With two hours’ notice, a city-employed bridge tender can be summoned to the bridge operator’s house, a small brick structure, on the increasingly rare occasions when the Carroll Street Bridge needs to be opened.
Carroll Street Bridge can be opened with two hours' notice.
“One of the things we’ve learned is that the substructure of the bridge is in worse condition than anyone understood,” said Brian Carr, assistant regional counsel at the EPA, at the January meeting. “There were repairs that were going to be needed one way or the other, and driving the piles in and all, if the bridge had been in decent condition, would have provided future stability for the bridge.”
Discovering in 2021 that Carroll Street Bridge was in worse shape than was originally understood.
The Carroll Street Bridge will likely remain closed long past the currently-projected March 31 cutoff as federal and city agencies work to assess and address structural issues on the span.
2021 acknowledging likely delays in Carroll Street Bridge reopening.
Last summer, engineers started work installing “pipe piles,” which would help stabilize the bridge when the federal EPA and the city begin dredging in the area. After a few months of pile driving, though, engineers realized the work was damaging the structure, and the EPA decided to reassess their plans for supporting the structure and cleaning up the 10 feet of infamous “Black Mayonnaise” beneath the Carroll Street Bridge and the Union Street bridges, Tsiamis said at a September meeting of the CAG.
Installation of "pipe pulls" damaged Carroll Street Bridge in 2020-21.
From November 2020 until April 2021, workers will stabilize the Carroll Street Bridge ahead of dredging around it by sinking so-called pipe piles at the edges of the bridge bases on either side.
Carroll Street Bridge was originally closed in November 2020 for stabilization work. It was scheduled to reopen in April 2021. It ended up staying closed until June 2026.
It is not really a restoration; city agencies are subject only to comment, not regulation, by the landmarks panel. So the Department of Transportation is leaving the 1940's handrail and demolishing the brick engine house, although it says it will reconstruct it from the salvaged bricks. But the bridge will be repainted its original color - still undetermined - and it will be nice to see it glide closed on its 100th birthday.
1987-89 restoration of Carroll Street Bridge re-painted bridge to original color.
An existing Carroll Street Bridge was closed in 1887 and its replacement became an issue. Local property owners preferred the retractile type which slides the bridge back diagonally on rails to rest on one shore but this meant buying more land, which the City of Brooklyn was loath to do.
NYC had to buy property to make Carroll Street Bridge retractile.
The unusual 1889 retractile-type bridge - the oldest in the country - has been left open since 1986, but the department has been repairing it since last December and it should be working in time for its 100th anniversary on Sept. 19.
The Carroll Street Bridge opened on September 19, 1889.
There is an original Belgian block approach, and the bridge is wooden-planked.
Noting "original Belgian block approach" to Carroll Street Bridge.
The bridge is drawn in and out by cables from the engine or operator’s house on the west side of the canal and opens a 36-footwide channel in the canal.
Carroll Street Bridge operated from operator's house on west side of Gowanus Canal.
It continues to operate today essentially as it did when it first opened.
Carroll Street Bridge operates close to the same today as when it opened in 1889.
The Carroll Street Bridge is a retractile bridge crossing the Gowanus Canal in Brooklyn. The bridge, which was opened to traffic in 1889, supports a 17 foot wide roadway and two 4.5 foot sidewalks.
Official Carroll Street Bridge facts from NYC DOT.
As recently as the 1990s, the Carroll Street Bridge was retracted almost twice daily in order to allow passage for waterborne traffic to and from the paint factories, oil depots, sand and gravel suppliers, and warehouses lining the canal, but with the decline of industry in the area these deliveries have since become far less frequent.
Carroll Street Bridge retracted almost twice daily as recently as the 1990s.
We begin our tour at the Carroll Street Bridge over the Gowanus Canal. The cobblestone approach and wood planks attest to the fact that this is no ordinary bridge. In fact, it is the oldest of four retractile bridges in the United States (constructed in 1889), and it is the only wooden bridge in the city that carries cars.
Noting that the Carroll Street Bridge is the only wooden NYC bridge that still carries cars (no longer the case as of June 2026).
The Carroll Street Bridge, constructed in 1889, spans the 36-foot-wide (11 m) channel of the Gowanus Canal and has a total length of 107 feet (33 m). The bridge uses a wooden deck to support one traffic lane and two sidewalks. The steel superstructure uses a king-post truss. In plan, the span has a trapezoidal shape, due to the angled joint between the movable span and the fixed abutment. The operating machin- ery is contained in an adjacent control house, from which wire ropes connect to the movable span. Wheels, riding on rails, are mounted underneath the movable span. The rails allow the bridge to roll away from the channel at an angle of approximately 45° from the center of the roadway.
In-depth explanation of the mechanics of the Carroll Street Bridge in Gowanus, Brooklyn.
However, this type was once common in Boston, with a dozen examples and a handful of rolling retractile bridges remaining in service in the United States, including the historically land- marked Carroll Street Bridge in Brooklyn, NY. T
Noting the Carroll Street Bridge as one of the few examples of an extant rolling retractable bridge.
A notable civil engineer, Charles O.H. Fritzche, developed the mechanical system.
Charles O.H. Fritzche developed Carroll Street Bridge mechanical system.
Many notable names were involved in the construction of the Carroll Street Bridge. Robert van Buren, a descendant of U.S. President Martin van Buren and Chief Engineer of the Bureau of Construction, oversaw the project.
Carroll Street Bridge construction overseen by Robert Van Buren, a descendent of the 8th President of the United States, Martin van Buren.
It may be inferred through historic documents that the use of a retractable bridge at this span was possibly due to the fact that an earlier design for the bridge would have required acquiring a piece of private property that the Common Council was having trouble purchasing at the time. The Landmarks Preservation Commission noted that retractable bridges are “employed to provide channel clearance in locations where other bridge types are impractical.”
Speculation that Carroll Street Bridge was made to be retractable because other design ideas would have required Brooklyn to obtain more land.
It was originally powered by steam, but was converted to electric in 1907-08.
The Carroll Street Bridge was steam-powered from 1889 to 1907-08 and electric ever since.
Retractable, or retractile bridges, open to allow water vessels to pass through, and the Carroll Street Bridge uses a mechanism that takes the whole span of the bridge and rolls it diagonally on wheels along steel rails using pulleys and wire cables.
Explaining the mechanics of the Carroll Street Bridge in Gowanus, Brooklyn.
The unique style of the this bridge gained it landmark status in 1987, with the Landmarks Preservation Commission citing its “rare and unusual” qualities.
Carroll Street Bridge granted landmark status in 1987.
As a retractile draw, the bridge opens by physically sliding out of the navigation channel on a set of three steel rails, pulled by an electrically operated pulley system. The moving portion of the bridge is a 107-foot long trapezoidal deck, supported in the middle by an iron post-and-truss frame that gives the superstructure the appearance of a suspension bridge. The operating controls for the bridge are located in a polygonal brick house on the west side of the site. The house was built during the bridge’s overhaul project of bricks salvaged from the demolition of the old operating house. One of the more interesting features of the bridge, a sign threatening a five dollar fine for anyone driving over the bridge faster than a walker’s pace, was also added during the overhaul.
Explaining the mechanics of how the Carroll Street Bridge in Gowanus, Brooklyn, opens.
The bridge was built between 1888-1889 by the New Jersey Steel & Iron Company. It replaced a wooden swing bridge that had become so rotten over the years that city engineers were forced to close it in early 1887 to everything but pedestrian traffic, fearing it would collapse under anything heavier.
The Carroll Street Bridge was built between 1888-1889 by the New Jersey Steel & Iron Company to replace a rotting wooden swing bridge that had been closed in 1887.
Construction of the new one was begun at the end of the year. It opened in September the following year, completed at a cost of $29,600.
The Carroll Street Bridge in Gowanus, Brooklyn, was completed at a cost of $29,600 from 1888-89.
The Department of Transportation closed the bridge in 1985 after an inspection revealed multiple holes in the road deck, seriously corroded steel, and a broken operating mechanism. After a $1.5 million overhaul by city workers, the bridge was able to reopen to traffic just in time for the 100th anniversary of its initial opening in 1989.
The Carroll Street Bridge was closed in 1985 due to "holes in the road deck, seriously corroded steel, and a broken operating mechanism." It was reopened for its 100th anniversary in 1989.
The Carroll Street Bridge is a retractile drawbridge that crosses the Gowanus Canal in the borough of Brooklyn. It is notable as the oldest surviving retractile bridge in the United States, with only three others still in existence: two non-operational draws in Boston, and one carrying Borden Avenue over Dutch Kills in the borough of Queens.
The Carroll Street Bridge, which crosses the Gowanus Canal in Brooklyn, is the oldest surving retractile bridge in the United States (1889).
reply to u/No-Rain-4114 and tk at https://old.reddit.com/r/typewriters/comments/1ti2zu2/imperial_model_50_vs_royal_10_which_is_better/
You're likely to get more opinions than there are people who have actually used both and their opinions are going to vary wildly based on the conditions of the machines they've encountered. They're both solid machines, but generally also so old that you'd need two well-restored versions to get a serious apples to apples comparison. Even if you get 10 people with immaculate exemplars to weigh in, it's honestly not going to be helpful for determining which you ought to hunt for and purchase.
You're also going to find them with a very specific geographic distribution based on manufacturing and sales at the time. The Imperial bigger in the UK and Royal bigger in the US.
If you've got two to choose from, pick the one in the best condition and proceed from there. Otherwise choose based on aesthetics as all the other factors are so confounding as to mean little in making an informed choice here.
See also: https://boffosocko.com/2026/01/08/on-purchasing-typewriters-condition-is-king-context-is-queen/
Reply to u/Wooden-Lifeguard-636
Chris, which one do YOU prefer?
Like all serious typewriter collectors, I prefer both! 😜
Refurbished with a clean, oil, and adjust out of a typewriter repair shop, you really can't go wrong with either of these if this is the era and aesthetic you're after.
If OP gave us a ton of additional information on their context: Are they collecting? What sort of collection are they starting? Is this the one and only typewriter they're ever going to buy? Are they going to display it as decor? Use it (8 hours a day 365, once a day for a few hours, once a week, once a month)? Tinker on it to restore it themself? What's their budget? Where are they going to source it (shop, yard sale, estate sale, online auction untested)? Do they prefer the polished enamel or the crinkle paint? Are they a hunt-and-peck typist, a touch-typist, or even a speed champion? Etc., etc., etc.
With this, we might provide some semblance of advice, but honestly, even then, it's largely a coin toss. The ultimate choice will be biased and come down to the purchaser's gut reaction with a specific machine(s) in its condition in front of them to purchase.
And even then, after all this, it's worth considering the quote from Carroll Shelby in Ford v Ferrari (20th Century Fox, 2019) about the test driver at the end: "You drove it for less than an hour... ‘don’t know shit after an hour."
'Porgy and Bess' to Screen at Quentin Tarantino's Vista Theatre<br /> by [[Jim Hemphill]] in IndieWire accessed on 2026-03-30T10:47:37
Quotations and Literary Allusions spoken by Willy Wonka in the 1971 film, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory<br /> by Thomas M. Brodhead<br /> https://bmt-systems.com/score/wonka.htm
Archived copy: https://web.archive.org/web/20200111135336/https://bmt-systems.com/score/wonka.htm
George MacDonald (10 December 1824 – 18 September 1905) was a Scottish author, poet and Christian Congregational minister. He became a pioneering figure in the field of modern fantasy literature and the mentor of fellow-writer Lewis Carroll. In addition to his fairy tales, MacDonald wrote several works of Christian theology, including several collections of sermons.
I have a long list of ideas I want to pursue in cosmology, quantum mechanics, complexity, statistical mechanics, emergence, information, democracy, origin of life, and elsewhere. Maybe we’ll start up a seminar series in Complexity and Emergence that brings different people together. Maybe it will grow into a Center of some kind.
https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/blog/2022/03/06/johns-hopkins/
Somehow I missed that Sean Carroll had moved to Johns Hopkins? Realized today when his next book showed up on my doorstep with his new affiliation.
Ryder Carroll says in The BulletJournal Method, “Your singular perspective may patch some smallhole in the vast tattered fabric of humanity.”
Curiouser and curiouser. The Matrix 4 movie was part of my trip down the rabbit hole with my father as he was exploring Lewis Carroll’s experiences with migraine headaches.
My father was talking about how Lewis Carroll’s concrete poetry was related to his experience of suffering from migraine headaches.
Lewis Carroll's migraine experiences
When my father was showing me an Economist article with the title Down the rabbit hole, he was making a connection between Lewis Carroll and migraine headaches, which was a specific focus of research for my father.
My father has been exploring brain chemistry and neural connections since the 70s in his medical practice as a paediatrician. His children have been his experimental laboratory. A conversation with my father is an adventure down the rabbit hole.
This is what he was sharing with me this past weekend. I must have learned my love of books and magazines from my father.
My father’s interest in Lewis Carroll is related to migraine headaches, which is what my father was treating in adult patients, as he was exploration a correlation between diet and brain chemistry.
My father has been exploring brain chemistry and neural connections since the 70s in his medical practice as a paediatrician. His children have been his experimental laboratory. A conversation with my father is an adventure down the rabbit hole.
This is what he was sharing with me this past weekend. I must have learned my love of books and magazines from my father.
My father’s interest in Lewis Carroll is related to migraine headaches, which is what my father was treating in adult patients, as he was exploration a correlation between diet and brain chemistry.
<small><cite class='h-cite via'>ᔥ <span class='p-author h-card'>Martin Gardner </span> in Hexaflexagons, Probability Paradoxes & the Tower of Hanoi in Chapter 11 Memorizing Numbers (<time class='dt-published'>04/02/2021 14:31:10</time>)</cite></small>
A reproduction of Carroll’snotes on his number alphabet will be found in Warren Weaver’s arti-cle “Lewis Carroll: Mathematician,” inScientific Americanfor April1956.)
I need to track down this reference and would love to see what Weaver has to say about the matter.
Certainly Weaver would have spoken of this with Claude Shannon (or he'd have read it).
My "Memoria Technica" is a modification of Gray's;
Because of the likelihood that Gray is a misspelling, it is most likely the case that he's referring here to Richard Grey)'s method from the book Memoria Technica, or, a New Method of Artificial Memory (1730).
Could they have known each other personally? Might be worth checking his massive correspondence.
To help himself to remember dates, he devised a system of mnemonics, which he circulated among his friends. As it has never been published, and as some of my readers may find it useful, I reproduce it here. My "Memoria Technica" is a modification of Gray's; but, whereas he used both consonants and vowels to represent digits, and had to content himself with a syllable of gibberish to represent the date or whatever other number was required, I use only consonants, and fill in with vowels ad libitum, and thus can always manage to make a real word of whatever has to be represented.
Lewis Carroll aka Dodgson never published his own version of his memory system.
N.B. He indicates here that he filled in his vowels ad libitum which is now the common practice for the phonetic major system. As this indicates he never published it, it then becomes a question as to whether or not he was the originator of this part of the technique or if it was later re-invented/discovered by others.
through the window, to take his portmanteau
How close were Wilkie Collins and Lewis Carroll? If I'm not mistaken, Carroll originally used this phrase in Through the Looking Glass which was published around the same time as The Moonstone.
As Humpty Dumpty says, the portmanteau could be interpreted as "two meanings packed up into one word" . With Godfrey giving Cuff the keys to the portmanteau, it may allude to clues hidden in words with double meanings.
Either way, Carroll and Collins must've been on a lot of the good stuff.
The rabbit-hole went straight on like a tunnel for some way, and then dipped
This quote shows that the rabbit hole was straight and was similar to a long tunnel then lower.
Alice was beginning to get very tired of sitting by her sister on the bank, and of having nothing to do
This show that Alice wants to do something different than she use to and sitting by her sister doing nothing was getting trying and boring for her.
she began again. ‘I wonder if I shall fall right through the earth!
This quote shows that she started to questioning or wonder whether If she should “fall right through the earth” as was unsure if she should do or not.
First, she tried to look down and make out what she was coming to, but it was too dark to see anything; then she looked at the sides of the well, and noticed that they were filled with cupboards and book-shelves; here and there she saw maps and pictures hung upon pegs.
This quote spoke me because the way, Carroll play with language. For example, she was trying to figure out where she was but it was “too dark” then she spot “sides of the well”. Noticed something like “cupboards and books-shelves, maps and pictures”. It almost like Carroll wrote this for kids to feel welcome and free.