- James Finley (engineer)
James Finley (1762Kranakis, Eda, "Constructing a Bridge", The MIT Press, 1997] - 1828), aka Judge James Finley, is widely recognised as the first designer and builder of the modern
suspension bridge .Born in
Maryland , Finley moved to a convert|287|acre|km2|sing=on farm inFayette County, Pennsylvania , near Uniontown. Elected a justice of the peace in 1784, he went on to become county commissioner in 1789, and a member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives and Senate. From 1791 until his death, he was an Associate Judge for Fayette County.His
Jacob's Creek Bridge , built in 1801 for US$600, and demolished in 1833, was the first example of a suspension bridge usingwrought iron chains and with a level deck. It connected Uniontown to Greensburg, spanning 21 metres (70 ft), and was convert|12|ft|6|in|m wide.Other bridges by Finley or to his patent include:
*
Potomac River , 1807, 39 metre span
*Schuylkill Falls,Philadelphia , 1809, two 47 metre spans, collapsed 1811 under a herd of cattle
*Newburyport, Massachusetts over theMerrimack River , 1810, 74 metre (244 ft) span, collapsed 1827
*Brownsville, Pennsylvania , collapsed in 1820 under a snow-covered cart
*Lehigh River ,Northampton, Pennsylvania , retained in service until 1933None of Finley's bridges now survive.
Finley patented his system in 1808 and also published a paper on the principles of the deck-stiffened suspension bridge.Finley, James, "A Description of the Patent Chain Bridge", The Port Folio Vol. III, Bradford & Inskeep, Philadelphia, June 1810, [http://books.google.com/books?id=mO4AAAAAYAAJ] ]
References
External links
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* [http://www.si.edu/mci/english/research/past_projects/iron_wire_bridge.html Image of Finley's bridge]
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