The Sun.
London, England, 1851-08-14 00:00:00

NEW BATTERSEA BRIDGE.

This bridge will open to the populous districts of
Clapham, Brixton, and the vicinity a much shorter
approach to the parks and to the whole west-end of
London than they possess at present, and will form a
very important part of the desirable project of em-
banking the Thames and enclosing a park for public
recreation at Battersea. The works of the proposed
bridge may appear to the uninitiated to have been
standing still for some time past, but now the piers
fairly show themselves above low water, and four
towering pile-engines mounted over each pier plainly
indicate the intention of rapid progress. The bridge
will occupy a nearly central position between Batter-
sea and Vauxhall bridges, and will cross the river
from near the entrance of the Grosvenor Canal, at the
eastern end of Chelsea Hospital grounds to the wes-
tern side of the Red House, Battersea. It is to be a
suspension bridge, with two piers so near low water
mark as not to obstruct the navigation, and one wide
nearly the full breadth of
tbhaeyroivr opening
eThe sPawidntnhing of the bridge from out to out is
to be 45 feet, with a carriage way of 30 feet, and
footpath on each side. In connexion with the bridge, a
new piece of street is to be made to join Sloane-street, so
that the communication will then be perfect towards
Knightsbridge, Kensington, and all the surrounding
district. There is a peculiarity in the mode of con-
structing this bridge which deserves notice for the
boldness and novelty of the design, and which, if
successful, will confer great credit on the originator.
The piers, instead of being founded within a coffer-
dam, and built up of regular masonry, are composed
of concrete, surrounded and protected on all sides by
a substantial casing of cast-iron. Thus no coffer-
dam is required, and the engineer calculates that he
will be able to carry up his piers to the height of
seven feet above high water for the same sum that a
coffer-dam would have cost under the old system. If
this mode of founding works in tidal rivers should
prove successful, it will be a highly important step in
hydraulic engineering. The mode of proceeding is
as follows :—After guide-piles have been driven
down all round the site of the proposed pier, and
a rough kind of temporary wooden breakwater es;
tablished at each end, wooden piles are driven down
to to the firm clay all over the foundation,
erected within the guide-piles,
and preparations
made for driving the iron piles of the permanentPsatraagtions
work. These piles are about
pile having a groove on
, i
the ends of cast-iron plates, nine
e side
which then
e.heet s apart,pilesareevery
arei v
driven down between the Piles' l feet
driven under water by means of a "dolly,"t which
e
may be described as the letter T reversed, h upper
part of the T being underneath and resting on the
iron plate CD, while the top of the upright part re-
ceives the blow of the ram, which is of iron, and
weighs one ton, the fall being on the average 7 feet at
" dolly
" •
each stroke. The is constructed of the best
elm, the horizontal part about 7i feet long, and 14
inches square, the upright part being 10 feet long.
The plates, as well as the piles, are driven down 17 or
18 feet below the bed of the river, and the whole
easing or chest thus formed is filled up with concrete,
which is well known to unite in a remarkable manner
with either wrought or cast iron, and to form a union
so close that the line of separation can no longer be
traced.
We have several examples of iron piling
backed by concrete and used in this country for wharf
and dock walls, where its success has been perfect ;
but this is the first attempt at founding piers of this
kind in a tidal river with a depth of more than 20 feet
at high water. Only one engine at each pier is at
present at work, but the contractor is only waiting
the arrival of castings from Scotland to go vigorously
to work with all the pile engines, when a much more
rapid progress will be the result. The bridge is being
erected by the Commissioners of her Majesty's Woods
and Forests, from the design and under the able au-
'
perintendence of their engineer, Mr. Page.

THE MOORS.—The note of preparation for the
" 12th" is now being audibly heard. Advance parties are
passing daily to the approaching campaign,which, we are glad
to state, this season promises to be more than usually good,
birds being both numerous and strong, and the weather, if it
continues as at present, delightful.—Moxtrose
Review.
SOUTHAMPTON, WEDNESDAY. morning,
early, Colonel Reid, Dr. Playfair, and Messrs. William
Cubitt, Dilke, and Cole paid a visit to her Majesty, at Os-
borne. The Fairy yacht Nl'A3 sent up from the ielaud to con-
ey thenkthither.