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In one corner were a group of tradesmen bearing plate for the Queen's inspection: in another stood a knot of suitors with petitions; while everywhere men, whose eager faces and expectant eyes were their best petitions, watched the farther door with quivering lips, or sighed when it opened, and emitted merely a councillor or a marquis.

Apparatus: An ordinary static testing machine, a bearing plate, and a deflectometer are required.

If the specimen lies on a flat surface and the load is applied to only a portion of the upper area, the bearing plate indents the wood, crushing the upper fibres without affecting the lower part.

Adjusting specimen in machine: The specimen is laid horizontally upon the platform of the machine and a steel bearing plate placed on its upper surface immediately beneath the centre of the movable head.

Figure 3 Side view of failures in compression across the grain, showing crushing of blocks under bearing plate.