The Sun.
London, England, 1844-10-10 00:00:00

GREAT IRON BRIDGE FOR THE

NEVA.
(From the Liverpool Journal.)
The fact of the Emperor of Russia having commis-
sioned Messrs. Bury, Curtis, and Kennedy, the cele-
brated engineers of Liverpool, to construct an iron
bridge to cross the Neva, at St. Petersburgh, has
caused considerable interest in the engineering world,
and especially among the Russian, Prussian, and
German officials now in this country. On Wednes-
day last we visited Messrs. Bury's vast establishment,
at the Clarence Foundry, for the purpose of inspect-
ing the progress of this gigantic and unprecedented
undertaking ; and the facts we were enabled to col-
lect, through the courteous intelligence of the gentle-
man who showed us over the works, are pregnant
with interest and singularity, not only as regards the
construction of the bridge, but the general character
and operations of the foundry, which, whether for ex-
tent, the number of hands employed, or the value of
the produce of the labour, is equal to any engineering
establishment in the world.

The reader is aware that the Neva, in the most
central and aristocratic part of St. Petersburgh, is at
present crossed by a bridge of boats (the Pont
d'lsaac), over which there is a prodigious traffic, in-
terrupted only at night-time for the admission of
Iships through one compartment of the bridge, which
can be easily shifted or removed for the purpose. In
the spring, however, the huge masses of ice disen-
gaged by the thaw drift down the current with such
force, that it is necessary to let the bridge loose at one
et d and swing round at the other, so as to lie parallel
with the quay ; and 'even this precaution is occa-
sionally unavailing against the ponderous impetuosity
of the icebergs, which are sometimes (last year, for
instance) propelled with such sudden violence against
the boats as to carry them away from their anchorage,
and with them the whole of the superincumbent car-
riage and footway, into the Gulf of Finland, whence
they are only rescued piecemeal by steamers. With
a view to obviate occurrences of this nature, as well
as also to carry out the imperial designs for beautify-
ing and improving the Russian capital, the Czar has
resolved to erect a bridge of solid iron, on piers of
Finland granite, and as his autocratic impatience will
not brook the smallest possible delay, he has intrusted
the castings to Messrs. Bury, who, when their new
furnace, now in the course of being built, shall be
completed, will be enabled to cast at the rate of no
has than 150 tons a-week, so that by the time the
masonry is completed the ironwork will be in a con-
dition to be appended forthwith, thus perfecting this
Titanic project in the course of about two years,
when the bridge will be opened with a degree of eclat
proportioned to the splendour and importance of the
occasion.

The structure will consist of seven arches. The
span of the centre one will be 156 feet, and of the
three arches on either side 143 feet, 125 feet, and 107
feet respectively. Another arch will be devoted to a
species of swivel bridge, 70 feet wide, for the admis-
sion of ships to and from the Custom-house. The
buttresses of the piers will present to the current a
sharp inclined plane, so that a descending iceberg
will run up upo'n them, and fall to pieces from its own
gravity. The bridge will be very flat, there being a
fall of only seven feet from the top of the centre arch
to the end of the last arch on either side. The average
depth of water in the Neva here, throughout the year,
is about 30 feet; and as the river is a tideless one,
there is little variation, except when the wind acts
strongly up from towards the Gulf, when the waters
rise considerably, in some instances doing irreparable
damage—as in 1824, when nearly 8,000 persons
perished; and it is a current belief in Moscow, and all
the inland towns, that one day or other will be realised
the old Moujick prediction, that the phantom architec-
ture of the new capital will be buried in the salt
marsh, out of which the genius of the First Peter
raised it.

As the shores of the Neva, on either side, are ex-
tremely low, the height of 'the crown of the centre
arch from the water's edge will be only 21 feet—the
spring of the arch but six feet The extreme length
of the bridge, from one abutment to the other, will be
no less than 1,078 feet. The weight of iron alone
will be nearly 8,000 tons, independent of the lamps
and superb ballustrades with which it is the Emperor's
intention to adorn it, and which together will pro-
bably weigh from 1,000 to 2,000 tons more.

' IC is impossible, of course, that we can form any
idea of the cost of this great undertaking; but it is
probably within the martcrasky that the price of the
iron part of it will exceed 100,000/.—much of the
labour to be bestowed upon it being of a very expen-
sive character, several machines having to be con-
structed expressly for the preparation of various por-
tions of the work. The segments of the arches
have to be planned with the nicest precision where
they join with the corresponding segments—there
being eleven such in the centre arch alone ; and as the
castings will have to be on the very largest scale, and
as everything connected with the operation will ne-
cessarily have to be characterised by the utmost
strength and solidity of material, and the best possible
workmanship, all the details will of course be attended
with heavy expenditure.
It is almost needless to say that this is the largest
order of the kind ever received in this country from a
foreign one, as the bridge itself will be the most stu-
pendous in the world, far exceeding Southwark-bridge
in everything but the cost. Indeed, the magnitude
of the Neva-bridge can only be rightly computed by
the casual reader contrasting its dimensions with
similar structures at home, on which we have been ac-
customed to pride ourselves. Southwark-bridge—
deservedly a wonder in its way—measures but 708
feet from one abutment to the other, and the weight
of iron is under 5,400 tons; whereas the length of the
Neva-bridge, as just stated, is upwards of 1,000 feet,
and the weight of iron will probably be little short of
10,000 tons. The spans of the three arches of South-
wark are certainly much greater than those of the
seven arches of the Neva-bridge—the centre one
being 240 feet, exceeding the famous Sunderland-
bridge by four feet, and the Rialto at Venice by 167
feet, or eleven feet more than the span of the Neva-
bridge's centre arch; but in all the other attributes
of grandeur and imposing effect the Neva-bridge will
much exceed even Waterloo-bridge—for while the
width of the carriage-road or causeway of the latter is
only 28 feet, that of the Neva will be 50 feet; and
while the parapet or foot-walk on Waterloo is only
seven feet, that of the Neva will be ten feet wide.
' The weight of iron employed in this bridge will ex-
ceed by nearly five-fold theft consumed in the erection
of the Menai-bridge. Altogether, the Neva-bridge
will be a most surprising evidence of what the skill
and enterprise of a private British firm are able to ac-
complish ; and that such an undertaking should have
devolved on a Liverpool house constitutes an epoch in
the commercial progress of the locality. There being
three boat bridges on the Neva, it is highly probable
that they will be replaced by iron ones, when the one
we now speak of shall have come into use.
Any facts appertaining to ea establishment capable
of executing an order of such amazing extent as this
cannot but be interesting to the Liverpool public.
Messrs. Bury, Curtis, and Kennedy, as artificers in
iron, as machine and engine and boiler makers, are
equal to any in England, and, consequently, in the
world. The foundry, with its multitudinous forges,
casting-rooms, and apartments of all sorts, which are
united in one continuous succession, covers an area
of nearly two acres and a half. We have heard that
there have been made on the premises upwards of
200 locomotive engines, and marine engines approach-
ing nearly 5,000 horse power. The number of hands
constantly employed is probably not short of 900.
The castings executed here are some of the largest
ever attempted; many being,. we should imagine, as
high as 30 tons in a single piece. The whole of the
buildings that might be supposed to be in the least
danger from ignition are fire-proof, and were so at
the period of their erection, 15 or 16 years ago, though
it is generally believed that the principle now so
universally being adopted in the new warehouses—
namely, iron pillars and beams, arched brick floors, and
party walls—is quite a modern introduction. We
learn that Messrs. Bury are casting at the rate of
nearly 50 tons a week for the erection of the new
warehouses—a pretty conclusive proof of commercial
activity, and of the recognition of a means for the
prevention of those calamities which at one time gave
so unenviable a notoriety to Liverpool.

DEATH, BY DROWKING, OF MRS. HUGHES, OF
MLBRE ISLAND.—On Saturday last, Mrs. Hughes, the
wife of the keeper of the Lighthouse, Hilbre Island,
came to Liverpool to purchase a winter's stock of pro-
visions. She was a most fearless woman, and never
hesitated to cross over to Cheshire with her horse
and cart in any state of the weather. On this occasion
she was detained in town rather late; and as the tide was
making fast, Mr. Hughes concluded that she had deter-
mined to remain in Cheshire. Such, however, was not
her intention. With her horse and cart laden with a
sack of flour, three sheep, and other articles, she boldly
ventured on the sands, a stiff breeze blowing at the
time. She had evidently not proceeded far from shore
when she found that the tide had too far advanced ; and
evidence was seen in the track of the cart wheels of her
endeavour to return. The shore opposite is lonely and
desolate ; but some ladies who lived inland heard crics,
about eleven o'clock, of " Murder ! help, help !" but
deeming them to proceed from cottages in the vicinity,
they took no especial notice, and it would have been
useless if they had, for there is not a single boat of any
kind along this shore. Next day the body of Mrs.
Hughes was found, her hands grasping the reins. The
horse and sheep also perished.—Liverpool Courier.
FALL IN THE PRICE OF BREAD.—NOVEL MODE OF
FORCING SALES.—Tuesday two men drove a light cart,
laden with bread and covered with placards, through the
northern districts of London, announcing that they sold
tt the best wheaten bread for sixpence a quartern." They
made several stoppages on their journey, at which theyiey
had an auction of their bread. The f
t
athnedirtheeirobratsk,erasetrueaslildyinl itchipated them in emoafnt3h, is
villages, novel
mode of forcing sales an
labelled e lleerde i'l;
their
the quartern, which appeared to
effect, as the itinerant bakers hresolved upon foiling
bread for fivepcnce
ave had the desired
afterwards found few or no
purchasers.