Lattice truss bridge

A grid carrier is a carrier which consists of a plurality of bars which are superimposed on each other and diagonally connected each other at the crossing points to form a lattice. The top and bottom edges are fixed with light rods. This construction is closely related to the truss. Also steel - truss are incorrectly referred to as the girders Colloquially today.

This support was mostly made ​​of wood construction, with light wood slats and wooden nails as connecting means. The great advantage of this support was the use of smaller wooden slats instead of heavier and more expensive wooden beams. Today, this construction method is no longer used due to the high workload, Glulam provides the same advantage, but is much cheaper to manufacture.

In the U.S., this construction method was patented in 1820 and 1835 by the American architect Ithiel Town lattice truss as Town's called in German as Town shear bar support or Town'scher bar carrier. He came above all in bridge used. There are still many bridges obtained in which the girders were used.

A similar structural principle is lattice shell structures, such as the multi-purpose hall in Mannheim based. Also these are made of light bars which are fixed at the intersection points, but, in contrast to the girders is curved.