US36747A - Improvement in piers and bridges - Google Patents

Description

N. PETERS, PHDTULIYHOGRAPHER, WASHINGTON, D. C.

UNITED STATES PATENT OEELOE.

WILLIAM H. WOOD, OE nUDsON, NEW JEEsEr.

IMPROVEMENT IN PIERS A ND BRIDGES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 36,747, dated October 2l, 1862.

To all whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM H. WOOD, of Hudson city, in the county of Hudson and State of New Jersey, have invented a new and useful Improvement in the Construction of Piers and Bridges; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, making a part of this specification, in which--y Figure 1 is a vertical section of my invention, taken in the line m x, Fig. 2; Fig. 2, a vertical section of the same, taken in the line y y, Fig. l. Fig. 3 is a horizontal section of a portion of. the same, taken in tho line e c, Fig. 1. V

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the several figures.

The object of this invention is to construct piers and bridges in such a manner that they will be very durable, equally so as stone, and

much less expensive, not greatly exceeding the cost of good wooden structures of thekind.

To this end the invention consists in the employment or use of hollow cast-iron columns, filled with concrete or cement, and supported on wooden spiles below the surface of the bed of the river or stream. The cast-iron columns support iron girders, on which an arched iiooring of masonry rests, said iiooring being covered with sand or cement, on which a trap-rock or other suitable pavement is laid, as hereinafter fully shown and described.

To enable those skilled in the art to fully understand and construct my invention, I will proceed to describe it.

A represents aseries of wooden piles,which are driven vertically into the bed of the stream or river at such points where it is designed to have the cast-iron columns of the pier or bridge rest. These piles, after being driven in the bed of the river or stream, are cut off, so that their upper ends will be about flush with the upper surface of the bed, and they are cut away circumferentially at their upper parts, so as to leave shoulders a some distance below their upper ends, to serve as supports for the hollow cast-iron columns B. (See more particularly Fig. l.) In order to cut the piles in this manner, and adjust the columns properly on them, coffer-dams are of course employed.

The cast-iron columns B may be of any suit -able dimensions. For ordinary purposes, how

ever, those of two and a half feet in diameter will probably be used, the height being vari able, as circumstances may require. 'Ihe` they are placed in rows, so as to support girdp ers D, slightly arc-hed, as shown in Fig. 1. These girders D are rolled, so as to be of I form in their transversesection, as shown in Fig. 2, and upon them there are laid similar but lighter girders, E, placed at a suitable distance apart, and the spaces between filled with arches of masonry, as shown at F. On the upper surface of this arched flooring there is laid sand or cement G, and upon the latter is laid a trap-rock or other suitable pave ment,H.

The girders D E are supported by braces I, the lower ends of which are secured to the cast-irons columns B in any proper manner.

`These braces may be of cast or wrought iron,

and the end girders, E, of the flooring are braced by horizontal braces J, in order that the thrust of the arches F may be efteotually resisted. These arches F (shown in Figs. 2

'and 3) are important, as the stability of the iiooring depends greatly upon them. rIhe castiron columns B, at the sides of the pier or bridge, extend upward above the others sufficiently high to retain in proper position stone curbs K, (See Fig. l.)

I propose to use cast-iron mooring-posts L, cast with a flange at their lower ends, andthe latter bolted to the girders E, as shown by the l dotted lines in Fig. l.

By this mode of construction an extremely durable pier or bridge is obtained. There are no combustible materials used in its construction. The piles A being below the bed. or bottom of the river or stream, are inaccessible to the worms, and the columns B,

as well as the girders D E, may be protected from oxidation by a suitable coat of paint, or by galvanizing.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim vas new, and desire to secure by Let ters Patent, is-

A pier or bridge constructed of hollow able pavement, H, is laid, substantially as cast-iron columns B, fitted on Wooden piles herein set forth. A driven into the bed of the' river or stream, i lled with concrete er cement G, and sup- XV' H' WOOD porting, by means of braced girders l) E, an Witnesses: f arched llooring, F, covered with sand or cem- R. GAWLEY, ent G, on which :L tmp-rock or other suit- TIMOTHY SHINE.

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