A chain bridge is a historic form of

suspension bridge A suspension bridge is a type of bridge in which the deck (bridge), deck is hung below suspension wire rope, cables on vertical suspenders. The first modern examples of this type of bridge were built in the early 1800s. Simple suspension bridg ...

for which chains or

eyebar In structural engineering and construction, an eyebar is a straight bar, usually of metal, with a hole ("eye") at each end for fixing to other components. Eyebars are used in structures such as bridges, in settings in which only tension (physic ...

s were used instead of wire ropes to carry the bridge deck. A famous example is the

Széchenyi Chain Bridge The Széchenyi Chain Bridge ( ) is a chain bridge that spans the River Danube between Buda and Pest, the western and eastern sides of Budapest, the capital of Hungary. Designed by English engineer William Tierney Clark and built by Scottish e ...

in Budapest. Construction types are, as for other suspension bridges, a

stressed ribbon bridge A stressed ribbon bridge (also stress-ribbon bridge or catenary bridge) is a tension structure similar in many ways to a simple suspension bridge. The suspension cables are embedded in the Deck (bridge), deck, which follows a Catenary, catenary a ...

, a true suspension bridge, and special forms, such as the

Tower Bridge Tower Bridge is a Listed building#Grade I, Grade I listed combined Bascule bridge, bascule, Suspension bridge, suspension, and, until 1960, Cantilever bridge, cantilever bridge in London, built between 1886 and 1894, designed by Horace Jones ...

and the

Albert Bridge, London Albert Bridge is a road bridge over the River Thames connecting Chelsea, London, Chelsea in List of sub-regions used in the London Plan, Central London on the north Bank (geography), bank to Battersea on the south. Designed and built by Rowlan ...

. Chain bridges were the first bridges able to cross wider spans than the previous wooden and stone bridges, combined with shorter building times and at lower costs.Robert Stevenson: ''Description of Bridges of Suspension.''
In: ''The Edinburgh Philosophical Journal'', ed. Sir David Brewster, Robert Jameson. vol. 5 no. 10, Edinburgh 1821, p. 237.

History

The first chain bridge in Europe was the Winch Bridge, built around 1741 across the Tees in North-eastern England. It served mainly miners entering the nearby mine. It collapsed in 1802, and was replaced in 1830 by a suspension bridge with suspension chains. A chain bridge was built in the 1780s and 1790s in the Wörlitzer Park which crossed a canal between artificial rocks. The light construction was intended to move, to create sensual sensations for the visitors of the park. The Steinfurter Bagno park had a chain bridge from 1794. In 1820, Samuel Brown opened the Union Bridge over the

River Tweed The River Tweed, or Tweed Water, is a river long that flows east across the Border region in Scotland and northern England. Tweed cloth derives its name from its association with the River Tweed. The Tweed is one of the great salmon rivers ...

on the Scottish-English border, which was the first suspension bridge in Europe suitable for carts. It is the oldest such bridge still used for traffic. Claude Navier published the first fundamental paper about suspension bridges in 1823.Claude Navier: ''Rapport à Monsieur Becquey, conseiller d’état, directeur général des ponts et chaussées et des mines; et mémoire sur les ponts suspendus.''
Imprimerie Royale, Paris 1823 The first chain bridge on the European continent was opened in 1824, the Kettensteg in

Nuremberg Nuremberg (, ; ; in the local East Franconian dialect: ''Nämberch'' ) is the Franconia#Towns and cities, largest city in Franconia, the List of cities in Bavaria by population, second-largest city in the States of Germany, German state of Bav ...

. A little later, the crossing the

Donaukanal The Donaukanal (, ''Danube Canal'') is a former arm of the river Danube, now regulated as a water channel (since 1598), within the city of Vienna, Austria. It is long and, unlike the Danube itself, it borders Vienna's city centre, Innere St ...

in Vienna was opened for pedestrians and carriages. To celebrate this event the Chain Bridge Waltz was written by Johann Strauss. In 1849, the

over the Danube in Budapest was opened, designed by William Tierney Clark, spanning 200 m. The Empress Elisabeth Bridge over the Elbe at Tetschen (today: Děčín) was completed in 1855, and the same year the Nicholas Chain Bridge in

Kyiv Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2, ...

, which spanned the

Dnieper The Dnieper or Dnepr ( ), also called Dnipro ( ), is one of the major transboundary rivers of Europe, rising in the Valdai Hills near Smolensk, Russia, before flowing through Belarus and Ukraine to the Black Sea. Approximately long, with ...

in four segments of 143 m. 11836-Bodenbach-1910-Blick über die Brücke nach Bodenbach-Brück & Sohn Kunstverlag.jpg, Empress Elisabeth Bridge, Tetschen Nicholas Chain Bridge LOC 03819.jpg, Nicholas Chain Bridge,

Tower Bridge,London Getting Opened 2.jpg,

, London Erzsébet Bridge (1903), Budapest, Hungary.jpg, Elisabeth Bridge, Budapest The

in London was opened in 1884, a unique combination of suspension bridge and

drawbridge A drawbridge or draw-bridge is a type of moveable bridge typically at the entrance to a castle or tower surrounded by a moat. In some forms of English, including American English, the word ''drawbridge'' commonly refers to all types of moveable b ...

, and the Elisabeth Bridge in Budapest was opened in 1903, marking the peak of chain bridge building. Later bridges of the type included the Kaiserbrücke in Breslau (today: Grunwaldbrücke in

Wrocław Wrocław is a city in southwestern Poland, and the capital of the Lower Silesian Voivodeship. It is the largest city and historical capital of the region of Silesia. It lies on the banks of the Oder River in the Silesian Lowlands of Central Eu ...

) of 1910, and the Deutzer Hängebrücke, which opened in 1915. The Three Sisters were three similar bridges in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, built from 1924 to 1928 over the

Allegheny River The Allegheny River ( ; ; ) is a tributary of the Ohio River that is located in western Pennsylvania and New York (state), New York in the United States. It runs from its headwaters just below the middle of Pennsylvania's northern border, nor ...

. The Hercilio Luz Bridge in Brazil 1926 had the longest span of all chain bridges at 339,5 m. A similar bridge was built two years later, the

Silver Bridge The Silver Bridge was an eyebar-chain suspension bridge built in 1928 which carried U.S. Route 35 over the Ohio River, connecting Point Pleasant, West Virginia, and Gallipolis, Ohio. Officially named the Point Pleasant Bridge, it was popul ...

over the

Ohio River The Ohio River () is a river in the United States. It is located at the boundary of the Midwestern and Southern United States, flowing in a southwesterly direction from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to its river mouth, mouth on the Mississippi Riv ...

. It collapsed in 1967. The last large chain bridges were the

Reichsbrücke The Reichsbrücke (German for ''Imperial Bridge'') is a major bridge in Vienna, linking Mexikoplatz in Leopoldstadt with the Donauinsel in Donaustadt across the Danube. The bridge is used by 50,000 vehicles per day and carries six lanes of tra ...

in Vienna (1937) and the

Krymsky Bridge 300px, The Krymsky Bridge in 2017. The New Tretyakov Gallery of 20th-Century Art is visible behind the bridge on the right Krymsky Bridge () is a steel suspension bridge in Moscow. The bridge spans the Moskva River 1,800 metres south-west f ...

in Moscow (1938).

References

External links

* * Eric DeLony
Context for World Heritage Bridges
icomos.org 1996
Eyebar suspension
bridgehunter.com
Chain Bridges and Welsh Iron
engineering-timelines.com {{authority control