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Secondary Source

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.

Othmar Hermann Ammann by Thomas A. Kavanagh

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

http://books.nap.edu/books/0309028892/html/7.html#pagetop

Author: 
The National Academies Press, National Academy of Sciences
Excerpt: 

Othmar Hermann Ammann, partner of the firm Ammann & Whitney, Consulting Engineers, New York, and a member of the National Academy of Engineering, died at his home in Rye, New York, on September 22, 1965, at the age of eighty-six. His passing brought to a close an active, sixty-three-year engineering career during which he came to be known as the "master bridge builder of our time."

Annotation: 

This ten-page excerpt from Thomas A. Kavanagh's 1979 book "Memorial Tributes: National Academy of Engineering, Volume 1" includes three pages detailing the career of Ammann, including short sections on each of his major bridge projects. Kavanagh does not cover his subject's life in much detail, but his overview provides a useful impression of the impact that Ammann's designs had on the architectural world.

Papers of J.C. Bradfield

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

http://www.nla.gov.au/ms/findaids/4712.html

Author: 
National Library of Australia
Excerpt: 

John Job Crew Bradfield was born in Sandgate, Queensland on the 26 December 1867. He was educated at Ipswich State School, Ipswich Grammar School and the University of Sydney, where he graduated as a Bachelor of Engineering in 1889. In 1891 he married Edith Jenkins. They had six children.

In 1891 Bradfield joined the New South Wales Department of Public Works as a temporary draftsman, becoming permanent in 1895. He was involved in such major projects as the Cataract Dam and Burrunjuck Dam. In 1909 he became assistant engineer and in 1913 he was appointed chief engineer for metropolitan railway construction. He went overseas in 1914 to study railway construction and in the next few years wrote many papers advocating the electrification of suburban railways. Work commenced on the underground railway in 1923 and the first stations were opened in 1926.

Annotation: 

Scope and contents of this collection held at the National Library of Australia. Also contains a biographical note.

structurae: Othmar Herrmann Ammann

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

http://www.structurae.de/en/people/data/des0001.php

Author: 
Nicolas Janberg
Excerpt: 

Othmar Herrmann Ammann. Swiss-American engineer and designer of the largest bridges of the city of New York. Born on 26 March 1879 in Feuerthalen bei Schaffhausen, Zurich, Switzerland. Deceased on 22 September 1965 in Rye, New York, USA. Associated with the following firms:Formerly: Triborough Bridge Authority. Technical director(s), Port of New York Authority. Founder(s), Ammann & Whitney.

Annotation: 

Includes a biography, bibliography, list of works, and portraits.

Madison Avenue Bridge

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

http://www.nycroads.com/crossings/madison-avenue/

Author: 
Steve Anderson
Excerpt: 

THE FIRST BRIDGE (1884): As early as 1874, residents and business owners petitioned officials in New York City and Westchester County (which governed the Bronx at the time) for a Harlem River bridge at 138th Street. After three years of studying not only the location of the bridge, but also what type of bridge should be built (whether a high fixed bridge or low moveable bridge), the New York City Parks Department, which at the time had jurisdiction over all bridges in the city, received a $100,000 appropriation from the Board of Estimate in 1878.
Between 1879 and 1881, engineer Alfred P. Boller and General John Newton prepared plans for the Madison Avenue Bridge. This planning was done in the context of improving navigation along the Harlem River. During this time, the New York City Parks Department put out various bids for constructing the bridge, which was estimated to cost $510,000.

Annotation: 

Descriptive history and current conditions on the Madison Avenue Bridge over the Harlem River in New York City.

Brooklyn Bridge: Nightfall by D.B. Steinman

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

http://www.endex.com/gf/buildings/bbridge/bbpoetry/bbpoemsteinman.htm

Author: 
Gary Feuerstein
Excerpt: 

Against the city's gleaming spires,

Above the ships that ply the stream,

A bridge of haunting beauty stands –

Fulfillment of an artist's dream.

Annotation: 

Steinman dabbled with poetry, this is the text of one of his poems.

Willamette River (Broadway) Bridge

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

http://egov.oregon.gov/ODOT/HWY/GEOENVIRONMENTAL/historic_bridges_Portland.shtml

Author: 
Geo-Environmental Section, Oregon Department of Transportation
Excerpt: 

Welcome to the Portland Bridges page, presented by Environmental Services, Oregon Department of Transportation. The bridges of Portland, Oregon are numerous and diverse. The structures, ranging in age from 27 years to 90 years of age, represent a variety of construction types including vertical lift spans, double-leaf Bascule drawspans, and the longest tied arch span in the world.

Annotation: 

History and discussion on Modjeski's proposal for a bascule construction.

Othmarr Ammann's Glory

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

http://www.smithsonianmag.si.edu/smithsonian/issues99/oct99/object_oct99.html

Author: 
Valerie Jablow, Smithsonian Magazine
Excerpt: 

It was called the most beautiful bridge in the world. At the time of its 1931 opening, it certainly was the longest single span. To honor the engineering feat it represented, a stamp with its picture was issued, and the bridge became the subject of music, even a children's book.

Yet, a section of suspension cable for the George Washington Bridge in the collections of the National Museum of American History can only hint at such glories. Three feet in diameter and ten feet long, the massive cylinder weighs an ungainly 34,000 pounds. From its ends protrude 26,474 individual steel wires, compacted under 400 tons of pressure. Before computers, this experimental section helped engineers model the effects of compression on the finished bridge's cables. Today, it represents an engineering marvel, whose creation spanned half a century of depressions, politics and the passions of two of America's greatest bridge designers.

Annotation: 

This Smithsonian Magazine article chronicles the tribulations of Othmarr Ammann, Gustav Lindenthal, and the construction of the George Washington bridge. The piece focuses primarily on the political side of the project, including the emergent tension between Ammann and Lindenthal, rather than the architectural details. However, author Valerie Jablow does talk about the tendency towards longer, narrower one-span bridges that Ammann furthered. Still, the article is useful for those more interested in the urban development aspects of bridge building than the scientific aspects.

J.J.C. Bradfield.

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

http://www.birdsinthetree.com/names/2004/01/14/bradfield_dr_john_job_crew_18671943.php

Author: 
Scott Bird
Excerpt: 

John Job Crew Bradfield was born in Sandgate, Queensland on the 26 December 1867; the son of John Edward Bradfield and Maria Crew.

He received the first part of his education at Ipswich State School and Ipswich Grammar School. Bradfield was the winner of the three exhibitions given each year by the Queensland government, which enabled him to study at Sydney University. He graduated as a Bachelor of Engineering in 1889.

Annotation: 

Short biography and related links.

Bridging New York

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

http://www.pbs.org/greatprojects/about/bridgingny.html

Author: 
Public Broadcasting Service
Excerpt: 

Eleven major bridges unite New York City together and with the rest of the nation. One engineer was responsible for more than half of them, yet hardly anyone knows his name.

Othmar Ammann came to America as a graduate of Swiss engineering schools and learned bridge building from the reigning bridge engineer, Gustav Lindenthal. As his protégé, Ammann worked on the Hell Gate Railroad Bridge, an arch bridge of unprecedented strength and beauty. Lindenthal had plans for an enormous rail bridge across the Hudson River, but they were rejected as too expensive. Ammann proposed a lighter, less expensive span for automobiles and trucks. In a painful parting, he left Lindenthal and built the landmark George Washington Bridge, a span twice as long as any suspension bridge in the world.

Annotation: 

Story of Ammann's influence in the construction of bridges in New York. Includes a photographic tour. From the Public Broadcasting Service.

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