What was tower bridge made of

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The City of London Corporation held a competition for the design of a new bridge to help Londoners travel between the two sides of the Thames in The two sections in the central span are called bascules — and they raise up to an angle of 83 degrees. Incidentally, bascule is derived from the French for see-saw — not hard to see why. You can visit on a special tour — but they also have occasional concerts in the chamber as the acoustics are pretty incredible.

When Tower Bridge first opened, it used to be powered by coal burning steam engines, but these were replaced by a combination of electricity and oil in the s. The two high level walkways were designed so that pedestrians would still be able to use Tower Bridge when it was open. Tower Bridge is made up of more than 11, tons of steel and the foundations needed more than 70, tons of concrete to support the structure.

It also features over 31 million bricks and 2 million rivets. In , a bus driver Albert Gunter was casually driving the 75 bus across the bridge when he noticed something odd happening. Gunter had to put his foot to the floor and make the bus leap over the opening gap. He made it to the other side, safe and sound and was given the next day off for his bravery and quick thinking. Some 50 designs were submitted, but because of much controversy, it took eight years for one design to be approved.

Construction began in and lasted until Five companies and workers worked on it. It has 70, tons of concrete in foundations only and some 10, tons of steel and is covered in Cornish granite and Portland stone as means of protection for steel structure and as an esthetic element. Prince and Princess of Wales officially opened the bridge on 30th of June The bridge is close to the harbor so it was necessary for it to be made in a way that it can allow passing of ships.

Machines that lift bascules were hydraulic steam machines until when they were replaced with electro-hydraulic drive system.