Skip to main content

Bessemer

Smithfield Street Bridge
Society: ASCE Main Category: Civil Sub Category: Bridges Era: 1880-1889 DateCreated: 1883 Monongahela River Pittsburgh State: PA Zip: 15222 Country: USA Website: http://www.asce.org/Project/Smithfield-Street-Bridge/ Creator: Lindenthal, Gustav

Three rivers - the Allegheny, Monongahela, and Ohio - join in Pittsburgh, making the city a natural site for the building of bridges. But the Smithfield Street Bridge stands apart from other Pittsburgh bridges for several reasons: it replaced structures by two well-known bridge engineers, Lewis Wernwag and John A. Roebling; it was the first use in America of the lenticular - or lens-shaped - truss design; and it was one of the first major bridges in the U.S. built primarily with steel.

YearAdded:
1975
Image Credit: Courtesy Flickr/RJ Schmidt (CC BY-ND 2.0) Image Caption: Smithfield Street Bridge Era_date_from: 1883
Cooper Steam Traction Engine Collection
Society: ASME Main Category: Civil Sub Category: Agriculture Era: 1860-1869 DateCreated: 1860s Knox County Historical Society Mount Vernon State: OH Zip: 43050 Country: USA Website: http://www.asme.org/about-asme/history/landmarks/topics-a-l/agriculture/-201-cooper-steam-traction-engine-collection-%28late, https://www.asme.org/getmedia/4071fc96-7a0c-4d14-8f4e-5d9371c259b2/201-Cooper-Steam-Traction-Engine.aspx Creator: Cooper & Co.

These engines, built by Cooper & Co., of Mount Vernon are among the oldest surviving agricultural steam engines to show the evolution from the portable, skid-mounted engine (ca. 1860) to the horse-drawn engine (1875), through the self-propelled but horse-guided engine (1875) and finally to the self-propelled, self-steered traction engine (1883). Such engines powered the conversion to mechanized farming, which was a great hallmark of the Industrial Revolution.

YearAdded:
1998
Image Credit: Courtesy ASME Image Caption: Cooper Self-Propelled, Self-Steering Traction Engine Era_date_from: 1860s
Subscribe to Bessemer

Innovations

Cooper Steam Traction Engine Collection

These engines, built by Cooper & Co., of Mount Vernon are among the oldest surviving agricultural steam engines to show the evolution from the portable, skid-mounted engine (ca. 1860) to the horse-drawn engine (1875), through the self-propelled but horse-guided engine (1875) and finally to…

Read More
Smithfield Street Bridge

Three rivers - the Allegheny, Monongahela, and Ohio - join in Pittsburgh, making the city a natural site for the building of bridges. But the Smithfield Street Bridge stands apart from other Pittsburgh bridges for several reasons: it replaced structures by two well-known bridge engineers, Lewis…

Read More

We hope you enjoyed this essay.

Please support America's only magazine of the history of engineering and innovation, and the volunteers that sustain it with a donation to Invention & Technology.

Donate

Stay informed - subscribe to our newsletter.
The subscriber's email address.