MOLITOR

MOLITOR 16.08. 1866 Detroit MI/USA 08.09. 1939 Harlingen TX/USA David Albert Molitor graduated as a civil engineer from Washington University, St. Louis MO, in 1887. He was then employed as an engineer on design and construction of strategic railways in Baden County, Germany, until 1890. Upon return to the USA he was an assistant engineer for the Mississippi Bridge, Memphis TN. He then entered the US Engineering Department serving in various capacities as design and superintending engineer from 1892 to 1898. These works were connected with the Sault Ste. Marie Falls Canal, and the canals through the Great Lakes. He conducted precise levelling operations for the US Board of Engineers on deep waterways, St. Lawrence River until 1899, when becoming a consultant until 1906. He was then a design engineer for the Panama Canal at Washington DC until 1908, thereby visiting the site on the Isthmus. From 1908 to 1911 Molitor was a professor of civil engineering at the Cornell University, Ithaca NY, from when he returned to his consulting office at Toronto ON. In parallel he was also involved in the design of Toronto Harbour. Molitor was a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers ASCE, and of the Washington Academy of Sciences. Molitor is known for his 1908 book on weirs and sluices. This book is quite different from the usual textbooks then published in the USA, clearly reflecting his association with Germany. It is dedicated to Gustav von Wex (1811-1892), who had worked along similar lines as proposed by Molitor. The text is of old style using outdated equations but still attracted numerous engineers for which hydraulics was often not the main concern in their activities. Anonymous (1921). Molitor, David Albert. Who’s who in America 11: 2002. Marquis: Chicago. Anonymous (1937). Molitor, David A. Who’s who in engineering 4: 956. Lewis: New York. Anonymous (1941). David Albert Molitor. Trans. ASCE 106: 1628-1632. Molitor, D.A. (1908). Hydraulics of rivers, weirs and sluices: The derivation of new and more accurate formulae for discharge through rivers and canals obstructed by weirs, sluices, etc. according to the principles of Gustav Ritter von Wex. Wiley: New York. Molitor, D.A. (1911). Kinetic theory of engineering structures. McGraw-Hill: New York. Molitor, D.A. (1918). Discussion of Verification of the Bazin weir formula by hydro-chemical gaugings, by F.A. Nagler. Trans. ASCE 83: 164-168. Molitor, D.A. (1935). Wave pressures on sea-walls and breakwaters. Trans. ASCE 100: 984-1017. https://thm-a01.yimg.com/nimage/a6c0dcc6b8e4ca20 P

MONROE 13.05. 1889 Willow Ranch CA/USA 03.10. 1977 Knoxville TE/USA Robert Ansley Monroe received education from the College of Civil Engineering, University of California San Francisco, with a BS degree in 1908. He was an engineer with the Pacific Gas & Electric Co. from 1912 to 1917, and there returned from 1919 to 1929 after war service, joining then until 1933 as engineer the Aluminium Co. of America, Pittsburgh PA. He was senior engineer until 1937 at the US Bureau of Reclamation USBR, Denver CO, and later assistant to the chief, Water Control Planning Engineers, of the Tennessee Valley Authority TVA, Knoxville TN, until his retirement in 1959. He was a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers ASCE, becoming ASCE Fellow in 1959. He also was president of the Knoxville Technical Society. Monroe, finally chief design engineer of the TVA, had collaborated with this important authority for over twenty years. During this period he was involved in a large number of applied projects dealing with problems of hydraulic structures, dam engineering, water resources management and soil mechanics. He was particularly involved in the design of Norris Dam and Wheeler Dam. His 1929 paper co-authored by I. Cleveland Steele (1886-1973) may be considered one of the very first dealing with baffle piers as an appurtenance in stilling basins. In contrast to the Rehbock sill as proposed by Theodor Rehbock (1864-1950), Monroe’s design relates to an element located at the basin center thereby actively reducing the tailwater elevation required and stabilizing the hydraulic jump under various flow conditions. As the approach flow velocity increases, cavitation damage has to be countered. Once having been appointed chief design engineer, he directed the engineering and architectural designs for all TVA construction projects during fourteen years. After retirement he served as consultant on a number of projects, notably the Wells Dam on the Columbia River in Washington State. Anonymous (1941). Monroe, Robert A. Who’s who in engineering 5: 1236. Lewis: New York. Anonymous (1959). Robert A. Monroe. Civil Engineering 29(7): 23. P Anonymous (1979). Robert Ansley Monroe. Trans. ASCE 144: 572-573. Monroe, R.A., Templin, R.L. (1932). Vibration of overhead transmission lines. Trans. AIEE 51(12): 1050-1073. Monroe, R.A. (1938). Disc. Economic diameter of steel penstocks. Trans. ASCE 103: 106-107. Steele, I.C., Monroe, R.A. (1929). Baffle pier experiments on models of Pit River Dam. Trans. ASCE 93: 451-546.