Stresses in laminated wood construction.

Stresses in laminated wood construction was published in 1921 by the U.S. Forest Service’s Forest Products Laboratory in Madison, Wisconsin. The laboratory was established in 1910 to improve the efficiency of the nation’s wood-based industries, and this technical bulletin emerged during an era when engineers were rapidly expanding the use of glues and lamination techniques to create structural beams of greater strength and versatility than solid timber.

The publication was authored as a foundational technical reference to help architects and engineers calculate the behavior of laminated components under load. It represented a shift toward empirical, scientific testing of wood products, providing the mathematical framework necessary to advance timber engineering in industrial and commercial building projects. It was well-regarded among early 20th-century wood scientists for formalizing methods that would eventually influence modern building codes.