The Engineering Contributions of Wendel BollmanVogel, Robert M.
History
The Engineering Contributions of Wendel Bollman
Vogel, Robert M.
Bollman, W. (Wendel), 1814-1884; Iron and steel bridges -- History
Almost immediately following completion of the Savage Bridge, Bollman
undertook the design of replacements for the large Patapsco River span
at Elysville (now Daniels), Maryland, and the so-called Winchester span
of the B. & O.'s largest and most important bridge, that over the
Potomac at Harpers Ferry. Harpers Ferry bridge, a timber structure, had
been designed by Latrobe and built in 1836-1837 by the noted bridge
constructor Lewis Wernwag. It was peculiar in having a turnout, near the
Virginia shore, whereby a subsidiary road branched off to Winchester
(see fig. 6). Only the single span on this line, situated between the
midriver switch and the shore, was slated for replacement, as the other
seven spans of the bridge had been virtually reconstructed in the decade
or so of their history and were in sound condition at the time.
The Winchester span (fig. 8), which was the first Bollman truss to
embody sufficient refinement of detail to be considered a prototype, was
completed in 1851. Bollman was extremely proud of the work, with perfect
justification it may be said. The 124-foot span was fabricated in the
railroad's extensive Mount Clair shops. It was subdivided into eight
panels by seven struts and seven pairs of truss rods. An interesting
difference between this span and Bollman's succeeding bridges was his
use of granite rather than cast iron for the towers. The span consisted
of three parallel lines of trussing to accommodate a common road in
addition to the single-track Winchester line.
The distinctive feature of the Bollman system was the previously
mentioned series of diagonal truss links in combination with a cast-iron
compression chord, which Bollman called the "stretcher." The spacing
between the chord and the junction of each pair of links was maintained
by a vertical post or strut, also cast.
[Illustration: Figure 15.--NORTH STREET (now Guilford Avenue) bridge,
Baltimore. In this transitional composite structure cast iron was used
only in the relatively short sections of the upper chord. For the long
unsupported compression members of the web system, standard wrought-iron
angles and channels were built up into a large section. The decorative
cast-iron end posts were non-structural. (Photo in the L. N. Edwards
Collection, Museum of History and Technology.)]
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