Cincinnati Southern Ohio River Bridge (1st)

I suspected that Linville might have been the designer/engineer and that seems to be the case. It appears that Keystone Bridge was the primary contractor but Baltimore Bridge as well as Edge Moor Iron were paid for the bridge.

There were 8 contracts for this bridge.

Three were to Keystone and were for foundations including the south abutment to pier 6, superstructure for span no. 11 and foundation and north approach pier 12, foundation pier and superstructure for plate girder bridge over 8th street.

$699,929.52 + $7374.47 + $7871.71

M. Finnigan were paid for foundation and masonry work on north approach piers 7-11. Also Finnigan did trestle work on piles from pier 12 to 8th street. (2 contracts)

$23,373,93 + $10,283.57

Baltimore Bridge Company was paid for one contract in combination with Edge Moor Iron for north approach spans 6 to 10. This contract was transferred to-

$9676.86

Edge Moor Iron was paid for most of the work from spans 6 to 10 having taken over the contract from Baltimore Bridge.

$37,277.55

Jame Nixon constructed the north approach from 8th street to it's completion at ground level.

$861.09

C. Shaler Smith was contracted to alter roof of I C & L RR machine shop to accommodate span #8.

$2552.00

I add, it's nice when you can find the details of the construction.

Ed,

The book you are getting your info from is a bit confusing. The other builders built bridges along the line but if you look closely, you'll see that Luke is correct and Keystone is listed for this crossing.

Luke,

Great images and text! I admire Linville & Carnegie and Linville's quote gives a sense of the man. Somewhat modest/quiet but damn sure of himself! I would have loved to have been in the room when Linville and Eads went at it!

The drawing is the best Keystone technical drawing, capturing the details of early Keystone Bridge Co. long span bridges, but actually conforms to some of the shorter spans of the crossing, the main spans had a few extra bells and whistles. Its also why I am so enthused about Mead Ave. Mead is the last bridge in existence that fully conforms to that patent/technical design in the drawing. The 1875 Whipple span in Brazil is the next closest but its more of a miniature of the main span or slightly later structures rather than the drawing.

Whomever has authority,

Photo 5 doesn't belong. Its a later superstructure.

Regards,

Art S.

Additional proof from a Structure Magazine article on the man himself.

Said article is a freely-downloadable PDF.

The main span was a Keystone-built Linville variant of the Whipple design. Jacob Linville was THE co-founder of the Keystone Bridge Co.

Attached is the patent for Linville's truss. You can clearly see it implemented in the design of the main span.

I am questioning the builder credits. I have read railroad records crediting Keystone, Baltimore, and Edge Moor Iron Co. Also M. Finnigan for the masonry work. No mention Jacob Linville. What was his part?

A good photo showing the modification of the old piers to the new bridge is at http://www.cincinnati-transit.net/southern-tour8.html