The morning times. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1895-1897, 1896-08-02
downright, 1861

Copyright, 1850
New York, July 2S-As the sapient
Parson Jasper, of Richmond, remarked,
1.-The world do move
on the Gath day of May, 1884, when
the Brooklyn Bridge was opened to traffic.
II was one of the engineering wonders Of
the world In twelve years it has become
u back number.
How much of back number 1t is some
what surprising to learn by comparison
OF the present bridge with the new one
whose construction, about mile and a
half farther up the river, is now being
busiiy pushed. For that matter the Firth
of Forth Bridge, opened near Edinburgh
q number OF years ago, was bigger and
higher and longer aud heavier than the
Brooklyn Bridge, but it will in turn be
surpassed by the structure which is now
about to rise from the waters edge,
uniting the sundered sections OF Greater
New YORK, for the new East River bridge,
although 100 feet shorter in its central spau
than that over the Forth, is wider, heavier.
and bigger in every other dimension, and
will accommodate a traffic immensely In
excess OF any that Scotland is ever likely
to see.
Stated in bold figures there are some
sharp contrasts bet wecn the new Brooklyn
bridge and the old.
The new bridge probably will cost Il
lrfle less for actual construction, and, as
will be shown immensely less for opera
ton hereafter Than the Old, yet it will be
practically five times powerful. The
towers will I've from 30 10 ~ feet higher
than those OF the old bridge. This addi-
lional height allows the cables TO take
1 more decided curve in tEeir huge loop
icross the river. and thus subjects them
10 a strain which. relatively to the
weight imposed, is considerably less than
n the Old structure. Yet, tail as they
are the towers of the new bridge will be
very much lighter than these Of its prcdc-
cessor, heCa use, instead OF being con-
structed Of solid ma sonry, they will lie
built up of lattice work of steel upon Il
masonry foundation. ....
The towers alone of the old bridge
weigh ten times as much Us the entire
steel superstructurc. In the new span
The weight of the towers and surerstruct-
ire will be approximately the same.
lmprov ements upon the present bridge
nave been hampered immensely by the
fact that its approaches are all built OF
solid masonry defying change, alteration
md improvement as effectively as they
1cfy the gna wing tooth Of time. In the
aew all the approach well as the sus-
pended structure itself will he of steel,
and sufficient land will he reserved on
both sides to aliow room for future changes
and TO insure against interruption Of
traffic by fires and accidents on neigh
boring property.
what is more, the approaches will tie
separat trusses capable of supporting
their own weight. The cable after leaving
the central span. falls TO the earth level
and is clamped to its mighty anchorage
within dis, ance of SEQ feet, acting merely
as tack stay and supporting no weight
whatever. Because of the deeper loop
which the cable viii assume il will rot
be SO much larger than in the old bridge.
rs might be expected. Each cable will
have IA diameter oil twentyinches asagainst
fifteen and three quarter inches upon the
Roebling masterpiece.
II has been enormously stated that
these enormous steel ropes would he built
entire ut the wire works and brought and
swung OYER the bridge in their completed
.ornI. This is, of course, wildly impossible
The engineer n chief, Mr.. Lefferts Buck
who is known far and wide to the pro-
fessiou as the engineer of the Niagara
Suspension Bridge, has. however. devised IA
plan which will greatly hasten nd cheaper
the production of the cables. A dummy is
TO be prepared al the wire shops over which,
zach strand of the cable will be built.
single strand can We'll be handled and
manipulated by the workmcn upon tie
bridge itsclf-will be, indeed, not much
larger than telephone or telegraph cables
which are commonly handled in the streets
The task will still remain, however, OF
binding together nearly 800 of these strands
Into the cableitself. -.sss
In the old bridge each cable was actually
built in place, wire by wire, slowly and
painfully.
The masonry of the towers and ap-
proaches of the present East River Bridge
Is as good as the finest in the world. En-
gineers say that considering its quality il
was also very cheap.
The foundations Tor it were laid sew.
mty-eight feet below water level upon the
New York side and forty feet below upon
the Brooklyn side. The foundations of the
hcw bridge will begin scventy.eight feet
below water level on the Brooklyn side and
EiSty feet below water level on the New
York side. Each tower, instead of being
D Solid II ass all the way up, will consist
of two nearly square towers placed some
little distance apart and connected by stiff
fleming Orders and trusses between. 1t
la probable that the foundation for each
part of each tower will be z solid mass Of
masonry sixty feet by eighty feet, the
narrow end being toward the river, and
will taper upward until, at the point
twenty feet above the water level where
the steel work begins, it will measure some
fifty feet by seventy feet.
This single member of single tower is
rs large in its ground as big city church,
and is an absolutely solid nass of m asonry.
IL is also about the size of the base of a
single one OF the four solid and nearly
triangular piers which support the vast
dome of ST. Peters Church at Rome.
Building church is one thing and using
it after it is built is quite another. The
present bridge between New York and
Brooklyn is fine structure capable, faulty
as it is, OF conveying traffic many tim es
greater than it ever win have simply be-
cause its approaches are narrow and its
terminal facilities inadequate, although a
slight improvement In them is nearly COM
p'eted which will for a while somewhat
mitigate the fierce crush and struggle In
the bridge stations which have grown 10
be disgraceful in the extreme even IL they
are not positively dangerous to life and
limb.
1t is In the matter of approaches and
thanks to the experience and
keen foresight Of Nj. Buck. and to the
able seconding which he has received
eroln the commissioners charged with the