The Clarksburg telegram. [volume] (Clarksburg, W. Va.) 1874-1926, 1902-06-27
FASCINATING DANGER.
n. Pepals rAat Reset the Builders
sof.pts, BrtASes.


The Pesfls That Reset the Duilases
eofDts, bridges.
The design Of a long bridge span 10
one OF the most elaborate mathemat-
ical problems that arise in constructive
work. The stresses produced By its
own weight, by the weight OF rafac.
BY locomotive drivers, by the hammer
Ing OF fiattened wheels, By the action
OF brakes on an express train, by the
high speed on a curved track. By the
wind and by the expansion and con-
traction of the steel In summer and
winter are all accurately calculated
The DETECTION OF the loaded and I'M
loaded bridge Is determined. and COM
plete dra awnings are made OF every MEM
Der OF It. The bars Of steel are tested
In machines which will pull in two a
borsehair or steel bar strong enough
to lift half score of the heaviest To-
comotives Mt once, and which will
crush an eggshell or steel column.
and accurately measure the stress In
each case. The different kinds OF MEM
bers are forged. riveted. bored, or
planned in perhaps half a dozen remote
shops. and. although usually not fitted
together there, are examined and meas
urcd by specialists to see that they are
correct. and are then shipped by scores
of carloads to the site of the proposed
structure. where steam derricks unload
them and pile them many feet high In
STACKS GOVERN. acres of ground.
The bridge piers may rise above the
water hundreds Of feet apart. 1t re-
mains to place them ON thousand ton
structure. high above savage chasm.
over IN impossible current or roaring
tide. where the water Is deep, the bot
tom of Jagged rocks or treacherous
qucksand. or where nm old bridge must
be removed and the new one built In
its place without lnterrupting traffic
on the bridge. To accomplish this the
engineer has timber, bolts and ropes.
holsting engines. dcrricks and band
of intrepid builders who have perhaps
followed him for years through more
hardship and danger than fall to the
lot Of almost any other calling.
The complicated framework 6
great span is skeleton with many
accurate joints and thousands Of steel
sinews and bones. each OF which must
go in exactly the right place IN exact
ly the right order. The builder must
weave into the trusses pieces larger,
heavier and far more infiexihde than
whole tree trunks swiftly hoist and
swing them IL. place hundreds OF feet
high, at together the massive Orders
and huge forged bars with watchmak-
er's accuracy. support the unwieldy
masses until they are Keyed together
and self sustaining, and under mil
lions Of pounds of stress must adjust
them at dizzy heights to mathematical
lines. This he may need 10 do not de-
llbeately. but In dangerous emergen-
cles at utmost speed, putting forth his
whole strength on marrow. springlng
pinnks in a furious tempest. in bitter
cold or in blazing" heat He may be
in the heart Of an African desert. men,
aced by bloodthirsty fnnatics. or in
gorge Of the Andes, hundreds of miles
from tools or supplies, where there is
absolutely no supplement- 10 his own
resources. Under such conditions
bridge building is ono Of the most fas-
cinatms and difficult of engineering
problems and requires n different So
tuition for almost every case.-Frank
W. Skinner IN Century. --1HsO~