Tsm flying bridge

brief

The aim of the game here is to rig a 7metre by 1metre bridge which is suspended 4 meters above the stage floor. During the course of this project I hope to illustrate how to suspend a bridge in the New Athenaeum theatre or indeed any theatre.

The Bridge Itself

The bridge could be made from many different materials, wood, steel, aluminum, titanium if you really wanted to. In this case it will be constructed from aluminum. It will be constructed in to sections each of 3.5metres by 1metre this is simply for the ease of construction and transportability. I was originally going to have the bridge made out of box steel but this material is a lot heavier then aluminum, so I went for the lighter option.

The look of this bridge is to be industrial like the bridges that use to be in factories. So it will keep its metal look and to hide the drifts they will be dressed with long link chain.

I know I am no an engineer but after a bit of research of gangways and access walkways this is how I think the bridge would be constructed

This picture shows how gangways for ships are constructed, depending on the designer the diagonal supports can be replaced but vertical ones. The hand rail will sit at a height of 1.5metres high.the floor will be covered with a 3mm aluminum sheet.

Rigging Equipment

I was having trouble calculating the exact weight of this bridge for 2 reasons.

I am no completely sure of how to construct the bridge, therefore how much aluminum would be required. Secondly how many people would be on this bridge at one time?

So for these reasons each of the 8 points suspending this bridge will take at least one tonne. You would think this would affect the cost of rigging by a fair wee whack but it doesn’t really. For example 5mm 7x7 wire core has a MBS(minimum breaking strain) of 1.62tonne costing (insert one I get a quote) compared to example 3mm 7x7 wire core has a MBS 0.58tonne costing (insert one I get a quote).

4 motor chain hoists- sm10 508V2-V capacity 500kg 8 lengths of 8 meter drifts, 5mm, 7x7 wire core, which have been threaded thru long link 20 shackles at 1.50 tonne 4 beam clamp at 1 tonne 8 clutch chain possible reduction 4 3metre round slings 2 tonne

Note motor chain hoists could be replaced with the academy’s new automated winches.