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Moving from Category:Bridge engineers to Category:French bridge engineers Diffusing per WP:DIFFUSE and/or WP:ALLINCLUDED using Cat-a-lot

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'''Joseph Chaley''' (1795 – April 15, 1861) was a French [[civil engineer]] and a pioneer designer of [[suspension bridge]]s in the 19th century. He was a medical officer in the army before becoming a bridge designer.

Chaley pioneered the construction of suspension bridge cables by bringing together individual wire strands in mid-air, a technique later known as '''aerial spinning'''. Previously, the entire cable had been bound together before lifting into place, but Chaley's system, inspired by the ideas of [[Louis Vicat]], allowed considerably longer cables to be erected at less cost.<ref name="Peters">Peters, Tom F., ''"Transitions in Engineering: Guillaume Henri Dufour and the Early 19th Century Cable Suspension Bridges"'', Birkhauser, 1987, {{ISBN|3-7643-1929-1}}</ref>

He built the Grand Pont Suspendu at [[Fribourg]] in 1834, a world record-breaking span of 273m, only overtaken 16 years later by [[Charles Ellet Jr.]]'s 308m span [[Wheeling Suspension Bridge]]. Chaley had previously worked with [[Marc Seguin]]'s brother Jules on the [[Tarascon]]-[[Beaucaire, Gard|Beaucaire]] Bridge (1828) and also the [[Chazey-sur-Ain]] Bridge (1829).<ref name="Peters"/>

Chaley first presented a proposal for the Grand Pont Suspendu in February 1830, and was awarded the contract in June of that year. His estimated cost of less than 300,000 florins was well below other competitors, including [[Guillaume Henri Dufour]]. Chaley's bridge was supported on four main cables (two per side), each consisting of 1056 [[wire]]s each 3.08mm in diameter. It carried 2000 people on its opening day. It was replaced in 1923 by a [[reinforced concrete]] [[arch bridge]].<ref name="Peters"/>

Chaley's other suspension bridges include the 227m Pont du Gottéron (1840); and a 64m span at Collomby in [[Valais]] (1840). He collaborated with Bordillon on the [[Basse-Chaîne Bridge]] at [[Angers]], completed in 1839. This bridge collapsed in 1850 killing 226 soldiers, a major setback to suspension bridge construction in France and beyond.<ref name="Peters"/>

His only bridge still in existence is the 121m suspension bridge at [[Corbières, Gruyère|Corbières]] (1837).<ref name="Peters"/>

== External links ==
* {{Structurae person|id=d000223|name=Joseph Chaley}}

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Chaley, Joseph}}
[[Category:1795 births]]
[[Category:1861 deaths]]
[[Category:French civil engineers]]
[[Category:19th-century French inventors]]
[[Category:French bridge engineers]]

Joseph Chaley - Revision history

imported>Smasongarrison: Moving from Category:Bridge engineers to Category:French bridge engineers Diffusing per WP:DIFFUSE and/or WP:ALLINCLUDED using Cat-a-lot