User:UCDdunne/Bindon Blood Stoney

Career In Engineering

Bindon’s career in engineering commenced when he worked on surveys for the Aranjuez to Almansa railway in Spain from 1852-3. Upon returning to Ireland in 1854, he was appointed as resident engineer under James Barton on the Boyne railway viaduct until it’s completion in 1855. This viaduct claimed to have the longest span in the world and had the world’s longest girders at the time.

Bindon’s pioneering work with Barton in building a metal bridge with a span of such dimensions using shock-absorbent wrought-iron latticed bars rather than a continuity of plate was possibly the earliest such example. It was the basis for his later two-volume publication The theory of strains in girders and similar structures, with observations on the strength and other properties of materials (1866), dubbed ‘Stoney on strains’ and reproduced in two further editions.

Bindon became an associate of the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) in January 1858 and a full member in November 1863. In 1856, Bindon was appointed as assistant engineer to George Halpin Junior at the Ballast Board on Westmoreland Street and in 1859 he was appointed as Executive Engineer. Bindon became an associate of the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) in January 1858 and a full member in November 1863. Stoney was ambitious and an engineering innovator who had come up with a cheap way to develop the Dublin Port – something appreciated by the board but they also did not want to upset Halpin. When Halpin retired, Stoney became the new Inspector of Works and in 1868, he became the first chief engineer of the newly constituted Dublin Port and Docks Board.

Bindon designed a large dredging plant and rebuilt nearly 7,000ft of quay walls along both north and south banks of the River Liffey, replacing the tidal berths by deep water berths. In addition to this, the northern quays were extended eastward and the formation of Alexandra Basin commenced in 1871 and partially completed by 1885. In addition to harbour works, Stoney directed the design and rebuilding of two major bridges across the River Liffey. In 1872–5 he largely rebuilt Essex Bridge, designed in the 1750s by George Semple to his own flamboyant design; it was renamed Grattan Bridge after Henry Grattan. In 1877–80 he redesigned the 1790s Carlisle Bridge of James Gandon, renamed O'Connell Bridge after Daniel O'Connell, to provide a crossing linking Sackville (later O'Connell) St. with the converging streets to the south. He built a new iron swivel bridge in 1877–9, just west of the Custom House named Beresford Bridge, it was later renamed Butt Bridge after Isaac Butt.

Bindon was given an honorary degree by University College Dublin in recognition of his achievements and was later elected President of the Institution of Civil Engineers of Ireland in 1871. Towards the end of Bindons career, he erected the North Bull lighthouse (1877–80) to replace the inadequate light on the Bull Wall marking the northern side of the Dublin port channel entrance opposite Poolbeg lighthouse before finally retiring in 1898.