TM

LLC

TM

LLC

Bridge & TurnpikeTM Bridge Mania Set

Building Guide

Golden Gate Bridge in California

The Little

Belt Brid

ge in Denm

ark

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Curious about building? 3

Intro to Tektōn™ Bridge Mania 4

Listing of parts in the set 5

How the parts work 6

Making cables 8

Overview of other bridges 9

Building a truss bridge 10

Building a suspension bridge 12

Blueprint of suspension bridge 13

Did you know? Fun facts 15

Contact us 16

What’s inside

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These classic sets help you understand and test the basic concepts of building strength (physics) and how water moves (fluid dynamics) in a fun, and creative way.

The parts in each of these sets are interchangeable with the other sets, and the sets can be combined to create entire cities: complete with office buildings, airports, highways, and manufacturing plants.

Tektōn™ Bank

The Girder and Panel™, Bridge & Turnpike™, and Hydrodynamic™ building sets were developed to help answer these questions! The building sets are designed to be replicas of actual buildings and bridges using a 1/87 scale (also known as HO scale).

Investigate the strongest structure for a tall building with the Girder and Panel™ set. Or the strongest design for a bridge with the Bridge and Turnpike™ set. Or have fun pumping water through tanks and changing the water flow by opening and closing valves in the piping with the Hydrodynamic™ set!

Tektōn™ Plaza Building

Hydrodynamic™ set coming soon!

Are you curious about How buildings are made?

How bridges work?

How chemical plants operate?

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Introduction to your TektōnTM Bridge Mania

About the Toy:The Tektōn™ Bridge Mania (appropriate for ages 8 and up)

allows you to design, build, and play with a scale model

of a highway, suspension, or railroad truss bridge. By

playing with this set you will be able to discover why

there is a difference in strength between a plank bridge

and a truss bridge, and which is more suitable for trucks

carrying heavy loads.

The bridge set contains plastic columns and beams which are

interlocked together to create the basic frame of the bridge.

Cross braces are added to make the structure stronger. Then

roadways are placed on top of the bridge frame, to allow

traffic to drive across it. The parts are HO scale (1/87 scale

of real bridges) and can be combined with HO scale model

trains, and other Girder and Panel™ building sets. Accessories

include colorful signs and flags to decorate your bridges.

About Bridge Street ToysTM

A privately held company, Bridge Street Toys™ is located in a

suburb of Boston, Massachusetts. The company was founded

by two engineers who strive to provide fun products that will

inspire children to pursue careers in engineering, architecture,

and technology.

About Girder & PanelTM

Girder & Panel™ differs from other construction sets in that

it lets children experiment with real engineering principles.

The sets, which are perfect for science fair projects, allow the

builder to investigate and create structures that are both tall

and strong. Originally introduced by Kenner Products in the

1950’s, there is an entire generation of engineers and

architects who have many fond memories of playing with

this set as children. Fifty years later, we are proud to be

4 51 idea book

18 signs1 storage case

Included with TektōnTM Bridge Mania

UNDER CONSTRUCTION

12 footings

110 beams

82 columns

74 diagonal braces

80 stubs

34 tie braces

8 flags & flag poles

18 roads (flat section)

8 straight road ramps

8 footings

6 road intersections

1 spool of thread

4 road curves

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How The Parts Work

Tip: The columns may be a tight fit the first time that you put them into the footings. However, after a couple of uses, they fit perfectly and are easy to use!

2nd Take the columns (see page 5 if you need help figuring out what the column looks like) and place them in the square holes in the foundation pieces (footings).

3rd Connect pairs of columns with a beam. The notch on the top of the beam slides into the top slot in the column.

1st Start by placing the footings in the shape of your bridge.

4th Place a stub between two beams, connecting them, and making an overpass for your bridge.

5th Now that the basic structure of your bridge is complete, you are ready to place the roadway pieces on top of your creation.

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Tie brace securing two beams, and two stubs (that are also holding down the road piece)

6th Once all of your road pieces are in place, secure them to the bridge structure using either a stub or a column.

7th Then make your bridge sturdy by using a tie brace (see page 5 if you’re not sure what a tie brace looks like) to connect the bottom stub to the stub or column on top of it.

Tie brace securing two beams, a stub, and a column (that is also holding down the road piece)

8th To make your bridge even sturdier use diagonal braces. First, add a stub to the top of the column. Then attach one end of the diagonal brace to the stub that is also holding down the road, and the other to the stub you just added on top of the column.

Notice that there are two types of diagonal braces: a left and right one. The bridge looks nicer when the brace you use doesn’t stick out past the top of the stub that is holding down the road, but structurally there is no difference.

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Making the cables for your suspension bridge

1st Take the string provided, and measure out:

2 pieces of string — 26” each 4 pieces of string — 20” each4 pieces of string — 22” each 4 pieces of string — 16” each

2nd Starting from the middle of the bridge, where the stub is connected to the road, loop the string under the tie brace. You will have to separate the top of the tie brace from the stub in order to insert the string into the space.

Then, re-attach the tie brace to the stub, and pull the string up to the middle of the bridge.

3rd Loop the string over the tie brace, criss-crossing it between the tie brace and column (pull the string on the left to the right, and the string on the right, to the left side).

4th To make the string tighter, you have to once more loop the string over the tie brace, criss-crossing it while you loop it.

5th Once you’ve looped it twice over the top tie brace, leave the long strings hanging. Attach the rest of the strings to the bridge. Adjust the tension on them, once all the strings are attached.

6th When you are satisfied with the look of your bridge, tie the loose ends in a knot, and cut-off the excess string.

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Ideas for other bridges

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Building Instructions (typical truss bridge)

1st Construct the basic frame.2nd Build a cantilever (overhang) that you will then attach to the structure.

5th Attach the roadway to the rest of the bridge using columns and/or stubs.

6th Add a guard rail, and beams to the tops of your columns.

Add 8 tie braces – 4 to each side, so that the stubs don’t fall off your structure. But don’t attach a tie brace to the middle.

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3rd Attach your cantilever to the rest of the frame.

4th Place road pieces onto your creation, using the stubs to attach each end.

You will have to bend the top of the ramp, in order to attach it to the bridge at an angle.

7th Attach diagonal and tie braces to your bridge, to make it sturdier. Lastly add flags and signs!

Add 4 tie braces – 2 to each side, to secure the guard rail.

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Building Instructions (suspension bridge)

1st Construct the basic frame for your bridge and roadway.

2nd Place the road onto the frame, and secure it with stubs. Don’t forget to place tie braces onto the stubs, so they don’t fall down.

5th Connect both sides of the bridge.

frame for your roadway

Notice 14 tie braces (7 on each side of the bridge)

notice that your bridge is sagging under its own weight. In step 7, you will use string to pull it up (just like real bridges use cables).

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4th The top looks like a zig-zag until you attach the middle piece to hold the two parts it together.3rd Now you can begin constructing

the top of the bridge.

Don’t forget to add tie braces here to hold together the columns and stubs.

6th Add diagonal braces to make your bridge stiffer. 7th Lastly, add string to your bridge, starting with the very middle, and working your way out.

Tekton Suspension Bridge

Scale: 1:8 Created by: BST

11/25/2005 Material: Plastic “CAD” (which stands for “Computer Aided Design” ) is a computer program that helps real engineers make sketches of their work. The program allows you to rotate your creation, so that it can be viewed from different sides and angles.

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CAD Drawings

4.49”

17.94”

14.00”

4.49”

Did you know?

There are more than half a million bridges in the United States.

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania has 2,000 bridges – that’s many more bridges than any other city in the world! Allegheny County, where Pittsburgh is located has more bridges then even Venice, Italy, which only has 409.

On the right, Akashi Kaikyo Bridge (Pearl Bridge) in Japan, is 12, 828 ft, and is the longest suspension bridge in the world! This bridge is also the tallest (over 900 ft) and was most expensive to build!

Originally, suspension bridges were made from rope and wood. Then, in the early 19th century, iron chains were used for cables. Today, cables are made of thousands of individual steel wires bound tightly together.

Bridge 1: Warren Truss

Mameyaki Bridge: 4 span continuous truss

Bridge 2: Pratt Truss

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Notice that this bridge has a truss below, and cables on top – just like the suspension bridge in this set!

A typical Truss Bridge spans anywhere from 130 ft to 1,640 ft, meanwhile, suspension bridges can span from 2,000 ft to 4,000 ft!

Truss bridges are made of many small beams (such as the ones in your set), that together can support a large amount of weight, and span long distances.

The world’s longest truss bridge is Pont de Quebec, in Canada. The second largest bridge is the Mameyaki Bridge, in Japan.

Because the truss bridge is a simple hollow structure roadways may pass over the structure (bridge #1), or through it (bridge #2)!

Warren Truss bridges (pictured above) are the most popular type of truss bridges because they are both simple to build, and can be quite long.

Another type of bridge, is a Pratt Truss Bridge (pictured above). Except for the ends of the bridge, all the braces on a Pratt Truss slant down and toward the center of the span. Because of the way the pressure is distributed, this bridge can have thin diagonal braces, allowing for economical design.

Pittsburgh, PA in the 1920’s.

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Have a Problem Or a Question?Contact Us Please let us know if we can help you. customerservice@BridgeStreetToys.com1-781-237-5005

Have a Great Idea?Do you have a great idea for a building and want to share it with other builders?

Send it to us at: funstuff@BridgeStreetToys.com

We will post pictures of creative buildings on our website’s Hall of Fame page.

p.s. Please send your photo in “jpeg” format and include your first name and age.

Need More Parts?No problem. We are selling spare parts! Check with your favorite educational toy shop, or hobby store, if they’re not available there you can order them online through our website: ht tp://www.Br idgeStreetToys.com

Our Promise to YouWe guarantee our products to be free of materials and manufacturing defects. Should your building set have a defect which makes the set unusable, please contact our customer service department for a replacement product.

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Other Products From Bridge Street Toys

Bridge-Mania, a Bridge & Turnpike™

Building SetsCity Buildings,

Girder & Panel™ Building Sets

A Skyscraper, a Train Station, and

Boston Turnpike Set Hydrodynamic™

Building Set

And there are many more products on the drawing board

© 2005, Bridge Street ToysTM LLCWeston, MA 02493

www.BridgeStreetToys.com