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The The: Evolution of Warren, or Triangular, Truss

The Warren truss originated in northern Italy and migrated to England via France and Belgium. It uses a web of repetitive isosceles or equilateral triangles to brace horizontal chords. Early examples used isosceles triangles, while James Warren's 1848 British patent featured equilateral triangles. The Warren truss became ubiquitous in America by the early 20th century due to its ability to span greater distances. Variations were developed by adding vertical members to subdivide the triangles. The Warren truss pattern is also seen in nature in the hollow bones of dinosaurs and modern birds.

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94 views1 page

The The: Evolution of Warren, or Triangular, Truss

The Warren truss originated in northern Italy and migrated to England via France and Belgium. It uses a web of repetitive isosceles or equilateral triangles to brace horizontal chords. Early examples used isosceles triangles, while James Warren's 1848 British patent featured equilateral triangles. The Warren truss became ubiquitous in America by the early 20th century due to its ability to span greater distances. Variations were developed by adding vertical members to subdivide the triangles. The Warren truss pattern is also seen in nature in the hollow bones of dinosaurs and modern birds.

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Mr. Dream
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© © All Rights Reserved
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The Evolution of the

Warren, or Triangular, Truss


David Guise

The adoption of the Warren truss i n America, driven by the Early History
need to accommodate ever-increasing span and load require- The exact origin of a truss web composed only of identi-
ments, produced a wide variety of subdividing patterns and cal repetitive triangles is obscure. Apparently first used
intriguing variations. Although the use of a truss web eom- in northern Italy, it eventually migrated to England by
posed of contiguous triangles, commonly referred to as a way of France and Belgium.' Alfred Henry Neville, an
"Warren" truss, traces its beginnings from the use of isosceles English entrepreneur and engineer, built several trian-
triangles i n continental Europe to the use of equilateral trian- gular webbed-truss bridges in France and Belgium dur-
gles i n Great Britain, it become a n ubiquitous part of the ing the late 1830s and early 1840s, using a configuration
American landscape by the ear['\'-20th century. The chronolog- of repetitive isosceles triangles that supported a roadbed
ical evolution of these American forms is presented with the at midheight.2 Neville, Nash et Compagnie, a firm with
aid of patent drawings and photographs to demonstrate the addresses in Turin and Paris, obtained a French patent
wide range of ideas and solutions. The web configuration of for its design in 1838, a n d in 1839 William Nash
a basic Warren truss is composed of a series of alternately obtained a British patent for this same design (see figure
sloped diagonal members that produce a distinctive image of 3)." It was not until 1848 that James Warren a n d
contiguous ''AAA'' shapes, arrayed between a pair of parallel Willoughby Monzani, who may have had input to some
upper and lower horizontal chords (see figure 1). Because of of the earlier uses of this form, obtained a British patent
this visual characteristic, exa,mples are also referred to as "tri- for a configuration of repetitive equilateral triangles that
angular" trusses. Ultimately, variations based on this concept could support a roadbed on either its top or bottom
of repetitive triangular forms were developed, created by the chord (see figure 4). Warren's name became synony-
insertion of verticals subdividing the triangles. Of the literally mous with this form, as the first major spans using this
hundreds of truss configurations proposed during the 19th configuration were built in England, and English con-
century, the original Warren configuration is the only one struction firms built prefabricated versions for use in the
that did not contain verticals and the only one with a prece- British colonies, especially India. In 1851, a 240-foot, 6-
dent i n n,ature. The hollow bones of dinosaurs and modern inch span iron Warren truss, Newark Dyke Bridge, was
birds are braced with the same pattern of equilateral triangles built to carry the Great Northern Railroad tracks over
(seefigure 2). England's Trent River (see figures 5a and 5b) .4

air sacks

internal struts

section cut through a hollow bird bone

Figure 1. Warren truss with a triangular pattern of diagonal web members, Figure 2. Section cut through a hollow bird bone, showing a configuration of
Worcester, England; 1905 railway bridge over the Severn River Photo inclined diagonals. Drawing, courtesy of Institute of Biological Science,
courtesy of Derek Locke. University of Wales, Aberystwth, UK.

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