The Incredible Engineering of the Brooklyn Bridge

The Brooklyn Bridge, 1,595-foot main span, four steel-wire cables, and the one decision made in 1876 that still keeps it standing more than 140 years later. Most men who know this bridge know the caissons, the bends, and Washington Roebling directing the work from a room on Columbia Heights. That part of the story is true, and it has been told many times. This documentary follows the rest of it: the ice that shut the East River ferries in the winter of 1866-67, John A. Roebling's 1867 report, six years of wire testing, the 60,000-ton anchorages, E. F. Farrington's crossing in a boatswain's chair in August 1876, the cable spinning of 1877 and 1878, the wire contract, and P. T. Barnum's elephants in May 1884. CHAPTERS 0:00 What Is Inside The Cables? 1:42 Why Could Nothing Stand In The River? 4:24 What Is The Wire Made Of? 9:06 What Holds The Cables Down? 11:22 How Do You Spin A Cable In The Air? 13:45 Why Doesn't The Deck Tear Itself Apart? 18:03 Who Supplied The Wire? 22:18 Why Did Barnum Walk Elephants Across? 25:10 What Did It Leave Behind? SOURCES John A. Roebling, report to the New York Bridge Company, 1867 Washington A. Roebling, wire specification, 1876, and report to Henry C. Murphy, 1878 James Brady, American Machinist, March 1905 New York City Department of Transportation, rehabilitation estimate, 2017 Photographs and film are period archive where they exist; some scenes are reconstructed. If you have ever worked on cable, steel or a bridge deck, what would you want to know about the inside of those four cables? Watch next: The Incredible Engineering of the Statue of Liberty    • The Incredible Engineering of the Statue o...   #BrooklynBridge #Roebling #Engineering