Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1922-01-13
ABUTMENT AMPLY STRONG.
Work at Suspension Bridge Finished Sat
urday-Job Well Done-CannOt Settle
More, Says StOrrs.

The New Hampshire Cement Con-
struction Co., which was awarded the
contract last October for, Strengthening
the New Hampshire abutment of
- b. --3rattleborO-C Chesterfield suspension
bridge, the expense of which is shared
by both towns, finished the job Saturday.
The contract price was $12,480, but n
little extra work was done which will
bring the total up to around $4,000.
The work was inspected last week by'
Engineer John w. Storrs of Concord n,
H., engineer employed by the towns, A.
r. Locke of Concord who is associated
with Mr.. Storrs, Selectman ". ". Stell-
man Of Brattieboro and a member of
The Phoenix staff. The engineers pro-
n0unced the job well done, and it GER
tainly appeared to the others to be an
excellent piece of work. William +.
Lawes, n member of the contracting firm,
was in charge of the work throughout,
and at one time while the cement was
being poured he employed 20 men. Sc
lectman Harold f. Randall of West
Chesterfield had general oversight of the
work for the towns and engineer.
This work was necessitated by the
settling of the north end of the east
abutment, which threw the bridge tower
on that corner, which supports the cables,
a little out of'plumb, also caused several
cracks in thet abutment. The towns
setting back of the river because of the
building of the Vernon dam, and as has
been stated before the towns will ask
the Connecticut River Power Co. to pay
the cost of the Job just finished.
The abutment was strengthened ~
building on three sides of it cement
wall and binding the wall and abutment
together with iron rods. For this work
about 500 cubic yards of cement was
poured, and the work was done in such
manner that the. abutment is now suf
ticient to carry a heavier bridge when
ever the time comes for replacing the
present bridge
In the first place piles were driver
into the river bottom three or four fee
out from the abutment, on the north
west and south sides. They were driver
in as far as they would go, the distance
varying from seven to IL feet or NOR,
and cut off near the surface of TIN
water. Outside of these piles planks, wer'
driven and then cement was poured int
the water, between the abutment an,
planking, up to a short distance abov
the tOpe of the water. When the cemen
had set it formed solid wall, with
row of piles imbedded in the. middle. Thi
wall is from six to seven feet wide.
When this was finished another forr
was built on top of it, not so wide as tn
one under water, and it extended up to
ward the bridge, being wider at the bot
tom than at the top, so as to make tn
extension of the abutment thicker at tn
bottom and tapering gradually to tn
top. Inside this form was a net work @
iron rods attached to the stone masonr,
Behind the abutment a trench was du
across the roadway, six feet deep, and i
this was laid cement and iron rod
which were attached at each end to rod
running around, the three other sides {
the abutment. Cement was then poure
into the form, and when it had set
formed solid piece of masonry whic
Engineer Storrs believes never will Sc
tie, nomatter how heavy the load place
upon IL. ~
In order to prevent the cement frol
freezing, Mr.. Lawes and men constructe
an air chamber outside the form abo,
water, by putting up a row of planks
few inches away from the form and CO.
erng the top. Into this space between Il
two pOws of planks live steam was pipe
so that even in the coolest weather Il
cement was kept hot until it set. Aft,
the planking was removed several da!
elapsed before the cement became e.
tirely cold.
The abutment is built so that it ca
be carried higher if ever it is desir,
to place new bridge farther above Il
water than the one now in use.