Atlas Castings Saddles Up for Cast Components for Tacoma Narrows Bridge Project

摘要

Most engineers worldwide can associate the name "Tacoma Narrows" with the phrase "suspension bridge that collapsed." But now a new term can be associated with the name-Atlas Castings. As part of a new suspension bridge spanning the Tacoma Narrows, a strip of the Puget Sound in Tacoma, Wash.. Atlas Castings & Technology. Tacoma, has been commissioned to cast both tower and splay saddles to hold the bridge's cables. The new bridge is being built next to the current Tacoma Narrows Bridge, which was completed in 1950, 10 years after the debacle of the previous bridge. The original design for the new bridge called for four 36-ton tower saddles to sit atop the bridge's 509-ft. towers. However, that weight is too heavy for the crane that will be used by the bridge's builders, Tacoma Narrows Constructors (TNC). Therefore, Atlas, a Tacoma resident for more than 100 years, is casting the saddles as eight 18-ton components, which will be assembled as pairs on top of the two towers. The saddles will cradle the suspender cables at the peak of each tower and transfer the bridge's weight down through the towers.