward '42, James H. Wright '20, S. Russell Stearns '38.
The weekend o£ April 8-9 was a busy one at Thayer School. A visiting lecturer in Professional Relations was Colonel Clarence E. Davies, Secretary, American Society of Mechanical Engineers, who spoke on the role of engineering societies in the professional life of engineers. This was followed by a lecture on labor relations presented at Tuck School, and attended also by second-year Thayer students, by John S. Macdonald '14. On Saturday morning, the civil engineering and mechanical engineering students had an opportunity to hear Mr. Macdonald on the subject of tunnel construction, a field in which he has become one of the country's outstanding authorities. His lecture was illustrated by slides of both rock-tunnel and compressed air operations and was full of interesting anecdotes and technical know-how.
During the weekend, about 35 representatives of the several sections of Region I 0f the American Society of Mechanical Engineers held their annual regional conference at the School.
On Friday evening, April 8, the students and faculty of the School held an Open House to which members of the College and community were invited. All laboratories of the School were open for inspection and the equipment was operated and demonstrated bv members of the Thayer School student body. Every student cooperated in arranging the demonstrations beforehand and conducting the operations during the event. A conservative estimate of attendance indicated over 1,000 visitors. A high degree of interest and appreciation was expressed both in the apparatus displayed and in the courtesy and cooperation of the student operators. A program of motion pictures on engineering subjects of general interest was presented throughout the evening, and several special industrial exhibits were on display. Out-of-town alumni visitors included Bill Matthews '48 who arranged, at our request, for the display of the famous New Departure "Ball Bouncing Machine," and Ed Traylor '48who also at our request, brought an interesting exhibit of abrasive products of the Norton Company of Worcester.
Charles T. Main II '39 was another alumni visitor over the weekend. One of the most impressive exhibits was the recently-completed polariscope which was designed and constructed at the School with funds contributed by Charlie, his Mother, and his brother, as a memorial to Charles R. Main '08.
A brief statement of the exhibits in the 27 laboratories and exhibit centers during the Open House was presented in a five-page program distributed to visitors. Your correspondent regrets that space does not permit the inclusion of this brief statement in full and offers the following excerpts as illustrative:
"Room 16, Electric Machinery Laboratory: Electric machinery of various kinds will be on display. Special demonstrations will include: flashing lamps used to check frequency and phase order of an a-c generator; a d-c motor repeatedly reversing itself illustrating an extreme form of unstable operation; a time-delay automatic starter for an induction motor; exploring coil generator and oscilloscope; stroboscope focussed on a revolving disk to make it 'stand still'; mototrol (electronic) control of d-c motor varying both speed and direction of operation."
"Room 9, Engines Laboratory: A superior Diesel engine and a Hercules gasoline engine will be operated, their output measured by electric dynamometer and absorbed by resistance coils. On exhibit will be a Hercules Diesel engine, a Wisconsin gasoline engine, a Fisherman Marine engine, a variable compression engine used for determination of octane rating of fuels, a gas turbine designed and constructed by a group of second-year mechanical engineering students, and a magnetic clutch designed and constructed by a group of second-year mechanical engineering students."
