The New York and Brooklyn Bridge. BEPORT OF THE SPECIAL COMMITTEE APPOINTED TO CONFER WITH THE PRESIDENT OF THE EDCE MOOR IRON COMPANY, WITH REFERENCE TO THEIR CONTRACTS FOR STEEL WORK. Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library Gift of Seymour B. Durst Old York Library Brooklyn, June 26, 1882. To tJie President and Directors of the New York and Brooklyn Bridge : Gentlemen — The Committee appointed to confer with the Presi- dent of the Edge Moor Iron Company, with reference to their contracts for steel work for the Bridge, herewith report that a conference was held with Mr. Sellers, on Wednesday, the 21st instant, in this office, at which all the members of the Committee were present. Your Com- mittee have confined their inquiries substantially to three points : 1. Why is it that, during all these last months of open working weather, there has been no visible progress in the work upon the Bridge ? 2. What are the prospects of progress in the near future ? 3. Is any course of action open to the Trustees which would facili- tate the progress of the work, and make it at once more certain and more rapid ? The work of construction has been kept at a stand-still this spring, because the Bridge has not been furnished with the materials needed in the order of their need. If, in the erection of a house, you need bricks for the walls, it does not hurry matters to receive slates for the roof ; you cannot go on until you receive the bricks. During the last few months we have been receiving each month from 100 to 300 tons of steel work, which will enter into the superstructure of the Bridge ; but the particular pieces which have been needed since the first of the year are just beginning to come forward. This brings us to the first important point of information and explanation received from the President of the Edge Moor Iron Company. Some months ago the Bridge reached the point where the pieces known, technically, as eye-bars were needed, in order to make further progress possible. These pieces are the diagonal braces between the posts in the trusses along the sides of the roadways. When the second contract for steel woik was entered into, on December 8, 1881, it was believed by Mr. Sellers that these pieces would be completed long before other portions of the work. It was estimated, for instance, that it was eighteen days' work for the Edge Moor's hydraulic shop to complete these eye-bars as far from the towers as panel No. 13 It was supposed at that time by the Edge Moor Iron Company that these eye-bars could be made of steel in the same manner as eye-bars of iron are made, but experience proved that made in this way of 4 the size demanded they did not stand the tests required hy the speci- fications. Mr. Sellers states that it has taken four months of constant and costly experimenting on the part of the Edge Moor Iron Company to find a way in which these steel eye-bars could be made, and it was only on the 21st of the present month that the bars out to pane l 13 were finished and shipped. As an interesting illustration of the fa- tality attending this enterprise, it may be mentioned that this ship- ment, which was due here June 22, is still detained on the road owing to the prevailing strikes among the freight handlers. This brings us to the present prospect of progress with the work. If these eye-bars and the other pieces are delivered by the Edge Moor Iron Company in the order in which they are needed, the work of construction can be carried forward at an equal pace with the work of manufacture. So says Mr. Sellers, and so our engineers say. It is estimated now by the Edge Moor Iron Company that the eye-bars will be finished by the 31st of October, and also all the rest of the steel work called for by both contracts. Mr. Sellers says very emphati- cally that this calculation includes all probable delays. It excepts all that class of accidents covered in the "bill of lading " phrase, " the act of God and the public enemies." In other words, it includes ordinary chances of delay, but not the extraordinary. It will be noted that we are just receiving the parts immediately needed in the work of construction. Our rate of progress now de- pends largely upon our continuing to receive the needed pieces in the right order from the Edge Moor Iron Company. The President of that Company pledges himself that no effort shall be spared to deliver the work in this order. The danger of a break in the desired order of receipts comes, according to his statement, from the possible spoiling of material in the process of manufacture. Mr. Sellers assured your Committee, however, that the work of this Bridge should have precedence over every other work in his Company's shops. Assuming, then, that the Bridge continues to receive the eye-bars in the order needed, the work of construction will be rapid. If the eye-bars and other pieces come in the right order, and are all received by October 31, our engineers assure us that the Bridge can yet be completed, as stated in our memorial to the Legislature, by the 31st of March, 1883. There is, of course, other work to be done that is independent of these contracts for steel, and unexpected delays may ensue in connection with these other parts. The engineers do not anticipate delay from other causes, however, because the rest of the work upon the Bridge is not of an exceptional character. And this suggests our last inquiry, viz., whether the work of construction could be hastened in any way, even at some cost to the Trustees ? Mr. Sellers states distinctly that this is impossible. His 0 machinery will do so much, and no more. With the utmost emphasis he says that, were he to be paid double the contract price, he could not advance the date of completion. Were he without his present plant of machinery, it would take him a year to get into position to do the work he is turning out now. Appended to this report is a letter from Mr. Sellers repeating offi- cially the salient statements made to your Committee. Respectfully submitted. SETH LOW. W. R. GRACE. ALLAN CAMPBELL. LUDWIG SEMLER. HENRY C. MURPHY. Edge Moor Ikon Company, ) Edge Moor, June 22, 1882. f Hon. Setii Low, Chairman Committee of Trustees New York and Brooklyn Bridge, No. 21 Water street, Brooklyn, N. Y.: Dear Sir — Responding to your inquiries concerning the work upon the New York and Brooklyn Bridge, have to say that, in a letter dated September 30, to Hon. H. C. Murphy, President of the Board of Trustees, I anticipated that this Company would be able to com- plete the first contract for 5,500 tons during January, 1882, and a second contract, covering about 1,200 tons, the amount then estima- ted would be required during May, 1882, was indicated, qualified, however, by the statement "that so much depends upon obtaining material, that it will be impossible for me to indicate a time more accurately. You may, however, rely upon our using every exertion to complete the work as rapidly as possible." At the time this letter was written it was expected that the second contract would be awarded at once, and that the blooms required for its execution could also be ordered within a very short time there- after, whereas the contract was not executed until the 8t,h of Decem- ber, at which time there were several engineering questions unsettled which would modify the construction, so that the orders for material could not be issued earlier than the month of January, 1882 ; but long before this the Cambria Company had notified us that for any steel required beyond the original contract, they could not promise deliveries earlier than January and February, and, as a matter of fact, the final deliveries were not completed by that Company until the 17th instant. At the time the second contract was executed, it was believed that the eye-bars would be completed long before other portions of the work, but unexpected difficulties in this manufacture have consumed 6 about four months in experiments to remedy them. These have finally proved successful, and all the bars required out to points 13 have now gone forward. Of the materials to come forward to enable us to complete both contracts, our last advices are as follows: 9-inch channels. These, with a probable exception of 12 to 20 bars, are all rolled and will be shipped, commencing on the 17th inst., at the rate of one car load per day, this being the maximum quantity that can be straightened and cut to length per day until all that are suitable have come forward, and which will require about ten days, or say until July 1st next, until their receipt at these works. With reference to the shortage of 12 to 20 pieces of these bars, this shortage will be due to two causes ; first — condemnations of bars pre- viously rolled ; and second — from losses in the present lot. This shortage will be definitely ascertained as soon as the bars now rolled are straightened and cut, and the replace blooms necessary to make any such shortage will be ordered at once. Six-inch channels. 80,000 lbs. yet to come forward, nearly all of which will have to be rolled from blooms yet to be made by Cambria. These are all replace blooms, and the orders for them went forward to Cambria on the 10th and 13th instant, these being the earliest dates at which the necessary quantity of blooms could be definitely ascer- t lined. Cambria have advised, under date of 14th, that their blooming-mill is broken down and undergoing general repairs, and that three weeks will be required to complete them, so that these blooms cannot be expected to reach the rolling-mill until about the middle of July. Six-inch I beams. These will be rolled during the present week, and this rolling will be made, if possible, the final rolling of this shape. Rounds for pins. These will probably follow the 6-inch beams. The shipping documents for the blooms we received from Cambria on the 19th instant. Miscellaneous flats entering into the construction of quite all of the miscellaneous parts. These are all rolled upon the small train, which has recently been undergoing necessary repairs. The rolling will begin during the present week, and continue consecutively until finished. In conclusion, it may be said, without fear of contradiction, that the work covered by these contracts is unusual and of extraordinary character, involving questions that have taxed the skill of both engi- neers and contractors; that, in fact, the detail drawings and the work have been progressing side by side, the final details for important connections, in the first contract, not being completed until Novem- ber last. The eye-bar connections, before referred to, have involved 7 numerous and costly experiments on our part to fulfill the necessary conditions, and it is believed that this is the first instance in the his- tory of bridge building when such bars have been successfully made from flat steel bars of uniform section throughout. It is estimated that it will require 80 days in our hydraulic shop to finish these bars, which, with other work that must pass through the same shop within that time, would indicate their final comple- tion about the 31st of October next ; and as these bars will probably take longer to manufacture than any other portion of the work now remaining, I believe the whole work will be completed by that time. In completing this work no effort will be spared to deliver it in the order in which it must be erected, so that the erection can keep pace with the manufacture, and the final completion will follow immedi- ately upon the final delivery. Respectfully, WM. SELLERS, Prest. E. M. I. Co.