William Donald Scherzer

William Donald Scherzer (January 27, 1858 – July 20, 1893) was an American engineer and inventor who invented the rolling lift bridge.

[2] Scherzer returned to America in 1880 and took the position of engineer for three years at the Matthiessen & Hegeler Zinc Company at La Salle, Illinois.

Scherzer in 1885 was employed as the assistant to the chief engineer of the Keystone Bridge Company of Chicago.

[5][6] The second rolling lift bridge constructed spanned the Chicago River between Jackson and Van Buren Streets.

Railroads were being built with bridges needed to cross rivers in dense urban sites.

[4] In 1908 his contribution was recognized: William Scherzer [was] the inventor and patentee of what is acknowledged to be one of the most useful mechanisms of the generation.

[Scherzer’s contribution] has facilitated and made possible the opening and development of the great rivers, canals and waterways throughout the world for the passage of the largest vessels of commerce.

William Donald Scherzer, circa 1893
The Jefferson Street Bridge, in Joliet, Illinois , one of four Scherzer Rolling Lift bridges still in use in that city
A single-leaf rolling lift bridge example over the entrance to Surrey Water beside the River Thames in London, England
Animation of a rolling lift bridge