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mcqueen@encs.concordia.ca
THE VICTORIA BRIDGE
1859, TUBULAR - WROUGHT IRON*
1898, TRUSS – STEEL* (*HOT RIVETED)
1957, SPUR, LIFT SPANS
•
Compete:
• for passengers with networking system of steamboats and stage coaches
• for freight with boats on rivers, lakes, and canals.
TECHNOLOGICAL CONTEXT
INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION
Covered wooden truss bridges: 1000 in Quebec, 400 in N.B., many in USA
METALLURGICAL ADVANCES
Rolling of Plate, Sheet, Slitting, Angle Bending (Ship hulls to tinplate for cans)
Hot Pressure Welding of Chains and Pipes (No arc or gas welding)
William Fairbairn
• Michael Fairbairn tested
elliptical box girder of
plate-rib riveted
structure (like two ship
hulls, one inverted), top
buckled.
• He changed to rectangle
with top reinforced with
tubes for Brittania Bridge
in Wales
• Tested riveted joints,
optimum spacing/rows,
strength, clinching force
Britannia Bridge, “Great Tunnel in the Sky”
Twin tubes, 2main spans 140m, at Menai Straights, Wales
Transverse section through Longitudinal section through middle of tube
middle of tube
Final design of Britannia Bridge. From Fairbairn, An Account of the Construction of the Britannia and
Conway Bridges (London, 1849), plate 4
Hot rolled sections riveted to plates
To create joints, prevent buckling
HOT DRIVEN RIVETS
Comparison
• (Niagara suspension bridge 1855 (Roebling) $375/ft)
• (Numerous maintenance reinforcements, replaced 1883 by
cantilever)
CANADA WORKS, BIRKENHEAD
• sheared, bent every plate, angle, tee
• Punched all hole with Ross-Jaquard
computer steam puncher
• Fabricated each span, numbered every piece
• Each complete span shipped in separate ship
• No parts lost, nor too many
• Field construction only 6 months per year
• Thomas Brassey
View of construction, Montreal end
Laying the floor beams of the tube, workmen are aligning holes in
preparation for the riveting team standing by the forge at the right.
Rivets joining web and flange angles are clearly seen in the lithograph.
Riveting Gang.
Rivet Heater, Back Holder
(12 lb mass)
2 Hammer men (91 lb)
HOT DRIVEN RIVETS –1780
SHIPHULLS, BOILERS NONLEAK
Comparison
• (Niagara suspension bridge 1855 (Roebling) $375/ft)
• (Numerous maintenance reinforcements, replaced 1883 by
cantilever)
SUMMARY OF STRUCTURAL METALS (#3)
STEEL (only hardened steel before 1860)
Swords: Rome, India, Japan, Arabia, Europe
1850 (60kt) for cutting tools, cutlery
1865 mild steel from pig iron in Bessemer converter and …
Siemens-Martin open hearth
… …
APPLICATIONS TRANSFER FROM WROUGHT IRON TO STEEL
Carriage ways (5m) outside the trusses; FIRST ACROSS ST. LAWRENCE
Girders placed under spur switch spans, replacing trusses (traffic never
stopped)
Seaway 1958
2 lift spans,, ends of St-Lambert lock