Barre evening telegram. (Barre, Vt.) 1898-19??, 1902-06-14
FASCINATING DANGER,
fhe Peri1s' That Bcset the Butl dern
Of Big Bridges.

eAC AMak neSet tne ouI1UCT8
sf Big Bridges.
The design Of a long bridge span IL
one Of the most elaborate mathemat-
ical problems that arise In constructive
work. The stresses produced by its
own weight, by the weight OF traffic,
by locomotive drivers, by the hammer
ing Of dattened wheels, by the action
of brakes on an express train, by the
high speed on 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 drawings are made of every men,
Der of It, The bars Of steel are tested
IN machines which will pull in two a
horsehalr or steel bar strong enough
to lift half score of the heaviest To-
comotives at once. and which will
crush an eggshell or a steel column,
and accurately measure the stress Ia
each case. The different kinds of mem.
bers are forged, riveted, bored, or
planned in perhaps half dozen remote
shops, and, although usually not fitted
together there, are examined and meas
ured 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 covering acres of ground.
The bridge piers may rise above the
water hundreds, of feet apart It re-
mains to place them on a thousand ton
structure, high above savage chasm,
over an impossible current or roaring
tide, where the water is deep, the bot
tom Of jagged rocks or treacherous
qu1cksand, or where an old bridge must
be removed and the new one built in
Its place without interrupting traffic
on the bridge. To accomplish this the
engineer has timber. bolts and ropes
hoisting engines, derrcks and a 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 of n
great span is Il 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 infieXibe than
whole tree trunks, swiftly hoist and |
swing them to place hundreds of feet
high, fit 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 to do not de-
nberately, but in dangerous emergen-
c1es, at utmost speed, putting forth his
whole strength on narrow, sprngng
planks In furious tempest, in bitter
cold or In blazing heat. He may be
In the heart Of an African desert, men,
aced by bloodthirsty fanatics, or in
gorge of the Andes, hundreds Of miles
from tools or supplies, where there Is
absolutely no supplement to his own
resources. Under such conditions
bridge building is one of the most fas-
ana difficult Of engineering
problems and requires different So
luton for almost every case.-Frank
w. Skinr IN Century.