Pontoon bridge innovation, in 1708 a Swedish army used a leather pontoon bridge to cross a river before the Battle of Holowczyn French general Jean Lannes's troops built a pontoon bridge to cross the Po river prior to the Battle of Montebello (1800). Napoleon's Grande Armée made extensive use of pontoon bridges at the battles of Aspern-Essling and Wagram under the supervision of General Henri Gatien Bertrand. General Jean Baptiste Eblé's engineers erected four pontoon bridges in a single night across the Dnieper during the Battle of Smolensk (1812). Working in cold water, Eblé's Dutch engineers constructed a 100-meter-long pontoon bridge during
Suspension (vehicle) Mini. A number of different types of each have been used: Traditional springs and dampers are referred to as passive suspensions — most vehicles are suspended in this manner. The majority of land vehicles are suspended by steel springs, of these types: Automakers are aware of the inherent limitations of steel springs, that they tend to produce undesirable oscillations, and have developed other types of suspension materials and mechanisms in attempts to improve performance: The shock absorbers damp out the (otherwise simple harmonic) motions of a vehicle up and down on its springs. They also must damp out much of