Ferdinand Arnodin

Ferdinand Joseph Arnodin (born October 9, 1845 in Sainte-Foy-lès-Lyon , † April 24, 1924 in Châteauneuf-sur-Loire in the Loiret department ) was a French engineer and industrialist . Alongside Alberto Palacio, he is considered to be the inventor of the transporter bridge , for which he was the first to receive a patent in 1887. The first of these bridges was built by the architect Alberto Palacio with Arnodin's help. In addition, Arnodin built and reconstructed cable and suspension bridges with twisted steel cables , which he manufactured in his own factory.

Nine of 18 suspension ferries known in the world can be assigned to him. Three of them still exist today.

Steel cable

Arnodin developed a special type of ordinary lay rope with several layers for use as suspension cables for suspension bridges , in which each layer was laid in the opposite direction to the previous one. In addition, his stranding machine was set so that the pitch of each wire spiral in its development was proportional to the diameter of the respective layer. With this he achieved that all wires of the suspension cable were of the same length and thus stretched evenly under load.

Suspension bridges and suspension ferries

Arnodin also built a large number of second generation suspension bridges (from the end of the 19th century to the beginning of the 20th century), and he restored and rehabilitated numerous bridges that were built as first generation cable bridges (before 1860). These were reinforced and the old wire ropes were replaced by his double-twisted steel ropes, and the construction with guy ropes was partially changed ("System Arnodin").

The industrialist

His factory for the manufacture and assembly of pre-engineered metal elements was located in Châteauneuf-sur-Loire . Remnants of it can still be seen, the chimney is half in ruins and is located between the railway and the Loire .

The Museum de la Marine de Loire in Châteauneuf-sur-Loire presents memorabilia from his work: an old model of the Nantes transporter bridge, a section of a steel cable from Arnodin, and photographs.

List of his works

Suspension ferries

Transporter Bridge of Rochefort

With cables

• 1893 Portugalete (Bilbao), «  Puente de Vizcaya  », designed by Alberto Palacio , constructed by Ferdinand Arnodin, in use. In 2006 included in the UNESCO World Heritage List.
• 1898 Rouen : destroyed in 1940
• 1898 Bizerte : dismantled and rebuilt in Brest in 1909
• 1900 Rochefort : historical monument, in use for pedestrians and two-wheelers

With guy ropes and counterweight

• 1903 Nantes : dismantled in 1958; Memorial plaque present
• 1905 Marseille : destroyed in 1944; the silhouette appears in films by Marcel Pagnol

With cables and guy ropes

• 1906 Newport, Wales, restored, in use

The last suspension ferries

• 1909 Brest: reconstruction of the dismantled von Bizerte; destroyed in 1944
• 1910 Bordeaux: unfinished, pillar dismantled in 1942. This was twice as long as the others, therefore twice slower. The bridge was unsuitable in this location.

Suspension bridges (fixed bridges)

Tonnay-Charente suspension bridge

The suspension bridges constructed or restored by Arnodin are numerous throughout France and its dominions at the time. He signed his work on iron plaques.

• Pont de Tonnay-Charente ( Charente-Maritime department );
• Pont de Parentignat , Puy-de-Dôme (1831), abandoned;
• Pont de l'Abîme , between Gruffy and Cusy in the Haute-Savoie department (1888);
• Pont de Lézardrieux , Brittany (1889)
• Pont suspendu de la Rivière de l'Est , in Réunion ;
• Pont Sidi M'Cid , Constantine , Algeria (1912), 164 m long, 175 m above the Rhumel ;
• Pont de Chilhac , Haute-Loire department ( 1883 ), across the Allier river ;
• Pont de Saint-Ilpize , Haute-Loire department, across the Allier river
• Viaduc des Rochers Noirs , Corrèze department , across the Luzège river
• Pont de Cassagne (cable-stayed bridge), Département Pyrénées-Orientales ; in the course of the Ligne de Cerdagne over the river Têt
• Ingrandes Bridge , Maine-et-Loire , over the Loire (restoration)

(The list is incomplete.)

Web links

• Ferdinand Arnodin. In: Structurae
• Ponts suspendus, conçus, construits ou rénovés par Ferdinand Arnodin - 1869> 1890 (on postcards)
• Ponts suspendus, conçus, construits ou rénovés par Ferdinand Arnodin - 2nd partie 1890> 1924
• Ferdinand Arnodin et les ponts à transbordeur - 1ère partie (on postage stamps and postcards)
• Ferdinand Arnodin et les ponts à transbordeur - 2ème partie

Individual evidence

1. ↑ About wire ropes. In: Polytechnisches Journal . 267, 1888, pp. 302-305.