Engineering

This bridge almost did not see daylight; in fact, when it was realized that a railway link was necessary between both shores of river Forth, the solution brought forward was a tunnel. After a few studies,this approach was abandoned in 1806 and the idea of building a bridge was put forward. In 1818 a few designs were presented, namely the one submitted by Mr.James Anderson. The structure of the bridge was so light and not very strong and was described later as " such a light structure that it would almost have been impossible to see it on a somber day, and after a strong rainfall, it could not been seen anymore!" In 1865, a parliament resolution authorized the "North British Railway", and his engineer Thomas Bouch, to construct a bridge over the Forth. He proposed a suspended bridge with twin aprons of 1600 feet each. Engineer Bouch was also responsible for the bridge construction over the Tay river, which brough him lots letters of patent nobility.

Abraham Darby (the Grandfather of the famous bridge builder) was born in 1678 at Wrens Nest in the hamlet of Woodsetton in the Parish of Sedgley, Staffordshire, son of John & Ann Darby.

...The first of a succession of iron manufacturers who bore the same name, he was the son of a Quaker (Society of Friends) farmer residing at Wrens Nest, near Sedgley and served his apprenticeship with a maker of malt-kilns near Birmingham, Later he married and moved to Bristol around 1700, to begin business on his own.

In Bristol he was joined by three partners of the same Quaker persuasion, who provided the necessary capital to enable him to set up works at Baptist Mills, near the city. He carried on the business of malt-mill making and later added brass and iron founding

Lennox's arrival in New South Wales opened a new chapter in the bridge-building history of the colony. He built a series of stone bridges, some of which are still standing. In 1844 he moved to Melbourne, where he had charge of all roads, bridges, wharves and ferries, acted as advisory engineer to various government departments and built 53 bridges.
Career Highlights:
Born Ayr, Scotland. Arrived Sydney 1832; Sub-Inspector of Roads 1832-33; Superintendent of Bridges 1833-43; district surveyor to the Parramatta Council 1843-44; Superintendent of Bridges, Port Phillip District 1844-53. Built a number of stone bridges, including one on the main western road at Lapstone Hill, the Lansdowne Bridge on the main southern road near Liverpool, the Lennox Bridge over the Parramatta River and the first Prince's Bridge over the Yarra River in Melbourne.

Alexander Lawson's engraving, "Architectural Plan and Elevation of the Schuylkill P. Bridge," illustrates A Statistical Account of the Schuylkill Permanent Bridge, Communicated to the Philadelphia Society of Agriculture, 1806 (Philadelphia: Printed by Jane Aitken, 1807), which was bound with the first volume of the Society's Memoirs. The Society's interest in such a structure acknowledges its importance to the development of the Philadelphia region, both agriculturally and commercially.

The use of coke as a fuel to smelt iron had been attempted in the second half of the 17th Century, but the first successful process was established by Abraham Darby around 1709 at his newly acquired ironworks in the Coalbrookdale, Shropshire. This was a major industrial breakthrough because it allowed the casting of much larger pieces than the old charcoal fuel process, which had been largely restricted to pots and kettles. Darby’s achievement in mastering the coke smelting process enabled this small valley in Shropshire to become the cradle of the world’s industrial revolution. The products of Darby’s ironworks were shipped down the River Severn by barge to Bristol and thence all over Britain and progressively outwards to Europe and the rest of the world.

Lennox Bridge is the oldest surviving bridge on the Australian mainland. This sandstone, single arched bridge is situated in a bushland setting on the eastern escarpment of the Blue Mountains of New South Wales and is well worth a visit. The bridge can now only be approached from the western side along Mitchell’s Pass. Once across the bridge, the roadway changes to one way traffic down the Pass.

James Finley: Born 1762, Deceased 1828, in Uniontown, Pennsylvania, USA. Participation in the following structures: builder, Jacob's Creek Bridge (1801).

Firstly a base was laid down to cover the area of two of the ribs. The white bar coming from centre RHS is the radial pole for positioning the pattern equipment. The red pieces among the men are the pieces of patterns used. Segments of the rib were rammed with sand and then moved to form the next section of the mould.
The mould was 36 feet long with a cross section of the rib being 4.5" x 3".
The blue machine above the radial pole is the sand mixer. This mixer is computer controlled to allow resins and catalysts to be mixed with reclaimed sand. The temperature of the sand, ambient temperature and speed at which we require it to set are controlled automatically. The sand it produces is used to make the mould, into which we will pour the molten iron. It was imperative to have a flat bed as the iron like water would find its own level, if we were too high at one end the metal would overflow at the other and provide the BBC with a floor of metal.

Upper Delaware Scenic and Recreational River is the home of the oldest existing wire suspension bridge in the United States — the Delaware Aqueduct, or Roebling Bridge as it is now known. Begun in 1847 as one of four suspension aqueducts on the Delaware and Hudson Canal, it was designed by and built under the supervision of John A. Roebling, future engineer of the Brooklyn Bridge.

Portions of the D & H Canal, including the Delaware Aqueduct, were designated a National Historic Landmark in 1968. The Delaware Aqueduct is also designated a National Civil Engineering Landmark.

...A German immigrant, and graduate of the Royal Polytechnic School of Berlin, Roebling came to the United States in 1831. It was not until 1845 that he built his first suspension structure. From 1845 until his death in 1869, he designed five major suspension bridges. Two — the Cincinnati-Covington Bridge and the Brooklyn Bridge — are still standing.

Some further reference should now be made to two men whose names are identified with the rise and progress of the railway system. George Stephenson was born in a small cottage, in the village of Wylam, on the banks of the Tyne, near Newcastle. He was the son of a collier, and had early to labour for his share of the household bread. Heavy were the demands upon him. When " too young to stride across the furrow " he went to plough. Then we find him picking bats and dross from the coal-heaps, at twopence a day, and he was still so small that he often hid himself when the overseer passed, lest he shculd be thought too little to earn his wages. Shortly after he entered his teens he worked as brakesman on a tramway, and subsequently became stoker to an engine on an estate of Lord Ravensworth, often having to rise at one and two o'clock in the morning, and to work till a late hour at night. Thankful in the receipt of a wage of a shilling a day, he declared, when this amount was doubled, that he was "a man for life."