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LVIII. Notices respecting New Books. 



Reclamation Patriotique. Belle Invention Franraise. Fonts H cla- 

 veaux de voute en fer ou en fonte, systhne invente par M. Jules 

 Guyot : Protestation contre les Ponts Tubuhiires sans Tube de 

 Conway et de Menai. Par M. I'Abbe Moigno. Paris, 1850. 



THE object of this pamphlet is to deny the claims of the English 

 engineers to the invention of the jjrinciple of construction em- 

 ployed in the Conway and Menai bridges, and to ascribe it to Dr. 

 Guyot. It appears that this gentleman constructed a model of a 

 wrought iron bridge, on a new plan, in 1844 and 1845, or about 

 the time when Mr. Stephenson first suggested the idea of a tubular 

 bridge. This model has no resemblance in its general form to the 

 Conway and Menai bridges, but at the same time it must be con- 

 ceded, that it embodies, in a modified form, a principle, that of cel- 

 lular structure, which constitutes the grand feature and peculiar 

 element of strength of these gigantic bridges. However, there can 

 be no doubt tliat the French and English inventions were not only 

 distinct and independent in their origin, but that they are also in 

 many respects dissimilar in the mode in which the elements of re- 

 sistance to rupture are distributed', so as to maintain the stability of 

 the structure. 



The accompanying drawings will give an adequate idea of Dr. 

 Guyot's bridge. 



Fiff. 1. 



Fig. 1 represents a general view of the bridge. ABC is an arch 

 composed of hollow voussoirs of iron; CE, AD, &c.are pillars standing 

 upon the arch, and connected at the top with a series of hollow rect- 

 angular parallelopipeds bolted together, forming the horizontal line 

 DE of the bridge ; FG is the roadway passing over the top of the 

 bridge. 



Fig. 2 represents in detail the form of the voussoirs, where the 

 twelve edges are composed of iron bars. 



