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James Finley (1756Judge James Finley gravestone, Laurel Hill United Presbyterian Church cemetery, Fayette County, PA – 1828), aka Judge James Finley, is widely recognized as the first designer and builder of the modern suspension bridge. Born in
His Jacob's Creek Bridge, built in 1801 for US$600, and demolished in 1833, was the first example of a suspension bridge using
Finley is also credited with designing and constructing a chain suspension bridge across Dunlap's Creek in Brownsville, Pennsylvania, in 1809. In 1820, however, the bridge collapsed under a heavy snow combined with the loads from a six-horse wagon team. The bridge was replaced by the
Image of Finley's bridge
American civil engineers American bridge engineers 19th-century American inventors 1756 births 1828 deaths {{US-inventor-stub
James Finley (1756Judge James Finley gravestone, Laurel Hill United Presbyterian Church cemetery, Fayette County, PA – 1828), aka Judge James Finley, is widely recognized as the first designer and builder of the modern suspension bridge. Born in Ireland
Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...
, Finley moved to a farm in Fayette County, Pennsylvania
Fayette County is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. It is located in southwestern Pennsylvania, adjacent to Maryland and West Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 128,804. Its county seat is Uniontown. The county wa ...
, near Uniontown. Elected a justice of the peace in 1784, he went on to become county commissioner in 1789, and a member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives and Senate. From 1791 until his death, he was an Associate Judge for Fayette County.Kranakis, Eda, ''"Constructing a Bridge"'', The MIT Press, 1997
His Jacob's Creek Bridge, built in 1801 for US$600, and demolished in 1833, was the first example of a suspension bridge using
wrought iron
Wrought iron is an iron alloy with a very low carbon content (less than 0.08%) in contrast to that of cast iron (2.1% to 4%). It is a semi-fused mass of iron with fibrous slag inclusions (up to 2% by weight), which give it a wood-like "grain" ...
chains and with a level deck. It connected Uniontown to Greensburg, spanning 70 feet (21 metres), and was wide.
Finley is also credited with designing and constructing a chain suspension bridge across Dunlap's Creek in Brownsville, Pennsylvania, in 1809. In 1820, however, the bridge collapsed under a heavy snow combined with the loads from a six-horse wagon team. The bridge was replaced by the
Dunlap's Creek Bridge __NOTOC__
Dunlap's Creek Bridge was the first arch bridge in the United States built of cast iron. It was designed by Richard Delafield and built by the United States Army Corps of Engineers.
Constructed from 1836 to 1839 on the National Road i ...
, the country's first cast-iron bridge, in 1835.
Other bridges built in accord with his patent include:
* Potomac River
The Potomac River () drains the Mid-Atlantic United States, flowing from the Potomac Highlands into Chesapeake Bay. It is long,U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map. Retrieved Augu ...
, 1807, 39 metre span
* Chain Bridge at Falls of Schuylkill
Chain Bridge at Falls of Schuylkill was an 1808 iron-chain suspension bridge built across the Schuylkill River, north of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Designed by inventor James Finley, it became the model for his later chain suspension bridges. I ...
, Philadelphia
Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...
, 1808; 2 spans, eastern span 60.96 metre (200 ft), western span about 30.48 metre (100 ft); collapsed January 1816 under a heavy weight of snow.
* Old Chain Bridge, Newburyport, Massachusetts, over the Merrimack River
The Merrimack River (or Merrimac River, an occasional earlier spelling) is a river in the northeastern United States. It rises at the confluence of the Pemigewasset and Winnipesaukee rivers in Franklin, New Hampshire, flows southward into M ...
, 1810, 74 metre (244 ft) span, replaced with a replica in 1910
* Lehigh River, Northampton, Pennsylvania
Northampton is a borough in Northampton County, Pennsylvania. Its population was 10,395 as of the 2020 census. Northampton is located north of Allentown, northwest of Philadelphia, and west of New York City.
The borough is part of the Lehigh ...
, retained in service until 1933
Although he has been credited with designing as many as forty bridges, only twenty sites have been identified. None of Finley's bridges survive, the one in Newburyport has been replaced with a functioning replica.
Finley patented his system in 1808 and also published a paper on the principles of the deck-stiffened suspension bridge.Finley, James, ''"A Description of the Patent Chain Bridge"'', The Port Folio Vol. III, Bradford & Inskeep, Philadelphia, June 1810
References
External links
*Image of Finley's bridge
American civil engineers American bridge engineers 19th-century American inventors 1756 births 1828 deaths {{US-inventor-stub