Repair of the 1881wrought-iron floor beams on the Hays Street Bridge in San Antonio, Texas, by hot riveting. This is the first part, which shows the removal of the rivets. The oxygen cutting method was chosen for both removal of the rivet head and blowing out the core of the rivet shank. Cold-shearing and driving was found to be more time consuming and damaged some of the historic material.
Contractor: Jay-Reese Contractors, Inc. http://www.jayreese.net/
Rivet team: Guillermo “Memo” Gonzales and Jacob Loza
Riveting Consultant: Vern Mesler http://www.historicbridgerestoration.com/index.htm