Wooden Bridge, at S chaff hau/en. ■ /^zy 



■ This may, perhaps, explain the beautiful variegations we obferve on fome Inineral 

 fprings aiid ftagnant pools. 



Wooden Bridge acro/s the Rhine, at Schaffhaiif&n. , 



Mr. Taylor, in Holborn, has publifhed a large print of this curious prodnfl of the 

 mechanical ability of Grubenman, the architeft. The print contains plans of the floor 

 and the roof, with an elevation and feflion of the ftrufture, fome other detailed parts 

 and a perfpeftive view in aqua-tinta. Inftead of attempting to defcribc, in i^ere words, 

 'this combination of timber work, which formed two extended low arches, fpa.'ming 

 !'ih the whole 364 feet, I (hall, for the entertainment of the reader, give a fhort hiftorical 

 cxtraft from the pamphlet which accompanies the engraving, firft premifing that. this 

 .ufeful monument of original genius fell a facrifice to the fury of war, in April 1799, 

 'when it was burned by the French, after having flood upwards of forty years. 

 r- " The village of TuefTcnboafls the honor of having given birth. to an excellent mecha- 

 itJical genius. The Wooden bridges of Vlric Grubenman are very generally known on 

 tthd Goirtinent ; that which is thrown acrofs the Rhine, near Schaffhaufen, is a fabric 

 i contemplated with aftonifhment by every traveller; and it is. extolled in all modern 

 works which treat of Switzerland as one of the firft of the curiofitics which deferve to 

 ^bd Vifited in that country. Indeed the boldnefs and beautiful .(implicity, as well as the 

 'appirent fynvmetry andiintrinfic flrength of the wooden bridges conftrufted by GruienrAan 

 ' fAhnot be fiiflficiently admired. Confifting of tf/;e arch they flretch and bend as if fuf- 

 'p«!rtded by huge -cables; ahey rock and treiVible even under. the feet of the pafTenger; 

 and when loaded waggons pafs over them, tJie fliakingof the bridge increafes- to fiich an 

 alarming violence that thofe who are unacquainted with the principle of its conllruftion 

 dread every moment that it will give way and plunge them in the waves. 



" This fort of bridge aptly llyled hanging work was firfl brought to perfeftion by 

 Ulric Grubenman. All the wooden and Hone bridges which had been laid acrofs the 

 Rhine, near to and at the expence of the City of Schaff haufen, being wafhed away by 

 the impetuofity of that river, it became necelTary in the year 1754, to ereft a new one ; 

 when among the architefts who delivered in their plans, Grubenman, then a common 

 carpenter, of TuelTen, prefented himfelf with a propofal for building a bridge, which 

 refling on no pillars in the bed of the Rhine, (hould be fupported only by the rivers 

 oppofite banks. On producing his model for the firft tim« to the committee appointed 

 to examine the plans that might be offered, he was afked with a fcornful fmile, wliether 

 he really thought that a bridge built on the propofed principles would not break down 

 as foon as any confiderable burdens were brought in contaft with it ? Inftead of 

 making any anfwer, he, with both his feet, ftepped on his little model, which bore him 

 ■(though a tall and ftout man) exceeding well. ImpreCTed with this circumftanse, the 



committee 



