Landmarks of Tompkins County, New York : including a history of Cornell University, Part 66

Author: Hewett, Waterman Thomas, 1846-1921; Selkreg, John H
Publication date: 1894
Publisher: Syracuse, N.Y. : D. Mason
Number of Pages: 1194

USA > New York > Tompkins County > Landmarks of Tompkins County, New York : including a history of Cornell University > Part 66

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second main building was $54,000, and the total expenditures to 1894, inclusive, were thus $231,528. The university has expended, besides, about $25,000 on the buildings and accessories, $50,000 in additions to the equipment which, through the generosity of Mr. Sibley and other friends of the institution, has risen to a total value of about $150,000, making the total inventory of the college and its outfit in all depart- ments, in 1894, about $350,000.

HIRAM SIBLEY, the founder of Sibley College, was a man of marked individuality and power of thought. His whole life abounded in inci- dents illustrating his originality and purposeful energy. He was, in the truest sense, a " self-made man." He was born at North Adams, Mass., February 6, 1807. He had very little opportunity for early edu- cation and left school before he was sixteen years of age. He sought to support himself in various ways, and once earned a livelihood by sawing wood for his neighbors. A shower coming up he took refuge in the shop of a shoemaker, close at hand, and while sharpening and setting his saw, watched the workmen until he was confident that he could himself make a shoe. His proposition to try was met in the same spirit by the proprietor of the shop, and his success led to his taking up the trade. Soon after this, however, he found cotton and woolen manufactures more attractive, and, when of age, had learned these va- rious kinds of business, and had also conducted a machine shop. In 1823 he removed to Monroe county, N. Y., and settled near Rochester, where he became, in 1843, the sheriff of the county. He had pre- viously made the acquaintance of Professor Morse and Ezra Cornell, and had assisted them in their efforts, at Washington, to secure the aid of Congress in the promotion of their plans for the introduction of the telegraph, the result of their effort being the erection of the line be- tween Washington and Baltimore at a cost of $40,000, which sum was appropriated by Congress.

The success of the first line of telegraph lcd to the establishment of numerous isolated companies, which were formed with the purpose of connecting certain cities in various parts of the country. None were very suceessful, and Mr. Sibley saw that, to insure thoroughly satisfac- tory operation and financial returns, complete consolidation and the formation of a single organization covering the whole territory of the United States was essential. He had accumulated by this time a con- siderable property, and, securing the aid of other large capitalists, he organized the Western Union Telegraph Company, at Chicago, which

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LANDMARKS OF TOMPKINS COUNTY.

absorbed all the lines in that part of the country, and those connecting that city with New York, and, later, substantially, all the working tele- graph systems of the United States. He was the first president of the consolidated organization, and, under his administration, it attained extraordinary success. His services were retained by the company for sixteen years, and the number of its offices increased in that time from 132 to about 4,000, and its capital from an original $220,000 to $40,- 000,000. He made himself and all his companions enormously wealthy by the enterprise. Among the large stockholders in various lines was Ezra Cornell. The assent of the latter to the consolidation of the small companies in which he was interested was only secured by Mr. Sibley with difficulty; but the participation thus obtained was very ad- vantageous to Mr. Cornell, and resulted in the fortune which made pos- sible the foundation of Cornell University; and Sibley College, one of its most important departments, was founded by Mr. Sibley with a part of the wealth which he had similarly acquired by this and other no less bold and far-seeing undertakings.

The whole system of telegraphy for the Eastern, Middle and South- ern States having been arranged, the next step was the construction of a line crossing the continent to San Francisco. This was quickly and successfully accomplished by Mr. Sibley, without the aid or counte- nance of his colleagues in the directory of the Western Union; and the Pacific coast was soon covered with a network of wires, which were connected with the East by the transcontinental line. But Mr. Sibley was not yet satisfied, and proposed to carry his lines across the ocean, and to unite the Western with the Eastern Continent by a line across Alaska and Siberia, including a submarine cable across Behring Straits. The completion of the first line of cable across the Atlantic made this unnecessary; but not before Mr. Sibley had secured the privileges which he sought from the Russian government, and expended a large sum of money in beginning the work. To secure the needed conces- sions, Mr. Sibley went to Europe and was received with great distinc- tion by the Czar and the imperial court. He spent some time in trav- eling over Europe, and returned to the United States satisfied with the success of his greatest undertaking, which now seemed assured. His loss in this enterprise was estimated at about three million dollars. Mr. Sibley retired from active participation in 1869, and became inter- ested in farming and seed-raising on a large scale. He bought the Sullivant farm of forty thousand acres in Illinois, which he divided

647

CORNELL UNIVERSITY.

into a hundred and fifty or more small farms and rented them to se- lected tenants, after having supplied each with good buildings and a complete system of underdrainage.

Mr. Sibley died at Rochester, July 12, 1888, at the age of eighty-one, after a short illness which terminated in apoplexy. His health had been failing for some years. He had, however, attended to business without interruption, and only laid aside the management of his vast interests at the very last. Throughout his whole later life, he was in- tensely interested in the promotion of the prosperity of Cornell Uni- versity and of Sibley College. He attended every meeting of the Board of Trustees, of which he was a charter member, and he never hesitated to give time, thought, and pecuniary assistance when needed. At one time, when the university was greatly embarrassed by a debt of $155,000, it was relieved by a generous gift of the entire sum by Messrs. Cornell, McGraw, Sage, Sibley, and White. The money thus contributed was afterward set aside by the university as a fund for scholarship and fellowships, which bcar the names of thesc noble bene- factors.

Mr. Hiram W. Sibley, son of the founder of Sibley College, has, since his father's death, taken his place on the Board of Trustees, and in various ways has shown an affectionate pride in his father's work, and a warm interest in the welfare of the university and of the college. His effective aid rescued the college in a most critical time from serious difficulties.

The growth of the instructing corps in the department of mechanic arts, as stated in the report of Mr. James Frazer Gluck, alumni trustee in 1884, was at first very slow, corresponding to the limited means which were placed at its disposal. At its opening in 1868-69, one pro- fessor was assigned to the subject of " practical mechanics," industrial mechanics constituting a part of the title of the professor of physics. In 1872-73 an assistant professor of mechanical drawing was appointed ; in 1874-75 an instructor was appointed to take charge of the machine shops. From 1869 to 1873 Mr. John Stanton.Gould lectured annually on mechanics as applied to agriculture. From that time the staff re- mained substantially the same in number, as did also the distribution of work, fluctuating slightly, as numbers varied from ycar to year. It was not until 1885 that a complete reorganization of the institution, so as to constitute a complete college of mechanical engineering and the mechanic arts, was made, with a single supervising head, and a defin-

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LANDMARKS OF TOMPKINS COUNTY.

itely planned schedule of work and distinctly assigned duties for its of- ficers.

The reorganization of Sibley College in its present form, which oc- curred in 1885, began with the appointment of a director whose duties and responsibilities were thus established :3

It is proposed to appoint a " director" who shall be the official head of that depart- ment, who shall direct the workings of the whole department, shall nominate the assistants and be held responsible for their efficiency, shall be custodian of the build- ings, tools, models and apparatus of the department, and shall be held responsible for their proper use and preservation, and for the efficiency of the motive power, as well as the machinery generally; who shall make requisitions on the treasurer for funds appropriated by the trustees, whenever needed, in that college, and shall be held responsible for their expenditure, and who shall assign to all who may take part in the work of instruction of the schools included in that college, such parts of the work as he may find best for the interests and prosperity of the college and of the university, all to be subject to the approval of the president and trustees, so far as affected by, or affecting, the general policy and the controlling regulations of the university.

The director will be expected to assume the professorship of mechanical engineer- ing, to plan and to direct that course, as above provided, and also to take such part in instruction as he may find practicable and desirable, nominating such additional assistants as may be found to be needed to make the course as complete, as credit- able, and as fruitful of result as possible.

The director will be held responsible for results, and will be allowed to take such course, in the organization and administration of the internal affairs of the college, as may seem to him best calculated to secure the results aimed at by the authorities from whom he receives his powers.

The president and trustees may be relied upon to give all proper support to the director, in the administration of the college, of its schools of trade-instruction, and of mechanical engineering, and may be trusted to supply all essential material, up to the limit of financial ability consistent with the welfare of the university as a whole.

The authorities will expect the director to make proper suggestions and recom- mendations for the extension of the department, as opportunity may offer, and for the institution of advanced schools of special branches of mechanical engineering, as they may be called for, and as the progress of the general course of university in- struction may permit.

The results of the reorganization of 1885 and its work as reconsti- tuted were immediately scen in the increased numbers of students and in a no less rapid growth and improvement of the courses taught and the quality of the student-body. The director lectured during his first year of service, 1885-6, to a senior class numbering five men; in the second year, to fifteen; in the third, to about twenty; in the fourth, to

1 Sibley College Reports; 1885.

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CORNELL UNIVERSITY.

thirty; in the fifth, to fifty; in the sixth, to seventy-fivc; in the seventh to one hundred, and growth has not yet ceased. The number of gradu- ate students, at first an unknown featurc in engineering schools, be- came soon an important element in the college, and in a few years forty such students werc enrolled in the graduate departments as can- didates for second degrees, and many in the regular undergraduate classes.

The number of regular undergraduate students enrolled as given in the university "register," for each year, has been as follows :

'85 '86 '87

Enrolled 63 106 168

283

369 54 52

556

Graduated 51

22 '88 220

'89 '90 '91 '92 428 501 546 107

'93 '94

The number of graduate students has also gradually risen to about forty and the number of " special " students, formerly comparatively numerous, has fallen to an insignificant number. The total enrollment for the year 1893-4 has thus been over 600 for Sibley College alone, and about 1800 for the university as a whole; Sibley College having registered about one-third.

Mr. Cornell's ambition was declared in the now famous saying, "I would found an institution where any person may find instruction in any study ;" he hoped that the time would come, as he sometimes said to his friends, when a great university would cover his homestead farm with its buildings, and thousands of students flock to its halls. His personal interest was mainly directed to the technical side of the uni- versity, though no part escaped his watchful care. He was especially interested in the establishment of workshops, in which young men should be given instruction in the use of tools, and acquire trades, and, if possible, at the same time enjoy the opportunity of supporting them- selves while attending the university. The last plan did not succeed, and Cornell's manual training and trade schools have risen far above the level then assigned them, and have become schools of engincering. Whether this elevation of gradc is an advantage to the State or to the nation may be an open question ; but the facts above stated constitute the history of the inauguration and growth of the technical schools of Cornell University. The rate and the extent of that growth during the first dozen ycars of the work of the university arc presented in the

I Until 1886, no students in electrical engineering were formally registered in Sib- ley College.

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LANDMARKS OF TOMPKINS COUNTY.

next table, which shows that the " leading purposes " of the institution were not at first accomplished; while the older education, which the Land Grant Act was founded to supplement, became, for a time, the principal work of the institution. During the last decade, however, the growth of the departments "related to Agriculture and the Mechanic Arts" has been rapid, and the purposes of the National Grant, and of the charter of Cornell University have been correspondingly promoted. Since 1880, the whole country has witnessed the advance in the education of the "industrial classes," which has presented the most encouraging results. Cornell University and Sibley College have done their full part in this great work, and the extension of their various departments of engineering and architecture, and of applied science has been more than commensurate with the development of the technical side of general education in the United States. This develop- ment has been quickened by the new demands of applied science, and the progress in the schools of engineering, of both public and private endowment. This progress has been especially remarkable in the pro- fession of mechanical engineering.

The extent to which mechanical engineering has advanced as a pro- fession, and as a learned profession, since its first establishment, dis- tinct from civil engineering, only twenty-five years ago, will be seen on examining the following table, which table was compiled for the year 1892.1

GRADUATES OF PROFESSIONAL M. E. SCHOOLS, JUNE, 1892.

1 school (Sibley Coll., Cornell) had

79 graduates. 2

1 66 (Mass. Inst. Tech.) had 61

1 (Yale, Sheffield S. S.) had 1 49

6. (Stevens Inst. Tech.) had 39 1

1 (Rose Polyt. Inst.) had 1 1

66 (Worc. Polyt. Inst.) had. :

Total of 6 schools (average 45} each)

273

2 had 20 graduates each

I 40 1

1 had 19 graduates 19

1 had 17 graduates 17

Total of 10 largest schools

349

I By Mr. A. M. Wellington.

2 The reported number is less than the actual, which was 90 in 1892, and, including students taking second degrees, 107 in 1893.

CORNELL UNIVERSITY.

The magnitude of the outfit required by the technical school of higher grade is not always realized, cven by the educator engaged in this depart- ment of education. The following is collated from the reports and inven - tories of the schools of applied science of Cornell University, and shows that over $300,000 have been expended by the university or given by its friends for its apparatus of instruction ; and it is desirable that it should be increased to meet the needs of the increasing number of students. It is, of course, true that this equipment is useful in the university instruction of the students in the "general courses;" but the students in the engineering schools are those who mainly crowd the laboratories of pure, as well as of applied, science, and compel the collection of such immense aggregations of machinery and apparatus. The figures here given are growing at the rate of from $25,000 to $50,000 annually.

Steam-power plant Electrical plant Workshop appliances Astronomical appliances.

13,000

29,000

31,000

54,000

17,000 43,000

30,000

61,000

$19,000

Physical

Mechanical

Collections, models, etc Surveying instruments Chemical laboratory appliances

Technical library, drawings, etc.

1 1

$328,000

Should the proposed new graduate and undergraduate schools of mining, of railway work, of textiles, and of other branches of engineer- ing be founded, not less than an average of $25,000 each will be demanded for a beginning of their collections, and the amount here given will rise to $400,000, or possibly to even $500,000, if buildings of even an inexpensive character are included. In the above instance, as in most others in the United States, the collections are made mainly by private contributions, not by purchase by either State or college.

The character of the equipment, as well as its extent, in a large technical college of the first rank, may be exhibited, perhaps, by the following inventory of the outfit of the mechanical engineering depart-

ments alone :

"The two main buildings are each one hundred and sixty feet long, fifty feet in width, and three stories in height. The workshops consist of a machine shop, a foundry, a blacksmith shop, and a wood-working shop. The forge and the foundry are in a single detached building.

651

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LANDMARKS OF TOMPKINS COUNTY.

Besides these, there is a building one hundred and fifty feet by forty, and two stories in height, occupied by the laboratories of experimental engineering. At the bottom of an adjacent gorge are the turbines which supply the power required for driving the machinery of the college, and the electric apparatus for lighting the campus and the buildings. The large engine and dynamo room, containing all the engines and dynamos employed in lighting the university, is adjacent to the shops, and beside the boiler-room in which are placed the boilers.

"The two principal rooms on the first floor of the main building are devoted to the purposes of a museum of illustrative apparatus, machinery, products of manufacturing, and collections exhibiting pro- cesses and methods, new inventions, forms of motors, and other collections of value in the courses of technical instruction. Here are placed a full Reuleaux collection of models of kinematic movements. Beside these are the Schroeder and other models, exhibiting parts of machinery, the construction of steam engines and other machines. In the museum are placed a large number of samples of machines con- structed to illustrate special forms and methods of manufacture. Many machines and tools have been made in the shops. The lecture rooms are each supplied with a collection of materials, drawings, models and machines, especially adapted to the wants of the lecturer. The course of instruction is illustrated by a collection of steam-engines, gas and vapor engines, water-wheels and other motors, models and drawings of every standard or historical form of prime mover, of parts of machines, and of completed machinery.

"The collections of the department of drawing also include a large variety of studies of natural and conventional forms, shaded and in outline, geometrical models, casts and illustrations of historical ornament.

"The workshops are supplied with machine-tools, including lathes, and hand and bench tools sufficient to meet the wants of two hundred students of the first year, in wood-working; in the foundry and forge, all needed tools for a class of one hundred and fifty in the second year ; in the machine shop, machine tools from the best builders, and a great variety of special and hand tools, which are sufficient for a class of one hundred and fifty in the third year, and a hundred and twenty-five seniors and graduate students.

" The department of experimental engineering possesses experimental engines and boilers, and other heat motors, such as air and gas engines,

653

CORNELL UNIVERSITY.

and is well supplied with testing machines in great number and variety, as well as the apparatus required, as indicators, dynamometers, etc., for determining the efficiency of engines.

"The mechanical laboratories constitute the department of demon- stration and experimental research, in which not only instruction but investigation is conducted. They are principally located in an annex to the college main building, and occupy its entire space. They are supplied with the apparatus for experimental work in the determination of power and efficiency of motors, and of the turbines driving the machinery of the establishment; with the boiler-testing plant and instruments; and with many machines, of the various standard types, for testing the strength of metals, including one each of the common type, of 50, 100, and 150 tons capacity, and one Emery testing machine ; all of great accuracy and delicacy. Numerous steam engines and boilers, air and gas engines, several kinds of dynamometers, lubricant- testing machines, standard pressure-gauges and a large collection of steam-engine indicators and other apparatus and instruments of pre- cision employed by the engineer in such researches as he is called upon to make, are collected here.

"Apparatus is provided for delicate testing, for the exact study and determination of alternate current energy, for conductivity and insu- lation tests, and for the determination of the properties of the magnetic materials. Means for making quantitative measurements are supplied through a well-equipped photometer room for the photometry of arc and incandescent lamps; several Brackett 'cradle' dynamometers for efficiency tests of dynamos and motors; a rheostat of German silver wire, for a working resistance, with a capacity ranging from twenty- two hundred ohms and four ampères, to four-tenths of an ohm and three hundred ampères."

The mechanical laboratory, the department of research of the modern American engineering school, has come to be so important and essential a division of the most successful schools and colleges of engineering that an article should be specially devoted to this subject. Although not recent in origin or absolutely modern in form and purpose, it is only within a comparatively short time, that it has taken its proper place in the organization of these schools and commenced that work which has come, to-day, to be recognized by engineers and educators alike to be the most fruitful of result, the most beneficial to the student, and the most productive of both knowledge and discipline, of all the

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LANDMARKS OF TOMPKINS COUNTY.

methods of instruction and of study and practice forming parts of the contemporary scheme of professional engineering instruction.

The Sibley College laboratory of mechanical engineering was organ- ized by Dr. Thurston in 1885, on first assuming the duties of director of Sibley College. Improvements in the plant were made from time to time, and in 1890 the laboratory was organized as one of the departments of the college. The time devoted by the students to laboratory work was then very much increased, and a large sum of money was devoted to the improvement of the equipment.

In this laboratory are included special laboratories for the investiga- tion of the following subjects: Strength of materials; hydraulics and hydraulic motors; friction and lubrification; transmission of power, dynamometers; steam engines, hot-air and gas engines; air-compressing machinery, rock drills; heating and ventilating machinery; elevators and mining machinery.

While these laboratories are largely devoted to investigation and research, they are also of great value educationaliy, as they afford the best possible opportunity of illustrating and applying the principles advanced in the class room. They thus tend to fix in mind and show the application of what would otherwise be regarded by the student as abstract and without practical value. The laboratories also give valuable instruction, regarding methods of testing, and serve to train skilled observers for accurate investigation later. Incidentally they afford students an opportunity, and about the only opportunity they can obtain, for practically handling and directing the operations of various machines or engines, and such knowledge is of great service in after-life. The investigations which can be carried on in such a labora- tory may be as varied in character as the scope of the course or extent of the equipment will permit, and are not likely to be limited by any consideration of the course of instruction laid down in the catalogue.

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Landmarks of Tompkins County, New York : including a history of Cornell University, Part 66

Author: Hewett, Waterman Thomas, 1846-1921; Selkreg, John H Publication date: 1894 Publisher: Syracuse, N.Y. : D. Mason Number of Pages: 1194

Author: Hewett, Waterman Thomas, 1846-1921; Selkreg, John H
Publication date: 1894
Publisher: Syracuse, N.Y. : D. Mason
Number of Pages: 1194