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44-579: Staffort means "constant trudge ford " (stete stapfen Furt) as the location was the only feasible place to cross the Pfinz River , and so was strategically important in the wider region since ancient times . Excavations and artifacts that were discovered evidence a settlement existing near by the Pfinz 25 AD. The first mention of Staffort occurred in 1110 when the Emperor Heinrich V . named

88-840: A Bailey bridge before the war in 1936, but the idea was not acted upon. Bailey drew an original proposal for the bridge on the back of an envelope in 1940. On 14 February 1941, the Ministry of Supply requested that Bailey have a full-scale prototype completed by 1 May. Work on the bridge was completed with particular support from Ralph Freeman . The design was tested at the Experimental Bridging Establishment (EBE), in Christchurch, Dorset , with several parts from Braithwaite & Co. , beginning in December 1940 and ending in 1941. The first prototype

132-545: A functioning bridge. Full production began in July 1941. Thousands of workers and over 650 firms, including Littlewoods , were engaged in making the bridge, with production eventually rising to 25,000 bridge panels a month. The first Bailey bridges were in military service by December 1941, Bridges in the other formats were built, temporarily, to cross the Avon and Stour in the meadows nearby. After successful development and testing,

176-400: A number of 19-foot-wide (5.8 m) transoms that run across the bridge, with 10-foot-long (3.0 m) stringers running between them, and over the top of the transoms, forming a square. Transoms rest on the lower chord of the panels, and clamps hold them together. Stringers are placed atop the completed structural frame, and wood planking (chesses) are placed atop the stringers to provide

220-490: A number of different factories were interchangeable. Each individual part could be carried by a small number of men, enabling army engineers to move more easily and quickly, in preparing the way for troops and materiel advancing behind them. The modular design allowed engineers to build each bridge to be as long and as strong as needed, doubling or tripling the supportive side panels, or on the roadbed sections. The basic bridge consists of three main parts. The bridge's strength

264-655: A river can be crossed". Although today brod in the Serbo-Croatian means 'ship', Slavonski Brod in Croatia, as well as Makedonski Brod in North Macedonia and other place names containing Brod in Slavic countries, where brod is still the word for 'ford', are named after fords. In historic times, positioning an army in large units close to a river was thought best for direct defense as well as to attack

308-517: A roadbed. Ribands bolt the planking to the stringers. Later in the war, the wooden planking was covered by steel plates, which were more resistant to damage of tank tracks . Each unit constructed in this fashion creates a single 10-foot-long (3.0 m) section of bridge, with a 12-foot-wide (3.7 m) roadbed. After one section is complete it is typically pushed forward over rollers on the bridgehead, and another section built behind it. The two are then connected together with pins pounded into holes in

352-487: A test jig at each factory to verify this. To do this efficiently, newly manufactured parts would be continuously added to the test bridge, while at the same time the far end of the test bridge was continuously dismantled and the parts dispatched to the end-users. Donald Bailey was a civil servant in the British War Office who tinkered with model bridges as a hobby. He had proposed an early prototype for

396-402: A vehicle getting its wheels wet. A ford may occur naturally or be constructed. Fords may be impassable during high water. A low-water crossing is a low bridge that allows crossing over a river or stream when water is low but may be treated as a ford when the river is high and water covers the crossing. The word ford is both a noun (describing the water crossing itself) and a verb (describing

440-420: Is provided by the panels on the sides. The panels are 10-foot-long (3.0 m), 5-foot-high (1.5 m), cross-braced rectangles that each weigh 570 pounds (260 kg), and can be lifted by four men. The panel was constructed of welded steel. The top and bottom chord of each panel had interlocking male and female lugs into which engineers could insert panel connecting pins. The floor of the bridge consists of

484-757: The Dutch voorde (as in Vilvoorde , Coevorden , Zandvoort , or Amersfoort ) are cognates with the same meaning, all deriving from Proto-Indo-European *pértus 'crossing'. This is the source of Brythonic and Gaulish ritus (modern Welsh rhyd ; the Welsh name of Oxford is Rhydychen "ford of oxen"), which underlies such names as Chambord (from Gaulish *Camboritum "ford at the bend") and Niort ( Novioritum "new ford"). Towns such as Maastricht , Dordrecht , and Utrecht also formed at fords. The endings tricht , drecht , and trecht are derived from

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528-587: The Latin word traiectum , meaning "crossing". Thus the name Utrecht, originally the Roman fort of Traiectum , is derived from "Uut Trecht", meaning "downstream crossing". The Afrikaans form was taken into South African English as drift and led to place names like Rorke's Drift and Velddrift . Similarly, in Slavic languages , the word brod comes from the linguistic root that means "river-crossing" or "place where

572-654: The River Amman ); Stafford , the county town of Staffordshire ('ford by a staithe ', or 'ford by the landing place'), Staffort crossing the river Pfinz ; and Stratford (a ford on a Roman street ). Similarly, the German word Furt (as in Frankfurt , the ford of the Franks ; Ochsenfurt , synonymous to Oxford; Schweinfurt , a ford where swine crossed the river; and Klagenfurt , literally "ford of complaints") and

616-833: The River Rhine at Rees, Germany , in 1945 by the Royal Canadian Engineers was named "Blackfriars Bridge", and, at 558 m (1814 ft) including the ramps at each end, was then the longest Bailey bridge ever constructed. In all, over 600 firms were involved in the making of over 200 miles of bridges composing of 500,000 tons, or 700,000 panels of bridging during the war. At least 2,500 Bailey bridges were built in Italy, and another 2,000 elsewhere. Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery wrote in 1947: Bailey Bridging made an immense contribution towards ending World War II. As far as my own operations were concerned, with

660-597: The Sangro River bridge in Italy, spanned 1,126 feet (343 m). Another on the Chindwin River in Burma , spanned 1,154 feet (352 m). Such long bridges required support from either piers or pontoons . A number of bridges were available by 1944 for D-Day , when production was accelerated. The US also licensed the design and started rapid construction for their own use. A Bailey Bridge constructed over

704-793: The Second World War was built by 237 Field Company R.E. over Medjerda River near Medjez el Bab in Tunisia on the night of 26 November 1942. The first Bailey bridge built under fire was constructed at Leonforte by members of the 3rd Field Company, Royal Canadian Engineers. The Americans soon adopted the Bailey bridge technique, calling it the Portable Panel Bridge . In early 1942, the United States Army Corps of Engineers initially awarded contracts to

748-910: The United Kingdom . Examples are at Brockenhurst in Hampshire , Wookey in Somerset , and Swinbrook in Oxfordshire . Some of these are being replaced by bridges as these are a more reliable form of crossing in adverse weather conditions. Some very spectacular watersplashes can be found in diverse locations. Australia has the Gulf Savannah , and others may be found in Canada , Italy , South Africa , and Finland . They are also found on some Tennessee backroads, where they are referred to as "underwater bridges". In Israel and part of

792-486: The 18th and 19th centuries nearly 100 inhabitants left the village to relocate in America , Austria , Denmark , Hungary , Jutland , Prussia , Russia , Serbia and Styria . 49°05′31″N 8°30′41″E  /  49.09194°N 8.51139°E  / 49.09194; 8.51139 Ford (crossing) A ford is a shallow place with good footing where a river or stream may be crossed by wading, or inside

836-428: The Bailey bridge was due to the simplicity of the fabrication and assembly of its modular components, combined with the ability to erect and deploy sections with a minimum of assistance from heavy equipment . Many previous designs for military bridges required cranes to lift the pre-assembled bridge and lower it into place. The Bailey parts were made of standard steel alloys , and were simple enough that parts made at

880-677: The British areas under the mandate a low water crossing or watersplash had been known as the "Irish bridge" in reference to the Anglo–Irish war . The names of many towns and villages are derived from the word 'ford'. Examples include Oxford (a ford where oxen crossed the river: see the Coat of arms of Oxford ); Hertford , the county town of Hertfordshire (the ford where harts cross or "deer crossing"); Brantford , (the ford where Joseph Brant Forded The Grand River ); Ammanford (a ford on

924-490: The Canadian War Assets Corporation. The commission used bridging in an office building. Over 200,000 tons of bridging were used in a hydroelectric project. The Ontario government was, several years after World War II, the largest holder of Bailey Bridging components. After World War II and especially post Hurricane Hazel in 1954, some of the bridging was used to construct replacement bridges in

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968-861: The Detroit Steel Products Company, the American Elevator Company and the Commercial Shearing and Stamping Company, and later several others. The Bailey provided a solution to the problem of German and Italian armies destroying bridges as they retreated. By the end of the war, the US Fifth Army and British 8th Army had built over 3,000 Bailey bridges in Sicily and Italy alone, totaling over 55 miles (89 km) of bridge, at an average length of 100 feet (30 m). One Bailey, built to replace

1012-682: The Indian Army erected three new footbridges at Elphinstone Road , a commuter railway station in Mumbai , and at Currey Road and Ambivli . These were erected quickly, in response to a stampede some months earlier, where 23 people died. The United States Army Corps of Engineers uses Bailey Bridges in construction projects, including an emergency replacement bridge on the Hana Highway in Hawaii. Two temporary Bailey bridges have been used on

1056-651: The Toronto area: The longest Bailey bridge was put into service in October 1975. This 788-metre (2,585 ft), two-lane bridge crossed the Derwent River at Hobart , Australia. The Bailey bridge was in use until the reconstruction of the Tasman Bridge was completed on 8 October 1977. Bailey bridges are in regular use throughout the world, particularly as a means of bridging in remote regions. In 2018,

1100-675: The act of crossing a ford). A ford is a much cheaper form of river crossing than a bridge , and it can transport much more weight than a bridge, but it may become impassable after heavy rain or during flood conditions. A ford is therefore normally only suitable for very minor roads (and for paths intended for walkers and horse riders etc.). Most modern fords are usually shallow enough to be crossed by cars and other wheeled or tracked vehicles (a process known as "fording"). Fords may be accompanied by stepping stones for pedestrians. The United Kingdom has more than 2,000 fords, and most of them do not have any way of stopping vehicles from crossing when

1144-449: The advantages of requiring no special tools or heavy equipment to assemble. The wood and steel bridge elements were small and light enough to be carried in trucks and lifted into place by hand, without the use of a crane. These bridges were strong enough to carry tanks. Bailey bridges continue to be used extensively in civil engineering construction projects and to provide temporary crossings for pedestrian and vehicle traffic. The success of

1188-708: The bridge was taken into service by the Corps of Royal Engineers and first used in North Africa in 1942. The original design violated a patent on the Callender-Hamilton bridge . The designer of that bridge, A. M. Hamilton , successfully applied to the Royal Commission on Awards to Inventors . The Bailey Bridge was more easily constructed, but less portable than the Hamilton bridge. Hamilton

1232-409: The bridge. A useful feature of the Bailey bridge is its ability to be launched from one side of a gap, without a need for ANY equipment or personnel on the far bank. In this system the front-most portion of the bridge is angled up with short "launch-links" to form a "launching nose" and most of the bridge is left without the roadbed and ribands. The bridge is placed on rollers and simply pushed across

1276-523: The corners of the panels. For added strength up to three panels (and transoms) can be bolted on either side of the bridge. Another solution is to stack the panels vertically. With three panels across and two high, the Bailey Bridge can support tanks over a 200-foot span (61 m). Footways can be installed on the outside of the side-panels. The side-panels form an effective barrier between foot and vehicle traffic, allowing pedestrians to safely use

1320-593: The eighth Army in Italy and with the 21 Army Group in North West Europe , I could never have maintained the speed and tempo of forward movement without large supplies of Bailey Bridging. The Skylark launch tower at Woomera was built up of Bailey bridge components. In the years immediately following World War II, the Ontario Hydro-Electric Power Commission purchased huge amounts of war-surplus Bailey bridging from

1364-492: The enemy at any crossing point. Therefore, a ford was often a strategic military point with many famous battles fought at or near fords: Bailey bridge A Bailey bridge is a type of portable, pre-fabricated , truss bridge . It was developed in 1940–1941 by the British for military use during the Second World War and saw extensive use by British, Canadian and American military engineering units . A Bailey bridge has

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1408-617: The farms, many families were dependent on additional income. A special feature of Staffort was the widespread production and processing of hemp and flax, tobacco cultivation from 1860 onwards and the production of clogs - which is commemorated by the traditional "Staffort clog race". In the municipal book out of 1837 the following existing family names are mentioned: Amolsch, Brauch, Beideck, Dürr, Enderlin, Ernst, Gamer, Glaser, Hager, Hauck, Hauth, Hecht, Heidt, Kohler, Malsch, Maier, Mezger, Nagel, Oberacker, Raupp, Stahl, Stober, Schilling, Scholl, Schoppinger, Sickinger, Süß, Waidmann, Winnes. During

1452-449: The gap, using manpower or a truck or tracked vehicle, at which point the roller is removed (with the help of jacks) and the ribands and roadbed installed, along with any additional panels and transoms that might be needed. During WWII, Bailey bridge parts were made by companies with little experience of this kind of engineering. Although the parts were simple, they had to be precisely manufactured to fit correctly, so they were assembled into

1496-578: The highway after the old structure was destroyed in the May 2020 flooding and subsequent failure of the Edenville Dam . The department will replace the temporary bridge with a permanent structure in the coming years. Following the 2023 Auckland Anniversary Weekend floods and Cyclone Gabrielle in the North Island of New Zealand, Bailey bridges were installed to reconnect communities. Following

1540-873: The northern span of the Dufferin Street bridges in Toronto since 2014. The first Bailey Bridge built for civilian use in India was on the Pamba river in a place called Ranni in Pathanamthitta district of the state of Kerala. It was on 1996 November 08. In 2017 the Irish Army built a Bailey bridge to replace a road bridge across the Cabry River , in County Donegal, after the original bridge

1584-622: The village Stafphort in an official document. The Staffort Book is a religious-historical work that was printed in 1599 in the Staffort Castle printing house and is regarded as an attempt by Margrave Ernst Friedrich von Baden-Durlach to reconcile Lutheran and Calvinist doctrine. A translation into modern English is available. Until around 1950, farming was the main source of income and self-sufficiency for more than 90% of families in Staffort. The village living and working community

1628-432: The water is shallow enough, but the material on the riverbed will not support heavy vehicles, fords are sometimes improved by building a submerged concrete floor. In such cases, a curb (kerb) is often placed on the downstream side to prevent vehicles from slipping off, as the growth of algae will often make the slab very slippery. Fords may be also equipped with a post indicating the water depth, so that users may know if

1672-615: The water is too deep to attempt to cross. Some have an adjacent footbridge so that pedestrians may cross dryshod. Fords were sometimes the only way to cross, such as at the Milkhouse at Rock Creek in Washington, DC, but the regular use of this ford has been superseded by bridges. The crossing remained for "adventurous" drivers until 1996 when the National Park Service closed the ford to cars. A road running below

1716-459: The water level of a stream or river is often known as a "watersplash". It is a common name for a ford or stretch of wet road in some areas, and is sometimes also used to describe tidal crossings. They have become a common feature in rallying courses. Some enthusiasts seek out and drive through these water features, recording details (such as wave created, position, and access) on dedicated websites. There are many old fords known as watersplashes in

1760-531: The water makes them impassable. According to The AA , many flood-related vehicle breakdowns are at fords. In New Zealand , fords are a normal part of roads, including, until 2010, along State Highway 1 on the South Island 's east coast. In dry weather, drivers become aware of a ford by crunching across outwash detritus on the roadway. A Bailey bridge may be built off the mainline of the road to carry emergency traffic during high water. At places where

1804-701: Was awarded £4,000 in 1936 by the War Office for the use of his early bridges and the Royal Commission on Awards to Inventors awarded him £10,000 in 1954 for the use, mainly in Asia, of his later bridges. Lieutenant General Sir Giffard Le Quesne Martel was awarded £500 for infringement on the design of his box girder bridge , the Martel bridge. Bailey was later knighted for his invention, and awarded £ 12,000. The first operational Bailey bridge during

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1848-528: Was destroyed in floods. In 2021 a Bailey bridge was built across the river Dijle in Rijmenam (Belgium) for the transportation of excavated soil from one side to the other of the river. The bridge allowed the trucks to cross the river without having to pass the city center. In March 2021, the Michigan Department of Transportation constructed a Bailey bridge on M-30 to temporarily reconnect

1892-664: Was tested in 1941. For early tests, the bridge was laid across a field, about 2 feet (0.61 m) above the ground, and several Mark V tanks were filled with pig iron and stacked upon each other. The prototype of this was used to span Mother Siller's Channel, which cuts through the nearby Stanpit Marshes , an area of marshland at the confluence of the River Avon and the River Stour . It remains there (   50°43′31″N 1°45′44″W  /  50.7252806°N 1.762155°W  / 50.7252806; -1.762155 ) as

1936-456: Was the guiding principle of the village for centuries. The farm structure was therefore characterized by small farms, the predominant farm size in Staffort, as everywhere in Baden, was less than 2 ha until the middle of the 20th century. In Staffort, 135 farms cultivated an area of 0.5-2 ha, 95 farmers owned between 2 and 5 ha and only three farmers owned between 5 and 10 ha. Due to the small size of

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