The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1917-01-31
Will Save Time and Money
for Travellers From New
England, Southbound-
Links New Haven and
Pennsylvania Systems.


Pennsylvania Systems.
The New Haven" road and the
Pennsylvania system are now joined
by a span Of steel over the East Riv-
er at New York, which soon will be
ready for traffic. The Hell Gate
bridge the worlds greatest steel arch
bridge, now nearly ready for use by
trains, will make it possible for trav-
elers from New England cities, to
pass through New York and go to
points south without any of the in
conveniences and delays that hither-
to have been unavoidable. The same
will be true, Of course, of travellers
coming to New 7 ork and points north
from points on the Pennsylvania lines
Time will be saved and money will
be saved.
The He'll Gate bridge is part Of a
ten-mile project known as the New
York Connecting Railway. and OF
this. the East River division alone
represents an outlay Of $3O,O0O,OO0
and covers a stretch of three and a
half miles. The massive span has
cost $12,O0O,000. It is an interesting
illustration Of what up-to-date Amer
lean railroads are willing to spend in
order to please their patrons and to
shorten runs. The East River is a
much bridged waterway, but from an
engineering standpoint none Of the
other bridges is to be compared with
the newest span.
The entire project was conceived
more than ten years ago when rail-
road men turned their minds to the
problem of speeding passenger traffic
through New York and Of Fastening
freight through or, around the me-
tropolis without increasing the con-
gestion existing even then, according
to the New York Sum-" To help
them to a solution, they called to
their aid the best engineering talent.
The outcome Of the combined studies
OF the experts was a rOut that would
allow passenger traffic to and from
New England to pass through the
Pennsylvania terminal on Manhattan,
using both the Hudson and the East
River tubes. while freight trains would
traverse the Borough of Queens and
Brooklyn to the Bay Ridge shore,
where they would be ferried across
the bay to the Greenville piers. The
whole line was fairly plain sailing
with the exception of one staggering
obstacle, Hell Gate.
DIFFICULTIES Faced.
The character of that waterway Of
fored natural difficulties enough, and
these were augmented by the volume
OF traffic threading that tortuous, tur-
bulent route. 1t was impossible to
build false works which might inter-
fere with shipping, mad to be profit
able it was necessary that the bridge
should be wide enough and strong
enough to carry four tracks and to
bear the burden Of heavily laden
trains. Here was an economic. pre-
requisite that was enough to balk the
best engineering cunning, and yet
il the project was to pay a bridge of
that capacity had to be provided.
a1 Could it be done? There was moth
ing in the wayAof a precedent to an
swefEf If6 Question The whole scheme
hinged upon the building of this par
ticular link. and that seemed to most
people quite impracticable. Not so,
however, TO Gustav Lindenthal. the
engineer. How well he p1enned and
how well the workers wrought is evil
denced to-day.
Engineers Modest Explanation.
Mr.. Lindenthal has modest way
OF speaking Of this latest monument
to his technical skill. '"To an engin-
eer one bridge differs from another
only in magnitude he said, ..much
as one egg is bigger than another
egg. All such structures have basic
principles that persist no matter what
may be their proportions.
1.-THE He'll Gate bridge is mainly
different from other steel arches be-
cause Of it's length and it's exceptional
weight. These features imposed GER
tain mechanical problems that had to
be met,N and to do so successfully it
was necessary to devise special appa-
ratus and facilities.
ITO begin with, there were reasons
why an arch should be adopted in
stead of a cantilever span, the ends Of
the arch to be supported by fianking
towers Of masonry and there hinged
so that the half sections could be
brought together finally. at the center
with the incest sort Of precision far
above the unobstructed river. To
control the growing weight of the out
reaching half sections of the arch,
hinged as they were at their bases, it
these sections could be lifted or low
was necessary to have means by which
cred in order to bring them exactly
together at the time of union
ITO this end four extremely pow
erful jacks, each with a lifting ca
pacity of 2,40O. tons, were provided
and two Of these were set on top Of
each Of the bridge towers. At one
time during the erection work these
jacks raised the arch sections, repre-
senting thousands Of tons apiece, a
matter Of 81 1-2 inches. And finally
central panel the adjoining arms were
controlled SO nicely in moving into
place that watch could have been
suspended with safety within the clos
ing jaws.
From start to finish the building
of the bridge was carried along with
out single mechanical breakdown of
any importance. The rivets used in
the span are the biggest and longest
ever employed, and their driving call
ed for the use Of the largest of pneu-
matte hammers. These tools were, of
course, difficult to handle in the be-
ginning. and it took some time to train
the riveters to control them properly.
They acquired the trick after a while,
and 1t was not until the men were
thoroughly proficient that they were
allowed on the actual job.