The Rutland weekly globe. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1873-1877, 1874-02-06
PRICE FIVE CENTS.
lFrom Our Special Correspondence
The Waterbury bridge Disaster

A"o waterbury bridge Disaster.
ST. ALBANs. Vt, Feb. 9.
Inc statement concerning the test and
failure OF the new iron bridge of the Cen.
tral vermont over the Winooski river near
waterbury last Saturday, published in fine
I'u'lahd Herdtd of this morning is dstin.
gulshed by an unfortunate inaccuracy ton
frequently noticeable in the columns of
that Journal. The principal error in this
account is concerning the detection of the
orIdgc under pressure, as contained in tbe
following paragraph quoted from the
Herad.
Sineelts completion trains have been pass.
ing over It daily, but until Saturday il had
pech SUBJECTED to no severe trial of
stength. ii was then tested after the fol-
,o"ihg manner -Four freight cars were
ioaueG with forty tons of iron each, at
tached to an engine backed on the bridge
first one; then two; and SO on -nntil ibea
twU, tnfrd tfnu ceie,..,4i -.
two and half inches more, and in no case
did it spring back to its original level after
the removal of the cars. As the final test.
the four cars, having a combined weight
of more than two hundred tons.
were placed on ; when it Immediately col
! lapsed, precipitating the four cars and two
men who were on them into the river he
low, distance Of about thirty feet. One
| Of the men was very seriously injured, hay-
| ing his collar bone broken and his head Sc
verely cut The other escaped compare
! lively unhurt. They were bridge men, and
| it is said were not ordered there, and had no
| business on the cars during the test The
! civil puUiuppr rpppiVps a rrppI Inal pf bio,,,a
| tol not reporting the fact that after each
test the bridge did not spring back to its
| FOL mer level, as, had that factbeen known,
the accident might have been avoided.
The greatest detection is now stated at
81 inches under three cars each located with
40 tons of iron.
The tact is that no observation was taken
with three cars on the bridge, and that the
maximum DETECTION noted BY the engineers
at any time was precisely one inch
We are enabled to give below the au-
thentic and only observations taken by the
engineers on the DETECTION of the bridge
under the various tests applied The oh
servations were taken and detection noted
only on the middle span Of The bridge, with
results as follows:
Detection with freight train on the
bridge standing still Quarters, / inch.
Centre 1-G inch. lateral sway inch.
FIRST TEST.
Single engine at rest on center
Quarters inch; centre, inch lateral
not taken.
SECOND TEST.
Engine alone, running six miles per hour.
Quarters, inch centre, ZIG inch; lat
eral not taken.
THIRD TEST.
Engine alone, running ten miles per hour.
Quarters, 5-l6 inch centre, ZIG inch A.;
lateral sway, 5-1G inch.
FOURTH TEST.
Engine alone, running twenty live mile:
per hour.
First (north) quarter, / inch centre
7-16 inch Last quarter, 5-l6 inch lat
eral sway, 5-16 inch.
FIFTH TEST.
Engine and one car loaded with fifty ton.
of iron.
First quarter, 4-lG inch centre inch
Last quarter, 5-1G inch lateral sway 3-l(
!. inch.
/ SIXTH TEST.
t Engine with two cars loaded with fift'
tons of iron, each standing on centre.
/ Quarter. inch centre, inch.
5 From the above it will be seen that tn
detection was very slight, all things con
; sidered, and remarkably uniform.
1t is true that the contract provided tina
! the bridge should sustain pressure of 3,
: 600 pounds pei lineal foot, but that it wa
proportional to sustain that pressur
q is scarcely the whole truth, as the figure
e show it to be capable of sustaining pres
sure of $4,000 pounds per lneal foot, o
four times the weight credited by the Her
f ald The fact that the bridge failed t
: spring back to its original position afte
each test, is not fact at all. On the con
q trary, on being relieved from pressure tn
bridge promptly regained its level in ever
instance, until the final crash
The failure OF the bridge under It's las
test is a thing which as yet cannot in an
l. way be accounted for with certainty. n
+ defect can be found in the work, and, a
# above stated, careful calculations show
l. to have been capable of sustaining weigl
Il more than four times as great ms that undC
, which it fell. MAX.