) INDUSTRY & BUSINESS

Highway bridges may prove a big aluminum outlet. Here, pulsating jacks apply stress to the Fairchild aluminum bridge while engineers check the structure. Test.5 simulated more

than 100 years of normal use. If aluminum capture only 10% of some 70,000 in the new way program, they would use 100,000 tons

bridges could federal high-of aluminum

Aluminum Bridges the Gap Fairchild and domestic producers build a bridge that could be a big aluminum market

.LAST WKEK a group of researchers calmly tried to destroy a 50-foot alu­minum bridge on the Lehigh I'niversity campus. The show was an initial step in what could he a major new aluminum market, sparking widespread interest in the industry, t« plagued with some overcapacity lieu, dies.

Advantages of the new bridge over steel structures: freedom from mainte­nance worries with comparable initial costs (it's most economical in large bridges-80-foot spans or longer). Additionally, the designers expect easier fabrication, with a high percentage of it being in the shop instead of on-site. Lower weight per bridge should also mean additional savings on shipping

costs, proponents of the new design feel.

Fairchild Engine designed and fabri­cated the bridge, which uses airplane­like concepts—thin shells of aluminum reinforced by aluminum extrusions. While conventional girder aluminum bridges are not new (one is in final con­struction stages in Iowa), officials say this is the first employing the radical design approach effectively.

What does it mean to the aluminum industry? The 50-foot test bridge uses more than 11,000 pounds of the metal. Aluminum officials (Alcoa, Kaiser, Rey­nolds, and Olin Mathieson took part in the tests) say that if they took only 10';r of 70,000 highway bridges in the

new 850 billion federal highway pro­gram, they would use nearly 100,000 tons. That outlet could prove a boon to company profits.

Test loads of 52 tons, 175'^ of load limit, were handled without failure, and pulsating jacks have put more than a century of use on the bridge. Since the bridge has a permanent roadbed on top and cannot bo moved, engineers will test until destruction.

The Government's Bureau of Public Roads is taking part in the tests. Its approved and that of the state highway officials' group remain before a final green light is given, but company officials expect that by yi . »nd.

Fairchild has a patent application in, and if one is granted, plans to license at "very low cost." As spokesmen note, "Our interest is in building bridges—not in making a patent tight/* If all goes well, this bridge development and alu­minum auto engine potential could bring happy times for aluminum. •

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