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Hitchcock-Cormier Covered Bridge- (continued)

Family and neighbors were involved throughout the project which made it especially fun.

The siding consists of local rough pine boards is a work in progress. The bridge is being used as planned for access to property across the year round brook with a tractor and ATV as of Oct 2008.

Hitchcock-Cormier Bridge. Photo by Ray Hitchcock, 2008
Six year old Max was the bolt hammer and socket wrench man.
Hitchcock-Cormier Bridge. Photo by Ray Hitchcock, 2008
Wench operating winch to adjust for camber and align bolts

Following are some notes from my email correspondence with Gerry that may be of interest.

Gerry Cormier says that once he knew what Town did and where the strength came from, he used straight math principles (i.e., the 60 degree equilateral triangles) and his Corps of Engineer training for the design, built the model, and figured out the amount of camber by trial and error on the trusses of a smaller bridge he designed in Cabot, AR.

He provided Ray with the design, dimensions of pieces and both corresponded via emails as the building process began.

Gerry brought his model to my home and we tried to load it to breaking with my tractor. It didn't break with approximately 500 lbs of down pressure!

Hitchcock-Cormier Bridge. Photo by Ray Hitchcock, 2008
Gerry Cormier and his model

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Joe Nelson, P.O Box 267, Jericho, VT 05465-0267
This file posted 10/03/2008