PDF (1941) - CaltechCampusPubs

STUDY AND RESEARCH AT THE CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE 125
crete flume for use in weir, spillway, and allied problems requiring
a deep basin.
HYDRAULIC MACHINEltY RESEARCH LABORATORY. The hydraulic
machinery laboratory offers unique opportunities for research on centrifugal
pumps and hydraulic turbines and for various other investigations
in hydrodynamics. Instrumental equipment designed by the
Institute staff provides means for measuring pressures, rates of flow,
torques, and speeds with a precision of approximately 0.1 per cent.
Included in this is a system of speed regulation for the dynamometer
which insures constant speed independent of the load in steps of Yz
revolution per minute from 500 r.p.m. to 5,500 r.p.m.
SOIL CONSERVATION LABORATORY. The Soil Conservation Laboratory
is a cooperative undertaking with the Soil Conservation Service
of the United States Department of Agriculture. Its objective
is the study of the mechanism of the entrainment, transportation,
and deposition of solid materials by flowing streams. This equipment
includes: (a) a transportation flume designed to study primarily the
flow of a fluid carrying a suspended load. It is of the closed circuit
type and circulates both the water and the solids in suspension. It is
about 70 feet long and has an adjustable gradient. (b) A circulating
type of flume for the study of rate of reduction of bed load. (c) A
glass-walled flume for special studies. (d) For studies of field problems
an outdoor model basin has been erected with provision for
either clear or silt-laden flow.
THE HUMANITIES
One of the distinctive features of the California Institute is its
emphasis upon the humanistic side of the curriculum. In the degree
and genuineness of this emphasis the Institute has differentiated itself
from other American schools of science, most of which accord little
more than a gesture of recognition to the liberal arts. As a rule, in
schools of science and engineering, the professional studies monopolize