Excerpt from Steel Rails: Their History, Properties, Strength and Manufacture, With Notes on the Principles of Rolling Stock and Track Design IN this work the author has endeavored to systematize the knowledge in existence upon the subject, and to present in a concise yet clear form the most important features of the problem. The first chapter treats of the development of the present design of section with a comparison of the American rails with those in use on English Railways and on the Continent. In chapters two to five, inclusive, the external forces acting on the rail and the corresponding stresses they produce in the rail are discussed. The necessity and desire for information on this subject are widespread. While a considerable amount of general information is to be found scattered through the technical press and in the proceedings of the various Railway Associations and Engineering Societies, yet very little has been published dealing broadly with the principles of design of the rail in reference to the rolling stock and track structure. In recent years much thought has been given to the manufacture of rail steel, and investigators, it would seem, have turned their attention more to an examination of the various defects found in the process of manufacture than to the study of the duty of the rail. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.