Lehigh University's Fritz Laboratory and the Five-Million-Pound Universal Testing Machine

摘要

Lehigh University's Fritz Engineering Laboratory marks its centennial in 2010. At the heart of the laboratory has been a series of machines for testing the tensile and compressive properties of materials. For slightly more than half of its hundred-year history, Fritz Lab has been the home of what at the time of its dedication in 1955 was the world's largest universal testing machine, a photo of which appears here and on the cover of this issue of Technology and Culture. More about that machine in a moment, but first, something about the lab itself and the man for whom it is named. John Fritz (1822-1913) initially made his mark as superintendent of the Cambria Iron Company, where in the late 1850s he introduced the concept of the three-high rolling mill, which greatly facilitated the manufacture of iron railroad rail.