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Burma (Myanmar) (search for this): entry engineering
The American system gives the greatest possible rapidity of erection of the bridge on its piers. A span of 518 feet, weighing 1,000 tons, was erected at Cairo on the Mississippi in six days. The parts were not assembled until they were put upon the false works. European engineers have sometimes ordered a bridge to be riveted together complete in the maker's yard, and then taken apart. The adoption of American work in such bridges as the Atbara in South Africa, the Gokteik viaduct in Burmah, 320 feet high, and others, was due to low cost, quick delivery and erection, as well as excellence of material and construction. Foundations, etc. Bridges must have foundations for their piers. Up to the middle of the nineteenth century engineers knew no better way of making them than by laying bare the bed of the river by a pumped-out cofferdam, or by driving piles into the sand, as Julius Caesar did. About the middle of the century, M. Triger, a French engineer, conceived the first
Russia (Russia) (search for this): entry engineering
inning in 1829 with the locomotive of George Stephenson, it has extended with such strides that, after seventy years, there are 466,000 miles of railways in the world, of which 190,000 miles are in the United States. Their cost is estimated at $40,000,000,000, of which $10,000,000,000 belong to the United States. The rapidity with which railways are built in the United States and Canada contrasts strongly with what has been done in other countries. Much has been written of the energy of Russia in building 3,000 miles of Siberian railway in five or six years. In the United States an average of 6,147 miles was completed every year during ten successive years, and in 1887 there were built 12,982 miles. They were built economically, and at first in not as solid a manner as those of Europe. Steeper gradients, sharper curves, and lighter rails were used. This rendered necessary a different kind of rolling-stock suitable to such construction. The swivelling-truck and equalizing-beam
France (France) (search for this): entry engineering
e of the survival of the fittest. Millions of dollars are expended on machinery, when suddenly a new discovery or invention casts them all into the scrap heap, to be replaced by those of greater earning capacity. Prime motors derive their energy either from coal or other combinations of carbon, such as petroleum, or from gravity. This may come from falling water, and the old-fashioned water-wheels of the eighteenth century were superseded in the nineteenth by turbines, first invented in France and since greatly perfected. These are used in the electrical transmission of water-power at Niagara of 5,000 horsepower, and form a very important part of the plant. The other gravity motors are windmills and wave-motors. Wind-mills are an old invention, but have been greatly improved in the United States by the use of the self-reefing wheel. The great plains of the West are subject to sudden, violent gales of wind, and unless the wheel was automatically self-reefing it would often
Poughkeepsie (New York, United States) (search for this): entry engineering
which is a revival of a very ancient type, came into use. The great Forth Bridge, in Scotland, 1,600-foot span, is of this style, as are the 500-foot spans at Poughkeepsie, and now a new one is being designed to cross the St. Lawrence near Quebec, of 1,800-foot span. This is probably near the economic limit of cantilever construth Wales, in Australia, called for both designs and tenders for a bridge over an estuary of the sea called Hawkesbury. The conditions were the same as that at Poughkeepsie, except that the soft mud reached to a depth of 160 feet below tide-level. The designs of the engineers of the Poughkeepsie bridge were accepted, and the sa the Hudson River so as to give 3,000,000,000 to 4,000,000,000 gallons daily. It is then proposed to pump 1,000,000,000 gallons daily from the Hudson River at Poughkeepsie, 60 miles away, to a height sufficient to supply New York City by gravity through an aqueduct. If this scheme is carried out, the total supply will be about
Central Australia (Australia) (search for this): entry engineering
r caissons were built, having double sides, and the spaces between them filled with stone to give weight. Their tops were left open and the American singlebucket dredge was used. This bucket was lowered and lifted by a very long wire rope worked by the engine, and with it the soft material was removed. The internal space was then filled with concrete laid under water by the same bucket, and levelled by divers when necessary. While this work was going on, the government of New South Wales, in Australia, called for both designs and tenders for a bridge over an estuary of the sea called Hawkesbury. The conditions were the same as that at Poughkeepsie, except that the soft mud reached to a depth of 160 feet below tide-level. The designs of the engineers of the Poughkeepsie bridge were accepted, and the same method of sinking open caissons (in this case made of iron) was carried out with perfect success. The erection of this bridge involved another difficult problem. The mu
Dalton, Ga. (Georgia, United States) (search for this): entry engineering
y 7,000,000, or less than the tonnage of the little Harlem River at New York. Industrial engineering. This leads us to our last topic, for which too little room has been left. Industrial engineering covers statical, hydraulic, mechanical, and electrical engineering, and adds a new branch which we may call chemical engineering. This is pre-eminently a child of the nineteenth century, and is the conversion of one thing into another by a knowledge of their chemical constituents. When Dalton first applied mathematics to chemistry and made it quantitative, he gave the key which led to the discoveries of Cavendish, Gay-Lussac, Berzelius, Liebig, and others. This new knowledge was not locked up, but at once given to the world, and made use of. Its first application on a large scale was made by Napoleon in encouraging the manufacture of sugar from beets. The new products were generally made from what were called waste material. We now have the manufacture of soda, bleaching pow
Quebec (Canada) (search for this): entry engineering
ron bridge, built in 1870, and a bridge at the same place, built in 1886. The bridge of 1870 was of iron, with a span of 400 feet. The bridge of 1886 was of steel. Its span was 550 feet. The weights of the two were nearly alike. The cantilever design, which is a revival of a very ancient type, came into use. The great Forth Bridge, in Scotland, 1,600-foot span, is of this style, as are the 500-foot spans at Poughkeepsie, and now a new one is being designed to cross the St. Lawrence near Quebec, of 1,800-foot span. This is probably near the economic limit of cantilever construction. The suspension bridge can be extended much farther, as it carries no dead weight of compression members. The Niagara Suspension Bridge, of 810-foot span, built by Roebling, in 1852, and the Brooklyn Bridge, of 1,600 feet, built by Roebling and his son, twenty years after, marked a wonderful advance in bridge design. The same lines of construction will be followed in the 2,700-foot span, designed
United States (United States) (search for this): entry engineering
e world, of which 190,000 miles are in the United States. Their cost is estimated at $40,000,000,000, of which $10,000,000,000 belong to the United States. The rapidity with which railways are berian railway in five or six years. In the United States an average of 6,147 miles was completed ev, have been potent factors in enabling the United States to send abroad last year $1,456,000,000 struction has made greater progress in the United States than abroad. The heavy trains that we havbridge for every 3 miles of railway in the United States, making 63,000 bridges, most of which haveion will be built by the government of the United States. The deepening of the Southwest Pass ofion, but have been greatly improved in the United States by the use of the self-reefing wheel. The years since by Gilchrist & Thomas. The United States have taken the lead in steel manufacture. . It is estimated that there are in the United States 1,500,000 of these machines, but as the ha[5 more...]
Lake Erie (United States) (search for this): entry engineering
try at that time. These self-taught men, some of them land surveyors and others lawyers, showed themselves the equals of the Englishmen Brindley and Smeaton, when they located a water route through the wilderness, having a uniform descent from Lake Erie to the Hudson, and which would have been so built if there had been enough money. There should be a waterway from the Hudson to Lake Erie large enough for vessels able to navigate the lakes and the ocean. A draft of 21 feet can be had at a Lake Erie large enough for vessels able to navigate the lakes and the ocean. A draft of 21 feet can be had at a cost estimated at $200,000,000. The deepening of the Chicago drainage canal to the Mississippi River, and the deepening of the Mississippi itself to the Gulf of Mexico, is a logical sequence of the first project. The Nicaragua Canal would then form one part of a great line of navigation, by which the products of the interior of the continent could reach either the Atlantic or Pacific Ocean. The cost would be small compared with the resulting benefits, and some day this navigation will
Canada (Canada) (search for this): entry engineering
the nineteenth century was the development of the railway system which has changed the face of the world. Beginning in 1829 with the locomotive of George Stephenson, it has extended with such strides that, after seventy years, there are 466,000 miles of railways in the world, of which 190,000 miles are in the United States. Their cost is estimated at $40,000,000,000, of which $10,000,000,000 belong to the United States. The rapidity with which railways are built in the United States and Canada contrasts strongly with what has been done in other countries. Much has been written of the energy of Russia in building 3,000 miles of Siberian railway in five or six years. In the United States an average of 6,147 miles was completed every year during ten successive years, and in 1887 there were built 12,982 miles. They were built economically, and at first in not as solid a manner as those of Europe. Steeper gradients, sharper curves, and lighter rails were used. This rendered necessar
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