Surrey Basin Bascule Bridge
An impressive Scherzer bascule bridge in Rotherhithe, near the Old Salt Quay public house.
Bascule is the French word for a seesaw or balance. The best known British bascule bridge is Tower Bridge, a rather more massive undertaking than the Rotherhithe one, with two leaves, but following the same principles. Scherzer bascule bridges are lift bridges that roll or rock back on a curved base to rise so that ships can pass beneath, and are often compared to Medieval draw-bridges. They may have one leaf, like this one, or two leaves, which open either side of a span and meet in the middle (like Tower Bridge). Scherzer bridges are found all over the world because they have simple mechanisms, open rapidly and have low energy requirements. The bridges consist of two important components - the length spanning the gap, in the Rotherhithe cases spanning two sections of road, and a counterweight filled with water. It sits on tracks, and electric motors wind the bridge over the tracks with the assistance of cogs and racks that fix it into place at 90 degrees to prevent slippage. They must have been quite something to see when they were working.
Source: russiadock.blogspot.com/2015/11/the-wonderful-rotherhithe...
------------------------------------------------------------------
A nearly successful stitch from at least nine jpegs, due to neglecting to bring the 18mm lens with me :-)
100x: The 2024 Edition
57/100 London landmarks by night
Surrey Basin Bascule Bridge
An impressive Scherzer bascule bridge in Rotherhithe, near the Old Salt Quay public house.
Bascule is the French word for a seesaw or balance. The best known British bascule bridge is Tower Bridge, a rather more massive undertaking than the Rotherhithe one, with two leaves, but following the same principles. Scherzer bascule bridges are lift bridges that roll or rock back on a curved base to rise so that ships can pass beneath, and are often compared to Medieval draw-bridges. They may have one leaf, like this one, or two leaves, which open either side of a span and meet in the middle (like Tower Bridge). Scherzer bridges are found all over the world because they have simple mechanisms, open rapidly and have low energy requirements. The bridges consist of two important components - the length spanning the gap, in the Rotherhithe cases spanning two sections of road, and a counterweight filled with water. It sits on tracks, and electric motors wind the bridge over the tracks with the assistance of cogs and racks that fix it into place at 90 degrees to prevent slippage. They must have been quite something to see when they were working.
Source: russiadock.blogspot.com/2015/11/the-wonderful-rotherhithe...
------------------------------------------------------------------
A nearly successful stitch from at least nine jpegs, due to neglecting to bring the 18mm lens with me :-)
100x: The 2024 Edition
57/100 London landmarks by night