Daniel B. Luten papers

Daniel B. Luten, Designing and Consulting Engineer, Indianapolis, Indiana, was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan in 1869. He graduated from the University of Michigan in 1894 with the degree of Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering. He was then appointed Instructor in Civil Engineering at the University of Michigan, assistant to Professor Charles E. Greene, one of the foremost authorities on the elastic theory of arch analysis, and author of Greene's Graphic Method of Truss and Arch Analysis.

After one year he resigned this position to become Instructor in Architectural Engineering at Purdue University, including the courses in arch design and theory of hydraulics. In 1900 he resigned from the faculty of Purdue University to practice engineering, and after one year in general practice of roads and pavements began working actively on the design and construction of reinforced concrete bridges. After 1901 he followed this specialty exclusively.

During the first five years he designed and contracted and erected approximately five hundred concrete bridges. After 1906 he limited his practice to design and supervision only and did not include contracting or construction. During the twenty-three years of experience in this specialty, he supervised the design of approximately 20,000 concrete bridges, of which over 13,000 have been erected of spans from five to 192.5 feet each.

He conducted numerous experiments on reinforced concrete and on arches and published approximately one hundred articles in technical journals. Luten delivered numerous illustrated lectures on permanent bridges before engineering societies and was equipped with five hundred colored stereopticon views of bridges.

He was a member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, Member of the American Federation of Arts, Member of the Western Society of Engineers, Member of the American Association of Engineers, Member of the American Society of Engineers, Member of the American Concrete Institute, Member of the American Roadbuilders Association, Member of the Indiana Engineering Society, Member of the Iowa Engineering Society, Member of Illinois Society of Engineers, Member Engineering Society of Wisconsin, Member of the Indiana Board for Registration of Professional Engineers, and registered as a Professional Engineer in serveral states.