GIGANTIC STEEL BRIDGE.

Kumara Times, Issue 534, 13 June 1878, Page 4

GIGANTIC STEEL BRIDGE.

A bridge of such proportions as the world has never yet seen (says an English paper) is proposed by Sir -Joseph Bazalgette for the purpose of connecting the two banks of the Thames in the vicinity of the Tower, and the plan has received the approval of the Metropolitan Board. The operation contemplated by the Board consisted building up a structure of ateel crossing the Thames in one tremendous span, clearing the water at such an altitude that three-fourths of the masted ships which require to do •so will be able to pass under the elevated roadway without any hindrance, while the remaining fourth will merely have to lower their topmasts, which ■they may very well afford to do, as •topsails are not carried in the Thames above Gravesend. The case now before us affords a striking instance of the great practical results which are •apt to follow from improved processes in the arts. Steel, when perfect in its ■composition, is capable of bearing a much more severe strain than iron, and the improvements which have been effected by Dr. Siemens and others in the manufacture of this metal have rendered it more thoroughly trustworthy, and have enabled it to be produced, at a moderate cost, with nearly double the strength of iron. Hence it is now possible to construct such a "bridge as would have been practically out of the question a few years ago.