The Living History Engineer's Engineer's Corner

This will be the first item in a small news column devoted to the engineering aspect of the Restoration of  Fort Nathan Hale.  The Fort Engineer will be responsible for the determination of Maintenance periodicity of certain elements of the Fort, which will consist of the Moat Bridge , Bombproof No. 2, and the repair and subsequent Maintenance of the Coastal Gun Carriage and Emplacement.  The Fort Engineer will be the Chairman of the Engineering Sub-Committee of the Fort Nathan Hale Restoration Committee (FNHRC), and will provide to the  FNHRC Chairman upon request the priorities of the various restoration, repair and maintenance activities that shall be assigned to him by the FNHRC Chairman.

Currently the Coastal Gun Carriage, Lower Section is badly rotted and unable to continue to carry the load of the Upper Gun Carriage Section safely. The Upper Carriage has been removed temporarily until the proposed repairs can be undertaken to the Gun Carriage Platform and the Lower Gun Carriage.

A full-sized wooden / fiber-glassed model of a 30 pdr Parrott Artillery Rifle has been constructed and is stored in Bombproof No. 2.  This rifle will be displayed on the occasions suitable for it's being removed and returned to the bombproof.

The Engineering Sub-Committee has accomplished so far the following:

--construction of three sets of shutters for the window openings in Bombproof No. 2.
--completed painting the inside raw woodwork of Bombproof No. 2 and the surface of the upper deck and a portion of the underside of the Moat Bridge .
--painted the Upper Gun Carriage, and stabilized the Lower Gun Carriage in it's position, saving the various iron fittings that were dug out of the collapsed front section of the Lower Gun Carriage.
-- constructed a heavy display table for Bombproof No. 2;
--devised and completed the straightening of the two severely bowed Rolling Bridge Axles without the necessity of moving the bridge.

The Engineers have been asked to design and build a "Garrison Carriage" for the nine pdr. "Gunnade Barrel" that was donated to the Fort some years ago.  That Project together with some other selected projects recommended and approved by the FNHRC Chairman are on-going and will be discussed in more detail in coming issues of this newsletter.

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