Engineers’ Pocketbook of Reinforced Concrete by E. Lee Heidenreich is a broad historical design and construction reference. This second edition was published in 1915 by The Myron C. Clark Publishing Co. in Chicago, with E. & F. N. Spon, Ltd., named for London. Its revised-edition preface is dated January 1, 1915.
A reference assembled for working engineers
The first-edition preface describes the author’s experience with reinforced concrete and the accumulation of technical literature and practical information behind the book. The second-edition preface discusses changes, additions and corrections made after the earlier issue.
The contents cover materials and machinery, buildings, bridges, abutments and retaining walls, culverts and conduits, tanks and reservoirs, chimneys, estimating and specifications. Tables, formulas and illustrated examples are central to the presentation.
This is a useful historical reference for understanding the range of problems grouped under reinforced-concrete engineering in the period. The pocketbook format brings many applications together, but the compact presentation means that assumptions and accompanying explanations must be read with the numerical material.
Materials, machinery and construction ingredients
The opening chapter addresses cement, sand, gravel, broken stone and water. It includes sampling, testing, aggregate proportions and related material properties. Mixing and the equipment used to handle concrete also appear within the chapter’s wide scope.
Reinforcement is treated through different bar forms, metal systems and material characteristics. The contents include tables of properties of sections and other numerical aids. These are part of the book’s effort to place frequently needed information within reach.
For readers investigating historic work, the chapter helps identify the materials and systems an engineer might have encountered. It should not be used to assume that an unidentified old bar, mixture or proprietary system has the properties listed for a particular example.
Buildings and bridges
The building chapter covers slabs, beams, floors, columns, foundations and walls. Bending moments, reinforcement, loading and construction arrangements are linked to diagrams and tables. The work also considers forms, mixing, placing, curing and related site operations.
The bridge chapter extends the treatment to girder and arch structures. It includes classifications by loading, dead and live loads, roadway and wheel-load effects, reinforcement and arch analysis. Examples show the author’s use of diagrams to represent the distribution and action of loads.
These chapters are particularly useful for comparing period design methods. They preserve the units, formulas and simplified models used in a working reference. Current structural design requires contemporary standards and engineering analysis rather than direct adoption of these tables.
Retaining earth and carrying water
Abutments and retaining walls occupy a separate chapter. Earth pressure, stability, counterforts and related details receive attention. The author then turns to culverts, conduits, sewers, pipes and dams, connecting reinforced concrete with drainage and water-management infrastructure.
The culvert examples include an arch arrangement with tabulated dimensions and reinforcement. Such material shows the relationship between a repeated structural type and the effort to standardize its presentation. It is useful evidence for research, while remaining tied to the stated assumptions and original context.
Tanks, reservoirs, bins and grain elevators broaden the applications further. Topics in the contents include shapes, capacities, pressure and storage structures. This variety makes the book relevant to the history of industrial, municipal and agricultural infrastructure.
Estimating, specifications and reference use
The final major chapter includes chimneys, miscellaneous data, estimating, specifications and testing. It gathers construction and administrative matters alongside the analytical information found earlier in the book.
This free ebook suits engineering historians, researchers studying old structures and technically prepared readers interested in early reference books. It is best used to understand period methods and terminology, with the original assumptions retained in view.
The scan contains 452 PDF pages, including preliminary pages and an index. It is image-based and preserves dense tables, equations and drawings. Read small entries at sufficient magnification, and use printed page numbers when following cross-references within the text.
Book details
- Author: E. Lee Heidenreich
- Publisher: The Myron C. Clark Publishing Co., Chicago; E. & F. N. Spon, Ltd., London
- Year: 1915
- Edition: Second edition
- Digital length: 452 PDF pages
- Language: English
- File size: 9.50 MB
