SPECIAL TESTS

Spike-pulling Test

Spike-pulling tests apply to problems of railroad maintenance, and the results are used to compare the spike-holding powers of various woods, both untreated and treated with different preservatives, and the efficiency of various forms of spikes.  Special tests are also made in which the spike is subjected to a transverse load applied repetitively by a blow.

For details of tests and results see: 

Cir. 38, U.S.F.S.:  Instructions to engineers of timber tests, p. 26.  Cir. 46, U.S.F.S.:  Holding force of railroad spikes in wooden ties.  Bul. 118, U.S.F.S,:  Prolonging the life of cross-ties, pp. 37-40.

Packing Boxes

Special tests on the strength of packing boxes of various woods have been made by the U.S.  Forest Service to determine the merits of different kinds of woods as box material with the view of substituting new kinds for the more expensive ones now in use.  The methods of tests consisted in applying a load along the diagonal of a box, an action similar to that which occurs when a box is dropped on one of its corners.  The load was measured at each one-fourth inch in deflection, and notes were made of the primary and subsequent failures.

For details of tests and results, see: 

Cir. 47, U.S.F.S.:  Strength of packing boxes of various woods. 
Cir. 214, U.S.F.S.:  Tests of packing boxes of various forms.

Vehicle and Implement Woods

Tests were made by the U.S.  Forest Service to obtain a better knowledge of the mechanical properties of the woods at present used in the manufacture of vehicles and implements and of those which might be substituted for them.  Tests were made upon the following materials:  hickory buggy spokes (see Fig. 5); hickory and red oak buggy shafts; wagon tongues; Douglas fir and southern pine cultivator poles.

Details of the tests and results may be found in: 

Cir. 142, U.S.F.S.:  Tests on vehicle and implement woods.

Cross-arms

In tests by the U.S.  Forest Service on cross-arms a special apparatus was devised in which the load was distributed along the arm as in actual practice.  The load was applied by rods passing through the pinholes in the arms.  Nuts on these rods pulled down on the wooden bearing-blocks shaped to fit the upper side of the arm.  The lower ends of these rods were attached to a system of equalizing levers, so arranged that the load at each pinhole would be the same.  In all the tests the load was applied vertically by means of the static machine.

See Cir. 204, U.S.F.S.:  Strength tests of cross-arms.

Other Tests

Many other kinds of tests are made as occasion demands.  One kind consists of barrels and liquid containers, match-boxes, and explosive containers.  These articles are subjected to shocks such as they would receive in transit and in handling, and also to hydraulic pressure.