The bridge's two chain cables were made of 1-inch iron bar, wrought into links between 5 and 10 feet long, and anchored to the ground at each end. These stretched over 14-foot pyramid-shaped stone piers built on either side of the creek. Vertical suspenders dropped from the cables to support the wooden joists beneath the decking. Because the iron suspenders were graduated in length, the roadway was almost flat.Robert B. Van Atta, "Bridge across Jacobs Creek was world's first iron suspension bridge," Tribune-Review (Greensburg, Pennsylvania), May 19, 2002. Finley guaranteed the bridge to last for fifty years (except for the wooden decking). In a June 1810 article, Finley described the bridge as having a span, and a width of . He used a similar design for his Chain Bridge at Falls of Schuylkill in 1808, and secured a patent that same year."Finley's Chain Bridge," p. 442.
