Historical fastener strength

[bugbus]

Hi everyone,

I am working on a project that involves the capacity assessment of an existing steel rail bridge, built in Australia in about 1956-57.

The existing drawings are pretty scant on details. There are two types of bolts used throughout the bridge: 2" hold-down bolts for the bearings and column baseplates, and 3/4" bolts for the other structural connections.

However, only the 2" bolts seem to be called up with a description. See picture below.

The 2" bolts are referred to as either "40H119" or "STD. 40H119", with material being "M.S." (presumably mild steel?). I am wondering if this would mean a strength of 40 ksi (275 MPa)? Surely 119 ksi (820 MPa) would be too strong for something of this age? There are no other references to standards or specifications on the drawings.

Any idea about the typical strength of bolts from this era?

 

[bugbus]

After some more digging, the "40H119" is actually the name of a standard drawing "STD. DRG. 40H119", which presumably has more details on the bolts.

Unfortunately the drawing is not available. But it is good to know that the 40 and 119 are not references to strength.