Brooklyn Bridge

Brooklyn Bridge

Brooklyn Bridge was constructed on East River connecting Brooklyn and Manhattan in 1883. At that time, it was the world’s longest suspension bridge and remained at its position for several years. The bridge is 26 m wide, 84 m high above the main water level and has a total length of 1825 m. Because of its strength; it is one of the oldest suspension bridges in the world.
The bridge was originally designed by German engineer John Augustus Roebling who died of tetanus on his foot because of being injured while inspecting the project site. He gave the charge of constructing the bridge to his son Washington Roebling before death. The construction started in 1870 and shortly after this, Washington Roebling was also paralyzed of injury due to decompression sickness. Roebling didn’t leave the project, but looked after the whole construction from his apartment with the help of his wife Emily Warren Roebling who took coaching on math, physics and curved equations from him and assisted him by becoming the link between her husband and the engineers on the site. Washington rarely visited the site after being paralyzed and his wife became the first person to cross the Brooklyn Bridge after completion.
The towers of the bridge were made of limestone, granite and Rosendale cement and bridge was designed with a factor of safety of 6 as assumed by Roebling. Later, it was discovered that the contractor supplied the weaker cables than prescribed in the design to be used for suspension. Since the cables couldn’t be replaced at that time, number of cables was increased to maintain strength.

The Brooklyn Bridge has always been a landmark since its construction. It is one of the ‘Seven Wonders of the Industrial World’ as declared by BBC and is also a ‘National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark’.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Japanese spider crab: Strange Species

Image
The Japanese spider crab It is an orange colored crab which has the longest leg span among any arthropod. The length of the legs from toe to toe may reach up to 3.8 meters and its body may grow up to 40 cm. the total weight of the whole adult crab is about 19 kg. It is a species of marine crab that live in the water bodies and costs of japan. They face a little bit of fishery, which led to the decline in their number and was preserved to its present status. They are mostly found in the southern cost of japan and adults may be easily found at the depths of 600 meters. They like to live in the holes or vents in the bed of the ocean. The larva of Japanese spider crab is carried by the female for around 70 days and when born, larva is in transparent state. The Japanese spider crab feeds both on aquatic plants and animals. Due to their long and strong legs they are dangerous and look strange in appearance too. In many parts of japan, it is also considered as delight on the dini...
Read more

Ceramic House, Colombia

Image
  Ceramic House, Colombia This is a Ceramic house designed and built by Octavio Mendoza in Colombia. The house looks comical in shape and is very strong. It is built in the same way as a brick or mud utensils are made, by first moulding a desired shape out of mud, allowing it to drain in sunlight for proper time and finally backing it in intense heat. The houses built in this style has a very special feature that it has pores inside its walls which occur when water is evaporated on heating and space is left voided in the forms of pores that acts as thin capillaries. Due to this the house cools automatically in summers and is earthquake proof, being made of a single brick. The only drawback is that it is difficult to build if levels are required and repair and renovations weakens the house. Also there are various chances of errors since larger voids can cause a poor quality house.
Read more

Bell Rock Lighthouse

Image
Bell Rock Lighthouse Bell Rock is the world’s oldest surviving sea lighthouse constructed on an offshore reef in Scotland and is one of the ‘Seven Wonders of the Industrial World’ because of the challenges that were faced in building the lighthouse. It has been constructed on a rock named as Bell Rock which was named so because of an attempt to install a warning bell on it in 14 th century.  Though the bell was successfully installed, it was stolen by a Dutch pirate after just one year of installation. Being an offshore reef, Bell Rock was a major cause of Shipwreck before the construction of the lighthouse in 1810, since it remained immersed for about 20 hours a day even in low tide. Around 6 ships were lost every winter and more than 60 ships were lost in one storm. The construction of Bell Rock lighthouse was proposed by the Scottish engineer Robert Stevenson in 1799 and the proposal got approved in 1806 after the all the crew of the warship HMS York died in Wreckag...
Read more