Handbook of Railroad Construction; For the use of American engineers. / Containing the necessary rules, tables, and formulæ for the location, construction, equipment, and management of railroads, as built in the United States.

by George L. Vose

Fig. 62.

173. It is evidently immaterial whether we support the point D upon C, or suspend it as in fig. 62, provided we prevent any motion in the feet of the inclines A c B c. Abutting them against A B, throws a tension against A B, found as follows:—

Representing by c D, the applied weight, draw D E parallel to c B; also E f parallel to A B; E f is the tension. The graphic construction gives results near enough for practice. Rigorously we have

A c D, similar to E c f;

also,

A c, to E c, as A D, to E f;

and

Ef = Ec × AD
Ac.

When a d and c d are differently inclined, proceed as follows. See fig. 102, p. [200] inverted.