Table of Contents

Introduction
1 – Build us a bridge!
• Victorian London – confident and thriving
• Toil, glitter, grime and wealth on a flowing tide
• London’s traffic problems
• The bodies responsible for London’s bridges
• Demand grows for a new river crossing east of London Bridge
• Possible solutions
• From the ridiculous to the sublime – proposals considered by the Special Bridge or Subway Committee, June 1876–December 1878
• The Metropolitan Board of Works weighs in
o The material to be used
o The preferred location for the bridge
o The preferred type of bridge
• A clash of Titans
• Horace Jones’ initial specification and outline design
2 – Tangible progress
• The impact of the Tay Bridge disaster
• The last throw of the dice for Sir Joseph Bazalgette
• 1884 – decision time!
• The detailed design phase
• The laying of the memorial stone
• The bridge as built
• Ten bridges in one
• Now twelve!
3 – A bridge is born
• The method of contracting
• The individual contracts
• The tendering process
• Contract No. 1
• Project management
• Construction of the piers
• Construction of the superstructure
• Actual timescale and cost
• The grand opening
• The first year of operation
• Personnel
4 – The suspension bridges
• Sources
• Overview
• The northern approach, a masonry arch viaduct
o Preparation
o The site
o Contract No. 2
o Accommodation beneath the arches of the viaduct
o The northern abutment
o Metrics
• The southern approach, also a masonry arch viaduct
o The site
o Contract No. 4
o Accommodation beneath the arches of the viaduct
• The piers and their foundations
• The main towers
• The main chains and the suspended roadway of the shore spans
o Main chains
o The suspended roadway
o Stiffening girders
• The abutment towers
• The high-level ties
• The anchor ties and anchor girders
• The external masonry
• The forces in the structure
5 – The bascule bridges
• One bridge or two?
• The bascule principle
• The second largest Meccano set in the world
• The steel girder bridges spanning the bascule chambers
o The fixed girders
o The cantilevers providing support under the main bearings of the moving leaf
o The triangular box girders
o The roadway
o Recent changes to the roadway construction over the bascule chambers
• A simple force diagram of a bascule
• Bascule design
• Quadrants and racks
• Pinion shafts, pinion shaft bearings and pinions
• Pivot shafts and main bearings
• Roadway construction
• Bascule buffers
• Pawls
• Resting blocks
• Nose bolts
6 – Bascule bridge operating technology
• The overriding principle of the design
• Steam plant – boilers and steam-operated hydraulic pump sets
• Hydraulic accumulators
• Pressurised water distribution
• Hydraulic engines
• Bridge control
• Hydraulic lifts
• Fire, domestic water and bilge hydraulic pumps

7 – The high-level bridges
• The high-level footbridges
o Overview
o The cantilevered footway sections
o The simply supported central footway sections
o Roofing and ornamentation
o Method of construction
o High-level tie support
o Forces in the structure
• The high-level tie suspension bridges
o Design
o Cable clamps, suspenders and carriers

8 – The men who built the bridge
• Introduction
• Sir John Wolfe Barry
• Sir John Jackson
• William Webster
• Sir William Arrol
• Sir Herbert Henry Bartlett
• Baron Armstrong of Cragside
• Common threads
• Sir Horace Jones
9 – Bridge maintenance
• Acknowledgement
• Description of the major works since the opening of the bridge
• Stewardship of the bridge
• Areas for study and possible attention
o Monitoring and maintaining the condition of the steelwork
o Maintaining the balance of the bridge
o The Thames Tideway Tunnel
• The next 125 years
Appendix 1 – Suspension bridge force analysis
• Objective
• Method
• Assumptions
• The geometry of the two suspension bridges
• Calculated weights
• Force analysis of the Middlesex suspension bridge
• Force analysis of the Surrey suspension bridge
• Health warning
Appendix 2 – Availability estimate for the bridge as built
Appendix 3 – Unit conversions
Bibliography and sources
Index

Promotional Information

• The fascinating story of the design, construction and operation of this London icon.
• Tower Bridge is a masterpiece of Victorian engineering.
• 30 June 2019 is the 125th anniversary of the opening of Tower Bridge in 1894.
• Fully illustrated with archive photographs and technical illustrations, and modern colour.

About the Author

John M Smith BSc (Hons) MSc FIET FBCS CITP CEng is a Chartered Engineer who specialises in mechanical and electrical engineering. He is published regularly in the model engineering press and lives in Berkshire.