The long span. Intercultural exchange in building technology: Development and industrialization of the framed beam in Western Europe and the United States, 1820-1870

Industrialized construction transformed our environment during the nineteenth century. A comprehensive study of this development, however, is lacking. In this dissertation, the response to this problem includes an examination of the cultural and technological interrelationships which advanced the design and construction of the framed beam bridge in France, the German states, the United States, and Britain during the nineteenth century. Standard historical interpretations have mystified the processes of civil engineering: enlightenment through science, development by evolution, classification by material, and explanation through nationalism have become ingrained themes. As an antidote, the concept of intercultural exchange is introduced here. Exchange allows an examination of invention and technological development while avoiding biological analogies, "technology transfer," and "national character," concepts which often incorporate notions of progress and superiority and cannot account for the complexity of technological development. Ithiel Town's lattice bridge (patented 1820) is the object of this intercultural study. The invention of the structure is examined. How did various cultures define and select a structural system and judge those of other countries? How did engineers present and interpret what they saw? What were the consequences of these interpretations for "practice," "theory," and "culture"? These questions are discussed. The great divides between wood and iron, American and European, scientific and practical, rational and irrational, are shown to be anything but concrete. Moreover, the systematization of the building process is revealed as a critical development in modern history. Both technological process and product are shown to be intercultural developments.