Case School: The Evolving History

Academics, 1886-1900


By the beginning of 1900s, besides the initial Chemistry, Civil Engineering, Mathematics and Astronomy, and Physics tracks, the School added three more specialities in mechanical (1886), mining (1887), and electrical (1892) engineering.




In 1886, there were fifty-one students enrolled. By 1890, there were 100 students, and by 1894, the number of students has doubled. 

Then, as now, there was a common freshman year emphasizing mathematics, science, communications and drawing, and many of those courses will sound familiar to current freshmen.

Students working with their advisors declared their planned course of study at the end of the freshman year.  These programs of study are described in detail in the 1885-1886 catalog and the programs of study for chemistry and civil engineering (the two most popular programs) for the SECOND-THIRD-FOURTH years show how the programs continue mathematics, science and language fundamentals to discipline specific courses in the third and fourth years.  Note that all students did a senior thesis (independent work or original research) which roughly corresponds to the modern senior capstone project.

Mr. Charles Gaffing, a graduate of the class of 1888 received the first Civil Engineering degree in 1897 with a thesis entitled “The Extension of the Cleveland Water Supply."
 

Chemistry

In 1885, Charles F. Mabery becomes the Head of the department. After the fire, a separate wooden building was opened in 1887 for the Chemistry lab. The building was replaced by a new brick building that opened in 1892.

The department added a graduate program in ???. In 1900, the department had three graduate students, seven seniors, seven juniors, and nine sophomore as chemistry majors.

Physics 

Dr. Harry F. Reid succeeds Dr. Michaelson as Head of the Physics Department until his resignation in 1893. In 1895, Dr. Dayton Miller becomes the department head.

Technology in the physics laboratory that year consisted of: comparator, balance, hectogram balance, reversible pendulum, chronometer and chronograph, cathetometers, dividing engines, level trier, harmonograph, tuning forks and organ pipes, standard thermometers, spectometers, concave grating spectroscope, chemical spectroscopes, difraction and inference aparatus, chemical aparatus... (continued pg. 5 in the history).

In 1900, Harry W. Springsteen is awarded the first M.S. in physics.

Civil Engineering 

In 1884, Prof. John Eisenmann becomes the Head of the department until 1886. He was replaced by Prof. Cady Stanley who also was the President of the School.

In 1887, a new course in sanitary engineering was added to the curriculum. In 1888, the civil engineering department added Student Inspection Trips as part of the practical instruction. These trips took students to "the various engineering works, quarries and industrial manufacturers of practical interest to the engineer."

In 1894, Prof. Charles Trumbull joins the department.

In 1897, the first designated degree in civil engineering is granted to Charles Goffing. 


 

Mechanical Engineering 

In 1889 Staley hired Charles Benjamin as department chair for mechanical engineering. As the chair of the new department, he created the curriculum, supervised building plans for the new mechanical engineering laboratory, and acquired the necessary laboratory equipment. The Mechanical Engineering Laboratory design effort started as the “Senior Thesis” of Comfort A. Adams (1890) and was opened in 1892. Most of the space in the Mechanical Engineering Laboratory were dedicated to teaching mechanical manufacturing. The space was occupied by at least two drawing rooms, several machine shops, and a metals processing lab (Forming and forging) and included a central heating plant and an attached assaying room. Benjamin constructed a testing lab in the basement. Also included in the building were several machines for determining material properties, testing steam engines and generating electricity. In 1893, the Mechanical Engineering department acquired Corliss engine, 50 horsepower water tube boiler, a surface condenser, and two dynamometers. The laboratory was shared by Mechanical Engineering and Mining Engineering Deptments until 1905, and then it was used by the Mechanical Enginerring Department only until 1927. Faculty in the Mechanical Engineering department were publishing on strenght of malleable and steel castings, the effect of punching on steel plates, the tensile strenght of belting, the transverse strenght of different mixtures of cast-iron.

Mining Engineering

The curriculum for the Mining Department was established in 1886 and the first instructor was Albert W. Smith who taught Chemistry and Metallurgy. Dr. Frank van Horn joined the department in 1987. The first degree in Mining is confered in 1988 to A.M. Campbell. Course catalog states "The couse in mining engineering comprises the studies common to all of the endineering couses and, in addition, special instruction in mining, surveying, mining machinery, chemistry, mineralogy, geology, and metallurgy." In 1893, a new wing is added to the Mechanical Engineering Laboratory building to host the Mining Department. In 1897, the department added a graduate program in minining and metals. The first degree in mining engineering was granted to Frank Humel.

Electrical Engineering 

Initially, the department was located in the basement of Case Main. In 1887, the catalogue includes a four-year curriculum in electrical engineering. For the f'irst three years, students took basic courses in rnathematics, chremistry, rhetoric, literature, French and German, history, physics, descriptive geometry, and drawing, mechanics:, logic, steam enginess and design. The seniors were given courses in Thermodynamics,. Engineering construction, Graphical Statistics, Details of Practice and Design, Electrotechnics, Physical Laboratory (Electrical Testing), Advanced course in Electrical Engeering Construction; Specifications and Contracts, and thesis work. In 1891, Prof. John Langley was hired as the Head of the Electrical Engineering department, position he occupied until 1905. In 1896, a new building was opened for the department. The first (basement) floor of the building housed the motors and dynamos laboratory surrounded by several small labs and a shop. There was an extensive collection of generators and dynamos. A shaft in a tunnel connected a 50HP Corliss engine in the Mechanical Building to a 500 light AC dynamo capable of powering the lighting in the building. The second floor (which the main entrance led to) contained a large lab area, offices, and a drafting room area. This lab area was initially used for the junior-senior labs involving precise measurements of voltage, current and power. The building initially contained a calibration laboratory with standard resistances, two Lord Kelvin's Ampere Balances, an Aytoun and Perry Sechometer and a number of precision Ammeters and Voltmeters for student use. The third floor contained a large lecture room which sat 500 people and several smaller recitation rooms. The lecture hall, or Electricity Hall as it was called, was used for early commencements beginning with the 12th commencement held on June 4, 1896. The fourth floor contained several additional recitation rooms and a large drawing room for all first year students. It also contained a small area dedicated to lighting measurements. In 1899, the first degree in electrical engineering was granted to Irvin H. Sherwood. Class of 1894 shows four men as Electrical Engineering majors plus four graduate students.


 

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