Happy Birthday to the coat hanger!

ttf_Graham Martin · Post by **ttf_Graham Martin** » Sat Mar 18, 2017 4:22 pm

As a one-time structural engineer who once worked in the Bridge & Steelwork section of the Chief Civil Engineer's Office for British Railways, I have a fascination for bridges and their history. One of my favourite bridge designs, second only to London's Tower Bridge, is Sydney Harbour Bridge, known variously as the Coat Hanger, the Iron Lung, etc. It is an iconic landmark you just cannot miss travelling around Sydney, where I lived for many of my years in Australia. It is also vital to the flow of traffic in and out of the city.

A special part of my relationship with the Harbour Bridge is the fact that my boss when I worked for British Railways (as mentioned above) had previously worked for Dorman and Long in Newcastle, England. As a draftsman/engineer, he worked on the drawings for the Harbour Bridge and he told me that he had several birthdays over one of his drawings that had gone backwards and forwards from England to Australia. So much so that the paper was yellowed with age. You will have to remember that in those days there was no way of electrically transmitting drawings and you had to do it physically.

It is the 85th Birthday of the coat hanger, which makes it is just a few years older than I am. I think I have raved about it on this forum previously.

I do have another connection with the bridge; in that, after I returned to Australia from the US, I had a job which included running a few timber truss and frame manufacturing plants. One of these plants was in Moruya in Southern New South Wales. That was the place they quarried the sandstone for the piers and abutments of the bridge. The whole town was founded around that quarry.

Sorry to rave on but I love that old bridge. Classic engineering!

Happy Birthday!!!

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-03-19/sydney-harbour-bridge-celebrates-85th-birthday/8363688

ttf_Doghouse Dan · Post by **ttf_Doghouse Dan** » Sat Mar 18, 2017 4:41 pm

Grah,

That looks just like our Sagamore and Bourne brides, both spanning the Cape Cod Canal. Built in 1933 by the Army Corps of Engineers. Was that a standard design of the time?

http://www.kenconwayphotography.com/img/s/v-3/p237252765-3.jpg

http://www.visitingnewengland.com/PageMill_Resources/image1870.gif

ttf_Graham Martin · Post by **ttf_Graham Martin** » Sat Mar 18, 2017 6:51 pm

Quote from: Doghouse Dan on Mar 18, 2017, 04:41PMGrah,

That looks just like our Sagamore and Bourne brides, both spanning the Cape Cod Canal. Built in 1933 by the Army Corps of Engineers. Was that a standard design of the time?

http://www.kenconwayphotography.com/img/s/v-3/p237252765-3.jpg

http://www.visitingnewengland.com/PageMill_Resources/image1870.gif

Certainly those two bridges are similar and the design was indeed of American influence, particularly the Hell Gate Bridge in New York City.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hell_Gate_Bridge

It is true that the arch type design was popular in the early 1900s. In the case of the Coat Hanger it was cheaper than alternative cantilever and suspension bridge proposals, and also better suited for the heavy loads expected.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sydney_Harbour_Bridge

ttf_anonymous · Post by **ttf_anonymous** » Fri Apr 07, 2017 7:07 am

My father was born in Sydney on the day the bridge was opened.

In the 1980s and 90s I worked in a design office with a man who came out to Australia as a child from the UK with his parents. His father was an engineer on the bridge construction. A lot of UK men came out here for that job.

My wife and I lived overseas for a few years. Every time we came back to Australia it was through Sydney. The sight of that bridge, the Opera House and the beautiful harbour was always so good.

Phil

ttf_Nanook · Post by **ttf_Nanook** » Fri Apr 07, 2017 8:50 am

Nice connection to a beautiful bridge...I grew up in Pittsburgh, surrounded by all different styles of bridges and we used to horse around underneath many of them along the rivers....As I understand it the bridge builders convention is held here...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bridges_of_Pittsburgh

ttf_Steven · Post by **ttf_Steven** » Fri Apr 07, 2017 9:15 am

Quote from: Nanook on Apr 07, 2017, 08:50AMNice connection to a beautiful bridge...I grew up in Pittsburgh, surrounded by all different styles of bridges and we used to horse around underneath many of them along the rivers....

Do you have a favorite among the Pittsburgh bridges? I'm partial to the Smithfield Street bridge with its lenticular trusses.

Having grown up on an island, I've always been interested in bridges.

ttf_Nanook · Post by **ttf_Nanook** » Fri Apr 07, 2017 10:03 am

Quote from: Steven on Apr 07, 2017, 09:15AMDo you have a favorite among the Pittsburgh bridges? I'm partial to the Smithfield Street bridge with its lenticular trusses.

Having grown up on an island, I've always been interested in bridges.

The Smithfield for sure...we would walk across it over the streetcar tracks...You could see the river between the rail ties....You sort of had to "have a pair" in order to do it...I grew up on the southside...

ttf_Nanook · Post by **ttf_Nanook** » Fri Apr 07, 2017 10:03 am

Quote from: Steven on Apr 07, 2017, 09:15AMDo you have a favorite among the Pittsburgh bridges? I'm partial to the Smithfield Street bridge with its lenticular trusses.

Having grown up on an island, I've always been interested in bridges.

The Smithfield for sure...we would walk across it over the streetcar tracks...You could see the river between the rail ties....You sort of had to "have a pair" in order to do it...I grew up on the southside...