After all, how can anybody trust a bridge that has no support underneath it?
Demonstration of the Cantilever Principle of the Forth Bridge, circa 1887.
Fowler and Baker represent the cantilevers, while Watanabe represents the load on the suspended central span.
The bricks on either end represents the anchor for the cantilever beams.
The bridge whose design they are demonstrating is the Forth Bridge built between 1882 and 1890 in Scotland.
It is one of the most famous early cantilever bridge in the world.
Photo credit:benjaminbaker.org.uk
Forth Bridge.
Photo credit:Mike McBey/Flickr
Forth Bridge.
Photo credit:fairlight13/Flickr
Another early cantilever bridgethe Niagara Cantilever Bridge.
It was replaced by the Michigan Central Railway Steel Arch Bridge in 1925.
Photo credit: Library of Congress
