Philadelphia Paper - Steel for Bridges

In 1877 the Pennsylvania Railroad Company removed an old bridge from its line at Duncannon, Pa., built intermediate piers and erected shorter spans of the Pratt truss type, which had previously been in use on another portion of the road. The design of this truss would not admit of diagonals larger than 19 inches diameter, and in order to stiffen the bridge somewhat steel rods were introduced for the main diagonals in the first and second panels, 19 inches and 18/8 inches diameter respectively. These rods were threaded without upsetting, and by the ordinary formulae the strains were of the same intensity upon both, viz., 16,000 pounds per square inch with the maximum loading. The other main diagonals in the truss are 19 inches diameter, and of iron. It was specified for the steel rods: Elastic limit,.......46,000 Ibs. Tensile strength,. .. ,. .. 80,000 lbs. Elongation,,.,.,. 20 per cent. The steel was procured without difficulty, and it allowed a factor of safety of 23/4 at elastic limit, while a similar factor of 2½ had for a long time been successfully used for iron. In the course of three years, from time to time, six of these steel rods broke, three of them being 18 inches in diameter, and three 19 inches in diameter. The broken rods were tested, and three of them analyzed at Altoona to ascertain the cause of failure, and what modifications should be made in the steel for such service. Examination showed that all the rods were broken in detail close under the nut. The threads were well cut and properly rounded at the root. testing the rods micrometer screws, reading to .0001" with c bell to signal the contact, were attached to the test pieces, and by this means the modulus of elasticity and elastic limit accurately obtained.