Structures

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Structures

• Technology Foundations
• Stuarts Draft High School
• Duane A. Burtner, Instructor

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INTRODUCTION

• The ancient Romans were the world's first great
  structural engineers. They perfected the arch for
  graceful looking strong bridges. Their huge
  Coliseum was finished in 80 A.D. and held 45,000
  spectators. The Romans also dug tunnels several
  miles long and built over 50,000 miles of roads.
  Some of these roads are still in use after 2,000
  years.

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BRIDGES

• Stone made beautiful bridges, but iron is
  stronger. The world's first iron bridge,
  constructed in 1779 by Abraham Darby, spans the
  River Severn near Coalbrookdale in west central
  England. The 196-foot, cast iron bridge,
  assembled with large pins - not bolts or rivets,
  is still in use today.
• The next step in metal bridge construction was an
  all steel bridge. The first major one was by
  James Buchanan Eads across the Mississippi River
  at St. Louis in 1874. Just north of the Gateway
  Arch, it continues to carry people over the most
  powerful and frequently flooded river in America.

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BRIDGES

• In one form or another, suspension bridges have
  been used for centuries. Road surfaces were
  suspended from natural fiber ropes, chains, or
  links. But it was John Augustus Roebling's 1855
  Niagara River Bridge near Niagara Falls that
  earned a reputation as the first to safely carry
  heavy railroad traffic. He used wire rope for
  the main cables.

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TALL BUILDINGS STRUCTURES

• All masonry buildings rely only on the strength
  of brick or stone. Tall ones required a wall
  thickness of ten feet or more. The word
  skyscraper describes a tall building with a metal
  supporting frame. William LeBaron Jenney built
  the first one in 1883. It was the Home Insurance
  Building in Chicago. At ten stories, others were
  taller, but Jenney's skyscraper was the first
  with a complete metal frame. The world's tallest
  load bearing masonry structure is the Washington
  Monument in Washington D.C. It is 555 feet from
  the top to the bottom, over 100 feet taller than
  the Great Pyramid near Cairo, Egypt

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TALL BUILDINGS STRUCTURES

• Gustave Eiffel was the first to construct a tall
  structure of iron. His 1889 Eiffel Tower in
  Paris, France has 12,000 prefabricated parts. At
  almost 1,000 feet, it was the tallest structure
  in the world until the 77-story Chrysler Building
  was finished in New York in 1930. Eiffel also
  designed the supporting framework for the Statue
  of Liberty in Upper New York Bay.
• Organizers of the 1893 Chicago World's Fair
  wanted to match the dominance of Eiffel's Tower.
  They contracted with young bridge builder George
  Ferris to build a huge wheel he had proposed.
  That first Ferris wheel, 264 feet in diameter,
  was a popular attraction. A total of 1,453,611
  people rode it during the fair.

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LOW BUILDINGS

• In the l840s, house construction went from using
  heavy wooden beams to smaller lumber sizes. It
  was called stud frame construction and all modern
  houses use it. Catharine Beecher was an architect
  who designed houses, churches, school and
  apartment buildings. She specialized in more
  efficient interiors by changing the size and
  location of rooms.

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LOW BUILDINGS

• The first world's fair was in London, England's
  huge Hyde Park in 1851. To shelter the displays,
  Joseph Paxton built a beautiful structure that
  resembled a greenhouse with arches. The building
  was called the Crystal Palace. It burned down in
  1936, but continues to influence architects
  today. Examples include the Infomart building in
  Dallas, Texas and the United Airlines terminal at
  Chicago's O'Hare International Airport.

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LOW BUILDINGS

• Some houses and other building are constructed in
  the shape of a dome, a geodesic dome. It is a
  sphere made from many small pyramid-shaped
  frames. Geodesic domes use only 3 of the
  materials as a conventionally built house. A
  distinctly American form of architecture, it was
  patented in 1947 by R. Buckminster Fuller.

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TUNNELS AND DAMS

• Tunnels use structural liners for strength. Marc
  Isambard BruneI used the first one for a tunnel
  under the River Thames in London, England in
  1827. The 80-ton cast iron liner was in 12
  sections. Screw jacks pushed each section forward
  as the tunnel was dug with hand shovels. The
  tunnel is still in use downstream from the Tower
  Bridge.

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TUNNELS AND DAMS

• A highly publicized tunnel is the 32-mile English
  Channel Tunnel. It's the longest underwater
  tunnel in the world and connects Folkestone,
  England with Calais, France. There are actually
  three railroad tunnels one westbound, one
  eastbound, and one for servicing. The most
  expensive private construction project in
  history, it opened for routine traffic in 1994.
  The largest concrete structure ever built is the
  Grand Coulee Dam across the Columbia River, 90
  miles from Spokane, Washington. Designed by John
  Lucian Savage, chief engineer of the U.S. Bureau
  of Reclamations, the nine-year project was
  completed in 1942. The huge dam is 550 feet high
  and 4173 feet long.

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Great Structures

• The First Ferris Wheel- Circa 1893
• The first Ferris Wheel carried 40 people in each
  of the 36 enclosed cars. The 264 foot Big Wheel,
  as it was called, dominated the site. A 20 minute
  two revolution ride in 1893 cost 50 cents.
• Courtesy Chicago Historical Society

 
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Great Structures (continued)

• The Eads Bridge - Circa 1874
• The Eads Bridge over the Mississippi River at St.
  Louis has three spans, each over 500 feet. The
  first major all steel bridge, it was built from
  each shore and opened in 1874.
• Courtesy Smithsonian Institution

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Great Structures (continued)

• The World's First Skyscraper - Circa 1883
• The ten-story Horne Insurance Building in Chicago
  was the world's first skyscraper. It stood on the
  corner of Lasalle Adams Streets for nearly 50
  years. The inset shows an interior section of the
  metal frame at Chicago's Museum of Science
  Industry.
• Courtesy Chicago Historical Society

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Great Structures (continued)

• The Eiffel Tower
• The Eiffel Tower was once the tallest structure
  in the world. Made entirely of wrought iron, it
  required 2.5 million rivets to fasten the pieces
  together.
• Courtesy EI AI Israel Airlines

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Great Structures (continued)

• The First Iron Bridge - Circa 1779
• The first all metal bridge spans the River Severn
  in west central England. Completed in 1779, the
  iron bridge is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and a
  popular tourist attraction.
• Courtesy Ironbridge Gorge Museum

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Great Structures (continued)

• The Crystal Palace - Circa 1851
• London hosted the first World's Fair in 1851.
  This picture, taken from a balloon over Hyde
  Park, shows the huge iron glass Crystal Palace.
  It was as long as 18 football fields and remained
  in use until it accidentally burned down in 1936.
• Courtesy Fox Photos

 
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Great Structures (continued)
 

• The Grand Coulee Dam
• The Grand Coulee Dam is the greatest source of
  hydro electric power in America. About 90 miles
  northwest of Spokane, Washington, it is near a
  deep chasm called the Grand Coulee.
• Courtesy U.S. Bureau of Reclamation

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SOME SUSPENSION BRIDGES WITH MAIN SPAN LENGTHS

• 1964 Verrazano-Narrows Bridges - 4260 ft. New
  York, NY
• 1937 Golden Gate Bridge - 4200 ft. San
  Francisco, CA
• 1957 Mackinac Bridge - 3800 ft. Mackinaw,
  Ml
• 1931 George Washington Bridge - 3500 ft. New
  York, NY
• 1883 Brooklyn Bridge - 1595 ft. New York,
  NY

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WORLD'S TALLEST SKYSCRAPERS

• 1974 Sears Tower - 1454 ft. Chicago, IL
• 1973 World Trade Center - 1368 ft. New York, NY
• 1931 Empire State Building - 1250 ft. New York,
  NY
• 1974 Amoco Building - 1136 ft. Chicago, 1L
• 1969 John Hancock Center - 1127 ft. Chicago, IL

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SOME RAILROAD TUNNELS

• 1985 Seikan Tunnel- 33.5 miles Japan
• 1994 English Channel Tunnel- 32.2 miles England
• 1882 Saint Gotthard Tunnel - 9.3
  miles Switzerland
• 1871 Mont Cenis Tunnel- 8.5 miles France
• 1876 Hoosac Tunnel- 4.5 miles
  Massachusetts