Manayunk Bridge Truss, 1845
Manayunk Bridge Truss, 1845
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- Description
- This span that once crossed Manayunk Creek in Pennsylvania is from the first iron truss bridge built in the United States. Richard Osbourne, the British-born chief engineer for the Philadelphia & Reading Railroad, designed this bridge in the 1840s, based on a cross-hatch wood truss pattern developed by the American engineer William Howe.
- P&R shops crafted this span from cast and wrought iron, assembling it without bolts or screws, much like the timber joinery found in all-wood bridges of the era.
- The railroad used the new, stronger iron bridges to speed coal trains from Schuykill Valley to Philadelphia coal yards, bypassing the less efficient canal system.
- The Smithsonian collected this span in 1942, days before it was scheduled to be melted down as wartime scrap iron.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Object Name
- Bridge Truss
- Date made
- 1844-1845
- maker
- Reading Company
- Measurements
- overall: 3 1/2 ft x 42 ft x 12 ft; 1.0668 m x 12.8016 m x 3.6576 m
- ID Number
- MC.312552.01
- catalog number
- 312552.01
- accession number
- 164162
- Credit Line
- Reading Company through Mr. I.L. Gordon
- See more items in
- Work and Industry: Mechanical and Civil Engineering
- Engineering, Building, and Architecture
- Industry & Manufacturing
- Transportation
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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