THE

STANDARD AMERICAN

ENCYCLOPEDIA

OF

ARTS, SCIENCES, HISTORY,

BIOGRAPHY, GEOGRAPHY,

STATISTICS, AND GENERAL Knowledge

WITH

THOUSANDS OF ENGRAVINGS, COLORED MAPS AND CHARTS

PREPARED UNDER THE SUPERVISION OF

JOHN CLARK RIDPATH, LL.D.

ASSISTED BY A LARGE CORPS OF EDITORS AND OVER ONE HUNDRED WRITERS
ON SPECIAL SUBJECTS

VOL. II

PUBLISHED BY

THE ENCYCLOPEDIA PUBLISHING COMPANY

156 FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YORK

1897

COPYRIGHT, 1896, BY H. W. KNIGHT.

BRIDGE BATEAU-BRIDGENORTH.

415

Bridge Bateau', a floating-bridge, something similar to a pontoon-bridge, supported by bateaux.

a

a

a

a

Bateau.

a, a, a, a, bateaux; b, b, b, b, balks; c, c, chesses.

over the Trent, at Newark, Eng.; Blackfriar's, London; the Tower B., London; Clifton Suspension-B., England; over the Eipel, Hungary; over the Rhine, at Strasburg; over the Saar, at Freiburg; over the Lahn, at Coblentz; over the Thames, at Windsor; over the Orne, France; over the Ohio, at Benwood; over the Hudson, at Poughkeepsie, and over the Harlem River, New York. Some of the most important Bs. ever constructed have been built within a few yrs. past. One is over the Duoro River, at Bordeaux, finished 1886. The necessary extreme length of this B. is 1,278 ft., and it has only one span. The outward thrust of the enormous arch is tremendous, and the height of the arch, 240 ft. above low-water, offers an immense leverage for the high winds. The span of the arch is the greatest in existence, 566 ft. The thickness of the arch at the key is 26 ft., about of the span, and the thickness increases downward until it reaches 55 ft. at the piers. Over the Forth, at Queensferry, near Edinburgh, is one of the most remarkable Bs. in the world. A suspension-B. was begun here in 1878, but when the Tay disaster occurred the work was abandoned and recommenced on the cantilever plan in 1883. The breadth of the Forth at Queensferry is rather more than a mile, but as the viaduct is continued over land on the end shores for several hundred yards the whole Bridge-build'ing Broth'erhoods were religious socilength of the B. is about 1 m., including two 1,700-ft. eties that originated in France in the latter half of the spans, two 675-ft. spans, fifteen 168-ft. spans, and five 25-ft. 12th c. Their purpose was to establish hospices at the spans. The clear headway under the center of the B. is most frequent fords of large rivers, to keep up ferries, and 150 ft. above high-water. The three main piers of the to build bridges. The Church during the Middle Ages restructure are known respectively as the Fife pier, the Inch-garded the making of streets and bridges as meritorious reGarvie pier, and the Queensferry pier, upon each of which ligious services. The fraternity was sanctioned by Pope is built a huge cantilever. The piers comprise four columns Clemens III. in 1189; its internal organization was similar carried down to the rock, one of them more than 90 ft. to that of the knightly orders, and the members wore as below high-water. The caissons are filled with concrete up their badge or insignia a pick-hammer on the breast. to low-water mark, above which cylindrical masonry piers, Bridge-head, or Tete-du-pont, in Military Engineer. 55 ft. in diameter at the bottom and 36 ft. h., are carried ing, is a fortified post intended to defend the passage of a river over a bridge. It is a field-work, open at the gorge or in the rear, and having its two flanks on the banks of the river. The most favorable position is at a re-entering sinuosity of the river, where the guns can work better with the supporting batteries opposite. Bs. are usually temporary works, hastily constructed. Their most frequent use is to aid a retiring army to cross the river in order, and to check an enemy pressing upon it. Openings are left to allow the retiring army, with guns and carriages, to file through without confusion; and parapets are so disposed as to flank and defend these openings.

up, 48 heavy steel bolts holding down the bed-plates and the superstructure of the main spans. One of the leading features in the design of the superstructure is the tubular struts of hitherto unequaled length, of which nearly 6 m. are required for the completed B., some of which are 12 ft. in diameter. The whole work is on a magnificent scale. During the last 40 yrs. many suspension-Bs. have been built in Europe and the U. S. The first one of importance was erected over the Ohio at Wheeling 1848, and was broken down by the wind in 1854. Its span was 1,010 ft. The Bellevue B. at Niagara, built 1848, had a span of 759 ft. This was removed in 1854 and its cables incorporated in another B. constructed by John A. Roebling, whose name is now familiar to most Americans as the builder of the B. at Niagara, the one at Cincinnati over the Ohio, and as the designer of the B. between New York and Brooklyn, perhaps the most notable engineering feat of the c. A notable structure is the Niagara cantilever B., finished in 1883. It is a double-track R.R. B., about 300 ft. farther up the stream than the R.R. suspension-B., and was built for the Michigan Central R.R. It is constructed on the cantilever principle, (q. v.) See EAST RIVER BRIDGE.

23176

The

Bridge, Mil'itary, is a temporary construction to facilitate the passage of rivers by troops, cannon, and military wagons. most efficient are described under PONTOONS, (q. v. ;) but there are many other kinds. A B. of boats is formed by small-craft, especially cargo-boats, collected from various places up and down the river; trestles are placed in them to bring their tops to one common level; the boats are anchored across the river, and bulks of timber, resting on trestles, form a continuous road from boat to boat across the whole breadth of the river; the boats ought to be of such size that, when fully laden, the gunwales or upper edges shall not be less than 1 ft. above the water. Rope-Bs. are sometimes, but not frequently, used by military engineers. A boat and rope B. consists of cables resting on boats, and supporting a platform or road of stout timber. A cask-B. consists of a series of timber-rafts resting on casks; the casks are grouped together in quadrangular masses; at certain intervals timbers are laid upon them to form rafts, and several such rafts form a B.; it is an inferior kind of pontoon-B. A trestle-B. is sometimes made for crossing a small stream in a hilly country; it consists of trestles hastily made up in any rough materials that may be at hand, with planking or fascines to form a flooring, cables to keep the trestles in a straight line, and heavy stones to prevent them from floating. Raft-Bs. consist of planks lashed together.

Bridge'north, town of Salop, or Shropshire, Eng.; pop. 7,317. The town, which at one time was called Bruges or Brug, is said to be of Saxon origin. In the beginning of the 12th c. the Earl of Shrewsbury defended the town unsuccessfully against Henry I. It was besieged in the same c. by Henry II.; and during the civil wars it resisted the Parlia Imentary forces for three weeks