1880-1889

Main Category: CivilSub Category: BridgesEra: 1880-1889DateCreated: 1884ElizabethtonState: TNZip: 37643Country: USA

Doe River Bridge is a fine example of a timber Howe truss, one of the most widely-used timber bridge designs. Built in 1884, this structure played an integral role in the development of the City of Elizabethton, Tennessee, and it is a rare example of a covered bridge that survives in an urban setting.

The original contract specified the unusual hip roof design, which resembles covered bridges in central Europe. The structure is very well-maintained and still carries automobile traffic. The bridge was restored in 2003.

Image Credit: Brent Moore, Nashville

Holt Brothers Combine

Society: ASABEMain Category: Agricultural & BiologicalEra: 1880-1889DateCreated: 1891Haggin MuseumStocktonState: CAZip: 95203Country: USAWebsite: https://www.asabe.org/awards-landmarks/asabe-historic-landmarks/holt-brothers-17.aspx

The Sidehill Combine Developed By The Holt Brothers At Stockton, California In 1891, A Significant Milestone In Grain Harvesting And Agricultural Efficiency That Opened New Land For Wheat Farming, Is Designated A Historic Landmark Of Agricultural Engineering By The American Society Of Agricultural Engineers 1982

YearAdded:

1982

Funicular Giessbach

Society: ASMEMain Category: MechanicalEra: 1880-1889DateCreated: 1879Grandhotel GiessbachGiessbachCountry: SwitzerlandWebsite: https://www.asme.org/about-asme/engineering-history/landmarks/259-funicular-giessbach, https://www.giessbach.ch/en/historical-funicular-railway.htmlCreator: Abt, Carl Roman

The first funicular to employ a single, two-rail track along its entire length, with a short passing track.

YearAdded:

2015

Image Credit: Courtesy Flickr/Martin Abegglen (CC BY-SA 2.0)

The Man Behind the Killing Machine

In the spring of 1887, the emperor himself came out to the Steinfeld firing range a few kilometers from Vienna to watch the Austrian Army trials for rapid-firing weapons. Franz Joseph seemed particularly impressed by the performance of the Nordenfeldt model, a gleaming five-barreled rifle demonstrated by a team of two—one man feeding the cartridges, the second carefully cranking out 180 shots per minute. The day’s last entrant was a huge, bearded American—the inventor, salesman, and demonstrator of a small British firm’s only product: a squat, rather ugly gun.

First Central Station in South Carolina

Society: IEEEMain Category: ElectricEra: 1880-1889DateCreated: 1882United States Electric Illuminating CompanyCharlestonState: SCZip: 29401Country: USAWebsite: http://www.ieeeghn.org/wiki/index.php/Milestones:First_Central_Station_in_South_Carolina,_1882Creator: Maxim, Hiram

The United States Electric Illuminating Company of Charleston started up South Carolina's first central station for incandescent lighting in October 1882 -- only one month after Thomas Edison opened his famous Pearl Street plant in New York City. In the following years, the company's parent firm was a major force in the growing electrical industry.

YearAdded:

1986

Image Credit: Courtesy IEEEImage Caption: The United States Electric Illuminating Company central station at 94 Queen Street.Era_date_from: 1882

Embudo, New Mexico Stream Gauging Station

Society: ASCEMain Category: CivilSub Category: Water Supply & ControlEra: 1880-1889DateCreated: 1888EmbudoState: NMZip: 87531Country: USAWebsite: http://www.asce.org/project/embudo,-new-mexico-stream-guaging-station/Creator: Powell, John Wesley

A tiny village on the Rio Grande River in northern New Mexico became the training center for the first American hydrographers and provided the first stream-gauging operations of the U.S. Geological Survey. To plan any water system, it is necessary to know the amount of water flowing in the stream or river at all times - including low, normal, and flood conditions.

YearAdded:

1973

Image Credit: Courtesy Wikicommons/Chris English (CC BY-SA 3.0)Image Caption: Near Velarde, NM: U.S. Geological Survey Rio Grande Embudo Gaging Station, 2011Era_date_from: 1888

Seventh Street Improvement Arches

Society: ASCEMain Category: CivilSub Category: BridgesEra: 1880-1889DateCreated: 1883St. PaulState: MNZip: 55117Country: USAWebsite: http://www.asce.org/project/seventh-street-improvement-arches/Creator: Truesdell, William A.

Designed by William A. Truesdell, a railroad engineer, the Seventh Street Improvement Arches celebrates the engineering application of mathematics to improve living conditions.

YearAdded:

2000

Image Credit: Courtesy Wikipedia/Elkman (CC BY-SA 3.0) Image Caption: Designed by William A. Truesdell, a railroad engineer, the Seventh Street Improvement Arches celebrates the engineering application of mathematics to improve living conditions.Era_date_from: 1883

Washington Monument

Society: ASCEMain Category: CivilSub Category: BuildingsEra: 1880-1889DateCreated: 1885101-199 15th St SW
WashingtonState: DCCountry: USAWebsite: http://www.asce.org/Project/Washington-Monument/Creator: Casey, Thomas Lincoln

Upon its dedication in 1885, the Washington Monument was the tallest structure in the world. Begun in 1848 to honor George Washington, the structure wasn't completed for over 36 years. Construction and financing problems slowed progress and the Civil War halted it completely.

YearAdded:

1981

Image Credit: Courtesy Flickr/Sebastien Fuss (CC BY-SA 2.0)Image Caption: Washington MonumentEra_date_from: 1885

Vulcan Street Plant

Society: ASCEMain Category: CivilSub Category: Power GenerationEra: 1880-1889DateCreated: 1882Fox RiverAppletonState: WIZip: 54911Country: USAWebsite: https://www.asme.org/about-asme/who-we-are/engineering-history/landmarks/29-vulcan-street-power-plant, https://www.asme.org/getmedia/c0b5b641-34df-46a5-aa22-c847b42084b4/29-Vulcan-Street-Power-Plant.aspxCreator: Rogers, H.J. , Edison, Thomas

The plant began operation only twenty-six days after Thomas Edison's first steam plant began operating on Pearl Street in New York (NL 46). On September 30, 1882, an Edison "K" type dynamo produced electricity from a water-powered turbine to light three buildings (two paper mills and the H.J. Rogers home), at rate of about 12 1/2 kilowatts. It is the first Edison hydroelectric central station to serve a system of private and commercial customers in North America. The story of its development provides keen insight into the nation's first experiences with the electric light.

YearAdded:

1977

Image Credit: Courtesy Flickr/bigcityal (CC BY 2.0)Image Caption: Vulcan Street PlantEra_date_from: 1882

Multi-Zone Automatic Temperature Control System

Society: ASMEMain Category: MechanicalSub Category: Environmental ControlEra: 1880-1889DateCreated: 1885507 East Michigan StreetMilwaukeeState: MIZip: 53202Country: USAWebsite: https://www.asme.org/about-asme/who-we-are/engineering-history/landmarks/244-multi-zone-automatic-temperature-controlCreator: Johnson, Warren

he Automatic Temperature Control System was named as a Historic Mechanical Engineering Landmark in 2008. Warren S. Johnson came up with the idea for automatic temperature control while teaching at Normal School in Whitewater, Wisconsin in the 1880's. Originally, janitors would have to enter each classroom to determine if it was too hot or cold and then adjust the dampers in the basement accordingly. Johnson sought a way to end, or at least minimize the classroom interruptions of the janitors and increase the comfort level of the students.

YearAdded:

2008

Image Caption: Multi-Zone Automatic Temperature Control SystemEra_date_from: 1885

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Innovations

Brooklyn Bridge

On May 24, 1883, with schools and businesses closed for the occasion, New York celebrated the opening of the Brooklyn Bridge. Also known as the Great East River Bridge, it was built over 14 years in the face of enormous difficulties. Deaths, fire in the Brooklyn caisson, and a scandal over…

Cumbres and Toltec Scenic Railway

Winding over 64 miles through the majestic San Juan mountains, the narrow-gauge railway known today as the Cumbres and Toltec Scenic Railroad was built as a branch of the extensive Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad that ran through western Colorado and most of Utah. It originally…

Davis Island Lock and Dam

Before the Davis Island Lock & Dam were built, the flow of the Ohio River slowed to little more than a trickle during dry periods. For several months each year, the unreliable flow stranded Pittsburgh's steamboats, towboats, and barges.

The Davis Island Lock &…

Durango and Silverton Narrow Gauge railway runs along the Highline.

Durango-Silverton Branch of the D&RGW RR

The Durango-Silverton Narrow Gauge Branch of the Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad extends from the town of Durango to the mining camp of Silverton. Built in 1882 through one of the most rugged mountain areas of the nation, its complexity remains a testament to the role civil…

Eddystone Lighthouse

An early image of the James Douglass lighthouse, with the stump of the Smeaton-designed building beside it.

Eddystone Lighthouse is located in the English Channel, 14 miles south of Plymouth, England. The reef upon which it stands was the source of many shipwrecks... and many…

Edison 'Jumbo' Engine-Driver Dynamo

This dynamo, connected directly to a high-speed steam engine, was one of six that produced direct current at Thomas A. Edison's electric power station at 257 Pearl Street in New York City. The Pearl Street Station was the prototype for central station power generation. Edison set out in 1878 to…

Ferries & Cliffhouse Cable Railway Power House

The F&CH Cable Railway, which opened in 1887, was designed and built by civil engineer Howard C. Holmes (1852-1921). The line is an amalgamation of the Powell Street Railway and the Park and Cliff House Railway. It was one of the most complicated cable-car systems to run from a single station… Read More

Fresno Scraper

The Fresno scraper established the basis for the modern earthmoving scraper, being able to scrape and move a load of soil, then discharge it at a controlled depth. It quadrupled the productivity of manual labor, replacing hand shoveling of earth into horse carts.

James Porteous, a…

George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering

Between its opening in 1888 and the mid-1920s, Georgia Tech took a leading role in transforming mechanical engineering education from a shop-based, vocational program to a professional one built on rigorous academic and analytical methods. Led by John Saylor Coon (1854-1938), a founding member of… Read More

Eiffel Tower

The Eiffel Tower was built for the International Exhibition of Paris of 1889 commemorating the centenary of the French Revolution. Of the 700 proposals submitted in a design competition, Gustave Eiffel's was unanimously chosen. At 300 meters and 7,000 tons, it was the world's tallest…

Sweetwater Dam

When completed in 1888 to a height of 90 feet, Sweetwater Dam was once the tallest masonry arch dam in the United States, and it led to many others of the same basic design. The original construction began in November 1886 under the direction of Frank E. Brown (civil engineer for Bear Valley Dam…

Kinzua Railway Viaduct

The workforce consisted of less than 100 men, yet they finished construction in just 94 days. Such speed was possible due to the elimination of scaffolding. Instead, iron rods were used to support construction of the trusses between the towers, and workers moved back and forth across the rods. A…

Lawrence Experiment Station

Some of the station's notable achievements:
The first method for detecting radioactive particles in water supplies
A successful system of slow-sand filter beds for drinking water
The landmark demonstration that microorganisms carried within filter media could degrade…

McNeill Street Pumping Station

The city of Shreveport could not justify the cost of building a water distribution system solely for the purpose of supplying potable water. It was a series of disastrous fires in the 1880s that galvanized support for a pumping facility that would provide ample water for firefighting.

…

Milwaukee River Flushing Station

This pump, designed by Edwin Reynolds (1831-1909) and built by the Edward P. Allis company, is the major component of one of the earliest water-pollution control systems. It was capable of pumping more than a half billion gallons of water a day, the highest-capacity pump in the world when…

Montgomery Glider

The glider was the first heavier-than-air human-carrying aircraft to achieve controlled piloted flight. On his first successful flight, August 28, 1883, John Montgomery soared at about 600 feet. The Montgomery glider's success demonstrated aerodynamic principles and designs fundamental to the…

Pilatusbahn

The Pilatusbahn—the steepest rack railway in the world—has operated successfully since its opening in 1889 over a route of 4.62 kilometers (2.87 miles) between Alpnachstad on Lake Lucerne and Pilatus Kulm, rising 6,791 feet (2,070 meters) above sea level. This results in a gradient of 48%, or a…

Poughkeepsie-Highland Bridge

A bridge across the Hudson at or near Poughkeepsie was planned starting in the early 1870s to primarily carry coal from the coalfields of northeastern Pennsylvania to New England. At the time there were no bridges between Albany and New York Harbor. Horatio Allen, soon to be President of the…

Pratt Institute Power Plant

Steam and the inexpensive electricity it could produce brought about dramatic technical growth in the United States. Developed during the last century, reliable and efficient steam engines were the forerunners of today's massive generating facilities. A rare survivor of the period, the Pratt…

Alvord Lake Bridge

Alvord Lake Bridge, along with many of Ernest Ransome's reinforced concrete buildings, survived the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and several subsequent tremblers with no damage. Built in 1889 by Ernest L Ransome of New York, this reinforced concrete arch bridge in San Francisco's Golden Gate…

1880-1889

The first funicular to employ a single, two-rail track along its entire length, with a short passing track.

Innovations

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