ENGINEERING LABoRATORIES. The snipes: which has attended chemical, physical. and other lahora tories organized either for instruction or re ,,eareh has led to the establishment of engineer ing laboratories in which the student is taught to apply himself particularly to such problems as he would encounter in the aetual prnetiee of his profession. Such laboratories are also used hy advanced workers to study experimentally such difficulties as are encountered in daily life, with the hope of finding simpler and more eco nomical methods. Accordingly, there ore labora tories for mechanical engineering, hydraulic engi neering. mining engineering. electrical engineer ing, and chemical engineering, in which arc in stalled machinery .and apparatus similar to that found in actual practice. Such laboratories have been found essential for the best professional and technical education, and are a distinct feature of well-equipped technical schools and universities in Europe and America. A mechanical engineer ing laboratory contains machinery for studying different forms of motors and power transmission and for determining their most economical oper ation. This would include the ascertaining of friction losses, the study of various kinds of lubricants. etc. In order to carry on this work as successfully as possible, machinery of such size as will be found in a small plant is neces sary, and the students are taught its actual operation and maintenance. In some schools there may be an independent steam-engineering laboratory. while in others it may be a part of the laboratory of mechanical engineering. Ilere the students are taught to use steam-engines of different types under varying conditions of ser vice. In the important schools of mines are usu ally found the various machines used in mining and the preparation and reduction of ore. Loco motive engineering is now taught in the. labora tory, and at least two universities in the United States, as well as several manufacturing works.
are supplied with testing locomotives in which full friction, draught, and other tests can be made on a large scale. Electrical-engineering laboratories were perhaps the first to he carried on on an extensive scale, as in the laboratory method of instruction machinery of more than model size was early found necessary for the student. In the best electrieal-engine•ing labora tories are to be found motors and dynamos for direct and alternating current-transformers, stor age batteries. etc.. and the various problems in volved in the generation of the electrical power and its transmission are studied under conditions appr..hing actual practice as nearly as possible. In chemical engineering the growth of large manu facturing establishments has led to a demand for practical chemists, and it is now considered that these can best he trained by having stu dents carry out preparations on a considerable scale by using actual machinery. In the most modern of laboratories for the study of applied chemistry, such processes as dyeing. the manu facture of sugar. the manufacture of sulphuric acid. electrolytic methods of preparing chemical substances. distillation, etc., are all carried on on a practical scale.
In engineering laboratories the practice will vary widely in different institutions and with different instructors. depending on adequacy of equipment and number of students. The ma chinery and apparatus at the disposal of the students and instructors will often influence the work done. and will cause students desiring to follow a particular branch to select an institu tion where such facilities are the best. Engi neering laboratories usually follow adequate manual training and work in chemical and phys ical laboratories, and the best results are se cured when the work is properly coordinated. They have a distinct hearing on technical edu cation. and have played their part in the indus trial development of the United States.