WEGMANN

SWITZERLAND (see also List of Individuals)

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27.11.1850 Rio de Janeiro/BR - 3.1.1935 New York NY/USA

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Edward Wegmann had Swiss parents staying in Brazil when being born. From his ninth to sixteenth year, the family lived in Switzerland. Wegmann graduated as a civil engineer from the New York University in 1871 and during the next twelve years was engaged with railroads. In 1884, he became assistant engineer of the New Croton Aqueduct, where he designed the Quaker Bridge Dam of 92 m height. Wegmann followed proposals of French engineers and applied it to the renamed New Croton Dam, then one of the highest dams in the world.

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In 1888 the first edition of Wegmann's monumental Design and construction of dams was published, including treatment of masonry, earth, rock-fill, timber and steel structures, and the principal types of movable dams. The eighth edition appeared in 1927, giving a simple analytical method for dam design as adopted for the New Croton Dam, and a description of the major structures built up to then. Wegmann worked on the ninth edition before passing away. In 1892, Wegmann was transferred to the Croton watershed and there designed the Muscoot Dam and all the adjustments needed for executing the Croton Reservoir. He thus presented in 1896 a book on the water supply of New York City over the past 250 years. From 1895 to 1907 he was at the New York City headquarters and there prepared a report on the completed Dam. From then he was a chief engineer for the Aqueduct Commission until retirement in 1925. He published in 1918 another book on water distribution techniques. Wegmann lectured at Harvard University and at Yale University. His books were translated in several languages. He was honored by the International Congress of Engineers held in 1922 in Rio de Janeiro as an Honorary Member of its Engineering Society. He was an international authority in dam engineering around 1900 and had a broad sense in engineering design.

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_{Anonymous (1935). Edward Wegmann dies. Engineering News-Record 114(Jan. 10): 63. P}

_{Thomson, T.K. (1942). Edward Wegmann. Trans. ASCE 107: 1858-1862.}

_{Wegmann, E. (1888). The design and construction of masonry dams. John Wiley: New York. Wegmann, E. (1896). The water supply of the City of New York 1658-1895. John Wiley & Sons: New York.}

_{Wegmann, E. (1918). Conveyance and distribution of water for water supply, aqueducts, pipelines and distributing systems. Van Nostrand: New York.}

_{Wegmann, E., Aeryns, A.N. (1925). New formula for flow of water in clean cast-iron pipe. Engineering News-Record 95(3): 100-102.}