Improvements in Trusses, Trestles, Abutments, or Piers for Bridges.
Year: 1894

page_text: Date of Application, 31st Jan., 1894
Complete Specification Left, 24th Nov., 1894-Accepted, 29th Dec., 1894
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Trusses, Trestles, Abutments, or Piers for Bridges.
I, GEORGE TROTTER HAWES, of Pavers Station in the County of Daviess,
Kentucky, United States of America, Farmer, do hereby declare the nature of this
invention to be as follows:-
The truss or trestle, etcetera, of this invention comprises a strong horizontal metal
base plate in the form of a double tee, a similar metal cap plate and inclined struts
of angle iron or of an angular cross section connecting these two parts together by
means of screws or bolts, the angle iron connections being flattened out at the ends
to give a bearing against the base and cap plates. The bridge-say a railway
bridge-may be carried at each end on one or more of the trusses or trestles,
etcetera. The metal base plate is more especially intended for use in the case of a
rock or other hard foundation. In other cases the metal base plate may be
dispensed with and the struts bolted to a wood foundation.
Dated the 30th day of January 1894.
THOMAS R. SHILLITO,
89, Chancery Lane, London, W.C., Agent for the Applicant.
I, GEORGE TROTTER HAWES of Pavers Station in the County of Daviess,
Kentucky, United States of America, Farmer, do hereby declare the nature of this
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following statement :-
This invention relates to trusses, trestles, abutments or piers constructed entirely
of metal or mainly of metal supported by a wooden foundation. The object of
the invention is to secure great strength with lightness and simplicity of
construction.
In the drawing
Fig. 1 is a perspective view of an abutment constructed according to this
invention.
Fig. 2 a detail view shewing an end elevation of an abutment adapted for rock
foundations, and a portion of an ordinary bridge resting thereon.
Fig. 3 is a plan of a portion of the abutment shewn in Fig. 2.
Fig. 4 is a view similar to Fig. 2, shewing the abutment as adapted for timber
foundations.
Fig. 5 is a plan of a portion of the abutment shewn in Fig. 4.
A is the truss, trestle, abutment or pier comprising a strong metal base B, a
similar metal cap piece C, inclined angle iron end struts D and inclined inter-
mediate angle iron counter struts E, E, all firmly screwed together as indicated
at a, al. The base piece B has its ends made in the form of a T head so as to give
broad bolting supports B₁ for the lower horizontally bent ends c of the end struts
to bear against. The intermediate struts are arranged in pairs and are set so that
[Price 8d1

page_text: they incline inward from near the edges of the base piece to the centre of the cap
piece and so that the struts E shall stand in counter bracing relation to the
struts E¹. These struts, like the struts D are provided with horizontal bolting
ends 3, c, and all the struts are made of plate metal and in cross or horizontal
section are of triangular form. The intermediate struts are screwed to the base
plate B by the screws or bolts a and to the cap piece C by screws or bolts a'. In
setting the struts in position the upper bolting ends at the angles formed by the
pairs of struts, are made to abut against one another and they thus materially
sustain one another when a strain comes upon the trestle. The intermediate
struts E are set so that below their upper bolting ends or flanges they stand
longitudinally of the plate B out of line with the intermediate struts E' and thus
the cap piece is firmly sustained by the struts on both sides of its centre.
In applying the invention for supporting a roadway bridge as shewn in Fig. 2
the stringer G of the bridge is made to rest upon the cap plates of several trestles
and is firmly secured to said plates and the base plates B are made to rest upon a
suitable rock or other foundation and are secured in any suitable known way.
In applying the invention for supporting a railway bridge as shewn in Fig. 4,
the girder His made to rest upon the cap plates C of several trestles and is secured
thereto and the struts are bolted to a wood foundation I comprising timbers g and
a mud sill g¹ or the base B may be retained if deemed most suitable.
The trestles may be constructed from two to thirty feet high and if necessary
brace rods may be passed through the struts to keep them from deflecting inward
or outward from the normal position.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is :
1. In a truss, trestle or the like the combination of the metal cap plate the
inclined end struts of triangular cross section and having horizontal bolting ends or
flanges, inclined intermediate struts applied in pairs, each intermediate strut
diverging from the cap plate out of line with the other of a pair and with the base
plate, substantially as described and shewn.
2. The general construction, arrangement and combination of parts constituting
the truss, trestle, abutment or pier, substantially as described and shewn.
Dated this 24th day of November 1894.
THOMAS R. SHILLITO,
89, Chancery Lane, London, W.C., Agent for the Applicant.