Josef Melan and The Melan System of Bridge Construction in America

Josef Melan and The Melan System of Bridge Construction in America. . Dayton's concrete arch bridges followed the Melan System of bridge construction. Josef Melan (1853-1941) was an Austrian engineer and educator who created the system and patented it in 1893. It was widely used in the United States and Europe in the late 19th and early 20th centuries because it was stronger and better than any other bridge building system. In the Melan System, a steel arch was encased in con- crete. The steel strengthened the concrete and the concrete protected the steel. The first Melan bridge in the U.S. was built in northwest lowa in 1894. The first in Ohio was built in Eden Park in Cincinnati, also in 1894. , Melan Bridge, Lyon County, lowa, 1894. View (HAER, National Park Service) , Concrete Arch Bridge Types: Closed And Open Spandrel , Closed Or Filled Spandrel , Barrel shaped concrete arch with vertical walls along the sides carry the load to the abutments and piers. The space between the deck and the arch is filled with soil or mud. , Variations of this type of bridge in clude the closed spandrel hollow arch with no fill and closed span drel rib arch in which multiple ribs or columns support the deck slab. , Open Spandrel , Arched beams with vertical ribs sup- port the deck above and distribute the load to the abutments and piers. The space between the deck and the slab is open, and there is no fill mate- rial. , Variations of the open spandrel bridge include the rainbow arch in which the roadway passes through the raised arches and open spandrel slab arch in which multiple columns take the space of the span drel wall. , Constructed in 1916, the Webster Street Bridge (top) was an excellent example of the closed spandrel concrete arch bridge. Constructed in 1925-1926, the Findlay Street Bridge (bottom) was the only open spandrel bridge in Dayton.