Archibald Milne Hamilton (? - 1972) was a New Zealand-born engineer, notable for building the Hamilton Road through Kurdistan and designing the Hamilton-Callender bridge system.

Early life, marriage and children

He was born in Christchurch, New Zealand, the son of W.M. and J.S. Hamilton . In 1924 he graduated from Canterbury College with a Bachelor of Engineering (Civil) degree. He married B.M. Hamilton, a medical doctor and they had six children, most notably, the second eldest, the biologist W. D. Hamilton, and Mary R. Bliss, who designed mattresses.

The Hamilton Road

Between 1928 and 1932 he was the principal engineer of the Hamilton Road, through Kurdistan which he hoped would unite the peoples of the region. However, the road has been fought over many times. He described the building of this in a 1937 book.

The Hamilton_Callender Bridge

During the construction of the road, Hamilton became aware of the need for strong, adaptable terrain. With British Insulated Callenders Cables, now Balfour Beattie, he designed the Hamilton-Callender Bridge System, the income from which helped support his family. The parts of the bridge were bolted together like a Meccano set, popular with the British Army. This led to the development of the Bailey bridge, and Hamilton successfully claimed to the Royal Commission for Awards to Inventors, as it has breached his patent.

Bibliography

• Hamilton, A.M. (1937). Road through Kurdistan: The Narrative of an Engineer in Iraq. Faber, London
  • New Edition (1958). Faber, London.
  • (2004) reprint ISBN 1-85043-637-1

External links

• http://www.thegreatdebate.org.uk/MentalismCB.html autism?
• http://www.krg.org/docs/KT010726.pdf bit about the road.
• source of university degree (http://shadowsoftime.kiwiwebhost.biz/university6.html)
• text by his daughter Mary Bliss in memory of his son Bill Hamilton contains useful information (http://www.unifr.ch/biol/ecology/hamilton/hamilton/bliss.html)