Editing Pontoon bridge (section)

===Etymology===
The spelling "ponton" in English dates from at least 1870.<ref>{{cite book|title=Organization of the Bridge Equipage of the United States Army: With Directions for the Construction of Military Bridges |publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office |year=1870 |url=https://archive.org/details/cu31924026074231|page=[https://archive.org/details/cu31924026074231/page/n65 60] }}</ref> The use continued in references found in U.S. patents during the 1890s.<ref>{{US patent reference | number = 1115674 | y = 1890| m = July | d = 23 | inventor = Sylvester N. Stewart | title = Ponton-bridge}}</ref><ref name=anderson/><ref>{{US patent reference|number=407422| inventor=Sylvester N. Stewart | title = Ponton-bridge}}</ref> It continued to be spelled in that fashion through World War II,<ref>{{cite journal|title=The Military Engineer|volume=12–13|publisher=Society of American Military Engineers|year=1920|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mCUgAQAAMAAJ&pg=RA1-PA433|journal=|access-date=2016-10-16|archive-date=2016-12-24|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161224143244/https://books.google.com/books?id=mCUgAQAAMAAJ&pg=RA1-PA433|url-status=live}}</ref> when temporary floating bridges were used extensively throughout the [[European Theater of Operation|European theatre]]. U.S. [[combat engineers]] commonly pronounced the word "ponton" rather than "pontoon" and U.S. military manuals spelled it using a single 'o'.<ref>{{cite web |publisher= United States War Department |title= Pneumatic Ponton Bridge M3 |date= 19 April 1943 |location= Washington, D.C. UNT Digital Library |url= https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc29951/ |access-date= February 8, 2015 |archive-date= 8 February 2015 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20150208082446/http://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc29951/ |url-status= live }}</ref> The U.S. military differentiated between the bridge itself ("ponton") and the floats used to provide buoyancy ("pontoon").<ref>{{cite book|title=Operation Crossroads, the Official Pictorial Record |author=United States Joint Task Force One |date=1946|publisher=W.H. Wise & Co., Inc. |location=New York |url=https://archive.org/details/operationcrossro00unit |page=[https://archive.org/details/operationcrossro00unit/page/49 49]}}</ref> The original word was derived from Old French ''ponton'', from Latin ''ponto'' ("ferryboat"), from ''pons'' ("bridge").<ref>{{cite web|title=pontoon (n.)|url=http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=pontoon|website=Etymonline|access-date=2015-04-25|archive-date=2015-06-17|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150617144424/http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=pontoon|url-status=live}}</ref>