Page:Timber and Timber Trees, Native and Foreign.djvu/344

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324
TIMBER AND TIMBER TREES.
[chap.

Table CLXVII.— Non Carbonised British Oak.
Number
of the
specimen.
Deflections. Total
weight
required
to break
each
piece.
Specific
gravity.
Weight
required
to break
1 square
inch.
With the
apparatus
weighing
390 lbs.
At
the crisis
of
breaking.
  Inches. Inches. lbs.   lbs. Kept dry in the
store-room.
1 2.00 375 700 643 175.00
2 2.50 5.00 770 650 192.50
Total 4.50 8.75 1470 1293 367.50
Average 2.25 4.375 735 646.5 183.75
4 2.75 4.15 485 1064 121.25 Kept in a box
of manure.
5 3.50 4.50 420 1085 105.00
6 3.50 4.35 440 1090 110.00
Total . 9.75 13.00 1345 3239 336.25
Average 3.25 4.33 448.33 1079.66 112.08

Remarks.—No. 1 broke with scarph-like fracture, 7 inches in length; 2 broke in three pieces, each scarph-like, 7 inches in length; 4 broke with scarph-like fracture, 14 inches in length; 5 broke rather short, with small splinters; 6 broke with scarph-like fracture, 8 inches in length.

All the specimens that were kept dry, whether carbonised or not, were apparently in good condition; but those which had been placed in manure or damp earth, were more or less in a state of decomposition, the softer parts of the concentric layers being slightly wasted away with rot on the surface. The difference in strength between the carbonised and non-carbonised pieces was not very great, but the tables show that of the pieces kept dry, the loss of strength was greatest by about 8 per cent, in the carbonised specimens; and of those kept in manure, the loss was about per cent, in excess on the non-carbonised pieces. When the experiment for testing the strength was completed,