L.E. Reber

  1886 - 1907

By the early 1880s, engineering education had been firmly established across America: more than seventy colleges and universities maintained full-time engineering departments. University administrators recognized the key role of engineering in the development of the nation and, thanks to the earlier passage of the Morrill Land Grant Act, had the means to respond to the need for formal programs in engineering education. In Pennsylvania, Lehigh University-a relatively new school-was offering baccalaureate programs in civil, mechanical and mining and metallurgical engineering. The Western University of Pennsylvania (later to become the University of Pittsburgh) had recently implemented a four-year curriculum in civil engineering.

At the Pennsylvania State College, engineering education got off to a slow start. The institution was founded as the Farmers' High School in 1859 for the purpose of providing a system of instruction that encompassed all scientific aspects, both theoretical and practical, of the study of agriculture The school's first president, Evan Pugh, a thirty-one-year-old native of Chester County, appreciated the greater role the industrial arts (as general technical education was then known) would play in preparing students for their roles in the continuing industrialization of the nation.

On July 2, 1862, President Lincoln signed the Congressional Land Grant Act, known as the Morrill Act, through which a fund was created by each state for the endowment of "at least one college where the leading object shall be, without excluding other scientific and classical studies, and including military tactics, to teach such branches of learning as are related to agriculture and the mechanic arts...." In Massachusetts, M.I.T. received one third of the state's land-grant funds, thereby making it "a" but not "the" land-grant institution. In March 1864, the Pennsylvania legislature voted to designate the Farmers' High School as the state's only land-grant school. The vote was close. Unfortunately, Pugh's death in 1864 led to a period of administrative instability. Between 1864 and 1879, six individuals served as President, each with his own interpretation of the requirement for instruction in the "mechanic arts" as mandated by the land-grant act. This situation combined with the faculty's preference for a more traditional curriculum emphasizing the Greek and Latin languages, philosophy and similar subjects, prevented development of an engineering program.

By this time, public support for Penn State had dwindled. In 1875, four students received degrees: two years later only three degrees were awarded A joint trustee-faculty committee, concerned about decreasing student enrollment and lack of public support, convened to reorganize the college's curriculum. In April 1881 the committee recommended curricular reforms including the formation of a baccalaureate program in civil engineering and a two-year course in the mechanic arts (primarily mechanical drawing and shop skills). At the June 1881 meeting, the Board of Trustees accepted the committee's recommendation's and directed that they be implemented.

With curricular reform underway, the Board of Trustees turned its attention to the central problem facing the school-lack of sufficient state support. Although the school had been designated as the sole recipient of revenues from the sale of public lands under the Morrill Land Grant Act, it received no other real support from the legislature. While the institution was Pennsylvania's only land-grant school it was certainly not the state's school as were its counterparts in Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, etc. The Board of Trustees requested that the school's affairs be investigated by the legislature. The trustees hoped that an investigation would give formal attention to curricular changes, thereby strengthening the school's credibility and enabling it to attract more students. The trustees were not disappointed. In fact, the investigation went so far as to recognize that the relationship of the state and its sole land-grant college had at times bordered on detrimental. It further noted that the 30,000 annual income provided under the land-grant act was wholly inadequate and recommended that the legislature make regular appropriations to the school. The recommendation was accepted by the legislature.

Penn State now offered a respectable curriculum for a land-grant institution and received financial and political support from the state. It still needed an individual who could lead the college into an era of growth. In the summer of 1882, just such a man was elected by the Board of Trustees as the President of the Pennsylvania State College: George Washington Atherton.

From its inclusion in the Morrill Act in 1862, there was confusion between mechanic arts and mechanical engineering. Mechanical Engineering was a defined field of study, mechanic arts was not. Baccalaureate programs of mechanical engineering existed in many United States and European institutions. The American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) was founded in 1880; the Institution of Mechanical Engineering was founded in England several years earlier. To many educators, mechanic arts was mechanical engineering, while to others, mechanic arts was an extension of the shop culture for the training of craftsmen. Upon taking office, Atherton expanded the mechanic arts program to three years and instituted plans to convert it to a baccalaureate degree in mechanical engineering. M.I.T. discontinued its mechanic arts program in 1889. In Atherton's address dedicating the new mechanic arts building on February 10, 1886, he said that the new program should "fix the student's attention upon those principles and processes which are of universal application," but it should also give some "attention to commercial work." Atherton's address showed that he was sensitive to the European experience, where polytechnic schools devoted exclusively to theoretical instruction in the highest branches of engineering and applied science produced an oversupply of graduates. Atherton believed that an oversupply of highly trained specialists was being repeated in the United States but that the demand for graduates receiving instruction combining theory and practice would be unlimited.

A baccalaureate degree in civil engineering had been in existence since 1880. Atherton wished to convert the mechanic arts program into a baccalaureate program in mechanical engineering. Recognizing the need to obtain qualified faculty yet limited by fiscal constraints, Atherton formulated a plan. The plan's success would not depend on acceptance and support of the trustees, but on one of the youngest members of the faculty-a 23-year-old instructor named Louis Ehrheart Reber.

Reber, who came from the community of Nittany in Centre County, entered Penn State in the fall of 1876 with a deficiency in algebra. He overcame the deficiency and graduated class valedictorian in 1880. After graduation, Reber remained at Penn State, where he held several positions: instructor in military science and tactics, 1881-82; assistant in the preparatory department and instructor in mechanical drawing, 1882-83; professor of mechanical drawing and instructor in mechanic arts, 1883-84. By spring 1883, Reber was bored and dissatisfied with academic life and decided that it was time for a change. He sold most of his personal possessions and planned to leave Penn State for El Paso, Texas, and go into private business.

At this point, Atherton approached Reber with a proposition: Reber should forego Texas and private business and instead enroll as a graduate student in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. There he was to study mechanical engineering, paying close attention to the methods and practices of engineering education. After completing his studies, Reber was to return to Penn State and restructure the mechanic arts program into a four-year baccalaureate curriculum in mechanical engineering. Reber accepted (even after learning that he would personally have to finance his M.I.T. studies), and mechanical engineering at Penn State was born.

Upon completing his graduate studies in spring 1884, Reber embarked on a summer tour, visiting colleges and observing their mechanical engineering programs. His trip included the Worchester Polytechnic Institute (Massachusetts), Stevens Institute of Technology (New Jersey), Washington University (Missouri), and the University of Minnesota. Reber had the opportunity to observe firsthand a variety of successful programs. With his master's degree and the experience derived from these travels, Reber was ready to begin work.

Reber assessed the task that lay ahead. The existing mechanic arts program consisted of instruction in mechanical drawing, carpentry, and woodworking. Drawing was taught in the Main Building, and carpentry and woodworking classes were held in the converted attic of the school's pump house on the west corner of College Avenue and Allen Street (which ran through the campus at that time). Reber had a makeshift forge and a foundry installed in the pump house; however, he realized that more room would be needed. His request for funds to construct a new mechanic arts building was granted by President Atherton in 1885. By 1886, the new Mechanic Arts Building-a 34 foot by 50 foot, two-story, wood-frame structure- was constructed next to the pump house and stood on the site of what is today the east end of Hammond Building. This was the first classroom building to be constructed on the campus since the Main Building opened its doors in 1859.

On February 10, 1886, the building for what was to become Mechanical Engineering was dedicated. Since no income of the college could be used to construct or repair buildings, funds generated by the Department of Chemistry from the analysis of fertilizers and other work were used for the new building. The building cost $1,650 to construct. Equipment cost $1,800, not including $900 worth of equipment donated by B. F. Sturtevant, Brookline, Mass., obtained by L. Reber. Also constructed was a $400 cistern for the college's steam boiler constructed by the school's farm personnel.

With the new facility in place, Reber concentrated on obtaining instructional equipment to furnish it. Funding was a problem; however, the always-inventive Reber met the challenge. By pointing out to manufacturers the advertising value of supplying equipment at reduced cost, Reber obtained a variety of machinery and equipment, including a 16-inch turret lathe from Pratt and Whitney of Hartford, a 36-inch drill press and a large planer from William Sellers and Company of Philadelphia, and a shaper from Browne and Sharp of Providence. Within a short time, Reber had furnished the entire building, which now included a carpentry shop, a wood-turning room, a forge room, and a machine shop. The total cost of the equipment was $2,000. Reber later would write that although the shops in the building at that time were small, they were "as well equipped as any I had ever visited."

The Board of Trustees approved a mechanical engineering baccalaureate curriculum for the school year 1886-87 (see page 6). Three rooms were provided in the Main Building (now called Old Main)-two in the basement, outfitted as laboratories, and a lecture room on the first floor. The mechanical engineering curriculum was oriented toward students who were interested in the theoretical aspects of mechanisms and power systems.

As the head of the department, Reber's responsibilities were not limited to academic matters. He was also responsible for the operation of the college's steam-driven water pumps in the pump house on College Avenue and the steam heating plant in the basement of the Main Building. In 1887, Reber and his students received the additional responsibility of supervising the operation of the 50-horsepower steam engine and generator that supplied electrical power for the newly installed incandescent lighting system in the Main Building. These operational responsibilities, though sometimes burdensome, provided the mechanical engineering students with an excellent opportunity to gain practical experience.

The mechanical engineering program at Penn State had taken root and was beginning to grow. In the academic year 1887-88, eighteen of the ninety-two degree students at Penn State were enrolled in mechanical engineering. In 1889, the Pennsylvania State College graduated its first three mechanical engineers: H. E. Miles, Jacob Struble, and John Price Jackson. In 1890, eight students received their degrees in mechanical engineering, all of whom had received job offers or secured professional positions prior to commencement.

With more and more students arriving each year to study engineering, the lack of adequate classroom space again became a problem. President Atherton appealed to the legislature for funds to construct a new engineering building. To support this appeal, Atherton enlisted Reber's aid. Reber developed a card file for Atherton that contained the names of the state senators and representatives and relevant personal data. He asked alumni to provide their respective legislators with a college catalog, comment on the high quality of the school, and endorse the need for increased financial support. An invitation to visit the college was then sent. Reber personally escorted the visitors around the college during their stay.

Atherton and Reber's efforts resulted in a state allocation of $100,000 in 1891 to construct a building for the Departments of Civil and Mechanical Engineering. On February 22,1893, the new facility — a three-story, red-brick structure designed by the well known architect of college buildings, Fred L. Olds — was christened the Main Engineering Building (see photo page 8). This structure was the most expensive, aside from Old Main, yet constructed on campus. Its dedication on a cold, snowy day attracted almost 300 guests, among them Governor Robert E. Pattison and U.S. Secretary of the Interior John W. Noble.

Mechanical Engineering Building, circa 1900.

In the rear of the Main Engineering Building and located along College Avenue was the college's steam power plant, and nearby was the pump station for the college's water supply. Coal was transported to the power plant by a railroad line from the west over land that would eventually become the site of the Hammond Building and the south wing of the Mechanical Engineering Building. The steam power plant was used in laboratory instruction. A boiler test in which coal consumption, steam flow rate, temperature, and pressures were measured over a twenty-four-hour period provided a unique experience for mechanical engineering students for decades. The practice ended during the 1950s.

To furnish the new building, Reber persuaded Atherton to allocate $10,000. One of the first items purchased was a Reynolds-Corliss triple expansion steam engine from the Allis-Chalmers Company. Allis-Chalmers not only modified the engine to suit Reber's specifications to make it useful for construction, but in the end sold it for considerably less than market value. Reber also purchased an 1890 Stirling cycle engine from the Rider Ericson Company of Philadelphia. This rare engine was eventually donated to the Smithsonian Institution in 1963. Additional equipment came from the Westinghouse Air Brake Company, the Detroit Lubricator Company, the American Steel Packing Company, and the Pennsylvania Railroad.

By the fall of 1893, the number of students enrolled in mechanical engineering courses had increased to a total of 44 out of a college-wide enrollment of 181. Reber himself taught most subjects; Lieutenants John Pemberton and Thomas W. Kinkaid (both on loan from the Department of the Navy) were responsible for teaching machine design and mechanical drawing. Assistant Professor William M. Toule supervised the mechanics shops where students learned carpentry, foundry and forge work, and tool and pattern making (see photo below).

In 1894, Penn State's first summer session featured a two-week course required of all freshman, sophomore, and junior engineering students. These two weeks gave students field experience including visits to coal mines, railroad shops, foundries, power stations, and other installations the students had studied previously in the classroom. Such field trips continued until the late 1960s.

In 1895, President Atherton reorganized Penn State into seven schools: Agriculture; Natural Science; Mathematics and Physics; Engineering; Mines; Language and Literature; History, Political Science, and Philosophy. Atherton appointed a dean of each school. The engineering dean's responsibilities included scheduling instructors and classes, administering discipline, and coordinating the activities of the Departments of Civil, Electrical, Mining, and Mechanical Engineering. Atherton selected L. E. Reber to be the first dean of the School of Engineering. This appointment was made in recognition of Reber's years of service and contribution and was to be held concurrently with his position as head of the Department of Mechanical Engineering. These administrative duties left him with little time for teaching. "Ike" Reber, as he was known by his students, was a popular and effective instructor; and though his students were happy with his appointment as dean, they would miss him in the classroom.

Mechanical Engineering students in front of the Mechanic Arts Building, circa 1890.

By 1900, many of Penn State's mechanical engineering graduates were making their mark on society. Jacob Struble ('89) and James C. Mock ('90) were leaders in the perfection of automatic block signals, a major advance in railway traffic control and safety. Phillip G. Gossler, ('90) would become president of Columbia Gas Company, and Arthur G. McKee ('91) head of his own international consulting and contracting firm, which would do hundreds of millions of dollars of business throughout the world. The photo above and the photos below show a number of mechanical engineering student activities that took place in the Main Engineering Building during these years.

Mechanical Engineering students in a foundry class in 1903. C.L. Kinsloe, who later became head of Electrical Engineering, is second from right in the first row.

The first five years of the School of Engineering were both satisfying and frustrating for Dean Reber. Engineering education had become quite popular and total student enrollment had increased to 237. However, the severe fiscal constraints experienced by the college prevented the expansion of teaching facilities. By 1908, Penn State had one of the ten largest engineering programs in the nation and remained the largest engineering school in the Commonwealth. Although the five members of the mechanical engineering faculty were forced to use old and worn laboratory equipment and sometimes had to teach two different classes simultaneously, the department continued to grow.

Instructional activities in Main Engineering Building from a college report of 1894 weighing coal for twenty-four-hour boiler tests; Orsat analysis; machine tool laboratory.

Dean Reber turned to the railroads to support the needs of his increasing numbers of students. Recognizing that innovations in locomotive size, power, and maintenance would provide an expanding job market for mechanical engineering graduates, Reber wanted to involve the railroad construction and maintenance complex located in Altoona, Pennsylvania. He created a practicum on steam locomotives for mechanical engineering students. The Bellefonte Central Railroad provided a small 2-8-0 type locomotive (known as Bellefonte Central Locomotive No. 4) and access to the entire length of the line between Bellefonte and State College. The practicum — usually taken by seniors — provided students with the opportunity to gather material for their (required) theses. Reber recognized the potential of such a program and, along with Assistant Professor of Experimental Engineering Arthur J. Wood, began negotiations for a locomotive and related gear with the Pennsylvania Railroad. A. J. Wood was born in Roseville, New Jersey, in 1874. His father was a professor of mechanical engineering at Stevens. Wood had graduated valedictorian from Stevens Institute in 1896 and had joined the faculty at Penn State in 1904.

Instructional activities in Main Engineering Building (from top): metal casting laboratory; freshman drafting class; students and faculty in doorway of the main Engineering Building.

In 1906, the college received an eight-wheel, passenger-type steam locomotive (No. 01001, a Class D8b 4-4-0) on loan from the Pennsylvania Railroad (see charts below). To supplement this acquisition, Wood's students constructed a dynamometer car to perform various performance tests. The locomotive was steamed up to run the eighteen miles to Bellefonte. Experiments were made only on the return run since there was a prevailing grade from Bellefonte to Penn State. A train of loaded freight cars was coupled to the locomotive by a dynamometer constructed by Wood and his students. A calibrated spring was mounted on a frame so that deflections could be transmitted to a pencil that drew a continuous record on paper that moved at a speed proportional to the train speed. Three men rode on the locomotive, two on either side to take indicator cards (pressure-volume diagrams) from the drive cylinders and one to count the revolutions of the drivers. Another man read draft gauges on either side of the diaphragm of the smoke box and took readings from a calorimeter on the steam dome to determine the steam quality. Two men managed the dynamometer and read a tachometer for the RPM of the drivers. The amount of water entering the boiler was measured, as was the amount of coal used. The tractive horsepower was determined from the draw-bar force and the train speed; the indicated horsepower was obtained from the indicator cards. The ratio of the two gave the mechanical efficiency and the ratio of tractive power to input thermal energy gave the overall thermal efficiency.

Students continued to arrive at Penn State to study engineering in ever-increasing numbers, and by 1906, seventy-four members of the graduating class of ninety-three were engineers. In the junior class, the percentage of engineering students was just as great. Students no longer came mostly from the Centre County region as in the past, but from throughout the state. Penn State was competing quite successfully with the University of Pennsylvania, Lehigh University, and the Western University of Pennsylvania, and with other land-grant institutions as well (see charts below), partly because the college charged only for room, board, and laboratory fees. State residents paid no tuition. Competition for admission was stiff, and for acceptance in engineering, a student had to demonstrate proficiency in algebra, plane and solid geometry, and physics, in addition to language and literature.

The reputation Penn State graduates were earning in the professional world also contributed to the college's ability to attract engineering students. Engineering alumni worked for a variety of companies, including General Electric, Westinghouse, Union Switch and Signal, and the Pennsylvania Railroad. Mechanical engineering graduates of this period would have similar success in the business world and in academics. Charles E. Denney ('00) would become president of the Northern Pacific Railroad in 1929. Earl B. Norris ('04) would serve as dean of engineering at the University of Montana and then at the Virginia Polytechnic Institute.

To meet the needs of a growing and now well-respected engineering department, Dean Reber prepared a plan for reorganizing the curricula. His plan included doubling the size of the Main Engineering Building. Unfortunately, in the summer of 1906, President George W. Atherton, died. Under Atherton, Penn State had become a respected institution of higher learning. One year after Atherton's death, L. E. Reber — gifted, popular teacher and excellent curricular planner and administrator — left the college to become dean of Extension at the University of Wisconsin. Reber single-handedly developed mechanical engineering education at Penn State. His contributions to engineering education in general were greater than any other individual's efforts of that era.