Ferdinand Arnodin

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Ferdinand Joseph Arnodin (October 9, 1845 - April 24, 1924) was a French engineer and industrialist born in Holy-Foy-lès-Lyon and deceased in Châteauneuf-on-Loire in Loiret. Specialising in cableway transporters, he is regarded as the inventor of the transporter bridge, having been the first to patent the idea in 1887^[1]. However, the first such bridge was in fact designed by Alberto Palacio, with Arnodin's help.

9 of the 18 known examples may be attributed to him. Three of them still exist. They use the technology of both suspension bridges and cable-stayed bridges. Arnodin built a great number of second generation suspension bridges at the turn of the 20th century and he also restored and consolidated a number of old first generation suspension bridges (before 1860): the aprons were reinforced and the old wire cables replaced by spirally-wound double torsion steel wire ropes, often with addition of a cable-stayed bridge (known structural modification under the name of “Système Arnodin”). His factory (for the production of prefabricated metal sub-structures) was established in Châteauneuf-on-Loire. Vestiges of this factory were still visible a few years ago, and the chimney could still be seen, half ruined, between the Loire and railway.

The Loire Fleet Museum, at Châteauneuf-on-Loire, shows memories of these workshops: an old model of the Nantes transporter bridge, a section of steel wire rope manufactured by Arnodin and photographs.