Engineering, engineers and the universe of technology diffusion in Imperial Brazil

Patent, project and construction of the lattice bridge in Minas Gerais (1860-1864)

Abstract

This paper analyses the specificity of the process of diffusion and learning of the lattice construction technology that is present in the road infrastructure of the nineteenth- century Brazil. The construction method of bridge denominated lattice was developed and registered in the US patent office (USPTO) in 1820 and 1835 by Ithiel Town. The intent is to highlight the process of adoption of a new technology and the importance of different actors in the context of civil engineer in Brazil, as well as identifying the manner in which contact and transmission of scientific and technological knowledge took place during the process of use of the lattice method. For this purpose, a unique dataset of the history of engineering is used: the processes of bridges and roads collected and coded in a dataset that comprises the significant volume of 22.000 documents for the period of 1840-1889.