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John Monash's Contribution to 20th Century Engineering in Australia. Conference Paper, Canberra, Oct. 2001. (Alan Holgate and Ge

Submitted by Anonymous on Thu, 11/08/2007 - 20:22.
  • Biographical
  • Engineering
  • Government
  • Library/Archive
  • Modern (18th-20th Century)
  • Secondary Source
URL: 

http://home.vicnet.net.au/~aholgate/jm/papers/jm_aust_engg.html

Author: 
Alan Holgate, VICNET, the State Library of Victoria (Australia)
Annotation: 

This paper, delivered to The Eleventh National Conference on Engineering Heritage (Institution of Engineers, Australia) in October 2001, provides a full biography of John Monash; Holgate and Taplin discuss his career arc in general, but delve into more depth on the techniques he chose to use in his work. The report has an enormous bibliography and an extensive citation system; in many cases, integrated links send users to the full story behind a reference that the authors made.

Albert Fink's Doomed Masterpiece

Submitted by Anonymous on Thu, 11/08/2007 - 20:22.
  • Engineering
  • Modern (18th-20th Century)
  • Non-Profit
  • Primary Source
  • Secondary Source
URL: 

http://www.battleforthebridge.org/RRBridge.html

Author: 
Hart County Historical Society
Excerpt: 

The Louisville-Nashville Railroad Bridge, constructed in 1857-1859 as part of the Louisville-Nashville Railway System, spans the Green River and is still used by trains of the current CSX system in its reconstructed form. During the construction of the L&N railroad, the Green River presented a formidable obstacle that had to be surmounted. A well-known construction engineer from Germany, Albert Fink, was hired to design and supervise the construction of a massive structure over the Green River. He planned to support the tracks and all trains over this bridge by constructing an elaborate trusswork of his own design supported by four enormous and intricately detailed stone piers. John W. Key of Woodsonville and his two sons, Abner David Lewis Key and John Martin Key, all stonemasons, were hired to construct the piers.

Annotation: 

Letter dated 1861 from General A. S. Johnston ordering the destruction of the Green River Railway bridge. Also includes construction notes.

The Bollman Truss

Submitted by Anonymous on Thu, 11/08/2007 - 20:22.
  • Engineering
  • Modern (18th-20th Century)
  • Secondary Source
  • University
URL: 

http://www.du.edu/~jcalvert/tech/bolltrus.htm

Author: 
Dr. James B. Calvert, Associate Professor Emeritus of Engineering, University of Denver
Excerpt: 

Bridges are employed to support weight over an open space, and transfer this weight to their supports, or abutments. They may be fundamentally classified by the reactions they exert upon their abutments. They may push on the abutments, pull on them, or simply rest on the abutments without horizontal forces. In general, the production of horzontal forces in the bridge structure is the cost of transferring the weight of bridge and load to the abutments. Bridges are generally, and less fundamentally, classified by the type of construction. Arch bridges push on their abutments, suspension bridges pull on them, while beams and trusses rest on their abutments without horizontal forces. The term beam is used when the material of the bridge is in a single piece, such as a log or a plate girder, while a truss is built up of pieces, called members. A truss generally has an upper chord in compression, a lower chord in tension, and web members consisting of diagonal or vertical ties (if in tension) or posts (if in compression).

Annotation: 

Dr. Calvert's essay on the Bollman Truss bridge on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad covers the decision to use the bridge, the reasons it was not used more widely, and a tremendously probing architectural explanation of the truss's design. However, in the process, Calvert also gives a serviceable overview of bridge construction in general, as well portions of the history of the B&O. He has compiled a superb document and a tremendous aid to anyone interested in architectural design and the history of bridge-building.

Sir Charles Fox

Submitted by Anonymous on Thu, 11/08/2007 - 20:22.
  • Biographical
  • Engineering
  • Modern (18th-20th Century)
  • Non-Profit
  • Secondary Source
URL: 

http://www.crystal.dircon.co.uk/foxcobitICE.htm

Author: 
Institution of Civil Engineers
Excerpt: 

SIR CHARLES FOX was born at Derby on the 11th of March, 1810, and was the youngest of the four sons of Dr. Fox, who held a prominent position as a physician in that town. He was articled to his brother, Mr. Douglas Fox, then practising as a surgeon, and remained with him for some time. During this period he prepared a great deal of apparatus with his own hands for his brother's lectures at the Mechanics' Institution, and also aided in working out the process of casting in elastic moulds, for which the silver medal of the Society of Arts was awarded to Mr. D. Fox. He manifested from the first much mechanical skill, and took the deepest interest, when quite a lad, in manufactures of all kinds. The projection of the Liverpool and Manchester railway gave increased force to his natural bent, and, being released from his medical articles, he was taken as a pupil by Captain Ericsson, then of Liverpool. Whilst with that gentleman, he was engaged in experiments upon rotary engines, and in designing and constructing the "Novelty " engine, one of the three which competed at Rainhill in October 1829. Shortly afterwards, through the late Mr. Robert Stephenson, M.P., Past-President Inst. C.E., he obtained an appointment as an Assistant Engineer on the London and Birmingham railway, then in course of construction, being placed first under the late Mr. Luck, M. Inst. C.E., on the Watford section, and afterwards in charge of the Extension Works from Camden Town to Euston Square.

Annotation: 

Memoirs from the proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers, 1874/1875.

Jean-Rodolphe Perronet

Submitted by Anonymous on Thu, 11/08/2007 - 20:22.
  • Biographical
  • Early Modern (15th-18th Century)
  • Engineering
  • Links
  • Personal
  • Secondary Source
URL: 

http://www.structurae.de/en/people/data/des0167.php

Author: 
Nicolas Janberg
Excerpt: 

Jean-Rodolphe Perronet: Born on 25 October 1708 in Suresnes, Hauts-de-Seine (92), Ile de France, France. Deceased on 27 February 1794 in Paris, Ile de France, France. Biography: 1750 - 1760, Bridge at Orléans. 1757 - 1765, Bridge at Mantes. 1758 - 1764, Bridge at Trilport. Participation in the following structures: Concorde, Pont de la (1791); Neuilly Bridge (1774). Designer: Nemours Bridge (1804); Pont-Sainte-Maxence Bridge (1786); Rozay-en-Brie Bridge (1787).

Annotation: 

Biography with list of works and related literature and web sites.

Homenagem a Edgar Cardoso

Submitted by Anonymous on Thu, 11/08/2007 - 20:22.
  • Engineering
  • Modern (18th-20th Century)
  • Personal
  • Secondary Source
URL: 

http://arcarvalho2.no.sapo.pt/homenagem_edgaruk.htm

Author: 
Alexandre Carvalho
Excerpt: 

In 2001 he will has completed 50 years as IST Cathedratic Professor.
That school had a decision to devote oneself a solemn session one year after he died.
He is one of the most mediatic and loved Portuguese Engineer since ever by your job.
He became eternal by various structures and special for bridges, some of then became ex-libris for some places or regions.
To the traditional analysis way of structures study, with very limitation in that time, Edgar Cardoso came to support the experimental analysis in little models of structures to build, this thing allow him to achieve the best performances of the materials and building boldness structures.
To this advantage, Edgar Cardoso, jointed the pleasure for new designs and high esthetic feel for “real structures”.

Annotation: 

Tribute and excerpts from the “Edgar Cardoso 1913/2000” book, published by the Edgar Cardoso Foundation.

Zoarville Station Bridge

Submitted by Anonymous on Thu, 11/08/2007 - 20:22.
  • Corporation
  • Early Modern (15th-18th Century)
  • Engineering
  • Links
  • Secondary Source
URL: 

http://www.tuscazoar.org/ZSB.htm

Author: 
Camp Tuscazoar
Excerpt: 

The Zoarville Station Bridge at Camp Tuscazoar is the only Fink Through-Truss bridge known to exist in the United States. The builders of this example, Smith, Latrobe and Co. of Baltimore, MD specialized in this type. Originally part of the three-span bridge over the Tuscarawas River in Dover, this span was moved to its present site over One Leg Creek, now called Conotton Creek, when the bridge was replaced in 1905. Recently acquired by the Camp Tuscazoar Foundation, this interesting architectural treasure has become the newest camp landmark. We are executing plans now for the bridge's full restoration but it already is a great hiking destination and teaches our campers about some of the rich local history of the area surrounding our camp.

Annotation: 

The only Fink Through-Truss bridge known to exist in the United States. Also includes links to a biography of Fink and to the bridge builders, Smith, Latrobe and Company.

Robert Maillart

Submitted by Anonymous on Thu, 11/08/2007 - 20:22.
  • Engineering
  • Images
  • Modern (18th-20th Century)
  • Secondary Source
URL: 

http://www.asce.org/history/bio_maillart.html

Author: 
American Society of Civil Engineers
Excerpt: 

Born in Berne, Switzerland, future structural engineering visionary Robert Malliart earned a degree in civil engineering from the Federal Polytechnical Institute in Zurich in 1894. Malliart established his own design-construction company in 1902 and moved the firm to Russia in 1912, only to see it fail during the Russian Revolution five years later.
In a two-year span before the move to Russia, Malliart entered five major bridge competitions, although judging bodies typically preferred bridges more conventional than young Malliart’s. Regardless of the design competitions, continued innovative bridge designs produced notoriety for him.

Annotation: 

This page is one in a series of biographies about famous civil engineers. The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) follows Malliart from his Russian emigration, through his invention of the deck-stiffened arch bridge, and up to the completion of the Salginatobel Bridge, his longest bridge. A picture and a description of the structure appear after clicking on the Salginatobel's name. Clicking the "resources" link brings up a modicum of recommended reading to spur on any aspiring researchers.

John Rennie

Submitted by Anonymous on Thu, 11/08/2007 - 20:22.
  • Biographical
  • Corporation
  • Early Modern (15th-18th Century)
  • Engineering
  • Modern (18th-20th Century)
  • Secondary Source
URL: 

http://www.electricscotland.com/history/other/rennie_john.htm

Author: 
Alastiar McIntyre, Electric Scotland
Excerpt: 

RENNIE, JOHN, a celebrated civil engineer, was the youngest son of a respectable farmer at Phantassie, in East Lothian, where he was born, June 7, 1761. Before he had attained his sixth year, he had the misfortune to lose his father; his education, nevertheless, was carried on at the parish school (Prestonkirk) by his surviving relatives. The peculiar talents of young Rennie seem to have been called forth and fostered by his proximity to the workshop of the celebrated mechanic, Andrew Meikle, the inventor or improver of the thrashing-machine. He frequently visited that scene of mechanism, to admire the complicated processes which he saw going forward, and amuse himself with the tools of the workmen. In time, he began to imitate at home the models of machinery which he saw there; and at the early age of ten he had made the model of a wind-mill, a steam-engine, and a pile-engine, the last of which is said to have exhibited much practical dexterity.

Annotation: 

The Significant Scots website has compiled an extensive historical primer on John Rennie, a major canal and bridge engineer. Though the writing style is convoluted, the biography covers the many career and personal landmarks of Rennie's life very well, including a fairly extensive list of his works and a section on his collaboration with John Watt. The site would most interest those studying Rennie himself, as it does not contextualize the engineer within broader trends in his field, but it could be of use to those studying the history of bridge design overall.

structurae: Eugene Figg

Submitted by Anonymous on Thu, 11/08/2007 - 20:22.
  • Biographical
  • Contemporary (Post-WWII)
  • Engineering
  • Images
  • Links
  • Personal
  • Secondary Source
URL: 

http://www.structurae.de/en/people/data/des0189.php

Author: 
Nicolas Janberg
Excerpt: 

Eugene C. Figg, Jr.: Born on 4 August 1936 in Charleston, South Carolina, USA. Deceased on 20 March 2002 in Tallahassee, Florida, USA. Associated with the following firms:Formerly:Founder(s): Barrett, Daffin & Figg; Figg & Muller Engineers; Figg Engineering Group. Participation in the following structures:Designer: Natchez Trace Parkway Arches (1994), Sagadahoc Bridge (2000), Seven Mile Bridge (1982), Sunshine Skyway Bridge (1987).

Annotation: 

Includes a biography, list of structures designed, relevant web sites, and bibliography.

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