|
 Imagine a work of art combining two dissimilar works, both the
creations of a great 19th century engineering dynasty. Master automotive
designer and artist Ken Eberts will display this painting, The Mercer and the Bridge, at the Automotive Fine Arts Society Exhibit during this month's Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance.
The story of the Roebling family's ties to the Brooklyn Bridge and
the later Mercer Raceabout, both immortal in their respective worlds of
design, has been told any number of times. For the sake of putting Ken's
painting into perspective, let's repeat it. The German-born engineer
and family patriarch John A. Roebling fled political persecution in
Prussia in 1831, settling in western Pennsylvania. Roebling first made
his name by weaving wire ropes to pull barges on the Allegheny Portage
Railroad, an improvement on the breakage-prone hemp ropes. His
subsequent cable designs allowed the construction of previously
unfeasible suspension bridges, at Niagara Falls, Cincinnati and in
Trenton, New Jersey.
Read the Whole Article
| 
Re: Marvels of the Roebling Family
