Thus in a wooden truss bridge the tension members are steel rods.

The shearing area of rivets in tension members was made 1½ times the useful section of plate in tension.

Nevertheless the tendency is to use riveted connexions in preference to pins, and in any case to use pins for tension members only.

In a Howe truss, the vertical tension members having their end connections near the bottom chord, would be equivalent to these shear members.

For tension members of bridges, steel of 65,000 to 75,000 pounds tenacity is usually specified; and for compression members, 80,000 to 90,000 pounds.