Charles Conrad Schneider (German:Carl Conrad Schneider; April 24, 1843 – January 8, 1916), often referred to asC. C. Schneider, was an Americancivil engineer and bridge designer. Schneider was also a member and president of theAmerican Society of Civil Engineers.
Schneider was born inApolda in the Grand Duchy ofSaxe-Weimar-Eisenach. He graduated from the Royal Technical School atChemnitz,Germany, in 1864, after which he worked as a mechanical engineer.[1] He emigrated to the United States in 1867, where he worked for the Paterson Locomotive Works in New Jersey for four years before moving to Detroit to work for the Michigan Bridge and Construction Company. In 1875, he went toNew York City to help review proposals for the Blackwell's Island Bridge across the East River (which would eventually be completed in 1909 and later came to be known as theQueensboro Bridge). While in New York, he met Charles Macdonald and worked with him for the next year at the Delaware Bridge Company.
He married Katharine Clyde Winters on January 8, 1880.[1]
In 1883 he started his own civil engineering business in New York City. In 1885 he submitted a proposal for a bridge across theHarlem River north of High Bridge; his design was selected and opened in 1889 as theWashington Bridge.[1]
He was one of the engineers that were involved in the erection of theStatue of Liberty in 1886. Among the many bridges, he designed and built, are the cantileverFraser River bridge on theCanadian Pacific Railway, and theNiagara Cantilever Bridge. He was also involved in the 1906 construction of theLongteng Bridge inTaiwan, a development that was never finalized after its collapse from the1935 Hsinchu earthquake. Schneider also was the head of the team investigating the first collapse of theQuebec Bridge in 1907, and in 1911 became a member of the board of engineers for the bridge.
He was vice president of theAmerican Bridge Company from 1900 to 1903. In 1905 Schneider was named president of theAmerican Society of Civil Engineers. He was twice awarded theNorman Medal which "recognizes a paper that makes a definitive contribution to engineering science,"[2] in 1905 and in 1908.[3] About 1910 he ran an engineering office together with Frederick C. Kunz inPhiladelphia.
Charles Conrad Schneider died in Philadelphia on January 8, 1916.[4]
Griggs, Jr., Frank (January 2011)."Charles Conrad Schneider".STRUCTURE. National Council of Structural Engineers Associations (NCSEA). RetrievedJuly 8, 2015.
