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From Scientific American's Anecdotes from the Archive blog:
The Statue of Liberty. She is a symbol of freedom, an icon of New York City, and today is her birthday. In honor to celebrate, I’d like to share some images from an article from the August 14th, 1886 Scientific American that highlighted the methods of assembling Lady Liberty. After all, what’s birth without a gestation period?
While still in France, the statue’s shell was assembled and each piece was assigned a number or figure. Pieces that lined up next to each other had identical figures on sides which needed to fit together, creating a reassembly map. Each piece had a row of small holes on its edges, and when adjacent pieces lined up, their holes coincided so they could be riveted together.
The shell of the statue is made of very thin copper, making it somewhat pliable. When the pieces left France, they were tightly packed in wooden frames to prevent them from bending. However, some distortion inevitably occurred and once the pieces arrived, the laborers –with a lot of skill and patience—had to refit each piece. Iron bars were fitted to line the interior to give the shell extra strength and rigidity. The bars were bent to fit the contours of the copper, as seen in the close up of the face’s interior. Copper and iron were insulated from each other by a layer of shellac and asbestos in order to prevent and chemical reactions happening between the two metals.
The statue is braced by 2 systems of heavy girders, embedded deep into the pedestal, and 4 eye beams that connect the girders. The concrete foundation, which the article reported as “easily the largest single block of artificial stone in the world,” measured 90 feet square at the base, 65 feet square at the top, and 52 feet 10 inches in height.
The original date of the statue’s unveiling was set for September 3, 1886. However, all the intricate work needed to reassemble and erect the statue delayed the ceremony until October 28, 1886—which makes today the Statue of Liberty’s 125 Birthday! —Mary Karmelek
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4 Comments
Add CommentExactly 125 years ago, on a wind-swept island in the middle of New York Harbor, the Statue of Liberty was dedicated. Forget the fireworks and the pompous speeches. For the VERY best tribute that we could ever have given to commemorate this anniversary are the brave efforts of those hardy Occupy Wall Street participants, who are “standing watch” just a few miles away, ....and whose spirit is spreading all across the country! If Lady Liberty could speak , she would surely say THANK YOU OWS. Thank you - for renewing and strengthening the ideals of freedom and dignity and liberty...upon which this great nation was founded. All Occupy Wall Street participants, whether in New York or elsewhere, should know and remember this one simple fact: With all the hardships and trials that you have been going thru---and will go thru--- you are in very real sense carrying forward the torch of freedom. Lady Liberty would be proud of you! ....WE are proud of you!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe Lady has asbestos? hmmm... good thing I didn't scale her lol
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWe all should remember that too ....
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThis statue was to be in Egypt , in the inauguration of the Suez canal ,, and it represent in originally an Egyptian female peasant : ) ,,, Egypt exist all over the world and the US too the obliques , statues ...etc >>> here is a part from WIKIPEDIA
(( Instead, Bartholdi approached Ismail Pasha, Khedive of Egypt, with a plan to build a huge lighthouse in the form of an ancient Egyptian female fellah or peasant, robed and holding a torch aloft, at the northern entrance to the Suez Canal in Port Said. Sketches and models were made of the proposed work, though it was never erected. There was a classical precedent for the Suez proposal, the Colossus of Rhodes: an ancient bronze statue of the Greek god of the sun, Helios. This statue is believed to have been over 100 feet (30 m) high, and it similarly stood at a harbor entrance and carried a light to guide ships ))
The Ancient lady will fall from its high place
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisNostradamus