James Henry Smith

James Henry Smith , (born May 6, 1871 in Manchester , England; † December 24, 1940 ), was a British mechanical engineer, most recently a professor of mechanical engineering .

It is thanks to him that the so-called fatigue strength diagram according to Smith , as it is commonly known from the field of materials testing , is. This diagram was later used, especially in the post-World War II era, in a method developed by other scientists for the design of machine parts for dynamic loads. It made it possible to dimension machine parts under static , swelling and changing loads. With this method, the aim was to design components to be durable. The latter method has meanwhile been largely superseded by fatigue strength methods after the computer advanced to become the engineer's main working tool in the 1980s and 1990s. In it, components are only designed to be "operationally stable" and no longer "durable". In the FKM guideline for the operationally stable design of machine components, which has only gradually become established in recent years , the Smith diagram is still used as part of a computational procedure that is different from previous component dimensioning methods.

Beyond the Smith Chart, James Henry Smith is indebted to contributions in the construction of materials testing machines.

Life

Smith first studied engineering at the Royal College of Science in London; later he moved to Victoria University in Manchester , where he made his bachelor's degree in 1897. Due to his good academic performance, he received numerous scholarships, including a grant in the form of the prestigious Whitworth Scholarship . So he studied under the care of Osborne Reynolds , who was an elderly professor at the time. Under his guidance, he began building materials testing machines that were used to examine samples of metallic materials under various types of stress. In 1900 he received his master’s degree and in 1903 his doctorate. From 1901 to 1904 he was also employed in the engineering department at the Technical College in Sunderland , and from 1903 to 1904 it was also head of the department. In 1905 he became professor of mechanical engineering at the Municipal Technical Institute in Belfast , which was later expanded to become the College of Technology, where he worked from then on.

In Belfast he continued the construction of materials testing machines, carried out tests on metallic materials and described their behavior. Smith has an established place in the history of science of the theory and practice of fatigue .

Works and writings

O. Reynolds, JH Smith: On a throw-testing machine for reversals of mean stress. In: Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, Series A ISSN 0080-4614 Vol. 199, 1902, pp. 265-297
JH Smith: A new testing machine for reversals of stress. In: Engineering ISSN 0013-7782 Vol. 79, 1905, pp. 307-308
JH Smith: A fatigue testing machine. In: Engineering ISSN 0013-7782 Vol. 88, 1908, pp. 105-107
JH Smith: Some experiments on fatigue of metals. In: Journal of the Iron and Steel Institute ISSN 0021-1567 Vol. 82, H. 2, 1910, pp. 246-318
JH Smith, GA Wedgewood: Stress-strain loops for steel in the cyclic state. In: Journal of the Iron and Steel Institute ISSN 0021-1567 Vol. 91, 1915, pp. 365-397

Individual evidence

↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g F. V. Warnock: Prof. JH Smith. In: Nature ISSN 0028-0836 Vol. 147, No. 3718, February 1, 1941, pp. 140 f. (English)
↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e The Victoria university of Manchester: register of graduates up to July 1st, 1908. University of Manchester (Library of the University of California, received by exchange; Electronic Library), p. 35 of the online document )
^ Walter Schütz: A history of fatigue. In: Engineering Fracture Mechanics ISSN 0013-7944 Vol. 54, No. 2, 1996, pp. 263-300 (English)

Remarks

↑ See: JH Smith: Some experiments on fatigue of metals. In: Journal of the Iron and Steel Institute ISSN 0021-1567 Vol. 82, H. 2, 1910, pp. 246-318, in particular the diagram on p. 302
↑ This method can be found for example in: R. Hänchen, K.-H. Decker: New strength calculation for mechanical engineering. Hanser Verlag, Munich 1967, also with: K. Wellinger, H. Dietmann: Strength calculation: Fundamentals and technical application. 3rd, exp. Ed., Kröner Verlag, Stuttgart 1976, ISBN 3-520-90303-2 , p. 122.

personal data
SURNAME	Smith, James Henry
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	British mechanical engineer
DATE OF BIRTH	May 6, 1871
PLACE OF BIRTH	Manchester , England
DATE OF DEATH	December 24, 1940

[Nature_Prof_Smith-1] ↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g F. V. Warnock: Prof. JH Smith. In: Nature ISSN 0028-0836 Vol. 147, No. 3718, February 1, 1941, pp. 140 f. (English)

[U_of_California_Electronic_Library-2] The Victoria university of Manchester: register of graduates up to July 1st, 1908. University of Manchester (Library of the University of California, received by exchange; Electronic Library), p. 35 of the online document )

[5] Walter Schütz: A history of fatigue. In: Engineering Fracture Mechanics ISSN 0013-7944 Vol. 54, No. 2, 1996, pp. 263-300 (English)

[3] See: JH Smith: Some experiments on fatigue of metals. In: Journal of the Iron and Steel Institute ISSN 0021-1567 Vol. 82, H. 2, 1910, pp. 246-318, in particular the diagram on p. 302

[4] This method can be found for example in: R. Hänchen, K.-H. Decker: New strength calculation for mechanical engineering. Hanser Verlag, Munich 1967, also with: K. Wellinger, H. Dietmann: Strength calculation: Fundamentals and technical application. 3rd, exp. Ed., Kröner Verlag, Stuttgart 1976, ISBN 3-520-90303-2 , p. 122.