Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-10-31
FOR THE BIC BRIDGE.
A Lawrencevilie Man Work.
ing on 8 Great Model.
$4,000 PIECES OF METAL
Afac-Simile of the Great New York
= North River Bridge.
TIE INVENTORS PECULIAR HOUSE

In little unassuming house on Thirty
ninth street lives Urpan Mahrer, rs years
of age. He is remarkable character and
is working on remarkable model, repre-
sentstion of the bridge which will span the
North river, between New York and Jersey
CITY, opening up more direct railroad COM
munication between New York, New Jersey
and necessarily Pennsylvania.
The design of the bridge was conceived
BY Gustav Lindenthal and he has handed
over the construction of the model to Mr..
Mahrer and to Mr.. Steube, of Hardwood.
One of the gentlemen is building the me-
chanical part of the bridge and the other is
working on the towers.
The bridge will be suspended from two
shore towers, one on the Jersey side and the
other in New York City. The span will
measure 1850 feet. Running from each
side of the shore towers the bridge will ex-
tend $50 feet each way to the anchor tower,
making total length of roadbed of 4, $50
feet. The bridge will be IS feet wide
The elevation from the surface
of the river will be 100 feet, making it
possible for the largest sailing vessels to
pass under it. The shore bridge from its
base to its summit will shoot 500 feet sky
ward, and the tower bridge will be $50 feet
high. AT the end of the bridge
ON THE JERSEY SIDE
strellis work will be extended about one
mile. Six tracks will be laid to accommo-
date the railroad traffic now so Anxiously
seeking entrance and exit to and from New
Jersey.
The railing on either side Of the bridge,
which will be latticed, will require 10000
feet of steel bars Two miles of cable will
support the bridge from the shore towers,
while it will take 10, 900 feet of iron STAN
chions for q wind cable, which will hold it
against the storms. Every foot of aggregate
cable weighs two tons.
The shore towers, which are 500 feet high.
are built octagonally in the pyramid style.
The circumference at the base will be 125
feet and IS feet at the top. The anchor
tower, which is square, is $50 feet high, 400
feet deep and 200 feet in width. This tower
will be built of solid masonry. The stones
will be irregular, and will present an im-
posing appearance.
HOW THE MODEL LOOKS.
The model Of this stupendous bridge,
which is the work of Mr.. Mahrer, is
marvellous piece of handicraft. 1t is built
of brass, in small sections, from one-fourth
of an inch to three inches in length. There
are over $1,000 pieces in the model, some of
them very frail, requiring the most deli
cate handling. 1t is constructed on the
scale of the sixteenth of an inch to foot,
and it can easily be understood how tedious
the work has been to put together this mini
ature model, perfect in every detail, ipclud-
ing the towers, the roadbed, the railroad
lines, the cables and the cars passing over
it. The cost of the construction
of the model will be upward of
$1,000, a still smaller miniature of
of the cost of the bridge itself, which is esti-
mated at $50, ,0O0, 900.
THE MODEL MAKER HIMSELF.
Mr.. Mahrer at his great age is entitled,
without reservation, to be called a genius.
He is about feet inches
high, with a bright, intelligent face,
from which a pair of the shrewdest gray
eyes survey his work and his visitors. He
has q massive square forehead, indicating
great mental strength, and he talks with
great force and enthusiasm upon his pet
project. The old gentleman has
travelled all over the world,
and in relating one of his
experiences he said that he purchased silk
tile in Buenos Ayres, costing him S400, II
years ago. For 2S years Mr. Mahrer was
connected with the Allegheny arsenal.
While there he constructed the model for
the Lucy Furnace.
REAL CURIOSITY SHOP.
The house which he lives in he built him
self, together with making all the contents
1t is full of extraordinary productions of
his own thought. Upon an exquisitely
carved table in the front parlor sits a
fine sun dial worth $1,000. which is
q great piece of mechanism. 1t
was exhibited at the Philadelphia Centen-
nial. In the same room this unique old
man is making a clock, which is an i'm
mense affair. When it is completed, he
says, it will have cost him nearly 81 900.
In the room adjoining this he has erected
a clock, which only moves every minute.
His whole house is full of novelties, and all
of them are of an interesting character.