A bascule bridge (also referred to as a drawbridge or a lifting bridge ) is a moveable bridge with a counterweight that continuously balances a span , or leaf, throughout its upward swing to provide clearance for boat traffic. It may be single- or double-leafed.
5-700: The Kinzie Street Bridge is a single-leaf bascule bridge built in 1909 that spans the Chicago River in downtown Chicago , Illinois, United States. In April 1992, rehabilitation work on the pilings for the bridge damaged a freight tunnel located under the Chicago River. The tunnel breach eventually led to the Chicago flood , which flooded the Chicago Loop with an estimated 250 million US gallons (1,000,000 m) of water. In August 2004,
10-456: A Dave Matthews Band tour bus passing over the bridge dumped 800 pounds of human waste through the open metal grate bridge deck into the Chicago River. The waste landed on an architecture tour cruise boat and passengers passing under the bridge at that time. This article about a bridge in Illinois is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . This Chicago -related article
15-509: Is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Bascule bridge The name comes from the French term for balance scale , which employs the same principle. Bascule bridges are the most common type of movable span because they open quickly and require relatively little energy to operate, while providing the possibility for unlimited vertical clearance for marine traffic. Bascule bridges have been in use since ancient times, but until
20-404: The adoption of steam power in the 1850s, very long, heavy spans could not be moved quickly enough for practical application. There are three types of bascule bridge and the counterweights to the span may be located above or below the bridge deck. The fixed- trunnion (sometimes a "Chicago" bascule) rotates around a large axle that raises the span(s). The Chicago bascule name derives from
25-457: The location where it is widely used, and is a refinement by Joseph Strauss of the fixed-trunnion. The rolling lift trunnion (sometimes a "Scherzer" rolling lift), raises the span by rolling on a track resembling a rocking-chair base. The "Scherzer" rolling lift is a refinement patented in 1893 by American engineer William Donald Scherzer . The rarer Rall type combines rolling lift with longitudinal motion on trunnions when opening. It
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