Part 28 of Wonders of World Engineering was published on Tuesday 7th September 1937, price 7d.
It included a photogravure supplement showing the construction of the Kincardine Bridge, which illustrates the article Europe’s Longest Swing Bridge.
The Cover
The subject of this week’s cover is a giant excavator used for removing the overburden in the brown-coal mines of Germany. To uncover the deposit, double lines of railway track are laid along the edge of the cut. On these lines, and carried on 240 wheels, runs the excavator, to that the full length of the cut can be traversed. Between them lies another railway track for the wagons in which the spoil is dumped. The working part of the excavator consists of a boom on which is carried an endless chain of dredger buckets.
GIRDERS OF THE 100-FEET SPANS were placed in position from the temporary bridge shown on the right of the photograph. Two girders were handled at a time. Those on the upstream side were rolled by jacks across steel balls in V-shaped tracks along the tops of the piers.
Photogravure Supplement - 2
THE SWING SPAN of Kincardine Bridge is 364 feet long, the longest swing span in Europe. Despite its great weight of 1,600 tons, the span is operated by electrical machinery that completely opens and shuts the bridge on a consumption of only 2.1 units of electricity. A timber jetty, 470 feet long and 50 feet wide, extends round the central pier. At either end of the jetty are semaphore signals for the guidance of shipping.
Photogravure Supplement - 3
FOUNDATIONS FOR THE CENTRAL PIER of Kincardine Bridge were made by sinking to rock level, under air pressure, six cylinders with a diameter of 14 ft 6 in. The cylinders were lowered by hydraulic jacks. Concrete was placed between the cylinder walls and the circular shuttering round the air shaft. As the concreting proceeded the jacks were adjusted and the cylinders sank slowly to their foundations.
GIRDERS OF THE 100-
