“order of making strands”. Roebling Collection,


Institute Archives and Special Collections, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY


WHILE IT WAS IMPORTANT FOR WASHINGTON TO HAVE HIS FATHER’S REPUTATION OPEN DOORS FOR HIM, WASHINGTON ROEBLING AND HIS GENIUS HAVE GONE VASTLY UNDERREPRESENTED IN HISTORICAL REFERENCES.


plant workers would make and give to their lovers. Ten she has another bracelet that she acquired from the Bridon-Bekaert tour. “I love Washington’s resilience,” says Wagner. “Washington would complain all the time, but he would get the work done. When I have felt discouraged, he has kept me going.” To build a bridge that would span the East River


from Manhattan to Brooklyn was truly a significant project. Te Brooklyn Bridge would become the “between” of New York City where people needed to go to get the best jobs and Brooklyn where the cost of living was more affordable. Every day, commuters would go back and forth between Brooklyn and New York via ferry boat. It was occasionally difficult to pass through the East River because the waters were sometimes rough. At times, the River would freeze making a ferry passage impossible. Te Roeblings’ vision for the great Bridge would express cutting-edge technology for its era and would later become a precedent for many more bridges in America throughout the next century. Te Brooklyn Bridge is both a suspension and a cable-stayed bridge combined. In addition to becoming


an important link between the two communities, the Bridge was also an outdoor oasis and footpath for New Yorkers to have a new park of sorts. “Te promenade above the vehicles provided much-needed light, air, and beautiful views for the people walking across,” says Wagner, a native of New York City herself. When the Bridge opened in 1883, Louis Sullivan had just completed construction of the first skyscraper in Chicago. “When Washington completed the Brooklyn Bridge, the towers were the highest structures anyone had ever seen in New York City,” says Wagner. One of the key elements at work at the Brooklyn


Bridge was wire rope. Additionally, wire rope was the product that made John A. Roebling his fortune, and his engineering reputation in the U.S. John Roebling brought wire rope technology to the U.S. and started manufacturing it as the Roebling Wire Company. John Roebling acquired a patent for wire rope in 1842, which lead to wire rope as one of the greatest emblems of “progress” in America in the 19th Century. OTIS Elevators became one of the primary users of wire rope along with new cable bridge designs. Together,


WIRE ROPE EXCHANGE JULY–AUGUST 2017 27


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70  |  Page 71  |  Page 72  |  Page 73  |  Page 74  |  Page 75  |  Page 76  |  Page 77  |  Page 78  |  Page 79  |  Page 80  |  Page 81  |  Page 82  |  Page 83  |  Page 84