Invention Timeline - Albert Fink, German-American Civil Engineer; Designed the Bridge at Norfolk and Built the Green River Bridge
b. October 27, 1827 and d. ?
German-American civil engineer. He designed and built the first important iron bridges in this country-one over the Monongahela River and the Viaduct over Trey Run. He was consulting engineer of the Norfolk and Petersburg Railway and designed the bridge at Norfolk. He built the Green River Bridge, one over the Cumberland at Nashville and one over the Ohio at Louisville. His plan for the creation of the Southern Railway and Steamship Association was adopted, and he was able to effect a complete revolution of the traffic management of the important American railways.
At whose command vast structures rise,
Towering upward to the skies;
Whose wondrous works in Nature’s field,
His fellow-man rich blessings yield;
In all the world none more should be
Respected, honored, loved, than he.
His name-need it be mentioned here-
Is this: “The Civil Engineer.”
—The Civil Engineer: O. H. Sheffield
1840—Mitchell introduced the screw pile.
1855, March 8—Niagara Railway Suspension Bridge first crossed.
1870 (about).—Johann G. H. Gerber, C. E., patented the so-called cantilever system of bridges.
1890, March 4—The great cantilever bridge across the Forth River was opened in Edinburgh, Scotland.
