The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1902-11-12
BRIDGE DAMAGE $4,000 ONLY.
DELAY ~ COMPLETION NAY DE
ONLY SIXTY DAYS.
That II the verdict Of the City Engineers
Loss Falls on the ROcbiingu Main
Cables Practically Unharmed, but
Pieces May Have TO He Rewrapped.

Pieces May Have to He Rewrappcd
Examinations Of the damaged East River
Bridge were made yesterday by engineers
In the employ OF the city and In that OF the
John A. Roebling Sons Company They
agreed, as the result Of their inspections
that the damage caused by the fire OF Mon
day night had been very much overesti-
mated in the first reports.
II Is now promised that from thirty ia
sixty days will be the limit OF the delay
resulting from the fire. The monetary loss
which falls on the John A. Roebling Sons
Company, is estimated at $4,000 While
three of the four cables we're damaged,
the engineers report that only one OF them
Is in any way badly damaged, and that the
main parts OF all three are uninjured, the
outer wrappings only having suffered
harm. No workman was lost, as was at
first feared
Bridge Commissioner Lndenthal Charles
q. Roebling, Engineer Buck of the Com
missioner's office, Engineer O. r Nichols.
In charge Of the work for the city, and
Assistant Engineer Alexander johnson
in charge of the New York tower for the
city. with the engineers of the Roebling
company, were among those who visited
tIlt ~'f'lt III INC Ult tdTlN III ne uaN. MAYOR
Low asked Commissioner lindenthal for a
report on the fire. and the Commissioner
yesterday afternoon submitted this:
. The origin OF the fire Is a. yet unknown
From personal inspect ion which made this
morning ind that the flames found nourish-
ment III tn" timber Of tie sCafroding and
the Wooden temporary stairway in the south
bottom of tie tower twhrre tie fir, startedI
the flames reached the wooden shed on tre
top, which temporarily incloses the steel
RAJ la.aAF In In.
shed had been stored Il" materials used in
covering the cables, some of which materials
are OF an inflmmabie nature
The tr" was hottest AT the top OF the south
erh haU OF the tower. Ii consumed all the
timber. and so Soitencd the wire ropes Of the
70 tbrldgc that tiry tore apart. and the foot
bridge tell That part OF the footbridge
d.rvotw oyer re river was prevented from
suspend, rods fastened to the main cables
Ihr." OF the main cables have been dam
aged by the tr" al points near their saddle
70 "hdt extent has not vet been asCertained
hun y viii b" less than At first supposed. u
VIII b" necessary TO cnt out the damaged
wires proba bly, several hundred of them
and replace the same with sound wires This
work may delay III" compet ion of the struct-
urc not TO exceed sixty davs
The braCinR bet ween the towers has been
bent ana warped in several places, and IL
will have TO be Strengthened \ minute in
SpeCtion OF the damage sustained i now
being nlnde 10y engineers OF this department
\ pr'uminary estimate of the dana ce does
not exceed s50,O00
1t j. almost miraculous that no 1--we, We re-
lost Had the fire occurred one half hour
sooner. when over one hundred workmen
were on the loo; bridges. working on tho
main cable, rrea, loss of life would have been
almost unavolda BILE
None, Of the damage will fall upon the city.
which Is amply protected in it, contract for
the work. The princinal loss was Sustained
by the John 4, Roebling Sons Company
which COMPANY has the contract for the steel
,, The ,i Ore was Of en- unusual nature. and
~ metal bridge construction.
VI. Nichols said after lie came down from
tower that the main cables were all
~ ana that II was he surface cables
r. the outer wires of these great cables
which were chiefly damaged. Cable No. 2
counting from the south was he one which
suffered most. The northernmost cable
is uninjured
Mr.. Nichols said that the wrapping of
the cables had been nearly completed,
and that II was the best work Of the kind
he had ever seen. The wrapping was a
waterproof material known as durable
metal, a composition of oxidized hnseed
asphalt and varnish gum on canvas Five
feet from the fire this wrapping was intact
in some places In Others the covering
had burned away. but the canvas base
was sound
The greatest trouble and the greatest
expense attached To the work Of repair.
Mr.. Nichols said. would he involved in
the task Of clearing away the wreckage Of
the TEMPORARY foot bridge
Mr.. johnson said that the saddles Of the
great cables had been shored ny on wooden
supports. When the fire burned away
these supports the saddles with the cables
resting in them settled into their destined
positions. This settling of the saddles
and the great cables threw the whole false
structure Of the footbridge out OF arrange
ment, shifted the strain Throughout tina,
structure and threw its burden wholly on
the two and one-half inch cables, which
were not meant TO bear il alone These
cables parted under the strain and the
whole footbridge buckled and twisted
and smashed itself
This was the cause of the breaking up |
OF the footbridge and the explanation Of |
the settling OF the great cables which had |
only settled and had not melted or ex- |
banded under the influence Of the heat.
Mr. Roebng said that il would take a whole |
day of such fire as Mondays seriously |
TO harm the great cables, which were made |
to Withstand n Temperature Of $40 degrees, |
Mr.. johnson said that perhaps $50 wires |
Of the great cables, which are composed |
or many hundreds OF wires. would have to |
be spliced in l0-foot sections, a course not |
at all uncommon in cable-making. The
footbridge had served its purpose, anyway,
he said, and the work Of taking IL down had |
actually been begun on Monday. The re
mainder of the work he said would be done |
by means Of travelling buggies.
Although II il usual In contracts for CITY /
work of such character for a clause to he |
inserted providing that the contractor shall
cause his work to be insured, there il no
such clause in the Roebling contract. The
loss will fall entirely on the Roebling COM
pany. Mr.. Roebling said that the company
did not carry insurance.
The Pennsylvania Steel Company will
suffer only small loss on mater ial and tools
stored ready for the work which that COM
pany L. to do on the bridge. Terry Il Tench
are not concerned with the fire, as their
work was completed and had been paid for
There was some talk about the bridge yes
terday to the effect that the name Of the
workman who dropped match which
started the fire was known, but no name was
made public. The Fire Marshal began an
investigation as to the cause Of the fire yes
terday, Twenty workmen were still on the
tower when the fire started and an effort
was made by some of them to extinguish
it. but vainly. and the fire then had a clear
course.
The police lines we're maintained about the
tower and the land structure of the bridge
Yesterday to guard against possible accident
from falling debris, but there was none.