On this day in engineering history, the Statue of Liberty
arrived in New York
Harbor. A gift from the
people of France,
the 151-ft. tall statue depicts a robed woman holding a lit flame, with a crown
atop her head and a tablet in her hand. Lady Liberty's classical style combines
features of Libertas, the Roman goddess of freedom, and Apollo, the Greek god
of the sun. The statue's radiant crown contains seven spikes that represent the
seven continents and the seven seas. The torch represents enlightenment, the
tablet represents knowledge, and the statue's left foot tramples broken
shackles to suggest freedom from tyranny. The statue's tablet also displays the birthday of the United States, (July 4, 1776), a reminder to visitors
that this metal monument was a gift to commemorate 100 years of independence.
Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi and Alexandre
Gustave Eiffel
The Statue of Liberty arrived nine years after the U.S. centennial and nearly 20 years after French
sculptor Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi envisioned a similar
structure as a lighthouse at the entrance to the Suez
Canal. Although the Egyptians rejected Bartholdi's expensive idea,
the sculptor would re-use his design's classical elements and colossal scale in
France's
gift to the American people. After Frédéric Bartholdi sculpted a model of the
statue and earned a U.S.
patent for a miniature version, Alexandre
Gustave Eiffel designed an internal structure made of steel. Eiffel,
an architect and acclaimed structural engineer, had once worked as the project manager
for a railway bridge, but would become best known for designing the structure
that bears his name – the Eiffel
Tower.
Eugène Viollet-le-Duc and Copper Repoussé
Bartholdi and Eiffel were joined by Eugène Viollet-le-Duc, a French architect who
selected copper as the sheeting material for the Statue of Liberty. To form the
copper, Viollet-le-Duc used repoussé, a metalworking technique that shapes a malleable metal by
hammering it from the reverse side. Although repoussage is a relatively slow
process, there is no loss of material. Using wooden structures, beveled hammers,
and special saws, Viollet-le-Duc carefully created the statue's exterior. Today,
the copper statue is green-blue, the result of a chemical reaction with the
salty air above New York
Harbor. The Statue of
Liberty's copper is quite durable, however. According to Copper.org, the
website of the Copper Development Association (CDA), "weathering and
oxidation of the copper skin has amounted to just .005 of an inch in a
century."
Handle With Care: 300 Pieces and 214 Crates
On June
17, 1885, the French frigate Isère
arrived in New York Harbor bearing a gift for the United States. The
vessel was led by the French flagship La Flore, and escorted by an American
naval escort and boats from the American Yacht Club. Over 50 steam ships from New York's Steam and
Sail Vessel Association also joined the flotilla. Aboard the Isère lay the
Statue of Liberty, reduced to 300 pieces and packed in 214 crates. When filled,
these specially-constructed cases ranged in weight from several hundred pounds
to several tons. Once the title papers to the statue were transferred to
the United States, the Isère was docked at Bedloe's
Island, where the statue's parts remained in crates for almost a
year due to a lack of funding. Finally, after a reassembly project
which lasted four months, the Statue of Liberty was dedicated on October 28,
1886.
Resources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Statue_of_Liberty
http://www.statueliberty.net/Statue-of-Liberty-Construction.html
http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/hh/11/hh11j.htm
http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?_r=1&res=9900EEDE1E3EEF33A2575AC1A9609C94649FD7CF&oref=slogin
http://www.copper.org/education/statue_of_liberty.html
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