Faust Vrančić's iron chain suspension bridge (Pons ferreus)
Puente colgante de cadenas de hierro de Faust Vrančić (Pons ferreus)
- Date
- c. 1615-1616 · confidence medium
- Place
- Venice, Veneto, Italy
- Credited to
- Faust Vrančić (Fausto Veranzio), from Šibenik
- Field
- Tools
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What it is
In Machinae Novae (c. 1615-1616) he drew suspension bridges whose deck was held by iron chains, one of the first European designs of this bridge type. It is presented as a precursor of modern suspension bridges.
These are drawn designs, not a built bridge. Chain bridges existed in China from the Han dynasty, and modern ones (Finley, 1801) do not derive from Vrančić. The date of Machinae Novae (c. 1615-1616) is approximate. His parachute is covered in 'Parachute (concept)'.
What it led to
- spread in Europe of the idea of the chain bridge
- 19th-century historical reading of Renaissance engineering