Covered Bridges and the Birth of American Engineering

Covered Bridges and the Birth of American Engineering PDF Author: James C. Barker
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780578171067
Category : Covered bridges
Languages : en
Pages : 234

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America's Covered Bridges

America's Covered Bridges PDF Author: Terry E. Miller
Publisher: Tuttle Publishing
ISBN: 1462914209
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 272

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Book Description
As many as 15,000 covered bridges were built in North America over the past 200 years. Fewer than 1,000 remain. In America's Covered Bridges, authors Terry E. Miller and Ronald G. Knapp tell the fascinating story of these bridges, how they were built, the technological breakthroughs required to construct them and above all the dedication and skill of their builders. Each wooden bridge, whether still standing or long gone, has a story to tell about the nature of America at the time—not only about its transportational needs, but the availability of materials and the technological prowess of the people who built it. Illustrated with some 550 historical and contemporary photos, paintings, and technical drawings of nearly 400 different covered bridges, America's Covered Bridges offers five readable chapters on the history, design and fate of America's covered bridges, plus related bridges in Canada. Most of the contemporary photography is by master photographer A. Chester Ong of Hong Kong. 55 photo essays on the most iconic bridges including: Cornish-Windsor Bridge between Vermont and New Hampshire Porter-Parsonsfield Bridge, Maine East Paden and West Paden (Twin Bridges), Pennsylvania Philippi Bridge, West Virginia Hortons Mill Bridge, Alabama Medora Bridge, Indiana Rock Mill Bridge, Ohio Knight's Ferry Bridge, California Perrault Bridge, Quebec, Canada Hartland Bridge, New Brunswick, Canada Over time, wooden bridges eventually gave way to ones made of iron, steel and concrete. An American icon, many covered bridges became obsolete and were replaced—others simply decayed and collapsed. Many more were swept away by natural disasters and fires. America's Covered Bridges is absolutely packed with fascinating stories and information passionately told by two leading experts on this subject. The book will be of tremendous interest to anyone interested in American history, carpentry and technological change.

Historic American Covered Bridges

Historic American Covered Bridges PDF Author: Brian J. McKee
Publisher: American Society of Civil Engineers
ISBN:
Category : Covered bridges
Languages : en
Pages : 168

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Book Description
Among the featured bridges are two of the longest covered bridges left in the United States, the Medora and Williams bridges; Kentucky's Bennett Mill Bridge, the only surviving Wheeler truss bridge; and the Stark Bridge in New Hampshire, which provides one of the most picturesque scenes in America.

Landmark American Bridges

Landmark American Bridges PDF Author: Eric DeLony
Publisher: Bulfinch Press
ISBN: 9780821220368
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 152

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Book Description
Photographs of ninety-five of the most impressive bridges in the United States are presented chronologically, from pre-Civil War spans to today's suspension bridges

Pennsylvania's Covered Bridges

Pennsylvania's Covered Bridges PDF Author: Fred J. Moll
Publisher: Arcadia Publishing
ISBN: 0738592498
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 130

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Book Description
This book invites the reader to step back in time and imagine the days when ancestors traveled through wooden spans to reach their daily destinations. Starting in the early 1800s, Pennsylvania's rich forests provided natural material for the construction of more than 1,500 covered bridges across the state. The first covered bridge was built in 1805. Pennsylvania's Covered Bridges looks at the earliest covered bridges as well as those that have survived modern progress. Images also show rare railroad covered bridges that have been saved from destruction over the years.

Covered Bridges

Covered Bridges PDF Author: Joseph D Conwill
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1784420107
Category : Architecture
Languages : en
Pages : 89

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Book Description
Covered Bridges are historic pieces of American and Canadian rural history, gracing the countryside from Oregon to Tennessee and from California to New Brunswick and across Canada. In this lavishly illustrated volume Joseph D. Conwill recounts the rich, romantic history of covered bridges as they developed from early timber bridges, born out of the traditions of Medieval times, into modernized structures designed for the motorized traffic of the early twentieth century. Reflecting on the efforts to keep covered bridges in service as the face of the rural landscape is transformed, and the challenge of preserving their historic character while making them safe for modern traffic, Conwill guides the reader across the diverse range of covered bridges to be found throughout the North America.

American Wooden Bridges

American Wooden Bridges PDF Author: American Society of Civil Engineers. Committee on History and Heritage of American Civil Engineering
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Bridges
Languages : en
Pages : 194

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America's Covered Bridges

America's Covered Bridges PDF Author: Terry E. Miller
Publisher: Tuttle Publishing
ISBN: 9780804842655
Category : Architecture
Languages : en
Pages : 272

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Book Description
As many as 15,000 covered bridges were built in North America over the past 200 years. Fewer than 1,000 remain. In America's Covered Bridges, authors Terry E. Miller and Ronald G. Knapp tell the fascinating story of these bridges, how they were built, the technological breakthroughs required to construct them and above all the dedication and skill of their builders. Each wooden bridge, whether still standing or long gone, has a story to tell about the nature of America at the time—not only about its transportation needs but the availability of materials and the technological prowess of the people who built it. North American covered bridges were marvels of engineering long before modern civil engineering was invented. Early American bridge builders developed revolutionary new carpentry methods to join timbers into patterns consisting of triangles or continuous arches that resulted in structures rigid enough to span long distances. These systems, called trusses, were critical to bridge construction of the day and had to be protected from the elements by a roof and siding. Few people today realize that bridges were covered to protect the trusses—not the people using the bridge! The unprotected trusses soon degraded and the bridge would collapse. Illustrated with some 550 historical and contemporary photos, paintings, and technical drawings of nearly 400 different covered bridges, America's Covered Bridges offers five readable chapters on the history, design and fate of America's covered bridges, plus related bridges in Canada. Most of the contemporary photography is by master photographer A. Chester Ong of Hong Kong. 55 photo essays on the most iconic bridges remaining, including: Cornish-Windsor Bridge between Vermont and New Hampshire Porter-Parsonsfield Bridge, Maine East Paden and West Paden (Twin Bridges), Pennsylvania Philippi Bridge, West Virginia Hortons Mill Bridge, Alabama Medora Bridge, Indiana Rock Mill Bridge, Ohio Knight's Ferry Bridge, California Perrault Bridge, Quebec, Canada Hartland Bridge, New Brunswick, Canada Among the featured bridges are two that were destroyed before the book could be published, New York's Blenheim Bridge during a storm and Ohio's Humpback Bridge by arson. The Permanent Bridge in Philadelphia, considered by most as the first covered bridge in America, figures prominently, as do the bridges of Lancaster County—heart of Pennsylvania Dutch country. This compendium of classic Americana includes many of the most astounding and iconic bridges ever built in the United States, including those by Timothy Palmer, Theodore Burr and Lewis Wernwag. Some, like the Columbia-Wrightsville Bridge over the Susquehanna River in Pennsylvania, were a mile long. Over time, wooden bridges eventually gave way to ones made of iron, steel and concrete. An American icon, many covered bridges became obsolete and were replaced—others simply decayed and collapsed. Many more were swept away by natural disasters and fires. America's Covered Bridges is absolutely packed with fascinating stories and information passionately told by two leading experts on this subject. The book will be of tremendous interest to anyone interested in American history, carpentry and technological change.

Covered Bridges Across North America

Covered Bridges Across North America PDF Author: Joseph D. Conwill
Publisher: Motorbooks International
ISBN: 9780760318225
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 128

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Book Description
Few symbols of America's transportation past are as popular or evoke as much nostalgia as covered bridges. While several regional histories and guidebooks exist, no general history of the subject in America has been written in the past 20 years. This engaging historical chronology of covered bridges past and present and located across the United States celebrates a quickly vanishing touchstone of rural Americana. The author explains the origin of covered bridges beginning in 1805 before continuing through the "classic era" (1830-1920) and the structure's gradual downfall from 1950 to 1980. Along the way, readers learn of architectural styles and structural types, and discussions of their cultural significance in rural communities. The text is accompanied by color photography of centuries-old structures called from the author's 35-year-old collection, as well as by photos from state and regional archives.

Bridging Deep South Rivers

Bridging Deep South Rivers PDF Author: John S. Lupold
Publisher: University of Georgia Press
ISBN: 0820355380
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 352

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Book Description
Horace King (1807-1885) built covered bridges over every large river in Georgia, Alabama, and eastern Mississippi. That King, who began life as a slave in Cheraw, South Carolina, received no formal training makes his story all the more remarkable. This is the first major biography of the gifted architect and engineer who used his skills to transcend the limits of slavery and segregation and become a successful entrepreneur and builder. John S. Lupold and Thomas L. French Jr. add considerably to our knowledge of a man whose accomplishments demand wider recognition. As a slave and then as a freedman, King built bridges, courthouses, warehouses, factories, and houses in the three-state area. The authors separate legend from facts as they carefully document King’s life in the Chattahoochee Valley on the Georgia-Alabama border. We learn about King’s freedom from slavery in 1846, his reluctant support of the Confederacy, and his two terms in Alabama’s Reconstruction legislature. In addition, the biography reveals King’s relationship with his fellow (white) contractors and investors, especially John Godwin, his master and business partner, and Robert Jemison Jr., the Alabama entrepreneur and legislator who helped secure King’s freedom. The story does not end with Horace, however, because he passed his skills on to his three sons, who also became prominent builders and businessmen. In King’s world few other blacks had his opportunities to excel. King seized on his chances and became the most celebrated bridge builder in the Deep South. The reader comes away from King’s story with respect for the man; insight into the problems of financing, building, and maintaining covered bridges; and a new sense of how essential bridges were to the southern market economy.