March 10 - 19, 2005: Unbuilding the west tower crane
First, a before view of the west tower crane from the top of the east pylon (Feb 11 )
March 10 - 19 2005:
Down with the west crane and Down with the floor
panels
First the west crane is coming down - Left shows both with the
east crane towering over the east pylon. Right shows the west crane without
the upper pylon support and it has grown down about about 2 tower segments.
March 10 (left) and March 12 (right)
March 18 7am (left) and March 18 5pm: Look dad - the boom is gone (right)
March 20: The west crane is absent (left) and the east crane is present (right)
So I would, as would many of you (according to email) like to better
understand how these tower cranes grow down up and grow down.
In this photo you can see the boom,
and what appears to be about a 50 foot vertical segment (i.e. 9 man-lenghts
assuming the guy on the left is 6 feet tall ) that wraps around the main
vertical tower and supports the boom and a platform
where some guys are working. This platform appears to be supported by
a hydraulic jack (the silver cylinder extending below the platform.
How is a vertical segment of the primary tower
removed, thus lowering the boom and its support by one segment? Kyle Harms
and I have been trying to figure this out. I even asked some of the guys
on the deck who explained it, but somehow I lost some critical pieces of the
story. With Google, I found How Stuff Works which has a page about growing up and growing
down of tower cranes. What I was missing was the hydraulic lift that elevates
and lowers the top segment.
Looking west, you can see under the pylon vertical segments of the west
crane sort of standing around trying to figure out where to go next.
and if you look south, you will see a quiet resting place for
crane segments
A sequence of the unbuilding of the west tower crane
March 6, 2005: Full height
March 13, 2005:
This week the weather was cold and rainy. Nevertheless
the web crane was growing down
March 15, 2005: More growing down
March 18, 2005 7am: Much more growing down
March 18, 2005 5pm: Boom Removed
March 19, 2005 10am:
Note the small crane to the left of the pylon to disassemble the remaining tower
March 20, 2005: End of west tower crane story
March 19, 2005 10am:
For a closer view from the deck -
Unbuilding the last crane segments
The crane guys (I think from
Morrow Equipment
out of New Zealand and
an office in Charlotte) and lifting one of the last segments
The last segments
Meanwhile, the guys below are busy preparing to uncouple the remaining
two segments
A little bit of help with a torch
Lifting (left) and turning (right)
The crane team and lowering the segment
and prepares to tilt it from the vertical to horizontal orientation
then lifing to load onto a truck
A crane segment to go
Confirming that all is finished, here is where the west tower crane used to
life
And an after view of the west tower crane from the top of the east pylon (March 29 )
