Report on the Renewal of Niagara Suspension Bridge, 1880 (Classic Reprint)
(Excerpt from Report on the Renewal of Niagara Suspension ...)
Excerpt from Report on the Renewal of Niagara Suspension Bridge, 1880
In spite of its success, however, it has been an object of constant solicitude to the traveling public. The frightful chasm that it spans would naturally excite the fears of most people, but this has been greatly enhanced by doubts as to the condition of the cables and their anchorage.
The object of this Report is to show What the real condition of the cables and anchorage was, and also to indicate what has been done for their improvem ent, as well as that of other parts of the bridge.
In order to explain this clearly, it is necessary to insert here the following general description of the structure as it was.
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Report On The Construction Of The Steel Arch Bridge: Replacing The Niagara Railway Suspension Bridge (1899)
(This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of th...)
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Leffert Lefferts Buck was an American civil engineer. He is remembered as a pioneer in the use of steel arch bridge structures.
Background
Leffert Lefferts Buck was born on February 5, 1837 at Canton, New York, the third son of Lemuel and Elizabeth (Baldridge) Buck. He inherited the courage and dexterity as well as the gaunt frame and swarthy countenance of his New England ancestors who had participated in every conflict that had arisen since Emanuel Buck settled at Wethersfield, Connecticut, in 1647.
Education
Leffert spent two years at St. Lawrence University. When he was discharged as captain with the rank of brevet major, he selected engineering as the field for which he was best adapted by temperament and training and entered Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, from which he received the degree of civil engineer in 1868.
Career
Leffert Buck had spent nearly five years in a machine shop and two years at St. Lawrence University, before he left college to enlist in the Union army.
After an apprenticeship in the Croton Aqueduct department of New York City, he secured his first retainer in South America. In 1875 he constructed several bridges on the Chimbote & Huarez Railroad. Seven years later he designed a number of bridges in Mexico; and, in 1890, he built the second Verrugas Viaduct, of the cantilever type.
From 1890 to 1908 he represented Peru and Ecuador upon the International Railway Commission. On his return from his first trip, he spent two years in the shops of the Toledo & Wabash Railroad; and, in 1880-81, he served as resident engineer of the Central Railroad of New Jersey, for which he constructed the Lake Hopatcong Division. Except for this interruption, he devoted himself almost exclusively to the design and construction of bridges. As early as 1873 he supervised the manufacture of material for the Louisiana Railroad Bridge.
For the Great Northern Railroad he drew plans for the Nooksack Drawbridge (1892). Like many civil engineers of the nineteenth century, Buck was a wanderer. Although he was associated with George McNulty during 1883-88, he did not establish himself in independent practise until 1902.
Three years later he replaced the wooden superstructure; and, in 1886, he substituted iron towers for the stone towers. This feat, which, as in previous alterations, he accomplished without interrupting traffic, has been described as "the most difficult, delicate, and daring piece of bridgework ever undertaken". Again, in 1896, he erected, without interrupting traffic, the present spandrel-braced arch.
In Rochester, New York, where he had constructed the Platt Street Bridge, he had also constructed the Driving Park Avenue Bridge of the three-hinged type; and it was through a study of the vibrations of this bridge that he eliminated the central hinge at the Falls. There he rebuilt the Niagara and Clifton Suspension Bridge in 1888-89 and, in 1896-87, replaced it by the longest steel arch span in the world, once more maintaining traffic without material interruption. He was also consulting engineer for the Lewiston and Queenston Suspension Bridge (1899).
In New York, although he promoted the development of the metropolitan tunnels, his name is linked more closely with the bridges of the district. As one of a committee of three, he recommended that the New York and Brooklyn Suspension Bridge be opened to surface and elevated trains. His chief monument, however, is the Williamsburg Bridge, which is distinguished for its vast reach and massive symmetry.