Spinning the Iron Web: The Bollman Truss Bridge

Abstract

This article provides biographical information about Wendel Bollman, the self-educated inventor of the Bollman Truss Railroad Bridge. Born in Savage, Maryland in the early 19th century, Bollman distanced himself from other bridge engineers of that era by employing cast and wrought iron for his bridges instead of the then-popular timber bridges, which typically only had an operational life of approximately 10 years due to rot and fire. Bollman gained a great deal of his knowledge from a colleague at the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (B&O) named Albert Fink. Instead of using load-carrying bottom chords for his bridges, Bollamn used suspension roads affixed to the abutments and continuing down to the bottom of the span. Bollman’s bridges were also found in Chile, Mexico, and Cuba, and, notably, one of his bridges was destroyed at Harpers Ferry during the United States’ Civil War.