The new North-west. [volume] (Deer Lodge, Mont.) 1869-1897, 1884-08-29
g. DEER LODGE, MONTANA, AUGUST 20, 1884,
WHOLE NO. 100
The Brooklyn Bridge.

"Those are massive towers, are they
not?" said Bridge Superintendent Mar
tin to New York Mail and Ezpress
reporter. as he pointed with evident
pride 10 the great pile of masonry visi-
BILE from his Office window on Sands
street, Brooklyn, and over which the
huge cables that support the great
great bridge are strung.
well, continued he, ''solid as they
look and are. had MIR. Roebling caused
the ends of the main cables to be made
fast where they run over the saddles in
the towers, not only would the bridge
have been failure. but it would have
been Il death-trap through which thous-
ands would have been precipitated to
the streets below or into the waters Of
the river"
Has there ever been q sufficient
crowd concentrated at one point to
have broken the towers by their weight
were it not that the wires were mount
ed on the saddles?"
"Yes, sir, on several occasions A
notable one was when the DeLong fu-
neral was passing over. The process
sion after leaving the solidly built part
of the bridge on the New York side,
struck the short suspension span just
west of the towers. Few people were
on the main bridge, all having flocked
to the point of procession. The conse-
quence was that the short suspension
span DETECTED considerably, so much
SO that had the cables been fast in the
towers the latter would have cracked
like nutshell under horses hoof,
and in their fall would have sent hun
dreds of souls to join DeLong over the
dark river of death"
.'ln what way does the saddle re-
lieve the strain, and what is it?'
The saddle is an immense block of
steel rounded on one side and fiat on
the other. The rounded side is groov-
ed, and in the groove rests the cable.
The fiat side has rollers fastened to it
as close as possible, and the whole af-
fair rests on q finely plancd and closely
graduated steel block imbedded in the
masonry. Over this block the saddle
glides east or west rs the strain de-
mands, always keeping the direction of
the strain on the tower perpendicular
with the plumb of the tower, though, of
course, slightly TO the east or west, as
the case may be. At the DeLong fu-
neral the movement was three-eighths
of an inch to the west
docs not the heat have considerable
effect on the wires?"
lit does. BY the elongation of the
main wires in summer the DETECTION of
the arch of the bridge is full three and
half feet, and if the iron truss work
were met solidly below the bridge in
the center of it, the DETECTION would
cause hump or brake in the cause
way; but to provide against this we
have an open space left of twelve inch
es. the connection between the trusses
being made by q steel slip-bar securely
fastened TO one side of the truss and
sliding easily in groove on the other
side behind stout clamps. The space
closes to about thrce-sevenths when the
most extreme detection occurs.
Have many repairs been required
this spring after the exceptionally Sc
we're weather of last month? Did not
the frost try the wires?''
1.-The only repairing we have found
necessary is q replanking of the car
riageway, which naturally soon wears
out. Not wire or strand was found
unsound, though most thorough ex-
animation was made when spring OPEN
ed. In fact, the bridge is working like
a charm, and according TO the calcula-
tions of the Roeblngs, it is rs safe to-
day as is Broadway or Fifth avenue