Talk:David B. Steinman

Untitled

I did some extensive editing on this article today. Comments welcomed. ++Lar 01:40, 19 December 2005 (UTC)

Steinman Waddell turf war?

a footnote pair I ran across in the HAER report on Three Sisters (Pittsburgh)

105 D. B. Steinman, A Practical Treatise on Suspension Bridges: Their Design, Construction and Erection, 1st ed. (New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1922), 53 et passim.

107 J. A. L. Waddell and Steinman waged a turf war in professional literature during the 1910s, arguing that comparative cost of the two bridge types indicated different uses. Waddell complimented the less established Steinman on attempting to calculate costs — primarily as a way of setting his opponent up for criticism in using approximations of weights when calculating the span lengths at which both types proved equally economical. J. A. L. Waddell, Economics of Bridgework: A Sequel to Bridge Engineering (New York: John Wiley & Sons. 1921), see especially 8-9, 104-106, 268; D. B. Steinman, Suspension Bridges and Cantilevers: Their Economic Proportions and Limiting Spans, 2nd ed. (New York: D. Van Nostrand Co., 1913); see also C. B. McCullough, Economics of Highway Bridge Types (Chicago: Gillette Publishing Co., 1929). Despite Waddell’s attack, Steinman may have had the last laugh. He proved more open than Waddell to new ways of categorizing bridge structures, noting in 1922 the existence of new technologies, such as eye-bars and self-anchored suspension spans, which eventually blurred the boundaries of the debate. (Steven J. Fenves of Carnegie-Mellon University’s Department of Civil Engineering kindly noted Steinman’s contributions to the technological diffusion discussed above.)

This is PD info. Might be nice to fit in somewhere. Apparently Steinman feuded with more than just Amman? The Ratigan book (which I read as a child and still remember with fondness, but need to get out of where-ever it's stashed and reread) may be a bit of a hagiography?? ++Lar: t/c 05:52, 22 January 2006 (UTC)

List of his bridges

Is there a list of bridges that he designed? Hell Gate Arch Bridge (with Lindenthal), Scoitoville Bridge, Henry Hudson Bridge, Thousand Islands International Bride, Carquinez Srait Bridge, Mackinac Straight Bridge, St. Johns Bridge. Cacophony 03:13, 29 January 2006 (UTC)

It's a big list! However, he didn't design Hell Gate, he was just one of the helpers on that one. (along with Amman who he ended up being rivals with). Structurae.de has a partial list. The Ratigan book has a more complete list, I need to find my copy and re-read it... ++Lar: t/c 04:39, 29 January 2006 (UTC)

Birth Place Controversy

I'm unsure of the accuracy of the article concerning his birthplace. I have seen many pieces stating he was born 'in the shadow of the brooklyn bridge'. Ciraric 10:46, 4 May 2006 (UTC)

Let's teach the controversy. If we can find cites for just one or the other, let's go with them. If we find cites for both, let's footnote both, noting there is controversy. I have to dig up my copy of the Ratigan book. But what I seem to recall is "grew up" in the shadow of... not "born in"... ++Lar: t/c 14:58, 4 May 2006 (UTC)

I have the book infront of me. My mother wants me to mention that it is Steinman's own copy. On Page 11; "boy born under the shadow of the Brooklyn Bridge". Ciraric 17:34, 4 May 2006 (UTC)

Cool. Which book? Do you have the biblio data for it? (author, title, date of publication, publisher) or an ISBN for it if it has one (only recent ones do)? If so please fix the article to correct the statement... and add a cite. Or put the info here and I'll fix it. Thanks for looking into this. And cool that you have Steimnan's own copy somehow. There's gotta be a neat story to that! ++Lar: t/c 18:25, 4 May 2006 (UTC)

The story is just that Steinman is my greatgrandfather (which is why my house is inundated with his books and posters) and the book was passed down to my grandmother and then to my dad. As it is a first edition from 1959 it doesn't have ISBN but I can try and give the other details. Authored by William Ratigan. Title "Highways Over Broad Waters". Published September 1959 by Eerdmans. I also found a reference in the back flap biography of Steinman's children's book, "Famous Bridges of the World" which just says he was born in NYC. Also, a wall plaque in my house celebrating him is engraved with the years of his life as "1887-1961" which competes with this article's '1886-1960' info. Thanks for the help! p.s- The Ratigan book's info is already in 'Further Reading'. Ciraric 18:37, 4 May 2006 (UTC)

I missed that it was the Ratigan book! Sorry! I REALLY need to dig that up, whereever it is, and read it again since I've been working on so many articles about bridges he built. Why don't you try to do the fix? Give it a whirl if you want, or else I'll take a cut at it. Does the Ratigan book give his birth year as 1887 or 1886? I'd think it's what we should go with. ++Lar: t/c 19:02, 4 May 2006 (UTC)

I think in a round about way the book says 1887 as it says the bridge was 4 when he was born (I believe the bridge was completed in 1883). Thanks for the green light but knowing me it may need re-doing afterwards. Ciraric 19:07, 4 May 2006 (UTC)

Take a look now and see what you think. It was Structurae that had the Belarus ref. so I've put 3 footnotes (using ref tagging) for the three sources. Moved it out of the lead as it's not that key.

Can you by any chance take a picture of the plaque you have and upload it? It would be great to add to the article I think. Thanks again! Happy editing! ++Lar: t/c 20:25, 4 May 2006 (UTC)

I'll try and get a camera and take the picture. I like what you did and it looks better than my edit. Also, I want to scan in a poster about Steinman's greatest bridges but it is rather long (2 feet), i'll take a picture and upload it. Ciraric 20:35, 4 May 2006 (UTC)

Both Steinman's 1942 World War II Draft Registration and his 1923 Passport application list his date of birth as 11 Jun 1887. The Draft Registration lists his place of birth as New York City. However, his sworn statement for his passport application lists his place of birth as Poland, and that he had lived continuously in the US from 1890 to 1923, and that his father, Louis Steinman, was born in Poland 15 May 1843 and immigrated to the US Jul 1887, where he lived continuously until his death in 1922. Both the 1910 and 1920 census records for Louis and Ida Steinman list them as born in Russia, with a native tongue of Yiddish.

Below citations available online from ancestry.com or from the National Archives.

World War II Draft Registration Cards, 1942; roll WW2_2368784.

US Passport Applications, 2 Jan 1906 - 31 Mar 1925 (series M1490), roll 2390, certificate 342481.

1920 United States Federal Census;Census Place: Manhattan Assembly District 8, New York, New York; Roll: T625_1199; Page: 12A; Enumeration District: 595; Image: 117.

1910 United States Federeal Census; Census Place: Manhattan Ward 17, New York, New York; Roll: T624_1032; Page: 22B; Enumeration District: 900; Image: 728. Jupp-pdx (talk) 01:39, 3 April 2008 (UTC)

Plaque photos

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Steinmanplaque.jpg

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Steinmanplaquedate.jpg

Ciraric 21:02, 4 May 2006 (UTC)

Thanks for those. are those the highest res you have? I took the main plaque image and cropped it to pull in on just the picture because the article lacks a good picture of the man... what do you think? I think it's great you're here to help make this article better! Anything else you have to share would be great! ++Lar: t/c 21:51, 4 May 2006 (UTC)

Wow, great cropping, I didn't think it would work that well. I wonder if I could take the picture of him (a staged picture) at his desk out of it's frame and scan it- or just photograph it. Ciraric 07:09, 5 May 2006 (UTC)

Additional Pictures?

I was wondering whether a good close up picture of his face would be benificial to the page. At the top next to the summary, so that people know who they're dealing with when they read the page. Ciraric 09:44, 25 May 2006 (UTC)

I think it would be of value. The photo of him on the Mackinac Bridge is not very revealing. Cacophony 09:58, 25 May 2006 (UTC)

Great. I will upload a suitable picture sometime today. Ciraric 10:45, 25 May 2006 (UTC)

I believe that David B. Steinman is originally from Belarus. He was a cousin of mine, and all of our family name/ancestry originates from there.

Barnard or Bernard?

In the article and in structurae, he is named David Bernard, but in ASCE's article and in most sources quoted in VIAF, he is named David Barnard. Which name is correct? --AHert (talk) 13:14, 2 April 2013 (UTC)

Well, I am going to change that to Barnard in the near future. --AHert (talk) 09:48, 11 November 2015 (UTC)

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