IMPROVE- MENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF BRIDGES
Year: 1865

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Edward William Young, of 7, Blandford Place, in
the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF BRIDGES."
Sealed the 1st September 1865, and dated the 7th March 1865.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Edward William Young
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition; on the
7th March 1865.
I, EDWARD WILLIAM YOUNG, of 7, Blandford Place, in the County of Mid-
dlesex, Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF BRIDGES," to be as follows:-
This Invention consists in forming joints or hinges in bridges constructed
on the bracket or cantilever principle at two points in the superstructure, that
portion of the bridge between the two points and forming the central portion
of the span being a truss or girder.
The advantage hereby obtained is, that when the bracket or cantilever at
the one end of the span is loaded, and thereby depressed, no strain is com-
municated to the bracket or cantilever at the other end of the span, it being
relieved by the rolling, bending, or turning of the structure at the above-
mentioned joints or hinges.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Edward William Young in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 5th September 1865.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, EDWARD
WILLIAM YOUNG, of 7, Blandford Place, in the County of Middlesex, Civil
Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Seventh day of March, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, in the twenty-ninth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Edward William Young, Her special licence that I, the said Edward William
Young, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Edward William Young, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at
any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
after during the term therein expressed, should and lawfully might make,
use, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF BRIDGES," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said Edward William Young, my executors or administrators,
by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and
seals, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Inven-
tion, and in what manner the same was to be performed, and cause the same
to be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar months next
and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Edward William Young, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is
to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement:-
My Invention consists in forming joints or hinges in bridges constructed on
the bracket or cantilever principle at two points in the superstructure, that
portion of the bridge between the two points and forming the central portion
of the span being a truss or girder.
The advantage hereby obtained is that when the bracket or cantilever at
the one end of the span is loaded, and thereby depressed, no strain, is com-
municated to the bracket or cantilever at the other end of the span, it being
relieved by the rolling, bending, or turning of the structure at the above-
mentioned joints or hinges.

page_text: DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Fig. 1 is an elevation of a bridge on the bracket or cantilever system, the
central portion being a truss connected with the bracket portion of the
structure at the points a and b, at each of which points a joint or hinge is
formed, in such a manner that that portion of the platform between points c
and d being loaded, and the remainder of the platform unloaded, the platform
is capable of bending freely at the point a, assuming the form indicated by
the dotted lines c, d, d, e. The platform at point e is capable of similar
filexure. Thus it may be seen the bracket portion at the one end of the bridge
may be deflected without depressing the bracket portion at the other end of
the bridge.
Fig. 2 is a detail of a method which might be adopted of forming the
hinge at point a; o is the pin forming the hinge, and passing through p the
bottom flange of the truss; q, the bottom flange of the bracket; and
the suspension links.
Fig. 3 shews another method of forming the hinge, which consists in
allowing the end of the truss t to rest freely on the end of the bracket r on
which it rolls when the above-described unequal loading takes place; this
system is preferable when expansion and contraction are to be provided for at
the junction of truss and bracket, as it admits of the end motion of either.
Figures 1 and 2 illustrate two of the simplest methods of forming the joint
or hinge at the junction of the bracket portion of the structure with the
trussed or girder portion; the same joint or hinge may, however, be formed
in other more complicated ways.
What I claim is, the formation of the joint or hinge at the junction of
bracket and truss in bridges on this system.
In witness whereof, I, the said Edward William Young, have hereunto
set my band and seal, this
day of August, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five.
EDWARD WILLIAM YOUNG. (L.S.)
0
Witness,
S. FREDERIC HEDMAN, C.E.,
54, Lupus Street, Pimlico,
London.