TO HELP BRITAIN

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 83, Issue 258, 1 November 1939, Page 5

TO HELP BRITAIN

AN N.Z. INVENTION 9-PIECE EMERGENCY BRIDGE LONDON, Sept. 30. A New Zealander has made a valuable contribution to the security of the Home Country. A nine-piece bridge the invention of Mr. A. M. Hamilton, a New Zealand civil engineer, has been approved by the British War Office and Ministry of Transport. It is of a type which at a moment's notice could be thrown over rivers and canals in any part of the country if regular bridges were destroyed by bombing. This week gangs of men who have undergone training in the construction of these emergency bridges reached the final stages after a fortnight's work. From just nine galvanised steel parts they have built a bridge of 140 feet span capable of taking loads of 100 tons.

Under pressure, and working day and night shifts, one of these bridges could be built, it is thought, in about a week. Depots in each of seven divisions in England and one in Scotland would supply parts and gangs of men. The bridge is constructed on runners on one bank of a river and is slowly nosed across, counter-weights being built up until the whole span reaches the opposite bank.