The Use of Steel for Bridges

The substitution of steel for iron for bridges has become a prominent feature of discussion among engineers and bridge builders. Some are still skeptical upon the propriety of using it; others are sanguine enough to believe that all that is now necessary, in reference to the introduction of steel, is to use it. The problem, however, is not so simple, although it is no doubt true that the more we use it the better will we know how to use it. Steel must enter upon a struggle for precedence with iron, somewhat similar to that which iron has been undergoing, with reference to wood for the past forty years, and will undoubtedly come out in the end as victorious.