|
|
||
09/22/03 |
     
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Construction of the 102-story Empire State Building began in 1930 and
was completed in one year and 45 days, rising at a rate of
four-and-a-half stories a week; a rate of ascent unsurpassed today.
Everything was engineered to be duplicated in tremendous quantity with
almost perfect accuracy. The steel posts and beams arrived at the site
marked with their place in the framework and with the number of the
derrick that would hoist them. Workers could swing the steel into place
and have it riveted as soon as 80 hours after it had come out of the
furnace. The building is considered one of the seven greatest American
engineering achievements. Who Made It: Structural engineer: H.G. Balcom of H.G. Balcom and Associates. Chief engineer: Andrew J. Eken of Starrett Bros. & Eken Inc. |
 |
 Fun
Fact: |
|||
|
|||||
|
|
|
||||
|
|||||
The Erie Canal
Opened in 1825, the Erie Canal was the engineering marvel of its day and became another example of how engineering opened doors for economic development--in this case for transporting goods more cheaply. To bring in supplies as work progressed, roads had to be built every step of the way. All 363 miles were built by the muscle power of men and horses alone, with the exception of a few places where black powder was used to blast through rock formations. Many had derided the project as "Clinton's Folly," but New York Gov. DeWitt Clinton envisioned a canal from Buffalo on the eastern shore of Lake Erie to Albany on the upper Hudson River.
Fun Fact: The Erie Canal's success was part of a canal-building boom in New York in the 1820s. Between 1823 and 1828, several lateral canals opened including the Champlain, the Oswego, and the Cayuga-Seneca. When planning for the Erie Canal started, there was not a single school of engineering in the U.S.
|
Statue of
Liberty National Monument Liberty Island |
Credit: NPS Photo
|
|
|||
|
|
|
||||
| Who Made It: Frederic Auguste Bartholdi and Alexandre Gustave Eiffel in France; Richard Morris Hunt and General Charles P. Stone in the U.S. | |||||
The tallest statue of modern times, the Statue of Liberty
was given to the U.S. by France to commemorate the two countries' alliance
during the American Revolution. Designed by French sculptor Frederic Auguste
Bartholdi, the statue was reduced to 350 pieces and packed into 214 crates
for transit to the U.S. in 1885. French engineer Alexandre Gustave Eiffel
devised the interior support system, using a network of steel girders.
General Charles P. Stone was the chief engineer in charge of constructing
the foundation and pedestal (designed by Richard Morris Hunt) as well as
reassembling the statue, which was dedicated in 1886.
Fun Fact: The outer shell of the Statue of Liberty was created out of copper, because it had to be lightweight and easy to take apart and reassemble. The copper was analyzed in 1985 by Bell Laboratories of New Jersey and traced to the Visnes Copper Mine in Norway, which operated in the 1870s under the direction of Charles Defrance, a French mining engineer.
|
World Trade Center - In Memoriam New York City, NY |
 |
|
|||
|
|
|
||||
It is difficult to fathom that the World Trade Center no longer exists. It is heartrending to think of the loss of life. The condolences of the National Society of Professional Engineers and those of its National Engineers Week partners go out to all the families who lost their loved ones. Engineers were central to the design of the World Trade Center. Now engineers help assess the stability of the damaged buildings and assist in keeping the cleanup safe. Engineers will be involved in the rebuilding. They will do their vital part, like so many others from so many walks of life. |
|||||
Hoover Dam
US Highway 93 at Lake Mead and the Colorado
River (Nevada/Arizona border)
Lake Mead National Recreation Area (8 miles south , AZ
702/294-3523 or 702/294-3524 Web
Site
Who
Made It: Supervised by Walker R. "Brig" Young, Construction Engineer, U.S.
Bureau of Reclamation Contractor: an alliance of engineering and
construction firms, called Six Companies (Morrison-Knudsen, Utah
Construction, Pacific Bridge Company, MacDonald and Kahn, Harry Kaiser, and
Warren A. Bechtel)
 |
|
||||
| Considered one of America's Seven Modern Civil Engineering Wonders, the Hoover Dam is truly awe-inspiring. Standing 726.4 feet high, it is one of the tallest concrete dams ever built and created one of the largest manmade lakes in the U.S. The design phase involved several consulting firms and some 200 engineers and other workers in the Bureau of Reclamation's design office. Construction of the dam, powerplant, and related works began in 1931 and finished in 1936, two years ahead of schedule. At its peak, the project employed 5,218 workers. A 1-hour Hard Hat tour goes behind the scenes, where visitors can see the inner workings of the dam. | |||||
Fun Fact: Construction workers' hard hats were invented and first used in building the Hoover Dam. There are 4,360,000 cubic yards of concrete in the dam, powerplant, and appurtenant works; enough to pave a 16-foot-wide highway from San Francisco to New York City. The reservoir can store enough water to cover the state of Pennsylvania to a depth of one foot.
Sky Line Drive
Entrance points are near Front Royal,and at
Thornton Gap, Swift Run Gap, and Rockfish Gap.
Shenandoah National Park, VA
540/999-3500 or 540/999-3582
Web Site
Approximately 105 miles long, Skyline Drive is an
engineering achievement that provides access to some of Virginia's best
scenery. Local farmers, who were paid from drought relief funds, were put to
work for construction. The Civilian Conservation Corps pitched in to build
rock walls, picnic areas, and scenic overlooks. The highway was completed on
August 29, 1939. An unusual feature of the drive is the 610-foot tunnel
through the solid granodiorite of Marys Rock, not far from Thornton Gap. The
highest point on the road is at the north entrance to Skyland, where the
elevation is 3,680 feet.
Photo Credit: Courtesy of National Park Service
Fun Fact: Construction of Skyline Drive began in 1931, spurred on by President Herbert Hoover, an engineer by training. It is said that he was riding his horse along the crest of the Blue Ridge Mountains one day, when he said to a companion, "These mountains are made for a road, and everybody ought to have a chance to get the views from here."
|
Golden Gate Bridge Exit off
U.S. Highway 101, on the southeast side of the Golden Gate Bridge Toll
Plaza
Photo Credit: Courtesy Golden Gate Bridge, Hgwy & Transp Dist.
Fun Fact: A crew of painters constantly maintains the bridge's distinctive coat of international orange. It is said that the U.S. Navy wanted the bridge painted black with yellow stripes, to make it easily visible to passing ships. |
Named one of
the "Seven Wonders of the Modern World" by the American Society of Civil
Engineers, the Golden Gate Bridge opened in 1937, connecting San
Francisco with the surrounding northern counties. With a length of 8,981
feet and main span length of 4,200 feet, it is one of the longest
single-span suspension bridges ever built. Its two massive towers are
the highest bridge towers in the U.S., at 746 feet above the water. A
clearance of 220 feet allows passage of the largest oceangoing vessels.
Additional construction statistics are presented on a cross-section of
one of the bridge's main cables, displayed near the Joseph B. Strauss
Statue.
|
||||
|
|
|
||||
Millennium Force Roller Coaster
Cedar Point Amusement Park, One Cedar Point Drive
Sandusky, OH 48870-5259
419-627-2350 Web Site
This coaster is not only a tribute to its engineers for
being the world’s largest, but engineers employed a host of new
technologies. For example, the elevator cable system--used for first time on
a roller coaster--ensures a smooth trip up the hill, and a magnetic braking
system replaces the traditional friction approach.
Fun Fact: This is the world’s tallest (310 feet) and fastest (92 mph) rollercoaster, and is supported by 226 footers using 9,400 yards of concrete. It took 175 truckloads of steel make up the frame. One train weighs 19 tons.
Who Made It: Intamin of Wollerau, Switzerland, and Cedar Point’s Planning & Design Dept.
Lookout Mountain Incline Railway
3917 St. Elmo Avenue
Chattanooga, TN 37409-1239
423/629-1411
Web Site
After the Civil War, few people made
the four-hour trip up Whiteside Pike, a two-dollar toll road, to visit the
peak made famous by the "Battle Above the Clouds." Then came the railroad
boom, and speculators decided to develop a hotel on the mountaintop that
would be serviced by a short railroad. In 1885, John T. Crass formed the
Lookout Mountain Incline Railway Company and built a steam-powered incline
up the steepest part of the mountain. The engineering marvel boasted an
incline of 72.7% near the top, making it the world's steepest passenger
railway. Today the refurbished incline is powered by two 100-hp electric
motors.
|
|
|
|
|
Fun Fact: |
Who Made It: John T. Crass, Lookout Mountain Incline Railway Company
Taken from A Sightseer's Guide to Engineering
This site was last updated 09/22/03
The Empire State
Building