The Engineering Extension Division
Report Of The Director
To the President of the Virginia Polytechnic Institute:
The Engineering Extension Division is divided into three bureaus with a manager assigned to each:
1. Bureau of Community Development, R. L. Humbert, manager -- To assist municipalities, chambers of commerce and other community organizations to solve community problems of a technical nature.
2. Bureau of Industrial Service, P. T. Norton, Jr., manager -- To cooperate with industrial establishments in the solution of their technical problems and to act as a liaison between the technical departments of the college and the industries of the state.
3. Bureau of Extension Instruction, H. S. Grenoble, manager -- To make technical instruction available to those who cannot take advantage of our resident instruction.
The bureau of community development vigorously prosecuted the preparation of city and county industrial surveys during the year. A plan was inaugurated. with Southwestern Virginia, Inc., during the preceding year by which a study of each of the nineteen counties within the area should be undertaken and the findings published in separate bulletins. Five county reports were completed during the year 1928-29 and the remaining fourteen counties were studied this year. The bulletins for the southwestern counties, in the order of publication, are:
Industrial Survey, Washington County, July, 1929, 70 pp.
Industrial Survey, Wythe County, August, 1929, 72 pp.
Industrial Survey, Pulaski County, October, 1929, 74pp.
Industrial Survey, Roanoke County, October, 1929, 70 pp.
Industrial Survey, Lee County, November, 1929, 82 pp.
Industrial Survey, Scott County, December, 1929, 70 pp.
Industrial Survey, Tazewell County, January, 1930, 104 pp.
Industrial Survey, Russell County, February, 1930, 70 pp.
Industrial Survey, Bland County, February, 1930, 56 pp.
Industrial Survey, Smyth County, April, 1930, 90 pp.
Industrial Survey, Dickenson County, May, 1930, 68 pp.
Industrial Survey, Buchanan County, May, 1930, 56 pp.
Industrial Survey, Floyd County, May, 1930, 56 pp.
Industrial Survey, Craig County, May, 1930, 60 pp.
The nineteen county surveys were prepared on a cooperative plan whereby the regional organization appropriated a fund for travel expense, the cost of living while the men were working in the county, and the cost of putting the publication into print. The services of the men engaged in the field and office work are available to communities without charge. Southwestern Virginia, Inc., incurred an expenditure of about $6,650 in carrying out the undertaking. This expenditure represents an average investment of $350 for each of the nineteen counties in an effort to foster the industrial, commercial and civic development of this great section of Virginia. The organization merits congratulations for the vision and initiative required in carrying out such a program of research and investigation over a period of two years.
The bureau functioned in other sections of the state at the same time and according to the same plan as that followed in southwestern Virginia. The following towns, cities and counties were studied and bulletins published during this period:
Industrial Survey, Portsmouth, August, 1929, 88 pp.
Industrial Survey, Arlington County, January, 1930, 64 pp.
Industrial and Agricultural Survey, Halifax County, March, 1930, 96 pp.
Industrial Survey, Edinburg, March, 1930, 48 pp.
Industrial Survey, Farmville, March, 1930, 62 pp.
Plans for a state survey and the publication of a volume to serve as a source-book on Virginia’s resources and advantages were made and investigational work was begun during the latter part of this year. The publication is designed to present analytical studies of the various economic factors involved in our industrial development. Twelve or fifteen of the instructional departments of the college agreed to cooperate with the bureau in this important task.
It has been largely through the excellent spirit of cooperation displayed by the instructional and research divisions of the faculty that the bureau has been able to serve the communities of the state as it has during the past two years. This combined effort should, within the next year, produce a comprehensive study of our state which, it is hoped, will serve as a helpful factor in the continued industrial and civic growth of our commonwealth.
The staff of the bureau has taken an active interest in the daily radio broadcasts from this institution. A schedule has been prepared whereby a member of the bureau staff speaks upon a subject of interest to the industrial leaders twice each month.
The bureau of industrial service was organized in the fall of 1929 and during the year devoted its efforts to making contacts with the industries of the state. A number of trips were made and meetings attended for this purpose. The more definite services rendered were by individual departments. Starting with the year 1930-31, records of these services will be kept by the bureau and will be included in subsequent reports.
The bureau of extension instruction was organized in the fall of 1929. It offers instruction by correspondence, by short courses, by extension classes in other towns, and by publishing technical bulletins. During the session an extension class in heating and ventilation was held in Roanoke, attended by 28 men; a three-day conference on plumbing, and a one-week school for electric metermen, were held at Blacksburg; short courses on the design and control of concrete mixtures were held in Roanoke and Richmond; and correspondence instruction was started.
Technical bulletins were published as follows:
No. 20. Water Analysis, A. B. Massey and J. A. Addlestone, 27 pp., September, 1929. Bulletin of V. P. I., Vol. XXII, No. 11
No. 21. Wood Using Industries of Virginia, J. E. Lodewick, 169 pp., November,1929. Bulletin of V. P. I., Vol. XXIII, No. 1.
No. 22. Correspondence Study Courses, H. S. Grenoble, 15 pp., February, 1930. Bulletin of V. P. I., Vol. XXIII, No.4.
No. 23. Treatment of Water for Industrial and Domestic Purposes, F. H. Fish and J. A. Addlestone, 47 pp., July, 1930. Bulletin of V. P. I., Vol. XXIII, No. 11.
In addition to the work of the three bureaus, a large mass of technical advice on a great variety of subjects was given by different departments of the college.
Respectfully submitted,
R. B. H. Begg, Director.