Democratic Sentinel, Volume 8, Number 10, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 4 April 1884 — The Cantilever Bridge. [ARTICLE]

The Cantilever Bridge.

Tile new bridge over the Niagara river, which connects the Canada Southern road with the New York Central, is a mechanic novelty in the way of bridges. It is called a cantilever bridge. This name is borrowed from architecture, and means a bracket to sustain a balcony. In this new bridge, the only one of the kind in America, there are two brackets opposite each other, each resting on a pier. The shore ends of the brackets rest upon and are fastened down to another pier; the outer ends, projecting over the water, sustaiu a central span, merely resting upon them, and free to respond to the change in the temperature. To get a rude idea of the principle of the cantilever bridge, place two chairs two feet apart; put a foot-rule on each ch lir, held down by a book; the ends of the rules will not meet across the space separating the two chairs, but by resting a third rule upon their ends tlie bridge is eofnpleto. This is a skeleton idea. Now, in place of the chairs substitute four piers of masonry; instead of the two rules, balance upon the piers two beams resting upon the intermediate piers with the shore the beams placed upon and fastened to the two extreme piers; another span resting upon their outer ends substituted for the third rule, and this is the cantilever bridge. There is another brid ;e of this kind building in Scotland over the famous Frith of Forth —DemoresVs Monthly.