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Bridge builders find fun, learn what works

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By Kathy Kuhl | Saturday, January 26, 2008 |

The teams secured their miniature bridges with an assortment of wires, different kinds of tape, hot glue and string. Up to three hours of work ended with engineers pushing all the structures to or past the brink of destruction.

The prospect of building something only to have it destroyed didn’t bother Bruce Atkinson of Davenport.

“What does Animal (the Muppet) say? ‘Smash it!’ ” he growled as his family worked on a suspension bridge.

Twenty-three teams of families, friends and students gathered at the Putnam Museum on Saturday afternoon for the Battle of the Bridges Competition, sponsored by the Quad-City Engineering and Science Council. It took off on the display “Da Vinci: Man, Inventor, Genius” that includes some of Leonardo Da Vinci’s bridge designs.

All participants received a kit of wood pieces, cardboard, string, wire and adhesives.

Atkinson’s family, team-named the Sonbeams for his sons Gordon, 12, and Graham, 10 fashioned a crossing, double-arched bridge, reinforced with twining wires.

Under the team name “Funky Fresh Flamingos,” Rachael Barnes, Tessa James and Haley Smith, seventh-graders at Pleasant Valley Junior High School, built a tall, latticed construction that held more than 42 pounds before it dramatically snapped.

Six-year-old Will Rolfstad of Davenport built a bridge with four lengthwise wooden support beams encased by cardboard. The structure held 101 pounds and still did not break. Will called to his parents when bricks were added for weight, “Look it! Look it!”

Judges, who were engineering council members, expressed excitement. Scott Bullock of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said, “You’re hired, buddy. Report in for work Monday morning.”

Bill Ashton of Ashton Engineering proudly announced that Will was his grandson, but the boy “had his own ideas,” his dad, Erik Rolfstad, added.

“We just wanted to get people out of their house and to use their minds — and enjoy the museum a bit,” said Sally Peterson of the museum.